Riparian Rights—Zeroing in on the Uncertainty

AVALON — There’s a move on to have the New Jersey Constitution amended with a goal of making the state's riparian rights more definitive and title to tidal lands less doubtful. Action to be taken here tomorrow by the borough Council illustrates the movement, and the Thursday night resolution may become commonplace, in one form or another, elsewhere along the Jersey Coast in the weeks ahead. AT THE HEART of the matter is the state’s right to claim title to any lands that were ever covered by high tide. Given the fact that most of South Jersey was once ocean bottom, the enormity of the problem comes into view. At the heart of the problem is definition — at what point in history is the high tide line to be set? Under the state Constitution, any revenue derived from riparian lands goes to support free public education. WHILE FEW SEEM to find fault with where such money goes, there are many unhappy with the uncertainty of what is and isn’t riaprian lands. ' Former state Senator Robert Kay of Wildwood is among them, and while he wasn’t available for comment as of press time earlier this week, he has been quoted as terming state plans to minutely map potential riparian and coastal areas as scary. According to Mr. Kay, the state has launched a seven-year program of mapping such lands, with the more than 1,500 maps detailing less than 2 sq. mile areas each. Salmon For Upgrading Tourism Division

MILLVILLE — Edward H. Salmon, state senatorial candidate (Cumberland- * Cape May), has called for a review of this state’s attitude toward tourism and the current proposed budget reductions in the Division of Tourism. “I bejieve tourism is now the number one industry in New Jersey in employed personnel," he said, "and it is vitally important to the economy in South Jersey.” RATHER THAN down-grading the Division of Tourism, Salmon called for it "to be upgraded to a department level with a seat in the governor’s cabinet." Salmon pointed out that tourism brought in $3.1 billion into the Garden State in a recent fiscal year, and he said, "at a five cent tax rate we benefitted by more than IISS million in tax revenues.” HE SAID in the hotel/motel, eating and drinking establishments, an important plush in the employment picture. He added that during in-season, 70 percent of shore visitors come from out-of-state and contribute vital income to the area and vast tax resources to the state. The current budget before the Joint Committee on Appropriations, calling for a reduction in funding and practical decimation of the division staff, "would practically eliminate the current successful program of the Division of Tourism," Salmon stated. Salmon called for the Joint Committee now sitting in Trenton and all state legislators to be conscious of the essential impact of tourism on the state treasury.

No land formerly washed by the mean high tide shall be deemed riparian land and dedicated by law to the support of free public schools if the owner thereof can demonstrate that he possesses or his predecessors in title possessed or otherwise marketable title for a period of at least 60 years during which the State did not assert alclaim of title to the land.’”* PROPOSED NEW Paragraph 3 to Article VIII. Sect. IV of the New Jemey Constltutloil

<NA RESOLUTION to be submitted to the Avalon Borough Council on Thursday night, Councilmen James Busha and

Stewart Grey are advancing a proposed amendment to the state Constitution which would be submitted to the people at

referendum in the November election. Terming the measure "of great concern to all,’? the- two councilmen claim the amendment "directly concerns a majority of the people in Cape May County and Avalon in particular." IN A PREPARED statement, the two borough councilmen explained the problem and their intended solution: "The / purpose of this Constitutional amendment is to clarify the status of lands formerly flowed by th^ mean high tide. By (fVge 16 Please)

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-Meeting Set On—— Fishing Area Charts

COURT HOUSE - For the past five months, DEP representatives Doug Long and Bill Figley have been working with sport and commercial fishermen to map the general boundaries of the ocean fishing grounds along the Jersey coast. These charts will be used to represent the interests of the state's fishermen in the review of proposed projects, such as oil drilling, pipeline routing, sewage sludge and dredge spoil disposal, sand miningand so on, that may have serious adverse impacts on fishery resources. To date they have spoken to 300

fishermen and have put together rough charts outlining major fishing grounds. A public meeting will be held to solicit addi tional information and to certify the accuracy of the charts before the final drafts are prepared. The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Cape May County Extension Office, Dennisville Rd.. Route 657, Cape May Court House, 06210 The meeting will be open to all sport and commercial fishermen. All fishermen attending will receive a set of 25 enlarged charts depicting the fishing grounds for all of the important sport and commercial species.

Students Competing in Research

by Bob Shiles PHILADELPHIA - Scores of students from the Jersey Cape have qualified to participate in this year’s Delaware Valley Science Fair to be held at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science on April 21, 23 and 25. To be eligible to take part in this presitigious competition, a student had to be a winner first at his or her local science fair and then at the regional fair at Stockton State College. The April 4 regional fair included participants from school districts south of the Raritan River. ACCORDING TO Joe Steady, a Middle Township science teacher and liaison between the South Jersey Fair and the

Delaware Valley competition, by the time one qualifies for Delaware Valley, the student is one of approximately 300 who has been selected out of some 63,000 participants in local and regional competitions. Delaware Valley gathers future scientists from suburban Philadelphia County, South Jersey, northern Delaware and eastern Pennsylvania; and winners from this group are eligible to attend the International Science Fair to be held this year in St. Paul Minn. "THIS IS A RESEARCH competition," Mr. Steady said. He explained that the fair is divided into three divisions (grades 6-«; grades 9-10 and grades 11-12) with 11

The

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Top Stories

SLOW BURNING bunk fire aboard the Capt’n Johnnie on Good Friday brought firefighters from Cape May and Town Bank to Schellenger Landing to douse the smoking material with chemical foam. Little damage was reported aboard the Chesapeake. Va. vessel; but for several minutes, holiday motorists heading past the docks Into Cape May, had/to be detoured thru West Cape May.

categories in each division. Participants are judged by a number of judges who compile their scores without consulting each other. Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded winners in each category. “By the time a student completes his . project, he often knows more about his specific area of interest than experts in the field," observed Avalon science teacher Lynne silvestro. "Each year projects appear to bet bigger and better. • • • TWO SEVENTH GRADE students from Avalon have qualified for Delaware Valley. They are Michelle Clayton and Leonard Kulymych. Michelle’s project is

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News Digest

First District

Tops in People TRENTON — New Jersey’s First Legislative District of Cape May and most of Cumberland County will have more people than any of the other 39

districts under the new boundaries decid-

ed last week by the bipartisan state Ap-

portionment Commission.

Republicans didn’t want to lose incumbent Assemblyman Joseph Chinnici of Bridgeton to the Democrats in the Third District (which .will now include some rural western Cumberland County townships as well as parts of Gloucester

and all of Salem counties.) And

Democrats didn't want the state's largest (primarily Republican) city, Vineland. The result is the First District will have 193,500 persoas, or over 9,400 more than the ideal of 184,000 per 40 legislative districts average under the 1980 Census

and the one-man one-vote ruling Budget Up 4%

OCEAN CITY — City Council adopted an $11.5 million municipal budget last week, a fiscal measure only 4 per cent higher than last year and requiring only one per cent or $60,588 more in the amount to be raised by taxation for its support. The local purpose tax levy this

year is $6 million.

The tax levy is kept down thanks in large part to major increases in anticipated sutplus, construction code fees and permits, and anticipated beach fee revenue. Such non tax revenue sources in the new budget include over $900,000 from surplus, $900,000 in beach fees, and $251,000 in construction fees and permits. Support Library TUCKHOE — A library for Upper Township may not be a reality this year, but the Upper Township Committee has given its whole-hearted support for the project. The committee has already made available a parcel of land for the proposed library, and will continue to exert pressure on the Freeholders to see that the library becomes a reality. "Upper Township is the logical site for a new branch library," Mayor Leonard Migliaccio said recently, "and we have also gained the support of Dennis Township and the Borough of Woodbine, for locating the next library branch

here.!’

"The township has a most active group called "Khe Friends of a Library,' and I urge all Upper Township citizens to support them iukI the committee in our efforts to bring this most needed facility to Upper Township." (Page 16 Please)