POLL: Using Ashley Madison at work? Is it ok?

With news of the Ashley Madison dating site hack leading the news for the past week and making many spouses nervous, Parsippany Focus decided to conduct an unscientific poll. Tell us how you think?

 

[polldaddy poll=9042694]

No suspects yet in death of puppy locked in car trunk, official says

Puppy Luna Luna, a Rottweiler who was found dead Saturday in the trunk of a car being repaired in a Paterson lot, plays with another dog in a video provided by her owner. PATERSON–It’s still unclear who locked a baby Rottweiler in the trunk of a car last week, but whoever did it, says Paterson Animal…

Sons of Italy Golf Outing draws over 125 golfers

PARSIPPANY — The Sons of Italy Lodge 2561 held its annual Golf Outing on July 9 at the Knoll West Country Club.

The event was very successful and well attended with over 125 golfers and even a larger draw for dinner.

All of the money raised will be donated to needy organizations.  Just recently, the club donated $1,500 to the Parsippany food Pantry. Parsippany-Troy Hills Acting Director Human Services Michele Picone was given the check by Sons of Italy President Joseph Jannarone.

The club will be donating to different organizations in the coming months.

The club has been a great supporter of The Valerie Fund which was established in 1976 by Ed and Sue Goldstein in memory of their daughter Valerie after her battle with cancer. According to the fund’s website, the organization provides “support for the comprehensive health care of children with cancer and blood disorders.” The club donates to support the walking team, “Bella’s Bunch,” named after two-time cancer survivor, Bella Rocco.

Parsippany PAL to celebrate 50th Anniversary

PARSIPPANY — On Wednesday, September 30, the Parsippany PAL will be celebrating a major milestone in the history of of the Parsippany-Troy Hills Police Athletic League – it will be their 50th Anniversary.

For fifty years the organization has provided various programs (sports, intellectual, life skills) to fit the many needs of the youth and adults of our community.  All of this has been accomplished as an independent, volunteer organization funded by aid and donations from the community.

In order to recognize the many individuals and organizations who have contributed to this success, a Dinner Celebration will be held at the Knoll County Club on September 30 starting at 5:30 p.m.

The dinner is in honor of the work by the volunteers who conceived, built, and operated the PAL organization over the last 50 years, they will be honoring specific PAL founders and supporters at at the dinner in a brief ceremony.

This year’s honorees will include: Select – Morris County Building & Construction Trade Unions: Carpenters Local 254, Electricians IBEW Local 102, Laborers Local 3, Asbestos-Insulators Local 32, Bricklayers & Allied Crafts Local 4, Iron Workers Local 11, Operating Engineers Local 825, Painter Local 711, Pipefitters Local 274, Plumbers Local 24, Roofers Local 4, Sheet Metal Workers Local 22, Sheet Metal Workers Local 254, Sprinkler Fitters Local 696, Tile Marble & Terrazzo Local 7.

2006-2007 PAL Board of Directors: Carmine Catalano, Joseph Serrao, Jeff Hale, Sharon Magnussen, Joseph Plescia, Mayor Michael Luther, Chief Michael Filippello, Jayne Beline, Andrew Berns, Joseph Bevacqua, Leon Downes, Billy Boes, John Bucciarelli, Kevin Pizzuta, Michael Ruggier, Dr. Philip Santiago, Dick Schlenger, Tom Tuite, James Weathersby, Dr. Joseph Weisberg, Bob Wilhalme and Fred Zimmerman.

The current Board of Directors include: Dr. Joseph Weisberg, President; James Garrick, Vice President; Peggy Clayton, Secretary; Beth Tutty, Treasurer; James R, Barberio, Mayor; Paul Philipps, Chief of Police Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills; Brian Stanton, Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Council Liaison; Frank Neglia, Board of Education Liaison;  Tony Bonavitacola, Executive Director; Det. Dan Cicala, Parsippany-Troy Hills Police Department Liaison; Dr. Karl Alorbi; Rosemary Linder Day; Mike Whalen; Bob Wilhalme and Anthony Abrantes.

Honorary Directors include Joseph P Plescia, National PAL Board Member; Mike Pulsinelli, IBEW Local 102 and Steve Rosacha, TD Bank.

The Parsippany PAL is located at 33 Baldwin Road.

For more information on the Dinner Celebration and to order tickets, click here.

Who hacked Rutgers? University spending up to $3M to stop next cyber attack

NEW BRUNSWICK — The identity of the hacker or hackers who crippled Rutgers University computer networks at least four times during the last school year is still a mystery. But Rutgers is spending big money to make sure cyber attackers don’t knock the school offline again. The state university has hired three cyber security firms to…

Parsippany employees linked to Ashley Madison leak

PARSIPPANY — Tension has been high at Morris County, Parsippany, and Board of Education offices, and in many homes this week after hackers released lists of millions of email addresses that were used to access the Ashley Madison online dating site for married people.

The website, whose tag line is, “Life is short. Have an affair,” was hacked by a group called the Impact Team in June. Earlier this week, it exposed the names, email addresses, credit card numbers and sexual preferences of upwards of 37 million users of the site.

With the help of a forensic expert, Parsippany Focus did an analysis of the massive leak and found that hundreds of the site’s members worked or lived in Parsippany. While virtually all members used a personal email address to sign up, Parsippany Focus uncovered a few members who joined the site using their government issued email.  One person used his County of Morris email address, another used a Parsippany Board of Education email, and another was a high ranking officer in the Parsippany Police Department with the email address Sxxxxxxx@parpolice.com (Parsippany Focus has made an editorial decision not to publish member names or full email addresses. Websites have popped up in recent days that allow a person to search whether a specific email is included in the leak).  The Parsippany Police email account in question also links back to the officer’s home address when a simple Google search is done.

Parsippany Focus spoke with a member of law enforcement on background and was told that if a police investigation was ever being conducted on the Ashley Madison website, an official police email account would never be used to access the dating site.

Parsippany Focus was able to confirm that the Parsippany BOE employee was a former district principal, but has since taken a job in another district.

Aside from the one police officer who used his police issued email account, Parsippany Focus uncovered two other former Parsippany Police officers who were regular users of the site.  Of the two, one was already retired from the force when he signed up for the dating site, but the other was an active member of the Parsippany Police department at the time, and evidence reveals that the officer accessed Ashley Madison from police department headquarters and paid nearly $200 to Ashley Madison in the days immediately after Hurricane Irene.  Although the officer used a fictitious name on the website, credit card records show that the officer used 3339 Route 46 (Parsippany Police Department HQ) as his mailing address, and he was required to use his real name when he provided his credit card information.

In addition to government email addresses, 191 accounts were associated with a rutgers.edu account, 25 with a County College of Morris student account, and three with an email account provided by the Parsippany-Troy Hills School District.

Government employees were not the only users of the cheating website. Records show that literally hundreds of Parsippany residents paid upwards of thousands of dollars to connect with other cheaters.  Not surprisingly, all Parsippany members who paid were male, except for one woman from Lake Hiawatha who was looking for a “discreet partner who isn’t a couch potato.”

Celebrate 9th Annual Family Day at The Stickley Museum

fall-festival1PARSIPPANY — Celebrate fall harvest and Craftsman Farms’ agricultural past at The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms’ 9th Annual Fall Family Day. 

This traditional fall festival set for Saturday, September 19 from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. is the museum’s biggest family program of the year.

A day of old-fashioned family fun for the young and young-at-heart! Join for Hayrides• Pumpkin Painting,• Games & Races,• Handcraft Demonstrations like Woodworking, Embroidery, Pottery,• Scavenger Hunts•, Craft Activities and More.  Inside the Log House, tours will be suspended for the day and families will be invited to stroll through the museum Open House. 

This is fun-filled and memory-making afternoon at Craftsman Farms! $5.00 Member Children; $7.00 Non Member Children; Free to Adults accompanying children; $7.00 Adults without children. Admission fees are paid at the event.

Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms is located at 2352 Route 10 West, Morris Plains.

For more information, click here.

 

 

Street Hassle performs at Parsippany’s Summer Concert Series

PARSIPPANY — The band Street Hassle performed during the final concert at Parsippany’s Summer Concert Series on Thursday, August 20.

The weather forecast was for rain, but Parsippany Parks and Recreation Superintendent Joseph Plescia decided to move forward and have the concert.  The luck was with him. It didn’t start raining until the concert ended for the evening.

“There was a nice crowd of people came out to Veteran’s Memorial Park to see Street Hassle,” said Karen DeChristopher, a member of Parsippany’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM).

Street Hassle is no stranger to Parsippany, performing the last Friday of each month at Mount Holleran Town Tavern, with the next performance scheduled for Friday, August 28.

Street Hassle is a “Powerful Horn Band” with skilled area musicians that enjoy performing interpretations of Classic Rock, Blues, Motown and Pop. They are energetic and an entertainingly enjoyable band. They also cut from 60’s classic rock to 70’s disco and can ease their way through a 200+ song catalog to excite the most diverse crowd. I heard exhilarating renditions of classic from Chicago, The Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield and Tina Turner. They also choose the right song for the moment, and don’t not fall into repetitious medleys of just number one hits.

The band has turned a lot of heads. When you see a blazing horn section in action, or see and hear the sound of a real Hammond

Organ spinning a whirl of sounds through the air, you can rest assured that  this band is not aiming for the slickness of a cruise ship lounge act. They are a real band playing real songs and sometimes that just takes 12 people to accomplish. “We cant cut corners like our competitors,” jokes the bands leader and founder Steve Hantis.

Street Hassle has open for John K & Steppenwolf, Blood Sweat & Tears and many other national acts. They enjoy a loyal following centered in the NY/NJ Metro Area. In addition to Parsippany’s Summer Concert Series the group performs at large outdoor events including Millburn and Fredon’s annual concert Series in addition to Florham Park, Rockaway Boro and Berkeley Heights Feast Of Our Lady Of Mount Carmel Fireworks.

They are the house band at The Legendary Stanhope House and continuously play the club scene all throughout the year. The band is also proud of their affiliation with The Blue Knights MC and have been the headline act for 5 consecutive Gooch’c Garlic Runs.

Parsippany Schools Lengthen School Day

PARSIPPANY — The Parsippany-Troy Hills Board of Education approved an adjustment in the total hours of a school day in grades kindergarten through 12, adding nine additional minutes to the school day.

The additional time will be added at the end of each school day. Parsippany Hills High School and Parsippany High School, will begin the day at 7:40 a.m. and end at 2:25 p.m., as opposed to an end time of 2:16 p.m. in the past.

Brooklawn Middle School and Central Middle School will see a change with the opening bell starting one minute later, at 8:00 a.m. rather than the previous 7:59 a.m. Classes will be dismissed at 2:46 p.m. rather than 2:36 p.m.

All ten elementary schools, Eastlake, Intervale, Knollwood, Lake Hiawatha, Lake Parsippany, Littleton, Mount Tabor, Northvail, Rockaway Meadow, and Troy Hills, will begin school at 8:55 a.m. and end at 3:25 p.m.

There are no changes in pre-school hours.

Click here to download a flyer provided by the Parsippany Board of Education.

Parsippany Schools first day for Students is Thursday, September 3 and will be closed on Monday, September 7 for Labor Day. Click here to download the 201-52016 calendar.

 

Lehigh University Welcomes Class of 2019

PARSIPPANY — Lehigh University is thrilled to officially welcome the Class of 2019. The incoming class of 1,200+ represents an accomplished, diverse group of students who hail from 43 U.S. states and 27 international countries and territories. These first year students join a distinguished group of 75,000+ Lehigh alumni. Welcome to Lehigh!

Elizabeth Ocker of Parsippany will be starting her freshman year at Lehigh.

For 150 years, Lehigh University (lehigh.edu) has combined outstanding academic and learning opportunities with leadership in fostering innovative research. The institution is among the nation’s most selective, highly ranked private research universities. Lehigh’s four colleges – College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business and Economics, College of Education and the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science – provide opportunities to 7,000 students to discover and grow in a learning community that promotes interdisciplinary programs with real-world experience.