Nuclear disarmament group opens Red Bank office,B1 GREATER RED BANK EATONTOWN Isles lose again Prayer amendment LONG BRANCH New York defeated Senate votes tomorrow Today's Forecast by Hartford, 5-4. on controversial issue. Cloudy, rain likely Page B2 Page A3 Complete weather on A2 The Daily Register VOL. 106 NO. 219 YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER . SINCE 1878 MONDAY, MARCH 19, 1984 . 25 CENTS Special prosecutor mulled for probe of Meese finances WASHINGTON (AP) - The De- tween financial favors Meese re- partment of Justice is investigating ceived and the federal jobs awarded whether a special prosecutor is some of his benefactors. needed to probe Edwin Meese's But the source noted that tra- finances, but the candidate for ditionally, federal officials and pri- attorney general says he'll fight to vate citizens involved in a Justice win confirmation despite the "base- Department inquiry use the in- less insinuations." vestigation to stop commenting "I welcome this inquiry by the publicly on the affair in question, Justice Department," Meese said in which may serve to dampen the a statement made shortly after the growing controversy surrounding inquiry was announced late yester- the Meese confirmation hearings day. "I intend to continue my effort to be confirmed as attorney general During the past week, an increas- of the United States." ing number of senators have ex- The Justice Department decision pressed doubts about Meese's fit- came after top officials, partici- ness to serve in the job. particularly pating in an extraordinary series of after he disclosed he had in- Gift for the archbishop weekend meetings, said they would advertently failed" to list the $15,000 open an inquiry to determine if a loan on his financial statements Rev. John J. O'Connor, the new archbishop presented to the new archbishop by George special prosecutor should in- Meese's primary opponent on the vestigate a $15,000, interest-free of New York, waves a Yankee baseball cap Steinbrenner, the team's owner. Bishop committee, Sen. Howard Metzen loan Meese received from a former baum, DOhio, said through a during his homily yesterday at St. Patrick's O'Connor was sworn in as the eighth White House aide. spokesman that the Justice Depart archbishop of New York. See story page A3. EDWIN MEESE HI Cathedral in New York. The Yankee cap was Meese had failed to list the loan ment action was "appropriate." on his 1981 and 1982 financial vote for several weeks at least. Meese called Thurmond in South disclosure statements, as required Meese had been scheduled to Carolina last night and read him a by the Ethics in Government Act. testify at a second round of hearings letter about the Justice Depart- While Reagan said through a set to begin tomorrow before the ment's decision. Earlier, the White spokesman that he was "solidly committee. House counselor met with Reagan to Howard bids to halt behind Mr. Meese," Senate Ju- One Justice department source, seek permission to have the hear diciary Committee Chairman Sen who asked not to be identified, said ings delayed. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C . immedi- it might be difficult to confine the Meese's letter to Thurmond wan ately agreed with Meese's request inquiry to inaccuracies in Meese's released to reporters by an aide to postpone Senate hearings into his financial statement and that the In it. Meese told Thurmond the building in Manhattan nomination. department might also end up Justice Department would be in- This effectively stalls any Senate looking at possible connections be- See Special, page A7 WASHINGTON (AP) - A New "New York City has been dragged Howard's amendment would re- Jersey congressman says he will into court, placed on,timetables and strict any metropolitan area with submit amendments to proposed been given one extension after more than 4 million people from federal legislation in an attempt to another since the Clean Water Act undertaking new construction, as of 3 presidential candidates bar any major construction in was adopted," said Howard, who is March 30, 1984, until raw sewage Manhattan while New York City chairman of the House Public Works discharges are eliminated. Howard still is dumping raw sewage into the and Transportation Committee. said New York City is the only urban Hudson and East rivers and New The Spring Lake Heights con- center of that size disposing of raw York Harbor. gressman said about 100 New Jersey sewage in public, navigable water- hunt for votes in Illinois Rep. James Howard, D-N.J., has communities have imposed mora- ways i accused New York City of discharg- toriums on new development until The amendment also would order CHICAGO (AP) - Walter F. The civil rights leader said the campaign, a fight for 171 convention ing 230 million gallons of untreated adequate sewage treatment facili- New York to complete sewage Mondale and Gary Hart scoured campaign should n• l be a debate delegates in Tuesday's election and sewage into those waterways every ties are in place. treatment facilities sooner than the Illinois for last-minute votes in the about "programs fur the black and momentum going into other day. He said the wastes have been "Why should New Jersey, or any current court-imposed deadline of state's presidential primary after a the poor, but a comm.tment to primaries in the next several weeks spoiling the beaches along the New state, for that matter, have to the mid-1990s, and would provide spirited debate in which the Demo- empower the poor" to develop their in Connecticut. New York and Jersey and Long Island shores. restrict growth in order to control money for the city to do so. cratic rivals joined the Rev. Jesse own programs. Pennsylvania. Howard proposes amending the pollution while New York City is New York officials have main- Jackson in a direct appeal for The debate was the only face-to- Illinois aside, there are caucuses Water Quality Renewal Act, legis- allowed to do just the opposite?" tained that'it has not completed support from black voters. face confrontation in 'he Illinois See Candidates, page A7 lation he sponsored to reauthorize said Howard He noted that New work on a full treatment plant the 1972 Clean Water Act that York's World Trade Center and because it cannot afford the cost, committed about $30 billion for the Battery Park City were built since estimated at $1 billion, Howard said. construction of sewage treatment the Clean Water Act took effect. Howard's amendment, if enacted, Mondale backers plants across the nation. "If New York refuses to do would threaten a major commercial standing firm, A4 The new law would allocate $23.5 anything about their growth-pol- waterfront developments in Man- billion for completion of clean water lution problems, then we will simply hattan announced last month by facilities over the next five years. have to do it for them," Howard said Mayor Edward Koch. One public opinion poll pointed to a narrow Hart lead in tomorrow Illinois primary, the biggest prize so far on the campaign calender. Another poll taken nationwide and Middletown officials rap released today showed Hart with a narrow lead over President Reagan, while Mondale badly trailed the president in a two-way matchup. McKean for 'nonsense suit' Mondale used a locally televised debate last night to claim a "dra- MlDDLKIOWN - Republican plaint. mayor said. "I hoped that when (ihe matic difference" between himself Committeeman Paul A. Linder last McKean plans to file the com- case) was dismissed, that would be and the Colorado senator on civil night blasted Democratic Commit- plaint again within a week. the end of it." Waller said "it's a rights. teeman Richard D. McKean for The suit was spurred by a resol- shame that the 1983 campaign hasn't ' "I'm not arguing about Gary's "clogging up" the court system with ution adopted by Maher. Linder and been put to bed." nominal record," Mondale said in "nonsense suits." Waller at a committee meeting Nov. Waller noted that the "overall the 60-minute encounter. "But I do Later this week, McKean said he 14. The resolution, introduced by effect (of the suit) on the township think there's a dramatic difference intends to' resubmit a lawsuit Maher, criticized McKean's com- is bad. The sooner (that the issue is in the intensity, the commitment, against Linder, Mayor Robert B. ments about a backlog in the dropped), the better off everyone the effort undertaken, to move this Waller and Committeeman James township tax assessors office. The is." process forward toward true op- F. Maher Jr. for slander and libel. dispute is related to the controversy But McKean said he does not portunity for all Americans." that has existed for the last eight The first lawsuit was dismissed intend to forget about the issue. But Hart, whose sudden emerg- by Monmouth County Superior Court months over a backlog in the "If they think I'm clogging the township tax assessor's office. ence from the pack has dethroned Judge Benedict R. Nicosia because court system, that's a joke," he Mondale as front-runner, retorted: of a technicality that had nothing to Accusing the Democrat of "play- said. "I'm not willing to let Vice Presi- do with the merits of the case. It ing politics," Linder charged McKean, sworn into office in dent Mondale or anyone else in this was dismissed because of "a techni- McKean with "dragging this thing January, has contended that the country gauge my intensity of cality in the wording" of the suit, out. He ought to be severely repri- committee was aware of the commitment to civil rights.