Boardinghouse

Gov. Kean signed legislation yesterday that provides criminal penalties for boardinghouse and rooming-house operators who fail to correct violations. The law, which had been sponsored by the late Sen. Garrett W. Hagedorn (R., Bergen), also strengthens enforcement measures against homes owned by corporations by making the officers and directors personally liable for civil fines. William Connolly, director of the state's Division of Housing, said yesterday that about 30 percent of the 2,200 rooming and boardinghouses in New Jersey were owned by corporations.

Merchantville police have charged the owner of a controversial boardinghouse with having stolen and cashed a resident's $2,500 personal check. Pat Stoner, owner of the home at 6 Linden Ave., took the check from the resident's room after the borough fire marshal closed the boardinghouse Jan. 22 for electrical violations, Police Chief Robert Ward said. The check, already signed, was to have been voided. But Stoner made it out to "Linden Guest House," then cashed it at the local United Jersey branch in Merchantville, Ward said.

Between a dry cleaner and an appliance store on Main Street in Lansdale sits a little white boardinghouse with a shaky reputation. Some of the cast-iron mailboxes nailed to the wall at the entrance are missing their lids. There is a small hibachi on the front porch, a refrigerator on the first landing, a few tires in the back and a sign in the ground-floor window that says "Life's a Beach. " Douglas Ferguson, the owner, wants to expand the building. Six months ago, when Ferguson applied for a permit to add on a room, the request was denied, said F. Lee Mangan, borough manager.

SOUTH RIVER, N.J. - One person has died and 15 others were left homeless when a fast-moving fire destroyed a boardinghouse in Middlesex County. Mayor John Krenzel said the three-alarm blaze at the Hotel Pershing started late Monday night. The three-story building had 24 rooms, and 19 were occupied. Krenzel said some tenants were awakened by the smell of smoke and sounded the fire alarms. He said the person killed was a middle-aged woman who lived on the third floor and had trouble walking.

The former owner of a Browns Mills boardinghouse was charged yesterday in connection with the death of a 23-year-old mentally retarded man who U.S. officials said died as a result of being bound, gagged and beaten repeatedly while a tenant at the house. A federal indictment handed down yesterday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Trenton alleges that Lena Rice O'Neal, 39, of Pemberton Township, violated the civil rights of Robert Sikorski and caused his death in June 1984. O'Neal is also charged with seven counts of perjury for lying to federal investigators and a grand jury to cover up her role in the incident, said U.S. Attorney Samuel A. Alito Jr. Alito would not say why the federal government was taking the unusual step of prosecuting the case until almost five years after the event.

Residents opposed to a run-down boardinghouse on quiet Linden Avenue in Merchantville won another victory yesterday against the owner, Richard Stoner, as the borough council unanimously passed an ordinance empowering the municipality to license such operations. The ordinance, which could go into effect as soon as Tuesday, requires boardinghouse owners to acquire a one-year, $200 license. People living within 200 feet of a proposed boardinghouse will be allowed to speak for or against the licensing at a public hearing.

The owner of a New Britain house and officials who say it violates township codes have reached an agreement for an inspection. New Britain Township Solicitor George Bush met with the owners' attorney, Bill Benner, in Bucks County Court Judge Issac S. Garb's chambers on Thursday. As a result, an inspection will take place on Thursday, said Township Manager Bob Bender. On Jan. 8, police and fire officials were called to the residence at 117 Devon Rd. and reported that it appeared to be in violation of fire-prevention, building and electrical codes.

Since his feet were crushed in an accident two years ago, Robert Robinson has lived in Northeast Philadelphia at Riverview, a personal-care boardinghouse run by the city's Office of Supportive Housing. Robinson said Riverview is home. That's why he was so upset last month when he got a letter saying he had 30 days to leave. The problem? Budget cuts at the OSH mean dozens of residents like Robinson need to find new places to live. "I'm 45. I'm not nursing-home material, and they're trying to ship me into a nursing home," Robinson said.

For 31 years, the lime-green house at 6 Linden Ave. in Merchantville was owned by a "sweet old lady" named Lelia Davis, who ran a peaceful boardinghouse. Longtime neighbors say they never had problems with either Davis or the itinerants who rented rooms there. But that was before a traveling salesman who went by the name of Patrick McCarren knocked on Davis' door in December 1988 selling frozen meat. It turned out to be a profitable house call for McCarren. And a troublesome one for the neighborhood.

Two men are dead and a woman is in the hospital, victims of a triple shooting yesterday in East Camden, authorities said. Neighbors said they had heard gunshots about 8 a.m. in a duplex near the intersection of 27th and Cramer Streets. Police found the victims there, and a small fire in the basement. Son Do, 31, was identified by police as one of the dead. The second man was not named, pending notification of his family. The woman, who police did not identify because she is a potential witness, was found wounded in a room adjacent to the fire.

SOUTH RIVER, N.J. - One person has died and 15 others were left homeless when a fast-moving fire destroyed a boardinghouse in Middlesex County. Mayor John Krenzel said the three-alarm blaze at the Hotel Pershing started late Monday night. The three-story building had 24 rooms, and 19 were occupied. Krenzel said some tenants were awakened by the smell of smoke and sounded the fire alarms. He said the person killed was a middle-aged woman who lived on the third floor and had trouble walking.

Victim of deadly dispute identified 44th Street near Fairmount Avenue, West Powelton Police on Tuesday identified a 21-year-old man shot to death in front of his girlfriend's house in West Philadelphia on Monday night as Ronnie Romero. Police said Romero, who lived on Simpson Street near Girard Avenue in West Philly, was involved in an argument with the boyfriend of his girlfriend's sister on Monday night as the two men were driving to a barbecue at his girlfriend's house.

Animal-welfare officers took custody of 12 live and 17 dead cats found in a North Philadelphia boardinghouse Friday, officials said. All the animals were kept in a single boarding room, whose occupant, a man in his 30s, was being evicted by his landlord for having the cats, said Wendy A. Marano, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania SPCA. The dead cats were kept in the freezer portion of a refrigerator and elsewhere in the room. The boardinghouse is in the 1500 block of North 12th Street.

After a turbulent 26 years in foster care, hospitals, institutions, and, finally, Philadelphia prisons, Jhontue Ryals wanted only to live with family. On Nov. 17, she got her wish. She was sentenced to five years' probation and released to live with an aunt, Rhodina Brown, in Elkins Park. This was to be her first Thanksgiving with family. But like so much else in Jhontue's life, it didn't work out that way. Released from prison, Jhontue - everyone calls her by her first name - got home at 2:30 a.m. Twelve hours later, she was in Albert Einstein Medical Center with a fever of 102, pneumonia, and low blood pressure.

Since his feet were crushed in an accident two years ago, Robert Robinson has lived in Northeast Philadelphia at Riverview, a personal-care boardinghouse run by the city's Office of Supportive Housing. Robinson said Riverview is home. That's why he was so upset last month when he got a letter saying he had 30 days to leave. The problem? Budget cuts at the OSH mean dozens of residents like Robinson need to find new places to live. "I'm 45. I'm not nursing-home material, and they're trying to ship me into a nursing home," Robinson said.

The world's No. 3 eating champion sat out this year's Coney Island Fourth of July hot-dog-eating contest but couldn't resist a little hot-dogging. After competitive eater Joey "Jaws" Chestnut won his fourth consecutive bout Sunday, he was upstaged when six-time champion Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi crashed the stage and wrestled with police before being charged with resisting arrest, trespass, and other things. "Let him eat! Let him eat!" the crowd chanted as cops tackled Kobayashi, 32. He'd refused to sign a contract with Major League Eating, the fast-food equivalent of the NFL, saying he wanted freedom to compete in contests sanctioned by other groups.

Police yesterday charged a 24-year-old female resident of a Spring Garden boardinghouse with arson and murder in a fire early Saturday that killed one resident and seriously injured two others. Jhontue Ryals, who lived in the four-story brownstone at 1836 Green St. that housed Pace Personal Care Boarding Home, was also charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, and related offenses. Police said the motive was a dispute Ryals had with others.

Authorities have determined that a fire that killed one resident at a Philadelphia boardinghouse and seriously injured two early yesterday was deliberately set by a resident. Flames forced the evacuation of 11 residents from the Pace Personal Care Boarding Home, a four-story brownstone in the 1800 block of Green Street in the Spring Garden section. It housed physically and mentally challenged residents. A resident set the fire at 4 a.m. after arguing with another resident, Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said.

Meg and Petey, proprietors of a run-down English seaside boardinghouse, have this conversation early in The Birthday Party: "There's a new show coming to the Palace. . . . " "Stanley could have been in it, if it was on the pier. " "This is a straight show. " "What do you mean?" "No dancing or singing. " "What do they do then?" "Just talk. " Harold Pinter is one of the 20th-century masters of "just talk," and his power lies not so much in what his characters say, which is often banal or ridiculous, but in the silences, the pauses, the terrifyingly empty space around the speech.

A night of arguing ended with a Norristown woman plunging a steak knife into her boyfriend's heart, killing him, Montgomery County prosecutors said yesterday. Patricia Ann Horton, 49, whom police found lying on top of John Friday's lifeless body Saturday, was charged with first- and third-degree murder. She is held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility without bail. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Oct. 7. An autopsy showed that Friday died from a stab wound that pierced his heart.