Herald & Lantern 5 May *82

35

reader's forum

Why are the Rates Higher than High?

by Arthur Hall

Thank you (Atlantic Electric Co. president) for your response to my letter (Consumera May Stop Paying, April 7). Your response addresses in detail why you feel Atlantic Electric is justified in its current, much-higher-than-average electricity rates. Many of your points are

no doubt valid.

With all respect, it did not address the core question which I asked, that being “Despite the fact that you

y 46% of the cost of your electricity, and that the cost of transporting coal, our utilitiy's major fuel source, is 50% of its overall cost, you begin to see how important native fuel sources really are to the total cost of electricity. Atlantic Electric faces other unique challenges. The taxes we pay to the state and our area’s municipalities is significantly higher than the taxes many other utilities pay. Our state environmental laws are more restrictive

than the fedefal government’s.

x.

“Atlantic Electric faces other unique challenges"

already receive far more for your electricity than others, you are asking us for an additional 30% to 40%.’’ You have said why your rates are high; you have not said why they must be much higher. When properly managed and monitored investorowned public utilities have functioned well in this country providing a fair return to the investor and a fairpriced service to the customer. It is important that public confidence in utilities, management and their governmental monitoring bodies be maintained lest there arise a clamour for an alternative form of utility ownership. Arthur R. Hall la a resident of Wildwood Crest. Below is the utility company's response to his earlier letter: I’m sure that you know by now that there has been a major decrease in our Energy Adjustment for the rest of this year, and that our price per kilowatt-hour is now closer to 9 cents. The 10-cent per kilowatt-hour rates you recently experienced were the result of an emergency Energy Adjustment increase that was ordered last August to help us recover more than $62 million in fuel and energy costs that had been incurred but not recovered in previous years. Had the Energy Adjustment been set at more accurate levels in those previous years, an increase of such magnitude would not have been necessary. I believe that the Christian Science Monitor arttfcle you cited (noting a national average for electricyt of 6 cents per KWH) based its ranking of utilities on our summer rates — which are much higher than our winter rates — and on the temporary emergency Energy Adjustment increase I've just described. For these and other reasons, the article does not provide an accurate or fair comparison. Atlantic Electric makes no excuses for its summer rates; they are set higher to reflect the higher costs of supplying our customers’ higher summertime demands for electricity, as well as to encourage conservation. In addition, many other utilities throughout the country enjoy native energy resources that we do not have in New Jersey. In Oregon and Washington, hydroelectric power, the cheapest of all forms of electric generation of electric generation, is the principal source of pqwer. (Incidentally, the consumer rebellion that you read about in those states is over an increase in the price of electricity because they’re running out of hydro power capacity to meet increasing demands.) In Louisiana, Texas and other states, power plants are almost literally built on top of natural gas wells, avoiding fuel transportation costs and enormously expensive pollution control devices. In West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. power plants are built at the mouths of coal

mines.

New Jersey has none of these resources that make so many other utilities look so much less expensive by comparison. And when you consider that the cost of fuel is ful-

The fact that our's is a largely rural service area, with more lines and poles needed to serve a relatively diffuse

population ads to our.costs.

And most important of all, our customers’ peak demand for electricity is still growing at-2.4% per year, when demand at other electric utilities has nearly stopped growing. This last is the most significant cost challenge that we

face.

We’ve developed our "New Direction" - a policy which stresses the encouragement of maximum efficiency in our

customers’ uses of our product - to combat the problem of growing demands The savings potential is indeed handsome Because our customers’ demand growth rate slowed by .3% last year, we were able to defer more than $300 million of new construction'that had been slated for the next five years Considering today's inflation economy and interest rates, and the extremely tight financial markets, this deferral was extremely important for controlling the future price of electricity We fully understand the threat that higher electric rates present to Southern New Jersey's economy; our families live here too. and our well-being could suffer as much from hard times as from unreliable electricity But our recent Energy Adjustment reductions should help soften the impact of any base rate increase. And in the long term, our ’-’New Direction" should keep our rates the lowest in New Jersey, and make them more com petitive with other electric utilities throughout the country.

Catarcio Is The Best Ever

by Ruth Hart. Madeline Remmey. Phyllis (lenovese We, the officers of the Lower Township Republican Executive Committee, are responding to an opinion in the April 28 Herald and Lantern (Sees Defeat For Color cio by Russell Shelly). We believe it is high time that Mr. Moran and his followers address the issues pertaining to the future of Lower Township and not Republican leader Maurice Catarcio. whom we believe to be the best Republican leader this township has ever had. To replace him with the likes of Jack Moran would sink Republicans to ah all-time low. At this past year’s Republican rally at St. Raymond's in the Villas, Sen. James R. Hurley publicly acclaimed Maurice Catarcio to be one of the best municipal leaders in all of his district that he has had the pleasure of working with!

NOW WE WANT TO TELL YOU about Mr Shelley, and we can do this because he was part of this (Republican Executive) Committee. Mr Shelly was a lifelong Democrat and a worshiper of George Wallace, but he thought the pastures looked greener on the Republican side, so he and his wife becarfie Republicans and joined the Republican Executive Comittee It did not take them long to become disenchanted with the Republicans. It is a well known fact that Mr Shelly is mad at the Republicans •That, taxpayers of Lower Township, is where Russell Shelly is coming from Editor’s note: tesertions as to the motive of Mr Shelley's alleged^Tnnoyance with the Republican Party in the township were deleted by the editor ) Ruth Hart is alternate, Madeline Remmey secretary, Phyllis Genovese treasurer of the Lower Township Republican Executive Committee.

Poisoning The Gypsies & More

This is the time when the idiots spray their poisons from airplanes on the unsuspecting people and wildlife. This is the time when the farmers pifck up a few extra bucks to drop those poisons. This is the time when pregnant women and birds worry and wonder just what a chemical — that comes complete with a poison label of warning — is doing falling on their world without anyone worrying about the effects it will have on the life chain, the eco-system. This is the time when mothers wonder if politicians oan be trusted with their health and welfare. This is the time whAi mortals ponder on just what the Health Dept, people do for their money. This is a time when everyone is caught up in wiping out gypsy moths at the expense of children

and good common sense.

We birds know what it’s all about It’s our nests that get hit with those poisons and fuel oil just when our babies arc learning to fly and filled with the joy of being alive. It’s our youngsters who must be fed contaminated bees, wasps and other insects who suffer death and illness from the poisons dropped indiscriminantly by man. Sooner or

by Beech N. Fox

The Corrections System

More Female Prisoners Too

El B'l

It is incumbent upon our penal system to i provide equal services or treatment for all | prisoners — male or female. Although there are exceptions, women prisoners are generally less hostile than the men. This could 6e, in part, because they are usually subjected to less physical violence or peer pressure in prison as compared to the

men, especially in a smaller jail.

Female prisoners still tend to receive F shorter prison sentences than males. * which reflects the reluctance of the courts to punish them through incarceration unless it is unavoidable. This trend, however, is changing as more and more women have reflected social changes and attitudes by becoming involved in crime more frequently and with more serious of-

fenses.

Much of the information concerning female prisoners in our local facility comes from our excellent staff of women corrections officers who are qualified Civil Service professionals. We have a relatively small staff of women offices proportionate to the size of the jail population. Our wofnen officers also have been called upon in the past to Assist local law enforcement agencies when they effect ainass arrest such as a narcotics raid involving both men and

women.

THE FEMALE HOUSING UNIT at the county correctional center has facilities for ten prisoners. Six dormitory type bed assignments are available in addition to four individual cell units. The detention configuration and equipment is essentially the same as that of the male sections. Dormitory or cell assignments are itiatie by a prisoner classification procedure subject to senior staff approval. Allocations are made for re-assignment if it becomes necessary. In addition to outdoor exercise periods and indoor free time activities, confinement time is spent in a variety of ways. There are trustee work assignments in the kitchen or maintenance duty when available. Trustee

assignments allow inmates to become eligible for gradual sentence reduction. Five days’ work can result in a one day reduction if an inmate keeps an otherwise clpan record of behavior. Both men and women may participate in this program. Unsentenced inmates are not eligible There is also an opportunity to sell a large variety of handcrafted items — these are sold outside of the prison with'the proceeds going to the commissary fund. Both men and women participate in these activities. MOST PRISON EXPERTS AGREE that there are some significant differences between men and women prisoners in their outlook on incarceration. The separation from children and family, for example, is tougher on most women inmates as you might presume Nor do they generally adhere to the convictsVode — an unwritten understanding among male convicts relative to their relationship with each other and to the “system." However, recent changes in social attitudes, and women prisoners who are "hard core" or "street wise," have made some females as tough to handle as their male counterparts In their own eyes, women prisoners see themselves as human beings first and as inmates secondly. Men seem to see themselves in just the reverse order. The tendency toward more women getting involved in the crime scene, and thus into prisons, is easily seen in our own Cape May County Jail statistics. In all of 1966 there were 52 adult female prisoners committed to the facility In 1976 this number had increased to 154. The figure for 1981 was 232 and the trend continues upward A portion of this increase must be attributed to the growth in both the population and the seasonal activities within our county. Mostly however, it is a reflection of newer outlooks, attitudes and lifestyles all across the land. Many more women have simply become involved in much more criminal activity. Thia continuing aerlea by the Cape May County Sheri// has been condensed for apace.

later it will all affect man. WE BIRDS WONDER AT THE IDIOCY of people We marvel that the vast populations just allow this nonsense, this violation of their human air rights to exist. We are amazed that almost no one notices that the bees and other beneficial insects are missing from the environment Where are the lightning bugs? And more important, we are stunned thdt not one fisher man is concerned about the effects these poisons and other chemicals dropped by various officiaf commissions will eventually have on the fish. There are already vast restrictions placed on clammers for clamming in polluted waters. Hasn’t anyone asked why those clam beds are polluted? Who’s doing it? Isn’t anyone worried about poisons being sprayed all over our lands just to try to save trees which can be easily replanted We also wonder why no one, not one single commission or official, has requested that our. forests be replenished Is dropping chemicals and poisons on our society man’s only solution — or is it the final solution? IF. AS MAN JJTATES. the forests are being destroyed, then why in the world hasn't anyone learned to plant another tree? Why haven’t there been massive efforts to replace the thousands of trees supposedly lost to the gypsy moth? Is it oil just a lot of politics and sales or is it just plain stupidity? Who gets the profits from chemical sprays? The outcries about the gypsy moth make many birds wonder if mortals really understand their environment, if they really appreciate what we birds andjnsects do for them. I haven’t heard one mortal state one word of concern for our safety or well being. We honestly don’t like being sprayed with poisons and yet, We have no control over the matter. Some birds are convinced that the spraying of poisons on gypsy moths is all part of a great Communist plot I mean, afterall, If the Communists want to wipe out the people the easiest way they (jOuld do it is with spray planes. Sevin is bad enough, but suppose the Sevin is accidently replaced with poisons which destroy the nerves - you know someone makes a "mistake" in loading the chemical and drops even more potent stuff on the unsuspecting world. IT WOULD SEEM THAT HUMANS have lost all their common sense in that they aren’t concerned about a "mistake" happening. I mean if they can drop a poison like Sevin, what's to prevent them fromd dropping something else? I wonder why mortals aren’t worrying about that Mistakes have happened before. Who checks the chemicals? Who flys the planes? Then we have this one bird, Doubt, who is convinced that the spray program was initiated by the federal government. Doubt said that he reacLa report once where the government tested nerve gas in New York subways. Fort Dix and other places around the country. Maybe the government, under the guise of the gyp&y moth, is testing some new chemical on the population. Maybe some little agent is sitting in that old abandoned tower at Cape May Point taking notes. One man told Doubt that there were all kinds of violations filed in Trenton against some of the people who drop these poisons. We birds wonder if the peo pie who govern are really working in the communities’ best interesU. Seems to.us they should look into things like that before they drop poisons on their children