Feedback Sought Because Printing Must be Planned Months in Advance
WEST ORANGE, N.J. – With the nation’s 250th Birthday approaching in 2026, author John Dandola is considering re-releasing his West Orange, New Jersey, history titles in a limited print-run within a small window of time prior to July 4th.
These titles were previously pulled from sale because of repeated plagiarism and copyright infringement in his home town of West Orange.
Holly Benedict, an editor at the Quincannon Publishing Group, explains, “The astonishing problem in the past has been that no one in John’s home town—including politicians—seems to realize that they just can’t commandeer his work, remove his name, and pass it off as their own. It’s illegal and it’s been going on for years and years. The last time out, a woman felt she could just post a piece of John’s hometown-inspired artwork on Facebook without asking his permission and without the copyright marking. She was contacted but refused to make a correction. She felt she was privileged because she shared the same home town. That post wound up with a third party trying to sell T-shirts and mugs emblazoned with John’s art and not paying him. Lawyers got involved to untangle the mess she created. Facebook backed us. People just grab and don’t think then they blame the person they stole from. She pouted but never apologized. It’s ridiculous.”
Dandola is not a political animal. He undertook these histories for the benefit of the town as a whole because, to him, history shouldn’t be amended to suit present-day political needs. Unlike all previous politically appointed “town historians”, Dandola is a professional author of both fiction and non-fiction who has been trained in how to do research and how to properly interpret findings. That is rare in a town which has always celebrated its founding on the wrong year. Dandola puts his heart and soul into each project and he is generous with his sharing—generous until he is stolen from or uncredited. Should this re-release go forward, everything will pass through attorneys.
The titles are:
West Orange: A Concise and Accurate History
The West Orange Police Department: A History of Its Beginnings
The West Orange Fire Department: A History of Its Beginnings
Sun, Fun, and Pervasive Politics: A History and Memoir of Ginny Duenkel Municipal Pool (including a full history of Colgate Playground)
Up the Hill, Down the Hill: The Rise and Demise of West Orange Mountain High School 1960-1984
The WOPD and WOFD histories were requested by former chiefs. The pool/playground history was urged by a former recreation director. The high school history has never been done before and delves into what word-of-mouth rumors and the Board of Education itself always get wrong. The town history has never been done accurately with wild untrue speculations floating around throughout the years and into the present.
To leave an opinion about whether this project should go forward, please make e-mail contact through http://www.JohnDandola.com (the direct e-mail address is Author@JohnDandola.com).
