Hospital Expansion Fund Drive Launched

Smeltzer

COURT HOUSE — A $1.5 million fund raising drive as part of a major $33 million expansion and modernization program at Burdette Tomlin Hospital has been Announced, and Lower Township resident Robert Smeltzer has been named to chair the massive fund raising effort. Inciuded in the project will be a 4d per cent increase in patient beds to be located in a four-story so-called patient tower, and' expansion of the Emergency Room to provide for a new cardiac/trauma treatment room. Patient and family waiting areas will be expanded, along with such medical service departments as Radiology, Respiratory Therapy, Physical Therapy and other patient care facilities. GROUNDBREAKING FOR the new patient towef is scheduled for spring, wiO)

completion expected in 1983. Once the patient facility is finished, expansion and modernization of existing patient bed areas and medical service areas in the l older sections of the county’s only hospital will begin — a process expected to I take 10 months to compftete. The

^ hospital now has a 171-bed capacity which will be increased by 68 to a total of 239^beds. Unlucky 6*Mile Oil Spill A Friday the 13th oil spill along a sixmile stretch of roadway-in southern Cape May County was unlucky for at least a couple of persons — tha driver of the leaking oil truck, who has been cited by police, and \. a youngster whose moped slid out from

under him on the spill.

According to Lower Township police, the spill was between 2 and 3 feet wide along the shoulder of roadway stretching along Railroad Ave.. Seashore* Rd., Broadway and Sunset Blvd. between Rt. 47 in Rio Grande and the magnesite plant near Cape May Point -r a distanced some 6 miles. THE SPILL REGAN police said after a weld opened on a $1.500-gal tank of diesel oil being transported by Donald Keefer of McConnellsburg, Pa., driving for the H.B. Mellott Estate Inc. of Hagarstown, Md. Sgt. O'Shea, who investigated the incident, said that ’’maybe" 800 gallons of the fuel . oil was spilled and that the driver became aware of the leak around Rt. 47 and Railroad Ave. but continued on his way

anyway.

O’Shea cited Keejer under a state statute for operatittg and loading a vehicle as to spill, and thp driver is scheduled to appear in township municipal court early next month. ACCORDING TO O’SHEA, a 15-year-old moped driver was slightly injured when he and two other moped'ers travelling south, on Seashore slid in the oil near Academy (Page 15 Please) ^

“Burdette Tomlirr Memorial Hospital will cleArly emerge from its current connotation of a small rural hospital to a modem general community hospital," Mr Smeltzer said in describing tbe expansion and modernization program as the “most ambitious undertaking" in the institution's “histpry. SMELTZER. WHO IS director of Cape May City Civic Affairs Dept., indicated last Friday that be intends to not only help raise funds for the expansion program but also talk up the hospital as a fine health care facility. Acknowledging that he has heard many negative comments about the hospital in the past, Smeltzer said he was optimistic about the hospital’s future and expressed exuberance about a new spirit of professional quality and community pride in fhe institution.

Smeltzer and his wife Suzanne recently had firsthand experience with medical and patient care at the hospital with the birth

of their first baby four months ago According to Mr. Smeltzer. the care his wife and (Page 15 Please)

'T »IU accommodate 132 patient beds, including a t8-bed intensive and coronary care unit. Once the entire modernization program is completed by 1984. the hospital will have a 239-bed capacity.

CAPE MAY COUNTY

Vol. 16 Wo. 46 1*1 SMwovc Co«p Aft

November 18, 1981

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News^. Digest

HUGE WAVE BREAKS against the Cape May seawall Saturday, sending spray and water onto property across Beach Dr. where a new condominium is going up. Previous buildings on the site were undermined by past storms years ago. Meeting on Agent Orange

COURT HOUSE - All area Vietnam veterans are being urged to attend an informational meeting on Agent Orange. 10 a m. til noon Saturday at the Couflty Library here. During the session. Wayne P Wilson, executive director of the,N J Agent Orang£_ Commission, will trace the history of the^O million pounds of chemical defoliant that was sprayed in .South Vietnam from 1962 thru 1971. Mr. Wilson will also present an update on effort b^ the commission to help victims and potential victims of Agent Orange (the code name for the defoliant), and explain what aid is currently

available. THE FORUM IS BEING sponsored locally by the Veterans of Foreign War and the Citizens for the Protection of the Environment (CAPE). VFW District 17 County. Cmdr John JLorenzo is urging all Vietnam veterans to attend the Nov. 21 gathering even if they aren’t sure they ever came in contact with Agent Orange Mr. Wilson will have claim forms available and will assist in completing and filing them For more information, contact the Agent Orange Commission at 292-5880. CAPE at 861-2458, or Cmdr l/>renzo at 628-2439

Oil Drilling At 3 Miles Offshore Protested

XMAS WREATH decorations go up on the mall In Cape May lait week.

COURT HOUSE - The County Planning Board, through Elwood R. Jarmqr, director, has protested to the federal Outer Continental Shelf Office the proposed sale of oil drilling sites within three miles of the coast. According to Jarmer, leasing within 50 miles of the coast poses a serious potential for adverse effects on visibility and fish resources and increases the hazard of oil spills WITH CAFK MAY County heavily — N OTIC E — Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, the next issue will be published on Tuesday, Nov. 24 instead of next Wednesday. Today is the news release ^deadline for that issue; tomorrow the deadline fqr display ads.

dependent on the tourist industry, the high visibility of industrial activities accompanying exploration and oil production could seriously damage the economy. Jarmer says. He asks that all possible measures be taken to reduce this visibility Some of the most productive fishery grounds on the Atlantic Copst are located close inshore, particularly the coastal clam beds, the board notes in urging that no activity should be permitted which would impinge on this resource. THE GREATEST cortcern. the board says, is the possibility of a spill which would affect the coastal beaches and wetlands. Such an incident would be “both an economic and environmental disaster" “No exploration or production should oc cur within 50 mills of the coast unless ab solute, local capability for spill contain ment can be demonstrated." the board let ter concludes.

Week's Top Stories

A Little Flooding The season -first coastal storm caused moderate flooding and beach erosion as a low pressure system combined wiih near .full moon in perigee to gently sock it to‘ the Jersey Cape this weekend. Strdets in low-lying sections from Goran City to Cape May wpre flooded, anho most remained passable; heavy erosion occurred along Whale Beach between Strathmore and Sea Isle City; the South Cape May dune was partially leveled. with Cape Island Creek moderately overflowing its banks; and J>chelh*nge’rs Landing was inundated, making if necessary for guests attending Sheriff' Beech Fox’s victory luncheon Sunday to enter the l/ibslqr House thru the kitchen entrance * Beach Fee or No WILDWOOD CREST This resort may soon end up with two conflicting or dinances one opposing beach fees, the other instituting a pay bca'ch program Borough Commission is scheduled to meet 3 p m Nov 20 on Crest Pier for final hearing and adoption of the Cbm mission's ordinance establishing a beach fee of $2,50 a week and $6 a season ($3 if t purchased Indore the season) A C.'ITIZivys GROUP opposing the fees, however, submitted their own or dinanc«? proposal via a petition movement last Wednesday night The citizen initiated ordinance would ban a pay * beach. ' y If 273 df thc'295 petitions are validated and the Commission fails to act on the citizen-ordinance, the matter would, by law. be resolved by referendum However, since the Commission s ordinance Was in the works before the ditizen proposal was forthcoming, the entire matter may end up in further litigation the Concerned Citizens of the Borough of Wildwood Crest having already beqn denied Superior Court intervention to delay the borough’s action after the groyp petitioned directly for a referendum on tjie matter Mayor Resigning STONE HARBOR - Mayor James G. Wood stunner! the Monday night Chamber of Commerce mee'ting at Henny’s Resfaurarft here hy announcing he is resighing.effectiveT)ec. 31 Mayor for seven year*. Mr Wood told his audience • which included five of the six Borough Council members - that it was time for a new administration He »also noted that he and his wife had pur chased a condominium seven years ago (f*age 14 Please)