Free or Not to Be?

The Battle Over Beaches

hy Ed Harnett . Generally speaking, the beautiful, beaches of Cape May County don’t really heat up until sometime in-^uly, when the sun and Scantily clad nymphs have exerted their influence, ' This year, though, a lot of off-season heat is being generated about the beaches — or,* more exactly, about the rights and ^wrongs of charging to use them. Battle, lines in the big beach tag brouhaha are di*awh roughly between the maTiy shore towns claiming beach fee revenues are needed; and those who, in disagreeing, see them as a nuisance. MOST VISIBLE proponent of the latter

view ;is Slate Sen. Raymond .Zane ‘ (D-Gloucester), who has a bill pending in the Senate to ban the"imposition of beach • fees. Mr. Zane, who says the beach fees are a "nuisance—a real pain in the npek.” also . says the. state should fund whatever maintenance costs are needed. His bill, however, makes no provision for such funding. And shore cothmunities which have had sad experience in trying to get state qid for other projects, find little reason for optimism that Trenton Will fund the Job of grooming their miles of strand. ZANE ALSO HAS "a feeling some of these towns "along the shore are using

beach fees to make money over and above their actual costs." "That avowal drew a prompt and indignant resjwnse froni^officials of beach fee communities. The Avalon Home and Land Owners Association last week wrote Sen. Zane to 'point out that the total estimates cost of running the borough’s beaches for 1901 was $.'188,446 and total revenues, were $166,952 - still leaping a $201,492 tab for the taxpayers to pick up. A- BREAKDOWN by Avalon administrator Andrew Bednarek showed v operating costs, including salaries of (Page 16 Please)

200 Summer Jobs For Needy Youth COURT HOUSE - Cape Human Resources Inc./Ceta is accepting applications to ..fill approximately 200 summer youth employment positions* throughout the county, according to programofficials The jobs Will be available to economically disadvantaged youth 14-21 who"reside in the county, and will provide-participants with firsthand experience INTERESTED YOUTHS are er couraged to pick up prb-applications at their localMtigh school, community center or Employment Service Office Completed forms may be returned to those same locations or to the CHR/Ceta office at 15 So. Main St. here applicants, will be required to submit a Social Security Card, proof of age, residency and family income. For more information 'contact CHR/Ceta at 465-2263 ’ ^

Vol.17 No. 14 CH*3U<»w«ry*0>rp AllrtflM,r^fv«J. April 7,1962 .

PUBUSMtO IVEHV v*|ON£SOAVBV THl StAWAVE . ^COWORAnCM^O^Oj^AVALON^^MTO^

Meeting Of The Minds On Pines?

Although the county has made no at- • tempt to alter its master plan to meet the more stringent development requirements of the N.J. Pinelands Commission, the Commission last week conditionally approved the Cape's mister plan and subdivision and site plan resolution, pending revisions by the county. Since both the county Freeholders and the county Planning Board have had serious differences with the Commission since it established the Comprehensive Pinelands Management Plan, it is doubtful the needed revisions will come easily. One of the major stumbling blocks deal with the crucial and corfcomitant i^sties of lot size and groundwater nitrate levels — the Commission requiring larger minimum acreage and lower nitrate pollution levels than the county believes necessary. With the two sides at odds over such scientific criteria, it goes without saying the political issue of Home Rule is a major hurdle as well. NEVERTHELESS, Commission director Terrence Moore appears ‘ to be minimizing contentions; indeed, a Commission news felease issued Friday would seem to indicate things are hunky-dory. While several revisions must be made before they can be fully certified by the Pinelands Commission, Mr. Moore points out the master plan and resolution were adopted prior to the passage of the Pinelands Protection Act and adoption of . the PinelanjJs Comprehensive Management Plan, and that they "are already largely consistent with what the Pinelands Plan designated for the Pinelands portion of the county.” PORTIONS OF THREE county municipalities — Woodbine, Upper Township, and Dennjs Township — lie within the state-designated Pinelands Area which is subject to the requirements of the Pinelands Protection Aet. A fourth county municipality, Middle Township, is within the federally-designated Pinelands National Reserve, outside the jurisdiction of the Pinelands Commission. Approximately 20 percent of Cape May County (Page 16 Please) inside— — NO MORE Baccalaureate service? Maybe not at Lower Cape May Regional.... Pages LENTEN DISHES go beyond meat... Page2S AMATEUR WRESTLING fans will have their day April Page28

Dorli Wqtd DUTCH FESTIVAL DINNER Saturday in Cape May kicked off events for the celebration later this month centered around I7th century Dutch explorer Cpt. Cornelius Mey, after whom the peninsula is named. H^e, three-year-old Alicia Fois of Villas is assisted by Robin Feddermann in trying 6n a pair of wood«ti shoes. " 1 ■ 1 1 < 1 ■ ' y— ‘Gold Coast’ Compromise

DIAMOND BEACH - Although the planning board’s suggestion to give the township’s "Gold Coast" to Wildwood Crest has been sharply criticized by virtually all segments of the local communi-

Beach has provided both the Planning Board and the Township Committee with the impetus to look more closely at the planning situations confronting them in

Diamond Beach.

Less Height After ‘Greater Depth ’

ty, at least one board member still believes the non-binding vote may have served a useful purpose Board chairwoman Peg Spencer feels

“I think everyone is better prepared to deal with the realities of development in Diamond Beach,” she said. "I consider it a good thing that people have looked into, it

Newss— - Week's DlgeSt Top Stories Free or Vole WILDWOOD CREST Borough Commission was expected yesterday to^decide whether to pass a free beach ordinance or set a date for a refefendum on the :issue of paid or free beaches The action comes in the wake of last week’s court decision discounting borough contentions that citizens had no right to initiate an ordinahee opposing beach-fees. Superior Court Judge Edward St Miller disagreed witb solicitor James WaMron’s argument that passage severalnfonths ago of the community’s contgBversial beach fee ordinance was an administrative action not subject to the initiative process. New MUA Head v SWAINTON — Three-year member Charles Hathaway was elected April 2 to succeed former county MUA chairman and charter member John Vinci, while Vinci’s successor, William Band, was elected vice chairman They were elected at a meeting attend ed by only three MUA members (the third was Roy Gillian) Absent were Joakim Joanides and former member Robert Anzalone, who resigned because he considered the county Freeholders’ recent decision against reappointing Vinci an affront Murder Verdict COURT HOUSE - Anthony Lantiolfi of Green Creek was found guilty in Superior Court here last week of the June 1981 stabbing death of Cold Spring resident Robert Harry Smith. : The defendant could receive life in prison with a mandatory 25 years to be served before being eligible for pafole Smith was stabbed 31 times at his home qn Jonathan-Hoffman Rd., reportedly . during an argument over a woman Motel Fire Sun. . RIO GRANDE — A Sunday afternoon fire damaged several rooms and the roof of the unoccupied Parkway Motel on Delsea Dr. before local fire-fighters" brought it under control. Two of the volunteers suffered smoke inhalation but didn’t require hospitalization. The fire was believed to have begun in the heater

room.

Robert Golden Dies AVALON — Robert S. Golden, prominent South Jersey developer, civic leader and philanthropist, died unexpectedly at his home. 45th and Beach; late Monday night. He was 59. President of R. Golden Agency, real estate and insurance, and the Golden Inn which he built in 1964. Mr. Golden was also a leading developer of homes here and in Lower and Upper Townships and in Atlantic County. He was a longtime commissioner of the N.J. Expressway Authority, past presi