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

ltd If Central New Jersey i.zl HsUtaVAirtiLitMukiisvHwtffci TT TT me Wtais pmmMinniel. area 1 house destroyed; 6 damaged By LAUREL VAN LEER and COLLEEN FINK Home News staff writers High winds destroyed one house, ripped the front off another and severely damaged at least six others in Montgomery early last night. The storm also caused severe damage in several towns in Middlesex and Somerset counties. Bob Stalker, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in New York, said he had not received any reports of a tornado. He said the area would have to be surveyed before an evaluation could be made.

He said the damage could have been caused by "straight line" winds, which can be just as powerful, if not more powerful, than a tornado. Police departments throughout the area reported downed trees and power lines, motor vehicle accidents and power outages due to the storm. The areas hit hardest were Edison, Dunellen, Metuchen, Wood-bridge, Old Bridge and East Brunswick. In Montgomery, houses in the Dehart Drive neighborhood were pierced and pelted with flying debris, but only minor injuries resulted, fire officials said. A pile of fallen timber at 35 Dehart Drive ne Home News aMunloipaML MONTGOMERY AamB Building TOWNSHIP yfe MmStwm V- I Drivs HI XJfoix, j.o-iButtonwood A JM lO)o by severe winds last night on DeHart Drive, Fire officials examine a home ripped apart was identified by a neighbor as what used to be the home of the Byron family.

An 11-year-old girl walked out of that wreckage to a neighbor's house, suffering only minor injuries, according to fire officials. She was apparently the only one home at the time. A two-story house next door, number 34, the Harris residence, lost its front wall and roof. A family of four there also walked away with minor injuries, firemen said. All the injured were taken to the Medical Center at Princeton where they were treat; ed and released.

The winds threw lumber and pieces of the homes onto property as far as two blocks away. Electrical power in the township also was out due to the storm. Peter Sagona of Harlingen Road said he heard an "eruption" around 7:05 p.m. and later found pieces of lumber on his front porch. Win cash prizes by playing Scramblr'.

Complete the puzzle and submit your entries. D2 REGION EAST BRUNSWICK Speeches, songs and tears marked yesterday's ceremonies celebrating the Irwin Elementary School's national Blue Ribbon School award. B2 EAST BRUNSWICK About 400 students crowded into the East Brunswick High School auditorium yesterday to hear former CBS News president Fred Friendly host a panel on the Bill of Rights. B1 WORLD JERUSALEM Israeli troops shot and wounded 35 Palestinians with live ammunition and rubber bullets yesterday in seven hours of clashes fueled by army efforts to set up a new lookout post in a Gaza Strip refugee camp. A7.

ON THE GO ARMIN MUELLER-STAHL "Avalon," featuring Armin Mueller- Stahl, is a memorable film about four generations of an immigrant family. On the Go Arts Leisure Guide. 8 Dining Out 6 Movie Times 12 Music 4 Theater. 20 ALSO Ann Landers Business V. D1-2 Classified D3-7 Comics Columns.

C6-7 EditorialOp-Ed A1 4-15 Home Garden Living Lotteries. Obituaries B4 Region Real Estate B6-8 Sports State Television. B9 WEATHER Partly cloudy, windy and much cooler today, high around 60. Clear and cool tonight, low in the low 40s. Tomorrow, sunny, high in the low 60s.

B10 Each day, about 20 percent of the pages of The Home News are printed on recycled newsprint. To order convenient, 7-day home deliverv of The Home News or to report a service problem, call 246-5678. How ooostts benefits Social Security checks will rise 5.4 Walt RadomskyThe Home News Montgomery. Area residents were told they would be without gas, electric and water for a few days, Hauser said. At the Harris house, upstairs rooms were exposed to the pelting rain and wind.

Mattresses and other furniture were strewn about Downstairs rooms appeared untouched. The drapes in the dining room hung neatly. In the living room, pictures and shelves were still on the wall. "It looks like a doll house that somebody shook," said Montgomery assistant fire chief Tom Karsay. An aluminum window frame without glass lay twisted on the front lawn.

A sodden stuffed duck with a broken neck lay in the gutter. The two-story Madaio home and another home nearby sustained enough damage to make them uninhabitable, officials said. -See WIND, Page A2 NATHANIEL HARVEY Death-row conviction reversed By REGINALD KAVANAUGH Home News staff writer Nathaniel Harvey, on death row since 1987 for the hatchet murder of a Plainsboro widow during a burglary at her apartment, was granted a new trial yesterday by the New Jersey Supreme Court. It was the Supreme Court's 25th consecutive reversal of a conviction since the death penalty was reinstated in 1981. In their opinions, the justices not only set aside Harvey's murder conviction but supressed his confession on grounds that police did not "readminister" Miranda constitutional warnings to Harvey before resuming the interrogation that led to his confession.

Barring a successful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the state would not be able to use Harvey's confession at a retrial. The opinion was issued exactly four years and one day after Harvey was sentenced to death by Superior Court Judge See HARVEY, Page A2 Fncnged. new parent, mover, new cllizen? WFL-, COME WA(H)N INTERNATIONAL has gifts and information for you. Call 545-8H02.

V' if-' A shaken Malcolm Evans of Dehart Drive said lumber came flying through his front window when the storm hit. No one in his house was injured. Sylvia Hauser of 59 Dehart Drive, who lives next door to the houses that were destroyed, said she first heard a rumbling noise and felt the house shake around 7 House is leveled "It seemed like the windows were going to blow out and then I heard them breaking. We rah down to the basement and when I came up I heard the sirens and the trucks. Then I saw the house (across the street) was lowered to the ground," Hauser said.

"It must have been around 7 p.m. because our clock stopped at 7:05 p.m.," she added. per month for an individual. Payments for a couple will go up $31 to $610 per month. In making yesterday's announcement, Social Security Commissioner Gwendolyn S.

King said the increase in payments for Social Security and SSI recipients "will be their assurance that those checks will continue to allow them to pay for needed goods and services." The inflation figures also trigger a 5.4 percent increase in the amount of wages subject to the payroll tax that finances the Social Security and Medicare programs. The wage ceiling will climb from $51,300 to $53,400. This increase, which will affect 10 million taxpayers, means that the maximum payroll tax for employees will rise $160.65 to $4,085.10 next year. The employee tax is matched by employers. If Congress has its way, that won't be the only tax increase next year.

As part of the deficit-reduction bills making their way through Congress this week, both the House and the Senate have proposals to boost the amount of wages subject to the Medicare portion of the payroll See BOOST, Page A2 Senate would avert the threat of a second government shutdown in two weeks. With the immediate crisis of a closed- down government solved, a new non-fiscal problem emerged. The famous Capitol dome sprung a leak during a rainstorm, forcing workers to cover statues with plastic sheets and prompting metaphorical comparisons between Congress' home and its budget process. Lawmakers' eyes were on the calendar, with Election Day less than three weeks off. To diffuse possible blame, Senate leaders crafted a broadly based collection of See BUDGET, Page A2 AM paper.

Good For convenience, charge your classified your Discover card. FIND IT IN CLASSIFIED The rise, which will show up in Jan. 3 benefit checks, will be the biggest advance since a 7.4 percent jump in 1982. in Jan. 3 benefit checks, followed increases of 4.7 percent this year and 4 percent in 1989.

It will be the biggest advance since a 7.4 percent jump in July 1982. The Social Security increase will be mirrored in 5.4 percent increases in other government programs, including the Supplemental Security Income program for poor people and federal pension programs for retired civilian and military personnel. The 4.5 million aged, blind or disabled recipients of SSI checks will see their maximum monthly payment rise by $21 to $407 WASHINGTON (AP) The nation's 40 million Social Security recipients will receive their biggest benefit boost in 8Vi years next January, a 5.4 percent increase that will give an average retiree an extra $31 a month. The annual cost-of-living increase, announced by the government yesterday, will mean that the typical benefit check will climb to $602 per month next year from $571 this year. The maximum monthly benefit for a worker retiring in 1991 at age 65 will rise by $47 to $1,022, the Social Security Administration said, i Since 1975, benefits have risen automatically each year, keeping pace with the annual inflation rate, with the exception of six months in 1983 that were skipped to help bail the Social Security system out of a cri-' sis.

The 1991 increase became known with release of the Labor Department's Con- sumer Price Index for September. The cost-of-living change is derived by comparing the CPI price level in the July- August-September period with the index 1 for the same period a year earlier. The 5.4 percent rise, which will show up Senate close WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate rejected efforts yesterday to tamper with a bipartisan deficit-reduction package that would double gasoline taxes to 18 cents a gallon and cUi Medicare and other federal programs. In a close vote, lawmakers dumped an attempt to scale back the gas tax increase and substitute a series of tax increases on the wealthy. "Let's go and get it from those who've got it," said Sen.

Barbara Mikulski, but her plea was rejected, 55-45. That vote appeared to clear the way for final approval of the bill by evening, and weary lawmakers said they were prepared to budget compromise to seek a compromise with the House and White House immediately in hopes of ending the government's months-long budget stalemate. The House has approved legislation that relies heavily on tax hikes on the wealthy to close the federal deficit. It contains no change in the current nine cents a gallon gasoline tax. At the White House, spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the president was prepared to sign separate legislation keeping the government in funds through next Wednesday.

The House approved the measure 379-37, and its expected quick approval by the Adult Carriers needed to deliver pay. Call 246-5678. ads to do parents cope with children ti work? Read "Balancing Act" by Alice Gallagher every If your business would like to sponsor an area school to receive free Home News papers and lesson plans call 937-6025..