Radar

The Pentagon, responding to a report by three Democratic congressmen, insisted yesterday that a Soviet radar complex in Siberia could become the keystone of an extensive anti-missile system. The congressional group, headed by Rep. Thomas Downey of New York, was allowed to visit the site Saturday and said it posed little threat. "This radar is a ballistic missile, detection, and tracking radar," said Frank Gaffney, assistant defense secretary for international security policy.

THE PHILLIES are kicking the tires of righthanded relief pitcher Kerry Wood, according to several reports. CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury says the Phillies are one of four teams looking at Wood, a free agent who was 3-5 with a 3.35 ERA for the Cubs last season. Anaheim, Cincinnati and Detroit also are reportedly showing interest. A phone call to Wood's agent was not returned. The 34-year-old Wood was shut down in September after tearing the meniscus in his left knee.

Frank W. Widmann, 88, of Cherry Hill, a longtime Radio Corp. of America engineer who helped design various significant radars, died Monday, May 3, at Virtua Hospital in Voorhees following a heart attack. After World War II, Mr. Widmann began working as an engineer for RCA in the Moorestown plant. He soon rose to manager of design and development engineering within the missile and surface radar division. While in that position, Mr. Widmann oversaw the development of some high-profile radars, such as the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS)

Local police departments in Pennsylvania can't use radar to catch speeders, but that will change if a bill introduced Wednesday becomes law. Currently, only state police can use radar. Town and city officers determine speeds by tailing vehicles or using non-radar systems such as VASCAR, which computes speed from measurements of time and distance. Speaking about House bill 2513 Thursday in Abington were three of its 28 sponsors, Democrats Josh Shapiro and Matt Bradford, and Republican Mike Vereb, all of Montgomery County.

A senior congressman has interpreted a new Pentagon report to mean that many U.S. weapons "have been rendered potentially obsolete" by Soviet missiles designed to exploit the Defense Department's heavy reliance on radar. The secret report, a joint effort of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency completed three weeks ago, paints a "far grimmer" picture of the vulnerability of U.S. weapons to Soviet anti-radar missiles than previously acknowledged, Rep. John D. Dingell (D., Mich.

North Jersey-bred singer-songwriter Dean Friedman pretty much peaked commercially with his 1977 debut single "Ariel," a just-about-perfect piece of pop craftsmanship that combined incredibly clever lyrics ( "I said, 'Hi,' " she said, 'Yeah, I guess I am' " ) with irresistible musical hooks. While he's pretty much flown below the radar the past three-plus decades, Friedman has continued to crank out material, including TV-series sound tracks, a McDonald's commercial (for the chain's coffee)

Even sleepy drivers on their way to work or grumpy ones on their way home get the message when they see the double white lines painted sideways across the suburban back roads and residential streets. Slow down or get a speeding ticket. The lines are a dead giveaway that police officers with a VASCAR unit probably are parked in a side street or driveway, recording the speeds of passing cars. Heavy-footed drivers also have learned, said Tredyffrin Township Police Superintendent Thomas Baynard, that VASCAR will not catch them as they speed along curved roads or through school zones packed with school buses because the officer using the unit needs 550 feet of clear vision.

Glassboro Mayor William Dalton took the opportunity at Tuesday's council meeting to warn residents that the borough would begin radar surveillance of traffic on State Street immediately. The action was prompted by reports that motorists entering State Street from West Street or heading along State Street toward Delsea Drive were traveling at up to 50 m.p.h. In a letter read to the council by the borough clerk, the Rev. William Thielking, pastor of the First United Methodist Church, asked for action.

Oral sex and middle schoolers; freak dancing among 10-year-olds; allegations of rape by boys as young as 9.. . . Such incidents explode onto the front pages of newspapers like so many grenades, leaving many parents wondering whether the generation gap has suddenly morphed into the Grand Canyon.. . .The fact that these examples of precocious, unhealthy sexualization are not on most adults' radar screens speaks legions. For me . . . the surprise is in the surprise. What else do we expect in a culture in which, by age 19, our children have spent nearly 19,000 hours in front of the television . . . and where nearly two-thirds of all television programming has sexual content?

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Eagles have room to add another defensive tackle, with free agents Derek Landri and Trevor Laws still unsigned. Mike Patterson, Cullen Jenkins, Antonio Dixon, and Cedric Thornton are under contract, but the Eagles carried five defensive tackles last season. Thornton, an undrafted rookie, could be expendable. The Eagles could be targeting one of a number of attractive defensive tackles in the first round of next month's draft. General manager Howie Roseman agreed that it is a position of strength in the draft.

Buried in a harmless-looking sand pit in Lancaster were a bunch of plastic devices designed with gruesome intent: to kill or maim anyone who steps on top of them. They were land mines - in this case, filled with inert materials instead of explosives, but otherwise no different from millions of devices buried in war-torn regions around the world. Yet Tim Bechtel could see them. He moved a cylinder-shaped device back and forth over the sand, emitting a steady stream of radio waves - radar - and bit by bit an image of the mines emerged on a nearby computer screen.

      They thought it was dead. Then, like the killer in a late-night slasher movie, it rose again. It's . . . The Soda Tax ! It was declared stiff after a legislative defeat in 2010, but Mayor Nutter resuscitated the 2-cents-per-ounce levy in 2011, only to have Council drive a stake in it again. Although the mayor left the sugary-drinks fee out of his 2012 budget address on Thursday, there is no guarantee the tax - dreaded for drawing politicians and special-interest groups into bitter warfare - won't return.

Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who has allowed one goal or less in five of his last seven starts, missed Thursday's game against Toronto because of the flu. General manager Paul Holmgren wasn't sure whether Bryzgalov would be ready for Saturday afternoon's key matchup with the visiting New York Rangers, who are 4-0 against the Flyers this season. Sergei Bobrovsky started Thursday against the Maple Leafs. He had a 4-2 win over Toronto earlier this season. Jason Bacashihua was recalled from the Phantoms to be Bobrovsky's backup.

Left for dead, a severely injured pit bull found in Chester County on Monday has undergone a dramatic recovery and provided inspiration to animal-control officers. The dog's condition when a Caln Township police officer found him in a ravine near Coatesville was so horrific that observers thought he had been hit by a car and likely would not survive. On Thursday, the dog dubbed Radar by officers from the Chester County SPCA - a name connoting what they perceived as his quiet, soulful pleas for help - cavorted with balls, Frisbees, people, even TV cameras, outside the agency's West Goshen building.

THE PHILLIES are kicking the tires of righthanded relief pitcher Kerry Wood, according to several reports. CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury says the Phillies are one of four teams looking at Wood, a free agent who was 3-5 with a 3.35 ERA for the Cubs last season. Anaheim, Cincinnati and Detroit also are reportedly showing interest. A phone call to Wood's agent was not returned. The 34-year-old Wood was shut down in September after tearing the meniscus in his left knee.

West Deptford has been one of the most accomplished programs in South Jersey over the last 10 or 15 years. The Eagles don't sneak up on anybody. They've won too many games, too many Colonial Conference titles, and too many sectional titles to be anybody's idea of a surprise team. But this season was a little different. Until the South Jersey Group 2 title game, that is. After losing to rival Haddonfield by 31-21 on Sept. 30, the Eagles dropped out of the conversation with regard to the best teams in South Jersey.

Quiet, please. That's a strange thing for a football team to say, since the best of them tend to make a lot of noise with big plays and hard hits and the persistent hum of excitement. But Camden Catholic is trying to walk softly, even as the Irish leave battered opponents in their wake. "We like that we're the sleeper team," Camden Catholic senior running back Mike Blandon said. "I hope teams are still sleeping on us. " Too late. The Irish can try to soft-pedal their early success and avoid the loud buzz of anticipation and excitement that surrounded - and in some ways, undermined - recent Camden Catholic teams.

Lee Davenport, 95, a physicist who developed a radar device that helped U.S. and allied troops win key battles in World War II, died Friday of cancer in Greenwich, Conn. Dr. Davenport was among hundreds of scientists who worked at the secret Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radiation Laboratory, even before America joined the war in 1941, to develop radar systems that would give the U.S. military an edge. He was credited with developing the SCR-584 - the letters standing for Signal Corps Radio - a microwave radar built into a semitrailer with a parabola on top that tracked enemy planes and helped to direct antiaircraft batteries.