34

editorial What the

Public Wants

fe e F^d.W it P ^T^.

lylvania.

There, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission cast aside a half-century of utilities regulation precedent by effectively ruling a stop to further construction of a multi-billion dollar nuclear reactor at the LimericK generator site in Montgomery County. It was an historic decision because up until last Friday, utility hearings in Pennsylvania (and by and large, across The U.S.) were basically a confirmation process tilted in favor of Ihe

utilities

There is little specific similarity between the $344.5 million rate hike request of Philadelphia Electric (on which there is yet no overall decision) and Atlantic Electric s proposed $172 4 million rate increase. What the Pennsylvania P1JC did was to deny PE s request tor $106 million.in construction-work-in-H ress charges associated with a second ear generator at Limerick, and to rule that there were less expensive alternatives via conservation and coalpower generation the utility should pursue. ATLANTIC ELECTRIC'S REQUEST is for funds to help pay for new equipment already on line, to offset inflationary times, and to met increasing operating and maintenance costs. About the closest comparison between the PE and AE proposals is that a small part of Atlantic Electric s rate request would go to recover the company's investment in the nowcancelled Hope Creek nuclear generator Unit 2 iiuSalcm, NJ It was thru an AE-BPU decision last year that (hat nuclear facility was abandoned - for much the same reason cited last week in Pennsylvania, Where the similarity lies may be best described in the words of the PUC chairman who, in explaining last Friday s decision in Harrisburg, said several times: “This is what the public seems to want." If the utility regulators arc now concluding that the people have power too; that the consumer is no longer sitting back and accepting higher and higher rates in fail occumpfi fashion - then, indeed, a major new tack has been set in the public/utilitics/govcrnment rate setting process: A new course in which the public is taken into account as an entity which can come up with the persuasiveexper-: tics and logical arguments heretofore thought only possible from the public utilities and government regulators.

ttw SOVERfION STATE Of AFFAIRS

DAVID BOYD

DO YOU THINK PUBLIC SCHOOLS Will BE HARMED IF TAX CREDIT IS GIVEN TO PRIVATE SCHOOL USERS?

liMHrji

reader's forum *

Pines’ Water Standard Is Reasonable

J»yJ3lomas B. Darlington

I would lilsMo corral a basic misunderstanding about the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan which appeared in\an ApnJ 28 Herald article (Pinelands Plan

Bothers Farmer&y i

The Comprehensive Management Iflan s water quality standard of two parts per million nitrate/nitrogen level

does not apply to farming operations. Although this

wa'ter quality standard was a factor in determining ap-

propriate new residential lot sizes for the Pinelands

Area, it has no bearing whatsoever on farming in Cape

'May County or anywhere else.

I FARMING OPERATIONS HAVE ALWAYS been exempt from this water quality standard as most agricultural-related development is exempt from even having to obtain Pinelands Commission approval.

As for repeated assertions that the Commission's water quality standard is too restrictive, it should be \ . noted that the water quality in undeveloped areas of the Pinelands is only 0.17 parts per million nitrate - already significantly cleaner than what the Plan requires on a lot by lot basis. The Dept. of'Environmental Protection has not taken exception to the appropriateness of the Comprehensive Management Plan’s water quality standard for the Pinelands Area. In fact, the two parts per million standard is a reasonable one considering the special quality and vulnerable nature of the 17 trillion gallon Cohansey aquifer. Thomas Darlington of New Lisbon is a farmer and Pinelands commissioner.

Dissidents Out To Discredit Qatar do

by Joseph Davis

I read with some interest Russell K. Shelly’s letter (Sees defeat for Catarcio) in your April 28 issue. He claims he knows Mr. Catarcio (Lower Township GOP leader) for a number of years and that the Republican Party has become stagnant under his leadership. First of all. Mr. Shelly. I don’t know where you got the idea the Republican Party is stagnant. Since I moved here nine years ago I have never seen the Republican

Party more viable.

OF COURSE THERE IS A GROUP of dissident Republicans who have tried in every way to discredit Mr Catarcio so that they can control the Republican Party. Mavbe this is the part of the Republican Party

Voters Not Dumb Linda A. Merrill We should be aware and leary of last minute political liters, debasing the character and personal life of candidates who arc running for office in Lower Township. It is an extremely low. but often used ploy used by some political leaders in a last-minute attempt to change the voter’s mind. In most cases, we are smart enough not to let these poison letters change our minds on candidates and

that Mr. Shelly means is stagnant. The last candidate the dissidents put up for election, James Walker, was soundly beaten at the polls. I must say that I have not seen-or heard of anyone who works more for the benefit of the Republican party than Maurice Catarcio or his assistant. Ruth Hart. Mr. Catarcio spends countless evenings working withjjhe 28 elected Republican Committee persons to select frie most responsible candidates for various elective jobs. I believe it is in the best interest of the Republican Party and Lower Township that Mr. C larcio be retained as the head of the party. Joseph H. Davis is a Villas resident. Housing Action Praised

by Joseph J. Link

I would like to thank the Lower Township Committee for the efficient manner displayed at the meeting Wednesday, April 28. concerning the proposed low income housing development. Committeemember Bieber- _ bach illustrated courage and decisiveness by initiating the motion which was seconded by committeeman Moran, and ultimately led to the defeat of this issue. Again, thank you for a job well done. Joseph J. Link, a resident of Town Bank, recently fil ed as an independent candidate for Township Committee

SO, AS THE BPU HEARINGS continue on Atlantic Electric's rate request, one of the most interesting questions is how will the hearing examiners and eventually the N.J. BPU read last Friday’s decision by the Pennsylvania PUC? Will the Harrisburg decision be seen only as further outgrowth of postThree Mile Island public senFiment and fear over potential radiation contamination from nuclear generators? Or will the decision be viewed in the broader sense as the beginning of an epoch in which the public does indeed become an equal partner in the public utilities regulation process? In the eyes of public utilities commissions everywhere, has the consumer finally come of age? That is the question. And the hope.

CAPK^MAV d V fmalu r a blit bed Emy W«l»M4*y By . ■ T** Seawavr (wp>r»U— ’ AvI—.***** John H. Andrus II Editor BonnkReina General Manager * > AdvertUIngCoordlnator Darrell ko*p Publkher 7 All I.gbti All propwty rlflMt lot Itw •ntlf* contonti d-Adl pwblxoi*ot< iholl P»ooo"T ol th* Wowovo Cotp No pot«N»t*ol moy bo toprodocod nibowl P'»o> mtiMtn coctool ' I DEADLINES Ntwi «, Photo* Thursday Advertising Friday -3 p.m. Claaatfled Advertising Friday - 3 p.m. I M7.3$iz For News Or Advertising Information | •yottkrr advrrltsm nor the oaMhhrn o< Ihe HF.RAI.il SSoVavrens .ill w mrtmiu. - Em. n. Mt«»rtaU. typographical error., elf . In any h.oe TV ed‘or reier.n the right la edll any Wler or arttrlea tabrnHIrd lor pnMIra

LANTERN

Published Every Wednewl The Branave rorporallon

I* O Box 4M CoM Spring. N J 0R2O4

Let those who use these lower than life tactics beware, voters are not the dumb people you think they are. They are sick of this kind of politics. Linda Merrill of Villas is campaign manager of Jack Moran for Township Committee. Finally, A Choice

by Mary Isepak This letter is directed to Ruth Hart, Madeline Remmey and Phyllis Genouese. (Catarcib is the best ever. last week) The people of Lower Township finally have a choice, as to whom they want for their Committee people. Twenty-eight people filed petitions, to run against those now holding this office. Isn’t is wonderful that we live in a County that allows this? Some of you, Mrs. Hart and friends, don’t think so.

Those twenty-eight people are not ‘followers’’ as you say, but ‘‘leaders." They have ideas to make this community a better place to live for all the citizens, not just a select few.

YOU SAY TO ADDRESS the issues on one hand, and then you attack Mr. Shelly on the other. Maybe you should learn a fact or two, before you start condemning someone We have some politicians in our own Political Party, who were once Democrats (President Ronald Reagan, a Cape May County Freeholder and some Committee people.) Isn’t this another one of bur Rights? The Right to change our Party affiliation. By your own admission Mrs. Hart and friends, we do not have this

Right.

You must remember Mrs. Hart and friends, that this is only the Primary, and the candidates do rely on votes from both Parties in the General Election. It seems to upset you and your Executive Committee, that twenty-eight people are exercising their Rights to run against you in the Primary. The "rhonopoly” or "honeymoon’^you have enjoyed in the jast is over.

Mary Lepak is a Villas resident.

in November.

Speed Limit: 15 Miles a Day the woodchuck sits on the free stump and sings to the rising'sap aint it awful how winter lingers in springtimes lap Old timers will recall that as one of the humorous verses of Don Marquis, a popular columnist and playwright (he wrote The Old Soak) of a couple generations back. Don credited such effusions to his articulate collaborator, ar chie the cockroach — who crept out of the woodwork in Don’s newspaper office at night, while Don was home sleeping, and left his contributions in the typewriter. Since none of archie’s legs were long enough to simultaneously touch down one key for a capital while pressing another key for a lefter, all of his words were in lower cases, (The American poet, e.e. cummings, signed his name and wrote his poetry that way, too. But there the similarity between both poets ends, except that each wrote some sly and humorous verse). IN THE CASE OF THE ABOVE POEM. Don (or rather archie) was wrong, for springtime never lingers, despite deceptive appearances. It travels steadily north at the rate of about 15 miles a day, taking an extra day for each 100 feet of altitude. For example, select a place about 300 miles north of Cape May, and a 1,000 feet higher than at sea-level location. That means it will take 20 days for Spring to travel the 300 miles between here and there, plus 10 days more for the additional elevation of 1,000 feet, the total being 30 days. Wild flowers that bloom here around May 1 will bloom there about June 1. If James Russell Lowell had written The Vision of Sir Launfol on the South Jersey Cape rather than in his part of Massachusetts, the oft-quoted lines would be: And what is so rare as a day in May? Then, if ever, come perfect days. June weather is the poet’s countryside is like May weather in Cape May bounty. —R. Leslie Chrismer of^Cape May