FREEHOLD, NJ -  Author Muriel J. Smith has just released a new book, "The Reporter and the Draft," detailing the activities of a New Jersey draft board during World War II.

The former Highlands resident released a book last year, "I Know How to Grieve, I Want to Learn How to Laugh," following the death of her husband of 51 years, James E. Smith, Jr. Her first book, "The NJ Alliance for Action: 25 Years of Excellence," was written in 1995 and is a hard cover book tracing the history of the Alliance for  the first 25 years after it was instituted by a confluence of legislators, blue collar workers and management.

The latest book, which is available at Bayshore Pharmacy and The Book Compound in Atlantic Highlands, details the events of Draft Board #2 in Union County during World War II.  It concentrates on Vincent de Paul Slavin, the board's chairman for most of that time. Slavin is the author's father.

"I was  nine years old when my father died shortly after the end of the war," Smith said, "and I did not know a lot of the details of all he had done. When I finally researched the stories my mother had always told us about his strength, wisdom and energy, I realized I had the makings for an exciting book."

The story recounts Slavin's  actions as draft board chairman as well as some of the stories he wrote while also a reporter for the Newark Evening News, at the time, New Jersey's leading newspaper. Slavin was a police reporter for the News, and covered such major events as the Hindenberg explosion in 1937, the Lindbergh baby kidnapping in 1932, and the murder of Dutch Schultz, the Newark mobster who was slain in a Newark tavern.

The book goes into detail about Slavin's actions in defying the President of the United States and draft laws. A family man and the father of four children, two of them teenage boys, he refused to draft married men with children while single men were being deferred as essential to their jobs. His battles ultimately led to a change in the draft policy for the rest of the war. 

Many of the names identified in the book are former Union County residents who came under Draft Board #2, which was located on Morris Avenue at Union Center. It tells the story of police and firemen who were deferred because of their work, and Slavin's reactions to the deferments. It follows him to New Hampshire where he visited a camp for conscientious objectors. While the chairman valued the men who refused to carry weapons for  religious reasons, his newspaper instinct forced him to visit a camp to compare the type of life they were experiencing while others were on European and Asian battlefields.

Now living in Freehold and Crystal River, Fl., Smith is a former award winning  investigative reporter and newspaper editor. She has also written numerous articles for newspapers and magazines around the country when she and her husband motored throughout the United States in their RV.  Smith will also speak on the evolution of the draft in the United States at Brookdale Community College, during its Spring, 2009  series on World War II.

The book can also be ordered on line through her website, www. murieljsmith.com.