Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 1

Weather. Scattered showers; high 83. Water temp 68 Jersey Shore News: State warns Point Pleasant Beach to Stop charging beach fees to kids under 12 -IB VI ww tm i i i ii il i hi iiiimi In Taste: Business bustles fy 5 at South Jersey farmer's markets M- in All-Star Game American League tons NL 4-1 as Ripken homers JtJi www.couriiirpostonlinc.com Wednesday, July 11, 2001 Cents ffr. i Mi n- v.a South Jers Gun discovered! in Scardmio's car Victim Bowen has sued two employers Weapon may have been used to shoot Joseph Bowen By FRANK HUMMER, ALAN GUENTHER and TIM ZATZARINY JR. Courier-Post Staff Investigators discovered a handgun Tuesday in a maroon Buick Century driven by Anthony Scarduzio.

They are exploring whether the former Camden Parking Authority head used it to shoot a whistle-blower before killing himself Monday with a shotgun. The whistle-blower, Joseph Bowen, had accused Scarduzio in a lawsuit of attempting to set up a phony brokerage account to launder money and rig bids. Bowen was beaten and shot Monday about 10 a.m. at Aaron's Ice Cream, which he leases to a tenant, on Hurffville-Cross Keys Road in Washington Township. Bowen was in critical condition late Tuesday at Cooper HospitalUniversity Medical Center in Camden.

He was able to talk, according to his attorney, Bill Bowe. Results of Scarduzio's autopsy were not released. His funeral is Friday. Authorities were tight-lipped about the shootings' details, but friends and political allies were calling it an attempted murder and suicide. Friends say Scarduzio was driven by a fear of prison and financial ruin resulting from a state criminal investigation into his activities as the authority's executive director.

They believe Scarduzio beat and shot Bowen, then used a shotgun to kill himself. Authorities had offered See SCARDUZIO, Page 6A See our Web site pJlTh for the latest on the investigation and archived stories. Closer look Anthony Scarduzio and Anthony 'Butch' D'Ales-sandro were longtime friends. The latter's gun collection drew Scarduzio to D'Alessandro's home on Monday. The lives of the two men are examined in a pair of profiles.

Page 6A his former employer, the Camden Parking Authority. The agency's former executive director, Anthony Scarduzio, died the same day from an apparently self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. Bowen, 50, was in criti- cal but stable condition at Cooper HospitalUniversity Medical Center in Camden on Tuesday night Bowen filed a lawsuit last fall in which he By KATHY MATHESON Courier-Post Staff CAMDEN Those who know Joseph Bowen as a neighbor and friend say he is a good guy, but his relationships at work appear to have been less than pleasant. Bowen, shot and beaten Monday morning in an apparent attempted murder-suicide, is a key witness in an investigation of claimed the authority was involved in bid-rigging, money laundering and fiscal mismanagement. It was not the first time he had sued an employer.

In the mid-1980s, Bowen worked as a videotape specialist at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. He filed a federal lawsuit in 1987 against the Department of the Navy, alleging See BOWEN, Page 6A 2 dlie inn LmbeniOT pDaime crash J. holds hearings on auto inspections By KATHY HENNESSY Gannett State Bureau TRENTON The $500 million deal to privatize New Jersey's motor vehicle inspection system was flawed from the start as state officials mismanaged the project and wasted time, according to testimony Tuesday before a panel investigating the contract. State motor vehicle workers, transportation officials and private contractors testified that former Gov. Christie Whitman's administration, in order to meet a federal deadline, ignored measures to make the project's engineering environmentally and architecturally sound.

They also told the State Commission of Investigation that project specifications were so vague that only one contractor, the politically connected Parsons Infrastructure, bid on the project. The privatization of the inspection system was plagued by computer and equipment failures when it went online in late 1999. While earlier investigations found Whitman and her top aides ignored evi dence that inspection equipment was unreliable, the SCI is studying whether Parsons was improperly awarded the contract. In testimony Tuesday, several witnesses said the project languished for years, but that changed soon after Whitman decided to privatize inspections and to move the Division of Motor Vehicles to the Department of Transportation. Some employees said they were concerned that in the push to meet a December 1999 federal deadline to implement enhanced emissions tests, basic regulations were ignored in drafting bid specifications.

William Mangan, who worked in DOT'S Transportation Policy division, wrote a May 1997 memorandum to Assistant Commissioner Stan Rosenblum expressing concern that other agencies were not involved in providing engineering, environmental and architectural guidance. "It is my concern that the successful bidder will have the ability to evade certain basic requirements of the regs and codes of New Jersey in those areas," Mangan wrote. Mill- 2 TY AVI STEINHARDTCourier-Post Investigators examine the scene of a small-plane crash near the South Jersey Regional Airport on Tuesday. Two people were killed. Deaths renew debate over expansion of South Jersey Regional Airport Hainesport Fatal aircraft Mt.

Bush greets new citizens crash "vAlumberton sion. Bob Mathews, the airport's co-owner, speculated the plane stalled, or fell due to insufficient air speed, as the pilot slowed to approach the runway. In that case, a longer runway might have prevented the accident, he said. But airport neighbor Maryann Skarbowski said a longer runway would attract more planes and increase the risk of an accident. "It's scary," said Skarbowski, who heard the crash.

By TOM LOUNSBERRY Courier-Post Staff LUMBERTON A man and woman from Pennsylvania died Tuesday afternoon when a two-seat aircraft nosedived into a soybean field about 500 yards from South Jersey Regional Airport. The 1 p.m. accident, the second fatal crash in two years at the facility off Stacy Haines Road, rekindled a debate over the airport's planned expan The National Transportation Safety Board has begun an investigation to determine the accident's official cause. Authorities said the pilot identified only as a Bucks County man pending notification of his family was thrown from the single-engine plane. The passenger, Joan Rice, 54, of Philadelphia, was trapped in the wreckage.

Both were pronounced dead at the scene. The 1977 Grumman American AA1C took off shortly before 1 p.m. from Northeast Philadelphia Airport The Lumberton airport also had a fatal accident in June 1999, when its former owner, Steve Snyder, 64, of Moores-town, crashed a Korean War-era fighter jet during a flight demonstration. A Deptford man, Barry Newcomb, walked away after crashing in a plane due to engine failure in February 2000. Plane rented from same firm in Burlington Twp.

crash. 7A i Kegionai Airport -r-SsW- i Counef-Posi i i Eagles to sell personal seat licenses for new stadium By CHUCK GORMLEY Courier-Post Staff PHILADELPHIA Describing their plan as "conservative, modest and affordable," the Philadelphia Eagles announced Tuesday that to help defray construction costs on their $510 million football stadium, they will ask about half of their season ticket holders to pay a personal seat license fee. The license fee, which will cost from $1,530 to 29,000 license fees should generate between $50 million and $60 million in construction revenue. He said the Eagles decided to implement the fee last month when the maximum price for the stadium escalated from $474 million to $510 million. The Eagles have agreed to pay $320 million in construction costs.

"When we realized how much higher the cost was, it went from something we See EAGLES, Page 7A For a few dollars more How the Eagles' stadium builder licenses compare with other teams in the NFL: Stadium Number Highest Team opening of SBL SBL price EAGLES 2003 29,000 $3,145 Houston Texans 2002 40,000 $3,900 Pittsburgh Steelers 2001 50,000 $2,160 Tennessee Titans 1999 5,700 $4,500 Baltimore Ravens 1998 61,000 $3,000 St. Louis Rams 1995 53,500 $4,500 Eagles fans unhappy with plan for personal seat licenses. 1C $3,145 depending on the seat's location, will be payable over three years. The Eagles are referring to the nonrefundable fee as a Stadium Builder License (SBL), a common strategy used by National Football League teams building stadiums. Eagles Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Joe Banner said the RON EDMONDSAssociated Press President Bush poses with 29 newly naturalized citizens on Ellis Island on Tuesday.

Before the photo opportunity, Bush attended the ceremony In the historic Great Hall and led the new Americans In their first Pledge of Allegiance. A GANNETT NEWSPAPER Weather 2A III II III Astrology Comics Correction TASTE a CLASSIFIED A THE WORLD 3 SOUTH JERSEY 88 BUSINESS SPORTS 11D Crossword 11D Movies 10D Scoreboard 5C 140 Dear Abby 9D Obituaries 48 Stocks 7B 2A Editorials 12A People 2A Television 7D Tomorrow In Living: Louder rock music moving to center stage. TODAY HIGH 84 TOMORROW HIGH Sl LOW 69 0 Put your Garage Sale in the Courier-Post, justj NOWSTHETI ME FOR A 11 COTTRIFR-POST INCLUDES: THURSDAY FRIDAY LINE AD and A FRIDAY DISPLAY AD! 1 ill i AH! 1 A FX $wrtti Jersey's Ncwioapcr I courierpestonHnccMH.