Herald & Lantern 26 October '83

Jim none: ‘We Missed the Boat

i From Page I» spending machine' and "a white elephant that will break the backs of everybody in the county " lie said it has spent more than $500 million in its dozen years existence and "at one point they were spen ding $12 million a month " lannonefocused on the "Menhaden Pur chase" in which, he said, the MUA paid .S B Kamagosa & Son $14 million for a sewage tre..' - lent plant site on Rio Grande Boulevard in diddle Township one day after Kamagosa bought it for $750,000 I'm for the American Way and everybody making a good profit." he said, ■but not three-quarters of a million*dollars in one day. on property valued at less than $750,000. "THE MUA HAS WASTED time and money since it was formed. " said lannone . Federal matching money has dropped from 90 percent to around 55 percent, he said. "We missed the boat on getting our fair share of matching funds." Now he'd forget, for the time being, about building new sewage treatment plants and "look to upgrading existing plants '•They’re going to spend millions and millions to build what we already have, primary treatment, and dump it in the ocean.” he said. “It doesn't make sense to me My proposal is to try to hold off until we’ve got the proper funding "It may never come.” he conceded, “but if the EPA and DEP want us to do this, they should help us The money has to be provided for in some fashion." IF THE COUNTY TRIES to do the job with local funds, he said. "People on fixed income would have tc leave Some in

Ocean City are already paying $1,500 a/ year for water and sewer " lannone has no objection to the MUA's plans for a landfill in Woodbine, but he said he's “not sure” about transfer stations to reduce the trip from trash source to the

landfill

And he would try voluntary, not mandatory, recycling. "We did it in World War II," he said. “It may be difficult for people to get used to it, but I’d like to try it voluntary first. You can get more bees with honey than with vinegar," lannone charges the amount of money raised by county taxes has increased by 50 percent since 1980, the year his opponents were reelected This has happened, he said, at the same time the county carries a large surplus, “I'm told it's an age-old tradition to have a surplus so they don’t have to hit the citizens (with a tax hike) every year,” he said. "A surplus plus a tax increase doesn’t make sense." IANNONE SAID most residents don’t realize what portion of their tax bill goes to the county because local tax collectors col-

lect it.

"They (taxpayers) give their check to the municipal clerk,” he said, “and don’t take the time to look for the portion for county government." lannone is doing that for them with a chart that shows what percent of each municipality’s local tax dollar goes to the county. It ranges, he said, from 16 percent in Wildwood and Woodbine to 74 percent in Upper Township, where there is no local purpose tax. ■ The countywide average, lannone said is 34 percent

"What are we getUng for it?" he asked. “I don't know. They keep the roads cleaned and repaired." lannone would expand county services in three areas: health, education, and economifc development. "HEALTH CARE is slim because of cutbacks in state and federal dollars." he said. "We have a large senior citizen population We need more health services for the elderly and needy. ” lannone said he would put "miniclinics" in “almost" every community in the

county.

He also favors a community college and disagrees with incumbent freeholders that it would be too expensive. “I agree it would be too costly if we had to go out on a limb for capital im-

home as a possible community college location once a new home is opened. He called the Private Industry Council (PIC), merged with Atlantic County.this month, "a good concept." but said it should be doing more to identify occupa-

tions needed.

He said centralized fire-police dispatch

"deserves consideration."

HE ATTACKED the freeholders earlier this year for proposing a $3,000-a-year pay increase, from $12,000 to $15,000, and said

he would vote against any hike.

Being self-employed, he said, he "can afford to put the time into the freeholder

jot."

lannone owns Sands Department Store in Sea Isle City, which he bought from his father. Matthew. inl969. He also became a

Bon^-Shirley: Government Too Costly

< From Paee 11 ^ .

'From Page 1)

mine if it can be improved. You can usual-

ly cut costs almost anyplace.”

Bond-Shirley used to attend freeholder meetings 20 years ago when she was a part-time correspondent and proof reader for the former Cape May County Gazette. She also was working as a staff correspon dent for the Atlantic City Press and as a local correspondent for the Ocean City

Sentinel Ledger at the same time

Since then, however, she remembers attending only one freeholder meeting. That was last April when she was a candidate and wanted to hear how negotiations with

county employes were going

Bond Shirley did stake out positions on

the following issues:

SHE IS AGAINST ocean outfall of

primary-treated sewage.

She feels trash transfer stations are necessary-, but concedes "the people in the

area wouldn’t be happy."

She is an enthusiastic advocate of mandatory source separation for recycling. She personally takes her newspapers and aluminum cans to a Lions Club recycling ' center in Ocean City, she said, and stopped faking glass only because a nearby collec-

tion center closed.

"Anything that can be reused should be

reused." she said.

She would keep needed expansion of the judicial system where it is. "It would be a

want more industry because it might in-

terfere with tourism."

SHE HAD NOjSUGGESTIONS of new or expanded programs for the 27 percent of the county’s population 60 or older. But she felt that young people “don’t have much of

a future here.

“Opporiunities have increased due to the casinos." she said. "Other than that there is not too much opportunity.” Like lannone. Bond-Shirley makes the pitch that "it’s time for a change. The people are tired of the Republican monopoly in the county. And the freeholders don’t seem to be responsive to the things people want." K When asked, she named none of those

"things."

Bond-Shirley thinks the man to beat is Ralph Evans, who is "more vulnerable because he doesn’t have the public extoelection < ” 0nJy ^ 81)001 ^ ^ USt prior SHE WAS A DEMOCRAT when she first registered to vote in her home town of Parsons, Kan. The rest of her family, including her father, who held the appointed job of city finance commissioner, were all Republican^. When she moved to Upper Township 36 years ago, she registered Republican in order to work for a former incumbent Republican freeholder, Spencer Young,

'The MUA has wasted time and money...’

™tp5” p,e t,red 0/ , ' ,c

provements," besaid, "but I would use the facilities at the vo-tech school. "It needs a major overhaul anyway,” he said, "so we could upgrade it and offer ac-

credited courses."

lannone pointed out that the county is . already spending $700,000 a year for "chargebacks" to other community colleges attended by local residents. The county pays the difference between the colleges’ in-county and out-of-county

rates.

•;WE COULD SPEND that in our county,” he said, "plus we would be automtically eligible for state and federal

funding.

"The two-plus-two program of two years of community college and two years of a four-year institution means a tremendous cost savings for families," he added lannone rejected the freeholders’ posi lion that there would not be enough students to justify a local communitv

college.

"The county is just shy of the minimum population requirement," he said, "but the state has made exceptions in the past. If you don’t offer the services, how do you

know?" ■,»

lannone linked the lack of a local college with the exodus of young people from the county because of lack of job opportunities. The college would work with business and industry to identify job needs and train students to fill those spots, he

said.

l But he acknowledged there are really not many employers in the county looking

for help.

"WE'VE GOT TO ATTRACT some business and industry," he said. "We have to acUvely seek it, go knock on their doors and say, ‘Listen, Cape May County is a neat place to locate a business, with excellent highways, good'weather conditions, plenty of open space.’ There’s no Schulykill here; it’s a nice place to drive to

work.

"Let’s go out actively and seek business to provide long-term jobs,” he said. “We can’t just sit there and wish it." lannone said that the proposed upgrading of the railroad bed from Philadlephia to Atlantic City could eventually have an Atlantic City-Cape May spur, but "it woh’t happen overnight." lannone would leave the courts — overcrowded and due for expansion — “right where they are" jn Court House and would consider the present Crest Haven nursing

Realtor with his father’s Freda Real Estate the same year. Itie oldest of eight children, lannone, 36, was born in Orange, came to Sea Isle City -at the age of 10, attended St. Joseph’s Elementary School there and graduated from Wildwood Catholic in 1965. He attended York (Pa.) Junior College for a year, was drafted into the Army for two years, then attended Atlantic Community College for a year before going into business with his father. He is married to the former Barbara Poland of Cedar Grove. They have three children, all pupils at St. Joseph’s. He is an member of the Knights of Columbus and Italian-American Club, and is a former member of the Sea Isle City Planning Board. IANNONE WAS a Republican as a firsttime voter in 1968. That was because he— was supporting someone (he’s forgotten who) in a GOP primary fight. But in the mid-1970s he “took stock of my own theories" and changed to Democrat. He was elected Democratic committeeman in Sea Isle City in 1978, leader (city chairman) in 1979 and 1980, and county chairman in 1981. He was reelected in 1982 and this year. He would resign, if elected freeholder, he said, "because you can only serve one master." Last year's defeat for freeholder hasn’t deterred him from another run. "I think I can represent an area where a portion of the citizenry is not represented at all," he said. "I still have some name recognition from last time." "Last time," it was Kilpatrick’s hometown Ocean City plurality of 2,115 that provided the winning margin. This time, lannone’s opponents are from Stone Harbor and Middle Township. And, he said, he’s "spending a lot of time in Ocean City.” lannone said he expects to top both incumbents, William E. Sturm Jr. and Ralph W. Evans. He said he "couldn’t say" which of the two will run best, but observed that "Sturm has been in office longer, so maybe he will lead the ticket.” lannone said be has found voters agreeing that "it’s always good in government to have checks and balances. The board has been all one party for quite some time. It would be good to have another opinion. “We need a watchdog to speak for the sUent majority," he said, "people not politically entrenched, people with no political pull, average citizens who are constantly being hit over the head ’’

shame to take the courts out of Court House," she said "The town needs them '’ She doesn’t think the county can afford its own community college, which puts her in opposition to her running mate. Jarpes R lannone "I THINK THE COUNTY could assist students more.” she said, "perhaps pick up the full tuition (at other community colleges) instead of half." Bond-Shirley said she feet the $12,000 * annual freeholder salary "is satisfactory the way it is." The incumbents came within an eyelash of raising it to $15,000 last January and concede a hike is likely in the next term. "It' really isn’t a full-time job." said Bond-Shirley, "but I would have more time to devote to it than they do. " Her news release pointed out the incumbents "have either private businesses to oversee or other jobs, but I will be able to devote full time to being a freeholder." In an interview, however, she said, “I don’t think they’d want you to be there eight hours a day.” Botrd-Shirley rues the county’s unemployment problem, but offered no answer other than "I could say they should get more industry, but I don’t think they

opposed by the GOP organization But she became "disillusioned with Republican politics in the county" and became an independent in the mid-’70s a Democrat in the late ’70s. She ran unsuccessfully as an independent candidate for Upper Township Commitee in the Republican primary in 1973, and unsuccessfully as a Democrat for tax collector in 1977. "ALWAYS INTERESTED in politics." she^sked the county Democratic Committee if she could run for freeholder "and its members said, *fine:' ,T \ Bond-Shirley, 60, has three grown sons and five grandchildren. Her first husband, Herbert W. Bond, was killed in an industrial accident while working for the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1970. She married Sidney L. Shirley in 1979. Known as Georgette Bond for so many years, she decided to use Bond-Shirley "because I didn’t want to lose my first idenUty.” She inserted the hyphen between the two names because the news media tended to leave out the middle name. “They don’t use any longer names than they have to," the former proofreader observed.

Bond-Shirley, lannone Share Ballot, Little Else

Georgette Bond-Shirley and James R. lannone share the Nov. 8 election ballot as Democratic candidates for Cape May County freeholder, but little else, apparently. lannone, chairman of the county Democratic Party, is spending almost $3,000 of the party’s $10,000 war chest for 30-second spots on prime-time television in which he, alone, appears. "I raised that money myself," be said, "outside of normal sources. I was something I wanted to do. We’re sharing everything else." lannone said be has put none of his own money into this year's campaign, as

opposed to last year when he did spend "a couple thousand.” Bond-Shirley also has spent none of her own money. lannone said the Democratic organization is helping both freeholder candidates equally. Bond-Shirley refuses to discuss, for the record, what backing she has received from the organization. She is reliably reported, however, to be disillusioned with the party’s support of her campaign. Asked if the two freeholder candidates mapped a campaign and discussed issues together.

Bond-Shirley said they met "for 10 minutes on two occasions and talked basically about signs, bumper stickers, mailings.” "I can’t say we planned a campaign,” said lannone "but we’re at the same functions.” Unlike the Republicans, who couple Freeholders William E. Sturn, Jr. and Ralph W. Evans on one bumper sticker, the Democrats have separate ones for lannone and BondShirley. “They told me that was because we both had long names," she said. "My name is a mile long and hers is even longer," said lannooe.