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

TWO SPECIAL SECTIONS INSIDE i 11 is Hi en ift GiMfe ixmfi ate mmm I 'i 7r J.IL 'Is AYhat Hunterdon SUNDAY, December 17, ZOOS no 0 Courier Neuus SECTION A $1.00 Bridgewater (908) 722-8800 A Gannett newspaper serving Central Jersey pmvm mm uafelidogs divindling in numbers I11SIDE Peapack-Gladstone Mayor Girardy dies, D-2 U.S. prepares to boost troop level in Iraq as violence rises, A-7 ltJLLA Business D-6 Opinion Classified On The Run DearAbby People A-2 In Jersey A-3 Puzzles 1-7 Legal ads 1-5 Real Estate B-1 Local C-1 Sports Lotteries Television Select-e Movies G-3 Travel H-1 Obituaries Your Life G-1 6VBER SURVET oNeu What is your favorite holiday i dessert? A. Candy canes B. Cookies C. Fruitcake D.

Fudge E. Pumpkin pie To register your vote, visit our Web site: www.c-n.com. See last week's results on Page A-8, HIGH: 59 LOW: 41 Mostly sunny today Partly cloudy Monday, see A-2 OP Monday Knowledge J3L, is pot Take time to get jfj JP-' to know your new supervisor. An Family describes Warren woman as strong-willed, determined By BOB COKSIDEKE StaffWriter On Margaret Haddican-McEnroe disappeared from her Warren Township home without a trace. But it is the evidence of a life left behind that has family and friends of this mother of three believing that she's still alive, rather than just hoping.

"We have two alternatives," said Patrick Haddican, Haddican-McEnroe's adoptive father. "One is terrible that she's dead. The other is that she left voluntarily or involuntarily. "And I would find it hard to believe she left involuntarily, because I don't believe there would be anyone who could be able to get her down and control her" he added. According to those who know her best, Haddican-McEnroe's physical stature 5 feet 2 inches, 120 pounds only masked her true strength.

At age 10, she could lift her 200 pound-plus father off the ground. In her teens, she took up boxing. She would later join the Army and serve as a volunteer firefighter, eventu-ally taking part in a life-saving rescue during Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Her power also seeped into herwuL Lack of air traffic controllers will only lead to more airplane disasters, officials say By JAMES R. CARROLL and NICOLE GAUDIADO Gannett News Service WASHINGTON Nearly 1,100 fewer air traffic controllers are guiding planes through the nation's skies than three years ago, even though flights are increasing.

According to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union that represents those who "move tin," some facilities are critically understaffed, causing delays and increasing the possibility of mistakes by tired controllers working 10-hour days and six-day weeks. "Without a doubt, I would say this rubber band has been stretched as far as it's going to go, and it's not a matter of whether it's going to break but when ifs going to break," said Hamid Ghaffari, president of the union's Pacific region. The union, embroiled in a labor dispute with the Federal Aviation Administration, claims staffing problems played a role in three air crashes this year, including the Aug. 27 crash of a Comair jet in Lexington, that killed 49 of 50 people aboard. One controller was handling tower and radar services when the Comair flight took off from the wrong runway and crashed.

FAA policy required two controllers. The FAA says a second controller wouldn't have made a difference; the union says it might have averted tragedy. See CONTROLLERS, Page A-13 tim mcenroe Margaret Haddican-McEnroe holds her daughter, Melissa, in this family photo. The Warren mother has been missing since Oct 10. INSIDE Family, friends not giving up on missing mom, A-12 Margaret Haddican-McEnroe of Warren has been missing since Oct.

10. A $20,000 reward for information about her whereabouts was announced last week. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Somerset County Prosecutor UtTice Major Crimes Squad at (908) 575' Haddican-McEnroe, 29, would develop a reputation as a spark plug who could be nonconforming in her beliefs and unfiltered in her conversation a lethal mix of brute and cute. See HISSING, Page A-12 3400, the Warren Township Police Department at (908) 753-1000 or the Somerset County TIPS Line at (888) 577-TIPS (8477). All calls will be kept confidential.

NEW VIDEOS Trying to make a difference, from half a world away See what's going en in your rnmmiinitv v( i Couple from Tanzania dying to raise money for an orphanage for children with AIDS with ourv online including one with Santa! amoyo, they don't have dog shows, he said. (Growing up, Mwandu fashioned toys out of wire, and soccer balls out of plastic bags.) Mwandu is also not used to the mixture of highways and suburban housing which defines much of Central Jersey. In Bagamoyo, the streets are filled with people. But here, he's noticed, everybody stays at home or uses a car to get places. There's no one around to talk to.

"In Bagamoyo, there's more community," he said. For Mwandu, a day trip to Philadelphia last month felt much less foreign than Branchburg. Mwandu is a trained sound engineer. He's helped run shows for rappers such as Ja Rule and Shaggy when they perform in Tanzania. His last gig was a Jay-Z concert in October.

But that's only one of his occupations. With his wife, Terri Place, Mwandu also runs The Baobab Home," an organization in Bagamoyo that helps feed breakfast to 40 children every morning, sends seven street boys to school and now plans to take in orphans. Mwandu and Place flew into Newark Liberty International Airport in mid-November and will stay with Place's mother in Branchburg until early January. Their goal is to raise the $25,000 it will cost to run the orphanage for one year. It will house nine infants and toddlers whose parents have died from AIDS or the effects of poverty.

The couple has been meeting with church groups, high-school groups, women's groups and anybody else who may be interested in donating. Place grew up in New Jersey and Set DIFFERENCE, Page A-14 Courier News ByJARED FLESHER StaffWriter BRANCHBURG Mwandu Caito, a native Tanzanian, is in the United States for the first time. He's here to celebrate the holidays and meet his in-laws, and to raise money for the AIDS orphanage he's starting with his American wife, Terri Place. So far, a number of things have surprised him during his visit. Take the dog show he watched on television recently people walking around in circles with groomed animals.

Where Mwandu lives, near the Indian Ocean in a town called Bag- nuiii I BAOBAB HOME Mwandu Caito and his wife, Terri Place, hold their son, Justice. y07 Elemcnt urn IT'S It 1 (Ml MM Jtf (B) ill Ui I X. mmm 1 1 ri I 111 a I 0NAMCINQ 1 frcm Rt. 78 31 on Rt. 22 East, Clinton, NJ honda MM Hi J.

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