The Philadelphia Inquirer du lieu suivant : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 2

2-BJ Wednesday, May 15, 1991 The Philadelphia Inquirer Panel: Ease some drug sentences The Scene In Philadelphia and its suburbs It said those who want to amend the act "conclude that some offenders would benefit more from mandatory drug treatment than from mandatory incarceration They point to overcrowded jails and prisons, and ask whether it continues to make sense to build prisons when it might be more economical to treat, rather than incarcerate, drug offenders who benefit from treatment." The report said that the number of arrests for drug offenses in New Jersey totaled 184,926 between 1987 and 1989, a 53 percent increase over the previous three years. The report said prisons are bulging. State prisons are currently at 140 percent of capacity, while county Jails average 153 percent of capacity. Gov. Florio had no comment on the report because he had not read it, said spokeswoman Nancy Kearney.

Kearney said, however, that the administration was discussing a commission proposed by State Sen. Gabriel Ambrosio Bergen) to look into the whole issue of mandatory sentencing. "The governor believes that whatever steps are taken should be made very carefully and deliberately," Kearney said. Robert Winter, director of the state Division of Criminal Justice, said the state Attorney General's Office thinks it would be "imprudent" to SENTENCES, from I should "enter into serious discussions concerning the impact of mandatory sentencing for drug offenses," noting that many judges "feel powerless and frustrated in situations in which they believe justice requires flexibility in sentencing." "In some cases, it may be that the criminal justice system can more effectively fulfill its obligations through means other than incarceration and mandatory penalties," the report concludes. The report said supporters of mandatory sentencing under the Comprehensive Drug Reform Act say it serves as a deterrent.

support bills that would increase mandatory sentences because of the overcrowding of prisons. But Winter said the current mandatory sentences are needed. "The Drug Reform Act is based on substantiated facts that require the kind of sentences defined in that act," said Winter. "The kind of people who have gotten mandated sentences are the kind of people who belong in jail." Winter said the act gives judges the option to sentence offenders to custodial rehabilitation rather than prison, but admitted, that this is "hardly ever used because there are clearly insufficient facilities" for this care. The Philadelphia Inquirer MICHAEL MALLY American Backroom Gothic (see Politics, below).

Politicsi Getting tayouned by the feds For years Jimmy Tayoun's public image as a quintessential South Philadelphia backroom politician has been missing something sort lit I iilPlEPEilb iS sa isgPiP I Torn isa mivA Mnnnlinnt ml im rasa hum 11 fM i Nf crzin Mltf ws I of like the sound of one hand clapping. How can anyone have avoided being indicted by a grand jury who looks like a stone lock to be picked from a police lineup by taxpayers reporting an elected official on the take? And Susan Lucci thought she was being ignored! Yesterday that oversight was corrected, and City Councilman James J. Tayoun joined a long and storied By CLARK DeLEON Traffic back at City Hall By Ginny Wiegand inquirer Stall Writer After nearly 12 weeks of exasperating detours that turned Center City's side streets into still lifes, most of the concrete barricades around City Hall came down yesterday and the great Hall's traffic jams returned. For the first time since the Feb. 23 fire at One Meridian Plaza in the shadow of the seat of city government, morning rush-hour traffic poured onto the 1500 block of Market Street and onto ISth Street between JFK Boulevard and Chestnut.

And then, just like rush hours of old, it came to a halt. A few lanes on these blocks are still cordoned off, producing a funnel effect. A wild experience in the best of times, getting by City Hall on 15th now is considerably tamer six lanes of traffic scrunch into two. Mix in a few trucks making deliveries, a couple of bus stops, and you're better off on foot or in the subway. "It's a mess.

I'd avoid it," said Officer Michael Judge of the Police Department's traffic division, as he stood unavoidably in the middle of 15th Street, City Hall behind him, hustling cars through a green light. Traffic is still prohibited from the west side of the unit block of South Broad Street and from South Penn Square between Broad and 15th, but both are expected to reopen at least partially by the end of the month. When that happens, traffic will be able to get all the way around City Hall once more. And pedestrians who've been sleepwalking across the sluggish streets better snap out of it or die. Starting today, the 1500 and 1600 blocks of Sansom Street will revert to one-way westbound, after being temporarily two-way.

For now, Duane Long, executive director of the Chestnut Street Association of businesses, called yesterday's barricade-removal "the breakthrough around the square." "It's the major thing," he said. "People can start working back into their old habits of parking and traffic patterns." Despite the gradual return to old habits and traffic patterns, the painful legacy of the Meridian tower fire which burned for 19 hours and killed three firefighters continues among businesses already weakened list of South Philadelphia pols who got fingered by the feds. Contemporary officeholders such as Buddy Cianfrani, Ozzie Myers and Le-land Beloff, the man who held Tayoun's Council seat immediately before him, all had their tickets punched to Allenwood. It goes with the territory. In fact, no one should have been surprised to see the indictments 2 more held in Camden 'raid' slaying By Richard V.

Sabatini Inquirer Stall Writer Camden County authorities have arrested the last two of four suspects accused of posing as police officers and killing a South Camden man after they broke into his home. The two other suspects in Thursday's slaying of Jesus Lisojo, 66, were apprehended Friday. Joseph Rodriguez, 23, of the 300 block of Mount Vernon Street, Camden, was charged in the slaying yesterday afternoon after he was taken into custody at Camden police headquarters, authorities said. Rodriguez was being held last night in the Camden County Jail awaiting arraignment. Earlier in the day, Jose Luis Villa-fane, 20, of the 300 block of Clinton Street, Camden, was arraigned before Superior Court Judge David G.

Eynon on a murder charge and ordered held on $350,000 cash bail. Villafane was arrested late Monday night at Camden police headquarters after he was brought in for questioning, authorities said. Assistant Camden County Prosecutor James Lynch, head of the prosecutor's homicide unit, declined to discuss details of the break-in and slaying except to say that robbery was the motive. He declined to what role each suspect might have played in the incident. Also charged in the break-in and slaying were Angel M.

"Dock" Soto-mayor, 25, of the 1000 block of Cooper Avenue, Woodlynne, and Hiram Eli-jiah Cowto, 18, of the 400 block of Royden Street, Camden. Like Villafane, Sotomayor and Cowto were each ordered held on $350,000 cash bail when they were arraigned Monday. All of the suspects are being held in the Camden County Jail. Two of Lisojo's daughters, Migdalia and Mildred who police said were present when the suspects broke into their home at 4 a.m. sat quietly in the courtroom yesterday and watched as bail was set for the Villafane.

The women broke into tears as they walked from the courtroom with friends. A viewing for Jesus Lisojo was scheduled for last night with services set for today. The four suspects, who police said were all armed and dressed in black, are accused of breaking into the Lisojo home with robbery in mind. Lynch said during Villafane's arraignment that Lisojo, who had armed himself with a machete, "committed no crime except to try to protect the dignity of his home." Camden County Prosecutor Edward F. Borden Jr.

in a news release praised the Camden City detectives and his homicide unit investigators for their "diligence and exceptional speed in making the arrests." The investigation is continuing into whether the slaying of Lisojo is related to a string of recent robberies in which men posing as police broke into and ransacked homes in Camden, Lynch said. The Philadelphie Inquirer WILLIAM F. STEINMETZ Traffic moves south past the burned One Meridian Plaza (left). come down on Tayoun for mail fraud, racketeeringobstruction of'I justice and tax evasion. That goes with the territory, too.

A few years back I suggested here that the word (ayoun, with a case should be added to dictionaries: "tayoun (ti-yoon) n. political sleaze James Tayoun, latter 20th-' century North American city officeholder notorious for his inability to. blush) 1. a person without shame 2. political manipulator 3.

one! involved in obvious conflict of interest 4. any elected official employs belly dancers, e.g. He pulled a real tayoun on that deal." I figure the definition of tayoun could be expanded to include the act of being indicted. FBI agents could use it like a verb when they nail an i elected official after a long investigation "It was only a matter of time until we tayouned him." This is not to say I'm prejudging the evidence of this case. After all, 1 this is America.

Like any citizen, Jimmy Tayoun is entitled to receive a I fair trial, after which he'll be sentenced. Based on the above, you might think I despise Tayoun. Far from it I actually like Jimmy Tayoun, and I admired the energy he brought tot serving his constituents. Unfortunately I always felt that his public service mantra ended with and one for me." Yesterday may have been the worst day in Tayoun's public life, and it brought to mind a photograph that seemed to capture the mood of the moment, a classic and timeless scene (above) from a losing election night. That photo was taken at Tayoun's headquarters on the night of the primary election in April 1984, when Tom Foglietta defeated Tayoun for the Democratic nomination for the congressional seat vacated by Ozzie Myers.

Racet A question of 'we' Imagine the unimaginable. Imagine a TV commercial for a candidate for mayor that shows Archbishop Anthony Bevilacqua standing inside the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul urging viewers to vote for Frank Rizzo. "We'd reached a new milestone," the archbishop says during the spot about Rizzo being the1 first Italian American elected mayor of Philadelphia. "This year unless we sfick together, we stand to lose ground." Now if you were an African American watching that ad, you wouldn't have any difficulty recognizing the nature of the archbishop's pitch.

Obviously, that "we" didn't mean "thee." So what are we to make of the Rev. Bill Gray's recent spots for George Burrell? You see the congressma. walking in front of a church pulpit and he says: "Eight years ago Philadelphia was filled with hope. We had a new mayor. We'd reached a new milestone.

This year unless we stick together we stand to lose ground. Only one candidate can bring us together and not drive us apart. In Philadelphia it's time for leaders to fight for us, not against each other. In Philadelphia it's time for us to stand together." Excuse me, Reverend, but I can't help feeling excluded from the "we" in that appeal, especially since there were only black faces included, among the Philadelphians featured in that ad. You of all people should, be sensitive to that fact, since it was you who called a press conference to accuse The Inquirer of bias because a photo of a Burrell campaign" contributor who happened to be black was included in a story, but not a photo of a Peter Hearn contributor who happened to be white.

You, of all people, ought to know that you can't have it both ways. Army overstated savings from Dix cuts PS? said at a news conference many of the programs could be funded through a $38 million federal block grant, but he acknowledged that Democrats Uk the House and Senate might have other plans for the money. Reputed boss of crime family to get bail-reduction hearing The reputed chief of a New Jersey crime family faces a bail-reduction hearing tomorrow in Mays Landing after ending nearly two years' silence to answer questions from a grand jury and a judge. Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo, whom state officials say is a leader of the northern New Jersey-based Luc-chese crime family, is scheduled tq go before Superior Court Judge Manuel Greenberg: Accetturo is jailed on $1 million bail on charges of racketeering, including murder, loan sharking and extortion. His testimony before a state grand jury April 23 was good enough to end, Accetturo's jailing on a civil con tempt order, Superior Court Judge Samuel Lenox Jr.

ruled Monday in, Trenton. Lenox ordered Accetturo jailed in September 1989 when he refused to answer the grand Jury'? questions. State prosecutors tried to convince the judge Monday that Ao cetturo's testimony was evasive and that he should remain jailed until he is m6re cooperative. Accetturo told the judge in chambers Monday what he told the grand jury. g-T -I ARMY, from I question." The commission will hold hearings on Fort Dix next Wednesday in Washington and May 24 in Philadelphia.

By that time, Fort Dix supporters hope an audit of the Pentagon's proposal by Coopers Lybrand will be completed. The Philadelphia accounting firm, hired by a committee hoping to save Fort Dix, began to review the Pentagon's proposal last week. The recommendation was a kind of deja vu for the tens of thousands of lence of the last several weeks. "It was really lonely. We didn't see the faces we usually see," Beasley said in an interview above ground.

The faces seen by Officer Judge, as he stood in the middle of the street, were surprisingly calm. Anyone who watched the previous weeks' traffic jams along 16th or 17th Streets would have been amazed at the placid expressions of yesterday's drivers. By late morning, there'd been no accidents, no fights, no swearing, no horn-blasting. "People just seem grateful that they can go down 15th again," Judge said, "however long it takes." During the last round of base closings, however, the blue-ribbon panel's recommendations went straight to Congress, which could only approve or veto the entire list, with no chance to make changes as a result of new information. The procedure is different this year.

"If we can show that there is little to be gained financially by realigning Fort Dix, then we have the commission's attention," Saxton said during a news conference yesterday in Mount Holly. The Associated Press contributed to this story. One witness told police that soon after the two returned with the gas, he heard a crash and went outside to find the two lying on the ground. Convicted J. killer allowed to remain free during appeal V.

James Landano of Metuchen, Middlesex County, can remain free while he appeals his conviction on charges he killed a police officer, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. In 15 years of legal rulings surrounding the case, yesterday's decision by the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia was among the most significant for Landano. If the court had ruled against Landano, two years of freedom would have ended with his arrest. Landano had spent 13 years behind bars before he was freed.

Landano, formerly of Staten Island, N.Y., was sentenced to life in prison for the 1976 killing of Officer John Snow during an armed robbery in South Kearny. He remained jailed until July 1989, when he was freed by U.S. District Judge H. Lee Sarokin, who reversed the verdict. Prosecutors, the judge found, withheld statements from an eyewitness who identified someone other than Landano as the triggerman in the killing.

The Third Circuit reinstated the conviction, ruling last year that the federal judge had no right to overturn the conviction because Landano had not New Jersey Metro news in brief by the recession. As one indicator: Several stores along the 1400 block of Chestnut Street remained closed yesterday, even though the block was declared safe to reopen several weeks ago. "You take these things for granted," Long said, "but driving past a business helps to stimulate business." Nobody was driving past much of anything yesterday morning. Crawling was the operative word. "It's been gridlock all day," said Richard Beasley of Fairmount, a SEPTA maintenance porter in the underground subway Concourse.

But he preferred that to the weird si people who are connected with New Jersey's military base. It came less than three years after a blue-ribbon panel decided to end basic training at Fort Dix, for years the main mission at the base. Now the Defense Department error is another familiar piece of news. A 1989 General Accounting Office audit of the Department of Defense's 1988 decision to eliminate basic training at the base found errors that would have raised the ranking of Fort Dix from the seventh most valuable Army training center to the second most valuable. violations stem from an incident on Nov.

13 when, Kyner said, there was a release of ethylene oxide, a suspected carcinogen used to sterilize hospital equipment. Alexander Ha-tala, chief operating officer of the hospital, said yesterday there was no "physical evidence" to indicate that such a release had occurred. After a Dec. 12 inspection, OSHA cited the hospital for other, lesser violations of right-to-know and storage regulations. A citation listing the 16 violations was delivered Thursday to hospital officials, who have 15 working days to contest OSHA's findings.

At a May 28 meeting, hospital and OSHA officials are scheduled to discuss the alleged violations and possible penalties. 2 killed in Franklin Twp. when motorcycle hits a pole James F. Cuff, 24, of Monroe, and Janice M. Ruppel, 30, of Franklin, were killed in a motorcycle crash late Sunday night in Franklin Township.

Cuff and Ruppel were riding Cuff's motorcycle on Main Road, traveling over 80 m.p.h., when they struck a utility pole, according to Franklin police. The two were killed instantly. Earlier that night, Ruppel had run out of gas in her own car on Main). Road, police said, and Cuff stopped to help her. The two borrowed a gas can from another Franklin resident and headed to nearby Vineland for gas.

Raymond L. Bramucci yesterday announced an interdepartmental effort to assist the approximately 1,000 workers expected to lose their jobs on June 30, the end of the fiscal year. The Department of Personnel will provide job counseling, resume writing and psychological counseling, and the Department of Higher Education will determine workers' eligibility for college courses. The Labor Department's Rapid Response Team will match workers with available jobs, allow them to file resumes in a computerized database and offer seminars on various employment-related topics. The team also will register workers for unemployment insurance.

Bramucci said the interdepartmental team has helped nearly 20,000 workers at about 300 companies since July 1, 1990. The group has helped more than 350 displaced state workers since January, he said. Four GOP state senators propose bills to aid children Four Republican state senators yesterday proposed a package of bills in Harrisburg aimed at helping children, but they were not able to say what the proposals would cost. The bills are designed to reform adoptions, provide health-care services for needy children, expand school-breakfast programs and provide tax credits centers that employ older residents. Sen.

John Peterson Venango) Less trash found on beaches, but percentage of plastic rises A beach cleanup of Atlantic and Cape May Counties netted 15,915 bits of trash, including more than a quarter-mile worth of plastic straws, 163 balloons and several lottery tickets, according to figures released by Clean Ocean Action, an environmental advocacy group. More than 500 people from 15 communities joined in the May 4 cleanup, covering 19 miles of shoreline. Compared with previous years, beach cleaners found a significant decrease in the volume of trash, but an increase in the percentage of plastics. Tim Merkel, coordinator of the cleanup, said that fewer six-pack holders were found and that a majority of them had been cut so they would not harm ocean animals. He said educational programs dealing with the danger of such litter appeared to be working.

Camden hospital faces fines for alleged safety violations Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden faces $78,100 in fines from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 16 alleged violations of federal health and safety regulations, Phyllis Kyner, an OSHA supervisor in Marlton, said yesterday. The more serious of the alleged i exhausted appeals at the state level. Florio picks assemblyman to be head of lottery agency Gov. Florio yesterday nominated Assemblyman Frank M. Pelly Middlesex) to be executive director of the New Jersey Lottery.

Pelly, 57, announced last month that he would not seek re-election and told reporters he would be accepting a post in the Florio administration. The job pays $85,000. "I the 20 years that Frank Pelly has spent in public office, he has come to be well-respected for his hard work and integrity," Florio said. "It is that reputation that he will bring with him to the New Jersey Lottery." Pelly, a registered pharmacist, is the first lottery director to be nominated by Florio, who became governor in 1990. The lottery has been led by an acting director since Barbara Marrow-Mooring, an appointee of former Gov.

Thomas H. Kean, resigned last year to begin an unsuccessful campaign for the Trenton ma r's post. The acting director position is currently held by Russell R. Hart. The state Senate will now consider the nomination.

If the nomination were confirmed, Pelly would be required to resign from the Assembly. Special outplacement team to aid 1,000 N.J. workers New Jersey Labor Commissioner i.