New Jersey Nightly News; 12/06/1982

Good evening. I'm cannot I hand I'm Rolanda Watts the governor's proposed gas tax is dead but there may be an increase in the state sales tax we'll have a live report from the State House and a bill giving more money to crime victims is now law and another Bill Bill Perry will have the story of the Giants win over the Houston Oilers tonight in sports. Get both houses of the state legislature tonight are grappling with New Jersey's continuing budget crisis. Governor Kaine said today he's given up on his proposed 5 percent gasoline tax and the governor now says he will support an increase in new jersey sales tax has been following the developments and is at the State House with a live report. Can't the governor today signal his support for a sales tax to balance the budget. He said his economic policy council told him the sales tax would not harm the economic status of the state. That's the first strong indication he has given that he would sign this tax. The governor's gas tax died in the Senate and over the past few weeks he's been led to believe the sales tax could be pushed through. Senate Republican says there are pockets of support

for the sales tax although they complain that Democrats are keeping them in the dark. The gas tax may be just political bait an effort by Democrats to paint the governor into a corner so that he has no choice but to accept an income tax that's a tax that he does not want to see. Senate President Carmona has not posted the sales tax for a vote and in the assembly the Senate leader there I'm sorry the assembly leader there prefers the income tax. With me tonight are the two leaders from the Senate. We're going to first speak to Carmen Iraqiya who is the Senate president. Senate President are you keeping the Republicans in the dark while they're trying to figure out what kind of tax to put forward. That's untrue as a matter of fact it is possible that he chose to ignore the invitation that I keep getting conflicting viewpoints. He has some support for the gas tax. I also heard from members of his party his

colleagues who tell me they have maybe 10 of them. And yet the governor hasn't at this point to declare one way or the other on either measure. But you've not given the Republicans and the Republican conference or the governor. And three times in a two hour conference whether he would sign an income tax reform. He took out the report from the Economic Policy Council recommendation that he should not sign their income tax sales tax. OK I'm going to have to go to your counterpart here. And this is simply minority Senate Minority Leader Don Di Francesco. Do you feel that the Republicans are being led down the primrose path dangling one tax and then not having the support from the Democrats. Absolutely I think the Democrats have failed to come up with a plan. We produced

12 votes in the Senate for a gas tax that failed because it didn't get enough Democratic support. I'm told by Assemblyman quarter in the assembly that there are zero votes for a tax now. Very little support for a sales tax. Some support for an income tax. And other than that I get nothing from the Democratic Party. I'm going to have to break you and go on to one last note and that is in the assembly the bill did come up for a vote it was passed. You will have to wear helmets and back to Roland. Thank you Rita. A Supreme Court judge has ruled that state assembly majority leader John Doyle was negligent when he represented a client in a riparian land transaction. The Ocean County lawyer represented the buyer seller and mortgagee in the 1972 transaction and the court role that he never told his client the buyer that the state held claim to the property. Well a judge's ruling appears to open the doors for Doyle's client to now seek punitive and compensatory damages.

Governor Kaine has signed legislation that will increase the maximum compensation allowed victims of violent crimes from the current 10000 to $25000. The new law sponsored by Senate president Carmen Recchi increases the maximum benefit for the first time since the violent crime compensation board was established in 1971 and Ed. The law also allows for a system of providing counseling services for the victims. The Compensation Board is funded by the state and through fines imposed on those found guilty of crimes. A young Mendham Township woman has been found stabbed to death along Route 80. But state police say there is apparently no connection between this crime and the stabbing of a perception a cheerleader last week. Twenty five year old Deidre O'Brien was apparently abducted from her car which was found in Morris Township with the lights on and the keys in the ignition. Her body was discovered just before dawn on Sunday on Route 80 at a rest area in Warren County. Police say her body was fully clothed and there appears to be no evidence of sexual assault.

Health officials are collecting more water samples from 15 homes in Pomona township last week dangerously high levels of benzene were found in water at two homes in a section called Pomona. All of the homes received their water from individual wells. County officials are warning area residents not to drink their water if it has an oily smell or taste. The county health department has not pinpoint the source of the contamination but officials hope to have test results by tomorrow night. The millions of tourists arriving in Atlantic City this summer may be in for a rude surprise. A shortage of water. Atlantic City officials say it's due to the inaction by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA predicted months ago the contamination from Price's pet landfill would reach some of the city's wells. Dan Hodgson has more on the long cleanup effort some nine million gallons of toxic chemicals were dumped in this 22 acre site just a few miles west of Atlantic City in the early 70s. The Environmental Protection Agency agreed a

year ago to use Superfund money to clean it up. But so far it hasn't even finished a feasibility study to say exactly what would be done. Meanwhile the plume of underwater pollution is threatening the Atlantic City groundwater supply. The wreck. Though the local municipal utilities Authority says the delay is because the EPA is refusing to decide how to clean the landfill should be that decision. To my knowledge hasn't even been made today. Rushing is very fearful of making that decision because once they make the decision in Atlantic City people throughout the country are going to hold them to those same levels and that becomes a real national problem and may become a very serious problem in Atlantic City as well. Four of the city's 10 wells have been closed down to avoid possible contamination and work needed this last summer. But Goldfine feels there could be a significantly higher water demand this summer and says so far the EPA has refused to even discuss providing expensive carbon filters that would allow these wells to be used.

We did not have a hot summer in 1982. But if we get a hot summer and we have a high usage of water are they going to return the scribing units. I don't know the answer to that question but the State Department of Environmental Protection apparently doesn't share Atlantic City's concern. A spokesman said there is no immediate problem and that they're monitoring the situation closely in case the underwater pollution does get too close to the city's wells. We will take all precautions which are necessary to protect the water supply. We would not allow the water supply to become contaminated. Fine denies that that monitoring is in fact being done and no one really knows just how close to the wells the pollution is. Meanwhile the Environmental Protection Agency says the feasibility study on the cleanup will be done sometime this spring. But even under the best of conditions it will still take a couple of years for the cleanup to be completed. During that time Atlantic City will be depending on the EPA for hundreds of thousands of dollars of emergency funding to make sure its water stays drinkable at prices

that landfill in Atlantic County. I'm Dan Hart's New Jersey will have a much higher deficit of if a group of New York commuters has its way. The group wants the state Supreme Court in Trenton to declare the emergency transportation tax unconstitutional. The 21 year old tax is supposed to take in from New Yorkers the same amount they pay under their own state's income tax but their lawyer says it New Jersey's formula is and his words grotesquely disproportionate. And it seems somewhat ironic that a quiet community like Demarest in Bergen County could be so embroiled in a controversy over noise pollution. But I agree residents there claim the fire department sirens are too loud and the outcome of this battle that might Demarest could have ramifications affecting every municipality in the state. Diane doctor has more. The Packer family has lived in the shadow of the fire department siren since 1969 when the siren goes off at night and wakes up everyone in the house. And according to the head of the household the overall effect is dangerous to your

health. You can. Feel the pain that the noise causes and I mean the pain that the noise causes you can feel it and you can detect it and increasing your heart rate. There is a response you can feel you feel a little bit shaky. So doctor a dentist As for the siren and the municipality for a decade or two lower courts and an appellate court have agreed the siren is a nuisance but the courts have stopped short of telling the politicians and Demaris what to do about the problem. Demaris municipal council will meet this week to decide what to do next. The council is considering the idea substituting a radio system for the sirens but the farm Department says the pager system just isn't as effective when it comes to getting out word of a fire the fire department argues that radio pagers are just a backup system in case the sirens fail. Firemen agree the siren in front of Dr. home is loud but

the siren on top of the fire house. I would miss my house but my personal feeling is. There's not much we can do. Unfortunately yes obviously not everybody has enlisted the services of the state Public Advocate. They've asked the Department of Environmental Protection for changes in the enforcement of the state's Noise Control Act. The DP hasn't acted yet but the result could be tighter controls on emergency sirens in communities. The firemen here say sirens can never be eliminated completely. It will never happen they claim Paramus officials put their sirens out to pasture last spring and Demaris may not be that far away from Paramus.

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the racketeering conviction of Nunzio Provenzano a former official of Teamsters Local 560 in northern New Jersey without comment the high court rejected arguments that Provenzano was improperly indicted by a grand jury. The justices also left intact the related racketeering conviction of Irving Coulter a trucking companies owner in their case government attorneys claim that over a period of years Provenzano has used Coulter as a conduit to receive bribes from trucking companies. The bribes were allegedly made in return for Provenzano is arranging to relax certain rules of the national agreement between the Teamsters Union and the truckers. Well you may remember that giant corporate battle this summer the bendix corporation tried to take over Martin Marietta Marietta countered by nearly buying out Bendix. Well the dust finally settled today with the Allied corporation of Morris Township in the driver seat of both companies. The Justice Department has approved a nearly 2 billion dollar deal in which allied will acquire all of bin decks and 39 percent of Marriott

at Marietta's voting stock. It Tylenol capsules and a new tamper resistant packaging will reappear on some store shelves later this week. Officials at Johnson and Johnson in New Brunswick the company which markets Tylenol say they expect a strong response from the buying public. They add that response to discount coupons which are coupons rather which ran in newspapers across the country during a very good after the deaths of seven people in the Chicago area were linked to cyanide laced capsules of extra strength Tylenol in late September. The product was recalled from store shelves by J and J. We're having a heat wave of the summer heat wave. There hasn't been much need for New Jerseyans to head for the Florida sunshine so far this fall. Today the temperatures reached the 70s a year ago today in Newark it was 30 degrees reports that most people are enjoying the unexpected mild temperatures. Trenton State College student Pamela Galen thought today was pleasant enough to leave her shoes at home and Township resident who decided this was a perfect day to pursue her hobby

fishing. The December heat wave has come to the Garden State. Yesterday it brought high temperatures of 77 and Lakers to 73 in Atlantic City and 71 in Trenton by 8 o'clock this morning the mercury resumed at 72 degrees in Newark tying a record set in one thousand forty six. The normal high temperature for this time of year is thirty eight degrees. People who would normally be bundled up in layers of clothing today waited for the bus in Princeton mail carrier Bill Shields couldn't ask for better weather for making his appointed rounds. I think it's fantastic this way all the way to March and all the time and you know give me a chance to. Think you know where it is whether it's just about it. But this is the worst kind of weather for taxicab drivers. Too many people are walking very much. It's probably less than half the usual cost.

For the taxi cab business. And just why are we enjoying springtime temperatures in December. Jim Robinson of The National Weather Service in Newark has the answer. The main reason. Double. System down there that came down here with our home to continue here only open to more questions for Chicago cold days and nights are still ahead. The forecast for a severe winter that came out earlier this year is being modified balmy December days are drawing to a close. But after the Weather Service says the first in a series of cold fronts will move into the state tonight gradually bringing temperatures down but the long range outlook is good. The forecast higher than normal precipitation with higher than normal temperatures in January February and March. I'm Larry. Well while the weather may be balmy today the state transportation department is thinking

snow officials admit the recent round of layoffs and budget cuts will mean less efficient snow removal this winter. And Brenda Flanagan reports one state workers union fears the employer will create unsafe job conditions as well. Blankets New Jersey highways the Transportation Department keeps half of its regular day on overtime. These workers clear the highways until midnight when the second shift comes on to finish the job. During the last round of state budget cuts 60 to snow removal employees lost their jobs and state union bosses fear the consequences. Of working over 60 and tiring work. The union wants those 62 workers rehired. The Transportation Department says it can't

do that. Instead it plans to work regular hours with fewer people. It will just take a little longer. There will be less people on the trucks less equipment out there. But you're not going to be working these people for extended periods of overtime. No we can't we have a tire just factor or people can only work so much in any given day. The department will train other employees to handle the snowplows but that will take weeks. In the meantime snow removal crews will be hampered not only by the lack of manpower but also by the problem of broken equipment. On any given day we do have about 30 percent of our fleet because of its age and lack of. Replacement parts again because of age. A limo blames the situation on budget cuts made over the last two years. He warns that if his department doesn't get a renewed source of steady funding the problem will only get worse. In Trenton I'm Brenda Flanagan.

No snow yet in the weather forecast here's a look. Clear and cool tonight lows will be in the 40s tomorrow it will be sunny and cool highs will be in the upper 40s to low 50s and the outlook for Wednesday sunny with temperatures around 50 degrees. In Iraq. As we reported earlier Governor Kaine's proposed gasoline tax is apparently dead and the governor is now leaning toward support of an increase in New Jersey state sales tax to

balance the budget. Michael Aaron is standing by live at the State House with the governor's council. Kerry Edwards Michael. Thank you Rolonda. Mr. Edwards people are saying that what's really going on in this house is that Ellen Karcher and the Democrats are trying to force the governor to sign the one tax he finds most odious the income taxes that. Is that what's happening here. Well I think we're seeing the legislature and various members of the legislature come up with their own alternative to solving the problem Alan Carter's is the income tax. Now the governor has stated that he thinks that's the worst of the alternatives that are out there for him to consider and the Economic Policy Council unsolicited sent him a recommendation at that time of recession that this is just not the right form of taxation to go in. And I think you're seeing a struggle internally within the legislature and alternatives. The governor is still waiting for someone to come up with an alternative. But now the governor has sort of backed the sales tax increase or giving a nod in that direction at least. Is he backing another loser Alan Karcher says a sales tax increase will never pass the

assembly. Well the governor is not backing any proposal. He's looking for the legislature to arrive at a consensus they have the votes for. If you've got 15 votes in one house and five in another for an income tax and seven for a sales tax and eight for you know a sales tax the other end that's not enough to pass it in either house. He's looking for something that the legislature can coalesce around and a consensus can be built around. He can't pass one himself and it requires both houses to agree and he's asking them tell me where you have the votes and I'll consider it I'll give you any data that I have about its competitiveness versus other states which was the answer he gave on the sales tax or what the economic policy counselor or his advisor Are you saying he isn't giving a nod in the direction of the sales tax. No I don't think he's giving a nod in a direction of any tax he's trying to give answers and his own honest opinion publicly which taxes he. He prefers it how he feels about them if they're going to come to him with a consensus. But he still has not ruled out any one of them. Two weeks ago he asked for a gas tax he put his prestige on the line that just

went nowhere. What went wrong. Finally getting it wrong I think the same day he was making that speech in his house about two hours later but later President Reagan was announcing he was supporting a 5 percent tax. And that's 10 cents all at one time and I think the legislature reacted and probably wisely that they did too much to ask the drivers of the state to pay all at once. Some people say he's not lobbying personally hard enough with individual legislators to get any of these measures passed particularly gas tax what do you say to that. Well he is trying to lobby with legislators to point out to them the seriousness of the problem that they have to address and he's prepared to make the cuts. Now they come back and tell him to make the cuts I'm sure he'll do that. I'm told that he was given a list of names of senators to call over the first weekend after his gas tax and that he didn't make those telephone calls. Is that true. No that's not true I didn't get a list of of legislators to call there was a some discussion about finding out which legislators were not going to support a gas tax. And would you be willing to and he said yes I would I'll meet with anybody on any subject matter that they want to. And that means any legislator who's got any

ideas not just the leadership. OK. Kerry-Edwards governors Council. Thanks very much. Back to you can. Bill Perry will bring you his sports report when we return. I Giants when yesterday Bill Perry is here with details Bill. Thank you a lot of the giants finally came alive offensively yesterday just in time to get used in 1714 and keep their playoff hopes alive Rob Carpenter was back so on the first play.

Give it to Rob he got seven yards but there was a holding call and that was the story early move the ball a little bit. But mistakes missed field goals penalties and the bottom line was the Giants had just three points until late in the fourth quarter I talked it over with Giants Coach Ray Perkins really the offensive lethargy for about seven period seven and a half periods the Detroit game in this game and all of sudden last eight minutes you come alive to explain that. Sentiment is men. Yeah. You know the big thing I think of our game today. We had a chance to win money you know. And then finally when we knew we had to score twice and there was about seven or eight minutes on the clock we got to score twice. You know we have some guys to make plays force right. Big plays down 21 your pick up

just over seven minutes to play. Does he have good hands. Couldn't get his first pro touchdown and he had fumbled in the third quarter on a first and 10 at the three minutes. Does he have good hands. Great grandpa passed down 30 yards. Giants up 17 14 330. Came up with three straight sacks to prevent him from mounting the Giants. Now today's game was must if you will last and it looked like you might have one in four. You know our backs are against the wall just like it was about this time last year. In the midst of what we have to look at it that way you know in a stronger see what we're made out of. See what we're made out of love that kind of talk next for the Giants the one for you girls at Giants Stadium. That's a Saturday game the Devils play tonight at the Meadowlands Arena hosting Winnipeg New Jersey at its modest two game winning streak snapped Saturday night in Detroit it looked good for a while Steve Tambellini got his

11th goal of the season to give the devils a 2 to 1 lead in the second period but it was all Detroit from their Red Wings tied it later in the second here third period might blazed out with the game. This made it three to two then Detroit with three more goals they wanted. 6 2 is the final. The nets won their fourth in a row last night New Jersey want to wait Milwaukee want to three and today comes word the fuck Williams has been named NBA player of the week Bucs for Game number 65 rebounds 63 points that's sixteen point two rebounds per game and fifteen point seven points per game last night Buck had 13 points and 15 rebounds nets went out to the early lead Darwyn Cooke had 18 points and that's with balance scoring They led by 10 after one by 15 at the half and by as many as 18 in the third quarter. Albert King involved in that balance scoring Albert with 14 points and Darryl Dawkins had 15 points but in the second half JR Bridgeman got hot from Milwaukee you'll see Jr. He had 22 points in eight of 10 from the floor Bucs came back but the nets held on to win and Ricky Johnson the former net was clutch Brian Winters had the opportunity to tie it for the bucks with that three point try with just about. What was it about

six seconds left in the game he missed it and then Johnson went to the other and hit his free throws Mickey at 20 points against his former teammates and the nets won but I already told you that college basketball tonight. Seton Hall plays at home the one in one pirates against St. Bonaventure at the Meadowlands Arena Saturday afternoon the defending national champion Tar Heels from North Carolina looked miserable against LSU for a half Tigers led 21 9 after 20 minutes and see did everything wrong. How about a steal for LSU and the rim rattling slam by Jerry Reynolds but NC came back they won it. Forty seven forty three buzz Peterson hit nine straight shots from the floor in the second half for Carolina. Only eight thousand one hundred forty however turned out that was a big ballgame finally army has fired their football coach Ed Cavanaugh is out. That's our Sports Bill and that's our news for this Monday night. I'm can't manage them and I'm Rolonda Watts from all of us here in New Jersey nightly news tonight. New Jersey has made possible one point blank grant from the.

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