The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 1

ection News of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware 9-e. new jerseymetro Friday, January 27, 1984 1 -fc 4P, Ey FRANK ROSSI vvdbiC-u 10 vAiibiticicvl financing. Those involved in yesterday's meeting said they were pleased with what they called an attitude of cooperation. "There was a bipartisan recognition that New Jersey, because of its dense population and small size, has a lack of suitable land for solid-waste disposal," said Assemblyman Harry A. McEnroe Essex), who will be the prime sponsor of the proposed bill.

McEnroe said he expected the bill to be introduced in about two weeks, to get committee consideration in March and to gain final passage by the end of the year. the proposal would impose surcharges on garbage and trash dumped in New Jersey landfills. Hughey said the surcharge would raise the price of disposal, discouraging dumping by out-of-state customers, such as Philadelphia and New York, and reducing the flow of garbage to New Jersey. The surcharge also would include a bonus for counties cooperating in solid-waste disposal, penalizing those who do not. And because part of the surcharge would be placed in a special account to help counties pay for upgrading and creating new landfills, Hughey said, it will help ease the financial burden on local governments.

Hughey also was optimistic, saying "We have to see upgraded landfills, we have to see some major progress on resource recovery. And 1 think we're going to see it because we really don't have any choice. This is one of those problems that is very complex but the base is very simple: There are no alternatives to doing it the right way." Hughey said New Jersey had been running out of landfill space since 1965 and had been in a crisis since 1972. He said that even with shared use of existing landfills, the state would run out of landfill capacity in two to three years if no new sites were built. By Joseph A.

Slobodzian Inquirer Trenton Bureau TRENTON Gov. Kean and state environmental officials met with legislative leaders yesterday to outline a proposed bill that would help New Jersey better cope with the burgeoning problem of garbage and solid-waste disposal. No action was taken at the meeting, which state officials described as a briefing on the complex legislation, which is expected to be introduced later this year. According to Robert E. Hughey, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, The bill also would marshal tax incentives and other programs to encourage cooperation between government and businesses in building "resource recovery" facilities in which garbage and solid wastes are burned in an environmentally safe way to produce steam and generate electricity.

Hughey said such private-public marriages had worked "very well" in resource-recovery projects. The companies provide equity and investment money that governments could get only through prohibitive tax increases or bonded indebtedness. In return, Hughey said, the business receives tax depreciation credits and Program power Report on abuse is issued Atlantic City force is mildly criticized Children learn to 'teach' their computers jmwhu lummy Itesf way to fix that bridge God had His reasons when He put the Delaware River between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He didn't want too many people from Pennsylvania going to the shore for the summer. But what God has made, man will always put asunder.

No sooner had He finished creating the Delaware than some guy showed up with a rowboat and started charging people a quarter to get across. Follow the history out and eventually you get to the Ben Franklin Bridge. When it opened in 1926, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world. And at a total cost of $29 million, it was a bargain. Now, in 1984, the story is that the Ben Franklin Bridge is rotting and falling apart, and it's only going to cost $69 million to fix it.

And guess who's going to pay? You got it. The psychology The folks who run the Ben Franklin and three other bridges that feed into Philadelphia want to raise the toll from 7S cents to $1. That's a dollar in and a dollar out. Now you know where the phrase "they get you coming and going" came from. To get the proper feeling for all this, you have to understand the psychology of bridges.

The existence of bridges around here allows you to live in South Jersey and work in Philadelphia, or vice versa. Which you really appreciate in the beginning. Paying that toll day after day, however, eventually breeds resentment. After a while, you dream of figuring a way to cross the bridge without paying and without getting nailed by the bridge police. In fact, once in a while, you do.

Remember the time the light was green and the barrier was up? You went through without paying. Don't lie. So now the Delaware River Port Authority wants a SI toll by July 1. Before they jack up the price they have to hold public hearings, but protesting the increase would probably have no more impact than would a spit in a thunderstorm. PtuiMelplua mquM CHUCK Greenfield first graders Fawn McNeil and Michael Greaves try out a program By Vernon Loeb Inquirer Staff Writer A year ago, the Albert M.

Greenfield School had just one computer for a few pupils doing special projects, and Stan Sheck-man wasn't sure the school needed any more. "I just didn't want to buy a bunch of toys something that would be worthless," Sheckman recalled. But as principal of what is perhaps the city's most prestigious public elementary school, at 23d and Chestnut Streets in Center City, Sheckman knew that he could not ignore computers, either. So he started looking into what other School systems were doing with them. And gradually he came to the conclusion that the time was right at Greenfield for a full-fledged computer program.

"We wanted to be the school of the future today," Sheckman was saying yesterday morning, sounding like the proud father of a newborn. "And we've done it." Indeed, Greenfield's computer program is a prototype of what city school officials say they hope to have in place at every elementary school within five years. It revolves around a third-floor computer lab, equipped with 34 Commodore computers one i per child in each class. All of the school's 915 students, from kindergarten through eighth grade, spend one 45-min-ute period a week in the lab, learning to make geometric shapes on the computers by using a simple programming language called Logo. And the center is staffed full time by a teacher, Pamela Freyd, who has been trained to teach students to use Logo and another programming language called Basic.

As a model, according to Sheckman and Mrs. Freyd, this much can be said for the benefit of parents citywide: It works. "We're learning something new every week," Sheckman said. "We're learning something new about what children can learn. We have enriched the curriculum, not taken from the curriculum.

And of course our great-(See SCHOOL on 2-B) By Mike Schurman Special to The Inquirer ATLANTIC CITY Atlantic County Prosecutor Joseph Fusco, in a report issued yesterday, said that although police abuse had not been widespread, the command of the city's police department had shown laxity and a lack of leadership in processing citizen complaints. Fusco said his office investigated 109 incidents of alleged brutality and found that 22 cases involving 23 officers warranted further review by the department's internal affairs office. Six officers were involved iti more than one incident. Report sent to mayor Fusco made the findings public in a nine-page report titled "Excessive Force and Police Discipline," which was sent to Mayor Michael J. Matthews.

Fusco said the four-month investigation showed that use of excessive force was not "rampant" among the police department 385 officers. "It's like a good report card," Matthews said after reviewing the report. "The way people were talking about police brutality six months ago, this report proves they're wrong," he said. "Most of the criticism in the report has already been corrected. The remainder of the problems will be totally corrected." Police Chief Joseph Allmond said the report offered some constructive criticism.

'A minute bit "It exonerates what I have been saying all along, that there might be a minute bit of police brutality as there is in any police department in this country," Allmond said. In the report, Fusco said, "In my opinion, the solvable problem of excessive police force is a result of a failure of effective police discipline." He said that police made 16,000 arrests during the period studied by his office, from July 1981 through December 1983. Fusco said that as a result of his investigation, Allmond, Deputy Chief Joseph Pasquale and Inspector Robert Mears "agreed to review and further investigate and resolve by Feb. 24" the 22 allegations of brutality. 'A good look "We think the injuries are serious enough to require a good look, or the circumstances are serious enough to require a good look.

The information in the files was not adequate," Fusco said. Fusco said his request for further information on the 22 cases was not an indictment of the officers involved and might result in the officers' exonerations. Nine of the cases involved the police K-9 unit. The police command also agreed to "implement through written order prior to Feb. 24 significant improvements in the department's system of administrative response to allegations of misconduct." Fusco said that since his investigation began, police had improved how (See POLICE on 3-H) -7 5 wmx I and seem quite satisfied when the computer sends back its response T7- 11 nean signs auto-insurance bm The concept Originally, the concept was to have a free bridge.

That is, Pennsylvania would pay for half and New Jersey would pay for half. The idea was that businesses on both sides of the river would benefit. New Jersey put the screws to that idea, however, by saying it was going to charge a toll to pay for its half. Pennsylvania got mad and went all the way to the Supreme Court to fight New Jersey. The Supreme Court sided with Jersey, so Pennsylvania did the only thing it could do it joined forces with New Jersey and formed the Delaware River Port Authority, whose job it was to "promote the Delaware as an avenue of commerce." The Ben Franklin Bridge was built.

And now it's old and rotting, the cement and steel deck crumbling into the river. It's costing the port authority $9 million to have someone come up with a way to fix it. It has to be done. Even though the damage has shut down two lanes and closed the bridge to heavy trucks, the Ben Franklin still is doing almost as much business as the authority's Walt Whitman Bridge. In December, for example, 2.7 million vehicles crossed the Walt Whitman; 2.1 million used the Ben Franklin.

Neither the Betsy Ross nor the Commodore Barry Bridge manage to hit a half-million vehicles. And there's no truth to the rumor that if you use the Barry or the Betsy Ross, they give you a free set of drinking glasses. The promise The Commodore Barry and the Betsy Ross never did live up to their promise. They were built in the early 1970s at a combined cost of $220 million that's $69 million times three with $13 million left over. The Commodore Barry and the Betsy Ross were planned and completed when all of South Jersey was a boom town.

hvivina houses in South Jersey at a recordf pace. Then came the oil embargo and we all know what happened. But pouring $69 million more into the Ben Franklin Bridge isn't the only solution to the problem. One answer lies with the Commodore Barry and the Betsy Ross Bridges. Where they are, both bridges are as useful as prime rib at a vegetarian convention.

What the port authority ought to do is cut both bridges up the middle, leaving a couple of lanes for he vehicles that now use them. Then the authority should tear down the Ben Franklin. I know a couple of kids who can strip a row-house bare in an hour. I'm sure these kids would do the Ben Franklin for about $20. Then reconnect the lanes taken from the Betsy Ross and the Commodore Barry on the site of the old Ben Franklin and rename it the Betsy Barry Bridge.

This way the authority won't have to raise the tolls and nobody will get resentful. this year. Under the Assigned Risk Plan, which was abolished Jan. 1, all insurance companies in New Jersey were forced to provide coverage at higher rates to a certain percentage of drivers who could not buy policies on the open market. The JUA is intended to provide fair rates to 40 percent of the state's drivers who formerly had been classified as assigned risks.

The JUA will charge the same rates as most companies in the voluntary markets. The law blocks a proposed $90 surcharge on all drivers under 65 that the JUA said it needed to offset losses it expects in its first year of operation. The JUA will be prohibited from collecting any such surcharges for one year. Another provision of the law will prevent the state's insurance companies from imposing automatic rate increases without prior state approval after Feb. 1.

The automatic increases, which average 12 percent, were authorized under a previous state law that was meant to give companies partial rate increases while waiting for the state insurance commissioner to approve the bulk of their requests. United Press International TRENTON Gov. Kean yesterday signed into law an auto-insurance bill that blocks a proposed $90 surcharge oh all drivers under 65 and stops insurers from imposing automatic rate increases. Kean signed the bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Michael Adubato Essex), privately in his office, said W. Cary Edwards, Kean's chief counsel.

The law also will mean a three-year, $1,000 surcharge for any motorist whn has hH Hrnnlrprt-Hrivino conviction since Jan. 1, 1983. Drivers with six points for motor-vehicle violations will be fined $100 and another $25 for each additional point. The surcharges will be collected by the state Division of Motor Vehicles as it renews licenses this year. Eighty percent of the funds will be given to the Joint Underwriting Association (JUA) to help offset operating losses it expects this year, insuring drivers who cannot buy auto insurance on the open market.

The JUA is a group of 15 insurance companies voluntarily providing -rovprapp to 1 4 million "assigned-risk" drivers as their policies expire Pat's steak shop in N.J. told it must limit hours Bradfield brought before grand jury probing Smith under normal grand jury procedures would place him under aath and advise him of his constitutional rights. Bradfield later proceeded into the grand jury chamber at the courthouse in Norristown, where he remained for about three hours before he was returned by county detectives to the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill. Yesterday's appearance marked the second time Bradfield had been summoned to testify before the panel. On Jan.

5, he was brought to the courthouse but did not appear before the grand jury because he was not (See BRADFIELD on 8-B) or Court because of a backlog of lawsuits in Gloucester County. "Yahoo. How's that for a reaction?" Howard Crass, attorney for Woodbury Heights, said yesterday after reading the judge's decision. Crass said Miller ruled that a borough ordinance requiring local restaurants to close at 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends "is legitimate land! constitutional." The Woodbury Heights Pat's, which is a relative of sorts of the esteemed Pat's Steaks in South Philadelphia, opened July 6.

It is the fifth eatery in a steak-shop chain that was (See RESTAURANT on 2-B) By Emilie Lounsberry Inquirer Staff Writer Williams S. Bradfield the former Upper Merion High School teacher who was convicted in October of murdering Susan Reinert and her two children, appeared yesterday before a Montgomery County grand jury investigating the disappearance of the daughter and son-in-law of the school's former principal, Jay C. Smith. Accompanied by defense attorney Joshua D. Lock, Bradfield, 50, was led in handcuffs for a closed, nine-minute session with Montgomery County Court Judge Louis D.

Stefan, who By Ellen O'Brien Inquirer Staff Writer Pat's King of Steaks in Gloucester County's tiny Woodbury Heights must close its doors at 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends, a Superior Court Judge ruled this week. But the food fight isn't over yet. Cumberland County Superior Court Judge Edward Miller handed down his ruling Wednesday, to the consternation of the owner of Pat's, which had filed suit contesting the early closing, and the delight of the borough's attorney. case was heard in Cumberland County Superi imm mi ILmmi MAYOR MICHAEL MATTHEWS of Atlantic City has five days to decide whether to resign or await a referendum, after the certification of a petition calling for his removal from office.

Story on Page 3-B..