NJN News; Friday August 23, 1996

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business community and investing in New Jersey's future. First Fidelity is now first union, serving the financial needs of individuals and businesses from Connecticut to Florida. HIP Health Plan of New Jersey dedicated to providing quality health care to employees of large and small businesses, as well as individuals for two decades. And by Bell Atlantic, the heart of communication in partnership with public television, serving to inform and lighten and educate the citizens of New Jersey. NJN News with Kent Manahan, Dick Forney with Business and Jerry Henry with Sports. There are allegations of racism as problems continue to mount for the West Orange Police Department. Good evening, Kent Manahan is off. I'm Kent St. John. A West Orange law man has again become the subject of

controversy. The township's police director is accused of making a racial slur. Belinda Morton has more on the allegations and how the community is reacting to more troubles at the department. West Orange Police Director William Buddy Webb has been accused of blatantly insulting a black police officer. According to a published report in the star ledger, officer Larry Green was called into a meeting to sign a document. When officer Green asked to read what he was signing, the police director allegedly told him and I quote, what is it? The blacker you are, the dummy you are? It was an inappropriate remark and something that I'm sure director Webb is not happy about. The alleged remark has local residents outraged. It was an amazing statement in this day and age for somebody to make those kinds of racist statements that are attributable to our director is just almost unbelievable. We don't need that kind of behavior in West Orange. We don't need that kind of attitude in West Orange.

And again, I think if that really is a reflection of director Webb's sentiment, then I think he ought to leave the office. It seems that a character for Buddy Webb. I've known him long time. I haven't seen him recently, but I know years ago he was very kind and considerate of others. Webb allegedly made the comment in front of the PVA president who was told by the organization's attorney not to comment. The latest allegation comes just three days after suspended police chief Robert Spina resigned following a conviction of official misconduct charges. Local officials say the township has gone through enough. The statement will, will cause and has caused injury to our entire township, especially our minority population. I believe that those who are close to the director should encourage the director to resign so that he can seek appropriate help. Authorities say the alleged incident is being investigated internally by police officials. The West Orange

Police Chief told me he expects to present his case on Monday to the Essex County prosecutor. Belinda Morden, NJN News, West Orange. Stopping youth violence was the focus of a meeting in Newark today. Senator Bill Bradley, along with local officials, met with young people as part of a promotion to prevent youth on youth gun violence. Officials want kids to take a pledge. The students signed a voluntary promise that they will never carry a gun to school, never resolve disputes with guns and urge their friends to do the same. And a lot of students talk and say, you know, if I die so what I die if I get shot, I get shot. None of them have ever been shot. The ones that say that they've never been shot before. I let them know I know it feels like to lay on the ground, bleeding at that for six bullet wounds with age of 15. The pledge was developed by Senator Bradley and Mary Lewis. Mary Lewis is the project director of the student pledge against gun violence. Meanwhile, Bradley and Senator Frank Lottonberg say children's access to tobacco advertising on the Internet is just too easy amid the battle over tobacco regulation that

two are now asking federal officials to include the Internet in any cigarette advertising regulations. This after President Clinton today approved the tobacco crackdown. The White House says nicotine is a drug and cigarettes are a device for delivering it. It should be paying for cigarette companies to advertise. And when you're doing that by allowing them to deduct from their taxes, the price of their advertising. So I've suggested we eliminate that. Our presidential spokesman says the food and drug administration will begin enforcing new regulations that strictly control tobacco advertising and sales to minors. More pink slips today for New Jersey state workers. They were handed out to about 150 employees in the human and senior services department. Another 85 at Mariborl psychiatric hospital are also being laid off. Part of the layoffs are slated to take effect in October. However, the numbers of those let go should change because some employees will bump others with less seniority. The cuts are part of the governor's budget. Good news for the state's college-bound students. SAT scores are on the rise.

State education officials say the increases part of a ten-year trend of higher scores. Rich Jung joins us now from our Chenton Newsroom with a breakdown of how well New Jersey students are doing. Rich? Well, can't the increases slight but scores are higher on both the math and verbal sections of the SAT. The problem is the state scores are still well below the national averages. So is the state tries to catch up education officials are applauding the interim rise. Anytime you have an increase, you have to be pleased and we are happy that there's a four-point increase. Education officials had good reason to tell the state's latest SAT scores. Students are doing better on both the math and verbal sections. New Jersey's average math score is now 505. Its verbal score is 498. Both are up two points from a year ago. The education department says this year's scores combined with previous increases are part of an upward trend. In over a very long period of time, ten years, the math scores have shown dramatic increases. So that just is indicative that the trend in that area is continuing.

While New Jersey's SAT scores are higher, the state is still ranked well below national averages. But critics say you have to understand who's actually taking the test. Here in New Jersey, 70% of all high school students take the SAT. Where in some states as few as 10 to 15% of their students take the test. And they're generally the best and brightest of their classes. New Jersey is nationally ranked 34th in math and 40th in the verbal section. But educators say when 7 out of 10 high school students take the test, you get a mix of students with varied backgrounds. Some come from good schools, others do not. Other states do better, they say, because only their top students take the exam. We have a lot of systems actually where every student in the school takes the test. And Montclair, the district actually pays the fee for the SAT. And administers it to every student, even their special education students. So the basis of comparisons is a strange one on that test. But for those students who are concerned only average SAT scores may not get them into good colleges, they can relax. The College of New Jersey's average score is 1200 for incoming freshmen.

But admissions director Frank Cooper says there's more than just the SAT. We're more interested in looking at a student and a holistic standpoint. And they're used in conjunction with the students, a high school record. That's really the most important thing as far as college admissions goes. And the SATs come into play as a separating factor. And Cooper says all students need to keep that in mind. He says most colleges look at SAT scores, but they're more concerned with the students overall record. Whether or not a student maybe has taken an honors class. As for increasing the state's average scores, the education department is looking at the core curriculum standards to help do the job. For now reporting from the NJN Newsroom, I'm Rich Young. Can't back to you in the studio. Okay, Rich and I'm Trenton Newsroom. Most beaches were back open today on Long Beach Island after thousands of fish, washed ashore yesterday afternoon. Moring Duffy has more on the quick cleanup of a smelly side. As of 10am this morning, the beaches were open in Long Beach Township. But that wasn't the case less than 24 hours earlier when this was a scene. Thousands of fish littering the sands and water.

The fish, a baitfish called bunker, spilled from a torn net on a fishing vessel. The bunker ended up on the shores of Long Beach Island. Beaches all the way from ship bottom to beach haven became a stinky mess. And it took an all-out team effort to get it cleaned up. Public works crews have been out early since 6 o'clock this morning. With the assistance of many agencies and departments, particularly the public works department, that was right on the beach at first thing with the surf rakes and various officials. Conditions are great. Beaches are clean, water quality is excellent and the beaches are open. The cleanup lasted all night and early morning hours at ship bottom. Authorities say the tides and winds worked in the favor. And Long Beach Township crews were out by 5am. Even inmates from Ocean County Prison were drafted to help. The results, some pretty happy beach goers. The beach was just laden with fresh as of last evening. But boy, they were out again this morning at 7 o'clock and not a fishing site this morning. So we're very pleased. Oh, they did a wonderful job. It was really bad yesterday and we came up after the movies last night and there wasn't hardly anything left.

So they really outdid themselves. The cleanup ran into a slight snare by noon when tides changed and brought more fish to land. 20 blocks in Long Beach Township were closed again until the shores were clean. Beaches closed for health and safety reasons, but now that the fish are gone, so are the concerns. Everything is cleaned up, everything is open and it was just a nice related incident. Authorities are still searching for the vessel responsible for the mess. More in Duffy and JN News Long Beach Island. Officials say changing tides this evening could bring more fish ashore that could mean some weekend beach closings. Well, it's not dirty water or beaches, but dismal weather that's put a damper on shore businesses summer. While temperatures hit the 90 degree mark in parts of the state in general, the summer has been cool and rainy. Sandy Levine is in seaside heights and she has this report. It was a perfect day to take the plunge at this water park. Finally, relief from the rain for this counselor and his 100 campers.

These guys went bowling about 50 times this summer and this is our last day of camp. So luckily, the weather cooperated and they got to have a good time today. Bob Bennett owns this water park and seasides famous Casino Pier. He says this is the weather he's been waiting for. We've been through pollution problems, gas rationing, the economics, but give us those 90 degree days and that overcomes all the problems. State officials say up and down the Jersey Shore, the cool and rainy weather made the tourism season somewhat of a washout. Might have had a few days of rain in July, but we had some glorious weekends. And in fact, the summer is not yet over yet. Today with temperatures soaring, the beaches and boardwalk were packed. But realtors say there are still rental homes available for the holiday weekend. People who rent themselves and owners who rent their own properties are now bringing us in inventory that they have not been able to rent for last minute vacancies. So we have new properties coming on the market every day.

And even though Labor days around the corner, sure officials say they've got plenty cooking to lure tourists near into the call. We have sporting activities every weekend. We have the clown festival in September, big parade and festival for Columbus. So things of that sort. That was Sandy Levine reporting from seaside heights. Still, the calm on NJN News are political insiders. Discuss the race for the White House as Democrats begin arriving for their convention in Chicago next week. Stay with us. If you have a comment, call NJN News at 1-800-Jersey-1. Or our email address, NJN News at al.com. You Chicago is getting ready to roll out the red carpet for the Democratic Party. The national convention begins in the windy city on Monday.

Organizers are busy with all the work preparing for the invasion. The garden state will have 1201 delegates there, 60 of whom are women. Meanwhile, Republicans say they're still enjoying a bounce from their convention last week. Our own two political analysts, Republican Rancher Barberman and Democrat Jim McQueenie, disagree on what the GOP accomplished and what the Democrats have to look forward to. Well, with regard to Republican convention, one wise sage put it this way. The Conservatives won the platform, but the moderates won the convention. Jim, I think there's a lot of truth to that statement. If you take a look at the so-called convention bounce of these balls just even this week, another Reuters poll came out and said it was within five points. Jim, they got a lot of bounce out of the thing, but there were also two conventions you saw there. You saw the convention on television, which showed it to be the moderate presentation that you're saying. That's the one I care about. But what you don't see is what we saw when the cameras weren't on, which was Buchanan walking the floor, getting padded on the back by delegates.

You also saw a number of Conservatives walking the floor, ultra-conservoirs walking the floor, getting padded on the back, and it was really a stark contrast. So the party, I think, is more with the West and the South, and that Conservatives thing, rather than is with the moderates. Well, that's what you hope. But, you know, frankly, you've been around this business long enough, and you know politics is perception, just as well as I do, and the perception that came out of that convention, which I believe resulted in the kind of bounce in those polls that we're seeing. What's the fact that the moderates are highlighted? I thought it was a funny thing to hear. A funny thing to hear. A top Republican in New Jersey say, just prior to the start of the convention, saying, look, if we don't criticize this for being dull, if we get out of here dull, we get out of here alive. And a lot of that actually happened, and it was okay. But that's what these conventions are these days. I mean, these bodies, these conventions are no longer deliberative bodies. They're bodies of ratification. They ratify an earlier decision that they've been made during the primary process, and they're essentially packaged for television for image. I think you're going to see it.

And the Democrats are going to be the same. Okay. Well, Chicago, I think you're going to see a ratification process, certainly. But you're not going to see a division process, and you're going to see a story of things succeeded. The Washington Post did a survey of all the promises that Clinton made. You'll say there's a lot of them, I understand. Oh, the middle class tax cut, that promise. 70% of the promises were kept in a tally by Italian tally. And one of them is effective. He signed one of them this week, the welfare, in welfare, as we know it, a Republican proposal. I have a vetoing it twice. And I also want either to keep your health benefits when you go job to job. Another Republican bill that passed, and not the nationalized to health insurance that he tried to get through with his wife Hillary. But you'll see the economy is going to be talked about in Chicago, the performance of things, the delivery of promises. The robust economy, the tremendous growth we're enjoying here, the security and jobs that people in America feel. Same growth that Governor Whitman is saying is very good for New Jersey, which was delivered by Clinton to New Jersey as a result of her tax cut promise, which she kept. Well, one final comment, Roger. I can't resist this after we had our fun out there. I saw the vision that Dole was talking about for America. I think he needs something like this to really help and find it, given what he said. You know that, Roger? That's not what the polls say.

We shall see. I wish these could tell us the results. Meanwhile, back to you. And our political insiders will have more on the run for the White House during NJN's live coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week. Kent Manahan and Michael Aaron will bring you live broadcast at 6, 7, 30 and 11 from the convention. We'll have Della reports on New Jersey's delegation and the nominating process. We'll have live interviews with key leaders and analysis by Jim McQueenie and Roger Bodman. In other news, there are reports that residue of an explosive have been found on the wreckage of TWA Flight 800. The New York Times says FBI chemists have found traces of PETN. That's a component of some plastic explosives. The officials in charge of the investigation says he knows nothing of the chemical residue that was reportedly found. The plane crashed July 17th, killing 230 people, seven of whom were from New Jersey. Investigators will continue to probe the mechanical failure as a possible cause of the crash. Meanwhile, pilot error is now being blamed in the crash of an American Airlines jet that slammed into a Colombian mountainside last December. The Dallas Morning News is reporting the captain entered the wrong flight path into the onboard computer.

The crash killed all but four of the 163 people on board. 28 of those killed were New Jerseyans, two people from the garden states survived. A head and business, a Pacific-based real estate franchiser is now in the driver's seat with a car rental company. Nine X gets a bad reception from a state agency and New Jersey-based Rickle is shutting some of its stores in the garden state. We'll show you why. Dick 40 is off tonight. Here's the business news. Rickle home centers is hammering shut doors at 18 of its stores by the end of the year.

This store in South Runswick is among 10 scheduled to close in New Jersey. The South Plainville-based hardware and home improvement retailer is closing the stores to try to improve its financial performance. Rickle had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware in January. Financial analysts have attributed Rickle's woes to the introduction of home depot to the area. Excluding the 18 stores to be closed, Rickle operates 48 stores in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Real estate franchiser HFS signed off today on a deal to acquire Avis for $800 million and to take the car rental company public. HFS officials say the partsiphanie-based company expects to complete the deal next week. The agreement expected to close in October would bring an end to Avis' history as one of the nation's best known employee owned companies. HFS is the world's largest franchiser of hotels and residential real estate brokerage offices. Good news nationwide on the manufacturing front orders to factories for durable goods were up 1.6 percent in July. That's the second gain in three months.

Demand was higher in all major categories. The figures were stronger than expected. Some bad news is ringing in for 9x. The New York State Public Service Commission has released a report saying the telephone company had higher numbers of 24-hour alleges and provided weaker service on every other level measured by the state agency. The report comes as the PSC is reviewing whether to approve an alliance between 9x and Bell Atlantic. 9x officials have insisted that merger would not impair consumer service. The report also found 9x missed more repair appointments and received more complaints in the past year than the year before. A 9x official attributed the bad report to an increasingly complicated telecommunications industry. We'll take a look at the Wall Street numbers next. Tonight's NJN News Business Report is made possible by Core State's New Jersey National Bank providing financial services to New Jersey families and businesses. On Wall Street today, the end of the weekend on a down note.

The Dow Jones was down nearly 11 points to close the day at the 5722 level. 388 million shares were traded. The mx was up just the fraction. The NASDAQ was off nearly a point and the standard in pours was down about three and a half. Still to come, a check on our weekend forecast and Jerry's here with a look of what's ahead in sports. Jerry? Well, can't a big coaching duel set for the metal hands on Sunday? I'll have a preview next in sports. Can't college football news?

It could be a preview of the Rose Bowl when number six USC and number eight Penn State meet in the 14th annual kickoff classic in the metal hands Sunday. The Trojans worked out today at that giant stadium. Penn State will work out tomorrow. The game matches coaches with the third and fourth highest winning percentages in college football history. Respectively Joe Paterno and John Robinson. So what are the chances of the preseason opener really living up to its billing? That's tough for coach to predict. You'll be a very competitive football game. I hope it is. You know, when you have so many young people in a game like this on both sides of the football, certain cows got to play some young people as we do. They can make some mistakes and lose their boys in the game and get a little bit out of hand. If that doesn't happen, I think it'll be a very competitive game. There'll be some sloppiness, but I think it's going to be a good game. There's some sloppiness in the Super Bowl, too. So let's not get ourselves a bad perfection. I think it's two good teams. I expect it to be one of those who come down to the wire. The game is sold out for the third time in the classics history.

At Rutgers, the season begins a week from tomorrow, and the battle continues for the starting quarterback slot. The main thing right now, we just got to wait for a decision. It's like waiting for a verdict and a jury and a trial. So we just got to wait. Sophomore Corey Valentine has been waiting a long time for a shot at the starting job. He's in a fierce battle for the slot alone with Junior Ralph Sacka. If the name sounds familiar, he's the younger brother of former Penn State star, Tony Sacka, and John Sacka, the two very successful division one quarterbacks. Tony is now in the NFL. Is it any more pressure on Ralph because he comes from such a tradition of quarterback? I don't think so. I'm Ralph and my brothers did what they did, and it was great. And I just got to go out and do my best, and that's all I can do. Running a close third is walk on Mike Stevens, who passed on football last season to concentrate on baseball. I believe it's still a two-player race between Ralph Sacka and Corey Valentine. I'll bring the quarterbacks in on Sunday,

sit them down and form them of our decision, and then starting on Monday, that starting quarterback will take over. We all work together, we all try and learn the offense together, so it makes it much easier that we all can get along together. You know, and the best made the best man win. As you can see, it's a friendly battle, Kent. And of course, as you know, the giants in their preseason tonight as well as the Eagles. After all this, counts for real. But that's what competition is all about. Exactly. Let's see, the best man win. Okay, thanks, Sheriff. Today was one of the hottest days of the year. We saw the Mercury soared to above 90. The high hit 92 in Lakehurst. It was a great day to hit the pools around the state. These kids at the ravine swim club in West Trenton were cooling off in the water, having lots of fun. As far as ozone levels, the hot and sunny weather made for cold red or unhelpful ozone levels in Ocean County. People with heart or lung problems should limit outdoor activities when levels are unhelpful. Tomorrow, rain could drop ozone levels into the cold green or good range in North Jersey tonight. Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain, lows of 65.

Tomorrow, a mix of sun and clouds with a chance of a shower, highs of 85 in South Jersey tonight. Cloudy with a chance of a shower, tomorrow partly sunny, with a chance of some rain, highs in the mid 80s. That's our news for tonight. For Dick Borney, Kent Manahan, Jerry Henry, I'm Kent St. John. You have a great weekend. You have a great weekend. You

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