Herald & Lantern 26 January '83

22: ^ An Editorial There's Money Out There Money ig moving. Cape May County's financial institutions got as much as $100 million richer ir the last six weeks What happened is that the federal government lifted ceilings on interest rates and the banks and savings and loans introduced new, insured money market accounts with high introductory interest rates To a startling degree, customers pulled out of money market mutual funds and reinvested in their local financial institutions Nationwide, about $111 billion flowed into the insured money market accounts, more than $30 billion coming from money market mutual funds Cape May County bankers were astounded at the amount of investment money that came into their coffers This county may have 23 percent unemployment and long lines for federal surpluir?heese, but it also has a lot of wealthy people The consumer will have to be sharp-eyed to assure that all this bodes well for him The financial iastitutions are free to pay whatever interest they want and to change rates as often as they want Most are not bending over backward to inform their customers of the latest interest rates, which are declining And there is plenty of very fine print about what balance the interest applies to, how often it's compounded, etc This is the free enterprise system and competition at work There is a rate war out there every bit as brutal as a gasoline price war. but the money one can make or lose is much piore significant In most cases it will notjpay for customers to switch their money back and for® to save a few tenths of a percentage point in interest But they should be aware, and wary With that proviso, all this should be good news for Cape May County, which could use some good news The money is^lowing into local financial institutions that prefer to loan to local individuals and businesses They should lower interest rates to borrowers and that could bring increased construction and development Jobs, year round, should follow The Harbison Walker closing makes the need desperate Bdl Cape May County has an optimistic future It has none of the limitations of America's stagnant steel towns for example Economic growth will come And the free food lines should shorten

()or Rejders Wriff Think of the People By William Mclntirr I could not lieliovc your report that the Freeholders plan to raise their salaries by 25 percent I think this is a disgrace This country is going through tough times and yet they have the nerve to give themselves a $3,000-3 year raise Cape May County has one of the highest unemployment rates in this stale and we need our Freeholders and every elected official to display a little leadership and "Toe the lane " What our Freeholders have done is an lasult to every person who is on a fixed income or who works for a living

Letter From St. lohn Someone’s Listening By Jane Ann Cunningham We arrived in the U S. Virgin Islands in time for the swearing in of the new legislature, which is always interesting — and often amusing Amost everthing that happens here gets full and live coverage by T V and radio As a result, the average Virgin Islander knows more about what is going on in the territory than we do about what is going on in our town, Cape May County, or the state A nightly radio audience participation show often has ; heads of department or Senators call in after a caller has made a complaint This docs not necessarily mean things are done better, or the problem solved, but at least someone is listening. THE U S. VIRGIN ISLAND elect their own governor. It. governor and fifteen senators (a unicameral legislature) This time the house was divided 7-8, but one of the majori ty group was in the hospital. The minority members all arrived for the 10 a m opening, but none of the majority party did ■* ‘ j, The minority senators voted to adjourn (in the hope of convincing one of the majority to switch sides), but after hot and heavy discussions, a judge decided that, since there was no quorum, no vote could be taken. An hour later, the 8 majority members arrived, en masse, including one by ambulance from the hospital, who was brought in by stretcher The rules and structure of the 15th Legislature were passed 8-7, after bitter denunciations were made on the minority's being forced to vote for rules they hadn't had a chance to read AS THE YEAR GOES ON. there will be shifting of groups, depending on the content of the bills The Democrats vs Republicans of course There are always battles between the Crucians (from St Croiz) and the St Thomians. St John's one senator spends her time trying to get benefits for her island There is always at least one argument between senators of Virgin Island birth and those who are not (mostly of Puerto Rican descent > It is interesting that 4 of the 15 senators are women Except for Avalon, what other legislative body do you know of with 26.fi percent female members'’ Jane Ann Cunningham of Avalon is the former publisher of the Herald

Our Readers Write Sea Isle Sliding Into Civic-Hell? By Arthur Murray Appell Whtm a private home owner is "kid-vandalized," (my flagpole to display the Stars and Stripes was destroyed), t^ert is a moment of intense loathing, There is temptation to sheer away from contact with one’s neighbor As for the outrageous indignity itself, the next thought is to take an independent line of reprisal altogether; but that has to be resisted. In a community tactfully at least, agreed to a Western Civilization concept, one has to trust in the professional competence of the police force. But far more to the point, we should know that the political, force back of It supposedly, is not sycophantic to the interests of a lust for the money-greed. There is doubt here Since the fatal decision of local government to jettison the idea of private small home ownership in favor of the glowering "Condos" and the utterly despicable rentalbarracks, the inevitable is happening increasing destruc tion of a peece-of-mind and trust in the living here upon these barrier islands. SIMPLY PUT, it is this: a place like Sea Isle is restricted environmentally to what physically it "can take" from a cramming-in of population — and the ultimate "smash," is the ignoring of the quality of that crammed-in population. Where you have increasing numbers of feckles, progenitors caring less and less about their responsibilities due to a civilized community because they will not or cannot discipline or even control their progeny, you are going to have here the same hell from which (don't lie about it) we all have fled from in the veritable hell of "the metropolis." It is a waste, a scrambling waste of effort and courage on the part of a faithful police force which indeed, has to stand-by, defeated by a stupidity of vulpine citizens, and its hands tied by sycophantic politician^ (judges) who always pander to "the vote." RUTHLESS, SENSELESS vandalism is the work solely of children who are on the prowl incessantly without supervision from their parents. The sooner the more intelligent citizens realize this and face it squarely, the sooner we will stop the slide into the civic-hell we are heading for. No place on earth is decent or safr to live in unless we can rely upon our well-intentioned boys and girls not to indulge in the anarchy of which all immature minds are most certainly capable of I wish passionately that Sea Isle does not become just one more hate-spitting metropolis. Arthur Murray Appell of Sea Isle is a member of the American Legion and li/e-member of the Disabled American Veterans Report Abandoners * By Vincent McMahon Abandoning animals along the roadside is not only cruel, but subject to state law and fine We are asking that any one seeing animals being abandoned please call Animal Welfare Society, 465-3403, as soon as possible, giving lag number of vehicle and time and location of same Vincent McMahon of Villas is a member of the Animal Welfare Society

Maybe it's time these rascals in the Cape May County Court House-Think of the people first instead of their wallets William Mclntire writes from Rio Grande

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LANTERN

Bring Me Your Warming Drink

By Joe Zelnik Potpourri is one of those strange words with a silent "t" and a spicy smell. It’s probably popular because it suggests the person using it may be very smart Actually, when a newspaper ciftumnist offers you pot pourri, he's usually saying he's too frazzled to concentrate on a single topic and, instead, is presenting a medley of miscellaneous things with little conn&tions. The intent of my potpourri is to give you nuggets of useful information, like this: Mail a $10, tax-deductible contribution to the National Arbor Day Foundation, Arbor Lodge 100. Nebraska City. NE. 68410, and they will send you. postage-paid a 3-4-foot-tall black walnut tree with planting instructions According to the foundation, the tree is guaranteed to grow, or will be replaced free The black walnut bears sweet, edible nuts, will grow to 80-100 feet tall mot sure how many weeks that lakes > and then you can either sit in its shade or chop it down and make furniture How's that for a good deaP IE YOU DON'T LIKE walnuts, or don’t have $10, the Progressive Gardening Institute Inc P.0 Box 500. Morrison. TN. 37357, will send you, shipping paid, two, 3-5-feet tall dwarf apple trees <one yellow delicious, one red delicious) in return for a $7 50 tax deduct i hie donation If you like apples, but can't wait for the trees to grow, the Ugly Mug in Cape May has an "Apple Knocker" drink that floats a bite of apple in few assorted liquids and for only $2 00 makes you feel like spring on the coldest January night As a public service to those who can't make it to the Mug, or don't have $1 20, I am running a "Warming Drink" contest and will share the winning recipe with

readers in a future column. Put together your best cold-weather drink (alcoholic or not), and bring it to the Herald and Lantern office between 9 and 5, Tuesday through Friday. A panel of three persons with cold feet will judge the entries Prizes arc to be determined There will be a special reward of the current issue of the Herald and Lantern for anyoric who can find our office at 1180 Rt 109 in Cold Spring I CONSIDERED having the entries brought to my home evenings, instead, when they would certainly be more appreciated. But I'm hardly ever home; it's too cold there. When I walk around in my place, smoke comes out of my mouth And I don’t smoke I haven't yet determined whether that’s endemic to winter in Cai>e May. or indicative of a faulty heating system Besides, I didn't want my address in Cape May County's most widely read newspaper for fear newspaper groupies would be pounding at my door 1 have never understood the public's fascination with journalist We're no better than anybody else. We’re not as handsome as actors We re not as rich as realtors We're not as educated as professors We don’t dress as well as bankers We don't work as hard as clammers. I SUPPOSE there is an illusion out there that people in thanews media are powerful and privileged Well, there is fllfoccasional privilege. Just last week. Chick-fil-A Inc of fered me a few sandwiches if I would drive to Pennsauken. But being a journalist doesn't open all doors. Guarantee Bank, for example, has twice turned down my request for ji credit card If it does that once more, I'm going to start misspelling its name That's the power of the press