New Jersey Nightly News with Robert Cohen in Trenton. Good evening and thank you for joining us IN THE NEWS tonight. Police say a deputy sheriff in Bergen County was shot and killed by a prisoner he was guarding a hospital room. Snow and rain put the weekend on ice and in Atlantic City Resorts International prepares to defend itself before the Casino Control Commission hearings begin tomorrow and we'll have a preview. In sports Pittsburgh slides into the Super Bowl Bill Perry will have all the sports including local college and pro basketball. And on a closer look at the Oyster crop is plentiful. We'll travel the Delaware Bay with an oysterman who's seen times that were less beautiful. Last Friday some Teaneck detectives responding to a burglary got involved in a gunfight with the suspect 23 year old Steven Perry of Englewood. Perry lost the gun fight and was taken to Bergen pines County Hospital in Paramus with two bullet wounds in the stomach. One of the men keeping Perry under guard at the hospital was Joseph Bergen County deputy sheriff this morning a few minutes after three. Perry allegedly
attacked deputy Rybka overpowered him took his gun shot him dead and ran. Perry was caught a short time later on the hospital grounds has been charged with murder and is now continuing his recuperation in a county jail. Governor Brendan Byrne says there's some uncertainty in the gambling industry because of pending charges against Resorts International. But the governor says he doesn't think that's affected the industry's interest in Atlantic City. The governor made his remarks in Atlantic City today on the eve of hearings on the status of Resorts International. The Casino Control Commission is conducting those hearings on whether or not resorts should be granted a permanent license to operate its casino resorts gaming tables have been opened since May on a temporary license. The betting is that the casino What self will stay with whether resorts will keep running it is not a sure thing. Steve Taylor reports. To a lot of people the whole future of Atlantic City is riding on the commission hearings. Some of them say if resort's gets its permanent license over the opposition of Attorney General John Degnan then the world will
decide New Jersey isn't serious about keeping out organized crime and honest casino operators will stay away. Other people say if resorts does not get the permanent license after spending millions of dollars in Atlantic City then all casino investors will stay away and the well of gambling money the city needs so much will dry up. The casino has been operating on a temporary license because resorts wanted to get started last spring and the state's investigation of the firm was taking longer than expected. A month ago the results of that probe were released. According to Attorney General Degnan the company has been guilty of questionable practices and has accepted big loans from disreputable people including some associates of alleged mafia money man Meyer Lansky resorts president Jack Davis answered that the investigation didn't uncover anything that wasn't explained long ago. The hearings will begin in Atlantic City at 10:00 tomorrow morning. They should go on several weeks but will probably be finished by the time resorts temporary license expires on February 26. If the commission members vote against resorts then they'll have to appoint somebody else to run the casino.
That person called a conservator would also have to sell the operation and then give the money to resorts Commission Chairman Joseph Florida has said that the casinos three state appointed trustees would be logical candidates for conservator. The three former state Supreme Court Justice John Francis former state treasurer William R. Fuji and retired businessman Leonard Johnson have control of the stock of resorts Hotel and Casino under the temporary license as it stands now their authority will end on February 26. There's one more thing if resort's loses it probably will challenge the decision. And if that happens the conservator will have to run the casino without selling it until the case works its way through the courts. This is Steve Taylor. I'm. Going to Brendan Byrne has a date with the state legislature Tuesday to deliver his State of the state address. And there's been a lot of speculation about what that message will contain. New Jersey cities as well as the state government are having financial problems. The city's because of cutbacks in federal aid the state because of a budget deficit expected to run almost
300 million dollars. The pundits are predicting that Byrne will call for a shuffling of state programs to channel more money into the cities and for better handling of state funds to reduce the state deficit. One published report says the governor will make special mention of problems in the state's bus subsidy program which has been channeling 16 million dollars this year into the transport of New Jersey bus line. The report says burn may in fact make a direct call for a state takeover of TMJ. The legislature would have to OK any such move. It was just about a year ago that Governor Byrne signed into law a bill giving New Jersey's state legislators and $1000 a year raise for the raise isn't scheduled to go into effect before January nine hundred eighty at a taxpayers group had complained to the National Council on wage and price stability that that 80 percent pay hike would violate President Carter's voluntary price and wage guidelines. Today the Newark Star Ledger reported that the taxpayers group was in for disappointment that the National Council has ruled the pay hikes are
OK since they were enacted 10 months before Mr. Carter issued his guidelines. Friday's five alarm fire in Newark is still smoldering because there were chemicals involved. Fire officials are warning residents to keep their doors and windows closed. Reggie Wells reports from Newark. The block long Arlington warehouse in Newark which stores paint drums alcohol and various other chemicals was an inferno. Three hundred foot flames fed by the chemicals and thick smoke hospitalized for Newark firemen. Twenty four hours later firemen were still on the scene trying to prevent any further chemical explosions. Fire officials still don't know what caused the blaze and what chemicals may still be inside. And just in case the residents of the Ironbound community have been advised by the fire department not to spend too much time outdoors some residents took heed. Others considered the procedure routine for the neighborhood. Are you alarmed by this now. I'm used to it. I lived here all my life. I don't like to see a fire like that.
Describe to me Mrs. Ramos what the police and the fire department did when they came by last night. Well they told us to keep the doors and the windows locked because they said that the fumes from that place could hurt us could hurt you know maybe our lungs I don't know what he says that made sure that everything was closed for a while. Are you scared now. Of course I am because first my throat and I suffer from my throat anyway and my little girl suffers from asthma and a lot of people get sick around this place because of I guess because of the feelings and because of the pollution in this neighborhood you know a chemical plant across the street and while we've been talking three or four planes have gone by overhead really loud. Why do you stay here while I stay here because I like the neighborhood because it's quiet. The state health department has now been asked to take air samples to see if toxic elements have been released into the air and the fire department is keeping the neighborhood under tight surveillance. Local residents hope the stiff winds during the fire blew all the dangerous fumes out of the area. More than 25 different types of chemicals were stored in this warehouse. Some of them toxic and some
become toxic when they're heated. Now whether or not any of these poisonous chemicals are still in the air no one will know until the state health department test results are in sometime next week. In the meantime area residents are keeping their fingers crossed. In Newark I'm Raj wells. If there's such a thing as a slush storm we had one today two to four inches of fresh snow fell on New Jersey overnight. But temperatures warmed in a hurry making for lots of slush. The second day's speeds on the turnpike had to be reduced to 45 miles an hour because of snow and down to 35 at the southern end of the turnpike due to fog slush storms or more of a nuisance than anything else but they make driving more deceptively dangerous and walking very risky. The destinations not only have to keep an eye out for puddles on the sidewalk but also puddles on the street. Some say you haven't really enjoyed a slush storm until you've stood close to the curb to watch the cars go by. And they say just as much fun as walking in slush shoveling of course the more rain we get after
snow the more slush there is. Which brings us to the forecast. And there is more slush in it. It calls for periods of rain tonight heavy at times with possible local street and highway flooding. Temperatures in the upper 30s to low 40s in northern New Jersey and in the low to mid 40s in the southern part of the state. Tomorrow the rain will be ending in the morning giving way to a cloudy and windy day with temperatures dropping into the 30s after warmer temperatures earlier in the day. The outlook for Tuesday fair and cold. And from the how cold is it Department comes the story of soldiers preparing for war games in Alaska New Jersey's Marine reservists sending one hundred and sixty five soldiers to play the role of the enemy and what has been dubbed Operation JACK FROST. They'll travel with thousands of other soldiers to the frozen tundra of Alaska for the games. Mariama also looked in on their practice session today. They look like after Mo they found Michael running.
But in fact their New Jerseyans who serve part time in the Marine Reserves their weekend training at picking tiny Arsenal I've concentrated lately on fighting the cold in preparation for the massive operation Jack Croft in Alaska. Captain Bill Peters a reserve instructor says there's a good reason for the operation. Listen we have to do anything. Cold weather nature was back in career almost 30 years ago and right now the Marine Corps in general has been used as a teacher pleaser just 1054 for a needle in one of the reserve missions would be not only to lean into the underbelly of needle which isn't a training but also the northern flank which is up in Norway Lapland North Yorkshire had a cold in their banks Alaska is like no cold the East Coast has ever felt. Temperatures range as low as 45 degrees below zero anough to freeze more than just your rifle butt. Why is 45 degree temperatures up there. That's very easy for a person get the hydrated and to get one down your not even realize it to touch up this metallic. With
my 45 degrees you leave pieces of skin that you can literally have you think is freezing it is freezing. It's not even known about it. It's something these guys are made aware of. Marine leaders hope for warned is for warmth for their part the men don't seem to fear the cold. How do you feel about the prospects of that extreme cold. Sometimes I'm worried about it but other times it's alright it's it's something you look forward to as a challenge and you have to take the challenge. To. New Jersey's company to use the only Leatherneck reserve unit taking part in Operation Cross its members say that's a no no. No matter how low the mercury things I pick a tiny Arsenal I'm Mariama Rosso. It is passion his politics. Lady Glencora. Passion is another
matter left to their own devices would continue their pursuit but the tour and of course there was Mary began a sort of romance power intrigue murder based on the bike and. The Palace. Watch the Pallisers Sunday at 10 o'clock. New Jersey Public Television. Well see. The Harris household in Mount Holly may have a football champion. We'll have all the litter of details you know with Bill Perry in sports. Thank you Robert. This past Monday Pete Harrison his Penn State teammates came up short in college football. If Penn State had defeated Alabama the Nittany Lions would have been number one but Bama beat Penn State now Peet's older brother Franco will have a shot with the Pittsburgh Steelers to win pro-football Super Bowl the Steelers routed Houston 34 5 to win the AFC title today. Pittsburgh first possession third play from scrimmage Terry Bradshaw 34 yard pass to Lynn Swann to the 9. 2 plays later Franco gets a touchdown from 8 yards out
7. Later in the first quarter Pittsburgh moved within the 20 but Bradshaw was picked off by Willie Alexander and the turnover Bowl began two plays later Dan pastor intercepted by Mel blunt. Pretty good run back by Blount but Pittsburgh did not capitalize they missed a field goal. The first play after the missed field goal. Houston's ball Earl Campbell fumbles. Two plays later 15 yard touchdown run Rocky Bleier made it 14 nothing Pittsburgh. Or used in field goal made it 14 3 and used and was driving late in the first half Here's a completion but Ronnie Coleman fumbles it away to Jack Hamm. Pittsburgh's got it four plays later touchdown pass from just inside the 30 Bradshaw to Swann 21 3. Fifty eight seconds left in the first half. Here's the kickoff bumbled by Jonny Durden whoops loses it right there Rick
Moser recovers two plays later 18 yard T.D. tossed Bradshaw to John Stallworth 28 3. Houston handled the kickoff but first play from scrimmage Coleman fumbles fifth used in first half a turnover number 64 Steve for Nessa made the play that led to a field goal Roy hit with eight seconds left made it 31 3 at the half 17 points in the final 58 seconds of the first half of Pittsburgh in the second half Terrelle added another field goal and used them got to safety for the 34 5 final in the NFC title game right now late in the first half. Dallas and Los Angeles are scoreless in college basketball last night a few scores you may have missed. Princeton beat Harvard fifty five forty nine Princeton now one up one down in the Ivy League freshman Neil Cristo led the Tigers with 13 points. St. Peter's upset Holy Cross 92 81 Kevin Bannon had 30 for the winners also. Trenton State lost to Staten Island 65 49 a rider losing to Drexel 64 bit two. The Nets have now lost seven of their last eight and tonight
Phoenix comes to Piscataway Kevin locker room will return to the coaching ranks after his three game suspension. I talked with nets guard al Skinner after Friday night's loss to San Antonio. Skinner played a solid 28 minutes and scored 19 points but it's been a rough two or three weeks for the Nets and I asked him if the bubble has burst. I think we think we got away from what we would do if we had a layoff and just having that shop the last few games when Plan A little better we just have them all the way to victory in a couple in the coming weeks. But we do a lot better. Couple things off the court maybe is hurt the ball club first let me ask you about Kevin lottery The league suspended him for three games that suspension is now up it came at a rough time with the ball could have been three games in three nights and how much did that hurt your one and two. As Kevin's actions were to be a supporter of those players but sometimes he gets carried away and maybe the technicals hurt. Us to. Hurt us because the town is such a. Joke to. Me. The team found out to read it again. Houston you know is this a change in leadership.
Times. Have different tax laws you know. I'm sure most of the players in Kuwait tokenism. Is a. Sensible person. Would get in trouble so you know the only trace of this well what about the Bernard King situation I know that's cool. And soft punctuation but has no that has to Him you. Know I think is behind this and. The nitemare had a little effect because you know you know because it took time to get started and you know its history you know some of us to be sure come out of that. Barbara has once again won the New Jersey state women squash championship be defeated Carol why müller in the finals today at Princeton she's now won the jersey title before straight years and she did not lose a game in the entire tournament North American Soccer League draft comes out tomorrow. Robert That's sports. OK Bill thanks very much.
Records university seems ready to raise its tuition rates 10 percent for next fall. State Board of Higher Education has already approved a 25 percent tuition hike for directors to be phased in over a period of years. The question has been how big will the first step be a committee of the Rutgers board of governors has reportedly recommended a 10 per cent hike for this September. The full board is expected to vote on that this Friday. Well Rutgers students will still be away on a winter recess not around to mount an immediate protest. I. Know that the holiday shopping season is over there's nothing left to do but savor the memories and pay the bills. This time of year consumers are swamped with bills from credit card and department store purchases. The bills aren't always correct including reporter Ellen Peterson has some advice for New Jersey consumers on how to cope with the problem of billing errors. It happens to nearly everyone at some time or other. A store makes a mistake on your monthly statement. You could be over charged not properly credited for return or tried for something you
never brought in the first place. When this happens your first inclination is probably to telephone the store right. Wrong. Here's some advice from State Consumer Affairs Director Adam Levin. Well the first reaction that anybody has to a disputed bill is to panic and immediately pick up a telephone don't call. Federal law says that what you should do is make a copy of the bill with the original in your drawer so that you have a an accurate record of the bill. Then take a separate sheet of paper and write down your name and your account number as it appears on the bill. And write out the fact that you wish to dispute that particular statement. At that point then take a copy of the bill and your letter put it in a novel up and mail it to the address that is indicated on the statement. The federal law says you must do this within 60 days within 30 days of receiving your letter indicating there's a dispute. The store has to notify you that they're going to look into it and they have another 60 days or a total of 90 days from the time they receive your letter to do something about your dispute. Now the importance of the federal law is that during the
period of the dispute from the moment they receive your letter to the moment you receive their letter indicating a final resolution one way or the other. They made out number one charging interest on your account. They made I referred to their attorneys for action. They made a referral to a debt collection agency for collection and they made it referred to a credit reporting agency as a black mark on your credit record. But what of the story. And since there is no mistake and you still feel that you are right or if you don't hear from the store at all route again either you should really contact the State Division of Consumer Affairs we work with the Federal Trade Commission and jointly we resolve many of these problems. Even though our bill is still in dispute a creditor can start action against you with a collection agency. But if you followed Adam Levin suggestions your credit rating by law cannot be jeopardized if your right of course and if the collection agency practices harassment. Or other abusive tactics it's breaking a law and you can report it to the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. Eleven hundred rand in Boulevard New York 0 7 1
0 2 in New York. I'm Ellen Peterson. Orthodox Christians will be enjoying an extra two weeks to pay their bills of the stores they bought their Christmas gifts from use the same calendar they do several Orthodox churches around the Julian calendar which marks the birth of Christ not on December 25th but on January 7th. That's today. In any event despite the bills to our Orthodox friends Merry Christmas. It does begin to look as if this invitation can be pinned in it's actually the animals died because you can't be sure when he died when I should have thought we could. Watch Marie Curie Tuesday at 9 o'clock the New Jersey Public Television.
Oysters are making a comeback in New Jersey. The rich oyster beds in the Delaware Bay are chock full of the tasty morsels making the oyster men happy for the first time in many years. On a closer look tonight we'll take another look at Fenton Anderson an oyster boat captain who is the last of his breed. Anderson has been waiting 40 years for a bumper crop. Now that he's got one he's about to retire. Mike Powers spent a day with the captain. It's 5:00 in the morning in time to show it off. But Captain Fenton Anderson doesn't have a crew when his men finally do show up there almost an hour late. But a few minutes later captain and crew sail by moonlight down the Morris river into the Delaware Bay. On their way home. Just. In the galley. Anderson's crew members come to life over coffee and cards. They'll make 40 dollars apiece culling oysters today and a few of them will lose some of it
before the sun is up. It takes a full hour to sail to the area where the oysters are by then it's light enough to see that this is going to be a rough morning on the bay. Fenton Anderson has been making this trip for 40 years even before it gets light he consumes every bend and shallow in the river. Anderson leases 11 acres of Bay bottom from the state. He transplants young oysters from other locations in the spring and harvest them in the fall and winter. The day begins at dawn when crewmen throw the dredges over the side and wait for them to scoop up their catch. Oysterman and marine scientists predict this year's oyster harvest will be the best in 20 years. It was Jersey's oyster crop was almost wiped out in the 1960s by a germ called a mass X and in the early 70s by a snail like pest called an oyster drill that poisons the shellfish. But this year oystermen
expect a bumper crop of 2 million pounds. That's still a far cry from the heyday of New Jersey oystering 1919 when fishermen found 20 million pounds. Something's in the oyster business haven't changed much since those days in the early 1900s. Things like Fenton Anderson's boat and the size of its crew to him in the crew sourced the oysters from the broken shells piles the good oysters on deck and shovels the shelves back into the bay. That's the way New Jersey oysterman operated in the last century. Benton Anderson is the only one who hasn't changed his ways. He still uses men instead of machines to sort out the oysters. Everyone else has an automatic sorter which needs two men not 10 to operate. Anderson says he's too close to retirement to change to the new ways but he says he has other reasons to. Get a poor product. There was machine
corner stores. In fact enter here. But that's just the way it is the way the industry is going. That's the way it has to be. When Anderson started out in the oyster business as a teenager the boats didn't leave port Nora's Harbor powered by big diesel engines. They glided out under sail pushed by the wind and then my final mission and my grandfather was in it and it was a natural thing for me to do tourist business been good to me. I want to thank Fenriz that's really resist resist change by thinking Russia Syria just doesn't carry on the way it was forty five years ago and rugged individuals. Luther Jeffries invented a lot of the equipment that is now modernizing the oyster industry and he's head of the Delaware Bay oyster Men's Association. Jeffrey says the bay fleet may no longer have 600 boats like it did back in the 1920s. But the business isn't dying either in the city but some of the very last year my sister got the
back half of these people or even in the orchard business last year 10 years ago I'm sorry. I still think a lot of people are interested in telling him there's a future in it Jeffrey says the Delaware Bay oyster beds now yield only 2 percent of what they could if predators like the oyster drill were controlled and new equipment was installed on the oyster fleet and they were sure business we've tended to plan one year ahead. Just one year time I think this was wrong I think we got to plan maybe 10 years and I think some years from now that we'll have developed a natural potential of Delaware Bay. Right I think we're our time is better spent doing that than growing up in factories laboratories tykes or what have you. On a good day Benton Anderson unload 500 bushels of oysters today wasn't bad.
He called 366 but Fenton Anderson's only fashioned hand sorting method pays dividends in the end. He sells his oysters the minute he gets back to the dock to a Long Island wholesaler. He gets $11 a bushel and that's about a dollar more than anyone else gets. Anderson says people in the oyster business operate on trust no receipt change hands on the dock and the captain says he's never been cheated in 40 years. Honesty Anderson says he's prospered on never expecting too much and never quitting early. I'm not an optimist but by the same token a pessimist couldn't operate in this business. I can see things with a rosy. Picture and never have it that way. Don't overestimate anything I do. Fenton Anderson's optimism and pessimism often run together like that. He's optimistic about the days he has left in the business. He's pessimistic about the
technology he sees taking it over. It's a distinction so fine only one type of person is ever in a position to make it. The person who is the last of his comm line. Recapping our top stories in Bergen County Police say a prisoner was shot and killed a deputy sheriff. The suspect was caught and charged with murder. Hearings begin tomorrow on resorts International's bid for a permanent casino license and that 80 percent pay raise for New Jersey legislators has reportedly been ruled OK by the President's Council on wage and price stability. And that's New Jersey Nightly News the Sunday edition. I'm Robert Cohen. Good night. Have a good one. New Jersey Nightly News is a joint presentation of New Jersey Public Television and
13. During the week the program is broadcast at 6:30 on Channel 13 and at 7:30 the New Jersey Public Television and updated version is broadcast at 10:00 p.m.. The New Jersey Public Television. And at 7:00 the following morning on Channel 13 portions were recorded.
