The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 17

Obituaries B-3 Sports B-5-9 Classified advertising B-1 Metre Editor, Leslie Snyder Assistant Metro Editors, David Ounkle and Michael Kell telly 410 Call them at 722-8800, ext. B-9-16 THE COURIER-NEWS Tuesday, March 18, 1986 station from lin awm Grant Avenue stop closing April 26 Most 4ty and North Plainfield commuters use the By JACK W. GILL Courier-News Staff Writer "Facilities at Grant Avenue Station are sparse," Nogard said. "The old station building was removed in 1981, and a standard shelter was erected on the east-bound side. Unfortunately, the shelter was vandalized after approximately one week.

No new shelter was put in its place." Nogard said it would require $133,400 to make repairs at the station to bring it to acceptable standards, including two low-level platforms, modern lighting, shelter and installation of an information system. Grant Avenue is the second stop to be discontinued in the city. The Clinton Avenue station was closed several years ago. ing the stops will result in faster travel time between other points, Nogard said. Asked by Councilman Jon Bramnick to compare the number of passengers at the Garwood station with Grant Avenue, Nogard said Grant Avenue has the lowest ridership on the line.

"We're not picking on Grant Avenue," Nogard said, adding that ridership surveys are part of an overall program by NJ Transit. The distance between Dunellen and the Grant Avenue stop is 1.8 miles, and between Grant Avenue and the main station on North Avenue is 1.1 miles, Nogard said. There is bus service between the stations. main station on North Avenue, while hundreds of East End residents use the Netherwood Station. No cutbacks in service are planned at those two stations, Nogard said.

Nogard said budget constraints resulting from fund cutbacks on the state and federal levels contributed to the decision to close the Grant Avenue Station in Plain-field and the North Newark Station. Only three eastbound and four westbound trains stop at Grant Avenue on the Raritan Valley Line. Eliminat PLAINFIELD Trains won't be stopping at the infrequently used Grant Avenue Station after April 26, a NJ Transit official told the City Council last night. David V. Nogard, manager of the rail line's Office of Community Relations, said it would be uneconomical to continue maintaining the stop, which is used by an average of 15 travelers on weekdays.

Westfield chief retiring after 35-year career I ''vvV 1 1 Last Friday marked the final day of Moran's career as a Westfield police officer. He will use accumulated sick leave until his formal retirement in June, which will be marked with a dinner at the Sulphur Springs Restaurant in Berkeley Heights. Looking back over his career, Moran cited his elevation to chief as the highlight. He was named to the post just nine years after he joined the force as the result of a ticket-fixing scandal that prompted the ouster of several senior officers. Upon assuming office in 1960, Moran took command of a staff hampered by poor radio communications, a change he cites as the biggest improvement in the department dur- Continued on Page B-3 By BRUCE HARING Courier-News Staff Writer WESTFIELD Retiring Police Chief James Moran will never forget one particular street in town.

While walking toward police headquarters during his first day as a rookie patrolman 35 years ago, a car pulled up and the passenger asked where Emory Crescent was. "I made believe I was trying to think where it was, but I didn't have any idea," Moran laughed. "I said, 'Gee, I just can't think of And the woman said, 'And you're a and drove off. I never forgot it." Nine years later, the rookie patrolman became chief of the force. f-gimt i ii 1111'' Courier-News Photo By Vlnce Kremer permit for the yard, claiming that crankcase oil had been disposed of improperly.

An attorney for the yard promised a court challenge of the action today. A heavy-equipment operator does his job at Boro Auto Wrecking at 2271 Hamilton Boulevard yesterday, but the South Plain-field Borough Council last night refused to renew a junkyard Rutgers students on break: Fired up and bounced out South Plainfield withholds license By HOLLIS BURKE Courier-News Staff Writer By DERRICK HINMON Courier-News Staff Writer Hotel manager Michael Nariosky, who was charged with two felony counts because of the violations, blamed the damage on students who stayed at the hotel the previous week. Nanosky, 27, was arrested and charged with third-degree felonies stemming from operating the hotel with the violations, police said. He was released 20 hours later and said the case will be handled by company attorneys. Although he was unsure of the exact number, Nanosky said several hundred Rutgers students were staying in the hotel.

and Ferdinand Thiel voting for denial. The mayor then cast one of his rare tie-breaking votes to deny the license. Grispin said he would go before Superior Court Assignment Judge Herman Breitkopf to seek a temporary restraining order suspending the borough's action until the matter can be adjudicated. A letter from state DEP authorities dated Dec. 20, 1984 cited the firm for disposing of "an amount of waste oil and I' crankcase oil onto the ground" as determined during an inspection on June 12, 1984.

The DEP told the firm to install a system for 'collecting all waste oil within 30 days and to dispose of waste oil according to state environmental regulations. The letter, written by State DEP Inspector Joseph R. Rogalski, claimed the company's op-- eration "constituted a danger to the environ-ment and to public health and safety." Gallagher claimed the firm had not only ig-v nored the DEP but also had disregarded a warn-. from fire officials on proper storage of oil and gas. had ignored them, adding "We're not really required to give you a hearing." Grispin suggested that English disqualify himself from sitting on the case "since you have already decided the matter." He stressed, "We're talking about 25 employees and their families." Borough Attorney Frank Santoro said a one week adjournment of the matter would be "fairi" claiming he knew of no precedent for the case.

He said the courts may hold that private property rights of. the junkyard supersede al-. leged health violations and a proper hearing may require preparation. i'- Then Councilman' Daniel J. Gallagher claimed the company was "letting gasoline and oil seep into the ground," adding that there had been a fire there recently.

He urged denial of the the license, asserting that the firm "had had plenty of time." A The council deadlocked on the motion to deny the license with Councilmen Donald Acrin, Michael Woskey, and Bernard Conlon voting; against denial and Councilwoman Darlene Goushy, and Councilmen Daniel J. Gallagher1 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -Several hundred Rutgers University students received a rude awakening during their spring break Sunday when police condemned their hotel, for 110 fire code violations. An evacuation took place from 2 to a.m. Sunday at the Lauderdale Surf Days Inn, and the students were placed at other hotels until the problems were fixed.

By 5 p.m. Monday the hotel was completely reopened arid all the students returned to their rooms. SOUTH PLAINFIELD -'Agreeing that a lo cal junkyard had. ignored warnings from the state Department of Environmental and the local Health and Fire Departments, the mayor and Borough Council last night voted 4-3 not to renew its annual license. Mayor Michael English rapped the gavel for what was intended to be a hearing into various charges filed against Boro Auto Wrecking oi 2271 Hamilton Boulevard.

Borough Health Officer Andrew Simpf Jr. and fire officials were waiting to testify. Court Clerk Patricia Vargo was called in to work the courtroom's electronic recording system. Kenneth J. Grispin of Scotch Plains, attorney for Frederick Errickson, owner of the junkyard, said he had just received details of the alleged offenses yesterday and needed time to prepare his case.

English said the junkyard had notices from the state DEP as early as December 1984 but The inspection began in a lounge The 12-story, 250-room hotel on Sea Breeze Boulevard -rvthe '-'floats pf the building, famous beach strio was saio to where emergency doors were illegal- famous beach strip" was said to emergency house 2,000 people at least half of them college students on their spring Continued on Page B-2 Talk of the Town Affordable housing regions Regions to deal with 'fair share' housing in N.J. Minister tends congregation of jail inmates and families 3 Pau By The Associated Press and The Courier-News Staff Grzelte Louner-News Region 4, Monmouth and Ocean counties. f'- Region 5, Burlington, Mercer, Gloucester and Camden counties. Region 6, Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties. The housing council was created last summer by state law as an alternative to unlock the litigation logjam that developed since the court's Mount Laurel II decision in 1983.

Staff Writer The Rev. Kathleen Roney-Wilson's congregation is truly a captive audience. t' The township resident ministers to, jail inmates, a group whose spiritual needs she believes are too often ignored. "These are people who are hurting and have wonderful gifts," she said. "I do what any pastor does, except my congregation is behind bars." Her day-to-day presence in prison makes a difference, Somerset County Jail Warden Robert Lund said.

"We have other individuals who come here as counselors," Lund said. "But her collar seems to make a difference. We have inmates making requests to see her. She's also encouraged women to put curtains on the windows, to make it a little more like a home, think it's been very good for the Roney-Wilson, an ordained Baptist minister, is executive director of the Somerset County Chaplaincy Council, a private interdenominational group that has administrative of ices in the PeopleCare, Center on Fin-derne Since becoming executive director enables her to minister to all the needs of an individual, whether it be a spiritual problem or a housing problem. A former sex-abuse, alcohol and prison counselor in the Midwest, she took the job shortly after accomplishing her long-planned goal of the jails that she has had.

I think this makes a real difference." The Somerset County jail has two ministers but they serve in social service positions, Reynolds said. "There's no chaplain officiating there but churches have put a chaplain within reach." Roney-Wilson said her path to the seminary was not an easy one. A self-described child of the 1960s, she first thought about entering a theological seminary late in that decade, at a time when few women did. She decided that time was not right for her. Instead, after getting a bachelor's degree in counseling and social work, the Midwest native worked as a drug, sex abuse and alcohol abuse counselor.

After working at a women's penitentiary in Ohio, an internship with the Illinois Department of Corrections turned into a full-time position. For five years, she worked at an all-male institution. But the urge to go into pastoral work did not leave, and in 1979, she finally decided to enter Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, 111. There, while raising her two daughters, she also obtained a master's degree in counseling. "I believe very strongly in the holistic message of the Gospel" she said.

"But seminary wasn't easy. I completing seminary. Chaplaincy Council dates back TRENTON The state Council on Affordable Housing unanimously voted yesterday to divide New Jersey into six regions, each responsible for providing its "fair share" of court-ordered low- and moderate-income housing. The fledgling council, empowered to mediate housing disputes arising from the state Supreme Court's historic Mount Laurel decisions, approved a resolution adopting a plan to assign each of the state's 21 counties to a region. In Central Jersey, Union County was grouped with Essex, Morris and Sussex counties in Region 2, while Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Warren counties combined to form Region 3.

The regional designations are considered important because a municipality may transfer up to half its affordable housing obligations to another municipality as long as the towns are in the same region. The premise of the plan is that the majority of people who live in each region commute to jobs within the same region. The other groupings were: Region 1, Bergen, Hudson and Passaic counties. 1 As of Dec. 5, 116 Mount Laurel cases were pending in state Superior Court.

Many towns believe the housing council will require them to build fewer homes than the courts would have ordered. Settlement in the courts could have led to 7,500 low-cost homes and 19,500 market-priced homes in Central Jersey. In its Mount Laurel I decision in 1975 and again in Mount Laurel IL the state Supreme Court said towns cannot use zoning subterfuges to exclude low- and moderate-income housing. In its second landmark ruling, the justices ordered towns to provide their "fair share" of affordable housing. Under the Fair Housing Act of 1985, the Legislature's response to the courts, the council was assigned the responsibility for setting up the regional contribution agreement system that will allow towns to transfer up to 50 percent of their Moit Laurel obligations to other towns in the same region.

Under the plan, a town fulfilling its obligations by shifting part of it to a neighboring town must help pay the construction costs of the homes that a receiving town has agreed to build. The homes can be eitSer-Tiew to the early 1960s, when a group of churches ministering to: inmates coalesced into one large program. The coalition fell apart in the 'mid-1970s, but a new board backed by members of different Protestant churches in Somerset County got together and recreated the program. The council now is supported by 25 churches and is looking for more, said finance director Les Reynolds, one of the people who helped to re-Start the program. "We i never thought our new executive director would be a woman," Reynolds said.

"But we struck gold. No one has ever had the presence in last April, shi has been working with construction or existing housing stock rehabilitated to comply With building codes. The subsidies can be used to lower the cost of new homes and make them affordable to low- and moderate-income buyers. inmates, ex-inmates and the families -prisoners. She, does.

most of her work at toe-Somerset County JaiL but visits Somerset County inmates at other Central Jersey prisons. Roney-Wilson said the job fulfills her deepest wishes because it i Continued on Page B-3.