30( - How Can They

Stay Silent on Disfigurement?

R> Arthur Murr»y AppHI Your editoriaU are a tonic! They strike so clow to the important facts of decent living that the inescapably final iaaucaiay fully exposed Others, here locally, do not seem to be interested in writing of ethical ^ greed, the conflicts between ideals arKl the Me* 1 *jce nor how to relate the best of man to the possibilities of his natural environment. It is truly unfortunate that the citizens of our local communities can see the deliberately contriv^ disfiguremen of our pristine retreat and remain silent! Perhaps I otesume too mucl: lacing the actuality of what is happening. perhaps I should presume only that is the wish and desire of the people here, themselves. In that case, the critic should remain silent Thoreau thought that cities w ere not teautiful. They are uglier today because of greed and lack of soul, and the inhabitants are ruled by stranger values than he. or even his compatrioLs. even dreamed of! The length of men s vision to short at the present time He cannot see past the walls and roofs of the sinister hulking rental barracks and the despicable condominiums THE INSENSIBLE remarks of a stnctly-matenalistic bureaucrat, linking a "sleepy" (sic) relr «* t !® , ' a ‘P“5 e J* insinuation to a "howling wilderness (?) would be facetious if they weren't so tragic! To quote the aaturalist a howling wifderttess seldom £ver howls. I z- say: the howling is chiefly done by the imagination and i. the inordinately greedy ambitioas of the real estate N manipulators, the building contractors, and the sycopham tic politicians. They are an enclave all by themselves, and what they mean to establish is more elusive, ethically, than any finished blue print for the new social order they seem to be forcing.

Arthur Murray Appel i» ® resident o/56th St.. Sea Isle City.

Picnicking On Beach Will

Lead to More

By Mary F. Off I am writing this letter as a concerned citizen and property owner in Avalon who loves this area and am abaolutely appalled by the decision of our Council to allow picnicking on the Avalon beaches. Although it won't be legal to do so. I am sure that picnicking will encourage many people to drink hard liquor from Thermos bottles and beer from cans which can be easily disguised by coke covers that are readily available. Drinking on the beaches will be almost impossible to control and could eventually lead to serious problems. THE DEBRIS which is not taken care of by the public even now. will be greatly increased, when sandwich

opinion

Herald & Untem 1 April 81

British'Seagull 387 Swainton Fqjly

by Ima Byrd Humans should have a pair of wings, they’d be able to see their environment in a much broader perspective. They could fly all along the coast and svfcoop in low and study the erosion, the pollution and the mess they ve created in the name of "progress." - 4 . .. Last week I had some time to fly inland and study the situation at Swainton. Several of my friends from the West Side, a group known only as the Garbage Birds, told me things are much'worse at Swainton then humans realize. The dump over there is so contaminated that even the Garbage Birds have placed it off limits. \

papers, cans or bottles are tossed or blown into the dunes, they will have to be breached in order to clean them. Last summer, the paths through the dunes were in dreadful shape due to littering and this new policy can only increase the problem. No matter how many trash containers are in plain sight they will only be used by the minority. I AM SICK OF hearing that people picnic and drink on the beach now — I am sure they do! But should we make it an "open season" for them? I think we should not. I hope a Pandora’s box has not been opened, now that picnicking on the beach has been made legal it will be very hard to discontinue it should it now work out as expected — not to mention the expense of rewording the signs and perhaps having to change them back again.

PEOPLE ARE FUNNY CREATURES. Even gulls have more sense then they do. Humans will live with that mess over in Swainton until something serious happens to thenkinfolk. Then they’ll hold meetings and hearings and all sorts of things to try to discover if the contaminated dump that is affecting their underground waterways and lands, is responsible for the strange rashes and odd looking sores popping out of their skin. The newspapers have done their job. They ve warned the people that the mess of chemicals in Swainton is one of the worse messes in the state. Politicians are aware of the fact. The health department is aware of the fact. The Department of Environmental Protection is aware of the fact, as are other agencies dedicated to the health and welfare of the people. YET. NO ONE SEEMS TO have the money to clean it up. The people don’t even complain that the very ones responssible to protect their health aren’t doing a dam thing to clean up that dump. Where are the outcries, the demands? Why are the people silent? What does it take to encourage concern? It was the same with birth defects and the outbreak of hepatitis. Sure there was a lot of grand hoopin' and hollerin’ and so-called record keeping, but no one really g?>t to the heart of the matter. Either that, or they cut the heart out before anyone could see it. MAYBE THE GARBAGE BIRDS are over-emphasizing the problems at Swainton, but they seem to be pretty worried about it. You see, they’ve had to change some of their habits because of pollution and chemicals like the ones at that dump. They’ve learned first hand how to adjust to a stinking society that permits environmental atrocities to exist, a society that has a mixed up sense of values with little direction. A lot of their lifestyle was wiped out by places like Swainton. That’s how they became Garbage Birds.

Mary Off lives in Avalon.

NEXT WEEK: Bird March for Peace.

Tourism as Foreign Trade

There were some eye-opening statistics in last week’s article reporting on Rep. James Florin's proposal for an independent federal agenoy to coordinate government efforts to

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increase foreign travel in the United States. According to the Gloucester County Democrat, tourism is currently the nation’s third largest industry, generating some $150 billion in gross business receipU annually. We’ve Known for some time — as the congressman pointed out in his recent remarks prepared for a regional tourism conference in Atlantic City — that travel and tourist business is New Jersey’s second largest industry, generating some $168 million in state revenue, $24 million in local taxea, and more than 100,000 jobs. MR. FLORID, who is among the many potential candidates for governor this year is author of the National Tourism Policy Act. As chairman of the House Commerce, Transportation and Tourism subcommittee, the congressman is actively seeking legislation which would give government efforts to g arner more overseas tourist dollars fronturner status. The Reagan administration is opposed to the establishment of such a new federal agency, despite claims by Florio that there is no single agency charged with coordinating federal efforts to increase travel tothell.S. While there may well be a duplication and therefore dilution of such efforts in Washington, D.C. now, we don’t think it necessitates a new agency to untangle the

bureaucracy and get a major effort on the right track. Given Mr. Reagan’s penchant for cutting thru red tape and the established bureaucracy in D.C., we should think an executive order here or there would suffice to get the proper coordination underway. IN THE SAME BREATH, however, we believe Congressman Florio’s intentions are worthy, and clearly in the right direction. But given our current nigh inflation rate plus our standard of living, we have doubts about just how much Foreign tourism we can even hope to garner. According to Mr. Florio, last year the U.S. attracted less than 8 per cent of the world’s tourists. It occurs to us that perhaps a bigger push should be given to keeping our citizens home and interested in their own country than touting travel abroad. This, though, is the job primarily of American

business, not government.

Still, we can certainly see the need for and the benefits were there more foreign travel to our shores. Just as there are lower rate package tours to our own county prior to and after the main tourist season, perhaps the international travel merchants could do likewise and offer oul* global neighbors far and! wide cutrate tours to the U^LJnis could only help our image abroad, for EHMbetter way to prove our worthiness than as nosts of citizens

from another land?