Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 1

r'T ASBURY 5 PARK Allergic 3 canines Dogs can scratch themselves into a frenzy. But there are ways to help CRITTERSB16 AAllklTil EDITION CHtt Fusaichi Pegasus won't be handed the Triple Crown. Dl 0 Alonzo Mourning, Heat beat Knicks 87-83 in Game 1. Dl yi. 1 JJI Mariano Rivera blows save as Yanks lose to Orioles.

Dl mm i 'Is t. i ---fiiTii HUnmmitMtmm si.1 QHIJD ft "i 1 Record heat may usher in hot summer WT" Grace Petersen (left), 13,. splashes her friend Tess Fernan- dez, 14, during a chilly dip in the ocean at 1 Belmar. r. I i 5 i ti.Lr-'-i'iiii iim i mi lMi' -Vmihhiiw TANYA BREENStaff Photographer "If you can believe it, I've got a guy on the other line who wants to buy three of them," said a harried Bill Thornberry, owner of Thornberry's appliance store on Route 35, Middle-town.

"When you get an early shot of heat like this, people usually don't come out the way they have today. Last year's heat wave is definitely a factor." And some extended forecasts suggest there could be more of the same this summer. "The long-range outlook from May to July is warmer-than-normal, and that spells 'heat said Anthony See Record, Page A4 By PETER EICHENBAUM and COLLEEN PLATT STAFF WRITERS FORGET SPRING. Summer has sprung. Regional weather records that had stood for 51 years toppled yesterday as temperatures soared into the 90s, just a week after a light frost appeared in some parts of the state and less than a month since the last snow.

People remember the discomfort they felt during a heat wave last year, when 100-degree temperatures blanketed the Northeast for three straight days in early July. The run on air conditioners has begun. tfr4, 1 Bob Benedickson, with his flamingo and newly painted house, says he might tear down the home and start from scratch. Couple seeing red, so others see pink DARYL STONEStaff Photographer N.J. honors its slain Vietnam veterans on Remembrance Day Lottery jackpot Wtll'a HIM II 't jW "II 't may top 1 ii them add to their 48-year-old home, they may just bulldoze it and start over on the same lot.

The couple needed a variance from the board to build the addition because it would have made the house 160 square feet larger than allowed in their residential zone. "This is our battle cry," said Bob Benedickson, who also planted pink flamingo lawn ornaments on his front yard. "This is our protest against people who are telling us what we can do to our own house with our own money." See Pink house, Page A7 By JULIET GREER STAFF WRITER FAIR HAVEN Denise and Bob Benedickson, denied permission to add on to their house, have declared war and are fighting it with brushes and hot pink paint. Angered by the Zoning Board of Adjustment's 4-to-3 decision not to let them build an addition, the Benedicksons painted their white, $379,000 house on Holly Lane that color yesterday to protest the board's final decision, made Thursday. Bob Benedickson said that because the board did not let $300M THE ASSOCIATED PRESS i 4 r-m 1 I 'V Joan Rivers' edgy humor comes with a message 0J i DARYL STONEStaff Photographer By WILFORD S.

HAMLIN TOMS RIVER BUREAU LAKEWOOD Comedian Joan Rivers, drawing on experiences including her husband's suicide and the resulting estrangement from her daughter, last night told nearly 800 people they can find the strength they need from God and themselves to triumph over grief and pain. Rivers was the guest speaker at the 15th annual Hilda Lubcher Memorial Lecture, hosted by Congregation B'nai Israel. The program helps raise money for scholarships to Solomon Schechter Academy of Ocean and Monmouth Counties, a conservative Jewish school in Howell. Rivers' 50-minute speech featured racy jokes colored with expletives. She cracked jokes about growing old, fak- TANYA BREENStaff Photographer "Life never stays black," says Joan Rivers.

Helene Reinhardt, Short Hills, pauses at the name of her son, James Hanlon, on the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. Saluting the lalem Pbhi a i. a i i ii I I lanuMin ing orgasms and living together. She also took digs at pop singer Michael Jackson and actor Hugh Grant. But she also tackled serious matters, telling her listeners that they should give See Rivers, PageA4 ATLANTA Big Game lottery officials will decide today whether to increase the record-setting $300 million jackpot.

Officials from the seven states that sell tickets will meet by teleconference this morning to decide whether weekend sales have driven the $300 million jackpot even higher for tomorrow night's drawing. They'll meet again tomorrow morning to set the final amount. The jackpot is the biggest in the nation's history. The previous record of $295.7 million was set in 1998, in a Powerball lottery game won by 13 machinists from Westerville, Ohio. The frantic pace of ticket sales leading up to Friday's drawing increased the jackpot to $250 million from $230 million hours before the numbers were drawn.

"I think we're going to see the same thing people will be pooling their money," said Virginia Haines, New Jersey Lottery executive director. New Jersey led the states with ticket sales of nearly $34 million. Georgia had $21.5 million. Total sales from Tuesday's drawing to Friday night exceeded $122 million. The game also is played in Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan and Virginia.

Haines attributed record New Jersey sales to large volumes of ticket buyers from New York and Pennsylvania, which lack a multistate lottery. With the number of people playing, lottery officials are predicting multiple winners. "I don't think one person is going to win it," said Penelope W. Kyle, executive director of the Virginia Lottery. "We have so many people playing across the country (that) when we have a winner, it seems logical to me that there might be 10 people across America that have the same six digits." 5" (SI Actor dies Douglas Fairbanks actor, producer and author, died yesterday.

He was 90. By ROYA RAFEI MIDDLETOWN BUREAU HOLMDEL Bernard Barrios had flat feet, but he finally persuaded the Army to let him in. Of Cuban descent, he thought the United States someday would overturn the Castro regime and wanted to be part of that mission, but he first had to serve in Vietnam where he died April 6, 1966. Master Sgt. Charles E.

Hosking Jr. survived World War II and volunteered to serve in Vietnam. He died there March 21, 1967, at age 42 while wrestling with a grenade-bearing enemy, whose body he covered with his own until the grenade detonated. For saving his comrades, he received the Medal of Honor posthumously. Army Pfc.

Wayne Grant would have turned 54 yesterday. But he didn't live long enough to celebrate his 22nd birthday. He died during combat 15 miles north of Saigon on Oct. 26, 1967. Barrios, Hosking and Grant are among 1,556 New Jerseyans who died during the war or are missing in action; their names are listed on the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial.

The fallen were honored yesterday during the state's annual Remembrance Day ceremony, which also came on the 25th anniversary of the end of the war. The memorial includes 366 black granite slabs, each representing a day of the year with the names of the fallen. The arts Church turns vacation Into drama. LEARNING CURVEC12 Partly cloudy Warm. High 83.

WEATHERA2 Bridge B5 Lotteries A2 Business CI Movies B4 Classified B6 Money Comics C1 1 Obituaries A8 Datebook D9 Panorama B4 DearAbby B5 Puzzles CH Editorials AIO Sports D1 Horoscope B5 Television B5 Legal Notices CIO Read Press stones on the internet wwwJnjersey.comapp DARYL STONEStaff Photographer OBITUARIESA8 At left, Phil Bianco of Manchester (facing camera) hugs fellow Vietnam veteran J.J. Johnson of Monroe. At right, Jessica Grant (left), 6, and her sister Cheyenne, 7, of Sayreville, look at a photograph of their uncle, Pfc. Wayne Grant, who died in combat in 1967. Church project Red Bank application hearing continued until June.

COUNTYB1 00129 oo There was the story of Charles C. As-selta of Vineland. He was shipped out the day after Christmas in 1967. For the next few months, he wrote letters to the family talking about his fears, his See Vietnam, Page A4 An estimated 3.1 million Americans served in Vietnam from 1960 to 1975; Of those, some 80,000 were from New Jersey. In all, 58,000 were killed or became missing in action.

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