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THUBSPAY, APRIL 12,1979

Protecting Jersey’s Farmland

By U.S.Senator Harrison A. Williams If present trends continue. New Jersey may have to find another nickname by the turn of the century because the description “Garden £tate" may no longer be appropriate Today. New Jersey is one of the nation's leading producers of a number of crops, including cranberries. tomatoes, spinach, peaches, asparagus and blueberries. The state clearly makes a substantial contribution to our country's food supply, and its farms provide a nearby source of fresh food for two of the largest metropolitan areas in the nation. But New Jersey, as other states, faces a critical problem. Developers have applied increasing pressure on farmers to sell their choice land for residential and commercial use In the 1960’s such pressures were responsible for the loss of three farms a day. Nationwide the conversion of farmland has reached alarming proportions. Between 1967 and 1975. 23 million acres were converted to other uses, and another two to three million acres more are lost each year. Air and water pollution, too. take their toll on farm productivity and push us closer and closer to the day when there could be an

actual shortage of good, usable agricultural land, rtot only in New Jersey, but across the country . We have very little time left to begin protective measures for our cropland, and must act quickly or stand the risk of losing it altogether. That is why I have joined a coalition of Senators in introducing legislation which would develop new methods of protecting the nation’s dwindling farmlands. The bill would, for the first time, establish a /national ~ policy for promoting the retention of agricultural land. It would require all Federal agencies to consider the effects of their actions on agricultural land and to make sure that their activities are consistent with state and local farmland protection programs. The legislation would also make federal funds available, in the form of matching grants to states and local governments over a three year period, for demonstration programs to test methods of preventing the conversion of farmland to other use. This bill does not put the federal government in the business of buying land or trying to manage local development. It simply provides a helping hand to states such as New Jersey which are struggling with the difficult problem of encroaching development.

Hughes Calls For

Accident Investigation

Washington, D.C. — Congressman Bill Hughes (D-NJ) has asked President Carter to establish an independent blue ribbon commission to investigate the nuclear accident at the Three-Mile Island nuclear power plant. Hughes, whose South Jersey Congressional District includes 6 operating or planned nuclear power {P\mts, said that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has lost much of its credibility as an objective decision-maker. "The reasons for the accident, both in terms of mechanical failure and the possibility of human error.

must be the subject of an extensive and thorough investigation," Hughes said. "Moreover, such an investigation must be conducted by an independent blue ribbon commission, and not by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission which has often shown itself to be a captive of the industry it is supposed to be regulating. "After having received so many assurances so often on the safety of nuclear power from both government and industp', we must now determine which of those assurances were erroneous, and why." Hughes continued.

We must begin now to gather the information and expertise to protect the future of agriculture in our state, and the bill will provide the federal assistance we need to develop an appropriate long-tcrnvsUatogy. Hurley Wants Drugs For Needy MILLVILLE Assembly Minority Leader . James R. Hurley has reiterated his support for current legislation which would extend benefits of New Jersey's Pharmaceutical Assistance Program to the disabled, "many of whom are suffering a crushing financial burden imposed by the high cost of maintenance drugs. "My office receives calls everyday from the disabled, some who tell in great detail the amount of money they have to expend for drugs. Many are living on the verge of poverty and the cost of needed medication throws them even lower on the economic

ladder."

The Assemblyman proposed further that the additional $11 million required to extend the program come from anticipated revenues from the tax on casino gambling operations. Under the terms of the proposed legislation, the same provisions and income eligibility limits now in effect for participating senior citizens will be used to determine eligibility for disabled individuals. "Individuals receiving disability assistance under the Social Security Act would be eligible provided annual income did not exceed $9,000," Hurley said, “or $12,000 in the case of a married couple.” Under the provisions of the Pharmaceutical Assistance Act, the participating individual pays $2 per prescription, the remainder of the cost being met by the state. Rollback Hurting Students Assemblyman Joseph W. Chinnici (R-Cumberland-Cape May)? a member of the Joint Committee on Appropriations. has charged that the refusal of the Democrat majority on the committee to rollback the proposed State University and state college tuition increases "is a slap in the face to every state college student and their parents." Chinnici expressed disappointment over the failure of a resolution, presented by Republican members of the committee, to eliminate the proposed tuition increases altogether. The decision to cut the increase by 50 percent "represents a timid halfway response which will throw an additional financial burden on many thousands of young persons and their parents." Chinnici said.

Letters To The Editor Industrial Safety A Must

To the Editor: It is hoped that nuclear experts will be successful in producing industrial energy with good safety controls. Enthusiasm to succeed in this must be subordinated to every safety precaution - even though gas, electricity etc. have never been completely accident-proof. Tlie tragedy in Orange in the 1920’s should be remembered as it actually happened. Girls employed to paint the hands and figures on clock faces with radium were recklessly exposed. Their supervisor, under the company’s instruction, taught the girls to point the brush with their mouth. Soon a girl became ill. When radio-active poisoning was diagnosed the factory (as they do) immediately went into bankruptcy, thus avoiding

lawsuits.

None of the girls were well off. They visited each other in tender sympathy, while knowing that the same burning torture was awaiting them, each one. One by one they sickened, suffered and died. The Newark Evening News periodically carried the story each time of another victim of that radio-active poison. I remember the phone call from a personal C of C Nixes Salt Water Licenses The Cape May County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors at their March meeting has renewed its stand opposing a "salt water fisfiing license.” Chamber directors were unanimous in their opposition to the proposal by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Fish. Game and Shellfisheries to sell the legislature and people of New Jersey on the need for a salt water fishing license in New Jersey. Chamber Directors also took a stand opposing the proposed resolution by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to require the payment of prevailing wages (union rates) on any projects financed through the Authority. Letters of opposition have been sent to County find State officials and legislators as well as Authority members.

friend when the last one succomed. This friend had worked for the same Armacost Is Experienced To the Editor: On May 8 Avalon voters should remember Mayor Ellsworth Armacost’s 12 years of dedicated service, to the borough. He has always been willing to listen to the problems of the people and has done his best to help solve them. No one can deny his wholehearted devotion to Avalon. From early in the morning, his days are spent working for our town’s good. Mayor Armacost’s experience and knowledge about past and current details of government will be of great help to the five new council members. It should make the transition from one form of government to a different one more orderly and efficient if at least one member who is well informed about the workings of Avalon government is elected. Sam Ascolese

Avalon

368-2111 IS EMERGENCY NUMBER The Stone Harbor Rescue Squad reminds residents faced with an emA-gency to call telephone number 3682111. DO NOT attempt to contact any individual member of the rescue squad. In so doing, valuable time is lost. Remember, for emergencies, dial 3682111.

company, in a different capacity. No recompense of any kind was ever received by those girls. I don't know if they received Workmens’ Compensation. A few years before, a workman installing boilers in a building being constructed by another company, was killed by a beam dropped, crushed his skull. The company responsible immediately went into bankruptcy, and the man’s widow received nothing, not even Workmen's Compensation. The law was improved after workmen demonstrated. This letter was inspired by seeing over TV a misrepresentation of the Orange tragedy. On Friday, March 23, a reporter stood in front of that Orange building and related (in a close-up, demonstrating with his finger) that girls employed there had put their finger in the radium paint and put it in their mouths, "And of course,” he smiled scornfully,"they all died.” H.Dubuar Villas (formerly of E. Orange)

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