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Herald & Lantern 5 October '83

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Koll: ; Spare Pat's Board

By JOE-ZELNiK COURT HOUSE - Mike Voll 'pleading" with alocal business man lo spare Pat Peterson's billboard? The Democratic mayor of Middle Township saying ’ please don't take down" the re-election sign of the Republican -committee member’’ v - It all happened in Middle Township this weekend But. it all started last spring when Peterson's Democratic opponent, James Alexis, sold his Garden Lake Mobile Home Park on Route 9 in Whitesboro to Thomas Kapp Kapp. who also bought . from Hunt’s Theatres some land adjacent and across the ' road, came to the _ township committee for approval of adding another 100 sites to the 250-site park Voll and committee memb'er Charles M Leusner voted yes. Peterson voted no THE "NO' 1 DIDN'T mean much since the plan ” mng and zoning boardk^jso approved But Kapp cnon't forget. . Last week. Kapp came Put and saw a “Re-elect Peterson Middle Township Committee” message on a billboard on his property He <?«xamined his deed

[reeiect PAT IPETERSON MIDDLE TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE VOTE COLUMN I NOV 8

u

Are These the

Hiring

The Controversial Billboard and found nothing indicating the billboard owner, the R.C. Maxwell Co. of Atlan tic City, had a lease for the

grouhd

Kapp got on the phone to Maxwell , where an embarrassed vice president. George Harvey, found that the lease had expired. “THIS IS A FLUKE, one of. those leases that got away from us." he told the Herald and Lantern. “We have so many, accumulated over 89 years We lost tracjt of jt somewhere in the hinderlands " Somewhere in the' hinterlands, Kapp said he wanted Peterson's message-gone "I'm not Kgainst anyone," said Kapp, “but she is against me, and how can I support someone that's againsUne?" In no time at all, Peter son and county GOP chairman Philip A. Matalucci were involved "I CALLED KAPP," said Peterson, “and he said, T just don't want your name up there after you gave me a kick in the

teeth.’ ”

Mataluoci pointed out that th«vRepublicans had leased 22 billboards for $350

apiece for ooe and one-half

months

"We paid for a sign," said Matalucci. “Anything the organization can do to help her, we will — 1,000

per cent

Enter Voll. who said v Kapp called him over the weekend to ask his pinion. "HE WAS GOING to take it down," siid Voll. "I told him please don't because the candidate paid for the sign'and it will look like the opposition had something lo do with R. I pleaded with the man to keep it up so nobody could say she's being picked on. “I dph’t care," added Voll ‘"hiat's not going to win the election " That convinced Kapp “Voll is a good guy,’ 1 he - said. “They treated us terrifically, so we'll go along I harbor nothing against Mrs. Peterson." v HARVEY, WHO still has to negotiate a lease with Kapp, said some leases do permit the land owners to limit the message "Some people used to ask for no alcohol ads a few years ago,” he said. ."We don’t really know what's, going on down there.” be said. “We try not to get involved in local' politics, but unfortunately you do\sometimes get caught in the middle."

COURT HOUSE - Bitter complaints about hiring practices ping ponged in election-bound Middle Township this week in the aftermath, of Township Committee member -Patricia PetersoVs unilateral appointment of two young men to the Roads Department she . heads. In the center of the controversy are Robert Vi to la, 20, and Joseph McCarraher, 2l, both of Rio Grande, who were hired as laborers by Peterson, effective Sept. 26. A former Democrat, she is seeking reelection as a Republican in November. Responding to rumors and complaiats. Mayor Michael Voll, a Democrat, had background checks done on both men. 'Hiey revealed, he said, that both omitted significant information from their job applications. vitola. Voll said, did not report his last job or the fact that he was collecting disability compensation. He could not be reached, , but his father said he was no longer on disability. McCarraher, Voll said, did not report a criminal record. He could not be reached to comment. Police files show he received two years probation and a $500 fine in April of 1982 after burglary-theft charges. But, Voll said, his major questions are why the men were hired at this time and why it was not done by resolution by the three committee members, “the

Right Men?

Fuss in Middle

way we were instructed new hiring should be done two or three months ago by Solicitor Bruce Gorman " “Hiring has never been done by resolution until this year,” said Peterson. "IS THERE REALLY a need?" asked Voll “Roads work slows down at this time <rf year. There’s no more money for blacktopping. It would be more fiscally responsible to save the money for next year. Peterson said the Roads Department had 20 employes in 1979 and was down to 16 when she hired the two men. “If she can prove there is a need,” Voll said, “and if these are the right men for the job, I have no problem with it." Voll said the committee would discuss the hirings at a closed portion of today’s work session slated for 3 p.m. in the township building. A vote on hiring them will follow, he said. THE LABORER jobs pay $8,500 a year plus about $3,000 worth of benefits, Voll said.. “I have two manilla folders full of job applications, about 200 of them," said Voll. “I didn’t know we were hiring anybody." "And she (Peterson) has always been an advocate that this kind of job should be advertised,” he said. "But she didn’t do it.” Voll said he questioned if there were “political motives" behind the hirings. He said Vitola has Peterson bumper stickers on his truck, and McCarraher has a Peterson sign

on his lawn POLITICS has nothing to do with their hiring," said Peterson She said the sign on Me Carraher's lawn belonged to his landlord, James DePasquale Mrs. Def’as quale verified that to the Herald and Lantern. “I needed two men." Peterson said. “They live in the township. McCarraher has been all over the county trying to get a job. He’s got a wife and a one-year-old. I’ll give anybody a second chance." “I'm not picking on this man,” said Voll, "but I’m not sure the township should be doing the rehabilitating.” * “Three-quarters of the Roads Department has a record,” said Peterson. “I'm not the bead of the Road Department," said Voll. "But there are a lot of hard-working people there and I don’t like to see them smeared.”

“J’LL HAVE TO BLOW the whistle on the rest of the-people they’ve hired,” said Peterson. “They had a man in the Recreation Department who worked with kids and had a drugs record.” ’ “I don’t know what she's talking about," said Voll. “Thty’ve hired police after their background checks recommended they not be hired,” said Peterson. “No men that I ever hired,” said Voll. “The police get the most extensive background check."

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