Page 22

Hie Herald and The Lantern

Wednesday. January 30.1980

editorial] Fueling Gov’t America's energy needs have come about at a tirqe when there is also an increasing need for « renewed realization that we are a government of, by. and for the people. And the beauty of this remarkable coincidence is that thi' former can. to an important extent, be fulfilled by practicing the latter It is obvious that both the individual homeowner and Ideal institution (such as schools, churches, businesses and governments could lessen the energy needs of the area by utilizing energy from the sun and. to a lesser extent, the wind which are so plentiful

here

Perhaps not us obvious is that gasohol and alcohol, especially the latter, are within the purview of the relatively small-scale user. Here on the Jersey Cape, for example, many of our fanners and especially county government would seem “naturals" to establish distilleries for the production of alcohol from biomas (which includes diseased crops and other waste plant substances as well as corn and grain grown specifically for the process). In fact, this nation’s commitment (as targeted by the federal Department of Energy) of producing 500 million gallons of alcohol for fuel by the end of 1980 is based upon projections that both small- and large-scale production will come into being this year. It may be too late for farmers and county government on the Cape to be part of this halfbillion gallon target for this year. But with the, fax inrenfives and government funding available - to say nothing of the existing need, there seems to be little reason why some of both “in" and “out" of government cannot help in becoming less dependent upon nonrenewable fossil fuels through the small-scale production of renewable fuel for our own use.

What’s YOUR Opinion?

The Cape May Counts' Herald welcomes and encourages you to share your considered opinion with our fellow citizens of this coYnmunity, county, state, nation and world Letters to the Editor, which are subject to editing, ihould he legible, double spaced, concise and fair. Your name may be withheld at‘your request For verification, your name, address and phone number are necessary along with your signature. .0^ Make your opinion fenown by writing: letters to the Kditor The County Herald P.O.B. O. Avalon. NJ 0H2O2

’Mr t«rvln« Cap* May County r.O.K»< Av«lm, NJ. MM1 Wioiw M7-3J1] Puhl!»>.•. |,OTY W.An..«.y (y lb. <**wv* Corporation John H. Andrus II idltor William J. Adams .... Advertising Director •Ml Stwrman Jport, ldMor •°V^Tyl« Milling Columnist J. A. Cunningham Faatura Wrltar Oiaryl Cram Faatura Wrltar •atcr Dunna Columnlit Oiarlai P. la may Columnlit Cheryl Crews Graphics Contributor Oall Carina Advertising Graphics Darrell Mopp... ..Publisher DtADiIMM N*wt A Photo* ti 1__. Adv*rtl*Jnp Frl4oy - 3 p.m. CI*Mift*d Advortlslng MonAoy ■ Moon Maltfca# pTtlriptHsg aTvartlaar. n*r tKa rs^llsfcars at Ms* Mrs AID will Wu 'aapanllblo or liable Far mlilnFgriaigll*.i. wls*rlats. typagraphlral avrwrt atl . In any leeua TVs edlle. reaerves Ms* right •• adll mmy latter *r art lr lea wtbn.lt I ad Far pahllantlan

FIRST CALL FWWHELP

729-2255 Kinit Call For Help is

interested in getting you the help you need when you have a social service problem which you can't solve The service is confidential and free It isn’t an emergency hotline

for fire, police or rescue If you have a question for the First Call for Help column, write to: David Quinlan. First Call For Help. Social Services Bldg.. Rio Grande, N.J. 08242 or call 729-2255. Q. I am a senior citizen and would like to know about the Lifeline Program and how I can apply for It? A. The Lifeline Program

is designed to give senior ^citizens over 65 and disabled persons on Supplemental Security Income (S.S.I.), $100 in utility relief on their gas or electric bills. It doesn't apply to heating oil bills — only utilities. To apply, you must first make application for a Pharmaceutical Assistance card (discount on prescriptions), then you will be eligible to apply for Lifeline credit. That way you will get a discount on prescriptions and get- a onetime help with utilities. For further information and applications, call the Cape May County Office on Aging. 886-2784 Q. I am having a problem with my 15-year old son. He wants to quit school and will not talk to me or his father. We know he is troubled. How can we help him? A. Before your son's problem gets beyond where you can handle it. call Mental Health Services at 729-3900. Counselors will talk to your son to open up his problem and help him to solve it.

Q. I want to donate my body to science, Who can I contact? A. There are two places in a 100-mile radius of Cape May County. The first, located in New Jersey is the American College of Medicine and Dentistry at 456-4648. The second, located in Philadelphia, is Humanity Gifts Registry at (215)922-4440. Q. My mother recently came out of the hospital and lives alone. Is there any service in the county which can come into her home and care for her during the day until she gets back on her feet? A. Jersey Cape Visiting Homemakers helps plan meals, aids in personal care, prepares food, shops and does light housecleaning for diabled or ill persons. < This will make your mother's hospital discharge easier and get her well quicker. Call 886-8988 for further information. The Social Service Unit of the Welfare Board also provides this type of service; for information, call 729-9200.

People don’t mind if you betray humanity, but if you betray your club, you are considered a renegade. -Arthur Koestler

Wildlife Had Some ‘Wild’ Times In 1979

WASHINGTON. D^When President Carter beat off an attack by a "killer rabbit" with a canoe paddle last April, he put wildlife on page one of the nation’s newspapers But the President's tilt with an aggressive, aquatic cottontail may not have been the most bizarre incident involving humans and wildlife 'last year, according to the National Wildlife Federation. 1979 was a wild year for wildlife, the citizens conservation group found in its annual survey of such happenings - a year in which the human and animal kingdoms traded insults, and also exchanged a few favors. Human vandals assaulted w’ildlife, for instance by draining or cutting off the water supply at two fish hatcheries — killing 450.000 trout and salmon near Rochester. N Y. and 25,000 brown trout at Leetown, W. Va. A school of fish in Lake Huron struck back by clogging a water intake for an Ontario Hydro nuclear reactor, thus shutting down the Canadian power plant for 40 hours. A Washington, DC., physician beat a Canada goose to death with a golf club, allegedly after the bird’s honking interfered with his putting. But other doctors made up for this lapse by rendering services to wildlife beyond the call

of duty.

. Soviet ’surgeons performed a successful cataract operation by

inserting an artificial lens in the eye of a seal. When the operation was over the seal performed several tricks for the doctors. Another Russian surgeon, aboard a fishing trawler, successfully treated the wounds of a dolphin that had been attacked by a blue shark, then released the happy marine mam-

mal.

For a black-crested night heron whose lower beak had snapped in two. a San Francisco dentist constructed a new beak out of the same pink acrylic that he uses for human dentures. He attached it with tiny wires in a six-hour operation and the heron is again spearing fish. It was a year in which man discovered new ways to put wild critters to work, the NWF survey found. The West German city of Goppingen put some electricity-emitting goldfish into its municipal water supply to monitor its purity If the water becomes polluted, the six Gnathonemus fish generate less current than usual, which sets off an alarm at the waterworks' headquarters. In New York City the Museum of Natural History employed thousands of tiny dermestid beetles to dislodge matter from the bodies of tiny mammals without disturbing their delicate skeletal structures. And in Kailua, Hawaii, the Coast Guard revealed that it is now . training eagle-eyed pigeons to search for people lost at sea.

It was again a newsy year for snakes. In Ix>s Angels, a man opened his door to a stranger who flashed a knife and a snake and threatened to turn the reptile loose. The thief escaped in the victim's car with $400 in cash and jewelry. Italian customs agents seized a boa named Pedro that an American fighter wore into a boxing ring to psych his opponent Australian customs officers frisked a nervy traveler from Bali and impounded five pythons that he tried to smuggle into their country in his underpants and in pouches strapped to his legs. It was also a busy year for bees. An estimated 9 million of them swarmed in on Flintstone. Md., after the tractor-trailer in which they were riding overturned. Another swarm of bees attacked hundreds of school girls at a track meet in Vereeniging, South Africa. The bees were apparently attracted by the girls' hairspray. It was a year in which man devised some new institutions for animals, the NWF survey revealed. Bird lovers in the East German village of Loburg opened a hospital for storks, a threatened species in that country. In Sri Lanka, an orphanage was established for young elephants separated from their parents. In Newport, Cal., a turtle named "No. 6” won a turtle race and then showed how he felt about one of man’s institutions, the racing

the SOVEREIGN STATE of AFFAIRS

game, by latching onto the upper lip of his trainer, who sought to give him a congratulatory kiss. It took a dose of valium to unfasten his grip. A couple of wildlife records were set. In the annual Mayor's Frog Hop in Baltimore, an entry named Cindy jumped to a height of 3 feet 9 inches, outdistancing one Lightfoot Louie. In San Antonio, a male whooping crane named Crip died at 33 — a record for that rare bird in captivity. And Andre, the friendly 220 pound seal who swims each year from his winter home in a Boston aquarium to his summer home at Rockport. Me., set a new record for the 160-mile course — 65 hours. Not breathtaking, to be sure, but 17 hours faster than last year’s time. BOYD

BECAUSC THE AYATCXIAH DIDN T LIKE THE WAY THEY REPORTED THE NEWS