Herald & Lantern 12 August 61 1

27

Ouster Pressure Is Urged

50th Street Dunes

Counties’ Property Levy Set Record

Total property taxes required to balance the 21 county budgets this year climbed a record $89.5 million to $963.9 million, reports the New Jersey Taxpayers Association, a private non-profit governmental research organization. The dollar increase is the largest since imposition of the 5 percent county property tax limitation (“cap' 1 ) in 1977, as well as over the past two decades, while the percentage increase pf 10.2 percertt over 1980 is the largest sinci 1976. AUTHORIZED PROPERTY tax increases for" all counties totaled $94.6

million. Unused tax levies totaled $5.1 million, most of which were in Atlantic and Essex Counties* $1.7 million and $2.2 million respectively. Ten counties utilized their entire tax authorization. Four counties used within $30 of their authorization while four counties had unused tax levies between $100,000 and $500,000. Last year the total unused county tax levy was only $1.3 million. In Cape May County, the 1981 property tax levy of $17,187,194 to finance the county budget compared with the 1980 tax levy, of $15,429,821 shows an increase of $1,757,373 or 11.4 * percent. fThe county's

Shore Life Art Sessi

STONE HARBOR - A one-session workshop for people who enjoy sketching and painting and love seashore life~<vill be conducted by Tom Quirk at the Wetlands Institute on Stone Harbor Blvd., at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25. The workshop will focus on the variety of Creatures

found at the shore. Quirk is professor of Art at Kutztown College, and free lance artist and illustrator specializing in natural history subjects. Advance registration by phone is required. For information and to register, call Ml)-12ll.

allowable cap increase was $1,757,382. The unusedallowable levy was $9. PERCENTAGE increases in property taxes ranged from a low of 4.7 percent in Mercer County to highs of 22.2 percent in Hunterdon County and 20.2 percent in Atlantic County. Ten other counties! had percentage increases in double . digits. Largest dollar property tax increase was $10.5 million in Camden County, a 15 percent increase. Smallest dollar increase was $515,480 ( 6.4 percent) in Warren County. The sizeable percentage increase in county property taxes and the wide variatittns in percentage changes raise questions concerning the applicability and workability of the present cap law. With the law scheduled to expire in 1982, another review of the cap formula appears to be needed, suggests NJTA.

WASHINGTON, D C. -. The National Wildlife Federatiorf, which last week* wrote a - letter, to . President Reagan calling for the dismissal of Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt, is now asking its 4.5 n’lillion membersand supporters to wj-ite, wire or call the President with the same message Jay D. Hair-, executive vice president of the conservation group, has sent a letter to officers of the federation’s affiliate organizations in all 50 states acknowledging-that NWF’s Unprecedented request for Watt’s removal was "a drastic step," but asserting that it "was made necessary by the record of Secrcta^ Watt's actions against wildlife and

the environment.

' "IF WE ARK to succeed in removing Mr. Watt, President Reagan must hear from you, from other conservatio n\s t s throughtout the nation,'and from your elected Representatives and Senators,” says the letter to the affiliate members. The Federation will publish a similar call, Under the heading "Add Your Voice," in upcoming issues of the two magazines it publishes for its 818,000 associate members. National Wildlife and Interna-

tional Wildlife.

THE APPEAL to the magazine readers urger^ ihem to ‘‘reinforce-" frtVF’s f demand for Watt’s ouster with letters, mailgrarns, telegrams and phone calls. The phone calls, it says, should be directed to the Comments Office at the White House, 202/456-1414, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. EDT on weekdays. In a letter to Watt, Hair has disputed his claim that an NWF poll of 4,000 of its associate members wa$ ‘’rigged" against the Secretary of the Interior. , In the poll, the NWF members -r although they voted two to one for Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter — expressed over-

whelming opposition to 10 environmental policy options which, the NWF said, represented Watt's viws. WATT OBJECTED speciffcally to one summary of his ^psition on operation of fl!e national parks which said that he favored giving commercial interests operating in the parks a "greater say" ir\ i their management In his letter, Hair cited a speech Watt made on March 9 to the Nat’onal Conffrence of Park Concessioners in which Watt told the concessioners — private compahies licensed to operate in the parity: ■‘You folks are going to play a tremendously im-' portant role and a growing

role in the administration of our national parks We need an aggressive program with the private entrepreneurs # who are willing to invest and manage resources’ in the National Park System for people." Hair said. "There can be* only two interpretations” of Watt’s statement that the NWF questionnaire did • not fairly summarize his , position on operation of the parks: "One is that you had forgotten the position you look before the concessioners’ conference The other is that whemyou saw in the survey report how unpopular that position was. you changed your position "

Firemen Ask Help

CAPE MAY - The Volunteer Fire Dept, is conducting its annual drive for funds fo maintain and replace equipmenf. In letters to its sup porters, the department points out that hose nozzles, fire coats, boots, gloves and breathing apparatus all are important parts of such equipment. IN ADDITION, this year the volunteers are engaged in major refurbishing of one of the first line trucks Complete pump overhaul, chassis work, new compartments, and a new paint job will fit the truck for Rummage Sale

Hospital

^WILDWOOD CREST - There will be a rummage sale, including the sale of new remnants 9 to 4, Aug. 13, 14 and 15 at the Church of the Assumption, 7110

Seaview Ave.

The sale will benefit Deborah Hospital, the. world famous heart and lung institution in Browns Mills. For pick-up of donation times / td\the sale, call 522-7317 or 465-7293

' many more years of service. The project is a joint effort with the city to delay “I the need to purchase a new / truck \ Donations should be sent ' to Volunteer Fite Dept., P.Q. Box 375, Cape May, 08201 / Bill Pushes TV In State WASHINGTON- The Senate has approved legislation that Sen Bill Bradley; D-N.J., sponsored •. to help New Jersey get its first commercial VHF . television station. By voice vote the Senate passed a measure offered by Bradley and Sen Harrison Williams, providing that there should be at least one commercial VHF television station in every state. New Jersey and Delawaie are the only two states without one

Why Do Students Drop Out?

0 R N E R by Leslie Sfeysoq- ^ Lord Valentine’s Castle By Robert Silverberg If you’re a fan of fantasy fiction, here’s a great 6 , summer book for you. Silverberg, of course, is a highly respected author of this genre. . On the planet of Majipoor, a young man sitting on\ q a hill overlooking the city of Pidruid makes friends with a herdsman, who is taking a herd of mounts, the local beast of burden, to market. The young Q man, Valentine, seems to have no memory of his past, and the boy with the mounts decides to help him. The planet contains intelligent life of many shapes and forms, all of whom live reasonably amicably under the rule of a Coronal. Valentine and the boy joih a team of travelling jugglers, two-of whom are human, and the rest, four armed Scandors. (Incidentally, the book's description of juggling is fascinating.) * Although at first it seems a coincidence that the new Coronal is also named Valentine, Valentine begins to believe.he is the real Coronal. He and the friends he gathers along the way have a series of exciting adventures, as they cross the Kingdom to find the Lady of Sleep, the real Lord Valentine’s mother; the Pontifax, retired Coronal*and ultimate ruler; and eventually reach Castle Mount, where sits Lord Valentine’s Castle. Their way is obstructed by the King of Dreams, who is the antithesis of the Lady of Sleep, and the Metamorphs, or Shapeshifters, who were the original Inhabitants of the Kingdom. Lealir Steyson it the pseudonym for a very real area bookstore proprietor.

During the past several years, school authorities have been reporting a considerable increase in the' number of young people,males especially, dropping out of the school system at all levesl—high school, college and graduate and professional schools. Psychiatrists have been interested in knowing why this is happening. , One typ§ of dropout is,not difficult to understand, that of the student who thinks he may not be able to qualify for graduation or be able to compete, after graduation, . with others who have a bet- - ter record. This is' even more understandable today, when college competition ahd competition in the job market are so severe. IT IS ANOTHER kind of dropout that is causing perplexity, that-of the good student, from a middle class background, the child of successful, well-placed parents. Why do young people such as these drop out? Whdt would make a young man who has been taking a pre-medical course decide at the end of his second or third year to drop out of college and take up an aimless life, floating

aaeund from one city to another, one country to another, making a meager living playing a guitar and dding odd repair jobs. Why would a young man Whose father is a successful chemist and owner of a chemical plant, decide, after completing his training as an attorney, to .become,a plumber? What 'would.'make a young woman, the daughter of a brain surgeon and a socialite mother, decide to give the idea of becoming a teacher and become an automobile mechanic, instead? THE FIRST ANSWER that comes to mind in the three cases cited, and in so many others like them, is that of rebellion against the parents. Rebellion against parents is a personal thing and each child finds his own way of rebelling. Some do it py leaving home and mbving far away,. Others do it by behavior that will hurt the parents—alcohol, drugs, school failure, becoming revolutionaries, taking up with disreputable friends, marrying outside the race or religion Others do it by rejecting the parents' way of life, defying the parents

who are professionals and business people by going Into menial occupations: BUT THEN the rebellion, almost invariably, moves one step further-from the ‘ personal to the sociological and political. Not only are the parents themselves rejected and criticized, but also their standards and values and those of their entire socio-economic class They, arc labeled "parasites," “‘exploiters," "hypocrites." oppressors of the poor and £of minorities It is at this point that selfdeceit often begins ft is one thing to devote oneself to a social cause and to work, within an organization, or organizations, for social reform, against discrimination and ihjastice. It is another to give up a careei* and responsibility, becoming very vocal about social Injustices but actually doing very little to remedy them. IN CASES such as these, two things may be happen ing. One may be an extension of the rebellion against the parents far beyond the age when it is normal for children to tebel. The other may be a way of rationalizing one's lack of motivation

and fortitude to take on the rigors and difficulties inherent in pursing a profes . sional career or building a business The freedom to^choose ,and to do with one’s life what one wishes is much greater today than it was in generations past THE IDEA THAT everyone should be permitted to "do his thing” as the impulse strikes, far from being discouraged, is in fact, being aided and abet ted by society—meaning parents, the colleges, writers and publishers, magazines, television, and even religious institutions In an effort to liberate ourselves from rigid and antiquated rules and traditions of the past, it seems we have moved quite a distance in the other direc ti(fa, facilitating the flight of the individual from pur pose and responsibility into an undirected and purposeless existence of easy hedonism. t Martin Weinappple writes for the Carrier Foundation, a psychiatric facility in Belle Meade, N.J.