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The Herald And Hie Lanti

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Thursday, May 31,1978

Letters To The Editor Wants LEAA Abolished

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Marathon Assembly Sessions

Mean Inferior Laws

Dear Editor, I subscribe to the viewpoint examined in a recent John Birch Society publication and would appreciate your reprinting this opinion in you newspaper. The article

reads:

by John F. McManus

Question: What does an apostle of big government do when one of his favorite agencies cohies under attack, when critics demonstrate that his pet project is dangerous, ex- • pensive, and unwanted? Answer: He proposes a "reorganization.” ft should come as no surprise, therefore, to learn that Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Representative Peter W. Rodino Jr.*(D-N.J.) have offered s.241 and H R. 2061 to reorganize the embattled Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA). The bills, widely recognized as the Carter Administration's proposal in each case, call for another $825 million for LEAA. They also call for the creation of two new agencies—the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. These two groups, algng with the LEAA, are then to be combined under an entirely new umbrella agency called the Office of Justice Assistance. Research and StatisUcs (OJARS). It all

BELMONT.

MASSACHUSETTS

adds up to a bureaucratic dream, more usurpation of power by the federal government, and a continued drain on the American taxpayer. Expensive Boondoggles Since its inception in 1968, the LEAA has spent over $6 billion of the taxpayers’ money. Samples of its appropriations include: + $650,000 to study why people move more frequently from high-crime neighborhoods. ■f $292,700 to assess the possible need for a looseleaf encyclopedia on law enforce ment. 4- $350,000 to develop a special wristwatch that is supposed to be able to monitor the degree of stress experienced by police officers on active

duty.

+ $650,000 to study whitecollar crime; $299,531 for a guidebook to train police officers to appreciate the needs of the elderly; and $236,731 la study how to organize inmates in jails. Police Times, commenting on these three grants, said that there was little need to study white-collar crime, but a great need to prosecute it; that the elderly needed more police protection, not a guidebook; and, that little would be gained from another federal study of inmate organization. Dangerous Control While it is true that LEAA has also siqiplied funds for equiping and

training police personnel, the cost of this aspect of the agency's activity cannot be measured in dollars. What the federal government subsidizes it means to control. Because of LEAA funding, police chiefs and local governments from coast to coast have found that Washington is beginning to take bver. LEAA forced Rockford, Illinois, to eliminate height requirements for police applicants; Cedar Rapits, Iowa, was told to recruit "minority” candidates from outside the city; and, in Los Angeles a few years feign, the Chief of Police sa id •if LEAA: "For one percent of your budget, and run your organization. LEAA should be abolished." We cannot strees too heavily that tyranny is impossible without centrally controlled police, and that centrally controlled police power always leads to tyranny: There is not now, and never has been, any justiffc^on for federal subsidizaijrti of local police forces. Make no mistake about it, LEAA partisans seek control over the nation's police. The proper response to LEAA is not to reorganize it, or to put a watchdog over it, or even to reduce its funding capability. LEAA should be abolished. 1979 The John Birch Society Features Robert H. Barron

Avalon

Sign Reform Wanted

To the Editor: For The record, I intend to propose two ordinances to the Avalon Planning Board. The public is usually uninformed about such matters and I feel this is unfortunate. While I am mainly

This year*, more than ever, action must be taken to make bicycle riding safer for the public. With the public's awareness of the need for exercise and the energy shbrtage, there will be more bikes on the roads. and unless something is done-more injuries and deaths. TKfere should be no need to caution automobile drivers to watch for bikers. They will be the ones penalized in the event of an accident. Still, many drivers do not take the kind of care they should when they share the roads with bicycles. Unfortunately, much of the danger comes from the actions of those riding bikes, either through ignorance or carelessness. Many of us, as automobile drivers, have had near accidents caused by bike riders ignoring common safety rules. BICYCLE? MUST FOLLOW THE SAME TRAFFICHEGULATIONS AS ANY OTHER VEHICLE! This means stopping for traffic lights and stop signs, using hand signals, driving on the right had

concerned about making Avalon's business area more attractive, many people have expressed their disguest with the thousands of real estate signs scattered throughout Avalon. Just about everyone, including the realtors, feels the signs are

side of the road; having lights and reflectors at night: riding single file. Parents should make sure their children understand these rules and adhere to them. But it is not only children who are at fault. Many adults drive bikes more carelessly than they do their cars. Police should stop and warn bikers who are breaking these laws. Rental services should make sure those who rent bikes know the rules. It is only in America that there seems to be a difficulty in combining bicycle and automobile traffic. In many countries in the world, bikes are a common form of transportation, and safely and efficiently ridden even in city traffic. We are so accustomed to thinking of bicycles as only a recreational device that we often forget its impact on busy roads. It would be a shame if bikes and riders are forced to be licensed to ensure that rules are upheld. That may come if we as individuals do not demonstrate more responsibility. J.A. Cunningham

an eyesore. The problem is worsened when one property has four or five signs (which is illegal - zoning ordinance 614,27-7-1). The problem is the ordinance is weak and somewhat vague on this matter and enforcing is difficult because every realtor wants his sign to stay. The Multiple Listing Service sign isn't popular with realtors because of sign costs and membership problems I feel whether the limit is one or two signs (preferably one) the owner should decide who advertises on his property, and that is that. A new ordinance should define this clearly as law and settle the problem which has been allowed to linger for too long. While it can be argued that the "Sale” or “rent” signs serve to aid the buyer and "advertise” the latest listing, the "sold" signs serve no useful purpose and ousts only as excess adverasing. These signs are an insult to Avalon's attractive residential areas and the homeowners who try to keep them that way If an ordinance banned "sold" signs in particular, the overall problem would be lessened There is strong support for solving the real estate sign problem yet legislators have been dragging their feet on the matter. The Planning Board should take decisive action on the issue and inact stronger ordinances. They are long overdue. Charles Ballinger Avalon

Bicycles - A Safety Hazard

Capital Comments •>y Assembly Minority Leader James R. Hurley The General Assembly stands in recess with the next session two weeks off and an exceptionally heavy workload of important and controversial legislation awaiting its return on June 14. It is a virtual impossibility that the Assembly will be able to deal with all the pressing issues which face it in a single session, even though the June 14 meeting was originally scheduled to be the final one until sometime this Fall. As a result, the prospect of a marathon get-away session looms large, inded, even though most would agree that acting on farreaching legislation such as that which faces us now is less than desireable under such circumstances. These 15-hour—and longer—sessions have become much too common in recent years and, despite the grumbling and complaints about them, they seem to occur year after year. Even a partial listing of the issues with which the Assembly must grapple reveals the extent of the problem: An extensive package of bills aimed at reform of the state's "no-fault" automobile insurance system. A major and very controversial proposal to halt all construction in New Jersey's Pinelands. A great many amendments and revisions to the new criminal code Amendments to the state's casino gambling law, including one to double the state tax rate on casino profits. The question of jegalizing gambling on jai alai in Jersey City, Camden and Long Branch. A state assumption of the state’s financially-troubled private bus lines. Broad reform of the Civil Service system. Granting permanent status to the State Commission of Investigation. Any one of these issues—and it is but a partial listing— has the potential for protracted, if not bitter, debate. Conduction that debate in the kind of atmosphere which normally surrounds marathon get-away sessions is almost certain to lead to errors and decisions made on, perhaps, less than sufficient information. From personal experience, I can relate incident after incident in which complicated amendatory language was approved, written onto pending legislation, and only later it was discovered that it called for something which was either misunderstood by many legislators or not understood at all. Reasoned debate is not prevalent at 9 a.m. after members have been in session for 12 hours or more, many without taking breaks for lunch or dinner. What is all the more disturbing about the prospect of a marathon session is the fact that it

could have been—and should have been avoided. Many of the problems we face are certainly not new ones; the auto insurance crisis, for instance, has

been with us for several years, while the scandals in the state's $60 million per year bus subsidy program have been common knowledge for almost as long.

Fox Wants Justice Reform

COURT HOUSE - In a blistering attack on juvenile delinquency. Cape May county Sheriff Beech N. Fox called on Federal and State Legislators to recognize the problem of juvenile crime and the lack of punishment that relates to it. He said legislators would have to discontinue the habit of burying their heads in the sand a the very mention of these insidious attacks upon the general public. He also pointed out aht 55 percent of the violent

crimes committed in this country are by juveniles who. because of their age, are first slapped on the wrist and then released to continue their careers of crime and vengeance. Hie Sheriff said that law enforcement agencies are at a standstill because the courts and legislators unwittingly side with the juvenile offenders. "It’s ironic Fox noted, "police do everything in their power to arrest the juvenile offender and then the courts let them go with minimal punishment. We are coming to the time when these youthful criminals can do anything they want to and know they . can get away with it." The major blame for the rise in juvenile delinquency is the courts. Fox said. He cited the many times judges let juveniles off with very little punishment. "These judges interpret the law the way they want to They look on these of fenders as little children and treat them accordingly. But these socalled children can murder, rob and pillage . They commit some of the deadliest crimes known to society and then get away almost scot-free". Fox

explained.

The Sheriff also pointed out that law enforcement agencies can arrest juveniles but the courts have the final say in regards to punishment. "It’s like a revolving door," Fox noted, "we arrest them and the courts send them back to Repeat thecrime.” But Fox also said that Federal and State legislators had to bear some of the blame. "There has been a complete failure by Federal and State legislators to recognize the problem and take action”. Fox explained. "The legislators have allowed the courts to take over and as a result we have the process of rehabilitation instead of punishment. What is currently needed is a complete overhaul of the criminal justice system as it relates to juveniles and juvenile delenquency. Until this is dohe, the entire juvenile legal system is in jeopardy and law-abiding citizens have to bear the consequences because legislators do not want to face their responsibilities. "Just look at the vandalism- in this country today”. Fox commented. "Millions of dollars are lost every year in property damage, and when juveniles are caught, the courts won’t even let us make them pay of the damage. Senior citizens live in constant fear of personal and property damage, but when we catch the juvenile offenders, the courts send them home to be rehabilitated. These kids are street wise and just laugh at us anymore.” Sheriff Fox noted the high increase in juvenile crimes and said we could expect future increases.