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opinion.

Herald & Lantern 4 May '83

Our Readers Write Facts Twisted By Leusner • To The Kdilor Apparent lx Charles M. laeusner has Iwisledlhc facts ( again He accused William Deavrr of hringing a group of members of the Middle Township Republican Club to the April ? public hearing lospeak out against the $4 4 million Middle Township proposed budget Leusner is wrong in this assumption Deaver did lead a group of peopkvtb that meeting, but over half of these con cermsl citizens' were either registered Democrats or in dependents, who are not members of the Middle Township Republican Club I don't know whore leusner got his information regar ding his assumption that Deaver is F’atricia Peterson's campaign manager It is quite obvious that 1 am Mrs Peterson's campaign manager and have been so for the past three months I'm the person who accompanies Mrs Peterson when she is campaigning and assists her in mak mg vital decisions regarding her campaign. Deaver is not involved AS. MANY OF YOt know, I'm the person who Volunteered, hundreds of hours of my time last year to assist Iveusner in going door-to-door throughtout MiddleTownship in hfs successful primary and general election campaigas for Township Committee Unfortunately, several days after the election. I realized that I had- made a terrible mistake by supporting l/eusner as it became my opinion that he and Michael Voll were not concerned with the best interests of the citizens of Middle Township l«eusner and Voll were very In strumental !>chmd my numerous reasons for changing my party affiliation to Republican on Jan II leusner states that it is rumored that Deaver will be a candidate for Middle Township Committee next year Many rumors have circulated around our township concerning Voll. including the rumor that Voll will not be the Democratic nominee for Middle Township Committee next year Hut then who believes rumors. Mr Leusner 7 ALAN MORRIS Campaign Manager Committee to Elect Peterson Rio Grande

Crest Haven Nursing Home

Crest Haven: What ‘Goody’?

To The Editor: I have mused over your April 20 story, “Crest Haven Goody’ Gone." as have many other Crest Haven employes, and feel you most certainly did not receive an accurate concept of the way things are at Crest Haven. The final straw, shall we say. in causing me to respond to your article was the remark made to me Sunday morn ing as 1 was playing the postlude at church. (I am a registered nurse at Crest Haven and a church organist.) A lady leaned over the organ and said to me, “1 see from the Herald you are having many problems at Crest Haven." I simply stated, “Grossly exaggerated,'' and said no more, but I feel the time has come to make a statement to expose the inaccuracies in the article. WE QUESTION your headline - "Crest Haven Goody' Gone 7 '' First of all, what 'goody' is gone 7 If you and Freeholder Gerald Thornton arc referring to “W days — leave Without pay as still identified on our Crest Haven time sheets — we want you to know that we never thought of a “W” day as anything good It was given to those persorts who.no longer had vacation time, personal holiday time. si<*k leave, or a regular holiday to take, and if you (of which only a few are> were one of those unfortunate persons, it certainly could not be considered a "goody” day. Also, where did Thornton get the idea that Crest Haven has hired more personnel to cover those occasional unauthorized leave days” which are not regular occurrances, and. noting from my experience here of eight * years, it takes quite a long time to hire personnel

Mosquito Meeting No Vacation

To The Editor ' I would like lo respond to a letter written by Middle Township Committ<4man Charles M I>eusner regarding the conduct of County Purchasing Agent William Deaver at the Middle Township and Cape May County budget hearings My comments have nothing to do with beaver's position or his politics, but as superintendent of the Cape May County Mosquito Extermination Commission, an autonomous agency. 1 lake exception to two remarks • regarding helicopters and vacations If l eusner had been reading several of the local papers or if he attended a meeting of his own Township Mayor’s Advisory Council on April 14 at Middle Township Hall, where I wTls requested to speak, perhaps he would have been enlightened on the cost effectiveness and necessity of |he purchase of two helicopters SECONDLY, in the March 23 edition of this newspaper, where l-eusner evidently gathered his information, it was established that five commissioners, our Entomologist and myself attended the annual meeting of the American Mosquito Control Association, Inc whose program was "jammed with symposiums " I Ho not recall the article mentioning the trip as a vacation for the members, I can assure him that it was not a vacation, but an educational and necessary seminar for all those who's expenses were paid by the commission I wonder if. within all the Middle Township departments, there is any taxpayers "monies spent for

seminars, meeting, meals and travel? These are legitimate expenses and beneficial to all, but if Leusner insists on calling the commission's attendance of the American Mosquito Control Association meetings and seminars a vacation, then I would suggest that he look to his own house as. truly, "people in glass houses shouldn't

throw stones "

I respectfully, indignantly and publicly request Leusner keep the Cape May County Mosquito Commission out of politics 1 would further suggest that he attend a few of our commission meetings to learn about mosquito control so he can get his facts straight Our job is lo control mosquitos and not play political games in the newspaper or elsewhere

JUDY HANSEN Superintendent

Cape May County Mosquito Commission

WE WORK "SHORT." The persons on duty are assigned (he patients of the person not present. As Sam Kelly stated, the attendants are not called in from home when it is found that we are going to shortstaffed — never Nurses are called in because it is a state law that we have a certain number of licensed personnel on duty at all times. No one pays the attendants extra money for the extra work they must do due to a co-worker's absence. Neither do the LPN's receive any compensation for filling in and carrying out the duties of an RN when she is off duty for regular scheduled days off, sick time, vacation or whatever. The LPN still has her assigned duties to carry out plus she must assume the responsibility of the RN on the unit where she is on duty CONCERNING the "sick woman” Thornton referred to, no one has been hired to replace her She is on an authorized leave of absence and we were told that "no one can be hired to replace her while she is an L.O.A Only when per sons resign can they be replaced.” At present we have three persons on leave of absence on '^ne shift and none have been replaced Transfers were made from one shift to another, but no new faces have been seen at Crest Haven. Referring again to the "sick woman" Thornton mentioned, she certainly had the right to attend the meeting, even though on a sick leave. We feel it very unkind to single her out for an example. She was awaiting admission to the hospital due to a serious health problem, teeing possible surgery, and was concerned about her financial situation. She wanted to hear something positive about the condition of our contract. I think you'd feel like weeping too, if you were in her circumstances. FAMILIES of Crest Haven residents must have wondered about the statements made by one of the nurses, that "only five aides were available one night to care for 140 patients." I want to correct that statement. There were seven attendants on duty and three nurses. She forgot two attendants came in late that night. Granted, this is not a large staff Finally. I yould like to throw the ball back to Thornton and invite him to demonstrate his concern and interest in us at Crest Haven by coming to visit us. not just the administrator and the director of nurses, but his other employes, of whom he states he has such a high regard. We used to see Freeholder William Sturm frequently when he was in charge of Crest Haven, all shifts With closer contact. Thornton would certainly understand what really is happening to the employes at Crest Haven, and why we are concerned about the very low morale of the persons who are responsible for and performing the care of our ('rest Haven residents HELEN JANE COX. RN Crest Haven Nursing Home

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LANTERN

‘Options’ Will Ruin a Budget

By JOE ZELNIK

Friend of mine bought a $7,000 car — for $11,000. If that’s confusing, you haven't looked at a new car price sticker lately. Among the "options” nowadays are deluxe windshield wipers, mirrors and a spare tire. If those things are "options,” I suppose it's only a matter of time until a pair of blue jeans costs $20 plus $1 apiece for each "optional" pocket and $3.50 for a "optional" zipper fly. The most expensive car option was an air-conditioner at $732 I just saw an ad for central air-conditioning for an entire house at $R95 Surely an air-conditioning system that can cool a sixroom house should be able to cool at least four dinky cars. I’m thinking of buying a home system for $895. breaking it down to four car coolers at, say. $500 apiece, and making a profit of $1,100 At that rate, I should be able to retire by October PRICES TODAY are crazy The same friend with the $7,000 $11,000 car pays $14 for a haircut in Court House i that includes a tip of $1 apiece for a washer and a cutter ) Another friend swears she paid $17 ($20. with tip) for her son's haircut in Cape May (it was pretty long, she reasons). I've got news for local barbers — I mean hair stylist — in this low-income, economically depressed county A haircut in the wealthy Philadelphia suburbs, by a young ladv who throws in a brief neck massage, runs $6.50 to $8 50 Local barbers had just better hope those Philadlephia area barbers don't hear about the prices down here they

could migrate, double their income and get a suntan. And all we ordinary people would save money I used lo pay 65 cents for a haircut 25 years ago (and got one every three 10 days) No, my memory isn't that good, but I used to live by a budget and I dug out a copy from 1957 the other day. I WAS IN THE ARMY killing Communists at Fort Benning, Ga., in those days. My rent was $65 and my monthly car payment was $48.33 a month (I know people paying $250 nowadays) That was for a 1856 Chevy that was about 44 times better than anything on the road today Not only did it run great, but it was beautiful. Young girls would practically throw themselves under its wheels. Now I drive a '76 Olds and even middle-aged ladies don't look. See how cars have deteriorated? I saw a '55 Chevy go by our office just the other day. I'd pay a buck just to ride around the block in that car I TOOK HOME $360 a month in 1957 (I think that included a "dependent's allowance"), spent $70 a month for groceries, and saved $100 a month. Nowadays I make almost twice that and can't save a cent. My 1957 budget even had a category called "miscellaneous” in which I kept track of every penny I spent: Movie, 50 cents (for two), toothpaste. 25 cents; library book fine. 14 cents; dinner for two at the Ambassador Room. $9 Now it's pretty hard to get out of a dinner-for-two situation without spending $50 Actually. I find the price varies considerably depending on still another "option.” For reasons not clear to me. dates with women who color their hair blonde cost twice as much as dates with brunettes No wonder they have more fun