Herald & Lantern 14 December '83

Our Readers Write Homeowners

Vs. Others

To The Editor: Wake up, homeowners of Avalon. Stone Harbor allowed so many shops to open that builders, realtors and shop owners can out-number home owners at meetings, especially in the winter, and could pass anything voted on to benefit themselves in making money at the homeowners' expense. Avalon and Stone Harbor homeowners pay the most in ■^axes In Stone Harbor they are also paying nearly $50 piece to make the 96th Street shopping area attract more Kippers. Only the shop owners benefit. More of the honjeowners’ taxes must go to police the crowds attracted to Stone Harbor More borough employes must be hired homeowners' taxes. Because of the increased traffic, the homeowners will probably be detoured around the shopping area in the future. What Y as and still should be a family report is turning into a big shopping center. Shops can be opened on Route 9. but yod can't swim or lie on the beach there. NOW IsVniK TIME for Avalon homeowners to speak up and fmcTout jf our officials' 1 ^re for the homeowners or . builders,/ea I tors and shop owners. We are also paying to upgradyWater and sewer so builders and realtors can add jfready-overpopulated island with condominiums, e builders and realtors make money and homeowners pay more We who live here year around and have for sears are asked tb use less water and pay to upgrade facilities. Over building should stop, rentals Should be limited in the number of occupants per building, and we shouldn't have to pay to change Dune Drive into^ shopping center. ROBERT H. WILSON

Avalon

Put Trash in Crest

To The Editor:

Why is it the governments of the Wildwoods want everything undesiraWe located in either Middle or Lower townships? Both will have sewage disposal plants; now some people are advocating trash transfer stations in each. Frank McCall, Wildwood Crest commissioner, is one of these people If he had any sense, he would keep his big mouth shut Maybe the freeholders should locate a trash transfer station in Wildwood Crest for .the convenience of the four Wildwoods- It is about time the Wildwoods, especially the Crest, started to share some of the undesirables instead of trying to sh^ve them off onto other townships. The only person talking sense in this whole trash mess is. Robert Fothergill of Lower Township. He has recommended the old Harbison-Walker refractories property be purchased and an incinerator built in one of the buildings which already has a stack which can be used. This would reduce the trash to be hauled to the MUA dump site and at thesame time extend the life of any landfill ten-fold. I just hope some of the politicians in the county government have the foresight to follow up on Fothergill's excellent suggestion.

JOSEPH H. DAVIS Villas

V

CAPE

COUNTY

**AY Bl ■ ^ " r ftmilii

I’ublUhrd Kv«Y> Hrdnrkdat

TY*Nf»»nr ( orporaUon ( apr Ma> (m

Joseph K. Zelnik

Bonnie Keina Cary L. Kudy John Dunwoody Darrell Kopp

Editor '^Qcnerol Manager Advertising Director Special Promotions Director Publishei

o.. Cor p 1983 All figh't faiarvad All p,opart, „ghi, « 0 Mha ant,r#

» o» »**, publ. oi.on iKoll ba iha propan, o» tha Saowo.a Corp No «#ol mo, ba raproducad oiihoui pr.or .r,n«n contam

IVL'K

Nrwk & Pholov Thursday Advertising Friday - 3 p.m. CUaained Adverthlng. Friday -3p.m. L 465-5055 For News Or Advertising Information 1 Srilbrr paninp.nnR *d,rrti,rr. m„ It,. ptibli.W. oi 0,7 HkTTTi |, AMI I.ANTKRN will b<-mpontiblr or liablr lor mikinformation rnKpriaU. l>poKraphiral rrrorv Mr . in an\ hvor Tbr editor re*er*f» tbr riichl In rdll an> ktlrr or artirlrA vubmiltrd lor publira

Lower

Towttahip

LANTERN ~

Publnbnl Every Hedne*dM> B» y t< Bo* «3u Tbr Srawavr ( orporalion Cape May Court House. N J 08210

The Trouble With The United Nations Is It Has TooDangeo Many Forei|ners In If

Change Lower To ‘Flower’ To The Editor: It was with very much interest that I read your front page story regarding Ellery Bowman’s proposal to change the name of Lower Township. Ever since I first moved here in 1975, this name has bothered me. It is degrading and obnoxious to have your township called “Lower.” It just might as well be named "Bottom.” Or, even some other more undesirable name which I won’t mention in this family newspaper. ’ I have known Ellery for many years, since he was a very young man going fishing, etc., with my brother-in-law, Frank Hargrave, who lives in the Villas, and although I have not seen Ellery in many years, I am certainly very much in agreement with what he says HOWEVER, although I live in North Cape May and it would be flattering to have the entire township having this name, I don’t believe the residents of Villas, Erma, Fishing Creek, etc., would find it desirable to lose their neighborhood names. Besides, why give people the impression that our township is just an appendage of Cape May itself when it is so much larger? There are lots of other fine names we could call our township; such as Baysea, inasmuch as it is the only township in the state which abuts both the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. May I suggest the name “Flower" township? It would be quite easy to just add the letter “F” to the present name, and at the same time have a pleasant title for our hometown. Perhaps there are others who can think of an even better name." At any rate, I hope that something will be done soon to get out from under “Lower!” GEORGE S. PULLMAN ^ North Cape May

Lookin' and Listenin' Bayherry: Useful Shrub

By DOROTHY D. FREAS

Looking at those small-leafed bushes that dot miles of our Jersey shore, it is difficult to realize that they are growing in sand soil all along the coast as far north as Canada’s St. Lawrence River, and all dpwn the Atlantic coast to Florida. Even stony places will nourish these sturdy bushes, although they like moisture in the air. In early spring, tiny flowers bloom before the leaves mature. In the fall, very small berries form among the

fragrant green leaves.

This plant is “useful” from top to bottom. As fpr back as colonial days, "tincture of bayberry” appears in a for-

mula for mouth-wash, to cleanse the teeth.

LEAVES MADE a tea—used as gargle and to clean the

teeth, but also used as a stimulant!

The bark was used in cases of diarrhea. Boiled bark provided a poultice for boils and other sores. Even powdered

dry bark was put on wounds.

The outer covering on roots of these bushes was stripped off and dried. After additional treatment, this root powder

becomes either a tonic or a stimulant.

Early Americans on the East Coast collected the berries — tiny, gray and waxy, to steep in boiling water. After the water cooled, wax floated on the surface. This wax was

then ifiolded into candles.

IN MORE RECENT years, the wax has been formed into the well-known candles, made mainly in New England, and sold in many gift shops just before Christmas. A version of this little'verse appears on many of these boxes of

candles:

On Christmas Eve, a bayberry candle , Burned to the socket, Brings food to the larder, Luck to the house, / And gold to the pocket. Even without burning the candle, a few branches with berries on them are very attractive in a dry-flower arrangement to brighten your winter days. Other Voices Lots of Law We have it on the authority of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that two-thirds of all the world’s lawyers ply their trade right here in the U.S., that the country spends (30 billion a year on legal fees, that the number of cases filed in district courts has risen 35 percent in the past five years and that 40,000 new graduates are coming out of law schools each year to join the 612,000 already pracficing. The federal government’s welfare programs for lawyers include several hundred million dollars in grants passed out by Legal Services Corp. annually, awards of legal fees to losers as well as winners ot environmental suits and, of course, that (l billion-plus Congress spends each year on drafing yet more ladkto keep the litigation mills working. V 6 Considering the amount of law, we wonder why there isn’t more order. c — Wall Street Journal

Too Few Santas; Too Many Rum Balls

Christmas Spirit Slow Coming

By JOE ZELNIK

I’d been having a little difficulty getting the Christmas spirit at the shore this year. For one thing, thfr'fc'ind twice ripped Christmas wreaths from my front door. They were last seen flying north through Avalon: 1 Also, this county has less Santa Clauses, per capita, than any in the country. As a transplanted Pennsylvanian, I can tell you that in Delaware County, for example, one stroll through a shopping mall encounters a dozen Santas. But finding a Santa in this county is about as difficult as locating a decent maternity dress. A colleague was looking for one of those last week aqd finally ended up borrowing one.

(This confirms my suspicion that the county is basically

antisex.)

I guess if I were a positive thinker, I’d say less Santas are a plus because it can be a real chore trying to explain to your kid why there’s more than one. THERE ALSO SEEM to be less Christmas decorations at the shore — with some notable exceptions like Meerwald’s or Lou Lambert’s. I prefer real trees, but most of the people who can afford trees have artificial ones — in

Florida.

It’s hard to feel Christmasy, when some people are so snarly. Take Ocean City attorney Robert Fleming, for example. Just because they didn’t pay him as fast as he’d l* e . he was quoted as calling the town’s mayor and city administrator “boobs with as much integrity as a slime-

ball.”

Imagine what he’d say if he wasn’t filled with the holi-

day spirit.

Part of my problem could have been that I open my presents as fast as they come in the mail. That cuts down on the happy expectancy of Christmas. Also, sometimes the presents themselves can be less than uplifting. So far I ve gotten a pair of Flexible Featherspring supports for

sore feet, a Prosana Belt for lower back pain, and a box of homemade rum balls, which I ate in (me sitting. They were dripping with rum, and everyone knows alcohol is a depressant. THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT usually comes with giving, so het«’s my gift to those of you with weight problems. For free, the priceless, guaranteed Zelnik formula for losing weight: No pills, no prescriptions, no yucky liquid diet supplements, no need to exist on sauerkraut for 14 days or anything like that. I’m 6-2,165 pounds, and I manage this by buying all my pants two sizes too small. That way I always feel fat and uncomfortable and couldn’t possibly overeat. Try it. Part of my problem in getting the Christmas spirit could have come from knowing that an 85-year-old widow in Villas was stuck in her house because she had her right leg amputated this summer and can’t get her wheelchair down the steps. The county promised Frances Regan a ramp, but that was before it learned it would cost more than $1,000. And when it appealed to service organizations for help, it got zero. WE REPORTED THAT last week and a number of people have responded, with every indication Mrs. Regan will get her ramp. If she does, I know Til get the Christmas spirit. Incidentally, it was not Mrs. Regan who told us she was rampless. She’s much too proud. She wouldn’t even bother the Lower Township Rescue Squad, whose auxiliary she belongs to, for a ride to her doctor. Instead, a lifelong friend of Mrs. Regan called. She knew what it was like because she’s 75 and has been in a wheelchair for 3-4 years. Someone not too pleased that the county got a little bad publicity called this ladv a “busybody.” Dear Santa: Please bring Cape May County more busybodies.