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Bewildered By Opinion Piece

cdnesday, February 18, 1981

Snow Fencing? On Speaking

Out For R ights Of The Innocent

by Gtrrii J.W. IlVyneker

The past year m so the Borough of^velon his been receiving favorable mention in the area press for its dune maintenance program, most recently in an informative article about dune conservation in The Herald of Feb. 4. Much of this praise may be deserved, but it is nonetheless disconcerting to find that agdin this winter nothing has been done for the incipient dunes from 9th to 18th Sts despite renewed promises by the council at a public borough meeting last Aug. 8 that srtow fencing would be placed along this particularly vunerable stretch: Continued failure to take appropiate action here . mocks the planting of dune grass, as it is washed away each autumn . Emergency measures are called for each sprvng. when paths to the beacl*end abruptly in four to sixft drops due to erosion Dumping sand on these .spots only to leave it unprotected is. speaking mildly, naive One such site, at 11th St., presents, in addition, the dismal spectacle of hundreds of feet of storm drain trestle without its assigned burden, because only a few lengths of pipe remain at the dune end and one piece dangles forlornly over the surf The drain started to fall apart two summers ago There has been no evidence of efforts to halt the process If the purpose for which the drain was built is still valid, this lack of maintenance is unforgivable. If the dram is no longer needed, it should be dismantled, or at least the useless pipes removed, to rid the beach of a

pathetic symbol of neglect.

I included observations on both subjects with several other items of concern in a letter to one of the Council. members eight months ago, without eliciting a reply to a

single one of them '

.Cerxft Heyneker wrote this letter to the Mayor and ' Borough Council of. Stone Harbor where he Wes. •

• f By Doug Griffin Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger has expressed a feeling that I and I’m sure many people have concerning justice. As a result, outspoken parties in opposition to his viewpoint have been quoted by the media. Here is an outspoken opinion backing Mr-BUrger’s statement. The time has come for the rights of the innocent to be placed above those of the guilty; for the criminal element to be prosecuted based on evidence ana not released as a result of minor infractions of procedure; to respect for law fc personal integrity and the rights of others to be insisted upon in our school systems; and for the home and property individuals to be a safe refuge, trespassers upon which are prosecuted Instead of the unsuspe^ng owner for trying to protect his family and property. ^ xjo Mr Burger I say “Here!Here! I’m behind you." ^Hopefully, other people will seize the opportunity and . .voice their opinions locally by attending council meetings and school board meetings, statewide by writing their state senators, nationally by writing their state representatives. I know I am.

Doug Griffin is an Avalon resident.

by William B. McPherson As a resident of Cold Spring, a Mayflower Decendent and a member of a family dating bach to the American revolution, I take great exception with your Jan. 21 article (Country Note). <'■ The tone of your article leaves me somewhat bewildered. You state "Farmers are either too stupid or too smart to attempt to alter the lay of the land by leveling and filling." Somehow in the three years since you have left "Cape May’s closer Victorian confines" you have become confused. , MY ANCESTORS WHO date back to the 1700’s were mostly Cold^pring farmers and it is their intelligence not stupidity that you and your son may walk the open fields. In your article you praise an unknown Cape may woman "for not selling*or subdividing.. .a soy bean field,” my relatives of Cold Spring havfe not exactly sold out. We are now in 1981 and in the midst of an energy crisis. The thickets that yov refer to fences sometimes are necessarily burned in woodstoves, those thickets may be going out your chimney along wixh many others. THE EDGE OF THE thicket has throughout time been a precarious position, Indians, soldiers, myself and family as welrak everyone else are on the edge of a thicket. As for the spent\hunting shells ("Macho man droppings") they have theiritradition also they may not be shot in the con fines of Victorian Cape May but John, someone has to eat, sell skins inWder to keep these open fields in operation. In closing Pshould like to ask you, John A',, if the walk- • ing stick you referred to is the only weapon between your son and you or is it to protect you and your son frbm the little furry or feathered creatures?

McPherson is a Soc's Ln. resident

Adult Experiences & the Student Body

To those of us outside the educational system, there is the general belief that all is not well within the confines of today's schools. We read of lower test scores, mounting disciplinary problems, greater permissiveness, and growing unrest inside the walls of public schools across the country. There 18 a greater uneasiness, however, - when the problem is brought closer to home. And that IS exactly what happened recenty when the principal of the Lower Cape May Regional High School reportedly told health authorities that the majority of students were involved with illegal drugs and/or other unhealthy practices. TIIK MESSAGE WAS somewhat different depending upon the news media, but generally Yeported was that upwards of 75 per cent of the studehts had at least experimented with drugs, and that alcohol abuse and teenage pregnancies were also problems. The immediate result was a specially called Saturday afternoop meeting of the Regional Board of Education — a session punctuated by wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth. The principal was absent; the district superintendent down-played the extent of the alleged problem; there was backbiting; parents called for the problem, regardless of extent, to be faced and alleviated, and for the board and administration to pull together. THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION will come about only if each part of the system functions

properly. Now it is out of whack, to whatever degree, because one or more df the components aren't concerned enough to demand the very best (of oneself and the others). We are talking about students, parents, teachers, administrators and board members. If these people don’t resolve to get their act together, to put their system in order — the educational institution will be yanked apart by a citizenry grown discontent with increasing

tax dollars for a seemingly decreasing end product. And given the fact that a secondary educational system is dealing with students on the threshold of maturity, there is need for the adults in the system to provide the very best example possible — a situation where Act As I Do canot be so readily separated from Do As I

Say.

—The Herald & The Lantern

Impeding DepelopmSkt The Dangers of Teen Drinking

by George F. Wilson, M.D. Moderate social drinking and drinking at parties and celebrations has been accepted in the United States and in most of the Western world as a normal part of adult life. However, in recognition of tile dangers associated with uncontrolled and excessive drinking,

right to leave home and go off to college, and the responsibility, in the case of males in the United States, to register (vyhen required) for military duty and to bear arms. \ Now, however, it seems that we are abandoning the rule that drinking (where the individual wants to

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It would appear that drinking and sex have now become part of the rites of passage — not from youth to adult life, but from childhood to youth.

the privilege of drinking has been withheld from adolescents and accorded to the individual only when he or she has matured into adult life. The unspoken understanding in this tradition is that with maturity there develops the capability to set limits, to make rational judgments about safe and responsible behavior, and to follow through on these judgments with the exercise of control. EXTENDING TO the young adult permission to drink has in the past been part of the “rites of passage." the transition from youth to adult life. Along with permission to drink, these rites of passage have also accorded to the maturing youth such other social privileges as the right to engage insex (with whatever limits the particular culture sets upon this), the right to set

engage in it) should go along with maturity and responsibility. PARENTS USED to become upset when they learned that a teenager of theirs was drinking beer or wine and would do what they could to stop the practice. These days, it is becoming more and more the prevailing attitude to take teenage drinking for granted. Many parents will, in fact, "loqk the other way," or shhrg their shoulders when they learn that a teenage son or daughter has been drinking. Many even think they art being good parents by “treating our children as grown-ups" and providing the beer and wine for their parties. It would appear that drinking and sex hate now become pari of the rites of passage — not from youth to adult life, but from childhood to youth. WE ARE NOT talking

here about thefmoral aspects of this problem, although these of course do concern us. What we, as psychiatrists are especially concerned about are the serious psychological pro-

blems involved.

It) troubles us to know that young people are being allowed — and in some Oases even encouraged — to drink at an age when they are most likely to develop alcohdl dependency, and when many of tnem will use alcohol as a way of avoiding the struggle that every teenager must go through in order to shape his or her own identity. THE YEARS between 14 and 18 are, for most youngsters, years of turmoil and confusion. These are the years when the youngster is engaged in a painful conflict between wanting to hold on to his or her dependency — finan-

...with

time when they are apt to use alcohol, sex ahd drugs as a way of “acting out" their rebellion against their parents. WERE THIS just a passing phase without serious consequences, we might be less concerned. But we know that great damage can result, not only psychologically and socially, but also physically. We point out these implications in the hope that parents and others with social responsibility recognize the dangers and take measures to impede and reverse this trend. AFTER ALL, 40 out of 52 states now set 21 as the legal age when a person may buy alcoholic beverages of any kind. _ Several states which have lowered the legal drinking age are now in the process of, or considering, moving it up again New Jersey has

maturity there

develops the capability to set limits, to make rational judgements about safe and

responsible behavior...

cial, emotional and social — upon the parents, and wanting to fight free of this dependency and to become "his own person." * This conflict manifests itself in hostiity tovtfprd the parents and in rebellion against the parents. It is at this time that youngsters tire least able to discipline themselves and to control their behavior. It is also the

raised it from 18 to 19 This is something which parents themselves might give serious consideration. To blame the problem on "society" is to side-step individual and personal responsibility. Dr. George Wilson wrote this article for The Carrier Foundation, a psychiatric, facility (n Belle Mead. N.J 0&502.