The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey • 3

MONDAY, JUNE 19,2000 Home News Tribune PAGE A3 New Jersey E-ZPfess ooths may be history bridge tollb at highway speed By the end of the year, the port authority expects to award a contract to remove four toll booths each in E-ZPass lanes at the George Washington Bridge's lower level and the Palisades toll plaza. Drivers using E-ZPass would still have to slow to 5 mph. Officials said that could prevent accidents because the toll lanes will seem more open once the booths are removed. The work would cost from $2.5 million to $3.5 million, and would include replacing some 40-year-old toll booths. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HACKENSACK The hated toll-booths may soon come down near the George Washington Bridge.

Toll booths will be removed in the E-ZPass-only lanes at the George Washington Bridge's lower level and at the toll plaza leading to the bridge from the Palisades Interstate Parkway. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said it's a first step toward eventually allowing users of the electronic toll-collection system speed through toll checkpoints at highway speed. But it's being done successfully on roads like Highway 407 in Toronto, and at Biddle's Corner on Route 1 in Delaware, between Odessa and Wilmington. That's the first place on the East Coast to use the technology, Delaware officials said. "People absolutely love it," said P.J.

Wilkins, operations manager for the Delaware Department of Transportation's toll roads. "We want all of our plazas to have it. We have people from all around the world looking at it." 1ST JUDICIAL PLACEMENT Lawyer to be sworn in for seat on N.J. top court Meeting details a I paper says jj i THE ASSOCIATED PRESS i 1 PLEASANTVILLE Munici-1 pal governments and school boards in Southern New Jersey are routinely flouting New Jerj sey's public-records law by fail-! ing to release minutes of private meetings, or keeping such pootf notes it was impossible to ex plain the need for secrecy in the first place, according to a news-1 paper report. The Press of Atlantic City reported in yesterday's editions I that 10 school boards or local; governments were unwilling or unable to produce minutes "of their closed-session while another 33 provided minutes with so little detail that it! was impossible to know what; was being discussed.

State law permits schools and local governments to discuss certain topics in secrecy, such as litigation and personnel matters. But it also requires them ti keep minutes of those discus sions and release them' to the public once the need for secrecy no longer exists. "Until we know for sure what is going on, there's no way of knowing that everything is aboveboard," said Harry Po zycki, chairman of the New Jer- sey chapter of Common Cause, a citizen watchdog group. wn The newspaper reported that some public bodies take a year or more to release closed-session minutes. Others, including the Ocean, City Council and the school' board in Galloway Township, re fuse to release anything from a closed session meeting if one1 issue from that meeting is still pending.

'P From reading meeting minutes, Ocean City taxpayers would never know that it cost them $24,000 to settle a lawsuit against the school board brought by a guidance counselor who claimed he wasn't hired be cause he's white. The minutes of the April 22, 1998, meeting at which the settlement was approved refer only to "litigation," and a 4 i mi, mi nnumwl I T5 iA.Z:.:.... MARK R. SULLIVANStaff photographer Charlotte Bunch, director of the Rutgers University Center for Women's Global Leadership, center, contends that women still have far to go in their stride for equality. Women's equality still far off, says RU official day let drivers pass Such a system would allow E-ZPass users to drive through the toll collection area without slowing to 5 mph, as they have to now.

One potential problem is the merges at bridge and tunnel entrances. "It's infinitely easier to do this on a parkway or turnpike than on a bridge approach," Philmus said. "We have a lot of local entrances to our toll plazas, like Fort Lee, and many highways coming together." "Platform for Action" adopted at the Beijing conference. "We got a reaffirmation of the broad and general goals," she said. "Overall, that's a victory." The final document issued from the special session also strengthened the initial platform's statements against marital rape and "honor killings," in which women suspected of wrongdoing are murdered by family members.

Some promising developments also were reported during the weeklong event, she said, such as an effort by an organization in Kenya to develop initiation rituals for girls that replace genital mutilation. While the procedure has been outlawed in several countries, she explained, it is also important to come up with alternatives to the practice, which remains a cultural tradition in some places. Countries such as India and Argentina have established quotas that ensure a minimal level of representation by women in legislative bodies, a measure that she noted has never been attempted in the male-dominated political landscape in the United States. "The U.S. is not a leader in this at all," she said.

New Jersey title beat out 20 other young women for the right to represent New Jersey in the Miss America Pageant, which is scheduled for Oct. 14 in Atlantic city. Competing as Miss Monmouth County, she sang "You're Gonna' Hear From Me" for her talent offering. She plans to emphasize environmental education during her year as Miss New Jersey or Miss America, if she wins. fZ-'' I Port authority to one "We're looking at it right now," Ken Philmus, the agency's director of tunnels, bridges and terminals told The Record of Hackensack for yesterday's editions.

"We have people looking as to what kinds of issues there would be and how it would work." The system would use overhead frames to mount toll-scanning equipment that could identify a vehicle's E-ZPass tag and deduct the proper toll from a prepaid account. tt V1 enacted laws protecting women from domestic rape, setting quotas for women's representation on legislative bodies or outlawing genital mutilation, Bunch said, no deadlines were set for accomplishing more. "We were hoping to get more detailed commitments about when they would do what in essence, to pin them down," she said. The Rutgers center, which attracts women from around the world to leadership-training programs on the Douglass College campus, issued a statement voicing disappointment with a review document produced during the UN special session. Some 300 organizations had participated in drafting the statement, Bunch said.

"We regret that there was not enough political will on the part of some governments and the UN system to agree on a stronger document," the statement said. "It is women who will continue to take the leadership in working for these goals. We will not be turned back." Indeed, Bunch noted, the Vatican and some governments had sought this month to curtail abortion rights that were included in the man who works in Edison as an assignment desk editor at News 12 New Jersey. "From the time I was a little girl, I've wanted to take over for Jane Pauley," Horner said yesterday. "There are a lot of female broadcasters out there now, but that's something I've always wanted." On Saturday night, she made news instead of covering it.

She James Zazzali New state Supreme Court associate justice about the process," he continued. "You apply the facts to the law and, hopefully, you sprinkle it with a little common sense and, where appropriate, invest the process with some vision." Although he has never served as a judge, Zazzali pointed out he has held many quasi-judicial positions. These include posts that involved holding hearings and issuing reports: as special master to study conditions in various jails, including Monmouth County's, and as a member and chairman of the SCI. He a)so has sat on judicial ethics boards. "I've had an extensive appellate practice," he added.

"There was a time when I was appearing before the Appellate Division on a weekly basis, and the Supreme Court on almost a monthly basis." Zazzali said he is so honored to be have been appointed to the Supreme Court. "It's no secret there are many other fine judges and lawyers who can do the job," he said, "and my only hope is that I can do the job as well as I know they would do it." By SHERRY CONOHAN STAFF WRITER It wasn't until his last year of law school that James R. Zazzali knew he wanted to be a lawyer. Zazzali, who will be sworn in tomorrow as an associate justice of the state Supreme Court, said he remained torn during law school at Georgetown University between a career as a doctor or as a lawyer. "I was often tempted to get both degrees.

But I thought that was a little bit too compulsive," he said last week. He was busy closing down his Newark law practice and gradually moving into his new office in Red Bank. That office formerly was occupied by the just-retired Supreme Court Justice Daniel J. O'Hern, whom he succeeds. After receiving an undergraduate degree from Georgetown, Zazzali, the son of a lawyer, took an extra year in the sciences as he contemplated a career in medicine.

"I had mixed emotions about the sciences and they had mixed emotions about me," he said. "Finally, I said, well, maybe law school is more my cup of tea and, like so many other people, you do it because it's the thing to do." Zazzali, a Rumson resident, went on to enjoy a successful career in the law. In addition to his private practice, he served as an assistant Essex County prosecutor, as general counsel to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, as state attorney general and as a member and then chairman of the State Commission of Investigation. Asked his aspiration as an associate justice of the court, Zazzali said, "My hope is to work colle-gially with the other justices, whom I know and whom I respect, to simply advance the interests of the state of New Jersey and the people of the state. "There's nothing complicated N.J.

set to pass THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TRENTON New Jersey is poised to become the first state in the nation to enact a law regulating the sale of food prepared under Muslim dietary laws. The legislation, which passed the state Assembly and Senate unanimously, would put New Jersey at the head of efforts to bring Islam on equal legal footing with Christianity and Judaism. Many Muslim leaders, who lobbied the state Legislature to pass a law similar to the statute that regulates kosher food for Jews, praised the bill as a sign of the growing significance of their religion in mainstream America. Yousef Kosht, an activist in the Passaic County Muslim commu By SARAH GREENBLATT STAFF WRITER These are times that try feminists' souls. Women around the globe are making strides toward equality, but they have not yet RUTGERS as a commer- UNIVERSITY cial once bhh, promised come a long, long way, the director of the Rutgers University Center for Women's Global Leadership contends.

And rather than galvanizing women's-rights advocates, this month's special session of the United Nations General Assembly dampened hopes that goals established at the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing will be met quickly. Advocates from hundreds of women's organizations and government leaders from around the globe gathered in New York City for the special session to assess progress made in the last five years in strengthening women's rights and giving women more say in politics. The verdict, center Director Charlotte Bunch said, was a mix. Although some countries have Resident suspected of row home arson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TRENTON Police are inves-' tigating a suspicious fire that damaged nine row houses here, leaving seven families homeless. A resident of one of the homes, who was arrested Satur-.

day afternoon as he visited the fire scene and was accused of assaulting his girlfriend Friday, night, was being questioned about the fire, police said, Xt The fire began inside the residence of Diane Cribb around; 3:50 a.m. Saturday, just 10 hours after her boyfriend, identified as James Tyrone Hardy, 34, fled; after allegedly assaulting herj police said. POOLS Above Ground Pools $4Qper Irom "tU mo 48 mos. at 10 99 Inground Poolsg $-1 on, from I OC7i 9.75 for 1SYt. CENTRAlVt 4235 Rte.

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CELEBHATINC YEARS Of EXPERIENCE 0taanarfucto90(1wwliWriym. Additional terms available. i FINANCING no Muslim food law Aspiring newswoman wins Miss nity, told The Star-Ledger of Newark for yesterday's editions that he hopes the legislation will lead to further laws regulating all products that might be unclean to Muslims, such as shampoos and cosmetics that may be made with pork byproducts. Kosht said one day he hopes to see a section of grocery stores devoted to food that conforms to Muslim dietary laws, known as halal. The New Jersey bill offers protection from pricing fraud by providing for fines and requires producers to promise to follow halal strictures, which are taken from the Koran and based on dietary laws set out in the Hebrew bible.

As many as 300,000 Muslims live in New Jersey. 9 Call THE ASSOCIATED PRESS OCEAN CITY The newest woman to wear the crown of Miss New Jersey hopes she can break a 63-year homestate jinx in this fall's Miss America Pageant. Jill Horner, 21, of Gloucester Township won the Miss New Jersey Pageant on Saturday night. A recent graduate of Rutgers University, Horner is an aspiring newswo For a Free Consultation Now Ravich Koster Tobin Oleckna Reitman Greenstein Eeen kiered in a consultation that is completely confidential. There will be no legal fee unless we produce a favorable settlement.

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