THE STORY NEW JERSEY NEWSPAPERS DON’T WANT YOU TO READ

The newspaper industry is fighting to keep its outdated government subsidy, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year.

 By John Bendel

All across New Jersey, governments and school districts are slashing costs to meet the enormous financial challenges they face. Police officers and firefighters are being laid off, road and highway improvements delayed, and funding for snowstorms and other emergencies curtailed. Nearly everyone has been caught up in the statewide budgetary storm of reduced services and higher taxes.

Yet one industry is fighting to remain immune from the hard financial decisions being made by each and every town and school district in the state. Using their editorial pages and considerable clout, New Jersey’s newspapers have put their own financial interests ahead of the taxpayers, including their own readers, by opposing legislation that would save money and make government more open and accountable. This legislation would give governments the option to publish legal notices online rather than in newspapers, as they’ve been mandated to do by law for decades. The change being fought so aggressively by the newspapers not only would save taxpayer dollars, but give hundreds of thousands more citizens access to the information – and in a more easily accessible way.

Using the public’s “right to know” as cover, the newspaper industry in New Jersey is fighting to preserve its own monopoly – a monopoly that’s being subsidized by upwards of $30 million a year in taxpayers’ money.  The New Jersey Press Association and its member news organizations across the state are trying to hold onto the kind of no-bid contract they routinely condemn.

Last year, we saw New Jersey’s newspaper industry elbowing for space on Trenton’s Lobby Row to save their slice of the government pie. They lined the halls of the Statehouse – lobbying legislators in a bid to influence the process not for the public good, but for their own economic gain. They became just another special interest. And while they were busy arm-twisting legislators who will vote on the issue, they were using their editorial pages to intimidate those same legislators.

The bill was to be posted again for a vote last week, but Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver apparently succumbed to newspaper pressure and pulled it at the last minute.

A core principle of newspapers is never to confuse their editorial opinions and news content with their companies’ economic interests. In this case, that   line has been crossed. And the newspaper publishers and editors crossed that   divide in the interest of propping up a practice that is an anachronism in the modern world of the Internet. The law granting newspapers this particular monopoly was passed during the age of typewriters. It makes no sense whatsoever to preserve that law in the Internet era.

It’s especially disingenuous for the newspaper lobby to be stubbornly fighting the posting of legal ads online at the very time those newspapers are admonishing governments to post more information – everything from salaries to contracts to marriage licenses – on the Internet, on government websites already up and running. Recently the Bergen Record, Courier-Post and The Press of Atlantic City all ran editorials calling on governments to offer more documents and records online to benefit the public. Could it be that the newspaper industry is interested in transparency only when it doesn’t affect its own financial interests? You be the judge.

The benefits of allowing the posting of legal notices online are indisputable.

First, it greatly expands a notice’s exposure to the public, giving citizens greater, cheaper and more convenient access to legal notices. And the information would be available 24-7, in Spanish as well as English, in more easily readable form.

Second, the cost savings are clear. The state, county and local governments would post the legal ads on their existing websites, a simple process requiring no added expense; in fact, the scanning procedure is so easy it’s familiar to grammar-school students. Newspaper executives argue that the costs to taxpayers for running the legals in their publications have been overestimated since the private sector pays for some of the ads -liquor license applications, sheriff sales, and certain land-use matters for example. Why should the private sector fork over millions to newspapers when they could run the ads at no cost on government web sites?

Finally, while individual citizens must pay 75 cents to $1 to buy a newspaper – and much more on Sundays – they could access the same information online, at little or no cost. The fact is, online posting would save governments, individuals and businesses the millions of dollars they spend each year to pay whatever publishers charge for placing a legal ad in their newspapers.

Earlier this year in the Borough of Island Heights where I live, mandated legal ads cost the borough approximately $4,000. This is no small amount of money for a town struggling to make ends meet.

The newspaper lobby would have you believe that the proposed change would be harmful to those who do not use the Internet, especially seniors. Give me a break. The number of people using the Internet has exploded over the last decade – to the point where those who go online to learn the latest news, weather, sports scores and other information far outnumber those who buy newspapers. Going online has become second nature to a vast majority of Americans – including my fellow seniors.

  
By way of review, New Jersey laws mandate that individuals, businesses and government entities pay to publish legal notices in officially-designated newspapers. The New Jersey Legislature is considering amending the law to allow for publication of those legal notices on official state, county and municipal web sites in addition to, or instead of, traditional newspaper advertising. Technological advances and the growing abundance of government information online demonstrate the benefits of broad dissemination of legal notices on the Internet as an alternative to traditional newspaper publication. Amending the law to allow the option of posting legal notices on a web site enables residents throughout the state to view any kind of legal notice from any part of the state. Far more New Jersey residents have access to information available on the web than to any one newspaper designated to publish legal notices. While traditional newspapers were the only logical means of ensuring public access to information in the past, today any resident can gain Internet access either at home, through their jobs, at any public library, in most public schools, and at community centers and Internet cafes.

Newspaper publication imposes time constraints on the availability of legal notices that web site posting would not. For example, the law requiring publication of a legal notice of a proposed toll hike might only mandate that the notice appear for a certain number of days in one or more designated official newspaper. Because web sites have far greater capacities than a single print edition of a newspaper, the same legal notice could remain posted on official state, county and municipal websites for several months or more, allowing residents greater opportunity to find and view the information. Instead of being subjected to the painstaking process of going through individual back copies of a newspaper, a resident could go to a single web site to find the legal notice they are looking for.

Official web sites can be designed to allow flexibility in sorting and searching for legal notices. Those web sites could be required to provide users the ability to search for legal notices by date posted, the appropriate county or other geographic category, or the subject of the posting. A person who prefers searching for postings by scanning pages of newspapers would retain that option, while someone searching for a fairly specific posting – such as applications for liquor licenses in December, 2003 only – could search for and view only the relevant notices.

Amending the law to expand the available avenues for publishing legal notices affords governments, businesses and individuals a virtually free method of publishing notices that they have to pay for under the current system. Such a proposal will not limit access to newspapers or restrict anyone from continuing to publish legal notices in newspapers. Instead, it offers far greater flexibility in posting legal notices and increases the public’s access — at a vastly reduced cost for everyone.

John Bendel is an Island Heights, N.J. councilman, president of Bendel & Bendel Inc., and former editorial page editor of the North Jersey Herald News.

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Alex DeCroce Dies While Doing The Job He Loved

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce died last night shortly after the final voting session of the 214th legislature.  He was 75 years old.

DeCroce collapsed after 11PM in the legislative wing of the statehouse.

Governor Chris Christie said, “Tonight I lost a dear friend, colleague and mentor -– Assembly Republican Leader Alex De Croce.

“I have known Alex for nearly 20 years,” the governor said. “He helped to give me my start in elective politics in Morris County in 1993. He was one of the most kind, considerate and trustworthy people I have ever had the pleasure to know. He was an enormously accomplished legislator and a tremendous servant to the people of New Jersey.

“Mary Pat and I offer our heartfelt condolences to his wife, Department of Community Affairs Deputy Commissioner Betty Lou De Croce, and to Alex’s entire family,” Christie said. “This is an enormous loss for our state and for me personally.”

The ceremonial swearing in of the 215th legislature and the Governor’s State of the State address scheduled for today have been canceled.   There will be an informal swearing in and the Governor will briefly address both houses of the legislature in order to fulfill the constitution requirement that he address them today.

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Call Your Legislators: Stop Corporate Welfare For Newspapers

Legislation that ends the requirement of “Legal Ads” being published in newspapers, in favor of the ads being posted on government websites, is on the calendar in both the Senate and Assembly on Monday, the last day of the current legislative session.

Call or email your legislators right now and ask them to vote YES on S-2072 in the Senate and A-2082 in the Assembly.  You can find your legislators contact information here.

Classified ads in newspapers have gone the way of the horse and buggy.  The Internet has made them obsolete.  On most days Legals Ads make up the vast majority of the once thick classified section.  The private sector has already voted.  Taxpayers and those with proceedings before a court or board should not have to subsidize an antiquated practice.

Posting Legal Notices on municipal, county and state websites will lead to more people seeing them and will save the public between $12 and $70 million per year, depending upon who you believe.  The newspaper industry says they ads cost only $12 million per year.  Proponents of the bill says they cost $70 million.

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Irace blasts Trenton over Monmouth Park and Fort Monmouth

Calls on taxpayers from Oceanport and neighboring communites to join the fight

“Atlantic City is now a FAILED business model”

Oceanport Councilman Joe Irace’s remarks at the borough’s reorganization meeting today:

2011 marked a year of challenges and changes to our Borough.  Oceanport’s future well-being hinges upon two very important issues, the continued viability of Monmouth Park and the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth, neither of which is really within our control.  If these two matters aren’t addressed properly, the consequences for Oceanport and our neighboring communities will be devastating..

The more immediate of the two issues is Monmouth Park. 2011 was a year in which uncertainty was the only certainty when it came to Monmouth Park.  Was the State going to remain in control, lease or sell the park to private ownership? The decision was made to lease.  Then came numerous changes, negotiations, finger-pointing, name calling and, ultimately, a muddled picture as to who is actually in charge.  Just last week, the State decided to continue racing in 2012 under the control of the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority and rebid the lease in 2012 for the 2013 racing season.  For 2012, the current agreement, as we understand it from reading about it in the newspapers, calls for 141 racing days at an average purse of $150,000 per day.  To put that number in perspective, we were racing at $1,000,000 a day in 2010 and $400,000 a day in 2011.  The projected daily purse of $150,000 is the lowest for any major track in the United States.  In fact, at $150,000 a day in purse money, Monmouth Park, the most beautiful and historic racetrack this side of Saratoga, can no longer be considered a major track. 2012 also calls for no stakes races and, more notably, no Haskell.  The long term ramifications of this are obvious.  Is Trenton determined to undermine and eliminate racing in New Jersey? It sure seems that way. 

Trenton’s stated position is that the State of New Jersey can no longer “subsidize” horse racing in New Jersey. And, you know what? I ABSOLUTELY agree with Trenton on that issue.  Because the fact of the matter is that the horseracing industry doesn’t have to be subsidized. It just has to be allowed to compete on equal footing with horse racing in New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland.  But the big thinkers in Trenton have blinders on when it comes to the realities of horse racing and gambling in today’s world.   With the stroke of a pen, our elected officials in Trenton could permit “racinos” in New Jersey, but instead of allowing our state’s horse racing industry to compete with the gaming, racing and casinos that have popped up in New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland, our Trenton brain trust has chosen to invest $250,000,000 of taxpayer money in a stalled Atlantic City casino development. 

The Atlantic City business model is outdated.  New Jersey no longer has the monopoly on gambling that it had in the 1970s. Indeed, by any reasonable financial analysis, Atlantic City is now a FAILED business model.  But our elected officials in Trenton refuse to acknowledge this fact and, instead, have chosen to pour $250,000,000 of taxpayer money into a venture — that private firms won’t touch — in return for a 20% interest in the business.  What is 20% of nothing? We need our elected State officials to stop investing in THEIR past and start investing in OUR future.  

Monmouth Park is the Borough of Oceanport’s largest tax ratable and one of the jewels of the Jersey Shore.  Monmouth Park’s continued viability should be this governing body’s NUMBER ONE priority in the year 2012.  Oceanport’s citizens and the citizens of ALL of the Jersey Shore communities should make their voices heard on this issue.  We aren’t asking for a handout from the State! We just want New Jersey to be able to compete on equal footing with New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland.   We’ve got the infrastructure, we’ve got the people, we’ve got the horses. We just need the tools. The State of New Jersey needs to adopt the Racino business model NOW!

As far as the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth is concerned, this issue will present huge challenges as we head into 2012 and well beyond.  Decisions made today will have an impact – one way or another — on Oceanport for the next 25 years and beyond.  When we unsuccessfully battled for local control of the 419 acres that are located in Oceanport, we were concerned over what the State would do to our small, family oriented, residential community.  Today, rumors abound that our 2nd largest employer, CommVault, which ranks only behind only the embattled Monmouth Park as a source of employment, has been lured to the Tinton Falls section of the Fort Monmouth site. It is believed that this move is premised upon large tax breaks and tax credits being given to CommVault by the people who are charged with the duty of redeveloping the fort while creating jobs.  This isn’t job creation, however, it is job poaching.  And the Borough of Oceanport loses a business to Tinton Falls under the guise of “job development” at the fort.  How can this be a good idea? 

I am cynical, at best, about the State of New Jersey’s ability to create jobs at the fort, especially in view of the State’s past record in this area.  That is to say, the State of New Jersey doesn’t have a history of creating jobs— other than government jobs.  Stated simply, government does not have the ability to create private sector jobs and the historic and profound lack of accountability at the State level is all the more reason why the Oceanport Municipal Council fought long and hard for local control over the fort’s redevelopment.  Sadly, we lost that battle. Now it is this governing body’s duty — and the duty of all members who follow us —- to make sure that we don’t lose the war.  We must remain vigilant and continue to demand that we have a voice in the redevelopment process, not just a seat at the table.  We cannot stand idly by as the bureaucrats and politicians try to fit square pegs into round holes in the name of “job creation”  The only thing worse than doing nothing about the redevelopment of the fort is doing something badly, and that’s where I am afraid we are heading.  And this isn’t just an Oceanport issue any more.  A bungled fort redevelopment will have a devastating financial and social impact on Monmouth Beach, Long Branch, Little Silver, Fair Haven, Rumson and Sea Bright, too.  The citizens of those towns should be just as concerned as we are that the fort gets redeveloped properly and organically.   If we expect to be heard, then we all have to involve ourselves in the process.

Bureaucrats and politicians have come to expect — and, indeed, thrive on — an apathetic electorate and they have no incentive to do the will of the taxpayer if they have no fear of the taxpayer’s wrath.  We, as a governing body, have a duty to educate the people who elected us about what is actually happening at the fort and involve them in the process as much as possible. Those who elected us, however, have to be willing to stand up and be counted by attending and, more importantly, PARTICIPATING in meetings of the Fort Monmouth Economic Redevelopment Authority and the Oceanport Borough Council so that we can fight the good fight for our community.

In closing, we have a lot of work cut out for us.  We must continue our fight to protect the Oceanport that we all know and love.  All of us who live here and raise our families here know that we have a lot to lose, and we have only ourselves to blame if we let others dictate our destiny.  You’ve got a governing body that has proven that it is willing to fight for our right to control our own destiny.  None of us have any political aspirations beyond that of serving the people of Oceanport. Help us take the fight to the powers that be.  Stand up for yourselves.  Get vocal. Stay vocal. Get involved.  Stay involved. We need you. We need each other. Let’s work together for a better Oceanport in 2012

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Poor Dick Codey

Power Has Its Privileges

Senate President Stephen Sweeney famously called Governor Chris Christie a “rotten prick” last summer over the budget.  Assembly Speaker Sheila has called Christie a liar, a bully and implied his his administration was racist.  Christie just shrugs it off and keeps working with them.

Former Acting Governor Richard Codey, Sweeney’s predecessor, called Christie a liar earlier this week.  Christie responded by firing Codey’s cousin from a $215,000 job at the Pork Authority and cancelling Codey’s State Police security detail.

Codey can take comfort in the fact that Christie is giving him more rough and especially tumble material for the paperback edition to his book and that he hasn’t tumbled as far as Jon Corzine.

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The Map

You’ve probably heard about the map that Rutgers grad Joe Steinfeld created on Monday night and posted to his reddit page.  By Tuesday night over 750,000 people viewed it on facebook and reddit.  The newspapers have all written about it. 

Steinfeld was enjoying all the attention until his bosses at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection took a dim view of it and released a statement saying it had nothing to do with the department.

Steinfeld reduced Monmouth County to “WHERE THEY FILMED CLERKS,” BANKERS AND BUSINESSMEN,” WORKING CLASS PEOPLE AND BEACH HOUSES: SPRINGTEEN COUNTRY, ” and “McMANSIONS.”

Obviously, Steinfeld doesn’t know Monmouth all that well.  The Bayshore is much more than where Kevin Smith filmed clerks.  Coastal Monmouth is extremely diverse, as are the central , western and southern parts of the county.

Just for fun, how would you correct Steinfeld’s map?

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Guadagno Continues Statewide “Season of Service” with Visit to Holiday Express Event at the Hawkswood School in Eatontown

Trenton, NJ – Highlighting the importance of volunteerism during the Christie Administration’s statewide “Season of Service,” Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno today visited the Hawkswood School in Eatontown to participate in its annual Christmas program for special needs children and young adults. The event was part of the 19^th season of giving organized by Holiday Express, a Monmouth County-based 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

“Over 1.5 million residents of New Jersey volunteer their time and energy to a range of important causes and charitable organizations annually, and these efforts take on heightened meaning during the holiday season,” said Lt. Governor Guadagno. “The state is fortunate to have so many fine non-profit organizations like Holiday Express that offer opportunities for civic-minded people to make a positive impact in their communities at this hopeful and joyous time of year.”

The Hawkswood School, formerly the School for Children, is a leading provider of high-quality educational services for children and young people, ages 3 to 21, with autism and other complex disabilities. Since its opening in 1976, its services have helped support and enrich the lives of over 3,000 students. As part of its 19^th season of charitable programming, it is one of 55 unique events Holiday Express has scheduled across the area between November 15 and December 24.

“Lt. Governor Guadagno has been a long-time volunteer and supporter of Holiday Express,” said founder Tim McLoone. “It’s no surprise that she found time to volunteer today and give back to those in need.”

Founded in 1993, Holiday Express is comprised of more than 1,600 volunteers and professional musicians whose mission it is to offer music, food, gifts, financial support, and friendship to those less fortunate, during the holiday season and throughout the year. Their “interactive, free private parties” come complete with a rock n’ roll band, costumed characters, parodies, and of course a visit from Santa. Holiday Express visits the homeless and elderly, those with life-threatening illnesses, children and adults with mental or physical disabilities, and countless others in need across the tri-state area. For its work, Holiday Express appeared on a segment of the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams titled “Making a Difference.”

“As events of this year clearly demonstrated, the work of our volunteers is more important than ever,” added Lt. Governor Guadagno. “Moreover, these needs are ongoing and require attention 365 days a year across a wide range of areas. Thanks to the continued spirit of our civic-minded residents and organizations like Holiday Express, I’m confident that New Jerseyans will continue to answer the call to service in 2012 and beyond.”

Through the Governor’s Office of Volunteerism, residents can find volunteer opportunities, as well as recognize individuals and groups that enhance New Jersey’s communities through service, by visiting volunteerism.nj.gov.

 To learn more about Holiday Express and its work, visit www.holidayexpress.org.

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SINGER BILL TO REINSTATE DEATH PENALTY WOULD APPLY TO CHILD KILLERS

Father Who Drowned 2Year Old Should Face the Ultimate Punishment

Senator Robert Singer issued the following statement regarding the tragic murder of 2 year old Tierra Morgan-Glover.  The Senator has introduced legislation that would reinstate the death penalty in New Jersey for those who murder a child, kill a police officer in the line of duty or commit a terrorist attack that results in fatalities.

“I do not support the death penalty out of a need for revenge or due to malice in my heart. Neither do the many individuals I have met who have suffered from heinous crimes,” Singer stated. “I support the death penalty because sometimes it is the only way to achieve justice for the victims and families affected by horrible crimes.”

Singer noted that his legislation would apply to the man who drowned his 2 year old daughter, still strapped in her weighted down car seat, while conscious and alert.

“I am well aware that the death penalty will not bring back a murdered child, slain police officer or a victim of terrorism,” Singer continued. “For certain crimes, however, life in prison is just not punishment enough.”

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Is New Jersey the next Delaware?

By Art Gallagher

Is New Jersey the next Delaware?   That’s the question Politickernj raised earlier this week regarding the 2012 U.S. Senate race in NJ.  Politckernj is wondering if the 2012 U.S. Senate race in New Jersey will be similar to the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Delaware.

The short answer to that question is no. An incumbent was not running in Delaware in 2010. 2012 is a presidential year. 2012 will not be a repeat of 2010.  New Jersey is not Delaware.  More on that later.

As you might imagine, I have a unique perspective about the differences between New Jersey and Delaware, which is not related to electoral politics.  If you’re a reader of this site or The Asbury Park Press, you’re probably aware that I was arrested in my home in Highlands after 10PM on Friday October 14 on a fugitive warrant out of Delaware.  I’ve been charged with two felony counts of theft over $100,000 and two misdemeanor counts of forgery.  The charges will not be further discussed on this site, other than to say that I am confident of a favorable outcome.

The real reason I was arrested on a fugitive warrant is that the Delaware attorney I had engaged to arrange my surrender in Delaware failed to communicate with the investigating detective in a timely manner.   I have a different attorney now.

3 hours vs. 3 weeks

So far the biggest difference between my experiences in New Jersey and Delaware is time.  I arrived, as scheduled, to surrender in Delaware this Wednesday at 11am and was on my way home by 2PM.   As in Monmouth County, most of that time was spent waiting. 

I wasn’t handcuffed, patted down or locked up in Delaware.  The actual processing, (being photographed, finger printed and signing some papers) took about 10 minutes.   Then my attorney and I hung out until the fugitive warrant was removed from the system. We waited for a Justice of the Peace to finish his lunch and to appear via video for my bail hearing. The video bail hearing took less than five minutes.  My bail was set at $12,000.

Technically, I was detained until my family members posted my bail.  But I wasn’t really detained.  My attorney and I waited in the lobby of the police station for the bail to be posted.  I was even allowed to step outside of the building for a smoke, twice.

After about 40 minutes, I signed the bail receipt and was released from my detention in the lobby.  It took about a ½ hour to meet up with my family members who had posted my bail.   The clock in the car read 1:46 and we were on our way home.

That entire experience is very different than what I experienced in New Jersey.

At about 10PM on Friday October 14 I was arrested at my home in Highlands.  I was frisked and handcuffed.

At the Highlands police station I asked to call an attorney.  “We’re not questioning you.  We’ll let you call your attorney when we know what you can tell him,” was the reply.   I was photographed by the arresting officer twice.   My belt, shoes, cash, wallet and blackberry were confiscated and I was put into a cell.

A few hours later a sergeant came into the holding area to tell me what was going on.  A Monmouth County judge had set my bail at $250,000 with no 10% option.  “But there’s really no bail,” he said, “even if you post the $250,000 the fugitive warrant is still in place and you’ll be arrested again.”   “Your wife called, we’ll let you call her back in the morning before we transfer you to the county jail.”  “What are the charges?” I asked.  “Some kind of theft,” was his answer.

I managed to get some sleep on the thin plastic mattress and with the lights on.  In the morning an officer sat with me while I called my wife from a police station line that was being recorded.  I was given access to my blackberry to read her phone numbers for my attorney, family members and friends that she should call. I sent a text to my attorney.

Then I was transferred to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution where I spent the next three weeks.

$12,000 vs. $250,000 or $150,000

Why my bail was set so high in Monmouth County compared to the bail required in Delaware (where I am not a resident and have no ties to the community) remains a mystery to me.

At my bail reduction hearing in Monmouth County, which occurred after I had already been incarcerated for almost two weeks, the judge who reduced my bail to $150,000 with no 10% option said that such bail would be appropriate for like charges levied in New Jersey. 

The Asbury Park Press reported this morning that a former attorney was arrested for stealing over $200,000 from a client.  Those charges are somewhat similar to those levied against me. The former attorney’s bail was set at $35,000.

On November 1, The Asbury Park Press reported that a Wall Township attorney and her paralegal were indicted after a three year long investigation for stealing $800,000 from wards whose interests they were assigned to protect.  The attorney and the paralegal were each released on $75,000 bail.

In comparison, my bail in Monmouth County seems like an injustice and I realize that I sound like I am complaining.  That is not my intention. It is a mystery.

This experience has been incredibly difficult for me, perhaps more so for those who love me.  It has been life altering, yet I have faith that in the long run it will be for the good.

Over the next few days or weeks I’ll be writing more about my experience and some of the other differences I have noticed between New Jersey and Delaware.  

I’ll get back to writing about the political happenings in Monmouth, the State and the Nation. I’ll be writing about some of the things I missed while was away.  I may write about topics other than politics too. 

I won’t be writing about the charges against me.  Comments about the charges will be removed and those commenters blocked.  There are other sites that will accommodate my naysayers.

I am happy to be back. 

I am extremely grateful to the many, many people who have supported me throughout this ordeal and to those who have been supportive since my release two weeks ago.   In times of crisis like the one I have faced, you quickly learn who your friends are.

I am grateful to, and for, my friends and family.

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