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

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Complete the puzzle and submit your entries. D2 I reached 175 Mare AscherTfie Home News mph, causing at least $2 million in damage. The remains of two houses decimated by Thursday night's tornados are strewn across detraction By KELLY-JANE COTTER Home News staff writer MONTGOMERY Three tornados, swirling with winds up to 175 mph, caused at least $2 million of damage to homes on Dehart Drive Thursday night. A National Weather Service team investigated the site yesterday and deterinined that tornados had struck the neighborhood about 7 p.m. Thursday, according to Mayor Robert Kress, who released the informa- Insurors call tornado a 'minor' event Communities statewide clear up debris Stories on Page B3 tion at a press conference yesterday afternoon.

A single tornado flattened the Byron family's home at 35 Dehart Drive. Houses "at 34 and 50 Dehart Drive were also destroyed Kress said. Bush pushed to allow higher taxes on rich SPORTS The amazing Cincinnati Reds are within one game of the World Series championship after beating Oakland 8-3 last night to gain a three games to none edge in the series. C1 STATE ATLANTIC CITY Donald Trump's threats to move his Taj Mahal Casino Resort into bankruptcy have not gone unnoticed by neighbors of the 200-day-old gaming hall. A3 NATION MIAMI A judge yesterday tried to jump start Manuel Noriega's drug-smuggling trial, which has stalled over disputes about legal fees, a new indictment and the fate of his co-defendants.

A5 REGION ELECTIONS mi bpw wa mi 1MB aw mm ml The race in the Seventh Congressional district pits a nine-term Republican incumbent against a Linden lawyer making his first run at public office. B4 ALSO Ann Landers C8 ArtsEntertainment B6 Business D1 Classified D3-7 Comics columns D8-9 A6 Lotteries A2 Metro J6 Movie times B6 Obituaries People -A2 Region Sports C1-7 State Television B7 WorldNation A4-5, A8-9 WEATHER Sunny and cool today with high in the low 60s. Tomorrow will be fair and not as cool. B8 COMING SUNDAY Upcoming changes in City Hall leadership and in the way the state doles out aid have put New Brunswick's financially strapped school system at a crossroads. REGION Local retailers are not optimistic about the upcoming holiday shopping season.

BUSINESS Each day, about 20 percent of the pages of The Home News are printed on recycled newsprint. Stumped by today's Puzzle? Call 1-MM54-3014 Fori Dehart Drive in Montgomery. Winds "After hitting the Byrons' house, it separated into two tornados," the mayor said. "One went up Dehart Road in one direction, and the other went down Dehart Road towardGriggstownRoad.il Houses at 22 and 60 Dehart Drive were heavily damaged, but were deemed "sal-vagable" by insurance companies, Kress said. 1 Nineteen other homes each suffered "minor" damage of up to $10,000.

Kress said a damage assessment team, A bigger tax bite Average increase in tax liability per taxpayer, under plans approved by Senate, House. Income House Senate 10,000 to 20,000 30,000 to 40,000 $69. 40,000 to 50,000 $78 $278 50,000 to 75,000 $220 $282 75,000 to .100,000 $330 $562 100,000 to 200,000 $280 $1,259 200,000 and over $10,031 $5,118 SOURCE: House Democratic Study Group, Joint Tax Committee Knight-Ridder Tribune News way toward cushioning the impact of the recession that is presumed to have begun around midyear. Crude-oil futures fell $3.01 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, finishing the day at $33.79 a full $5.81 lower than a week ago. Home-heating oil registered the biggest move, plummeting by nearly 10 percent.

The futures contract for November delivery fell 8.11 cents to settle at 88.40 cents a See RALLY, Page A2 meeting with Alfonso, declined to comment on the growing internai-anairs mvesuga-tion. Alfonso, a 23-year police veteran, was suspended with pay immediately following the chase that began at the Foodtown at thp Tnman Grove ShoDDing Center, where township police and investigators from the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office had AM paper. Good Get the area's most complete TV book as Sunday Home News wild comprehensive creases on the wealthy and doubling the gasoline levy. Democrats preferred a House-passed version leaning heavily on the rich, leaving the gasoline tax alone and easing cost increases on Medicare recipients. "We believe in tax fairness and progres-sivity, and that's what we're going to fight for," said House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo.

"You can bet your life if a package is going to pass in this House it's going to include the rich," said Rep. Charles Ran-gel, of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. But as House and Senate budget writers began bargaining over a $250 billion, five-year package of taxes and spending cuts, Republicans warned that Democrats could not go too far without risking a veto by Bush. See BUDGET, Page A2 consisting of state, county and township officials, estimated the value of damage done to the buildings and their contents at $1,925 million. The preliminary cost estimate for emergency protection measures, he said, is $75,000.

Several residents were treated for injuries at the Medical Center at Princeton Thursday night, but all were released. The most serious injury was sustained by 11-year-old Sarah Byron, who was in the See STORM, Page A2 Ed board ignores fisca By AUDREY KELLY Home News Trenton bureau TRENTON The state Board of Higher Education yesterday ignored the Florio administration's request for an 8 percent budget reduction and introduced a $1 billion spending plan that calls for nearly an 11 percent increase in state funds. Board officials said New Jersey's higher-education system cannot sustain a reduction in state aid for a fourth consecutive year without making college inaccessible and unaffordable for New Jersey students. They also said the 8 percent reduction suggested by the administration on top of a 6 percent cut implemented this year would trigger another round of tuition hikes at state colleges and universities, and possibly could mean property-tax increases to fund county colleges. Thomas H.

Gassart, chairman of the board's budget committee, said the money "is going to come from somewhere, or we'll be forced to close the colleges, lower our goals and standards, or lessen the quality of the education we're providing." Board Chairman Albert W. Merck added: "It could mean fewer students getting a quality education, fewer courses and fewer programs." Merck also said that, if necessary, the board and the Department of Higher Education would battle the state Legislature and the governor's office for the financing See SPEND, Page A2 hppn nut cars. County Prosecutor Alan A. Rockoff said his office joined an internal investigation at the request of township police, involving theft at the supermarket, but has declined to comment further. Sources say at least six police officers who might work some off-duty hours at the See probe, rage RneaKra, nrw iwi.

I mmwh MW VI COME WAGON INTKHNATHINWL nas guts am information (or you. tan ms-owm. 1 lid second straight day By ALAN FRAM Associated Press writer WASHINGTON Democrats pushed President Bush to accept higher taxes on the richest Americans yesterday as Congress began a final drive to craft a compromise deficit-reduction bill. Republicans warned that pressing Bush too hard would merely invite a veto. Bush, meanwhile, signed a stopgap spending bill to keep the government functioning through next Wednesday to give Congress more time to work on a final budget compromise.

He signed the legislation shortly before leaving the White House for a weekend at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Md. GOP lawmakers mustered around a bipartisan budget the Senate adopted early yesterday imposing only modest tax in Dow soars Home News wire services NEW YORK The U.S. financial markets celebrated the third anniversary of "Black Monday" yesterday with a powerful rally fueled by a dramatic drop in oil prices. The stock market swept ahead for the second straight session as the Dow Jones average of 30 industrials jumped 68.07 to 2,520.79. On Thursday, the Dow index posted a 64.85-point gain.

Energy futures prices fell sharply amid Edison cop By SUSAN K. LIVIO Home News staff writer EDISON Suspended Sgt. Frank Alfonso has been charged formally with "conduct unbecoming a police officer" and "eluding police," charges stemmming from an Oct. 8 incident when ne lea two under cover investigators on a high-speed cnase. evidence of good supplies, slackened demand and hints that Iraq may be willing to negotiate a pullout from Kuwait.

Analysts said that gave stock traders the encouragement they needed to follow through on the rally that began Thursday. And there was no sign of nervousness from often-superstitious traders on the anniversary of the market's 508-point meltdown on Oct. 19, 1987. Many observers agree that a break in oil prices and interest rates would go a long formally charged in chase incident a 1 a A. I 1 1 a.

iiMHtnnlra1 AQM staked in unmarked On Thursday. Lt. Anthonv Landi handed Alfonso a report of the incident, written by Capt. Robert Palko, supervisor of the Patrol Division and one of the undercover officers involved in the chase. The report outlined the charges and set a Nov.

13 departmental hearing date, police sources Palko, who said he was not a part of a (fold vtinr ftinnv hnn. Wa Adult Carriers needed to deliver pay. Call 240-SS7S. part of vour list complete listing of entertainment and recre- t. events, reaa uo we uo.

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