Stalker Alert! Why we had to disable comments

Here at watchdog, we welcome the participation of readers and writers and we are always happy to publish commentary or work on a lead passed on to us.  That said, our website has recently fallen victim to individuals who use it to post false personal information about private citizens.  This information is of a personal, rather than a political or policy nature and those involved are not elected or appointed officials.

Watchdog is not the place to get back at your girlfriend for breaking up with you.  It is not the forum for discussing how or why your husband met another woman.  That is your personal business and really none of ours.  So until those misusing the comments section move on to find other means of working out their personal dramas, Watchdog will keep comments disabled.

Readers write to Watchdog

Some highlights from our 14,825 readers. 

Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno's Property tax proposal

A recent letter from a gentleman residing in Stanhope:

Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno's recent proposal to reduce property tax for NJ senior residents with a tax freeze base will in actuality, in many cases,  raise their property tax. Her proposal calls for 5% of the total tax with a $3,000.00 cap.

For a senior with a total property tax amount of  $11,000.00  that has a freeze amount, when  first applied for at 5,600.00, the current reimbursement amount to the senior would be the difference, $5,400.00.

The $3,000.00 cap will amount to a loss of $2,400.00. Amounting to an increase not a decrease in property tax.  

I have addressed the matter to her office and look forward to her review,  so as to avoid the unintentional added financial burden this will impose on seniors.

Mr. P. F.

Stanhope, NJ 07874

Reader responds to candidate hung-up on heredity

A exchange between a legislative candidate and his campaign, and a reader:

CANDIDATE:  "Parker Space has lied multiple times about his family history. No article on that? That was a pretty obvious lie, 12+ generations in New Jersey. They even showed him saying it."

READER:  "This dimwit Atwoodski doesn't even know that a 'generation' equals 22 years. He accuses Parker Space of untruthfulness and then gets it wrong. LOL!"

CANDIDATE:  "A generation isn't used as a defined term of years..."

READER:  "Here is the definition:  In population biology and demography, the generation time is the average time between two consecutive generations in the lineages of a population. In human populations, the generation time typically ranges from 22 to 32 years.[1] Historians sometimes use this to date events, by converting generations into years to obtain rough estimates of time."

CANDIDATE:  "Parker claimed he was 13 generations. Using the definition of 22 years, it comes out to 286 years. 1750+286=2036. So maybe in 19 years..."

READER:  "Hold on there cowboy. If someone arrives in Sussex County in 1750, that is different from being born in Sussex County in 1750. That means he was born somewhere else and at the age of 18 or 25 or even older made his way, probably across an ocean, to the New World and to Sussex County. So yes, 13 generations is spot on."

Thank you for your emails, letters, and comments.