The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • A1

'SENIOR MOMENTS' MAY ACTUALLY MEAN ALZHEIMER'S, STUDY SAYS. A-9 e7 "4 Calorie counters err, F-l Surgery-free face-lifts, F-l NEW JERSEY PRESS ASSOCIATION GENERAL EXCELLENCE WINNER 3 50 cents TUESDAY June 27, 2006 PassaicMorris Edition www.northjersey.com Search expands to river Passaic man who fell into brook had passion for soccer Top court to rule on greenhouse gas dispute N.J., other states want EPA to restrict car emissions By COLLEEN DISKIN STAFF WRITER The U.S. Supreme Court has joined the heated debate over global warming by agreeing to hear a dispute over whether the federal government should regulate greenhouse gases, particularly emissions from cars. The high court's decision Monday to rule on a lawsuit that New Jersey and other states brought against the Bush administration Vermont cam-set up what could be a Pai9n fmance law precedent-setting deci- stmcl down- sion on the environ- Guantanamo, ment. It could bring a four other definitive ruling on due soon A7 whether the Clean Air Act compels the federal Environmental Protection Agency to restrict carbon-dioxide emissions from autos, rather than relying on voluntary climate change measures by industry.

"Today's decision is significant because it means the nation's high court will now consider our argument as to why the EPA must exercise its authority and not be allowed to abdicate its responsibility in this critical area," said Lee Moore, spokesman for New Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber. "EPA's lack of leadership in this area has been startling," said Lisa Jackson, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. "It's required the states to take up the mantle of leadership on global warming." The EPA released a statement vowing to defend its policies before the high court as being both environmentally and economically sound. "These national and international volun-See EMISSIONS Page A-7 'Ice Man' book ridiculed as more fiction than fact Prosecutor, ex-agent contest several claims By KIBRET MARK0S STAFF WRITER The way biographer Philip Carlo tells it, Richard "The Ice Man" Kuklinski helped KEVIN R. WEXLERSPECIAL TO THE RECORD Rescuers paddling along Weasel Brook in Clifton in their search for Mauricio Perez, who was swept away while trying to retrieve a soccer ball.

Paterson boy, 11, tells how his best friend drowned in a reservoir. L-l He said another player described how Perez had struggled to get a handhold as he was swept into the tunnel, where large signs say "Danger" and "Do Not Enter" in English and Spanish. The stream has no public barriers alongside the playing field. The signs over the tunnel entrance were posted in 1996 in the wake of a 15-year-old boy's drowning in the brook, a Passaic River tributary that overflows its banks in Weasel Brook Park during heavy rainfalls. "People get close to the water, See DROWN Page A-6 By DOUGLASS CROUSE STAFF WRITER Mauricio Perez took life seriously, friends and relatives say, and soccer was no exception.

So on Saturday evening, when a kick sent the ball into Weasel Brook in the middle of a pickup game, Perez wasn't about to let it float away. Crouching along the concrete-channeled waterway in Clifton, the Passaic man reached toward the fast-moving water and tried to grab the ball. But a momentary loss of balance sent him tumbling in, friends and relatives said Monday, leading to the husband and father's apparent death in an underground tunnel downstream. On Monday, firefighters waded through sections of such tunnels in Clifton and Passaic, and sheriffs officers manned an inflatable canoe in the search for Perez's body. Authorities plan to continue their efforts today, with boat patrols and K-9 units expected to set out along the Passaic River.

Armando Sanchez, Perez's brother-in-law and one of the 18 men playing soccer, recalled the strength and speed of the rain-fed brook Saturday night. "We can't say we have any hope they'll find him alive," Sanchez said Monday as officers from the Passaic County Sheriffs Department searched a nearby concrete basin. "The current was so strong, we don't know if they'll ever find him." Spotlight Retiring judge unapologetic for stiff penalties he doled out local authorities close a dozen murder cases. Not true, says Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli. In Carlo's new book, which hits stores today, a former undercover federal agent is quoted as saying By KIBRET MARK0S STAFF WRITER KUKLINSKI Who: Superior Court Judge John A.

Conte Born: Nov. 27, 1936, in Jersey City Hometown: Mahwah. He also lived in East Paterson, now Elmwood Park, for several years. Family: Married, four children, 12 grandchildren Education: Seton Hall School of Law (1967) Career: Criminal Division, 1 995; Chancery Division (Family Court, 1991); municipal attorney and municipal court judge in Saddle Brook, Elmwood Park, Wallington, Rochelle Park and Fort Lee. Also a former funeral director.

utation as a firm, conservative judge who makes no apologies about often giving stiff prison terms to convicted felons. "Yes, I see myself as a tough sentencer of bad people," said the judge, whose chambers at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack are adorned with Devils memorabilia and signed photos of hockey stars. "You commit a serious crime, the sentence will be serious." Only a few years after his appointment to the criminal division, Conte presided over the trial of Wilbert Angoy, a car salesman convicted of beating, strangling and drowning his former girlfriend in scalding water in a Fort Lee motel. See CONTE Page A-6 If he weren't a jurist, Judge John A. Conte probably would have been a New Jersey Devils winger.

Or so the evidence suggests. Having reached the mandatory retirement age for judges, Conte steps down from the Superior Court bench this week after 15 years. He will serve as a part-time adviser in his son's law firm and although it's a little too late to begin a professional hockey career, he also will become a full-time Devils fan. Conte, who turns 70 in November, has a rep that Kuklinski was personally responsible" for 200 killings. Baloney, says the retired federal agent.

Even before 'The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer" was released, the book's accuracy had come under fire from former and current law enforcement officers as fiction. "Entertaining? Yeah," said the former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms See ICEMAN Page A-10 INSIDE Background checks on coaches can help Editorials L-12 Health F-1 Horoscope F-7 Mini Page F-4 Movies F-6 Obituaries L-4 Opinion L-13 People A-2 Public notices Television F-8 Weather L-14 Advice F-7 Bridge F-7 Business L-7 Classifieds C-1 Comics F-9 Crossword F-8 2P Tom Kean Jr. and Robert Menendez face off in another debate. A-3 What kind of a reception will Pedro Martinez get in his return to Boston? S-l But they won't uncover all threats to children have revealed that Watson was on probation for child molestation. It could have stopped Watson before the Little League coach and umpire ever got started in San Bernardino, where he did much of his damage.

A parochial school teacher admits fondling nine girls. L-l But no check was made. Instead, Watson became one of the most prolific child-molesting coaches ever revealed in the United States, assaulting more than 200 children over three decades. See BETRAYAL Page A-8 By JEFF ROBERTS STAFF WRITER Betrayal The kids trusted Nor-of trust man Watson's blue eyes. Lstf Their parents trusted three parts his smile.

That trust devastated so many lives. A simple background check might Home delivery: (888)4REC0RD NORTH JERSEY MEDIA GROUP INC. 52823 00001.