Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 1

Coming Wednesday Special section goes behind scenes at Veterans Stadium In Sports Staley practices with Eagles after ending holdout In Sports Phils lose to Cards; wild card lead falls to half a game DUCE STALEY South Jersey's Newspaper MIKE LIEBERTHAL and SCOTT ROLEN Ooui www.courierpostonline.com Monday, August 25, 2003 50 Cents ji ffirfOST Most Birlco tats rates to climb Coming Tuesday For tuns and by tarns Sttk Family faces crisis when father needs a kidney transplant Capped state aid, rising school costs propel increases SOUTH JERSEY financial officer in Moores-town, said he has received phone calls from residents upset about increases for school taxes on their most recent bills. "I try to explain the different portions of the tax bill and then direct them to the school district for specific answers," he said. The tax rate for Moores-town property owners will be $3.68 per $100 of as sessed value. The tax bill for the owner of a property assessed at the township average of $207,700 will be $7,622, including fire taxes. That's up about $500.

The reasons go beyond capped state aid and rising education costs, Merchel said. "Health costs are up See TAXES, Page 5 A By CAROL COMEGNO Courier-Post Staff MOUNT HOLLY Tax rates in 38 of Burlington County's 40 municipalities will increase this year, according to data released by the county's board of taxation. The largest increases are in school taxes, which will fund new buildings, renovations and rising fixed costs such as salaries and insurance. State aid also is partly to blame for higher tax rates across the board, said county tax administrator Linda Stewart. State aid has either dropped or stayed the same in the face of rising costs of government and education.

"The county, municipalities and schools have been affected by reduced state aid due to constraints of the state budget," Stew art said. Municipalities had to raise tax rates to compensate for the loss of that revenue, coupled with rising fixed costs like health insurance and labor contracts. Thomas Merchel, deputy town manager and chief 1' 1 Seneca High awaiits sKudente School will get 860 students from 4 S. J. towns in first year -r-" KTfT nJQLJIJlJLJIL IU I I If I ij i -1 I r4 1 if I i Spanish instruction Teresita Lopez of Camden County College hopes to create job-specific Spanish courses for local professionals to overcome language obstacles.

Page IB LIVING Wartime embalming National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, offers exhibit on embalming of soldiers. Page 1C Haddon Hts. advances in tournament West Deptford eliminated in American Legion World Series By MICHAEL RADANO Courier-Post Staff BARTLESVILLE, Okla. One's still alive. One is going home.

Late Sunday night, Haddon Heights kept its championship dream alive by defeating Blue Springs, 11-1, in the American Legion World Series competition. Haddon Heights finished with a 2-1 record in the pool-play round at Bill Doenges Stadium here. Haddon Heights will play Rochester, today at 1 p.m. West Deptford was heading home after a 12-2, eight-inning loss to Whitehouse, Ohio. Haddon Heights had ace Andrew Bailey ready to go, and with an emotional win already in its hands, had many veteran American Legion observers looking to them as the favorite to advance.

"We just hung around and did nothing today," Heights coach Mike DeCastro said before Sunday's victory. "I think they came down well after yesterday. They know what they have to do and I really feel like we're prepared to play tonight." Haddon Heights was on a high after a dramatic 9-6 ninth-inning win over Northridge, Saturday that kept its title hopes alive. West Deptford's play more than showed that they were coming off a disheartening 8-6 loss to Rochester, Minn. Saturday night.

That loss eliminated them from any hopes of reaching today's semifinal round. West Deptford never really got going as Whitehouse, which finished 1-2 in pool play, jumped on starter Chris Krumm for six runs in the first two innings. The team had chances to win both earlier games. They led the opener against Corvallis, and held a 5-1 lead after four innings Saturday against Rochester. Reach Michael Radano at (856) 486-2424 or mradanocourierpostonline.com Additional coverage of tournament.

ID, 3D V.V Lhi- 0 CAREERS Science teacher Judy Putford unpacks her supplies as she moves Into Seneca High School In Tabernacle. By MIKE DANIELS Courier-Post Staff TABERNACLE The terrazzo floors are shiny and unscuffed. The classroom walls are barren, just waiting for maps and periodic charts to be displayed. The 1,500 green- and gold-painted lockers are empty. Seneca High School, the newest addition to the Lenape Regional High School District, is ready and waiting for students and teachers to fill its hallways, gymnasiums and classrooms.

The building sits on 210 acres on Carranza Road. The facility, which has 62 classrooms, received a temporary certificate of occupancy about 10 days ago. Principal John Furgione fully expects receiving a permanent CO before Sept. 2, the first day of school. "I think there will be a lot of healthy confusion mixed with enthusiasm," Furgione said.

"And there will be a lot of the 'wow' factor, Photos by CHRIS LaCHALLCourler-Post Brittany Wright, (left) 14, and Raquel Domaratzky, 15, both of Tabernacle, walk through Seneca High School, where both will attend school this year. The school, approved by district ry for all incoming ninth- and 10th-voters in a 1997 referendum, will graders in the four Pinelands town-house about 860 students from Tab- ships. There will be no senior class ernacle, Shamong, Southampton and and a small volunteer-only junior Woodland in its first year. The move to Seneca was mandato- See SENECA, Page 5A Stress reliever A yoga class led Darlene DePasquale to became a yoga instructor and then to open the Yoga Center of Haddonfield.Page80 INDEX 5C Movies 5B Obituaries 3C Scoreboard Cleric's home bombed in Iraq 2C 2B 40 IT 4C Astrology Classified Comics Crossword Editorials Gas prices take record jump amid refinery, pipeline woes 5C Sr. Scoop 8A Television WEATHER Partly cloudy skies and pleasant.

High 85. Low 68. Page 2A CqurierPost ONLINE Find the best photo of the week along with featured galleries at courierpost online.comgalleries A GANNETT NEWSPAPER S.C., where the average for self-serve regular was $1.4920. Temporary refinery shutdowns caused by the massive East CoastMidwest blackout combined with a break in a major pipeline in Arizona led to the supply disruptions, Lundberg said. However, the reopening of the pipeline and the end of the blackout means gas prices should fall thanks to the traditional decline in demand in September and an influx of imported gasoline attracted by the current high prices, Lundberg said.

March 21, analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday. Self-serve regular gasoline showed an average weighted price of $1.7191 a gallon, with mid-grade at $1.8127 and premium grade at $1.9046. Phoenix had the highest leap in the nation during the two-week period, with prices jumping 60.42 cents a gallon for self-serve regular. On Friday, self-serve regular averaged $2.1425, the highest price in the nation for that grade. By comparison, the lowest price for that grade was in Charleston, Associated Press CAMARILL0, Calif.

Supply shortages pushed average retail gasoline prices up more than 15 cents a gallon nationally during the past two weeks, the largest retail price hike on record since the Lundberg Survey began keeping records 50 years ago. The survey of 8,000 service stations on Friday showed an average of all grades of gasoline, including taxes, reached $1.7484 a gallon, just short of the survey's all-time high weighted average of $1.7608 set last SAMIR MEZBANAssoeiated Press Iraqi Shlttes examine the damage a bomb caused Sunday to the Najaf home of Mohammed Saeed al-Haklm, an Influential cleric In Iraq. Stories: 3A, 4A. 3111 I if ifitimr wrr 1 1.