The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey • 29

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 1976 29 Board to police self on ethics matters ir i jjw Bf 0 I.1 H'-IWI'. WIWMIM dmiwp i iwtJ 'J'f-y- I' ''v' i Pfliw lrt III IP fc mm mi 'IMlmfiw0mm n0m Asked when the freeholders initially would reveal their financial sources, Mrs. Dealaman said, "We'll have to work that out, but we'll be moving forward with it quite quickly." The code mandates the freeholders disclose in writing every January their sources of private income. They are not required to state the amounts. Lone Democratic Freeholder Frank R.

Nero, who had pushed for disclosure of income amounts in the formation of the code, last night revealed after the meeting the size and sources of his income. In a statement to the freeholder clerk, Nero said he earns $13,000 as a Plainfield High School history teacher, $8,000 as a freeholder and $5,520 from two apartments he leases in his three-family North Plainfield home. "The passage of any code of ethics is never a guarantee we are going to have the best of all worlds in public life," he said, "but it sets standards to try to reach." He predicted, "In the long run, the people of Somerset County will benefit from it." Nero said he "has problems" with freeholders reviewing any charge against another freeholder. He contends the procedure could be used for political sniping. He had pushed for a three-judge panel to review charges.

The proposal was barred by the state court administrator. Mrs. Dealaman called the code "a very wise in-house tool. It will keep us on our toes and let us know where we stand." Mrs. Dealaman added she finds no fault with freeholders reviewing charges against another freeholder because judges review judges, and state legislators review By THOMAS J.

HESTER Home News staff writer SOMERVILLE Somerset County government last night got a code of ethics three years in the making. All that remains is putting the code into effect for the five freeholders and 600 employes it covers and that may take some time, according to Freeholder Director Doris W. Dealaman. The code, which requires freeholders to reveal their financial sources, but not their incomes, and employes under their direction to list possible conflicts of interest, was adopted unanimously by the board at a public meeting. A key clause the freeholders included in the code at a premeeting caucus calls for any charge concerning the conduct of a freeholder to be reviewed by the remaining freeholders.

The accused freeholder could not participate in the review, but could appeal the findings to the prosecutor or a court. The strongest actions the freeholders could take against another would be public censure or refer the charge to the prosecutor. Asked how the code would be put into effect, Mrs. Dealaman said a meeting to brief each county department head will be called, then they will be given "a reasonable time" for themselves and each employe under them to sign a form stating the individual is not involved in any conflict of interest or list the possibilities. Each employe will be required to read the code before signing and may keep a copy.

The freeholders will review charges involving employes and will be able to suspend or dismiss as Park may change rent law Home News photo by Denis 0 Keefc Shannon Shinnick of Highland Park provides TLC for her geranium during the heat spell. Heat shocks plants too Its report is due Aug. 1 and the 4 per cent limit would extend through Sept. 15. Though he acknowledged the change would bring no great windfall to tenants.

Councilman David Schwartz said the reduction "could be the difference for some between staying in Highland Park and going to a nursing home." The move was criticized by Councilmen Frank Young and Joseph Lukacs. The savings to tenants, they said, would not be worth changing the ordinance. More importantly, they said, it would open the ordinance to new lawsuits charging the limit is "arbitrary," suits that could jeopardize all rent "Do you mean we're going to go through the expense of preparing an ordinance, advertising it, only to offset rents from June to September by 1.83 per cent?" Young asked. "What are we accomplishing?" The present formula for determining allowable rent increases was the product of a five-based rent rates on the cost of running an apartment complex in the borough. Schwartz said the formula that evolved was neither logical or defensible because the committee collected inadequate data and interpreted it incorrectly.

The 4 per cent figure, he argued, was a "reasonable" one comparable to limits set in neighboring communities. "Are you sure this isn't just a political promise you're trying to fulfill?" Young asked. Schwartz and William Callahan signed a pledge, with Mayor Harold Berman, to hold rent increases to 4 per cent while a new formula was developed. Neither denied the promise had been made, but argued there were good reasons for making and keeping the pledge. "Those few dollars may be very important to some people," Schwartz said.

The proposed change could be introduced at the next council meeting, May 4. By LOU SAVIANO Home News staff writer HIGHLAND PARK Still not satisfied with the way rents are controlled, the borough council is readying another change to the much-amended rent control ordinance. It would limit annual increases to 4 per cent through Sept. 15. The change probably would save tenants only a few dollars per month, because rent increases are now limited to 5.83 per cent annually for most apartment dwellers.

The reduced rent ceiling would be in effect until a recently appointed rent study commission devises a better method for controlling rents. By ANN LEDESMA Home News staff writer The heat wave has taken plants, as well as people, by surprise. Although newly planted -vegetables gardens aren't facing a crisis yet, Middlesex County Agricultural Agent Warner Thurlow advises plantings be conscientiously watered during these hot days to avoid the major danger of the heat drying out. ''I don't think this extreme hot weather will last." he says. "But it has been dry for quite a while.

"And newly planted vegetables and flowers and newly seeded lawns are suffering. The soil moisture is going down, and if they're not watered, they're going to be in trouble, particularly seeds that have begun to germinate." Gardeners who are planning to set out plants should give them plentiful watering. "You don't need to really soak them, just keep them moist. The same goes for newly seeded lawns," Thurlow says. However, copious watering of nonseeded lawns is not necessary, he adds.

Vegetables planted in patio containers should get special attention these days too, the agent says. "Sometimes people set them outside and then tend to forget about them. They may not realize just how hot it is and plants that are in containers can dry out even faster. "So don't forget to keep an eye on soil moisture in your containers. And it might be a good idea to keep them out of the hot sun this week.

Even tomato plants, if they're growing in a container, should be put in the shade right now." Thurlow says his office actually received more panicked telephone calls during last week's cold spell. "We've gone from 25 degrees to 95," he says. "I always tell people, if you don't like New Jersey weather just wait a minute and it'll change." nel 68 to be sold to Florida conglomerate Wometeo, with more than 100 said John Bentley, a staff attor mainstay of the present pro Alaska, Puerto Rico, Domini- Although he claims the con- By ROD HIRSCH it operates for hotels in Miami But then, full-strength uncen- can Republic, Nassau, Freeport glomerate is still not yet fin-and St. Croix; 25 vending com- ished with an "in-house" sturiv panies and several tourist at of the broadcasst areas needs. diversified affiliates in broadcasting, bottling, vending and cable television ventures, operates two cable systems in Middlesex County.

Middlesex Cablevision. based in East Brunswick, and Plainfield Cablevision service part of the 44,000 cable television customers on 11 systems Wometeo numbers in seven states and the Bahamas, according to John M. Lewis, head of Wometco's cable (CATV) division. Wometco's venture into pay television is not unprecedented, although the WBTB operation will be much more complicated than the pay television system gramming. License holder Isaac Blonder, chairman of the board of Blonder Tongue Laboratories in Old Bridge says personal financial losses hindered development of the station.

his dream of introducing pay television in the New Jersey-New York metropolitan area will not vanish, as Wometeo Enterprises. based in Miami, has agreed in a letter of intent to assume a debt incurred bv WBTB. In return, Blonder has agreed to relinquish 80 per cent of the station's stock to Wometeo. He will retain 20 per cent interest with a few other share holders. ney in the FCC broadcast bureau in Washington, D.C.

"However, we have not yet received an application." he added. "They have signed a letter of intent to negotiate a contract." Once an application is received, the FCC acts within 90 days, according to Bentley. Since WBTB received its license, three others have been granted to stations in Los Angeles. Milwaukee and Boston. However, only WBTB is on the air, although in an abbreviated format without offering the pay television service.

Financial reports and stock market quotations are the Beach. Pay television on Channel 68 differs from cable television because it offers only one programming source. Cable systems may offer as many as 30 conventional and "high quality" channels. Wometeo is no newcomer to the broadcasting industry. It operates WTVJ television in Miami; WLOS television and WLOS-FM radio in Greenville.

North Carolina, and KVOS television in Bellingham, Wash. The company, founded in 1925, also owns and operates 15 soft-drink bottling plants, primarily in the southern United States; 96 theaters in Florida, sored movies; sporting events to the possibility of broadcasting events at the new Meadow-lands Sports Complex in the Hackensack Meadows including the home games of the football Giants. The cost for the attachment will probably range between $8 and $10, according to Lewis. "The lion's share of anv good pay TV system will be good movies," Lewis offered. WBTB's signal will extend over a radius of 35 miles, south to Middlesex and Somerset counties and into northern New Jersey, southern New York state and New York City.

Home News staff writer Barring legal and technical complications, the nation's first and only subscriptiontelevision station will be sold by an Old Bridge businessman to a Florida conglomerate. Final approval of the proposed transaction must be granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), although formal notice has not been given the federal regulatory agency. Channel 68, WBTB, with studios in Newark and a transmitting tower in West Orange, was originally licensed in 1972 by the FCC. "We have been advised by both sides a sale is pending," he did say there might be offerings presently unavailable to viewers in the New Jersey-New York viewing area. Theoretically, Lewis says the station could offer conventional programming for the better part of the morning, afternoon and early evening hours.

not televised by o'ther means; live transmissions of broadway plays and other as yet unspecified programming would be offered only to the pay television viewer. Lewis and Blonder also point tractions in Florida, France and Japan. The Blonder-Tongue Laboratories are expected to furnish the television attachment needed to unscramble the encoded message sent out from the Channel 68 transmitter. The device electronically decodes the signal, purposely to prevent reception by conventional television sets. Lewis says the attraction of pay television is the diversity and quality of programming.

Arrest of teacher in school angers faculty teacher he is friendly with on the shoulder and Johnson mistook the act as aggressive, according to several board members. No one but the participants and witnesses know what happened after that. Johnson's version is he grabbed Dispenziere by the arm, teacher's union president Gerald Matcho said. The student's version is he was grabbed by the shirt and slammed three times against a water cooler, his father said. The student was not hurt.

Johnson's trial is set for May 3. Before the teachers had a chance to complain at the meeting, the board unanimously adopted a resolution supporting "any staff member who has The board also voted unanimously to order the school administration to investigate the incident and report back and to have its attorney study conflict of interest problems generally and recommend a policy. Matcho said unless the board, the mayor and the township-council "join in a full investigation of this matter to avoid repetitive incidents. by May 1. the union will file cross complaints in the case.

Board Member Robert Izzo wanted to know why the issue wasn't settled by the administration before the parent filed a complaint. Petruzziello asked why no one complained this vear as "my men arrested about 130 students" most of them removed from the school in handcuffs. Dispenziere's father said the complaining teachers should separate the issue of how Johnson was arrested from that of whether he is guilty of the charge. "They are prejudicing the case," he said. "I'll let the judge decide." He said he talked to Johnson before filing the complaint, but was not satisfied by the discussion.

He added race had nothing to do with the charge. "I don't want anyone to touch my child, black, white, cop or priest," he said. Johnson is on vacation and could not be reached. exercised professional judgment in applying physical restraint and who becomes subject to public criticism or criminal prosecution." The resolution did not satisfy the teachers: "Why was a teacher handcuffed, searched and arrested as a result of his normal disciplinary duties?" Matcho asked. Then, "Why was a black teacher handcuffed, searched and arrested?" Board President Dominic Ciardi answered "a citizen went through the legal process and filed a complaint with the court clerk.

The court clerk issued a warrant, which meant the teacher must be arrested." He asked Matcho, "What in heaven's name does the color of the skin have to do with what happened?" That caused loud murmuring among the teachers, some of them black. Matcho said later when similar charges were made against teachers during the last 15 years, none were arrested at their schools or handcuffed. Petruzziello said he can remember similar incidents where teachers were arrested and handcuffed. The board agreed to meet with Mayor Ted Light and representatives of the teacher's union to try to forge a new police policy eliminating the handcuffing and arrest of teachers charged with assault. uale LaRocca, a vice squad detective, served the warrant on Johnson and made the arrest at the school.

Several teachers charged the handcuffing and frisking was unnecessary. Petruzziello and LaRocca said they followed standard department procedures. Other teachers charged board members' arresting a teacher constitutes a conflict of interest. Petruzziello said he made the arrest himself to avoid sending a uniformed officer in a squad car to the school. He added he and LaRocca waited until after school hours to make the arrest.

The incident began" when young Dispenziere tapped a By MIKE HOYT Home News staff writer PISCATAWAY The handcuffing, frisking and arrest of a Theodore Schor Middle School teacher at school last week by two policemen who are board of education members, brought an angry reaction from about 40 teachers at last night's board meeting. i The teacher, Jerry Johnson of East Brunswick, was charged with assault and battery by Anthony Dispenziere, father of Schor student Anthony Dispenziere after a hallway incident April 12. Board members James Pe-truzziello, head of the vice and juvenile section of the township police department, and Pas- 4 i- -ii -i. rimnrv1i VN" i.