Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 1

CM l' UPPER 60S UPPER 30S Making room, time as baby grows up I Parents juggle roles -1D I Appraising appraisers r. and their performance yk Tips for jewelry buyers -12C I SUNNY Complete forecast I I Page 2A OUR SOUTH JERSEY'S NEWSPAPER floods batter Calif dead Li 1 8 1 1 1.1 I F4 I'- 1 W' 1 i Disaster: Thirty -nine counties have been declared disaster areas and damage is estimated at $2 billion. By RICHARD COLE Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO Floods washed out all roads into the Monterey Peninsula on Sunday as waterlogged California struggled to recover from storms that battered two-thirds of the state. At least 12 people have died in five days of flooding, and crews were trying to get to one of four cars that drove into a rain-swollen creek when an Interstate 5 bridge collapsed in central California. The state is bracing for more rain today, after suffering a record $2 billion in damage.

On Sunday, President Clinton declared 39 of the state's 58 counties federal disaster areas. Among them: Los Angeles, Sacramento and Santa Barbara. Late Sunday, a car was found buried in mud "It is still completely submerged. We haven't been able to confirm what kind of vehicle it is or how many occupants," Barrows said. Earlier in the day, rescue crews pulled the body of a teen-age girl from another car.

In Monterey County, thousands of people left their homes overnight as the Salinas and Pajaro rivers inundated some of the nation's richest farmlands, the site of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath." The flooding cut off the communities around Monterey, about 100 miles south of San Francisco. "At this point all roads are closed the Monterey Peninsula is literally isolated," said county emergency Officer Al Friedrich. Please see FLOODS, Page 6A about a mile from the collapsed bridge, California Highway Patrol Officer Karen Barrows said. Search teams extracted the body of a 10-year-old girl and a woman, and were trying to get to two more bodies in the car, Barrows said. Crews were not able to get to another car farther downstream.

By John Makely, Associated Press Rescue: Lucy Cedillo, 64, is removed from her flood-threatened home in Castroville, Calif. 4 J. schools win state hoop titles N.J. hospitals seeing rise in rickets cases South Jersey high school basketball teams won four of seven state championships Sunday. Nationally ranked Shawnee, the No.

1 team in South Jersey, defeated Elizabeth 63-46 behind Brian Earl's 25 points and Malik Allen's 20 points to win the Group 4 boys' title. The Renegades (29-0) are ranked No. 5 in the USA TODAY poll. Newark Science beat Burlington City 68-61 in Group 1 while in Group 2, Pleasantville destroyed Boonton 86-38 to win its first state title since 1974. Pleasantville outscored Boonton, 30-5, in the third quarter to turn a safe 33-18 lead into a 63-23 blowout.

In Group 3, Rancocas Valley lost to Shabazz 60-59 on a short mm i ia i .4111 mi i Iftini ill ill w.n.. J. Km I 'vW III i fvV ri; Wi- 1 'V, shot by Shabazz's Jamal dren, especially as part of the African-American Muslim culture," said Dr. Robert director of the division of pediatric endocrinology and metabolism at Children's Hospital. "I strongly recommend that all breast feeding mothers supplement their child's diet with calcium and vitamin from the onset of breast-feeding." Rapaport said black Muslim children are also at risk because many of their mothers are vegetarians Ivho drink soy milk.

The hospital responded to the increase by establishing the state's only rickets hot line and public education program. Most rickets cases, except extreme cases of stunted growth and bone deformations, are cur able, said Selena Mkandawirei; director of pediatric nutrition a Children's Hospital. Historic sites: face bleak future in city Camden's historic past is -being endangered by a failure to preserve some of the city's old buildings because of lack of interest and money. 1 "We are trying to preserve -our older buildings," said Thomas Roberts, executive director of the city's Redevelopment Agency, "but economic development and job creation are our first priorities." Camden, for example, has not applied for any money from a Historic Trust established in 1981 to preserve historic buildings. Page IB.

Associated Press Rickets was once the scourge of young children, severely stunting their growth and causing painful muscle spasms. When vitamin was added to milk in the 1930s, the debilitating bone disease was virtually wiped out in America. Rickets had become so rare that the New Jersey Department of Health does not record the number of cases diagnosed in the state every year. But many state hospitals report a sharp increase in the number of cases of the disease in recent years, and many medical officials say the resurgence can be attributed to an increase in the popularity of breast-feeding, especially in the black Muslim community. Children's Hospital in Newark, a division of the United Medical Center, has treated about 18 cases in the last two years.

In the previous five years, there were only one or two cases a year. In Camden, Cooper HospitalUniversity Medical Center reported five cases of rickets in the last few years. "What we've seen are due to severe prematurity (of newborns) and genetic or serious illness," said Cooper spokeswoman Peggy Leone. "We don't see that many cases," she added. Most of the 18 patients at Children's Hospital were black Muslims, whose culture dictates children be breast-fed exclusively for the first two years of their lives.

Breast milk is not especially enriched with the crucial vitamin D. "It is an increasing trend in this country to breast-feed chil Williams with 3.5 seconds left. The top-ranked Washington Township girls lost in the state Group 4 final for the second consecutive year, falling to West Milford 54-45 at Elizabeth. Jenn Natale led Washington Township with 15 points. The Minutemaids finished at 24-6, with all of the losses against out-of-area teams.

Two local girls' teams won state titles. Delran defeated Morris Hills 84-49 to win Group 2. Delran senior forward April Pilenza scored 25 points as did teammate Allison Peirce. In Group 3, Middle Township routed Sparta 52-35 behind Merri Jones' 24 points and 21 rebounds. Middle Township won the state Group 2 title last year.

The public school state champions will join the Parochial champions in the Tournament of Champions, which will begin Tuesday. Pages By Scott Anderson, For the Courier-Post Going to the basket: Shawnee's Malik Allen tries to avoid Terrance Burgess of Elizabeth during second-quarter action. Shawnee won 63-46 to take the Group 4 title. A reunion, a murder and a 21 -year mystery Hospital admits error Hospital that amputated wrong foot admits 2nd error. Page 3A.

i seeing Geraldine Matteo and he resumed buying his ex-wife expensive clothes and high-roller tables in Atlantic City. Carol slept in his bed and cooked him dinner. She did the laundry, smoked cigarettes, watched game shows on television during the day. "They weren't getting Nation-World New Jersey South Jersey Classified Sports Scoreboard E0 CAROL SINGER EDITOR'S NOTE: The Courier-Post today concludes a two-part series on the life and death of Carol Singer, a Cherry Hill resident whose 1974 murder led to the trial and ultimately the acquittal of her ex-husband Irv Singer. What became Cherry Hill's longest unsolved murder case began when Irv Singer reported that he found his ex-wife's body her slit throat among 42 stab wounds on the floor of their bedroom.

The former waitress led a life of contradictions afternoons of volunteer work set off by nights with a succession of fast-spending, dangerous men. The Singers were married in 1967, separated in 1971, and divorced the following year. After each dated people with mob ties two of Carol's suitors were later murdered she moved back into their house in 1973. By ROBIN URIS Courier-Post Staff Money Personal Finances Living FYI everyone steaks done Pittsburgh style. On at least one occasion, the meat did not come from the freezer section at Acme.

In January 1974, Singer hijacked a truck containing, worth of meat. Joseph Morozowski, the other boarder, helped him fence it. "One day Carol comes up to me and asks me if I like steak," Fein recalls. "She Rays Irv knocked off a meat wagon and Bhe was keeping some of the take." Fein says Carol gave him a dozen or so steaks, but he gave them away. The next! morning, police came to his door with a search warrant looking for the stolen meaU Because the steaks were stolen in Philadel- -phia and brought to New Jersey, the hijacking was a federal crime.

Carol finally saw her chance to leave Irving Singer with some money in her purse! According to several people, Carol de- manded a cut of the meat profits and threatened to call the police if Singer didn't let her in on the deal. Morozowski Bays he let Carol keep the proceeds from his share of the meat. And he told her to keep her big mouth shut. "I kept telling her to slow down or she was Please see MURDER, Page 6A Astroloav 10D Movies 7D 9C 10D 11C 8D 2A Classified 4B Obituaries Comics 6D People Crossword 10D Stocks DearAbby 10D Television Editorials 4A Weather 4 Phila. schools in tourney The NCAA men's basketball tournament will have a Philly flavor when it begins Thursday.

Villanova, which won the Big East's tournament by beating UConn Sunday, was seeded No. 3 in the East and will play Old Dominion Friday. Temple, seeded 10th in the West Regional, will play Cincinnati Thursday. Ivy League Champion Penn is seeded 12th in the East and will play Alabama Thursday. Drexel, the North Atlantic Conference champion, was seeded 13th and will play Oklahoma State Thursday.

Pages 6C, 7C. back together, she was just living at the house," says Jack Fein, a longtime friend of both Carol and Irving Singer. "Carol was Irv's little show piece, a girl he could put on his arm who would make him look good. And Carol needed a place to stay." So, apparently, did two other men Singer invited to live at 9 Willow Court as roommates. "It was a friendly situation with everyone there," explains Leon Eger, one of the boarders.

"I sold them a Cadillac, and we got to talking. I said I was living in this tiny apartment and Irv told me he had five bedrooms. He just opened their house to me. They were those kind of people." Eger mowed the lawn and Carol cooked obody knows exactly why Carol Singer left Florida and came back to live with her ex-husband. Got a news tip? Call the Courier-Post tip line from your touch-tone phone at 662-3636; enter code 8477 (TIPS) and leave a message.

Irving Singer promised he would stop ft.