Guidelines

Christopher Brimage got a four-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in May 1995 to drug charges in Somerset County, with a chance for parole in three years. In a case that went to the New Jersey Supreme Court, his attorneys challenged the three-year parole term - contending he would have gotten a better deal elsewhere in the state. They said in Gloucester County, for example, the deal would have been probation with 364 days in jail, and that in Camden County it would have been a flat three-year sentence - meaning a chance for parole in about 9 months.

Township Committeeman Ron Richards doesn't want to read letters to the editor. He wants to watch them. That's why he has been trying for more than two years to open the regional public-access station, Channel 18, to the public. "I would like residents of the community to have a chance to get in front of the television camera and share their opinions in what would be a visual equivalent of a letter to the editor," Richards said. His vision may soon become reality. Last month, Richards set up an advisory panel to establish guidelines regulating the usage of Channel 18, the township's public-access channel.

A Willingboro police officer was justified in the use of deadly force against a 15-year-old student, according to the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, authorities announced yesterday. The decision concurred with findings by the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office. Sgt. William Smith followed the the state Attorney General Office's guidelines regarding use of deadly force when he shot a male teenager armed with scissors on June 7, 2007, the prosecutor's investigation determined.

Both were powerful state senators. Both were found guilty of fraud. And both submitted reams of letters from supporters who hailed their good deeds as public servants. Pennsylvania's Vincent J. Fumo, convicted of all 137 counts against him, will soon head off to prison for 4 1/2 years. New Jersey's Wayne Bryant, who was found guilty of 12 charges, was sentenced Friday to four years behind bars. While prosecutors had sought longer sentences for both politicians, the cases highlight a kind of back-to-the-future event in the criminal-justice system: the return of discretion in federal sentencing since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that once-mandatory guidelines are merely advisory.

Common Pleas Court judges yesterday overwhelmingly approved guidelines for releasing inmates if the city prison population gets too high, paving the way for the city to regain control of bail decisions for the first time in seven years. The vote was so strongly in favor of approval that a count was unnecessary, Alex Bonavitacola, administrative judge of the court's trial division, said after a closed meeting of the court's Board of Judges. Municipal Court judges approved the guidelines several weeks ago. Approval of the guidelines was a condition of U.S. District Judge Norma Shapiro's decision last month to temporarily lift the controversial prison cap. The decision allowed city and local court officials to decide which suspects to jail, and under what conditions to release them.

Members of the Great Valley school board have finished wrestling with next year's budget and begun wrestling with guidelines for class sizes. At Monday night's meeting, the board approved a $29.8 million budget for 1994-95 that is 6.4 percent higher than this year's $28 million spending plan. To finance it, owners of a home assessed at the district average of $12,030 will have to pay $83 more, for a total tax bill of $1,861. The budget includes a 6.9-mill tax increase, bringing the total to 154.7 mills.

Seven months after U.S. District Judge Norma Shapiro relaxed a court-imposed cap, the city's prison population has climbed from 5,100 to 5,700, primarily, she was told, because bail commissioners are disregarding guidelines in a third of the cases. "I'd accept 90 to 95 percent" of compliance with the guidelines, but "here it is 66, and this is a flunking grade as far as I'm concerned," Shapiro said during a hearing in federal court yesterday, adding that she intends to go to some bail hearings to see what's going on. The commissioners' departing from the guidelines mean more suspects are jailed because, in most of these cases, suspects are being required to make bail when the guidelines call for release with some supervision but no cash.

Lawnside did not comply with certain Camden County Community Development guidelines, which will cost the borough $8,027.08, according to the municipality's 1993 internal audit. The guidelines require that the county review requests for bids on any borough projects before any contracts are awarded. Borough Administrator Jessie Harris said she hadn't known that those guidelines included information for bids on an installation contract for part of a Recreation and Parks Department project.

Police were pursuing a Williamstown man last fall at speeds of more than 110 m.p.h. before the driver - high on cocaine - crashed into another car, killing a Gloucester Township man and himself, Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said yesterday. Sarubbi said no criminal charges would be brought against the Bellmawr officer who initiated the Nov. 25 chase that climaxed in a Haddonfield neighborhood. "This chase, however, certainly raises issues of potential violations of the state guidelines that the local chiefs of police need to review," Sarubbi said.

Every year, on a holiday set aside to honor the U.S. flag, Old Glory is set on fire. It happens in Flag Day ceremonies organized by veterans, scout troops, and municipal governments. Flames are the ultimate honor, according to the U.S. Code, for flags that are tattered and worn. So on Thursday, at a municipal park in Northampton Township, Bucks County, and in other places across the country, old flags that have faded with time or been whipped by the wind will be retired — placed in a pit and burned.