The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 1

SOMERSET Money (Plus Montgomery couple offers La Follette Seyval Blanc from their winery. Page B-6 f. V. FczoD-0 Sunny, 80s today; clear, cool tonight; sunny, pleasant, low 80s tomorrow Weather details Page A-2 A Gannett Newspaper Serving Central New Jersey 722-8800 Bridgewater, Tuesday, August 11, 1987 25 Cents Tough times for Great Adventure our I iv -rr ntti 1 ODD Mil? t. i '4 AV.

V. 5 quit intervening in the region. Iran declared yesterday it would turn the waterway into a "killing field for the aggressors." The discovery of mines in the busy waters leading to the Persian Gulf indicated a new peril for shipping companies. It also appeared to raise the stakes for Washington's reflag-ging operation, since the U.S. Navy assembles its convoys of Kuwaiti tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

But while the renewed evidence of Iranian-placed mines in the region's shipping lanes caused consternation, the new Iraqi air raids against Iranian oil facilities was being interpreted as the greater danger. The attacks raised immediate fears that Iran might retaliate against Kuwait's oil facilities, or at the reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers and their U.S. Navy escorts. The Iraqi attacks were the first since the July 20 United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Persian Gulf war. Iraq said its warplanes bombed a See GULF on back page From combined wire services KUWAIT Military tensions escalated further in the Mideast today after three more mines were found not far from where a U.S.-chartered supertanker loaded with Iranian oil struck a mine outside the Persian Gulf.

The latest developments followed attacks yesterday by Iraqi warplanes deep inside Iran for the first time in several weeks. About 300 miles away, a U.S.-es-corted convoy of Kuwaiti tankers resumed its voyage through the gulf today after a 36-hour delay because of a mine scare. The convoy was expected to reach Kuwait later today. Reagan administration sources said a U.S. Navy jet in the Persian Gulf area fired two missiles last weekend at a suspected Iranian jet fighter that appeared to be threatening a U.S.

surveillance plane. The missiles did not strike anything, they said. And Iran said that the gulf will be "full of mines" until the superpowers 4. .7. Courw News pnoto by Swve Klavsr The empty parking lot behind the Sarajevo Bobsled at Great Adven- had this season.

A man broke his leg on the bobsled in July when it ture in Jackson Township attests to the problems the theme park has was started up by mistake while he was boarding it. By LESLIE WERSTEIN Courier-News Staff Writer 1987 Accidents at Great Adventure On June 17, Karen Anne Brown, 19, of Chester, died when she fell from the Lightnin' Loops roller coaster. A preliminary state investigation found that Brown was not properly secured in the ride's restraining harness, and "there are indications it was not in place because of the failure on the part of the operator assigned to the ride to follow established operating procedure," said Kevin Smith, spokesman for the state Department of Labor. On July 22, Thomas Dugan, 33, of Bingham-ton, N.Y., broke two bones in his leg. An operator of the Sarajevo Bobsled started the ride by mistake as Dugan was boarding it, a state official said.

In a third accident, a park employee suffered a fractured vertebra July 14 when a camel knocked her down. "Last year, it was a lot more crowded," said Francis Lewis of Willingboro, who works in a souvenir shop. "It's been a slow season, and the accident didn't help." "The park is safe it was a freak accident," said Rich Hoffing, 18, of Ewing, who operates the parachute ride. "But I guess people are staying away because they're a little afraid." That's how some Central Jerseyans view the situation. "Of course we are very reluctant to send children there or to any amusement parks with the exception of Sesame Place, only because of the things that have been happening there," said Jerry Amedeo, director of Camp Harmony Day Camp and Somerset Hills School in Warren.

The day camp never sponsored trips to Great Adventure, and the school discontinued them this year, Amedeo said. The same is true of Camp Tevah's "tween caravan," which takes seventh- and eighth-graders on day trips throughout New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. "With so many options available to us, and in light of recent problems at Great Adventure, we have elected to take our youth to other places," See GREAT on back page -1' JACKSON TOWNSHIP While waiting to embark on the Looping Starship at Six Flags Great Adventure, two boys jokingly quizzed a worker about the possibility of falling out of the ride when it turns upside down in midair. "Don't be surprised if you fall out," one of the boys said to the couple in line behind him. "The same people who made Lightnin' Loops made this one." Bad jokes about the accidents at Great Adventure including the death in June of a girl who plunged from the Lightnin' Loops roller coaster -is only a small part of the amusement park's problem this season.

After all, the boys who made the joke each had paid $18 to walk through the gate. The greater problem for Great Adventure is the people who stay away. Having spent the last three years building confidence and attendance after a haunted house fire that killed eight teen-agers in 1984, amusement park officials estimate a 10 percent to 15 percent decline in attendance, largely in response to recent accidents and violence, as well as bad weather. Besides the fatal roller coaster accident in June, a man suffered a broken leg when the Saravejo Bobsled started before he was completely in it last month, and an employee injured her back when she was knocked down by a camel. The accidents have not kept most thrill-seekers from the amusement park, but employees say it has been noticeably less crowded.

Rariftan will study withdrawing from B-K school district Toy giant scouting sites near now mall I Jr, 1 -j t. By MARILYN OSTERMILLER Courier-News Business Writer President Norman Ricken said yesterday. "We're closing in on some sites," said Michael Goldstein, chief financial officer for company, based in Rochelle Park, Bergen County. Toys Us has 15 stores in New Jersey, with the Blue Star Shopping Center outlet in Watchung the only Central Jersey location. The company employs 2,500 people, and sales for the fiscal year ended Feb.

1 were $2.4 billion. Toys Us, which packs 18,000 toys into each of its 312 supermarket-style stores, is looking for a 4-acre tract near the Commons. If they are successful, it will be one of the last tracts in the area zoned for stores. "In Bridgewater, there isn't that much land zoned for retail on Route 22," Somerset County Planner Arthur Reuben said. Several other large retailers also are looking for property that is on the way to the mall, said Leonard See TOYS on back page DeCicco, who appointed Councilmen William Fritchie, John Lamaestra and Philip Possessky.

"We're not committing to anything right now, we're just looking at the possibilities." The taxpayers association has pushed for the study because Raritan is becoming "grayer" and many senior citizens are feeling the crunch of the tax burden of being linked to Bridgewater, a rapidly expanding community, Slack said. The bill, which was introduced by Assemblyman Walter Kavanaugh, R-Dist. 16, will set up the procedures to allow a municipality to withdraw from an all-purpose district, one in See RARITAN on back page By DERRICK HINMON Courier-News Staff Writer RARITAN BOROUGH Sparked by a new state Assembly bill, the borough has appointed a committee to study the feasibility of withdrawing from the Bridgewater-Raritan school district. Responding to a request from Rose Ann Slack, president of the Raritan Taxpayers Association, Mayor Anthony DeCicco has appointed a committee to study the procedures and advantages and disadvantages of withdrawing from the joint district. "We're going to study the feasibility and the financial impact of what would happen if we withdraw," said Courer-News photo by Ed Pagliarmi Toys Us likes what it sees in Somerset County lots of families with small children.

Thanks to the influx of young families and another drawing card the soon-to-be-completed Bridgewater Commons shopping mall the giant toy retailer has decided this is a good place to be, too. Toys Us plans to build a new toy store in the Somerville-Bridge-water area in the next two years, CONSTRUCTION DELAYS: The pouring of concrete for a third lane on Route 22 west in Bridgewater will delay traffic during non-rush hour periods through the rest of this week. The construction is part of the road improvements for the new Bridgewater Commons Inside The Courier-News President puts peace plan on hold to give other one a chance Page A-3 Dislodged boulder rips apart tour bus, killing 7, hurting 15 in Colorado Page A-3 LifeStyle A-5-A-6 Lotteries A-2 Money Plus B-6-B-9 Movies A-7 Obituaries C-3 Sports B-1-B-5 Television A-7 Astrology, Bridge A-8 Business B-9 Classified C-4-C-10 Comics, crossword A-8 Editorials A-9 Legals C-4 Letters A-9.