Memorial Stolen?

MEMORIAL STOLEN?
Three criminal complaints over monument corrections
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
By JENNIFER MARKOWITZJOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Enraged that city officials had the nerve to send the Jersey City's 9/11 memorial plaque to be fixed when they realized names of some 9/11 victims were misspelled, John Guarini, chairman of the 9/11 Memorial Committee, has slapped two city officials and the memorial's builder with theft complaints.

Guarini filed his three separate "theft by deception" complaints in Hudson County Superior Court last Saturday, soon after he discovered the 6-by 8-foot granite block missing from its perch at the foot of Grand Street.

The complaints specifically names Jersey City Business Administrator Brian O'Reilly, Assistant Business Administrator Greg Corrado, and John Burns, co-owner of Burns Brothers Memorials in Jersey City.

The complaints allege the trio removed the memorial "without the consent or permission from the complainant (Guarini), and pegs its value at $20,000.

"The act was criminal and 100 percent political," said Guarini, a Republican running against West New York Mayor Albio Sires for U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's old congressional seat.
"We want the truth to come out and we will bend over backwards to end this massacre of politics," Guarini added. "I want them to stop their nonsense and lies and leave us and the memorial alone."

Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis said yesterday Guarini's complaint "is not worthy of a response."

O'Reilly authorized Burns to remove the statue in July to have four names that were misspelled - out of the 38 names of 9/11 victims on the memorial - corrected. The 9/11 Committee originally gave Burns a bad list, officials said.

Two other names had misplaced additions, such as "Jr." And for two others, it was questionable if they lived in Jersey City at the time of the World Trade Center attack. The corrected plaque will have a total of 40 names, city officials said.

The 9/11 Memorial Committee raised the money for the plaque, which was unveiled in 2002. But the city is paying for repairs.

"The city needed to get the names repaired for the anniversary of the tragedy," O'Reilly said yesterday.

"The committee is dragged down by bad leadership from the top," he added. "Fighting this will be like fighting with a one-armed man."

A hearing date has been scheduled for Sept. 12.

Maria Pignataro, spokeswoman for Mayor Jerramiah Healy, said that the mayor's office is moving forward with the ceremony planned for the day before - Sept. 11. The mayor plans to meet with the 9/11 Committee today "to sort out problems," she said. "We're eager to put this behind us."