The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey • 1

tecs BiteriijKagg) aaa? Mb fladgi to? laflgtagb corn Central New Jersey News me mm, 1 If p. Hi Investigators are seeking clues to the murder of a widow. Ruth Jacobson. at Widow, 92, Foreign-born students find Halloween a real treat in Central New Jersey. B1 Candidates for local, county and state offices in Middlesex and Somerset counties clarify their views and debate the issues as election day draws near.

B4-B5 NEW BRUNSWICK Construction will begin before the new year on a gallery to link the facades of the city's three venues and eventually provide arts patrons with access to a planned Civic Square parking deck, New Brunswick Cultural Center officials announced yesterday. B2 WORLD WASHINGTON The Soviets have asked the United States for $2.5 billion in credit guarantees to purchase U.S. farm products and an additional $1 billion in humanitarian aid, although it will be at least two weeks before the United States announces specifics of any loan program. A10 BUSINESS 20 15 czz By REGINALD KAVANAUGH Home News staff writer Detectives are searching for clues they hope will lead to the killer or killers who bludgeoned a frail 92-year-old Perth Amboy woman and then choked her to death in her home late Tuesday afternoon. Ruth J.

Jacobson, whose late husband, Isadore, was a well-known realtor, was found dead in her bedroom at her home at 99 High Middlesex County Prosecutor Alan A. Rockoff said yesterday. Her husband was one of the founders of the Woodbridge real estate firm of Jacob-son, Goldfarb Tanzman Associates. Rockoff, who held a press conference in his New Brunswick flffice with Perth Amboy Deputy Police Chief Patrick Fox, said an intruder beat the petite widow with her own cane, splintering it. Thomas J.

Kapsak, second assistant 'prosecutor, said the au- i im By HANNELE RUBIN and KELLY-JANE COTTER Home News staff writers i PERTH AMBOY Ruth Jacobson was a petite woman with big eyes and an easy smile who livefd in the city's best neighborhood near the waterfront Her home is a modest-looking, relatively modern brick and glass building on a street of sprawling old Victorians. Books and an VlC BY 4 1 ml mM 1 SK ft a Dick Co1elloThe Home News -tmr-a RUTH J. JACOBSON workers coming in and out of her house a lot. But aside from hearing about occasional break-ins, Xyloportas said, "we never had any problems around here." Two blocks down High Street is Sa-dowski Parkway, which runs past a bench-lined waterfront park along the Raritan River. One resident raking leaves in front of his lower High Street home said large groups See VICTIM, Page A2 Student, 17, stabbed at New Bruns.

high school By JENNIFER HUTCHINSON Home News staff writer NEW BRUNSWICK A 17-year-old New Brunswick High School student was stabbed in the stomach yesterday morning by a classmate of the same age. Police said the stabbing took place in a hallway inside the Livingston Avenue school building at about 11:30 a.m.. New Brunswick police Lt. Michael Kur-zeja said the youths had been involved in an ongoing dispute and that one of them had blocked the path of the otherwhich led to the stabbing. Students at the high school identified the stabbing victim as Richard Gorman and said he is a.

senior who played football for the New Brunswick Zebras last year. A spokesperson at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital confirmed Gorman's identity and said that he was in satisfactory condition following abdominal surgery. Police would not release the name of the 17-year-old suspect, but said he was being held at the county Juvenile Detention Center in North Brunswick and had been charged with aggravated assault and possession of a weapon. It was not known if the youth had a prior record. As a result of the stabbing the only to occur at the high school this year school Principal Fred Brown said he will implement policy changes at the high school as early as today.

Brown, who held a staff meeting after school yesterday, would not elaborate. "According to the situation and impact See STAB, Page A2 is volunteer I.I it i home on High Street, Perth Amboy, Tuesday. Mffi in stopped in to visit with his sister at her home on High Street, near the intersection of Lewis Street. Entering her bedroom, Jacobson found his sister dead, "fully clothed, lying in a pool of blood," Rockoff said. Around the room were "splintered pieces of the cane," hesaid.

Mrs. Jacobson was less than 5 feet tall and weighed less than 100 pounds. Stooped by osteoporosis, she needed a cane to get around, according to investigators. Nevertheless, Mrs. Jacobson usually prepared her own meals, although she had paid companions in the house almost on a 24-hour basis, Rockoff said.

Detectives said some kind of frozen food had been taken out of the freezer and was thawing in the kitchen, presumably part of Mrs. Jacobson's dinner. Rockoff said one of Mrs. Jacobson's corn-See MURDER, Page A2 as investigators worked inside the house and interviewed area residents searching for leads they couldn't find. "I always thought this was a nice neighborhood," said a visibly shaken Sophie Xy-loportas, a mother of two infants who has lived next door to Mrs.

Jacobson for 11 years. "Not anymore. We're all kind of nervous now. It's just too close to home." "She was such a quiet lady," Xyloportas said. Mrs.

Jacobson had maintenance II Conference listen to Soviet Foreign Minister Madrid's Palacio Real. tireless T. "-l A. topsy by Dr. Marvin Shuster, chief Middlesex County medical examiner, revealed manual strangulation was the cause of her death.

The autopsy also showed Mrs. Jacobson suffered "many blows to the head" and had a fracture of the right arm and fractures of several ribs, said Kapsak. Rockoff said the widow's family has posted a $10,000 reward, which will be paid to anyone providing "information leading to the arrest and conviction" of the person or persons responsible for Mrs. Jacobson's slaying. Payment of the reward will be made through the Secret Witness Foundation, according to Rockoff.

Persons having information are assured "no attempt will be made to identify" them. The brutal crime was discovered about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday by the widow's brother, Dr. Murray Jacobson, who frequently tiques warmed the interior. Though her health had deteriorated, relatives said her mind was still sharp.

Family members were shaken and angry yesterday, searching for answers and finding none. Neighbors, among them Mayor Joseph Vas, expressed shock that so heinous a crime could occur in the High Street area, once considered safe. Police cars cruised the neighborhood as mm. Delegates attending the Middle East Peace Boris Pankin begin the afternoon session in weekly section devoted to lives of those who live in Cen every oumuiy. remembered her pc." I 'J Israelis and Arabs open talks 10.

U70 -5 10 New home sales collapsed 12.9 percent in September, the government said yesterday, raising fresh worries that the engine that traditionally pulls the economy out of a recession may be stalling. C7 LIVING More than 50 North American artists are exhibiting openly gay and lesbian work at a show at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts. D1 ALSO Ann Landers ArtsEntertainment Business C8 Comics columns D6-7 Community calendar B3 EditorialOped Living D8 Lotteries A2 Metro Movie times -D5 Obituaries 86 People A2 Public notices B6 Region 81 Sports C1 A3 B7 WorldNation A5 WEATHER Cloudy, windy and some rain, high 56. Tomorrow, more of the same, high 54. B8 Rd Rick Method popular Outdoor, column on Chk On Mondav and on ThundHy Gene Haky'i local foot- fcr details Lj MADRID, Spain (AP) Israelis and Arabs opened historic talks yesterday aimed at overcoming four decades of hostility and war in the Middle East.

President Bush implored them to forge a "real peace" based ovf territorial compromise and a broad range of permanent treaties. "Peace in the Middle East need not be a drearrt," Bush said at the dramatic opening of the first peace talks in a generation. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev forcefully seconded the call for compromise. "It would be unforgiveable to miss this opportunity," he said. Diplomats from Israel, Egypt and Lebanon were seated across the table from Syrian representatives and the joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation.

The diplomats avoided handshakes, however, evidence of an underlying tension that could not be masked by the splendor of the Royal Palace and its rich tapestries. By their presence, Bush and Gorbachev lent their influence and prestige to the talks, the first since a 1973 parley in Geneva collapsed in a day. Ahead lay months or years of delicate talks designed to move ancient foes away from the brink of war. "Peace will only come as a result of direct negotiations. Compromise.

Give and take," said Bush. He laid out a timetable for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement, urging a completion of terms for limited self-rule on the West Bank and in Gaza in a year's time. Trying to coax the two sides to take chances, Bush assured them that subsequent negotiation on a permanent settlement would be "determined on their own merits." The apparent U.S. message was that an interim arrangement could be ex-See TALKS, Page A2 Handshakes few and far between I Both sides descend on media I Syria may withdraw from talks Stories on Page ab the "iSroSX on how to save money wun me un Cherished Momenta, special events in the tral new jersey, neao ('! -r- 3 L'nK a iMimnict Miwin na wpflinpr mrPTiiiti in our nam. in iwn mnvm.

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