Anthony Crincoli spent almost 3A1/2 years in battle in Iraq. His unit of the 112th Infantry Regiment lost 32 members during fighting around Baghdad. "That was in 2006," he said. "The first time we were ambushed was Easter Sunday that year. That always stuck with me. "I've seen tanks blown in half. I've seen the Iraqi police pile bodies into the...

Anthony Crincoli spent almost 31/2 years in battle in Iraq. His unit of the 112^th Infantry Regiment lost 32 members during fighting around Baghdad.

"That was in 2006," he said. "The first time we were ambushed was Easter Sunday that year. That always stuck with me.

"I've seen tanks blown in half. I've seen the Iraqi police pile bodies into the back of pick-up trucks. People ask, 'How did you get PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)?' as if it were one thing. Maybe for some guys it is. But for me it was all of it."

The 32-year-old Army veteran tells the story of a child prostitute in Tikrit. When she and other children came to the checkpoint, the soldiers would give them food and water.

"We felt sorry for them," he said.

Then her name appeared on a wanted list and the soldiers notified Iraqi police.

"We followed the rules," he said. "Then we found they executed her for being a prostitute. Twelve years old. I felt terrible about it. That stayed with me.

"War is crazy. Even when you follow the rules, there's no right or wrong, everything's messed up."

Crincoli spent 11 years in the Army, leaving in 2012 and returning to Ocean County, where he now lives in Bayville. But the years since have been marred by heightened anxiety and restlessness.

"People ask, 'How did you know you had PTSD?'" he said. "I knew I was different than when I left.

"When people come home from work, they put their briefcase down, have dinner, relax with their family," Crincoli said. "When we come back from our missions, we take our vest off but nothing changes. You're on alert. You don't know who to trust. It never goes away."

And it can be crippling.

"I don't want to go into too many details about what I did or saw in combat," said Ajibola Oyawusi, 28, of Orange, who fought in Afghanistan as part of a cannon crew in the 4^th Brigade of the 10^th Mountain Division. "I was in multiple battles over nine months. There was sleep deprivation. A lot of stuff.

"When I came out of the Army (in 2015) my anxiety was through the roof.  I had a hard time readjusting. I couldn't go anywhere."

Both men were treated recently at the residential center for PTSD in the mental health building on the Lyons Campus of the VA New Jersey Health Care System.

MORE: Recent Mark Di Ionno columns

On this Veterans Day weekend, it is important to remember that this 25-bed center is at capacity. A few hundred more veterans are still being treated in outpatient PTSD programs at Lyons as well as the VA's East Orange campus. 

And we are still at war. We, as in America. And the men and women in VA medical and mental units, and those at home with service dogs, missing limbs, traumatic brain injuries, or other physical and emotional scars of battle, carry the weight of our country's international military operations. Without a draft, it is no longer a shared service. It is no longer a public burden. So, they are easily forgotten beyond the cursory public thanks at football games and such.

The reality of that burden is seen in places such as the Lyons residential center, where hundreds of wooden plaques decorate the walls. Hundreds upon hundreds.

The plaques were made by the veterans who have been treated there. They include both genders, span most wars that still have living veterans, and include the insignias of the units in which the veterans served.

The walls are not pictured here because they also include the names and military ranks of the PTSD patients, and the places and years they served. At the center of each plague are the hand-painted insignias of the ground force, ship or air wing on which they served. The First Calvary. The First Infantry. The 101^st Airborne. The 1^st and 3^rd Marine Division. The units that fight.

On one wall, there are no wooden plaques. Instead, the names, ranks and insignias are painted on a wall. That wall was removed from an old hospital wing, where the tradition was started. It is dominated by the artwork of veterans of Vietnam -- a snapshot into the history of PTSD, a term that came into use in the 1970s and was added to the American Psychiatric Association's manual of mental disorders in 1980.

Before that, the crippling emotional injury of battle had different names, war-to-war. "Soldiers Heart" is what it was called after the Civil War, "shell-shocked" after World War I. "Battle fatigue" is another, from World War II.

The veterans at the residential center now are mostly young men who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some still have their military-style haircuts and look fit enough to serve. Others have been out for a decade or longer. There is one female patient and she is a Vietnam veteran.

For this article, the Veterans Affairs Administration asked that we not interview any of the current residents. Crincoli and Oyawusi, past residents of the facility,  said the treatment center helped them lessen the ongoing trauma of war.

"It was really good," Crincoli said, who was there last winter. "It was a great treatment facility. I wish I knew about it earlier."

Oyawusi was there twice.

"It helped me," he said. "I'm not at the level where I can function at 100 percent, but more independent than before. I'm not as shut-in as I was before."

Veterans come to the center for stays of six to eight weeks and undergo coping therapies in in large-group, small-group and one-on-one sessions. In the large-group meeting room, a sign that says, "Now the Healing Begins" is a welcoming banner.

Mia Downing, the clinical psychologist who heads the recovery program, said there are several strategies to help the veterans accept and overcome their "war zone-related trauma."

The first step is too shake the feeling they will be perceived as weak.

"What they feel is a strength," she said. "These guys have big hearts. They are in touch with their humanity. Their combination of courage and kindness is always astounding to me."

Courageous enough to put their names on a wall.

Kind enough to help each other through.

"That's what it's about for me," Crincoli said. "Veterans helping veterans. We care about each other. We know what we did. We know what we went through."

This is something else for us to remember on this Veterans Day weekend. The "Soldier's Heart" is because the soldier has a heart. As a nation, we ask them to put it aside and do our dirty work, and they carry that guilt and shame and burden for all of us. 

Mark Di Ionno may be reached at mdiionno@starledger.com. Follow The Star-Ledger on Twitter @StarLedger and find us on Facebook.

Concerned parents of undocumented children in Plainfield received free legal consultations and advice provided by the school district on Saturday.

PLAINFIELD -- As she walks through the halls of Plainfield's public schools, Gloria Montealegre hears the concerns of students who have come into the country with their parent or on their own. Will they be deported? Will their parents have to leave the country? Will they be able to go to college?

As the issues for these students became even more complex, Montealegre began to hold discrete information sessions for these students and their parents, sessions that included legal information. The most recent session was held last week.

 "This is beneficial because dealing with issues like these, parents can get depressed and stressed as well as the students, which affects how they are in school," said Montenegro, the district's community relations liaison. "I knew we needed something to help the people in our community."

Rutgers' Jason Hernandez, left, and Plainfield's Gloria Montealegre, right, talk in the hallway of Plainfield High School after the conclusion of their session for parents of undocumented children on Saturday. 

Previously, Make the Road New Jersey, an immigration advocacy organization, hosted the clinics. This year the Rutgers Immigrant Community Assistant Project, which includes attorneys, professors and law students, hosted.

Twice a year, clinics provide information  about how to apply for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act) program, what to do if you they are arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and what their rights are as an unauthorized citizens. As the sessions became more popular, Montealegre has considered expanding the number of sessions and bringing in more organizations as well. 

"We can never find information like this for free so I'm very grateful we had an event like this," said Edith, 61, of Plainfield, who has students in Plainfield schools and declined to give her last name because she is an unauthorized immigrant. "Something like this keeps our spirits up and this is information we can pass along." 

Edith was one of about 70 people who attended the clinics last week. After the sessions, the director of the Rutgers program, Jason Hernandez, and other volunteers stayed behind to offer students and parents private consultations. Hernandez also encourages his clients to pass the information along to their friends families and neighbors.  

"It's like a game of telephone information gets passed from one to another, which is good, but we're glad people have the chance to come to events like this so they can hear it from the main source." Hernandez said.

Montealegre says it's unknown how many students are unauthorized, but of those who are, most come from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. In Union County, an estimated 49,000 people, more than 8 percent of the population, do not have legal authorization to remain as residents according to the Migration Policy Institute. 

Volunteers at the informational session, such as Rutgers law student Amanda Clark, of Blairstown worked pro bono. At the most recent session, Clark told a surprised parent that he or she could possibly be considered for a program that allowed not only their children citizenship, but the parents as well.

"We're kind of like the first step for people that don't have money or are scared to talk to a lawyer," Clark said. "It's super rewarding to hear people's backgrounds and stories and to know something small like this can have such a big impact." 

In addition to the informational sessions and private consultations, Montealegre wanted something for parents and students to be inspired by, so she asked Sara Mora, 21, to serve as the speaker. 

Mora a Hillside resident, immigrated to the county from Costa Rica when she was 4. She enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program known as DACA, in 2012, and is one of more than 17,000 DREAMers in New Jersey according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Sara Mora, 21, of Hillside. Courtesy of Sara Mora 

Recently, Mora hit a roadblock in her education journey. A May graduate of Union County College, Mora had her eyes set on attending Seton Hall University this fall. However, the school's $50,000 pricetag was a deterrent, and she couldn't find a way to pay since DACA recipients are not eligible for government student loans.

Despite her own continuous trials, her message to Plainfield's parents was to remain resilient.

"It's O.K. to be scared. It takes a Godly strength to get through times like this," Mora said. "But in times like this if you don't feel strong enough to go out and advocate, at least make sure you take the time to educate yourself as much as you can because nobody can take that away from you." 

Taylor Tiamoyo Harris may be reached at tharris@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ladytiamoyo.

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Customers can book a new flight for Nov. 18 or earlier without paying change fees

NEWARK -- United Airlines has suspended its flights from Newark to New Delhi due to toxic smog that has blanketed the Indian capital in a brown cloud. 

The company said in a statement Saturday that it had waivers in place for customers traveling to, from or through New Delhi. It did not specify how long the flight suspensions would last. 

"We are monitoring advisories as the region remains under a public health emergency, and are coordinating with respective government agencies," United said.

Customers scheduled to travel this past Thursday through Monday can book a new flight that departs on or before Nov. 18 without paying change fees or any difference in fair, United said on its website. Travel must be rescheduled for the same cabin. 

Air quality in New Delhi is famously poor, but the smog over the past week created what doctors in the city called a public health emergency. Pollution levels reached nearly 30 times what the World Health Organization considers safe, The New York Times reported. 

Most of the city's schools have closed, and the smog is causing traffic pileups, the Times reported.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has called his city "a gas chamber" and has blamed the problem on farmers in neighboring states burning their crops, combined with emissions from construction and vehicles, NDTV reported. 

Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati or on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook. 

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The body of Kpama Silver was found at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday in the area of North 15th Street and 4th Avenue in East Orange, officials said.

EAST ORANGE -- Authorities have identified a man who was found dead with a gunshot wound in the city as a 25-year-old from Newark. 

The body of Kpama Silver was found at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday in the area of North 15th Street and 4th Avenue, officials said. 

An autopsy report determined Silver died from a gunshot wound. His death has been ruled a homicide, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino and East Orange Public Safety Director Sheilah Coley said in a statement.

Authorities are investigating whether Silver was shot in the area where his body was found or elsewhere, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas S. Fennelly of the prosecutor's homicide unit said. 

The Essex County Prosecutor's Office's Major Crimes Task Force, which includes Newark police detectives, is investigating the homicide. 

The prosecutor's office is asking anyone with information to call them at 877-847-7432.

Luke Nozicka can be reached at lnozicka@njadvancemedia.com or on Twitter @lukenozicka.

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Homeless animals throughout New Jersey await adoption in shelters and rescues.

Some notes on homeless animals in New Jersey:

* According to the State of New Jersey Office of Animal Welfare, "it is estimated that the number of free-roaming cats in the United States may be equal to that of owned cats, approximately 70 million. If left unchecked, free-roaming cats will breed and their populations increase at locations where they find suitable shelter and food." The office goes on to note that pet cats that are abandoned will not easily fend for themselves outdoors. Unfortunately, most of these cats and their offspring will suffer premature death from disease, starvation or trauma.

* Among shelters and rescue groups around New Jersey, the top 10 reasons for owners relinquishing a dog are: (1) moving; (2) landlord issues (3) cost of pet maintenance; (4) "no time for pet;" (5) inadequate facilities; (6) "too many pets in home;" (7) pet illness; (8) "personal problems;" (9) biting; and (10) no homes for litter-mates.

Other interesting facts from the Office of Animal Welfare:

* As many as 25 percent of dogs entering shelters across the country each year are purebreds.

* One unspayed female cat and her unaltered offspring can produce 420,000 cats in seven years.

Here is a gallery of homeless animals from northern and central New Jersey. Consider visiting a local shelter or contacting a local rescue group when looking for a pet for your family.

Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find Greg Hatala on Facebook.

Kevin Spacey, a New Jersey native, is accused of groping or molesting a number of men, including those who were teenagers at the time Watch video

The first man to allege sexual misconduct against Kevin Spacey went public on Oct. 29: actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of making sexual advances when he was 14 and Spacey was 26.

A little more than a week later, following a series of other claims of groping and sexual harassment made by various men, the actor was cut out of a major film and replaced with Christopher Plummer; banished from "House of Cards," for which Spacey had previously scored five Emmy nominations; and removed from a planned Gore Vidal biopic in which he was expected to star for Netflix.  

It's a staggering turnaround for Spacey, 58, a two-time Oscar winner and Tony winner born in South Orange.

Now, after Spacey's bungled attempt at an apology to Rapp, his denial of other allegations, and police activity surrounding one of the groping claims that is alleged to have happened just last year, some doubt he will ever be able to work again.

"I think that when you're talking about a 14-year-old boy and a 26-year-old man, most people have such an aversion to hearing that," says Warren-based crisis manager Karen Kessler. "He really dug his own grave on this one."

It's a question that has accompanied many recent high-profile reports of sexual misconduct and assault: Once accused, are these men's careers over? 

The Spacey allegations arrived in the wake of the ever-expanding Harvey Weinstein scandal. Charges of sexual assault and harassment have since been lodged against directors James Toback and Brett Ratner, former MSNBC political analyst Mark Halperin, actors Dustin Hoffman, Jeremy Piven, George Takei and Ed Westwick, and GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore. 

"Our phones have been nonstop in these past two weeks." says Kessler. "It is everywhere. More and more companies are willing to say, 'This doesn't work here.'"

Comedian Louis C.K. is among the latest group of celebrities to face such allegations. On Nov. 9, the New York Times reported that five women, including writers and comedians, had accused him of sexual misconduct, with most alleging the comedian had masturbated in front of them. The next day, he admitted that all of the stories were true.

Louis C.K. had already been pulled from the lineup of an HBO comedy show and had canceled the premiere for his movie "I Love You, Daddy," which was ultimately shelved. On Friday, Netflix said it would not produce his next comedy special.  

In Spacey's case, he is being erased from a movie: Sony Pictures' move to strip Spacey from the role of J. Paul Getty in the upcoming Ridley Scott film "All the Money in the World" -- and re-shoot his scenes with Christopher Plummer -- is unprecedented. (The film is due out on Dec. 22.)

"I've never seen anything like this before that I can think of," says Danny Deraney, a Hollywood publicist with experience in crisis communications. "I think Sony wants to save face and I don't blame them." 

Spacey, much like Harvey Weinstein, who released a statement that quoted Jay Z lyrics after the first reports of his sexual misconduct emerged, badly bungled his response.

After BuzzFeed published its interview with Rapp, Spacey quickly came out as gay, which many called an obvious (and harmful) attempt to deflect from the allegations.

He said he didn't remember the encounter with Rapp, but apologized, adding that if it did happen, he would consider his actions a demonstration of "deeply inappropriate drunken behavior." 

"This is one of the worst statements that I have ever seen," Deraney says. 

From there, the allegations multiplied. Actor Harry Dreyfuss, son of actor Richard Dreyfuss, wrote in an essay for BuzzFeed that Spacey groped the then-18-year-old's crotch in 2008 as the two sat on a couch in the same room as his father. (Not long after, writer Jessica Teich claimed that Richard Dreyfuss had sexually harassed her and exposed himself in front of her in the '80s.) Former Boston news anchor Heather Unruh said he recently filed a police report after Spacey allegedly groped her 18-year-old son at a bar in Nantucket last year.

In one instance, Spacey is accused of attempted rape. An unnamed artist told New York Magazine's Vulture that in the 1980s he had a sexual relationship with Spacey when he was 14, which ended with the alleged assault. On Friday, Andy Holtzman became the latest man to come forward, telling USA Today that Spacey had assaulted him in 1981, when he was working at the New York Shakespeare Festival's Public Theater.

Some might defend Spacey by saying he has not been convicted of a crime. But to dismiss allegations as somehow not serious enough to merit the consequences Spacey has had to face is misguided, says Patricia Teffenhart, executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault in Lawrenceville. Many point to Spacey's alleged actions as symptoms of the same diseased culture, where powerful men use sex to control others.

"The entire spectrum of sexual violence -- all the victims -- suffer consequences," Teffenhart says, whether that means psychological stress and its physical effects or a fear of returning to work. 

"What we're starting to see is that there's a cost associated with people who choose to harm others -- that we're finally holding them accountable," she says, pointing to the #MeToo Twitter movement in which many women and men came forward to share their experiences with sexual assault and harassment. 

Teffenhart is hopeful that the spotlight can help change the state's two-year statute of limitations on civil sexual assault cases and help push a bill that would require schools to conduct background checks for sexual misconduct before hiring teachers.

On Nov. 2, BuzzFeed reported that Spacey's publicist and agency had dropped the actor. Later, Entertainment Weekly reported that Spacey had been cut from a pre-taped Dec. 3 CBS special celebrating the 50th anniversary of "The Carol Burnett Show," though it's not clear what that means for musical numbers featuring Spacey, Bernadette Peters and Kristin Chenoweth. 

This kind of dilemma cuts to the heart of why some find it so hard to digest the allegations against Spacey, or the backlash. 

"I thought Bill Cosby was the funniest man on the planet," Deraney says. "Now I can't watch the Fat Albert Halloween special. There's a sadness to it because you've invested a lot of time enjoying that person's work and now it just doesn't feel the same." 

Could the actor, known for his award-winning turns in "The Usual Suspects" and "American Beauty," ever revive his career? 

"I don't know if Spacey will work again," Deraney says. "I can't imagine it," he says, at least not at the level he enjoyed before the allegations. He points to Mel Gibson's successful comeback, but says there is a difference: Gibson's career was on the decline in 2006 when he made anti-Semitic comments while being arrested on a DUI charge. He wasn't trying to work again after being accused of molesting or groping 14-year-old boys. 

Yet Kessler believes Gibson's example only supports a road to recovery for Spacey, saying such career revivals are (usually) more feasible in Hollywood than in business or politics. 

"It's not going to be tomorrow that he's going to star on Broadway," she says. "(But) the next thing you know, he'll be back." 

If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual harassment or assault and needs support, the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault has a confidential, toll free 24-hour hotline. Call 800-601-7200 or visit njcasa.org/find-help.

Which teams broke into the NJ.com Top 20 this week?

It is better to be single in Sioux Falls, South Dakota than anywhere in N.J., according to WalletHub.

Being single in New Jersey appears to be tough.

It is probably not the main reason why more people left the Garden State than any other state in 2016, but according to a new study by WalletHub, it is currently better to be single in places like Sioux Falls, South Dakota and West Valley City, Utah (no disrespect to them, obviously) than anywhere in New Jersey.

Yes, love is apparently more readily available in those metropolitan areas than New Jersey cities, like Jersey City (ranked 73rd best place for singles) and Newark (94th).

So how did WalletHub, a personal finance website, decide that New Jersey is not exactly a utopia for single people? Their analysis looked at 182 U.S. cities, including the 150 most populated, across three dimensions: economics, fun and recreation, and dating opportunities.

Within those three dimensions, WalletHub evaluated cities across the country using 32 different metrics, which included things like movie costs and job growth rate for economics, nightlife options for fun and recreation, and most active Tinder users and share of single population for the dating opportunities category. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale.

For the final ranking, they determined each city's weighted average across all metrics.

Jersey City, ranked as one of the country's best places for millennials to live, received an overall score of 51.54. The Hudson County city was ranked as one of the worst areas evaluated based on economics (166th out of 182), but received favorable feedback for the sheer amount of dating opportunities (25th overall -- there's hope for the author of this post after all!).

With an overall score of 50.14, Newark was ranked as the seventh worst place for singles based on economics, but like Jersey City, it ranked as one of the best places for dating opportunities, checking in as the 11th best.

It is no surprise the two New Jersey cities on the list got docked in the economics category. It is one of the most expensive states in the entire country to live, and continually has the highest property taxes in the U.S.

According to WalletHub, San Fransisco is the best place to be single in 2017, and South Burlington, Vermont is the worst of the 182 cities evaluated.

So, this begs the question: Anyone packing their bags and heading to Sioux Falls in hopes of romance this winter?

Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jatmonavageNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook

A 37-year-old man was arrested on Sunday for exposing himself to a woman at the PATH station and committing a lewd act, authorities said.

HOBOKEN -- A 37-year-old man was arrested on Sunday for exposing himself to a woman at the PATH station and committing a lewd act, authorities said. 

Karim Durant, of Irvington, faces charges of stalking, lewdness, harassment and disorderly conduct, Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo said. 

At about 4:15 p.m., a woman in her mid 20s said Durant "brushed against her" in the Hoboken PATH station and walked away. The 37-year-old soon returned, exposed himself, and committed a lewd act on the platform, Pentangelo said. 

Durant followed the victim on to a 33rd Street-bound train and Port Authority police arrested him, the spokesman said. 

He was released from custody and is expected to make his first court appearance on Dec. 4. 

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.

Ernest C. Reock Jr., a former Rutgers University professor known for his wealth of knowledge in state government, died Sunday morning. He was 93.

NEW BRUNSWICK -- Ernest C. Reock Jr., a former Rutgers University professor known for his extensive knowledge in state government, died Sunday morning. He was 93. 

Reock, of the Kendall Park neighborhood of South Brunswick, died of complications from pneumonia at University Medical Center of Princeton in Plainsboro, according to his family. 

His daughter, Kathleen Ketofsky, said he was "healthy and strong" up until three weeks ago. She remembered him as a champion of equality who was passionate about his research but also devoted much time to his family. 

"He was just an absolutely amazing father, unconditionally loving and the most non-complaining person I've ever met," she said. "He was very humble and very independent, and extremely active." 

Reock, Ketofsky said, continued to walk a mile on a daily basis -- he loved to walk along the Delaware & Raritan Canal in Griggstown -- and drove himself to his office in New Brunswick, where he still put in hours of research. 

He served as director of Rutgers University's Center for Government Services from 1960 until his retirement in 1992. He was known throughout the Garden State for his research in property taxes, legislative redistricting and other state government issues. 

In 1976, Reock created the "New Jersey Legislative District Data Book," an informational resource on New Jersey's 565 municipalities, and continued to edit it annually

It is 230 pages of hundreds of thousands of facts and a million or so numbers. It offers contact information for legislators and includes tax rates, credit and bond ratings, school test scores, property values, budgets and revenues, among other facts.

"I just like the numbers," Reock told The Star-Ledger in 2012. 

In recent years, Reock still worked as a primary researcher for the book at the age of 89, according to a profile of him in the Home News Tribune. 

The informational book can now be searched online for datasets about population, poverty, crime, election results and other issues.

Reock, the author of numerous academic reports, also wrote "Unfinished Business," a book on the state's Constitutional Convention of 1966. In a summary of the book, Reock is described as a "veteran observer of New Jersey's political history."

In a 2003 profile in The New York Times, Reock was described as "Mr. State Government," who worked as the first full-time employee at what was then called the Bureau of Government Research. 

He retired in 1992 as director of what became the Center for Government Services. But at 87, Reock continued to dedicate at least 20 hours a week to research and part-time teaching as professor emeritus.

"He worked right up to the day we took him to the hospital," said his son-in-law, Hal Ketofsky. "He didn't have to, but he did anyway." 

Reock told The Star-Ledger that his motivation to continue his research stemmed from his desire to keep the public informed. 

"I know it sounds trite, but this is a public service," he said. "People should know what's around them, and where they are. They need to know how things operate, so it doesn't operate to their detriment."

Reock, a Belleville native, started as a Rutgers student in 1942 to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. He enrolled in a Naval training program at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania a year later and was commissioned into service, but returned to earn his undergraduate degree in history in 1948.

Two years later, he earned his master's degree in history and in 1959, his doctorate in political science.  

Reock's wife of 62 years, Jeanne Thomason Reock, of Kendall Park, died at the age of 83 in March 2015. She worked in social services for Middlesex General Hospital and the State Board of Child Welfare. She served on numerous education boards as well, according to her obituary.

According to his family, Reock was adventurous, taking his boat out on the Barnegat Bay on nice days with Jeanne Reock before she died. More recently, he enjoyed taking rides out to the country. 

Reock is survived by his daughter, Kathleen Ketofsky, his two sons Thomas and Michael, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. 

Ketofsky said the family is still working on plans for a celebration of life, which will most likely occur in January. 

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ.

Luke Nozicka may be reached at lnozicka@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @lukenozicka. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Muhammad, the first American athlete to wear a hijab while competing at the Olympics, is Barbie's new 'Shero'

School officials believe Mussab Ali is the youngest person elected to the school board.

JERSEY CITY -- A 20-year-old Rutgers University student has narrowly won the two-man race for a yearlong term on the Jersey City school board.

Mussab Ali edged out David Miranda by just 68 votes in the race to fill the year remaining on John Reichart's term (Reichart resigned abruptly in November 2016). County election officials finished counting all the ballots in the race today.

Mussab won 9,388 votes to Miranda's 9,320.

School officials believe Ali is the youngest person ever elected to the nine-member Jersey City school board, and possibly the youngest elected official ever in Jersey City (Freeholder Bill O'Dea was elected to the City Council at age 26).

Ali said he finds it more significant that he is Muslim. He noted that two years ago President Trump made the false allegation that "thousands and thousands" of Muslims in Jersey City celebrated the 9/11 attacks.

"In an era where Trump is president, a Muslim to become elected in Jersey City -- that's something that's very powerful," he said.

Last week Miranda said he may seek a recount. Today he said he has not decided whether to proceed with that request.

Last week's school board race included the one-year term as well as three three-year terms. Incumbents Amy DeGise and Lorenzo Richardson won along with newcomer Matt Schapiro. All four winners take office in January.

Ali was named a Truman Scholar earlier this year. He studies economics, biology, chemistry and Middle East/Islamic studies at Rutgers-Newark

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.

The shooting left one man with non-life-threatening injuries

NEWARK -- Warrants have been issued for two city men wanted in a shooting that left another man wounded last month, police said.

 

Stewart Kingsley, 23, and Terrance Johnson, 27, were allegedly involved when gunfire blasted a car window in the 100-block of Peshine Avenue around 4 p.m. Oct. 8. A man was also shot and wounded in the shooting.

Kingsley is 6'0" and weighs about 153 lbs with black hair and brown eyes. Johnson is 5'6" tall and weighs approximately 145 lbs. He also has black hair and brown eyes.

Guyton-Callahan American Legion Post 152 in Newark received the backing it needed on Veteran's Day. Sen. Cory (D-N.J.) Booker pledged $1,000 and his support to raise awareness about the post's effort to rebuild after its Legion building was destroyed during a fire in January.

Vince Wells is looking forward to his 94^th birthday in April.

If construction goes as expected, the World War II Navy veteran plans to walk through the doors of the new Guyton-Callahan American Legion Post 152 in Newark and get back to serving the local community.

Wells, 93, said the Newark post, which was destroyed during a two-alarm fire in January, gave him the opportunity to help people in the neighborhood at Elizabeth Avenue and Branford Street.

As a member of the post, Well says, he doesn't "feel that I'm a throw away. We serve and when we come back, we're has-beens. Here we can contribute. We're doing something.''

MORE: Recent Barry Carter columns  

Named after Emmet Guyton and Archie Callahan, two African-American soldiers from Newark, Post 152 is determined rebuild and rekindle the relationship it started with Newark 88 years ago.

Members broke ground for their new Legion hall last Monday, but they received an unexpected fundraising boost on Veterans Day when Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J) stopped by their temporary meeting place - Club Mentors, headquarters for the Bronze Shields, an organization of African-American Newark  police officers.

Post 152  members knew Booker was coming to talk about veteran's issues, but Commander Kyle Bowman said they had no idea that he'd show up with several media outlets to shine some light on their plight to raise funds for the reconstruction and to pledge his support to raise money.

In the past six months, its GoFundMe page - American Legion Post 152 Fire Fund - hasn't received any contributions. An estimated $8,000 to $10,0000 in checks, mostly from American Legion posts, were initially mailed to its Post Office Box 3112, Newark NJ 07103.  But then things dried up.  After insurance money was spent to demolish the building, Bowman said, the post is about $250,000 short to complete a job estimated to cost from $500,000 to $800,000.

"We thought this (Veterans Day) would be the perfect day to let people know and get the word out,'' Booker said. "We should be better than this to let these folks struggle for so long without the resources to rebuild.''

Standing with the senator in front of TV cameras, members talked about what the post means to them and the pride they  feel as veterans.

The destruction of the post "was like losing a part of my family,'' said Tracey Gilliam, a senior vice commander, who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). "I just hope we can get the help so we can build our post so we can continue to do what we do.''

Booker, who also presented members with a flag that has flown above the U.S. Capitol, said he his pledging $1,000 and will raise awareness through social media to get the post over the hump.

MORE CARTER: Newark closes parking lot that was source of controversy

Meanwhile, the members stay focused. They have construction contractor working with them to manage the costs.

"We'll pay as we go, '' said Michael Jackson, a junior vice commander. "We're very happy to have started the process.''

But it's tough on the vets. They miss not only having their own place but they miss the people in the neighborhood who came to know them and their three-story wood-frame Legion hall.

After the fire, 8-year-old Teron Blue and his mother, Paige Blue, initially collected $55 to thank the members for their kindness to the community. By September, donations grew to $235 when the Legion held its annual summer cook out on the vacant land where the post once stood, its second home in 88 years. The new post will be built there, too.

From that location, the corner of Elizabeth Avenue and Branford Street, members would knock on doors to deliver food baskets and toys during the holidays to families and their children. At the cookout this year, they fed the residents and sent kids home with backpacks filled with school supplies.

This is their tradition of giving. The Legion post started in Newark in 1929, first located at 264 Prince St. under Guyton's name, an Army-Air Force veteran killed in World War I. Callahan's name was added in 1958. The post wanted to honor the 19-year-old Navy Seaman, who was the first Newark resident killed in the war, during the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack. At its height, during the 1970s and '80s, Post 152 had 400 members. It moved to the Elizabeth Avenue location in the 1990s.

While Booker was meeting with members of Post 152, a few blocks away the city's fist Veteran Town Hall was under way with a reading of the names of Newark residents killed in wars from WWII to the present.

Although not well-attended, three local veterans -- Newark West Ward Councilman Joe McCallum, Eugene Brown and Jennifer Boyle-Wimbrow - came to support the event.

They sat in the rotunda among a few others listening to Jessica Laus, the organizer, read 150 names of war dead. One of them was familiar.

It was Archie Callahan from American Legion Post 152.

Barry Carter: (973) 836-4925 or bcarter@starledger.com or 

nj.com/carter or follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL

New Jersey's largest city has seen a big surge in the number of guns recovered by police this year, as the number of firearms being funneled from out of state through the so-called "iron pipeline" continues to climb. Watch video

NEWARK--At the police firing range in a desolate industrial area of the city, a detective took aim at the target, a grey cinder block.

He raised the BCM assault-style rifle, telescoping shoulder stock pressed firmly against his right shoulder, left hand on a grip in the front, and fired with a loud crack.

The concrete block at the other end of the range exploded violently, as if it had been hit by a cannon.

The guns being taken off the streets in Newark these days often range from the firepower of a combat weapon, to modern semi-automatics little different than those carried by police. And in a place where gang violence and illicit drug dealing account for much of its serious crime, there has been a big surge this year in the number that are turning up.

Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said what they are seeing is far different  from the cheap "Saturday Night Specials" that were once a staple of urban violet crime.

Last month in Newark, a search by police of a rental car driven by North Carolina man turned up two revolvers, a semi-automatic pistol and an AR-15 military-style rifle.

Days later, police recovered a .9mm handgun that had been reported stolen out of an unoccupied apartment in West Virginia. And a 15-year-old kid was arrested at a charter school with a loaded .9mm pistol.

Already this year, 449 weapons have been recovered or seized in the state's largest city, up from 377 during the same period a year ago, according to Ambrose.

Most come from out of state, traveling a route up the Interstate 95 corridor known as the "iron pipeline," from places where gun laws that are far less stringent than those in New Jersey.

"The guns still keep making it up here," remarked Ambrose, whose city accounts for the most number of recovered guns in New Jersey.

In April, the city announced it was melting down 150 illegal weapons recovered in Newark. New Jersey, meanwhile, conducted the largest statewide gun buyback in its history this year, bringing in 4,775 firearms over two days.

Nationally, the number of firearms recovered and traced by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms jumped as well last year, climbing to 289,223 from 271,018 in 2015.

Those numbers are an imprecise measure of guns and crime, with the ATF itself noting that not all firearms used in crime are traced, and not all firearms traced are used in crime. However, they do offer a glimpse at what is being recovered, and where those weapons originated.

In New Jersey, the ATF reported a 3 percent increase in 2016, with Newark, Trenton, Paterson, Jersey City and Camden accounting for much of that.

Most were handguns, including 2,268 pistols. But there were also 367 rifles recovered and traced, along with 296 shotguns and 7 fully automatic machine guns.

The majority came from out of state, traveling a route up the Interstate 95 corridor, and typically originating in states with gun ownership laws that are far less stringent than those in New Jersey. The biggest sources of firearms seized in the state were Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, the ATF data showed.

Earlier this year in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, a Camden man was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison after he admitted his role in the trafficking more than 20 firearms into the South Jersey areas--including assault rifles and other high-capacity weapons. Several had been stolen and had obliterated serial numbers to make them difficult to trace.

According to court documents, David Potts came on the radar screen of the ATF after an informant told them he had three guns he was offering for sale: a .40 caliber, a .45 caliber and a .9 mm. In an affidavit filed with the complaint, an AFT special agent said Potts had told the informant the firearms were coming up from Georgia and were "brand new in the box." The price: $600 each.

While they spoke, the informant said he saw an AK-47-style rifle inside the suspect's SUV. That, too, was for sale, for $1,500. Potts later pleaded guilty.

Guns seized in Newark. (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Ambrose believes the uptick in seizures in Newark comes largely out of a strategy of "focusing on people that will do violence." They department launched a special enforcement division targeting gangs and drug dealers in the city.

"They're the ones carrying the guns," the director said.

Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said states with "solid gun laws" suffer because of their neighbors.

"In Chicago, 60 percent of guns come from other places," he said.

While New Jersey is far more stringent gun restrictions, trafficking is hard to control with Interstates 80 and 95 running through the state.

"In Virginia, you can go to a gun show any weekend and buy a gun without a background check," he noted.

At the same time, Horwitz said trafficking is a difficult crime to prosecute.

"You have to know it's being trafficked," he said of the firearms.

The penalties are low, those convicted rarely do much jail time, and there's little incentive to prosecute because it's so hard to get convictions, he explained.

Those who traffic in guns often use straw purchasing agreements involving other buyers, as a way to protect themselves against criminal prosecution--a scenario utilized in the Potts case out of Camden.

Earlier this year, New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney re-introduced a bill to toughen the gun trafficking statute, making firearms trafficking a federal crime and imposing stronger penalties for "straw purchasers" who buy guns for convicted felons and others who are prohibited from buying guns on their own.

The bill, co-sponsored by 68 Democrats and 3 Republicans, has failed in the House before. It was again referred to a subcommittee.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

On the same day Mars said it might come back, Mayor Ras Baraka welcomed 1,100 employees of Broadridge Financial Solutions to their new location at 2 Gateway Center Watch video

NEWARK -- Move over, Amazon. You may not be the only buzz-worthy new HQ thinking of coming to town.

Mars Wrigley Confectionery -- the candy company responsible for sweet treats like M&M's, Milky Ways, and Snickers -- is applying for a $31 million grant from the state's Economic Development Authority to open a corporate center in Newark.

The request appeared on an EDA agenda set for discussion at a meeting Tuesday.

If word of Mars' possible return to Brick City weren't sweet enough for Newark officials, Mayor Ras Baraka welcomed Broadridge Financial Solutions CEO Tim Gokey and 1,100 of his employees during a ribbon cutting Monday in the company's new 160,000-square-foot space at 2 Gateway Center.

After Gateway's owner, C&K Properties, announced the move in March, last month Broadridge relocated the 1,100 workers from space in Jersey City's Journal Square neighborhood. Apart from occupying a hefty chunk of one of Newark's biggest office complexes and generating work for restaurants, dry cleaners, cabbies and other local businesses, Broadridge's work force will mean more than a million dollars a year in city revenues under Newark's 1-percent payroll tax, city and company officials said. 

Matt Connor, Broadridge's chief financial officer, said Newark employees' salaries average around $100,000 a year, which puts the company's annual Newark payroll at $110,000,000, with the city's annual share of that coming to $1.1 million. That's $16.5 million in payroll taxes alone over the course of Broadridge's 15-year lease.

Company and city officials said Broadridge had been granted an incdentive deal worth more than $20 million by the EDA. Aisha Glover, president and CEO of the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation, said the Broadridge move was the single biggest job relocation to the city during the Baraka administration.  

"It goes to show you how committed to moving to Newark that they were willing to pay million of dollars in payroll tax," Glover said.

Mars Wrigley is considering locations in both New Jersey and Illinois for its new U.S. headquarters, said a spokeswoman for the candy maker, Alicia Buksar.

"If the state of New Jersey approves our recent incentives application we hope to create offices in both Hackettstown and Newark in 2020," she said in a statement to NJ Advance Media Monday.

The company currently operates from offices in Chicago and a plant in Hackettstown, and will continue its presence in both locations, she said.

"Regardless of the placement of our Mars Wrigley Confectionery U.S. hub, we will continue to have a significant footprint in both Chicago and New Jersey, including the global headquarters of Mars Wrigley Confectionery based in Chicago as well as multiple plants and offices employing thousands of associates across New Jersey and Illinois," Buksar said.

Mars is also applying for a second $1 million grant from the EDA for a capital project in Hackettstown, according to the meeting agenda.

A glimpse inside N.J.'s M&M's plant

Sources familiar with the grant applications reportedly told ROI-New Jersey the headquarters would be located in the Ironside Newark -- a 456,000-square-foot commercial and retail center currently being renovated. Upon completion, the building will serve as the cornerstone of the Mulberry Commons project, a development that promises to link the Prudential Center arena and Newark Penn Station.

If the deal goes through, it would be a return to Newark for the candy giant, which was headquartered in the Brick City from about 1940 to 1959, when it opened the Hackettstown location.

The news from Mars comes a few weeks after Gov. Chris Christie chose the state's largest city as New Jersey's bid for Amazon's second headquarters. That company has announced a nationwide search for the home of its new corporate command post.

At the Broadridge ribbon cutting, Baraka and other officials said they hoped that Amazon was paying attention to the move, which they insisted was one more indication of Newark's growing prominence as a tech hub.

Gokey, the company CEO, told the gathering that Broadridge facilitates $6 trillion -- that's trillion with a T -- worth of financial transactions every day, thirty times the $200 billion daily volume of the New York Stock Exchange.

"There was an article a couple of years ago that called Broadridge 'the most important company you've never heard of,'" Gokey said with a smile. "Newark has just become the number one financial capital on the planet."

NJ Advance Media staff writer Jessica Mazzola and Spencer Kent contributed to this report

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

A driver went as far as counting the number of streetlights that were out when he asked why they and an overhead sign on Route have been dark for months.

When the lights go out on a highway, drivers want to know why they're in the dark.

A commuter who drives on Route 24 said the northbound side of the highway is dark near Exits 7A and 7B in Millburn. He counted 12 darkened streetlights out of 17 on the exit ramp and wrote that overhead exit signs are now only illuminated by car head lights.

Q: What's happening on Route 24 North, near exits 7A and 7B, just past the Short Hills Mall? The lights are out. It has been this way for months.

A: We asked Stephen Schapiro, a state Department of Transportation spokesman, who said the DOT is aware of the problem on Route 24.

The street lights are scheduled to be repaired or replaced in mid-November, he said. DOT crews are evaluating the lights in the overhead signs to decide whether to replace the lights or the signs, Schapiro said.

One option is to replace them with new, reflective signs that don't require lights, he said.

Let us know if the ride gets brighter.

Meanwhile, as a follow up to a reader question about when the westbound lanes of Route 10 will be repaved, the DOT announced that project started on Monday and will continue through Friday. The work will be done overnight between Route 53 in Parsippany and Roxbury.

Have a question about your commute? In recent weeks we answered reader questions about a traffic light retiming that caused traffic to jam instead of flow and why a Route 80 video message sign stopped communicating to motorists. What's your question?  

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

NJ.com football writers selected the top individual performances from the quarterfinal-round of the state football playoffs

Vote for your favorite North Jersey bakery in our N.J.'s best bakery showdown.

North Jersey has won two of our seven N.J.'s best showdowns - best sub/hoagie shop and best burger. How will it do in our N.J.'s best bakery competition?  

There are 300-plus bakeries on the ballots, broken into four regions - will a North Jersey bakery come out on top? 

You can vote starting right now for your favorite bakery.

You can vote once in each category per day. Deadline for voting is 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19.  

The top five vote-getters in each category, plus my 26 picks, will comprise our 50 semifinalists, which I will visit starting Wednesday, Nov. 22.

Don't forget to vote in our other categoriesz:

Central Jersey 

South Jersey

Jersey Shore

Peter Genovese may be reached at pgenovese@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @PeteGenovese or via The Munchmobile @NJ_Munchmobile. Find the Munchmobile on Facebook and Instagram.

Students present fall dramas.

Bloomfield High School students Emma Morse, Soula Garcia, Sophie Bell and Tristan Quinones rehearse a scene from the school's upcoming production of "The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later."Maria Rivas 

BLOOMFIELD/MAPLEWOOD/MILLBURN -- The high school fall drama season is in full swing, as evidenced by the number of play choices available to theatergoers this week.

Students in the Bloomfield High School theater program will honor the victims of hate crimes with their fall play, "The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later," an update of the Moises Kaufman play about Matthew Shepard, a member of the LGBTQ community and a student at the University of Wyoming who died after being beaten and tied to a fence in November 1998. Kaufman returned to Laramie 10 years later to see the effects Shepard's murder had on the town. Showtimes are 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Westminster Arts Center, Bloomfield College, 449 Franklin St. Tickets are $10 and will be available at the door.

The Millburn High School Limelight Players will present "A Few Good Men," Aaron Sorkin's play about two Marines on trial in the death of a fellow Marine at Guantanamo Bay. Performance times are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Millburn High School auditorium, 462 Millburn Ave. Tickets are $10 in advance, and $12 at the door. To purchase advance tickets, email millburnlimelight@gmail.com.

The Parnassian Society at Columbia High School is offering "Alabama Story" by Kenneth Jones, a six-actor play that touches on civil rights and censorship. The curtain will rise 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; and, 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 19, in the school's Black Box Theater located at 17 Parker Ave. in Maplewood. Tickets are $15 and are available by calling 973-713-6866.

To submit school news send an email to essex@starledger.com.