The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • A1

WHY THE SMOKING BAN WON'T SNUFF OUT DINERS' APPETITES. L-l Food, F-l Entertainment, F-5 50 cents WEDNESDAY January 18, 2006 PassaicMorris Edition www.northjersey.com Governor Corzine vows 'new era of honesty' Toxic lead leaching from Ford sludge Group says tests lend validity to health fears By JAN BARRY STAFF WRITER Ford paint sludge that was buried in Upper Ringwood lawns leached toxic lead at 20 times the federal standard for dangerous waste. That finding was released to the community Tuesday by a non-profit environmental group monitoring the cleanup of waste dumped by the carmaker in the former mining community. It is the first finding confirming that a health-damaging element is leaching out of paint sludge in residential property. More than 400 What's new High levels of lead found in yard where children played in Upper Ringwood.

New calls for testing of entire neighborhood of 48 homes. Underground fuel storage tanks, apparently dating from the mining era, were found in a paint sludge cleanup site next to a stream that flows to the Wanaque Reservoir. Their contents are being tested. people, mostly Ramapough Mountain Indians, reside in the immediate vicinity of the dump grounds near Margaret King Avenue. They have long claimed that the sludge is the cause of mysterious and sometimes lethal illnesses that have afflicted them since Ford's dumpers came to town some 35 years ago.

"We've worked on 40 Superfund sites. This is the mm BETH BALBIERZSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Jon Corzine taking the governor's oath from Chief Justice Deborah Poritz at the Trenton War Memorial. Corzine's mother, Nancy, is at right. worst site we're working on," said Robert Spiegel, executive director of Edison Wetlands Association, the non-profit, federally funded group that provides technical and testing assistance to community organizations. Tuesday night, Spiegel and other Edison Wetlands staff met with members of the neighborhood association to outline their test findings from waste recovered in one driveway and one lawn shared by two homes.

The severity of the findings prompted Edison Wetlands to recommend government testing of the entire residential area of Upper Ringwood. The state has said it See RINGWOOD Page A-ll New Cabinet relies heavily on insiders N.Y. Detail ri area Wanaque Wildlife Management Area His goal: no more politics as usual By JOHN P. McALPIN TRENTON BUREAU Jon Corzine became New Jersey's 52nd elected governor Tuesday, vowing to restore honesty and credibility to a state shattered by scandal and over-whelmed by rising prop- More coverage erty tax bills. of Governor The Illinois farmer's Corzine's mau-son just seven years guration.

A-8, 9 ago, a little-known finan- cier whose star had faded on Wall Street -beamed proudly on the Trenton War Memorial stage before the entire New Jersey political establishment. But moments after talcing the oath of office, with his 89-year-old mother, Nancy, holding the Bible, Corzine rebuked the political ruling class for spending too much money and letting too many of its members make shady deals. His message was clear: The state is ethically and financially bankrupt. He vowed to fix it and demanded that Democrats and Republi-See SPEECH Page A-8 mtm Passaic County Ringwood State Park High levels of lead found By JOSH GOHLKE and MITCHEL MADDUX TRENTON BUREAU Jon Corzine promised "a new era" in state government as he took office Tuesday, but he was also turning to government and political insiders to run much of the new administration. Shortly before the inaugural speech, the administration announced that Susan Bass Levin again will head the Department of Community Affairs she ran for Govs.

Richard J. Codey and James E. McGreevey before leaving to work on Corzine's campaign. With that, nine of Corzine's 17 Cabinet members had been held over from prior administrations, five of them on an apparently long-term basis. Corzine has gone well outside Sally's Pond TARIQ ZEHAWISTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Corzine and his girlfriend, Sharon Elghanayan, on the dance floor at the inaugural ball in Princeton University's Jadwin Gymnasium.

0) 0) DC the usual channels to make some of his appointments. He chose federal prosecutor Stuart Rabner to be his chief counsel, giving a usually political post to a lawman. His nominee for treasurer is Bradley Abelow, a former Goldman Sachs executive. His public advocate nominee, Ronald Chen, is a longtime law professor. But Levin joins four other Cabinet-level officials being held over from the McGreevey or Codey ad-See CABINET Page A-8 2 Ringwood Wanaque Reservoir R.L.

REBACHSTAFF ARTIST INSIDE State's Part tab in millions U.S. to make it easier for foreigners to visit By JILL SCHENSUL STAFF WRITER The Bush administration, faced with declining tourism at home and a fraying image abroad, unveiled a kinder, gentler approach Tuesday to U.S. border security. Secretary of State Condoleezza Advice F-7 Bridge F-7 Business B-1 Classifieds C-1 Comics F-8 Crossword F-8 Editorials L-8 Entertainment F-5 Food F-1 Horoscope F-7 Movies F-6 Obituaries L-6 Public notices B-7, C-8 Television F-8 Weather S-10 Home delivery: (888) 4REC0RD U.S. vows to help on reimbursement amid Medicare confusion New Jersey and other states, Mike Leavitt, Health and Human Services secretary, said.

New Jersey is one of 20 states that had to step in to make sure its neediest citizens didn't go without essential medications during the program's bumpy rollout. The state has paid for 146,000 prescriptions filled for people whose Medicaid drug coverage switched to Medicare on Jan. 1. Those prescriptions should have been covered by the new Medicare prescription drug plans that administer Medicare Part D. The transition affected 140,000 people in New Jersey, who were randomly assigned to 10 different prescription plans.

But start-up problems created so much confusion for pharmacists and the poor and disabled beneficiaries who receive both Medicare and Medicaid benefits that the state has had to pay their prescription costs since Jan. 6 at See MEDICARE Page A-7 By LINDY WASHBURN STAFF WRITER New Jersey should be reimbursed for the $13 million and counting it has spent over the last two weeks to make sure poor and disabled residents get the medications they need while problems with the new Medicare prescription drug benefit are worked out, federal officials said Tuesday. Medicare will work with state officials and the health insurance companies that provide the new Medicare Part benefit to ensure that the companies reimburse Rice and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff presented the three-part "vision" they called Secure Borders and Open Doors in the Information Age at a Washington news conference. The joint venture between the State and Homeland Security departments aims to create a more welcoming picture of America and more efficient screening process for travelers by talcing advantage of technology and forging private-public partnerships. The program See TOURISM Page A-ll 52823 00001 NORTH JERSEY MEDIA GROUP INC..