June 12, 1996

More cars were added yesterday to New Jersey Transit's new Midtown Direct service to Manhattan, but some passengers had to stand anyway, a spokeswoman for the agency said. The route attracted 4,217 riders during the morning rush, 60 more than on its debut Monday. An additional passenger coach was coupled to five trains, which run on the Morris and Essex line, and cars will also be added today to two trains on the Gladstone and Morristown branches, said the spokeswoman, Penny Bassett Hackett.

BEFORE she goes to work each night as a nurse's aide downtown, Elizabeth Rogers journeys to Ralph Bunche Park, where she sits with her back to the United Nations. Maybe it's a comment on what she feels the international community has done to her native land. Ms. Rogers is Liberian and has many relatives ensnared by the chaotic limbo of that nation's six-year civil war, where warlords enlist children to fight the battles of men. While the looting and shooting of recent months have died down, life is far from normal as refugee-laden ships search in vain for a haven in other African nations.

More cars were added yesterday to New Jersey Transit's new Midtown Direct service to Manhattan, but some passengers had to stand anyway, a spokeswoman for the agency said. The route attracted 4,217 riders during the morning rush, 60 more than on its debut Monday. An additional passenger coach was coupled to five trains, which run on the Morris and Essex line, and cars will also be added today to two trains on the Gladstone and Morristown branches, said the spokeswoman, Penny Bassett Hackett.

Making good on his promise to spend plenty of time campaigning in New Jersey, considered a swing state, Bob Dole will visit the state Saturday for the third time in a month. Mr. Dole, the likely Republican Presidential nominee, will appear at the annual $1,000-a-plate Governor's Gala at the New Jersey Convention Center, a spokesman for Gov. Christine Todd Whitman said yesterday.

In his long Senate career, Bob Dole came to know intimately the burdens of being a leader, a role that often found him balancing conflicting goals to achieve consensus and keep the Senate moving forward. His ability to listen and to ease tension with humor served him well. News analysis, page B8.