East Camden

The sight of broken TVs, an old couch, and wooden debris scattered along Adams Avenue in East Camden on Monday morning was familiar for the Rev. William "Jud" Weiksnar. The pastor of St. Anthony of Padua parish has fought the city and Camden County for about seven years to end similar illegal dumping a few blocks away in Von Neida Park. But instead of his usual rage over the mounds of garbage, Weiksnar had an ear-to-ear smile Monday as he stood behind Camden Mayor Dana L. Redd, who was in the neighborhood to announce a new initiative designed to crack down on illegal dumping in the city.

When 18-year-old twins Jordan and Brandon Tabb walk into Latino Barbershop II in East Camden, they are greeted with a smile - and responsibilities. The brothers help barber Jorge Maldonado mop the floors and wipe the windows between clients, or sometimes before or after business hours. Cleaning is part of working at a small business, Maldonado, 24, tells them, stressing to his young friends that running a business is hard work. Since January, Maldonado has been mentoring the twins as part of a citywide program through the Center for Family Services, a nonprofit that runs more than 40 social-services programs in South Jersey.

A Camden man detained Thursday as a suspect in a robbery is expected to also be charged in a series of daytime sexual assaults in the city in the area of Farnham Park, near Baird and Park Boulevards, authorities said. Kevin D. Cleveland, 19, of the 400 block of Rand Street, was taken into custody earlier in the day in the robbery of a "juvenile female" in Farnham Park about 12:30 p.m. Jan. 2 - more than two weeks before the first of three confirmed sexual assaults, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and Camden police said.

In a city where there is seldom any good news, the story of Camden youngster Jorge Cartagena is a refreshing story of good triumphing over evil. Last June, Jorge, 9, was caught in the cross fire between two drug dealers. He was shot in the face and callously left on a city sidewalk. After spending months in the hospital, he woke up from a coma blind. His alleged assailant was arrested shortly after the shooting that forever changed a young boy's life. Jorge could easily be a poster child for senseless violence in Camden, ranked one of the most dangerous cities in the country.

Agnes Klein Lieberman, 83, a Holocaust survivor who operated the Cherry Hill Kosher Market for 30 years, died of heart failure Tuesday, March 1, at her daughter's home in Vineland, N.J. Mrs. Lieberman, her parents, and three siblings were taken from their home in Hungary by German soldiers during World War II. In 1990, she shared with an Inquirer reporter the terror and anguish she felt when her mother and father were taken to their death. She recalled spending time at concentration camps, including Auschwitz, where she witnessed unthinkable events as a teenager.

As he was walking home through East Camden to feed his pet parakeets one Monday in June, 9-year-old Jorge Cartagena was struck in the temple by a bullet and left blinded - making him the 103d shooting victim in the city at that point last year. The alleged shooter, Greg Rawls, 29, who police said was aiming at someone else and has served time on drug convictions, was quickly arrested. On Tuesday, both the child and his alleged assailant were key parts in an emotional call to action by city and county officials urging residents to support a proposed regional police force that they said would help improve policing in the violence-racked city.

By the time all the dignitaries, friends, and others close to former Camden Mayor Melvin R. "Randy" Primas Jr. arrived at his funeral Friday, most were done mourning. Friday's ceremony, which started with a two-hour viewing and concluded with a 90-minute "home-going" service at St. John Baptist Church in East Camden, featured more laughs than tears. It was a reunion for current and former politicians, clergy and residents. People hugged and waved from opposite sides of the church, which was filled with nearly 1,000 people.

The lady who brands herself the Diva of Do Right really, really doesn't want to go there. "I wish I could ignore Anthony Weiner," Phyllis Kae says with a sigh, pondering that congressional tweeter with the heater. "But I honestly believe I have something important to say. "I don't care what he has in his pants!" An ethics consultant, private investigator, and bail-bondswoman based in Camden, Kae, 65, has plenty more to say. She just published a book ( Wanted: Everyday Ethics )