Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 15

i1 i T-V rvtr Sou Courier-Post Thursday, August 27, 1998 Larry Rosenthal Metro Editor 486-2408 81 Title issues delaying Pennsauken skating rink deal 'A with the township entering a 20-year lease-purchase arrangement. Some residents who attended the township meeting Wednesday were more concerned about the possibility of a concessionaire continuing to sell alcohol at the facility's bar. The sale of alcohol at a government-owned facility is setting the wrong example "by desensitizing our children and youth to the use of alcohol," said resident Eliud Gautier. By SEAN KIM Courier-Post Staff PENNSAUKEN Supporters of a plan for a township skating and recreation center called it a dream that merely needs to be fleshed out. Others worried that serving alcohol there would set the wrong example.

But both points could be moot, with the announcement Wednesday that the conversion of Twin Rinks into a municipally-owned recreation center may not happen. The settlement for the purchase of the skating center on River Road, originally scheduled for July, has yet to happen, township Administrator Ken Carruth said at a township committee meeting Wednesday night "It may happen tomorrow, it may happen Friday, it may never happen," he said. "There were title issues. And until those issues are clarified, I won't let the committee go to settlement." Carruth did not elaborate on the advice of township attorney Lou Meloni, who said the owners of the center were meeting Wednesday night on those same issues. The township earlier this year entered into an agreement of sale to purchase the property, with plans to convert it into a financially self-sustaining facility much like the township's golf course.

The $4 million bond would be issued by the Camden County Improvement Authority, said, who added he will recommend to the township that the vendor be allowed to apply for a state permit to serve beer and wine upstairs. That will be good until ary, when the township will put 'j out bids for a permanent conces-j3 sionaire, he said. Gautier and other residents asked why the township couldn't put restrictions on the sale ol alcohol, and possibly eliminate it, when the committee awards a contract. im Car use i surfaces as GOB issue By JEFF BEACH Courier-Post Staff '10 Authorities probe possible drug link in Camden killing til y- -r 1 rlllllll 1 i IM I Mil i ii i CHERRY HILL In wake of a county employee's admission he drove a county can a to a Waterford Democratic Club meeting, Republican freeholder candidates on Wednesday prdid posed tighter controls on such. I cars.

41, The plan calls for countyb employees with the exception of those in emergency-related positions to stop driving! government cars to and fromA work. Instead, they would drive i personal cars to work, use countyi cars during business hours, re-ti turn them to an auto pool at the)! end of the day and drive their own" cars home. "It raises all kinds of concerns," GOP candidate Timothy Ferguson said of taking cars home. "First and foremost, I are they covered by county insur-! Discussion: Maria Feliciano (right) and her friend Maria Ortiz Feliciano was shot while in his automobile on Tuesday. By JEREMY KOHLER Courier-Post Staff CAMDEN A man who worked as a car detailer for an East Camden business owned by accused drug kingpin Jose "JR" Rivera was fatally shot as his car idled at a red light one block from his job.

Investigators were trying to determine if there was a connection between the Tuesday night slaying of 27-year-old Jose L. "Sito" Feliciano and an illegal drug ring known as "The Organization," a multimillion-dollar drug ring said to be run by Rivera, law enforcement sources said. On Wednesday, authorities had not determined a suspect or motive, said Camden County Prosecutor Lee A. Solomon. "We are investigating any connection that his death had anything to do with drugs or any other illicit activity," Solomon m- Rivera owns JR's Custom Auto Parts, where Feliciano worked as a detailer for two years.

Rivera and 13 alleged associates have been charged by the U.S. Attorney with conspiring to distribute large quantities of cocaine in Camden for nearly a decade. They are scheduled to go to trial sometime early next year. On Tuesday night, Feliciano, of the 700 block of North 8th Street, was in a car idling at a red light on Baird Boulevard at 27th and Federal streets, a block from JR's Custom Auto. Feliciano and a teen-age boy in the passenger seat were leaving the business on their way to get dinner, authorities said.

At 8 p.m., an 'assailant on a That, in what is otherwise a "visionary" facility that could be a great benefit for local youth, would be a "tragedy," he said. The center's upstairs bar sells beer and wine during limited hours. Officials have said earlier that stopping the sale of alcohol could mean the loss of men's hockey leagues that draw $354,000 in annual revenue. If the settlement goes through, the township has already designated a concessionaire to take over the downstairs grill, Carruth By Shawn Sullivan, Courier-Post describe where Jose L. 'Sito' "It's going to be so hard when the kids start asking for their daddy.

He was a good brother. He was always there when you needed him." Maria Feliciano, victim's sister If you're going The South Jersey Transportation Authority will conduct a final hearing at 6 p.m. today in the Winslow municipal building on Route 73. ty. Crawford said electronic tolls will not only reduce the financial bite on motorists, but also will alleviate congestion at toll plazas.

Rudolph Chaloupka, a manufacturer's representative from Browns Mills, supported the plan, saying it was necessary to maintain a top-quality road. "My travels to other states have shown me the benefits of EZPass," Chaloupka said. Luongo said EZPass would keep commuters from using alternate routes and would raise money to build an interchange at Berlin-Cross Keys Road. "I think you're going to do a lot of good with this money," Luongo said. "Route 42 is maxed out.

Johnson Road carries 9,000 cars a day, and it's just a two-lane local road." The proposed toll structure is designed to raise the authority's annual income from $25 million to $35 million. That $10 million Please to TOLL HIKE, Page 4B JOSE 'SITO' FELICIANO shot while in car black bicycle fired five shots into the driver's side of Felici-ano's car and pedaled away. Three shots hit Feliciano, authorities said. A friend who was a passenger in the car in front of Feliciano's heard the shots, jumped into Feliciano's car and drove him to Cooper HospitalUniversity Medical Center, where Feliciano was pronounced dead at 8:10 p.m., authorities said. Feliciano's home on North 8th Street, where he lived his entire life with his parents, was the focal point of sorrow and loss on Wednesday.

Of seven siblings, he was the second to be murdered on Camden's streets. His brother, Jesus Rivera, 35, was one of two men fatally shot in January 1995 as they stood at 7th and York streets. Feliciano was father to four young children. "It's going to be so hard when the kids start asking for of Camden; and his fiancee, Melissa Gonzalez of Camden. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m.

Monday at Holy Name Roman Catholic Church, 5th and Vine streets, Camden. Friends may call after 6 p.m. Sunday at the Feliciano home. Burial will be at Calvary Cemetery. Arrangements are by May Funeral Homes of Camden and Pennsauken.

-Where to Call- Anyone with information is asked to call the Camden County Prosecutor's Office at 225-8400 or Camden Police at 757-7400. All information will be kept in Toll increase would fund expressway interchange Man's murder confession is admissible, judge rules their daddy," said Maria Feliciano, 33, a sister. "He was a good brother. He was always there when you needed him." The Feliciano family didn't have any theory about what led to Jose's death. They know about the indictment against JR Rivera, but said they didn't know if Jose Feliciano was involved in the drug ring.

"He kept everything to himself," said his sister, Elizabeth. Feliciano is survived by his father, Jose, and his mother, Isabel; a son, Jose II, and three daughters, Cecely Lopez and Alaysia Feliciano, all of Camden, and Jensel Feliciano of Virginia; a brother, Jose Albert of Camden; four sisters, Rosa, Carmen, Maria and Elizabeth, all of Camden; a maternal grandmother, Antonia Mendez, CHARLES E. REDDISH JR. facing 2 murder charges dish faces trial for the ax murder of his girlfriend, Rebecca Wertz, in Burlington Township. Jury selection in that case begins Oct.

13 in Burlington County. It was while Reddish was in custody after the Wertz killing that he confessed to a newspaper reporter and then to police that he had killed Rosenberg. In October 1995, Reddish was charged with hacking his girlfriend to death and sexually assaulting her 14-year-old daughter. While being held in the Burlington County Jail, Reddish called a newspaper reporter to confess to killing Rosenthal. Prior to that, he told the reporter, the only person who knew of his involvement with Rosenthal's death was Wertz.

business? You get into all these gray areas when you let them drive the cars home." The issue arose from questions surrounding a July 29 Waterford Democratic Club meeting at which three of five Waterford Committee members were present. Republicans already have asked Prosecutor Lee Solomon to investigate whether the gathering broke the Open Public Meetings Act because a majority of the committee attended without advertising the meeting. George Fallon, a Waterford committeeman and supervisor of roads for the county Department of Public Works, has acknowledged driving his county car to that meeting, but said he just dropped by on his way home from working late in Gloucester City. Fallon has said the Republicans "make (Communist-hunter Sen. Joseph) McCarthy look like a left-winger" for raising the issue of his car use.

County policy already states that anyone using a car "after normal working hours shall use the county vehicle to travel to and from their county work site and for official county business only." Freeholder Scott Goldberg, to whom the GOP sent a letter asking for an investigation into the matter, was on vacation Wednesday. His aide, Brian Ei-sen, declined to comment, saying he had not seen the letter. Tomorrow Lll i On Friday's What's In page, meet the feathered and fishy neighbors of the Wetlands Institute. CLASSIFIED IN OUR TOWNS rr i I warn 3 By CARL A. WINTER Courier-Post Staff WASHINGTON TWP.

-Drivers in the tri-county's fastest growing region will someday be thankful that the Atlantic City Expressway put its toll increases in place this year, Mayor Jerry Luongo said Wednesday. That's because the extra money if approved would finance a new interchange serving Washington Township and Monroe in Gloucester County and Winslow and Gloucester Township in Camden County. Although it is only a few miles west of an existing exit and entrance at Williamstown, the need for a new interchange has been demonstrated by traffic jams on Route 42 and Johnson Road, Luongo said. Luongo testified Wednesday at a hearing by the South Jersey Transportation Authority, which runs the toll road and proposed the toll hikes. The SJTA wants to double tolls from $1 to $2 at the Egg Harbor toll and from 25 cents to 50 cents at the Pleasantville toll for occasional users who pay cash.

Regular drivers who buy an electronic toll card, called EZPass, will see smaller increases, said James A. Crawford, executive director of the authori- Charles Reddish is accused of killing a Cherry Hill social worker in 1991. By RENEE WINKLER Courier-Post Staff CAMDEN A taped confession by the man accused of killing a Cherry Hill social worker more than seven years ago can be used at his trial next year, a judge ruled Wednesday. A recording of the statement from Charles E. Reddish Jr.

shows police advised him of his Miranda rights the right to remain silent or consult with an attorney before speaking with officers, Superior Court Judge Frank M. Lario ruled. Reddish, known as "Crazy Charlie," is charged with killing Yedda "Dede" Rosenthal in February 1991 at her apartment on Cooper Landing Road. The body of Rosenthal, 32, a social worker who left her home in Canada to work with autistic children, has never been found, although she has been declared dead. Reddish is a former maintenance worker at the Somerset Apartments, where Rosenthal lived.

Testimony in the Miranda hearing Wednesday revealed that Reddish told police during a confession 18 months ago that he strangled Rosenthal when she awoke while he was burglarizing her apartment. He then covered her body with a drop cloth, placed it in a shopping cart and pushed it several blocks before loading it into the trunk of a car, according to testimony by police officers. No other details of Reddish's 38-page confession to the murder of Rosenthal were made public at the hearing. Although the taped statement will be heard by a Camden County jury when Reddish goes to trial early next year, Lario agreed with defense attorney Kevin Lewis that playing it in open court on Wednesday could have led to press coverage that would hurt the chances of Reddish receiving a fair trial. A status conference on the case is scheduled on Oct.

5. During the few minutes of the taped statement played in court, just enough according to the judge to show that Reddish was given his Miranda rights, he speaks in a soft, clear, confident manner. Reddish sat calmly in court Wednesday and showed no emotion. Before he is tried for the Rosenthal killing, however, Red- i OBITUARIES 5 33 I.