New Jersey Nightly News; New Jersey Nightly News Episode from 06/28/1982 7:30 pm

What. Do you do. If you like you can. Good evening. Ray Donovan is cleared by a federal special prosecutor in sports Pats can lead has soccer and football highlights along with a look at tomorrow's NBA draft and the state senate has just passed New Jersey's

1983 budget. We'll have a report. The state Senate has adopted New Jersey's fiscal 82 83 budget and the assembly is expected to pass the same spending plan later this evening. It is at the State House with a live report. RITA. After taking one hundred five days to write a spending plan both the assembly and Senate are expected to give swift approval to the budget tonight before leaving. There are not expected to be any changes in this budget debate started in the Senate at 5:00 p.m. with partisan complaints and also with bitter words. Republicans complain about mass transit and education cutbacks. Democrats said well you brought it on yourself by not supporting the gas tax. Bill. This is why you're still breathing.

We've been here to support the Republican vote was made along party lines with all 18 Republicans not voting or voting no. They protested cuts made in Friday's marathon session. Democrats authored one hundred and eighty five million dollars in cuts that slashed into Republican programs. These cuts will be itemized in a later report. There was no attempt made by the Republicans to amend the bill on the floor they couldn't do it because they needed Democratic support in order to maneuver through the parliamentary procedures. There was a brief talk in caucus about resurrecting the gasoline tax perhaps at a lower level but this did not gain momentum with me now as Kerry-Edwards counsel for the governor. You were the chief lobbyist for the guest house I'd like to ask you quickly carry. The gas tax money was supposed to be dedicated to road and transit programs why is it that we're seeing cuts then coming from the budget in non-road and transit programs. Well there was an overall budget balancing problem there was.

Problems with revenues the budget beyond the gas tax some 830 million that we started with. We negotiated a budget that had one hundred sixty six million dollar problem that assumed the passage of the gas tax so that the new the new money from the gas tax was dedicated to go to mass transit and local roads. OK. Think you also like to speak to House Speaker Ellen Karcher. Mr. Speaker I'm fine. Democrats have disavowed this budget. They say it's still a bipartisan one yet there were no Republicans no Republican input input. Aren't the Democrats going to suffer from the fare hikes in the property tax hikes. Certainly they will and we don't like this budget but it's the only alternative we have because a governor can get his Republican senators to go along with them. What's happening here is what's being demonstrated is the hypocrisy of Republicans who for eight years in this chamber have said cut the budget cut the budget cut the budget. When the Democrats were fined they were forced to do that because the Republicans won't vote for Republican governors to act. Now they holler just doesn't make any sense whatsoever on their part.

OK. Thank you. One last thing Kent before the Senate leaves they will make the concurrence vote on the death penalty bill sending it down to the governor's desk for signature. Kent. Thank you Rita. Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan has survived a six month special prosecutors investigation with a clean bill of health. The investigation of Donovan former executive vice president of Shivani construction company of Secaucus explored allegations of payoffs and ties to organized crime. Diane doctor has more. Special prosecutor Leon Silverman said the Brooklyn grand jury heard from more than 150 witnesses. But the testimony failed to substantiate allegations of Donovan's ties to organized crime the organized crime charges as well as others were a source of great concern and the investigation was as thorough as we could make it. Credible evidence to warrant a prosecution of

any Silberman said the allegation that prompted his investigation was also unsubstantiated. That was informant Marielle Montour charge that Donovan as co-owner of the Shivani construction company in Secaucus witnessed a payoff from a union official at preventing a Long Island City restaurant. Silberman said one portion of Montour Rowe's testimony was supported by other evidence the allegations that no show jobs existed on one of New York City construction projects. But the special prosecutor said there was nothing to prove Donovan knew of the no shows. The investigation also found a violation of labor laws may have occurred in connection with the Shivani owned fiddlers elbow Country Club in Bedminster testimony revealed union officials were entertained there. But Silverman chose not to prosecute under Justice Department guidelines. Silverman could not turn up any violation of federal election laws as a result of Donovan's campaign efforts for Ronald Reagan. But the Federal Election Commission will

investigate this further. Donovan who has denied all charges all along was obviously pleased by the report. It is a relief. To say this matter settled once and for all so that I can devote all of my time and my energies to the task which President Reagan asked me to do some months ago. Senate Labor Committee chairman Orrin Hatch said that his investigation will continue although it appears Donovan deserves the benefit of the doubt. I do think that we're going to have to hold hearings with regard to the procedure and with regard to why we didn't get some of these reports when we should have had them. SILBERMAN Meanwhile wouldn't say that Donovan slate is clean and he carefully avoided giving his private opinion of whether Donovan should continue on the job in Manhattan. I'm dyin doctor.

The budget cuts thatched out over this weekend amount to one hundred eighty five million dollars the same amount of money the failed gasoline tax would have brought in as Rita she had mentioned earlier in her report almost half of that amount would have gone to road and bridge repairs. Steve Katz has details on what the reductions will mean to state programs. Governor Kaine's high priority program of road repairs has gone by the wayside with the slashing of 100 million dollars from the Transportation Department budget. Projects like the run Cocos Creek Bridge replacement in Burlington County the bay way circle in Elizabeth and the resurfacing of hundreds of miles of New Jersey roadways will not take place. Transportation Department officials say the cutback also means that major road projects like Route 55 in Gloucester County would 24 in Morris County and Route 18 in Monmouth County will not be completed and that millions of dollars in federal aid will also be lost. We have. Major impact on our federal interstate program. One hundred twenty three million dollars in federal funds and federal aid. Urban system program and a roll

secondary program to lose another twenty three million dollars in federal funds. If you don't drive you'll feel the budget cuts in the form of higher mass transit fares. Fares are already slated to increase by 17 percent July 1st through some combination of fare increases probably in the 20 percent range and service reductions will have to make up to 20 million dollars which the legislature failed to appropriate. Other departments are affected by the budget cutting to the corrections department lost 20 million dollars meaning it won't be able to make all the repairs it needs to at state prisons or hire enough people to man new facilities plan to open this coming year. The most politically charged budget cutback is a 15 million dollar reduction in state minimum aid to school districts. That program helps fund schools and well-to-do areas. Now he has represented for the most part by Republicans they're charging that the new state aid for a mill will only benefit towns represented by Democrats. Other cuts include 2.6 million dollars taken from the Commerce Department meaning an ambitious tourism program won't get off the ground and nine million dollars was taken from Medicaid and general assistance

funds meaning some human services jobs could be lost. One job that will definitely be lost was to have been Anthony and Perry always funds for the Office of Community Safety which Imperioli was appointed by Governor Kaine to head were eliminated in Trenton. I'm Steve Katz. Governor Kaine and Assembly leaders today proposed legislation described as the first step toward overhauling New Jersey's no fault automobile insurance system. A key change would be the replacement of the assigned risk program with a joint underwriting Association. Every auto insurance company in the state would belong to the association and they would jointly write and share in the losses for high risk drivers. But this problem you know has defied solutions for about six years. And this is a. Bipartisan. Solution to what we think is one of the most difficult of the Automobile Association problems. Nearly half of New Jersey's 3.5 million insured drivers are in the care and assigned risk program many because they could not find a company accepting new clients. Governor

Kaine said that under this bill good drivers will pay the same rates or less while bad drivers will pay more. This legislation also provides a cap on insurance costs for young drivers and those who live in the cities. A 5 percent rate reduction for drivers 65 years of age or older. A surcharge system for bad driver's uniform administrative costs charged to consumers higher deductibles for collision and comprehensive coverage. The higher deductible should result in a 30 percent savings on previous premiums assembly speaker Ellen Karcher said this legislation would be a priority for the house's fall session. A builder set up an experiment in 24 hour casino gambling was released today by an assembly committee Atlantic City casino operators reactions to the issues range from reserve to supportive Flannigan reports. The proposed bill permits 24 hour gaming on Saturday Sunday and Monday for a test period of one year.

Currently casinos are open 18 hours on weekdays and 20 hours on weekends out of the city's nine casinos three say they favor the concept of 24 hour gaming. The rest reserve comment but all the casinos do agree on one point they won't oppose the experiment. On the positive side casino operators expect 24 hour gambling will enable them to compete for customers with other gaming resorts where the doors never close. They know it will result in better revenues over the summer months but wonder about the rest of the year. It might not be viable during the spring in the fall in the winter during the week we think we probably lose money on that extra shift the cost of operating that shift would be greater than the extra revenues that we took in to make the concept viable. They say it will require regulation changes such as fewer security guards casino executives warned the unlimited hours won't translate into unemployment. I don't think they're going to be any large increases in the jobs in the summertime maybe. The rest of the year I think that the scheduling of games would enable us to stay open

24 hours a day without additional personnel. The bill sponsor Assemblyman Michael Matthews did not amend the measure to ease casino staffing requirements besides providing more taxes for the state he says 24 hour gaming would reduce traffic congestion and crime. He's also right now when so many people don't want people just watch who takes the most money and there are. A lot of Matthew says that after the experiment is over it will be up to the legislature to decide the issue. In Atlantic City I'm Brenda Flanagan. England's Prince Charles and Lady Di have finally chosen a name for their new born son William Philip Arthur Louis as the child's official name. And while the happy parents are collecting gifts from all over the world there's one very special gift from Canada that originated in Trenton. Rolonda Watts explains. This porcelain sculpture of Sakha Jew we was selected as Canada's official gift

commemorating the birth of young Prince William of Wales. Officials of the CBS studios say this particular piece was chosen because it depicts motherly love. This young Indian mother often referred to as the Madonna of North America refused to leave her infant son behind when she led explorers Lewis and Clark on their expedition to the Northwest Territory. Why is an appropriate gift for Lady Diana. Lady Di is very fond of children not just the new prince but she used to be a kindergarten teacher and so her whole life has been spent caring and loving children. So obviously she's also a very devoted mother but saccadic away I was not Canada's first and I only see the studio gift to the royal couple. This Eskimo mother was sent to Prince Charles and Lady Di when they first announced their engagement. Also symbolizing motherly love. This Eskimo mother raised a young polar bear along with her son and some of these delicate porcelain pieces have even been used by some pretty well-known

people in our own country. Just last week at a special luncheon first lady Nancy Reagan presented each senator's wife with a Seabass porcelain rose and the price about $70 a piece. Now what makes porcelain art like this so special and so expensive is the fact that all of the works are handmade with a roll here. And a pinch there. This rose almost seems to blossom between the artist's agile fingers and the Mole only produces the basic shape of the sculpture. Skilled studio artist tediously working eight hours a day pay strict attention to details. The trademark of cbus porcelain the tiny flowers that decorate this Goddess's hair and those that rest on her lap were all handmade from clay as fragile as a pike crust. The artist even managed to sculpt emotion in their works as well. The finished products range between 55 and $7000 is Julian says after bathing sculptures day after day. The artists are of course proud and honored

that one of their creations was chosen as a gift. Fit for a king in Trenton. I'm Rolonda Watts. Once a year in June ham radio operators pack up their equipment and head for the highest hill in town. It's called field day and it happened over the weekend. Brenda Flanagan was there. Members of the Delaware Valley Radio Association gathered for a field day atop a hill in hundred and counting the annual event fulfill several purposes. Main reason as to a show that we are prepared to act on during an emergency. And it also gives a lot of us practice setting up under emergency conditions and also operating practice in general and also to have a good time. And it's also a contest we're trying to copy as many amateur radio operators around the world as we can feel their runs about 24 hours and involves thousands of licensed ham radio operators nationwide. All of the 50 states. New Jersey has the highest concentration of ham operators about 25 clubs across this state participate in field day.

DV are a club members began erecting the sites huge antennas Saturday morning like any emergency preparedness operation. This one had its small problems. While club members ranging in age from 15 to 86 struggled with outside gear. Other hand stayed busy with more complicated equipment. At two o'clock that afternoon for voice stations and one Morse Code station went on the air. If you feel the heat you feel the sea for you you feel like going north was going to use a few portable to. Switching frequencies constantly. Operators within a half hour were logged responses from several states. The effort would continue all through the night until Sunday afternoon. Contest results will be released in October in Lambertville hundred in county. I'm Brenda Flanagan if you release me. And now here's a look at the weather forecast tonight will be cloudy and warm with a chance of some showers temperatures will be in the mid to upper 60s. Partly cloudy warm and humid tomorrow with a chance of showers daytime highs in the mid to upper 80s. And the outlook for Wednesday warm in

MA and humid. I don't know. It all started with Space Invaders then followed by asteroids and now the king of video game to someone called Pac-Man. Is it the plot of a new science fiction film. No it's the name of one of the most popular video games on the market today. Video machines are popping up everywhere these days and that has some parents worried.

Tonight Rolonda Watts takes a closer look at how one community is dealing with the situation. The store is in downtown Plainfield are pretty typical of the kinds of small businesses found in communities throughout New Jersey. But there is one thing plain Phil does not have. Video games are a multimillion dollar industry. Last year one such game called Pac Man swallowed nearly 200 million dollars worth of courters. It's easy to see why kids love video games. Parents though are usually less enthusiastic. In fact many would like to see the use of these machines by children carefully regulated. Sometimes however that's not an easy thing to do. Like most communities Plainfield has an ordinance against jukeboxes and pinball machines but there is no law specifically regulating video games. So what the city council learned there soon may be as many as seven new videogame arcades in town. They declared a moratorium on the installation of new games. Then they appointed a

special advisory panel to come up with suggestions on how to handle the situation. City Administrator Alfred Smith has been carefully following the controversy surrounding video games. One critical site. The fourth floor is directly across from city hall police station and two blocks from the largest church in the city. With over a difficult situation and one of the most busy intersections in the city. Traffic congestion and zoning problems may be top priorities for the city. Crime is what parents fear most. They believe stores with video games will become hangouts places where kids will inevitably get into trouble. This isn't the same as if we were concerned about creating avenues and creating a positive image for the city took a serious look at what you're going to have happen if you create the

school. Not surprisingly people in the video games industry see things a little differently. Craft amusement video machines from distributor Bruce Kaye what if kids are getting in trouble. Permissive parents not videogames are to blame. They don't care where their kids go take you into any town and I'll show you that the kids are dropped off. At the age of five or six. A roller skating rink. And what do young sharpshooters think they can't understand what the whole argument is about. That.

I think. It's an and expensive form of entertainment in the sense of money for. Community leaders and the only way to find out the truth about video games is to study the problem to video arcades encourage truancy among school children. Does the city have enough police to keep an eye on the arcades. And what effect would arcades have on playing Phil's business district. This is a place I feel. That video games that are running the streets trying to find something else to do right now. Video game arcades are flourishing. So bringing them into the city has plans to revitalize downtown Plainfield. Might seem like a good idea. The planners aren't so sure after all. And slot car race

tracks are once pretty popular too. Who knows maybe videogames could turn out to be nothing more than a fad. Kids may grow tired of them. After all there are only a limited number of variations on the old guy shoots bad guy thing that underlies most of these games. Still if that ever happens it is probably months away. Until then there seems to be only one thing which will stop children from playing video games. Running out of quarters. I'm rely on the Watts. Each community in New Jersey has the authority to write its own video game ordinance Mostar establishing strict zoning regulations which limits both the number of video machines that can be located in any one store and the hours that the machines can be operated attempts by some towns to prevent anyone under the age of 18 from playing those video games was ruled constitutional by the state Supreme Court earlier this year. I don't know.

Sitting in for Bill Perry Pat Scanlon is next with sports Pat thank you can't hot times at Giants Stadium yesterday as the cosmos improve their league leading record to 14 and 3 being the league's worst team Edmonton by a 3 1 score. Twenty six thousand fans sweltered away the afternoon at a game that really wasn't that hot. 14 minutes into the game bogey feeds Chico bore on the left side. Chico gets the ball he's going to beat Peter Melo. Chico shot goal Cosmo's lead one nothing. How's this for an outtake for the highlight film. Johan the shot save Georgio rebound off the

Post and Steve Moyers can't control. Well Moyers did make good three minutes later when he and Bogey work a nice given goal Moyers shot goal his ninth of the Year at the 37 minute mark. That makes it to nothing cosmos in the 70th minute bogey on the attack feeds off the cheek that feeds a Chico bore out of the shot to goal at Chico's second goal of the game. Now cosmos or David Burchett starting for Hibbert lost a shutout with 32 seconds left David Kemp for the goal looked like the one over the end line. Nonetheless the final cosmos three Edmonton one and tonight a cosmos close up the game's hero Chico Bora and Bobby Ritchie Join host Bill Perry here on New Jersey network at 8 p.m. and basketball as the NBA draft tomorrow in the nets will have the 13th and 21st picks of the first round. Now today I talked with Mets general manager Bob McKinnon about the club's profits. Now McKinnon says if a big man isn't available the nets will go for a playmaker. Take a look at Laffey at lever of Arizona State Rob Williams out of Houston his team made the Final Four. Eric Floyd of course Georgetown won the national

championship two other alternatives for the Nets. Lester Connor of Oregon State and John Bagley of Boston College. Now in the last two years draft it points to the nets growing stability. 1081 the nets drafted Buck Williams Albert King and Ray Tolbert in 1900 like human skin like a corn. Now of course Tolbert has been traded. But the four remaining players are the only first round selections in the club's history who are still with the nets for the third time in four years the South squad defeated the north 16 to seven in the annual high school football star clash. The South went ahead early first quarter number 21 Brian Bevan's out of Ewing high school going to get the ball goes seven yards for the touchdown seven nothing south still in the first quarter the defense this time we're going to see the north on the move. Roger e-mailed back the past. He's going to be picked off by number 13. Ivan hits out of Pennsauken Ivan at 2 interceptions for the day. He'll attend Michigan next Fall Of course brother Dwight as a member of the San Francisco forty niners. Now in the second quarter the north defense is going to come up big. TIM DOHERTY blocks a punt. Steve Brady's going to pick it up. He

can't get the first yard yardage rushing. So the North is going to take over a good field position. Rodney Carter who will attend Purdue next fall takes the ball 10 yards down to the 8 yard line three plays later Raja Rema who go to Indiana next year heads for the end zone 7 yards on the end around North ties it at 7 to 7 in the second half. North coach can the cost he didn't like what he saw. Sounds Bill Hunt who go to Delaware next year throws it up 53 yards to Greg Gosnell. That's for the touchdown to make it 13 to 7. South went on to win it 16 to 7 and 1 heavyweight boxing no Jimmy Young is pulled out of a fight in Atlantic City tomorrow night at the Tropicana due to food poisoning. I can't thank you Pat. And that's our news for tonight for Pat Scanlon and the rest of the nightly news team on Pat Monahan Wishing you a good night.