Author: William Cleary Sr.

Life long Gloucester City resident, born in 1944. Graduated from Gloucester Catholic High School Class of 1963. Attended Camden County College. Army National Guard 1964 to 1970. Activated in 1967 during the Newark Riots. Worked full-time at the Gloucester City Post Office from 1967 to 1978. Worked part-time at the Gloucester City News from 1965 to 1977. In 1978 I was named editor of the Gloucester City News and Camden County Record. Purchased the City News in 1985. In 2005 the paper was sold. In 2006 I established Cleary's Notebook. At the age of 81 I remain editor of Cleary's Notebook News writing commentary and reporting the news for South Jersey and Philadelphia regions.

Gloucester City Taxpayers Spent Thousands on a New Street Sweeper; Why Doesn’t it Work?

William E. Cleary Sr. | CNBNews

GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (JUNE 13, 2025) (CNBNews)— Photos taken on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, on North Stinson Avenue show piles of dirt left behind by the street sweeper as it traveled towards East Thompson Avenue. On that day, the sweeper deposited dirt in the middle of the street and along the curb, with an additional pile at the corner of East Thompson and North Stinson Avenue. A recurring question from CNBNews and local residents is: Why isn’t water being used to clean the streets and minimize the dust cloud that follows the sweeper as it operates in Riverview Heights and other areas of the city?

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CNBNews Cheers & Jeers

William E. Cleary Sr. | CNBNews

JEER-Four years of Joe Biden and the Progressive Democrats in Washington, and this is the result. The illegal immigrant is standing on top of a destroyed Los Angeles police car holding a Mexican flag on Sunday, June 8, 2025. The criminal is dressed like a character from a Mad Max movie with skulls on his pants and a skull mask. President Trump has authorized the deployment of U.S. Marines from the 29Palms military base. The City of Twentynine Palms, California, in the southern Mojave Desert, is the home of Joshua Tree National Park headquarters and north entrance and proud host of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, the world’s largest Marine Corps training base.

Gloucester Catholic baseball players douse Coach Dennis Barth after he chalked up his 600th game. His team beat St. Thomas Aquinas, winning the NJSIAA Non-Public B Baseball Championship. (photo Scott Faytok | courtesy of NJ Advance Media)

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CNBNews Opinion: A Full-Time Gloucester City Administrator is Needed Now

Three years ago, on April 27, 2022, CNBNews had the pleasure of speaking with Brian Morrell, Gloucester City’s acting administrator and Police Chief, about the city’s approach to abandoned vehicles. During our enlightening conversation, he shared important insights about enforcement, explaining that the responsibility lies with the City Housing Office rather than the police department. It’s fascinating to note that, although abandoned vehicles aren’t technically classified as a crime, the city’s ordinance implies otherwise. When we discussed if an amendment was made to the original ordinance, Morrell honestly admitted he wasn’t sure, which added an interesting layer to our dialogue.

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What does blight like this say about Gloucester City? “Some have no community pride.”

GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (May 8, 2025)(CNBNews)–THE three vehicles were moved to 241 S. Broadway by the property owner, a Philadelphia resident, in 2022. At that time, he alleged that parking officials in Philadelphia were going to fine him if he didn’t remove them, and that was the reason he relocated them to Gloucester City. That same individual threatened CNBNews with a lawsuit in 2022 for taking pictures of those cars from the street. According to public records, the owner is Father & Son Enterprises LLC. The property was purchased in 2008 for $147,500, with property taxes assessed at $7,614 on a value of $151,900. Some businesses that have occupied the property over the years include Gloucester Auto, owned by Bud Goldy, and Towne House Florist, owned by Charles Sarlo. [photo credit CNBNews]

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CONSULTANT SUGGESTS MAJOR CHANGES FOR GLOUCESTER CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT

GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (FEBRUARY 2024)(CNBNews)—The Gloucester City Mayor Dayl Baile and Council hired the Smith Consulting Group of Ocean City, NJ, in 2024 to assess the members Gloucester City paid fire department. The owner, James P. Smith Jr., has 30 years of experience in firefighting and is the Ocean City Fire Chief overseeing 67 department members.

According to the report, the 14-page evaluation was conducted by interviewing all 22 department members to understand their issues, views, perspectives, and ideas for future growth.

After interviewing the members, the evaluator observed that discipline needs to be consistently administered and that officers should be trained to handle infractions. The report mentioned that nine people, or 40 percent, have left the department over the past 11 years.

Smith released 20 recommendations, each placed under a subtitle. For example, under the title DISCIPLINE Smith wrote in part;

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Cleary’s Court Case Keeps Being Canceled

GLOUCESTER CITY ,NJ (November 2023)(CNBNews)—William E. Cleary Sr., editor of CNBNews appeared in Gloucester City Municipal Court on Tuesday, November 2023 to answer two trespassing charges for walking around the Cold Springs Elementary School, located at Cold Springs Drive and Market Street, and one theft charge. Cleary took a children’s bench that he thought was trash as it was lying on the asphalt behind the school with other trash next to a trash dumpster. When he learned it wasn’t trash, he contacted the police, returned the bench to the school, and placed it in the same trash pile from which he got it.

At the November 21 hearing he was given two choices: plead guilty or take the matter to trial. He was told by his attorney Justin Moore, whose law office is in Collingswood, he should be prepared to pay heavy fines if he plead guilty. The penalty varies based on the value of the goods. The value of the bench was set at $500. The penalty for a third-degree felony is 3 to 5 years of incarceration and a fine of up to $10,000.

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PEYTON AND ME at FREEDOM PIER

(SEPTEMBER 2021)Construction completed in 1914. Ships used to dock at Freedom Pier carrying immigrants to the port of Philadelphia. The large building to the east was used a processing center by the Department of Immigration. In 1945 the site was converted into a US Coast Guard Station and the pier was used to dock the buoy tenders “Red Oak” and Lilac and several 40′ patrol boats. In 1988 the Coast Guard moved into a new facility in Philadelphia.

Gloucester City’s Freedom Pier will be 10 years old this coming September. The exact date of the unveiling of the pier was September 17, 2011. Approximately 100 people attended the dedication including State Senator Donald Norcross, Assemblymen Gilbert Whip Wilson, and Angel Fuentes, Sheriff and former City Mayor CHALIE Billingham, Freeholder and former City Councilman Tom Gurick, Councilmen Nick Marchese, Jay Brophy and Dan Spencer, City Historian Dave Munn, School Board President Louisa Lwellyn and St. Mary’s Church Deacon Frank Crosson.

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The Story Behind The Story: Daylight Savings Time Forever

by Dorothy Philbin | CNBNews Contributor

The United States Senate has passed a bill submitted by Sen. Marco Rubio (R, FL) to make Daylight Savings Time permanent. Sen. Rubio made some valid points in his bill. During the standard time when evening comes at 5:00 p.m. crime rate is higher, people become depressed due to Seasonal Affective Disorder and for an unknown reason, people have more heart attacks. There is also the hope, optimistically, that with more daylight kids will spend more time outside getting exercise.

image courtesy of The Farmers Almanac

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THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY:Response to School District of Philadelphia CEO Candidates

BY DOROTHY PHILBIN | CNBNews Contributor

When I taught at West Philadelphia High School a student named S.M. was the valedictorian the first year I was there. I’m happy for everyone who works hard enough to place first in a class of more than 300 students. He should have been very proud.

At that time the CEO (Superintendent) of the district was Paul Vallas who, in my opinion, was doing a wonderful job. His first priority was to buy all new textbooks for every student. Other, similar priorities quickly followed. Sadly, for S.M. it was too little, too late. Even though he was valedictorian he had to take a remedial math course over the summer to enter college in September. The school hadn’t prepared him to take an entry-level college math course.

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THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Is Teach for America an Unfair Program?

BY DOROTHY PHILBIN | CNBNews Contributor

GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (March 16, 2022)–Cleary’s Notebook (CNBNews) this week printed an article about the Teach for America program and they, as with many employers, can’t fill openings. In their case they have hundreds into thousands of openings. I had experience with Teach for America when I taught in the School District of Philadelphia. I felt it was a very unfair program.