The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 16

C-2 Tuaday. April 25, 1989THE COURIER-NEWS CENTRAL JERSEY NEWS BRIEFS Road's residents stand up to trucks police are monitoring the situation to make sure conditions remain safe. Iglesias said the developer has been very cooperative in trying to keep the disruptions to a minimum, including making temporary repairs to parts of the road. Mayor James Dowden toured the site last Thursday and issued several conditions to the developer to try to improve the traffic situation. They include: trucks cannot enter or leave, the site before 8 a.m.; trenches in the side of the road must be repaired; and the entrance to the complex must be enlarged to allow trucks to easily turn out of it.

"When a truck and a car confront each other, there is no room for the car," Dowden said. school buses while children are getting on them. "The dirt is disgusting," said resident Ton! Wolff. "We can't even open windows and doors. I just can't wait for them to get out of here." Potts said he and other residents contacted state and township officials, but have yet to solve the problem.

The only alternative, he said, is for residents to stand in the road and block the trucks. Iglesias said if the road is closed, the developer would not be able to complete work on the housing project. The developer, K. Hovnanian, is paying for two police officers to monitor traffic on the road from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Voorhees said, adding that dirt should be completed this week.

When large trucks no longer need to use the road, it will be repaired, he said. Iglesias and Police Chief Richard Z. Voorhees conceded that residents do have trouble weaving their cars around the trucks to get to their homes. "The alternative would be to close the road and we can't do that," Iglesias said. "This is a construction site.

There is a certain amount of disturbance expected." Residents say they will settle for nothing less than having the road closed to truck traffic. "The trucks run you right off the road," said resident Ken Potts, adding that he has seen trucks pass Candidates quizzed on education issues The court said that because the child's comments were prompted by the man's questions, they should not have been used in court proceedings. Allen was sentenced last April to two consecutive five-year prison terms. Yesterday, he was still being held at Somerset County Jail, where he's been imprisoned since January 1988. Case remanded to municipal court SOMERVILLE A Somerset County grand jury yesterday refused to indict a Newark man on charges of aggravated assault upon a co-worker in January and instead remanded the matter to municipal court.

Neil White, 18, had been charged with running his car into another Newark man at a construction site at The Hills complex in Bedminster after the pair had an argument. The victim was treated for multiple bruises and a sprained back at Somerset Medical Center in Somerville. Art teacher wins discrimination suit NEWARK A federal jury yesterday agreed that a Flemington woman was a victim of sexual discrimination when she worked in Edison as an art teacher, the woman's attorney The jury in U.S. District Judge Harold Ackerman's court awarded Roberta Poppel $75,000 in actual damages and $12,000 in punitive damages from the Edison Board of Education and Joseph Kleinchester, the district's art supervisor. Poppel worked at J.P.

Stevens High School, Herbert Hoover Middle School and two elementary schools1 between 1977 and 1986, when she left the district to pursue a career in real estate, said her attorney, Robert A. Ballard Jr. of the Flemington law firm of Durst Dilts. Ballard said the lawsuit alleged that male teachers were kept in stable high school positions, while women were transferred to elementary and middle schools, regardless of their seniority. The jury found that Kleinchester aided in the discrimination and assessed him $7,500 of the punitive damages, Ballard said.

District officials did not respond to a telephone call seeking their reaction to the decision. N. Plainfielder gets cocaine sentence SOMERVILLE A North Plain-field woman yesterday was sentenced to three months in Somerset County Jail for cocaine possession in a June incident. Bwana Walker, 27, and her co-defendant Dalton Banks, 25, pleaded guilty in January. At the time of their arrests, authorities contended that they were running a drug-distribution ring in Essex County and using the North Plainfield apartment to stage the deals.

Walker originally was scheduled to be sentenced last Friday, but collapsed in the courtroom shortly before state Superior Court Judge Michael R. Imbriani imposed a sentence. Earlier this month, Banks, who pleaded guilty to other charges in connection with the incident, was sentenced to seven years in prison. Woman suffered fatal heart attack FRANKLIN (Hunterdon) A Qua-kertown woman found dead in her home last week apparently suffered a heart attack while trying to seek help for her husband, who had died earlier, police said yesterday. The bodies of Frank Dobson, 80, and his 84-year-old wife, Ruby, were discovered Wednesday.

Police said the couple had been dead for several weeks. "She probably found him dead; she probably turned around to seek help and fell over a chair or an end table, and that could have caused a heart attack," Police Chief Louis Troegner said yesterday. An investigation into the deaths indicates that Mrs. Dobson also broke her hip, the chief said. Both the chair and end table were found overturned, which suggests that she may have run into them or fallen over them, he added.

Because Mr. Dobson's body was partially decomposed, authorities found it difficult to determine how he died but believe it was from natural causes, Troegner said. State officials still recounting votes A recount of the Bridgewater-Rari-tan school district budget and election will be continued tomorrow, officials said yesterday. The two recounts began yesterday but were not completed because of the large number of votes that needed to be counted, said officials with the Somerset County office of the state Department of Education. The Board of Education requested a recount of the budget tally because it was defeated by only 31 votes.

Former board member Enid Bloch also asked for an election recount after she and incumbent Jean Crab-tree lost their seats on the board to two write-in candidates. How to send by fax to The Courier-News The newsroom of The Courier-News now has a facsimile machine for the receipt of news releases and other news-related material. The fax phone number Is 707-3252. For advertising, the fax number Is 707-3205. North Jersey hits $1Min walkathon The Northern New Jersey chapter of the March of Dimes hit the million dollar jackpot during the weekend with its annual fund-raiser, WalkAmerica.

The charity's goal was reached by 9,392 walkers in 11 sites, including some Somerset, Union and Hunterdon counties, said charity spokeswoman Dory Hulse. WalkAmerica is the March of Dimes' largest fund-raiser. Each year, volunteer walkers recruit sponsors who make a donation or pledge for every kilometer completed. Last year, the North Jersey chapter brought in slightly more than $800,000 from the event. This year, 1 million was raised, with 643 walkers chipping in $79,015 in Somerset County; 516 earning $52,162 in Hunterdon County; and $107,665 flooding in from Union County.

Cancer fund sets June 15 dinner The Valerie Fund, formerly located in South Orange, has moved its headquarters to 1878 Springfield Ave. in Maplewood. The fund is a non-profit organization that provides money for cancer research for children and their families. It has helped to fund six New Jersey Valerie Fund Children's Centers, which treats children with cancer and blood disorders. Proceeds raised by the fund are also used to send children and young adults, ages 6 to 20, who are afflicted with cancer to Camp Happy Times and Teen Camp Happy Times.

The organization will hold its annual Sports Dinner Roast on June 15 at the Aspen Manor in Parsippany. To obtain tickets to the roast, or for further information about the Valerie Fund, contact Mike Azzi at 761-0422, or write to: The Valerie Fund, 1878 Springfield Maplewood 07040. Franklin man, 30, charged in assault SOMERVILLE A Franklin man yesterday was charged in state Superior Court with aggravated assault upon an acquaintance and resisting arrest in an incident that occurred on Sunday. Allen J. Reid, 30, of Phillips Road, is accused of assaulting the victim after the pair had an argument, according to papers filed in state Superior Court.

He is accused of hitting the victim in the face and kicking her. He was arrested shortly after the alleged incident, when police found him walking in the area. Police say he began fighting with them and had to be restrained. S. Plainfield cops seek hit, run driver SOUTH PLAINFIELD Police are searching for a hit-and-run driver who slammed into a car at Clinton and Sampton avenues on Saturday, injuring three people, one seriously.

Rosalba Piedraita, 63, the driver of the car hit in the crash, was taken to Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center in Plainfield, where she remains in stable condition with head and back injuries, a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday. Witnesses to the accident described the hit-and-run vehicle as a light blue and silver Chevrolet Blazer with black stripping. The driver is described as having sandy hair and a mustache and wearing a red baseball cap. Two passengers in Piedraita's car were treated for minor injuries and released, police said. Police said Piedraita's car was traveling north on Clinton Avenue toward Sampton when it was struck head-on by the Blazer, which was turning onto Clinton from Sampton at high speed.

The Blazer then departed south on Clinton toward New Market Avenue. Crowd expected at public hearing NORTH PLAINFIELD Borough Councilman Richard Fontana requested a change of venue for the Council Meeting scheduled for May 8. The meeting's agenda is scheduled to include a public hearing on the council's proposal to ban semi-automatic firearms in the borough. An unusually large turnout is expected. Council President Hansen suggested that the meeting place remain unchanged.

The meeting could be monitored by the fire department and there would be a strict limit on time for all speakers. The Council voted to meet at its regular Borough Hall site, at 8 p.m. Sex-crime convict nets nod for retrial TRENTON An appeals court has ruled that a retrial should be given to a former Bound Brook man convicted of two counts of sexual assault. Albert R. Allen, formerly of Hamilton Street, was convicted of twice sexually assaulting his girlfriend's 10-year-old daughter in 1987.

The Appellate Division of Superior Court ruled yesterday that the child did not volunteer accounts of the alleged assaults to the man with whom her mother was living. By STEVEN COLEMAN Courier-News Transportation Writer BRIDGEWATER Angry Van-derveer Road residents yesterday threatened to take whatever action is necessary including blocking truck traffic to improve safety on their street. The narrow, two-lane road has been torn up under the weight of heavy trucks, which are removing 30,000 cubic yards of dirt from the 158-acre Vanderhaven Farms tract for the construction of 1,105 housing units, said Township Engineer Nelson Iglesias. The road splits Bridgewater and Raritan Borough. Iglesias said work to remove the IN YOUR TOWH LAKELAND FARE INCREASE: Lakeland Bus Lines Inc.

will increase fares 20 cents for one-way tickets and $2 per book of 10 trips for routes between New Jersey and New York City effective April 30. For further information on the increase, contact the company at 425 E. Blackwell Dover, N.J., or call 366-0600. EARLY ARBOR DAY: An Arbor Day tree will be planted at 1 p.m. today at Buccleuch Park, near the Buccleuch Mansion, in New Brunswick to celebrate the fifth consecutive year that the city has been designated a Tree City USA.

The program by the Nebraska-based National Arbor Day Foundation will include reading of "Trees" and other Joyce Kilmer poems, and distribution of more than 500 3-year-old Scotch pines. Arbor Day is Friday. BOUND BROOK SWIMMING COURSE DEADLINE: Monday is the deadline for registering children for the Recreation Commission "Learn to Swim" program, open to residents who have attended borough, public or parochial schools for at least one year, starting with kindergarten. Applications must be sent to Bound Brook Recreation Commission, borough hall, 230 Hamilton Bound Brook, N.J. 08805, POLICE FIRE BETHLEHEM Asbury man hurt as car hits tree An Asbury man was critically injured early Sunday when his vehicle ran off Mine Road and struck a tree, police said.

Randy W. Werkheiser, 27, was driving a 1977 Ford pickup truck when it veered off Mine Road. Personnel from the Hampton Rescue Squad removed Werkheiser from the vehicle, and he was rushed to Lehigh Valley Medical Center with internal injuries as well as knee and leg injuries. BRANCHBURG A 19-year-old man was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle Saturday night on Route 22. Kenneth Nelson, 19, of the Belvi-dere Motel in Whitehouse, also was charged with driving while intoxicated.

Police said the van, a 1989 Chevrolet van, was reported stolen earlier that night in Hunterdon County. Francis Weisneck, 25, of Hopewell, was charged with driving while intoxicated and driving with a revoked license early yesterday on Route 202. BRIDGEWATER A 1983 Cadillac valued at $7,500 was reported stolen Saturday night from a parking lot at Bridgewater Commons mall, Route 202-206. Two 18-year-old South Plainfield residents were charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana and possession of alcoholic beverages while underaged Friday night on Route 22. Those charged were the driver, Kevin E.

Blackburn of 263 Fairlamb and Robert D. Ger-hardt of 329 Libourel Road. A 17-year-old female passenger faces action by juvenile authorities on similar charges, police said. A boy's bicycle valued at $100 was reported stolen Saturday from outside a home on Maple Avenue. A sheep ornament valued at $95 was reported stolen Saturday from the lawn of a home at 120 Morgan Place.

David Sheffield, 18, of 514 Wat-chung Road, Bound Brook, was charged with driving while intoxicated Saturday on Route 22. An attendant at a Hess station on Route 22 reported Friday night that a motorist in a Dodge left without paying for $13.25 worth of gasoline. A wallet containing $30 in cash, was reported stolen Friday night from a pocketbook left in a coat at Bridgewater-Raritan High School West. The victim said her coat was in a pile of coats left by students in a hallway near the cafeteria. The students were attending a dance.

A burglary and an attempted burglary were reported Friday In a parking lot at an Co. facility, 55 Corporate Drive. The owner of a 1986 BMW said a radio cassette, valued at $450, was removed from the dashboard. The owner of a 1986 Saab care of swim program. For information, call 469-0877.

CLINTON TREE CITY: The Nebraska-based National Arbor Day Foundation has named Ginton a Tree City USA for the eighth time in recognition of its tree ordinance, its tree governing body, its comprehensive urban forestry program and its yearly Arbor Day observance. A commemorative flag and other materials will be presented at Clinton Public School on Friday. DUNELLEN CAREER DAY: Grades 7-12 will participate in Dunellen High School Career Day workshops from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Speakers from a range of fields will meet with small groups of students to present career possibilities.

Notice The Courier-News will run announcements of regularly scheduled meetings of government boards and committees only on Mondays. The deadline for receipt of this information will be the preceding Friday. Items not received in time for Monday publication will not be run during the week. told police a door lock was badly damaged. Concrete debris, corrugated pipe and a tree stump were illegally dumped Friday at a former dumping area off Easy Street in the Central Jersey Industrial Park, Chimney Rock Road.

FRANKLIN A burglary was reported Sunday at an apartment in the Franklin Greens complex, John F. Kennedy Boulevard. A window was forced open and a videocassette recorder and stereo system were stolen. Total value: $2,330. A backhoe was reported damaged Friday in a construction site off Howard Avenue.

A tool box and tools worth $100 were stolen from the cab. An attempted burglary was reported Saturday at a home on Cortel-you Lane. A side door was forced open but nothing was reported missing. Two vehicle burglaries were reported Sunday, raising to 128 the number of such incidents in the past 14 weeks. A purse containing $20 in cash was stolen from a 1985 Honda.

Two rings valued at $500 and $7 in coins were removed from a 1986 Chevrolet. The vehicles, both unlocked, were parked in the driveway of a Hill Avenue home. Chequita Y. Lumzy, 30, of New Brunswick, was charged with shoplifting Friday at a Shop-Rite in Rutgers Plaza, Easton Avenue. Police were told that she tried to leave without paying for a car battery valued at $52.97.

Eileen M. Meggison, 48, of Kendall Park, was charged with driving while intoxicated early Saturday on Route 27. HILLSBOROUGH Michael Marchishin, 20, of 518 Church and Johann Eric Spross, 19, of 937 W. Meadow Drive, both of Bound Brook, were charged with consuming alcoholic beverages while underaged when police investigated early Sunday at a townhouse complex at Williamsburg Drive and Marlboro Commons. Several windows were reported broken Friday in two construction vehicles parked overnight at a site off Roycefield Road.

A garage door was reported splattered with paint Friday at a home at 526 Roycebrook Road. MONTGOMERY An attempted burglary was reported Saturday in a storage building of the township's Public Works Department on Harlingen Road. A door was forced open but nothing was reported missing. The windshield of a 1985 Ford was reported smashed Sunday night in the parking lot at Tiger's Tale restaurant on Route 206 In Skillman. Volunteer firefighters were called out Sunday night when smoke was detected in the attic of a home on Bridgepoint Road in the Belle Mead section.

Police said the smoke condition was caused by a defective chimney and there was no damage to the home. Charles Van Hoesen, 20, of Hills said the urgent need for property tax reform is keenly felt in school districts because revenues are generated from property taxes and poorer districts suffer. Former Attorney General Cary Edwards said strides have been made in improving schools, but much work remains to solve the problems confronting urban districts and to increase their accountability. Sen. William Gormley, R-Dist.

2, said more money must be funneled into running public schools and rebuilding dilapidated school buildings, for school districts," Gormley said. Republican Thomas Blomquist said state government wastes a great deal of money, including in spending on education. U.S. Rep. James Courter, R-Dist.

12, said he would continue Gov. Thomas H. Kean's work in raising standards for students and teachers. However, he departed from Kean in the area of funding and said he would favor fully funding the state school aid formula. W.

Somerset St. Simple assault reported April 17 at Max's restaurant, 63 W. Somerset St. SOMERVILLE A second-floor porch was damaged by fire Sunday at a home at 62 N. Doughty Ave.

The owner, Robert Marek, 49, told police the fire started about 12:30 p.m. when he was using a torch to remove old paint from the exterior of the home. The flames were extinguished by volunteer firefighters. The windshields of two cars were reported damaged Sunday in a parking lot behind Gaston Auto Electric Service, 42 S. Gaston Ave.

Police said the windshields of a 1984 Buick and a 1979 Oldsmobile were struck several times with pellets from a BB gun. Damage to an air-conditioning unit at Emmanuel Reformed Episcopal Church, 100 Grant was reported Saturday. Police said someone punched holes in a unit behind the building. Domestic assault reported early Sunday at a home at 24 S. Bridge St.

Domestic assaults reported Sunday at a home at 108 E. Main St. SOUTH PLAINFIELD Theft of rear louvres valued at $175 from a car parked on Park Avenue on Saturday. Theft of less than $1 in change from a car parked on Cherry Street on Saturday. Theft of a purse containing $150 in cash at Channel Home Center on Hadley Road on Sunday.

Theft of a car parked at Middlesex County Mall on Sunday. Kenneth C. Brayboy, 38, of 908 W. Fifth Plainfield, was charged with shoplifting $79.94 worth of merchandise from a store in the Middlesex Mall on Sunday. WATCHUNG Shoplifting arrest leads to drug find A South Plainfield man, arrested on shoplifting charges Friday, had $3,000 in drugs in his possession, police said.

Police said Dominick Pender, 26, of 415 Edgar and Robin Braxton, 30, of 637 Downer Westfield, were arrested at 4 p.m. Friday and charged with shoplifting at Marshall's department store in the Blue Star Shopping Center. After the arrest, police said they found a small amount of drugs on Braxton and then obtained a search warrant for Pender's car. In the car, police said they found 72 vials of cocaine, 52 decks of heroin, three bags of crack and under 50 grams of marijuana. Pender was also charged with possession of cocaine, possession with intent to distribute and possession of heroin with intent to distribute.

He is being held on $50,000 bail. Braxton was also charged with possession of cocaine, possession of heroin and shoplifting. She is being held on $5,000 bail. FLEMINGTON (AP) All the Republican candidates for governor and Democrat Alan Karcher were grilled on education issues when they appeared before Hunterdon County residents last night. The questions ranged from ridding schools of drugs and teaching values in the classroom to providing more state funding for public schools.

Assembly Speaker Chuck Hard-wick, R-Dist. 21, was closely questioned on the prospects of a $350 million tax package, which would provide about $100 million in added public school aid. He said the bills, which he opposes, are not likely to pass and he will continue looking for budget cuts to provide more help for the schools. Sen. Gerald Cardinale, R-Dist.

39, said he believes education spending must be streamlined because an average of $8,000 annually spent on each public school student is excessive. He also lobbied for his proposal to stress the teaching of abstinence as the best way to avoid AIDS. Assemblyman Karcher, D-Dist. 19, borough, was charged Wednesday with possession of a small amount of marijuana in a bank parking lot at Route 206 and Route 518. Robert G.

Bost, 47, of Hopewell, was charged with driving while intoxicated when police investigated an accident Wednesday night on Great Road near Bedens Brook Road. He also was charged with failing to keep right. NORTH PLAINFIELD Theft of two bicycles from 1165 Route 22 on Sunday. Theft of tool box from car parked on Duer Street on Sunday. Theft of 1987 Mazda from 401 Route 22 on Sunday.

Assault in 100 block of Farragut Road on Saturday. PLAINFIELD Two robbery incidents were reported early yesterday in the 300 block of Watchung Avenue. A 26-year-old city man reported that he was assaulted by three or four men at 12:40 a.m. and robbed of $160. A 22-year-old Piscataway man said a group of men confronted him and demanded money, and assaulted him when he had none, at 1:25 a.m.

A 17-year-old city youth reported that he was driving in the 700 block of West Seventh Street when six men robbed him of a radio and $150 at 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Charles Smith, 32, of 934 Leland was charged Saturday with possession of a 4-inch knife in the 900 block of Stelle Avenue. Eric Hall, 33, of 209 E. Seventh was charged Sunday with assault under the Domestic Violence Act.

Theft of fishing poles from a car parked in the 900 block of West Fifth Street early yesterday. Assault in the 200 block of Muhlenberg Place on Sunday. Theft of bicycle from 800 block of West Front Street on Sunday. Theft of radar detector from car parked in 900 block of West Fifth Street on Sunday. Burglary of business in 500 block of East Second Street and theft of cash register valued at $500 on Sunday.

Assault in 500 block of West Second Street on Sunday. Burglary of home in 800 block of West Fourth Street and theft of $33 on Saturday. Assaults were reported Saturday in the 1300 block of West Third Street, 700 block of West Fourth Street and 300 block of East Fifth Street. Theft of bicycle from 500 block of West Third Street on Sunday. Assault in 200 block of Johnston Avenue on Sunday.

Theft of camera from car parked on 100 block of North Avenue on Sunday. Assault in 800 block of East Second Street on Sunday. Burglary of home in 400 block of East Seventh Street and theft of videocassette recorder on Sunday. Assault under the Domestic Violence Act in 100 block of East Fifth Street on Sunday. RARITAN BOROUGH Domestic assault reported Wednesday night at apartment at 27.