The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 1

section new jerseymetro Thursday, February 16, 1984 cutting By DOROTHY STORCK a News of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware on the state's financial resources." The formal report, which could still be modified, is not expected to be presented to Kean until March 15. But it immediately came under attack by the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), whose officials promised to try to block the plan's adoption in the legislature. "This, we think, is the most outrageous assault that has ever been attempted on the public pension funds in the state of New Jersey," said NJEA president Edithe A. Fulton, during a news conference in the 3 percent of a retiree's pension, would apply to all pensioners and current employees. Currently, pensions are increased at a rate equal to 60 percent of the annual inflation rate.

Details of the commission's report were released yesterday by commission members Harry W. Baldwin and Robert D. Franks, a Republican assemblyman from Union. Gov. Kean created the commission in May 1982, asking for recommendations to keep the pension system solvent "while not placing ever-increasing burdens ployees and current employees under the age of 40 with less than 10' years of service, according to commission members who discussed portions of the report yesterday.

Among the recommendations that would apply to such employees are raising to 62 from 55 the age at which employees with at least 25 years of service can retire with full benefits. The full-benefit retirement age for employees with less than 25 years of service would go to 65 from 60. Another proposal, limiting annual cost-of-living increases in benefits to Assembly chambers in the State-house. "As far as we're concerned," Fulton said, "the bottom line is no reduction in benefits." Franks, however, said that overall, the recommendations "strike an effective balance" that would guarantee "an adequate retirement benefit" for public employees at a reasonable cost to the public. Franks said that if the current pension system was not changed, "20 years down the road we will not be (See COMMISSION on 2-B) By Joseph A.

Slobodzian Inquirer Trenton Bureau TRENTON A special panel studying New Jersey's pension and benefit system will recommend extensive revisions next month that would limit pensioners' cost-of-living increases, lower retirement benefits for public employees and require employees to share in the cost of health-care benefits, commission members said yesterday Many of the tentative pension proposals by the 11-member commission would apply only to new public em Olympics give the spirit a lift I can't fathom the Nielsen ratings. but I have been captured by the coverage of the Olympic Games ever since the opening ceremonies last week. This is not so much a paean to ABC, which as far as I can tell is doing its usual workmanlike job in telecasting Big Sports, as it is praise for the games. I'm astounded that anyone could turn from the action in Sarajevo to the made-lor-TV dramas on CBS and NBC, which, I gather, have been win- ning the viewer ratings over the Olympics. PplllfliSillM A Granted there is a time delay be-' fore the evening broadcast of the games.

For those who demand suspense, the early news of wins and losses may be a deterrent to evening viewing. Most of the TV news shows under stand this and give a considerate warning before the early returns from Sarajevo are broadcast, silently, allowing you to shut your eyes. I've been doing just that, although the one day I peeked it was the day Debbie Armstrong made her tremen-dous run in the women's giant sla lom I could hardly wait to get home that night to watch the replay Not hooked on sports I am not hooked on sports, Ameri-can style. Big-time sports in America with the possible exception of tennis, are geared to girth, muscle, power plays all male. When was the last time you watched a women's basket ball game? There is something ultimately deadening about forced sitting on the sidelines.

It makes for frustration and, eventually, fury. There is nothing like Super Bowl Sunday, or a World Series playoff, to make me feel like a stranger in a strange land. The Olympic Games are everything the Super Bowl is not. They're for amateurs. (I'm not so naive as to overlook the millions in commercial deals made by the top contestants, but the ideal is still ad hered to.

Look at Sweden's downhill racer Ingmar Stenmark, disqualified for signing a commercial contract.) They're international. "Jingoistic" some would say. I say that just fine. When the American flag flies over Philadelphia Inquirer BRYAN URIGSBY he says of the game Joe Ryan aims during a match at the Irish Kitchen; In darts, the point is friendship ft JWIftUtf gggw, WaJ 1 I-'. Ji, I -r-T 'n-r-rtr-r wiimrr-mi mni iimrininrilwf fliHiwewMiiniiii Maeieiawieiiiiiin in urn It's a good night out, no problems.

Joe Ryan, 42, knew why he was there. "I work for Sears, in the warehouse an exciting job, right? So it's a good night out, no problems, fraternity more than anything else." Al Cappiello, 50, a self-employed cement contractor, knew, too. "Give me a darts night out, and I'm normal. I can't chase women no more I'm too old to play softball." And he laughed at himself. Shooting darts also is a way to El lives used lived to 2 officers in Camden charge bias Say promotions favored minorities By Andrew Maykuth Inquirer Stall Writer Two Camden police officers sued their employers yesterday in U.S.

District Court in Camden, charging that they had been passed over for promotions because they are white. Officers Peter Graulich and Thomas Wesson, who had been acting juvenile detectives for three years, charged in their suit that "because of their race" they were the only two of the 13 acting detectives on the force to be passed over in December for permanent appointments to detective. Instead, the suit said, Graulich and Wesson had been demoted to officers. Detectives are paid about officers are paid about $21,000. Graulich said yesterday that eight of the 11 acting detectives who had been promoted to detective are black or Hispanic.

"There's no other apparent reason why we weren't promoted," said Graulich, who has been on the force 10 years. "Nobody had any complaints about our work." The suit named as defendants the City of Camden, Public Safety Director Arnold Cream Jr. and acting Police Chief R. Douglas Holmes. The suit asks for back pay, compensatory -damages, punitive damages and promotions for the two officers to detective positions.

Cream and Holmes could not be reached for comment. Graulich and his attorney, Steven K. Kudatzky, refused to disclose any evidence they planned to introduce supporting their contention of racial discrimination. "Those are our trump cards that will come out at the trial," said Graulich. The suit is the latest problem for Camden's police department, which has been beset in recent years by complaints over pay, promotion and hiring.

In July, the Brotherhood for Unity and Progress, a group representing the city's black police officers, complained to the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division, contending that the department had discriminated in its hiring and promotion of black officers. Gilbert Wilson, a member of the brotherhood's executive board, said Justice Department officials interviewed officers last week as a result of the group's complaint, which asks the Justice Department to sue the police department to force the hiring of more minority officers. The suit by the white police officers is unrelated to the complaint filed by the black officers. Kudatzky, who also represents Wesson, emphasized that the two officers' suit was not alleging reverse discrimination that Graulich and Wesson had been victims of affirmative-action policies.

"This is straight-out racial discrimination because they're white," he said. Until last year, the city's police department had been routinely classifying all promotions as acting positions, thereby circumventing civil service hiring requirments. Holmes has been phasing out the practice since his promotion from captain to chief in September. Even so, his appointment was challenged by the department's three other captains, who complained to the New Jersey Civil Service Commission that they had not been considered for the job. That complaint is penaing.

of boy, 7 About 7:10 a.m., Prendergast said, he was notified that the suspect was ready to sign a statement. After taking an oath and again being advised of his rights, the suspect said he had struck Gary Grant with the pipe after Gary had hit him with a rock, Prendergast said. During cross-examination, LiVolsi challenged the need for the post-midnight interrogation, saying the suspect could just as easily have been questioned in the morning. LiVolsi also challenged Prender gast's assertion that the reason the accused was not advised of his rights at the outset of the interview was that police did not consider him a suspect at that time. By Walter F.

Naedele Inquirer Stall Writer It is Tuesday night at the Irish Kitchen, a taproom at Pratt and Oakland Streets, south of Oxford Circle in Northeast Philadelphia, and the regular Tuesday darts game is in session, dominating the place. On the home team are a couple of guys whose families lived next door to each other for 15 years and who still coach Softball together. This is the first year they've tried darts, but they are not among strangers one has two nephews on the team. On the visiting team, from a Frankford tavern, several of the shooters went to the same grammar school, Cramp, and the same high school, Frankford, and still live within a five-block radius of one another. Neither eight-man team is in the top level of competition in Philadelphia, but being the best in the city is not what the shooters are about.

In taprooms like this in Brides-burg and Frankford and Tacony, all through the blue-collar neighborhoods that border the Delaware River, dart-shooting is one of the threads that continue to knit the people together. In places like the Irish Kitchen, it is the very life of the taproom. "The majority of our nighttime business is darts," said owner The Irish Kitchen's owner says darts is the main part of the tavern's nighttime business keep in touch. For years, the Ryan and Cappiello families lived next to each other, near the stop at Frankford Avenue and Pratt Street. "Yeah," said Ryan, who now a few blocks from where he to.

"I moved to the suburbs, Wissinoming. For 15 years, I next door to him, I never locked my door. I lock it now keep my kids out." Tuesdays at the Kitchen means (See DARTS on 2-B) the winner platform at the Olympics and the "Star-Spangled Banner" sounds, the lump in my throat comes from national pride without rancor. I don't get that same lump when I watch newscasts of the battleship New Jersey lobbing shells into the hills of Lebanon. Equal enthusiasm They're open equally to men and women and, as far as 1 can tell, the enthusiasm is the same for both.

(I'm even prepared to forgive ABC commentators Bob Beattie and Frank Gifford, assigned to the downhill skiing events, for referring to the women's giant slalom as the "girls'" slalom. They were enthusiastic when Debbie Armstrong and Christin Cooper copped the gold and silver, and by the next day someone had obviously tipped them off. "These glorious women Beattie said, and he was right.) They're inclusive of many athletic skills. (Any games that can include both ice dancing and the luge have my vote for scope.) Of course there are the tacky, commercial aspects to the games. Where in modern life are we without them? There is the implication that we should, win a gold medal for McDonald's.

There is the sniping over national favoritism in the scoring. (Like the whispers that the skating judge deliberately scored the Americans low because she favors the Soviets.) And there is the unfair pressure on some athletes to Go for the Gold instead of the sport, evidenced by the insistent American drumbeat for the hockey team to "perform another miracle" a la Lake Placid. But when all is said and done, who can forget the glorious moments? i Woodbury schools: Meditation to stay By Ellen O'Brien Inquirer Stall Writer WOODBURY, N.J. School district officials said last night that they did not intend to end their 20-year tradition of beginning the school day with a moment of silent meditation, despite a threat of action by the state School board president George T. Kokotailo said, however, that he was Norman Finley, 42.

"I got a women's team Monday night, two men's teams Tuesday night, Wednesday a men's league, Thursday two men's teams." Every other Friday night, there is a "turkey shoot" in which the night's best win something like a turkey or groceries or a baked ham. "And on Saturday night," Finley said, "we sing about darts." On Tuesday, some on the Kitchen team were less committed. not sure whether the district could withstand a challenge from the state. "We cannot afford a legal battle with the attorney general," he said. "He has all the lawyers.

He has all the money. And all we have is our conscience that tells us we're not wrong. "They're trying to negate what tradition has taught us. They're trying to make a nonreligious society, ratn-er than protect the religion wel cused was awake and alert throughout and twice was informed of his rights. The hearing on whether the confession may be used as evidence in the case was expected to continue today before Superior Court Judge John Himmelberger.

The 12-year-old is accused of the Jan. 12 slaying of Gary Grant 7, son of an Atlantic City police officer. Prosecutors have charged that the accused struck the child several times with a metal pipe during a fight in a vacant lot on North Carolina Avenue, then covered the body with a carpet remnant. The body was discovered Jan. 14.

New Jersey law bars the prosecu Lawyer wants confession thrown out in slaying of schools last month warned that if the moment-of-silence practice continued, the board could be subject to action by the attorney general. Arrington, meanwhile, has drafted a letter that he said he planned to send to the county superintendent, asking for a meeting. Despite the controversy over pray- Vli. n1.Anln hnt hnp ffnr.tft CI 1U JIUWUV UWAAWWUJ hUMfc ukw (See WOODBURY on 6-B) county Major Crimes Unit in North-field for further questioning. About 2:30 a.m., the suspect, whose grandmother was waiting in the lobby, acknowledged that he had been with the Grant boy.

For the next 30 minutes, Prendergast said, the suspect repeatedly changed his story before saying that young Grant had fallen accidentally while the two were playing. A few minutes later, Prendergast said, the 12-year-old said he had struck young Grant with a metal pipe. Investigators advised the 12-year-old and his grandmother that he was a suspect, Prendergast said, and both initialed a form indicating that they had been advised of their rights. were brought up with." "To say that we are 'constitutionally suspect' paints us with a big brush that I don't think is fair to the board or the students of Woodbury," Clau-dio Arrington, superintendent of Woodbury's schools, told the board at its regular meeting at the high school. office of the county superintendent tion as adults of those under age 14.

Although police have refused to publicly identify the suspect, The Inquirer has identified him as Carl Mason of Atlantic City. During direct examination by First Assistant County Prosecutor Steven Rosenfeld, homicide investigator Thomas Pi endergast said he went to the suspect's house about 9 p.m. Jan. 14 after learning that the suspect and Gary Grant Jr. had been at the home of the suspect's girlfriend on the day of the slaying.

During two brief interviews, the suspect denied that he had been with the Grant boy. About 1 a.m., Prender-gast said, investigators decided to take the suspect to the office of the Moments to remember The brother and sister team of Kitty and Peter Carruthers laughing and crying and holding each other on the ice after their spectacular pairs skating performance. Chris Cooper, in her last Olympics after struggling back from a serious knee injury, skiing over to hug exuberant 20-year-old Debbie Armstrong after the downhill run that captured the gold medal for the young skier and lost it for her older teammate. Scott Hamilton, winner in the "compulsory figures" portion of the skating finals, accepting congratulations but nodding at the graceful French runner-up: "He's the best." The shouts and applause from spectators of every nation when Yugoslavian Jure Franko brought home the first Olympic skiing medal in his country's history. For a little while, watching the Olympics, you forget to be jaded and cynical about the way the world works.

i By Louis Toscano United Press International ATLANTIC CITY An attorney for a 12-year-old boy accused of beating a playmate to death began an attempt yesterday to have the boy's confes-' sion thrown out of court, arguing that police had pressured him into making the statement. The lawyer, Philip LiVolsi, contends that detectives coerced the confession by depriving the boy of sleep during a middle-of-the-night interrogation. He maintains that the 12-year-old was in a confused state when he signed the statement But an Atlantic County homicide investigator who participated in the interrogation testified that the ac.