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

Sampras pr A OUSTS MOOI Mets no-hit Defense helps out as Houston's Darryl Kile pitches no-hitter against Mets C-1 Kevin Brown mows Yanks down, 4-1 Texas pitcher keeps New York away from first place C-1 It was the first time he has ever beaten his boyhood pal C-1 Play opens at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn D-1 Union, Middlesex Edition if te fey a wmm to 2m 722-8800 September 9, 1993 A Gannett newspaper serving EDUCATION iwrwwii Study: 90 million 'barely literate' win i Xftv Bridgewater, Thursday, a person has to have to function well in that system, and to say that 90 million adults in this country don't have the skills to do that," Riley said. Riley stressed, however, that the study doesn't mean those who scored lowest are ignorant, but that they are only lacking in skills to synthesize or sort information. Many of those who did poorly were immigrants, the elderly and prison inmates. 20 percent have diplomas Still, 20 percent of those who had the worst literacy skills possessed high school diplomas, the study showed. Noting that some of those people hold down good jobs, Riley See LITERACY on Page A-9 Central New Jersey grip on literacy may be slipping: Literacy scores for people ages 21 to 25 have declined significantly from just seven years ago.

Societal fault line U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley called the findings a "wake-up call to the sheer magnitude of illiteracy in this country." He also warned that the study exposes a widening societal "fault line" that exists between those with enough education to keep up in the information age and millions of others who can manage little more than adding figures on a bank deposit slip or reading a map. "It's bound to be a shock when you look at the complexity of our economic system, and the requirements that Vice President Al Gore delivered this list of Top 10 Good Things About Being Vice President during his 'Late Show' appearance Wednesday night. 10. Police escort gets you to the movies faster.

9. You know that game tetherball? I played tether-ball with the inventor of tetherball. 8. After they sign a bill, there's lots of free pens. 7.

If you close your left eye, the seal on the podium reads "President of the United States." 6. 1 get intellectual property rights to my speeches. 5. Dan Quayle and Gerald Ford are pretty easy to beat during Vice Presidents' Week on "Jeopardy." 4. You don't have to be funny to get invited on the Letterman show.

3. You get to eat all the french fries the president can't get to. 2. You don't have to be a good speller to get the job. 1.

Secret Service code name "Buttafuoco." Associated Press photo Vice President Al Gore jokes with the host during CBS' 'Late Show with David Letterman" Wednesday night. Gore received a standing ovation from the audience and an invitation to return from Letterman. See story on Page A-3. COURTS Msg1 (ojdGs DTK IfirW r- Many of those who tested poorly were immigrants, the elderly and prison inmates. By the Los Angeles Times Nearly half of American adults are "at risk" in today's technologically advancing society because they possess the barest of language and math skills although the majority of them believe they can read or write English well, according to a landmark study released Wednesday by the U.S.

Department of Education. The study, which tested more than 13,600 adults throughout the country last year, also indicated America's CRIME Gunman robs mall employee Police suspect incident at night deposit vault was a 'copycat' crime. By TEK TALMONT Courier-News Staff Writer BRIDGEWATER A red-bearded gunman who "may have been reading the papers" is being sought in the armed robbery late Tuesday night of a Bridgewater Commons store manager as she arrived at a Chemical Bank branch to make a night deposit. Police Lt. Frank Provenzano advanced the copycat theory Wednesday, pointing out that the same night deposit vault on Prince Rodgers Road was the scene of a similar robbery Aug.

25. Provenzano said that in the first robbery, two gunmen approached a Manville woman employed by Blue Chip Cookies and demanded her bank bag containing $1,260. After the woman gave up the bag, both men ran away. On Tuesday night, the manager of Expressly Portraits pulled up just before 11 p.m. and took two steps out of her car when a man appeared from the side of the bank and pointed a handgun at her.

The woman, a 29-year-old Bridgewater resident, told police she jumped back in the car and started kicking at the gunman. She told police the man merely stood there with the gun trained on her, saying nothing and appearing "indifferent and expressionless," ac cording to a report by Officer Da-mian Bauman. The woman said she tossed the bank bag containing $55 and several small checks on the ground, slammed the car door and ducked, She said the man grabbed the bag and ran toward North Bridge Street. The woman said she became confused about the location of police headquarters and drove instead to the Somerville home of her boyfriend, calling police from there. The gunman is described as being 6 feet tall, with a medium build, in his mid-30s, with a red beard and moustache.

He was wearing a black baseball cap, black jacket and black jeans, "Whenever our patrols see anyone at any of these facilities at night, we pull in to see what they're doing," he said. "We expect to step up patrols during the store closing hours," from about 9:30 to 11 p.m. Provenzano suggested that store personnel who need to make night deposits find other store owners who bank at the same fa cility, or get a fellow employee to accompany them. I hey snould travel together, but in separate cars," he said. "That way, if one runs into trouble, the other can scoot away and get help." Courier-News photos by Kathy Johnson Through trembling lips, Charlene Farmer addresses Superior Court Judge Edmund Bernhard during the sentencing of serial killer John J.

Fautenberry in Flemington Wednesday. Fautenberry pleaded guilty to murdering Farmer's son Gary. Fautenberry 'killed' victim's happy family Chances are he will, never serve his sentence in New Jersey. By DAVID P. WILLIS Courier-News Staff Writer Confessed killer John J.

Fautenberry, already convicted of murder in two states, pleaded guilty Wednesday and was sentenced to life in prison for the 1991 murder of a Tennessee trucker at a Bloomsbury truck stop. Fautenberry, 30, pleaded guilty to shooting and robbing Gary Farmer, 26, of Springfield, on Feb. 1, 1991. His body was found four days later in his still-idling rig. The plea came on the second day of jury selection for his trial in Flemington.

Farmer's mother, Charlene Farmer, looked coldly at Fautenberry and addressed Superior Court Judge Edmund Bernhard through trembling lips. She clutched a framed picture of her son. "If Gary Farmer had been here now, he would have been the type of person who would say 'momma, forgive Charlene Farmer said. "I have to work on that. I can't do that right now." Bernhard told Fautenberry that he hopes he "will never be free." Fautenberry must serve 30 years before he is eligible for parole.

Chances are he will never serve his sentence in New Jersey. The prison Gary Farmer's mother says seeing his effects will allow her to cope with his death. By DAVID P. WILLIS Courier-News Staff Writer The mother of a Tennessee trucker cried silently Wednesday as confessed killer John J. Fautenberry admitted that he murdered her son at a Bloomsbury truck stop in 1991.

"My baby," mouthed Charlene Farmer of Springfield, as she grasped Gary Farmer's high school picture strung on a chain around her neck. term will run concurrent with a 99-year sentence for the murder of a gold and silver mine worker in Alaska. There is no possibility of parole there. Plus, he was given the death penalty for the murder of an insurance data representative in Ohio. "But if that (death) sentence were not imposed for whatever reason, he is facing life in prison," Hunterdon County Prosecutor Sharon Ransa-vage said.

"And he has now been held accountable for a crime he committed in Hunterdon County, the murder of Gary Farmer." One of Fautenberry's lawyers, Lucas Phillips of East Orange, said he brought up the plea bargain rejected by Fautenberry in July after the defendant asked to speak with his lawyers. As part of his plea bargain, Fautenberry may appeal Bernhard's July ruling that allowed his statements to Portland police and the FBI to be used against him. "I can think of no more powerful argument to keep John Fautenberry behind bars for the rest of his life than those tapes," Assistant Prosecutor Marcia Crowe said. In them, Fautenberry confessed to four killings. Fautenberry may go to Oregon next to face charges in the killings of trucker Don Nutley of Waco, Texas, and bank teller Christine Guthrie of Portland.

Fautenberry has not yet been indicted for Guthrie's death. tion with another drug to be "a safe and efficacious medical treatment for early pregnancy termination." European studies demonstrated that the pill could prevent pregnancy when taken up to 72 hours after unplanned or unwanted intercourse, or after a contraceptive method such as a condom has failed. Because of the European experience, the NAS report said, an extensive U.S. drug trial such as the FDA normally would require "does not appear necessary" for the abortion use of RU-486 during the first trimester of a pregnancy. U.S.

clinical trials were recommended, however, on using RU-486 for second-trimester abortions. today, high cloudy tonight, Fautenberry appears bored as he listens to Wednesday's proceedings. He already has been convicted of murder in Alaska and Ohio. ABORTION Hours later, she sat with her husband, Joel, and told state Superior Court Judge Edmund Bernhard about how Fautenberry changed their lives. "John Fautenberry did not only kill Gary Farmer.

He has killed his sister, his brothers, our whole happy family," Mrs. Farmer said. "We were such a close, tight family." Afterward, Bernhard sentenced Fautenberry to life in prison, 30 years without parole. Farmer's body was found in his still-idling rig on Feb. 5, 1991, four days after the killing.

Mrs. Farmer told Bernhard how See MURDER on Page A-9 Fautenberry's blood trailA-9 release of marketing of RU-486 and that the agency possibly could find that European testing was enough to permit a full FDA review without further trials. The independent NAS report, in effect, endorses a speedy approval of the drug for abortion use early in pregnancy and calls for research on other uses for RU-486. U.S. should expedite RU- 486, study says European studies demonstrated that the pill could abort a pregnancy when taken up to 72 hours after unplanned or unwanted intercourse, or after a contraceptive method such as a condom failed.

The FDA likely would welcome an application to market the drug based on European tests. By PAUL RECER AP Science Writer WASHINGTON An abortion pill widely used in Europe but forbidden in America should be rapidly evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration without further clinical trials, a panel of experts said Wednesday. The committee of the National Academy of Sciences said the abortion pill RU-486 has been so extensively tested in France, Britain and I Pick it Straight bet Box Pairs Researchers, the report said, should experiment with RU-486 as a "morning-after" pill to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse, and as a treatment for breast cancer and brain tumors. More than 60,000 women have used RU-486 for abortions in Europe. The NAS report said that health officials there have found the pill in combina 416 0784 Partly sunny 77-82.

Partly low bu-b5. Sweden that the FDA should expedite consideration of the drug for marketing in the United States. Some in the FDA already have been thinking along those lines. In a letter to a congressman, made public last December, FDA Deputy Commissioner Carol Scheman said that the agency would welcome an application from a drug company for the JuLL 31 408 I $230.50 $38 $23 I Pick 4 8624 Straight bet $1,784 Box $74 I Cash 5 12,13,19,22,35 I I tkifiii Via iA iTf Daily number Win 4 567 Daily number 6501 Big4 Ann Landers B-10 Editorials A-11 Movies B-7 Business B-4 Get Out! Obituaries B-3 Classified C-7 Legals C-6 Sports C-1 Comics C-5 Local B-1 Stocks B-4 Partly sunny with a chance of thunderstorms on Friday. A-3 53.