•M opinion People Playing for Keeps Pollution Priority Item

By DAVID F. MOORE Executive Diector New Jersey Conservation Foundation I've written here from time to time about the growing importance of public opinion about our environment and wtut it needs in governmental protective action, and what ‘I Thought Americans Were Good’ In August of 1945 1 das a 19-yearold riflenwn in Co. G, 316th infantry stationed in Kempten, Germany One Sunday mOmihg we were ordered into formation and issued ammunition. The company commander explained that our government had promised-to-return all the Russians that had entered Germany between certain dates The Russians wero refusing to go. Some had committed suicide at)d others had taken refuge in an orthodox. church, claiming they would die there rather thah return

to Russia

Our orders were to load them oh trucks for deportation even if we had to kill them. Thfen the C.Q. added that Stalin bad-promised that they wouldn't be harmed A low laugh rippled through the formation,- and to me that laugh is more significant than the brutality that followed ■ WE JVERE battle-hardened veterans but most bf us were in our late teens and 20s, yet we knew', even in 1945, that Stalin would probably kiU these people. How then ■could bur leaders, including Truman, not have known, or worse have not.cared, especially in view of the trials about to begin at Nuremberg. v Ironically a few months later I wjs serving at the Palace of justice in Nuremberg. We marched down to the church and the people were inside. Another rifleman and I were left to guard a gate. All the courtyard gates were guarded and then a few score men went inside .o clear the church: ■! A wild battle ensued, including the Orthodox priest wielding his cross, but rifle butts won and soon the battered people were driven from the church. An old woman ‘ sprawled at the door apparently suffering a heart afiack SOME OF THE PEOPLE rushed for the gates and about 10 headed toward my buddy and me. We threw our . rifles tq our shoulders and screamed halt. A shot rang from the courtyard and a boy in the group crumpled to the ground. My. finger squefted on the trigger and I was within a second of firing point blank into these people when they stopped. " . . A little woman with tears running down her face and my rifle pointing at her bead said-in broken English, “I thought Americans were good." 1 snarled at her to shut* up. We drove the people into the middle of the courtyard^ and surrounded them with a corridor of soldiers leading to - a gate- Here the trucks were loaded, with several of the biggest men in the company lending a hand. One woman lay down and refused to get on and a big red head picked her up and literally threw her against the far end of the truck. Another man had been shot besides the

growing public pressure spells for politicians who don't get the message before their next election. Now. I can quote Louis Harris, one of the nation's leading pollsters, who recently told those ata convocation of the Coalition of Morth East Governors < CONEG >, “... if is possible that the people are aheadhf their leaders. And when they are, elected officials had better ask. ‘Are they right?’ and then, ‘How long will T be around to lead?’ " Harris said that after relating an astonishing set of na.tional poll statistics: Of the adulhnational population, 74 percent believe curbing water pollution is "very important," and 72 percent gave the same answer for air pollution' For comparison, he noted that 83 percent give high importance to reducing inflation. 82 percent to cutting unemployment,'79 percent to lowering interest rates, 74 percent to economic growth, 65 percent to producing more energy arid 68 percent to safer products and services. "THE INESCAPABLE point is that curbing both air and water pollution is given a high priority of importance in their own right by the American people. And they are playing for keeps on this issue, make no mistake about that,” Harris continued. Noting that ’‘the central piec«-s of anti-pollution legislation" in the nation, the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, are up for renewal and are the ‘argets of multiple attacks by interests which would erode their powers, Harris said •that in 198f.his polling organization got such "incredible" results in checking public opinion on both acts that the study tvas done again, with practically identical results. Those wanting to keep tpe Clean Air Act as strict as ever totalled 48 percent, white another 38 percent wanted to make the lavy more strict. No more than 12 percent favored making it less strict. On the Clean Water Act, 93 .percent wanted to keep it aa tough, or make, it even tougher. APPROXIMATELY the same percentages showed up when the Harris organization polled nationally on relaxing auto pollution standards, relaxing regulations protecting'national park and wilderness areas from air pollution, relaxing pollution standards to allow power plants to bum higher-siiifur oil and coal, apd relaxing federal standards on disposal of hazardous wastes. Harris said two issues still lie at the heart of the fight to keep the environment dean One is the tradeoff between protection of human health and the cost of cleanups. The other is the concept of “best available technology," or BAT, which the Gean Water Act calls for from every factory. % V , Questions were asked by Harris's pollsters nationally to define the public's reaction to those two points after careful explanations of the pros and cons were delivered. A majority of two-to-one came out against relaxing standards due to air pollution cleanup costs. Eighty-two percent held that there should be no exceptions to the best available technology requirement, despite economic factors. V * # ’ . Noting that Gov. Tom Kean had asked him to identify the role such environmental issues are likely to play in 1984 elections, Harris responded. “The tide that is proenvironmentalist is running strong and fast, and it is still flooding. . . It is my judgment that 1984 will be a rare moment of truth for the environment and ... other key issues. I am willing to stake my reputation on that.” Beware Winter Itch —

Our Readers Write A Clarion Call To Salute Vets To The Editor: ’ «<' The Veterans Administration has informed me that a salute to hospitalized veterans has been set aside for the week of Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. Jn my personal opinion I believe this date most appropriate, because we should reflect and take time to express our heartful gratitude to the men and women who have sacrificed so much. ' As commander of Byron Pennington Croker Post No. 184, American Legion of the Wildwoods, 1 am also appealing to members of our Cape May County, community, to answer this clarion call and show their spirit of enthusiasm by gratefully participating in the "National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans " Remember, “America is No. 1, thanks tcrour Veterans."

FRANK TURSE North Wildwood

boy at our gate. They were both alive when carried off, probably to a hospital, and I have always thought that

they were the lucky ones

We willingly obeyed orders. No one corhplained. I remember no expressions of guilt. The terribly truth is

that we had had a good time. •

A few months later at Nuremberg ! guarded SS troops w'ho were being used in work details around the Palace of Justice during the war crime trials. Most of them were very young, about my age. They had been drafted into the SS, but they were being punished for obeyjhg orders. — Prof. R. R. Davison of Texas A&M University in a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journql.

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Don’t Look for Ground Hog

By JOE ZELNIK It’s February — the absolute pits in Cape May County. The only reason we won’t observe Ground Hog Day here tpmorrow is that no ground hog was willing to come to this xounty for a day. , I understand Phil Matalucci was trying to arrange a federal prison here for sadists, masochists and communists. His big selling point was low cost — a three-sided fence with the ocean serving as the fourth barrier The courts turned it down, saying winter in this county would be "cruel and unusual punishment.” Anyway, we’ve made.it through the post-Christmas letdown some call January. Now if we fellow year-rounders can just get through this 29-day month, things will look up. MARCH WILL BE rain-filled, of course. And April will feature high winds. But then it will be May and, although the ocean we love will keep us colder than our inladd neighbors, the self-sufficient should be able to find a spot in the dunes hidden from the wind and soak up some sun. EVERYONE GETS SULLEN and snappish at this time of year. Take gas station attendants, for example "Hiey don’t want a fill-up because it means they have to stand out in the cold. On the other hand, they don’t want to sell so Uttle gas it’s not worth putting down their "Hustler" magazine and leaving the warm comfort of the lubricating bay. Best example of this is the sign at a nearby station: "Minimum gas purchase of $5 — or more.” I usually just pull in and ask, “How much do you want to sell me?" Whatever they say is fine with me. February' is sfo bad that the Holy Trinity Church in Wildwood put out a newt release offering what I call “the three Ps:" popcorn, potluck supper and pastoral care “to help get through the boredom many of our island residents experience in the winter months." I haven’t had much Juck seeking solace in specialinterest groups. The last one ! tried was a co-ed organization that sat in a circle at the Dominic C. Raffa Communi-

ty Center in Sea Isle City once a week and read classified ads from "Shoppe" aloud. J quit going because I had trouble with the small print. MY FIRST YEAR HERE I dealt with January, February and March by hibernating in my waterbed. But that just gave me winter itch. Winter itch, doctors warn, is a dermatological problem, although I see it also as an emotional problem (like the seven-year itch, only annual). Your skin becomes dry, flaky, scaly, red. Or, your emotions become dry, flaky, well, you get the idea. For your skin problem, try a humidifier and a moisturizing cream. For your emotional problem, listen carefully to the logic in the song, “Oh the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time." (Feminists may substitute “Guys" for “Girls.”) February is a good time for self-improvement programs. What better occasion to maintain a halaiyoH nutritional diet, get plenty of rest, regular exercise and .drink lots of fluids? Two books I can especially recommend to countians are “How to Buy Catfish" and “How to Decorate A Dump.” YOU COULD TRY to see bow many days in a row you can eat-yogurt for lunch. And achieve peak performance in something, even if it’s only sobbing. I also highly recommend eyeball exercises, to get ready for eyeing all the beautiful people who will line up along bars once the tourists return. If your self needs improvement so badly you can’t do it yourself, consider a couple days in the new wing at Burdette Tomlin for blepharoplasty, mentoplasty otoplasty, rhinoplasty, a rhytidectomy or submentai lipectomy. Finally, let me suggest fantasizing. This is an excellent way to get through difficult days iand nights). Tell you what; send me your.favorite fantasy — try to keep R to less than 25 words — and I promise a nice prize for the best one.