opinion

Herald & Untern 16 November '83

Lookin' and Listenin' Hurricane By DOROTHY D. FREAS Listening to news of a possible hurricane coming up the East Coast turned our clock back 39 years. On va<Aion, no radio, but the sky did look as though it might rain We didn't know, even when the wind picked up sharply, just what was in our immediate future. As we ate lunch that day, a rattling noise took us outside to look’’ and the bricks of the chimney top lay in the ’yard A lashing rain started, so we went indoors to be warm and dry. As our rented two-story house was on Otten’s Canal in North Wildwood, we could see what was happening all around First, the canal rose and lifted our 20-foot dock up into our yard, board by board. Across the canal a cabin cruiser was lifted out of the canal where it was docked, and placed in an upright position against a house that was 20 feet or more from the edge of the canal. WE WATCHED the waters rise over the fifth clapboard above the foundation stones on the cottage next door. Suddenly the four corners of the building split, and it settled down on the ground over the foundation. The noise of the gale was terrific. We were worrying about our own lives by this time, although our place was built on piling and we felt fairly safe. We lifted a small trap door in the dining-room, and water lapped a few inches below the floor. As the wind increased and shook the house, we voted unanimously td sit half-way up the inside stairway, believing that if the house toppled, we would not have too far to fall I^te in the afternoon, a post that we had watched for "high water mark” showed a fall of an inch below the mark and we relaxed as we saw that it continued to drop. THE NEXT MORNING, clear and bright, found friendly people talking to each other, all thankful that our prayers were answered. No one was hurt. An unoccupied home blew over, a street away. Cars were Unfed up at gas stations to be "dried out.” "Aren’t you folks going home?” was answered by “Why . should we?” In Cape May City, the sand looked like snowdrifts along the houses opposite the boardwalk. In fact, the boardwalk itself in one area had washed inland, into a large vacant lot — a long length of it, with the lamps still upright on it. So listening to the report of the harmless passing of a ^ hurricane is the best news of the weather bureau. Capital Comments (iome Care By SEN. JAMES HURLEY Senior citizens and the disabled have the right to remain in their own homes and still receive medical and social care. Sometimes in our society we are too quick to send these people to institutions. A new three-year program has been initiated that will allow the elderly and disabled to receive home health carv New Jersey is one of the first states in the nation to initiate this kind of program. The program will be funded through $21 miUion from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and $8 million in state casino tax revenues. MEDICAID income limits for hqme-based care will be waived under revised eligibility standards. The waiver allows people, who would not have been eligible for Medicaid if their monthly income exceeded $931, to participate in the new program. The new income standard for Medicaid eligibility will now be $852.90 a month. In many cases, elderly and disabled people do not need fial institutional care and would be happier to stay in their qj#n communities with their family and friends. This new program is more personal and a far more humane alternative to institutionalization.

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Gee' Another National Holiday. Huh 71 i Think I'll Go Out And Get A Job So I Can Take The Day Off "

Our Readers Write

Chest, Health Money Stays

To The Editor:

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Super Mother Is No Myth

Erma Bombeck has said the super mother thing is a myth. Well let me tell you, Erma Bombeck never met my sister. She is married, has seven kids and a fulltime job. I am married, have three kids and a parttime job. According to our birth certificates, we have the same parents. Other than that, we are totally different. Two months after she moved into her house it was totally wallpapered, furnished, accessorized, yard sodded and everything else, doing most of the work herself with some help from her husband and kids. On the the other hand, my house looks like I am still picking up from the ’62 storm. (I was 9 and lived in Green Creek). Her refrigerator is so clean, if there is any mold growing in it, she is probably helping with the penicillin demand. I am not sure what’s in the corners of mine. MY KIDS WISH we could rnwye to her garage ttrcause it’s cleaner and more organized than my living room. (She makes her kids scrub the concrete floor every day after school). Her front porch has two

lawn chairs and flowers in c<mtainers. Mine has a gocart and a dead hanging plant thht’sisitting. This summer she would get up early enough to do her laundry, straighten the house, hit every yard sale in Stone Harbor and Avalon (after carefully scanning the Herld, cutting out each and pasting them in street order on apiece of paper) and was on the beach between 10-10:30.1 was still trying to wake up. SHE TOOK OFF A WEEK AND and reupholstered her den furniture. I bought a 3-yard piece of material at Murphy’s and threw it over my chair. Her towels match her bathroom; mine match everybody’s bathroom. Her kitchen table has brass candle sticks; mine has peanut butter smears. Her refrigerator has silk flowers on top, mine has some mismatched cookbooks, dust and bills. In the corner of her room she has a spider plant, in mine, spider webs (maybe I could spray paint them green). Maybe I was adopted? LINDA L. DUNBAR COURTHOUSE

I recently received Christmas Seals from the American Lung Association. About two weeks later, 1 also received a set of Holiday Seals from the Chest and Health Association of Southern New Jersey, stating that they were formerly the American Lung Association of Southern New Jersey, but had cut ties with the national organization because the national organization wanted to take over funds and programs in South Jersey. I was confused and concerned, so I called the local office of the Chest and Health Association in Hamm on ton. They explained that the money being solicited by the American Lung Association goes to an office in Union, N.J., but that all the money raised by their organization, the Chest and Health Association stays right here in South Jersey. I think people need to understand this difference. I’M MORE FAMILIAR with the Chest and Health Association by its former name, the American Lung Association of Southern New Jersey, but even though t iey’ve changed their name, I know they’re still out there ghting for us, the South Jersey residents. They’ve helped me out in the past with classes, literature and information about lung disease and I know I can turn to them when I need help in the future. When I need help or information, I don’t want to contact someone 4 don’t even know somewhere in North Jersey. I want someone I know, here in South Jersey, to help me out. This is important to me and I hope to others who care about South Jersey. I think you can guess where my money is going this year — to the local health agency — the Chest and Health Association of Southern New Jersey. PETER SCHWENK Ocean City

On the Trail Again

To The Editor: To all the citizens who voted on Nov. 8,1 say thank you. I would especially like to thank all the hard-working Republican coordinators and committee members who spent many long hours on my campaign for Township Committee. Their support was appreciated. With the approval of the Charter (Council/Manager form of government), I feel we have laid the groundwork for a truly credible government and, come May 1,1984,1 will once again be on the campaign trail for a seat on the newly-formed council. I am sincere when I say thank you Lower Township; your well being is my concern. SAMUEL M. STUBBS NorthCape May

At Last — An Oxymoran-

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Joseph K. Xrlnik Editor Itonnie Hrina General Manager Gary L. Rud> Advertising Director John Dunttood.x Special Promotions Director Darrell Kopp Publisher

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DEADLINES

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Reprimands Suddenly Popular

By JOE ZELNIK The big news last week, of course, was the “vindication” of State Sen. Jim Hurley. Every newspaper in the county found Hurley vindicated which, it should be noted, does not mean the same as canonized. Despite an official reprimand from his legislative colleagues for accepting a $10,000, sort-of, "finder’s fee” for helping a client sell a property to the state, local voters reelected Hurley by a 10,000-vote margin. Other politicians quickly noted the vote-getting power of an official reprimand. Freeholders Tony Catanoso and Gerry Thornton reportedly were in the Bellevue last Wednesday planning how to get reprimanded sometime next year so they can be vindicated on election day. They know that Cape May County voters are forgiving, and understanding. Voters could empathize with Hurley’s refusal to discuss his personal finances. Many of them face the same problem each year with nosy bureaucrats at the tax collector’s office, the unemployment office, etc. HURLEY, ACCORDING TO a bipartisan Ethical Standards Committee, made “an error in judgment.” The lesson of his vindication is that ethics has no part in an election campaign. The phrase ethical politician is like jumbo shrimp, an oxymoran (I’ve been wanting to use that word for months). People hooked on ethics should go to church on Sunday and leave it out of the polling booth. Hurley’s vindication is all the more remarkable because he surmounted several disadvantages. Name the most hated agency in the county. The MU A, right? Who has worked for it for 10 years, and gets $45 an hour for trying to make it loved? Jim Hurley. Hurley 's vindication also came despite a lack of support from most of the district’s newspapers. The public, of course, understood that this was merely sour grapes. The news media was jealous of Hurley because he wears expensive suits Reporters, on the other hand, look like their houses burned down in the middle of the night and they’re wearing what the volunteer firemen tossed out the window

just before the stairs collapsed. What was the last thing Nancy Reagan told reporters covering her visit to Japan? "Be sure to wear clean, holeless socks.” 1 don’t know one reporter with holeless socks. They’re all loners without wives who can sew. And they’re too clumsy to sew themselves. In fact, many don’t even wear socks, which droop and bunch up and are bad for the feet. JOURNALISTS ALSO were sore because they envied Hurley’s finder’s fee. You would think people would pay us for “finding” and putting in the paper the articles they slip under our door. But they seldom do. This county is notoriously cheap when it comes to paying off journalists. Except for a Pat Peterson tee-shirt, the best I’ve finagled here in almost a year are tickets to high school plays and an occasional draft beer. Pat’s tee-shirt, I should say, is a beautiful red with white lettering, 50 percent cotton, 50 percent polyester. She would never accept a finder’s fee. And look at what happened to her election day. I find the topic of payoffs to the press embarrassing. We at the Herald and Lantern have decided to counter the image that journalists are cheap thieves by refusing to accept any bribe under $10,000. Automobiles with $9,999 sticker prices are an exception. BUSINESS PEOPLE and politicians know how to make effective use of the journalist’s susceptibility to freebies. They’ve learned that if they hold a press conference, no one comes. If they hold a press conference with donuts and coffee. 25 percent of the press attends. If they schedule it at lunch time and include a buffet, 60 percent attend (You can always tell a journalist at a buffet. He goes twice and gets a doggy bag for the second plateful — even though he hates dogs). But, as South Jersey Gas learned a few weeks ago, offer a buffet plus an open bar and 110 percent will attend — the entire press corps, plus they bring a few friends. They only have a few...