NewsDigest

The

Week's Top Stories

1,000 Sweethearts

WILDWOOD — A thousand persons at convention hall sang “Let Me Call You Sweetheart" to the accompaniment of the New Jersey Pops Orchestra Sunday night in the second annual “Gala Champagne Concert" to benefit Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital. With the culture came more than $3,000'worth of hors d’oeuvres, supplied at cost by Neil's Steak & Oyster House, and more than $1,000 worth of champagne (about 500 bottles), supplied at cost by Bill Bergy’s Anglesea Liquor Store. Union Trust Company of Wildwood, a co-sponsor, put in about $3,000 in “seed money,” according to Charles E. Pessagno, chairman. The orchestra and guest artist were paid about $8,000 and Burdette netted $5,000 which is $2',000 more than last year.

Wait’ll Next Year CAPE MAY — Next year’s New Jersey Pops Orchestra gala champagne concert (see above) won’t be the New Jersey Pops Orchestra’s only performance in the county, according to Charles E. Pessagno, co-chairman. He’s working on bringing the orchestra to Cape May’s 350th anniversary with a free, outdoor concert in front of Congress Hall on the 4th of July.

How Long A Wait? DOWNTOWN STRATHMERE - The Deauville Inn’s proposal for an outdoor bayside bar was “taken under advisement" by township committee last week. The inn says the 23-feet-wide, 83-feet-long wooden deck would be used primarily foi (Page 20 Please)

Committees to Handle

Vandals Mar New Soccer Fields

DEL HAVEN — Two soccer fields on Bay Shore Road have been vandalized before they could even be dedicated. The fields in the undeveloped, 1,300-acre Cape May County Park South cost more than $31,000. About $25,000 of that came from federal funds, the remainder from the county. 1 ^ Work was completed the last week in September, but the newly-sodded field has already been damaged by persons riding on it with bicycles and motor bikes, accor-

ding to Leon Fulginiti, executive director of the county park commission. He also reported that the pumphouse for the irrigation system was broken into the equipment tampered with, but with “no real damage.” And some leftover rolls of sod were stolen, Fulginiti said THE FIELDS are to be dedicated at a ceremony on Oct. 23. Soccer isn’t slated to begin until February or March, he said. Two sets of goal posts and nets and four

sets of bleaches remain in storage. The fields are intended primarily for the Cape Express Traveling Soccer Club and the Cape May County Soccer League. Fulginiti said the field has since been posted with "No Trespassing" signs and is being patroled by Lower and Middle township police. • He said soccer players, coaches and families also are keeping an eye on the new fields.

Juveniles

By JOE ZELNIK COURT HOUSE - The Cape May County Probation Department hopes to form four Juvenile Conference Committees to deal with less serious incidents by firsttime offenders. The committees would relieve the courts and also are thought to be “more effective in deterring future occurrences,” according to Walt Craig, juvenile intake coordinator with.the department “Everybody says the court is not tough enough on juveniles," said Craig. “This will afford people who are concerned about the supposed increase in juvenile delinquency an opportunity to become involved.” THE COMMITTEES are considered an extension of the court, he said They can’t put juveniles in correctional institutions or on probation, but they can require them to attend drug or alcohol screening sessions and counseling, perform community work, make restitution, write letters of apology, etc. Craig said he hopes by the end of the y^ar to have a Lower Cape May County Committee to serve Lower Township. Cape May and the Wildwoods; a Middle Cape May County Committee to serve Rio Grande, Middle Township! Stone Harbor, Avalon and Dennis Township; and an Upper Cape May County Committee to serve Upper Tow'nship, Sea Isle City and Ocean City. “I’m not sure where to put Woodbine.” he said. "It’s a hardship to get to Ocean City. Once I have the first three, I hope, to create a fourth for Woodbine and possibly South Dennis." Craig said there was a Lower Cape May County Juvenile Conference Committee from January 1981 to April of this year It slopped operating, he said, because of a lack of members There were’eight, he (Page 20 Please»

Muziani: Elect Republicans

Jht> State Assembly Race ED. NOTE: Four contenders are campaigning for two First District seats in the state Assembly. The two candidates who garner the most votes in Cape May and Cumberland counties will win election to the fl8,000-a-year, part-time legislative jobs that will pay $25,000 next year. Last week, the Herald and Lantern profiled the Democratic challengers; this \ week, the Republican incumbents.

Chinnici: ‘We Want Our Share’

Democratic Assembly candidate Edward H. Salmon is urging First District voters to replace incumbent Republican assemblymen with Democrats — predicting a better deal from the Democrat-con-trolled state Legislature. “That’s got to be just the most ridiculous thing I ever beard," countered one of the

GUY F. MUZIANI

incumbents, Guy F. Muziani, 58. of Wildwood. Democrats control the statehouse and the flow of bills, he argued, “but the governor makes the final decision" on which of those bills become law. “You’ve got to have a Republican legislator if you have a Republican governor," Muziani insisted, noting that (ft)P Gov. Thomas Kean will be in office at least until 1985 and “will be more responsive" to a veteran Republican assemblyman from Cape May and Cumberland counties than a freshman Democrat. "AND CAPE MAY AND Cumberland counties are on the short end of it," he add-

State sales taxes produce $2 billion each year for New Jersey’s treasury, according to GOP AssemblymapJoseph Chinnici, 64, of Bridgeton; “and we just feel that^Cape May County produces a lot of that revenue "We want our share,” he added, complaining that the county is short-changed by the state on returns of sales taxes paid i by Cape tourists and the county’s tourism businesses. For years, said the seasonal politician, he has been prodding the state to release a county breakdown of sales tax receipts "I think this time we’re going to get it," Chihnici said of a bill he recently sponsored to

The Herald/Lantern Interview by E. j. Duffy \ |

ed, alluding to appropriations from the state. "So residents have to recognize that, if anything's going to happen, it will be through a Republican governor .and Republican Legislature. “And that means electing two Republican assemblymen and one' Republican senator from the First District," Muziani maintained. Currently, Cape May and Cumberland counties are represented by Muziani, Assemblyman Joseph Chinnici of Bridgeton and Sen. James R. Hurley of Millville. The three GOP incumbents are (Page 18Please) .

force the issue. J "WE WANT TOft.ND out exactly what June, July and Augast bring into the state coffers,” Chinnici explained, referring to the county’s summer sales tax figures "And we want some of it (returned; for tourism, for beach protection etc.” Chinnici is sure the tax records will show that, despite the seasonal nature of the local tourism industry, the Cape contributes a disproportionally large amount in state sales taxes (wtftp its 82,000 population — the second smallest of state counties — is considered). If the Legislature approves his bill and the^records are

released, they will justify his call for a bet ter return of.that revenue from the state, he argued. “I think one of the most important things in Cape May County, and Cumberland County too. is protection of the Delaware Bay area," the assemblyman continued. (Page 18 Please)

Doru Ward

Joseph Chinnici