Report Due in a Month S’Harbor Water Had High Salt

Avalon Denies Salt Problem

By JOE ZELNIK The sodium (salt) content of Stone Harbor’s drinking water tested higher than the state's maximum contaminant level last March, but doctors and the community were never informed Water checked at three points in the borough’s water supply system tested at 57.4 , 58.2 and 58.4 mg/1 (milligrartis per liter), according to Ira Dillyn, Stone Harbor superintendent of public works. The state maximum is 50 mg/1 and doctore recommend a maximum of 20 mg/1 patients on low sodium diets. The federar Environmental Protection Agency’s “suggested" maximum level also is 20 mg/1, Dillyn said.

? The sodium-content of water is not a problem for healthy persons, but it is for those with heart, kidney, or circulatory problems, ailments more common to the elderly. Dillyn said that the borough informed the county Health Department about the test results, as required by-state law. County health officer Louis J. La manna confirmed that his department was notified and began a special sampling of Stone Harbor and AValon water. That county sampling began on Aug. 12, five months after Stone Harbor’s high results, and is being conducted every other month. Lamanna said this week he expects to have a “position paper” in a month.

CUy Sutton, environmental program administrator with the Health Department, is in charge of the testing program. He told the Herald and Lantern that he was “not aware" of Stone Harbor’s March figures. Sutton was named to his post last

Dec. 5.

“Lou indicated he wanted.a special survey in Avalon and Stone Harbor every couple months or so," said Sutton. “I wasn’t aware of those March levels, but maybe the people in this job before me

knew."

Officials in the Bureau of Potable Water of the state Department of Environmental ProtecUon (DEP) said that “the intent" of the state law is that “the medical com (Page 18 Please)

AVALON — Borough officials Monday released a statement denying they have “any problem with salt water intrusion in

our wells." > t '

Cape May County Health and Planning departments have called salt water intrusion “a major concern among municipal

and county officials."

Hie one-page news release prepared by Coast Line Advertising of Erma, the borough’s public relations firm, said some residents were "confused'' by last week's Herald and Lantern story, "Salt Taints

Wells."

The news release said borough wells had average monthly sodium content of 34.8 ^jljg/l (milligrams per liter) in 1983. 44 (Page 18 Please)

News—^ Digest Take My Dad

COURT HOUSE — Wildwood Mayor Earl Ostrander has recommended his father, Wilbur, for the next opening, on the county Municipal Utilities Authority. In a recent letter to the county freeholders, the mayor suggested they consider the former Wildwood city commissioner for the MUA seat currently filled by Joakim Joanides who has asked to be replaced. Without comment, the freeholders marked the mayor's letter “received and filed."

Theft Defies Guardians CAPE MA\ T — The Coast Guard Training Center here is losing 50 feet a year to the Atlantic Ocean and the base commanding officer, J.C. Uithol, has asked his boss to do something about it. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which built jetUes in 1911 that are apparently causing the erosion, plans a major effort to halt it, but funds for the project await Congressional approval.

Another Fire

,. DENNISVILLE — Anthony Allegretto, his wife and two children escaped a fire that destroyed their home on South Seaville Road at 2:20 a.m. Monday. Cause of the blaze is under investigation by the Cane May County Prosecutor’s office and State Police. The family dropped from a second-story window to a rooi over their back door, then to the ground, acoording to Dennisville Fire Chief Rod Kohler. Firemen responded from Dennisville, Oce*n View, Goshen, Tuckahoe, Woodbine, Marmora and Belleplain, and the Villas Cascade Truck supplied oxygen. Slow Talkers

SEA ISLE CITY - Cape May Council 19, Civil Service Association, said it will file unfair labor practice charges against local officials with the state Public Employe Relations Commission. Union spokesmen said commissioners aren’t negotiating in good faith a new contract for the 70 members. The employes joined the union last year. Three negotiating sessions have been held. Fog Claims Driver

SEAVILLE — Beth A. Hoffer, 23, of Windber, Pa. was killed late Saturday night and her passenger, Susan Loveridge, 35, of Johnstown, Pa. seriously injured when Hoffer’s pickup truck careened off the northbound Garden State Parkway in heavy fog, crashed into a utility pole and overturned. Employes at the parkway toll plaza here told rescuers that roadway lights flickered around 11 p.m., but the crash went undiscovered in the fog until 11:45 p.m.

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Gen. Govt., Education

Push County Budget Up

MCE DOGGIE — Mabel Peters, resident of the Cane Mav Car* i- c > , clearly hopes that Great Dane zius knows that doe hman s ^t^^ stands 36 inches tali, is kitting in a walker Zens brought to S 2SS S&ts’k! mer employe Penny Wells, is doing whatever he w^nts to do. ' Tuition Abuse Tackled

Cape May County freeholders this week took steps to tighten eligibility requirements for persons who want the county to pay their tuition at two-year colleges. 111 a resolution slated for adoption yesterday, the county now requires both a New Jersey driver’s license and a voter identification card as proof of county residency. Until now, either one would do. The applicants also must sign a notarized affidavit swearing they are permanent residents. The voter card is easy to get; 30 days county residency is all that’s required. But a New Jersey driver’s license also requires an insurance transfer, and that usually means higher insurance rates. The county’s new procedures also require that applications for chargebacks be made prior to the last day for registration That was always the goal, but, according to Pamela Eaves, assistant county treasurer, "People were coming in after the fact and, because we didn’t have any set procedures, we had to okay it.” The new procedures are an attempt to

deal with the burgeoning cost of “higher education” to the county. Budget appropriations went from $420,000 in 1982 to $704,000 in 1983 to $940,000 this year, an increase Eaves termed “really astounding." County officials see a number of legitimate reasons for the jump, but also feel some of it is due to nonresidents especially tourists, who lie about their legal residence and attend community college partly on county taxpayers' money They also suspect that children and grandchildren of retirees are coming here to take advantage of the college opportunity. Freeholder William E. Sturm Jr. a year ago said there was “abuse, but not widespread abuse.” Lying on an affadavit is a criminal offense punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a fine of no more than $7,500. But the county reportedly never has prosecuted anyone for it A “management improvement" study of govo-nment in the county last fall urged "definite criteria for determining residen(Page 18 Please)

By JOE ZELMK Higher expenditures for general government and education account for two-thirds of the $2.7-million increase in Cape Mav County’s proposed 1984 budget. That’s an 8.3 percent hike over last year. Smallest increase — 5 percent — is for health and welfare (see related story). Public hearing on the $35.7-million budget is slated for 4:30 p.m Tuesday, Feb. 28, with adoption by the board of freeholders likely the same day. " General govermr^st is up 22 percent or $1.4 million, from $5.1 million last year to $6.5 million this year. Almost 45 percent of that increase, however, represents a transfer of all the airport maintenance employes, plus some from Crest Haven, county parks and senior center maintenance, to a Facilities and Services Department, new name for what was Buddings and Grounds THE MERGER WAS a recommendation of a management improvement study last Tall which said "costs could be saved." No ^ saving is apparent in the proposed 1984 budget, but Freeholder William E. Sturm Jr., director of revenue and finance, said the merger provides "more efficiency and flexibibty and savings in the long run." Without the merger of maintenance employes, the cost of general government is still up $800,000, or about 16 percent. The biggest single item occurs in the of fice of County Prosecutor John Corino where salaries and wages are up $224,000 to $907,641, and "other expenses" are up $110,000 to $240,150. Together, they show a 41 percent increase. Sturm said the prosecutor’s wages item includes an unspecified amount set aside because salaries are still "under negotiation." A key ingredient, however, is the new, highly-secret “strike force" reactivated f last June to fight illegal narcotics, especially during the tourist season The force reportedly has a $100,000 payroll and the proposed budget contains everything from “flash money" (used to make buys of illegal narcotics) to four undercover vehicles and "up-to-date communications equipment." "John's doing a damn good job," commented Sturm. OTHER MAJOR increases Under General Government. Group insurance for employes is up by $181,000, from $1,3 million to $1.5 million. (Page 18 Please)