Page 38 Regional Approach To Utilities The Lower Township Planning Board's rejection of the City of Cape May’s request for permission to sink .a municipal well one block north of the canal in Cold Spring was a decision which will benefit all concerned. \ -v Testimony from the township's professional consultant during the lehgthy proceedings had suggested that the, city hasn’t properly managed its existing wells, aiid, furthermore, that drawing water so close to the canal could hasten the already existing problem of salt water intrusion faced by the city. In addition, there was the danger of the city well drawing off water from the acquifers which currently supply water for .shallower private wells in the immediate neighborhood. i

The Herald and The Lantern

Business Viewpoint

It Might be Better If

Wednesday, July 188*

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For Environment, Good Old Days Weren’t Always by R. LMlie Ctirismer When we praise "The good oid days," we are carefully selective, singling out the best and forgetUng the worst -r which is natural since the worst is embarrassing and makes us ashamed of our ancestors fog their part in it. - On page 3 of your July 16 issue are two contrasting stories which prove my point. One told of the day, at the turn of the century, when Stone Harbor had "40 foot dunes covered with bayberry bushes, groves of virgin cedar and salt marshes, along a beach that was 300 feet wide at low tides" - THAT WAS THE BEGINNING OF AN ERA which was going to be one of indubitable "progress." The other article related the commendable work of present Stone Harbor citizens in erecting wboddi fences to create artificial dunes in order to ameloriatelhe beach erosion which their predecessors made inevitable by destroying the natural ones. . Analogous stupidity took place in my native State of Pennsylvania a century and more ago when most of its giant hemlock trees were decimated by predatory interest for the tannic acid in their bark to use in the leather tanning industry.

CAPE MAY'S APPROACH TO ITS proposed new well seemed to follow a wait-till-the-last-minute scenario. By the testimony of its own experts, the city revealed that it had been under state direction to come up with a new well for a number of years; that it has been having problems with its existing water supply since the late 1950s.

To wait until the very last minute and come up with a plan to sink a new well the shortest feasible distance away from a well field that is already a problem is at the very best the shortest of short term solutions which would ulfimately prove more costly to the city in the longrun. WITH THE TOWNSHIP RAPIDLY GROWING in population and with the city facing a genuine water supply problem — there would seem to be an ideal opportunity for the two municipalities to get together to arrive at a mutually beneficial regional approach to future fresh water supplies. Studies have indicated that in the future, the northern part of the county will have to be the source of all well sites for the entire southern portion of the Jersey Cape, especially the resort islands. It would seem likely that in the not too distant future, the Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority will have to add fresh water supplies to its current wastewater treatment and solid waste disposal plans for the future of the Jersey Cape. CAPE MAY'S CURRENT NEED for a new fresh water source is but the latest instance of a municipal need which in the future will best be served on a regional basis. Cape May must fealize this. So, to a less urgent degree currently, must Lower Township. And the Wildwoods, etc. No longer will the least expensive, up-the-road solutions suffice when it comes to municipal needs for such services as water supply and waste disposal. That is a reality now. Not a future possibility

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Lawmakers Didn’t Gather As Often By Richard DeVo* & Jay VcnAndel It was in 1843 that Thomas Carlyle wrote, “A fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work; it is as just a demand as governed men ever made of governing. It is the everlasting right of man." Thirteen years later, in 1856, the Congress turned that thought around passing one of the few laws which are applicable to that body. It docked Senators and Congressmen who failed to deliver a day’s work for a day's wages. AN AMENDMENT TO A BILL raising congressional salaries, it reads, "The Secretary of the Senate and the Sergeant at Arms of the House respectively shall deduct from the monthly payment of each member or delegate the amount of his salary for each day that he has been absent from the Senate or House respectively ...” Illness of the legislator or a member of his family is an exception to the rule. The law is still on the books but has been "forgotten." The Foundation for the Study of Presidential and Congressional Terms recently released information showing that no such deductions have been made in years and that a whopping $1,679,854 could have been withheld from the paychecks of Senators and Congressmen absent a day or more during the First Session of 95th Congress. IN 1*14, THE HOUSE DECIDED it was too cumbersome to take attendance every day - and they have ignored the rule ever since. The Senate hasn’t said much of anything. But then, the Congress has exempted itself rom Social Security, OSHA, EEOC, etc.; so what’s one more rule.] Come tef think of it, this quote, attributed to, another leaderof that same mid-nineteenth century era goes, “No man’s liberty or property it safe while the legislature is In iwl—....** the question may come down to this, should the Congress be docked for showing up or staying away! Richard ~M7^DeVas and Jay Van Andel are the cofoundert of Am way.

CALL 3HEIP -2255

g 'd J°J*? •UUrt., zporwored by Lehigh conclusion that being 40 is ii n i ver8 ji v a

not a bad thinfi But - being

that I can take her for a

closer look at nature? A. I am happy to report

that there is a wonderful place to take children of any

age — the Wetlands

GO TO EAGLES MERE IN THE PENNSYLVANIA mountains and see some of the evidence: rotting stumps <5f entire forest cut down with consequent erosion and irreparable damage to stream, soil and habitat. The same thing happened in the Catskill Mountains, an area I have known and loved for a long lifetime. Almost all of its great hemlock trees were chopped down for industrial use — whole forests ruthlessly destroyed — some near the home of John Burroughs, our first great literary naturalist. John Burroughs has been dead for nearly 60 years and it comes as a shock — (although a pleasant one) to realize there are now far more trees in the area of his* favorite home in the Northwest Catskills than when he lived there several generations ago. More trees, more birds, more beauty! SO WHEN WE TALK ABOUT “The old days," we should also admit there were some bad ones and learn their lesson: not to repeat the ignorance ->f our ancestors in ruining our natural environment. Forthis is the only Earth we will ever have, and as Dr. Karl Menninger, our most distinguished psychiatrist, truly and devoutly says, it is intrinsically a holy one. It is up to us to make it and keep it so. R. Leslie Chrlsmer lives in Cape May. Resort-Type ‘Acid Rain’ Requires Attention Too By Gerrit J. W. Heyneker Dear Sir: 4 Many of us in Cape May County are bird lovers. So we feed them; in winter because they need our help, in summer because we enjoy their company. Particularly graceful, of coufSe, are the gulls; and their antics when food is being thrown to them amuse young and old. However, those who like to feed the gulls would do their neighbors — and themselves — a favor by restricting this activity to the beach or the bay, away from homes. Not only are gull droppings unsightly on homes and other property, but the acid in them can bum right through roof shingles or the vinyl tops and metal hoods of cars; to say nothing of what it can do to clothing out

to dry.

Mr. Heyneker is an Avalon resident.

not a bad thing. But - being fat A 44 is more than I can

living museum with live s horses, hermit crabs and

••Tftxh.wm. of which can be touched by the children, ^ey also have

Wrirt? witS'ctabi to microscopic displays of SSwav N horseshoe crab embryo, sorf 1 ^the^Vdlas 6™»mceans and sea horses, ku^n^X C,U Ann G ‘“ ,i

1-606-242-5866.

There is also a Tops Organisation, 522-0231; Overeaters Anonymous at the Church of the Advent, 612 Franklin St., Cape May. Call 609-428-7015 for further

details.

Q. I have a child 44 years

at 368-1211.

First Call for Help is Interested In getting you the help you need when you have a social service problem which you cannot solve. This Is not an emergency hotline for Fire, Police or Rescue. If you have a question for

old who is in love with the First Call For Help nature. She is fascinated by column, write to David G. all baby creatures and Quinlan,First Call For Help, particularly little fish. Social Services Building, Rio hermit crabs, and all forms Grande, New Jersey M242,

Til Tell You One Thing Reagan Mo* Going For Him.

tl- a. utl. ■ . ■ ■ - A 1 - 4- — rw* eromer no* ^ joo.

hermit crane, and all forms uranoe. now jersey SS24Z. —v