Herald & Lantern 28 September 'S3

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Standards Committee

Said Sen. Hurley Erred

Early last month, the state legislature's Joint Committee on Ethical Standards voted unanimously to reprimand state Sen. James R. Hurley for accepting (10,000 from a client of his public relations firm who sold a Millville lakefront property to the state. The bipartisan committee accepted Hurley's testimony that he did nothing to earn the fee from a Wawa Inc. iubsidiary beyond referring the company to a Trenton law firm which negotiated the $3 million sale of 4,600 acres around Union Lake last July. Accepting the (10,000, though, constituted an error in judgment on Hurley’s part, the committee concluded, since it could create a justifiable impression that the public trust was violated. The committee decided Hurley’s action warranted the third reprimand it has handed out in 10 years. COMMITTEE MEMBERS answered in the negative the question of whether Hurley used his legislative influence to benefit a client of his public relations firm, Hurley Associates. They ruled that he had acted solely on behalf of his constituents and not the Wawa subsidiary when he wrote a November, 1979 letter to the state Department of Environmental Protection urging it to purchase the Union Lake land. Because his Democratic opponent, Vineland lawyer Christopher H. Riley,-Jr., has criticized the committee decision and regards the reprimand as e matter of integrity, it has become a campaign issue which both candidates agreed to discuss. “I fdt very comfortable about what the . outcome would be,” Hurley said, noting, however, that the ethics panel "fdt very inHfniHutwH by the press.” WHAT DIDN'T COME OUT in media accounts of the land deal, he said, was that the Wawa subsidiary he represented, Maurice River Co., had been trying to get out of the land development business since 1977. , , The Wood family, which controls Wawa, had owned 7,000 acres around Union Lake since 1804, and had unsuccessfully attempted to attract development to the land. Hurley explained. “They called on me,” he added, when the subsidiary decided to quit the land business Despite impression to the contrary, "the state had wanted it (the lakefront property) for years,” said the senator, "but that never came out” in news account of the Union Lake story. Also implied in those articles was a lucrative relationship between Hurley, the public relations executive, and a major convenience store firm. Although the Wawa patriarch is a friend of the senator’s, Hurley said be has repeatedly been unable to sign the parent company as a client of Hurley Associates.

STERNS. HERBERT N D WEINROTH, is the upstate law firm that pegotiatod the multi-million dollar Union /Lake sale to the state. According to ethics 'committee testimony, Richard Weinroth, a partner in the firm, suggested that Hurley receive a (10,000 fee for bringing the Wawa subsidiary and his firm together. The subsidiary had beet, reluctant to hire the firm. Hurley, said, because the firm wanted a substantial amount up - front. The actual fee was paid by the subsidiary but the law firm absorbed half the cost by reducing its legal bill to the Wawa company, by (S,000, the testimony shows. 'TTie only thing thst they (committeemembers) questioned was . the fee,” Hurley notes. He could have been accused of violating state law if the ethics committee found that Hurley accepted that fee in exchange for help in persuading the state to pur chase the lakefront property. The Republican incumbent called the committee probe thorough and its decision fair, but his Democratic challenger faulted the committee for not investigating the matter. "I don’t feel the ethics decision in any wey answers the questions,” said Riley. "I don’t believe what has been told to us.” IN TOE LATE I*7is, he recalled, Wawa was told to repair the Union Lake Dam at an estimated cost of (600,000 to (1 million and tljen decided to unload the lake property in a sale Hurley advocated. "I don’t know what constituents be was representing,” Riley observed, alluding to the committee findings regarding Hurley’s letter to the state DEP, while noting that economically depressed Millville lost tax ratables with the sale." The DEP, Riley added, agreed to pay the Wawa subsidiary 18 percent more than the assessed value of the property As First District Senator, Hurley had the duty to press for a lower price — particularly since the dam needed repairs. But, says Riley, "the conflicting situation he was placed in (as senator and public relations representative for the subsidiary) did not allow him to do that." After the sale was concluded. Hurley accepted the (10,000 fee, Riley noted "This is an obvious ethics violation on the part of the law firm” be insisted. “And, I find great difficulty believing that a corporation would pay (10,000 for (Hurley) simply picking up a telephone." That finders’ fee, Riley complains, was 83,000 more than the per capita income in Cumberland County. "His argument is really with the committee,” Hurley said of Riley “He said I’m going to make it an issue,” Riley concludes, "I have trouble getting away from it as an issue."

Computers In Schools Get Boost

WASHINGTON - Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) has introduced legislation establishing a four-year, pilot program authorizing (150 million in annual federal grants to local schools for the purchase of classroom computer hardware and software, teacher computer

training, and computer

curricula planning

Lautenberg said: "Computer education will play an important role in revitalizing American education and our

economy. In fact, com-

puter based instruction can be a tool for teaching conventional literacy. The economic edge we keep in computers will only be as sharp as the educated minds we send to the computer keyboards. To be competitive in the international economy, we need educational excellence.”

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Soccer, Yes; But Jobs, No

(From Page 1) to sod than to plant grass," he said Allen Carter, manager of the sodsupplier, Tuckahoe Turf Farms, said he thought sodding would require more un skilled labor than seeding. “Sodding has to be done with manual labor," he said. "Grass seed uses more machines ' ’ He said a machine lays the sod in three, 16-inch wide strips and “laborers pull it together." COUNTY AGRICULTURAL Agent Larry E. New bold said be felt the amount of labor needed "is about equal as far as I’m concerned." Legislation creating the emergency jobs bill, entitled "Small Business Assistance for Landscaping Parks and Public Recreation Areas," stated that “...every reasonable attempt will be made to assure that the funds result ih the employment of the maximum number of otherwise unemployed individuals and will result in benefits of lasting value to the public." Watson said the Cape May County project is “as job intensive as any of the others.” Sources pointed out that sodding is more expensive than planting grass. County Agent Newbold said sodding was “maybe double the cost, but there are a lot of variables. TTiere are many ways to approach this. It depends on your pocketbook ” THE, SOD WILL COST (21.407. the low bid oft Tuckahoe Turf Firms for 12.667 square yards of bluegrass. The project also will spend (2,381 for a permanent irrigation system, (1,000 for an electric system to operate a pump, (3,500 for fencing around an‘8-10-feet deep water hole, and (1,720 for two sets of soccer goals and nets. Most of the labor is being done by employes of the county and Lower and Middle townships. “If we had to pay for the labor and gas and trucks, it could have cost (75.000," said Fulginitti. State officials said the county could get additional money to make up part of the difference between the cost of the project and the federal alalocations. THE EMERGENCY JOBS bill provided (50 million in federal funds. New Jersey got (1.4 million based on its unemployment

figures, and counties got their allocations according to their percent of the state's total unemployed, according to Watson. He said the state used a county unemployment figure of 8,300, or 2.56 percent of the state's total of 324,600. The county'6 original share was increased, be said, when Burlington County chose not to participate and its money was realloc ted Now, be said, some projects are costing less than anticipated and any leftover money will be reallocated in a supplemental grant One advantage of sod over planting grass is that the grass “could even be questionable next spring.” "Sodding produces a useful field much quicker." said Cfirter “It takes three weeks or more to establish good root. Seeding requires a year." Fulginitti said the field ‘-‘has to set and can’t be used until March " ORIGINAL PLANS were for one field, he said, but after it was determined two could be placed at thesite, “Roads Depart ment cleared the land for us. It took a lot of fill and a lot of help from Middle and Lower and County roads departments plus Parks employes." The location was chosen to serve both Lower and Middle townships, he said "We’ve had Lower Township people hollering for* soccer fields," he said "We decided this would be the place to do it. It's in Middle, but it borders Lower and will benefit both. Tbfey’U have national tournaments here." KENNETH KIRSH of Villas, president of the Cape Express Traveling Soccer Club, said be expects the field to be used primarily for its three teams for players . under age 10, under 12, and under 14. They’ve been playing at the Richard M Teitelman School field, he said. It also will be used for the Cape May County Soccer League, a recreational league with 69 teams for youngsters ages 7 to 16, he said. “This sport has taken off in the last three years like no other sport around," he saici. Other traveling teams include two in Up- . ' per Township, he said, and the Cape May Crusaders with players from Stone Harbor and Avalon. It’s estimated that some 2,000 youths participate in school and recreation soccer leagues in the county.

ATTENTION PARENTS OF 9TH GRADE STUDENTS OF LOWER CAPE MAY REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL 9TH GRADE BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT WILL BE HELD ON TUESDAY; OCTOBER 4, 1983 BEGINNING AT 7:00 P.M.

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