Heritd t LaiHwn » February '84

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Health Sets Salt Testa (From Page 1) “Ocean City will be routinely monitored on a monthly basis,” said La manna. APPARENTLY STONE HARBOR doesn’t keep records too far back,” said La manna “We pursued through their private lab, but that didn’t pan out too well and we came out sort of empty there." The Herald and Lantern reported last week that tests from Stone Harbor's system, rather than the wells themselves, found results of S7.4, 58.2 and 56.4 mg/h Although the state requires the Health Department to issue an alert when levels top 50, none has been made. Perhaps the most significant point made by the data released last week is the apparent lack of any relationship between sodium and chloride readings, even though the county has been testing chloride to estimate sodium. ON SOME OCCASIONS the sodium level was half the chloride; on others it was twice the chloride. County Environmental Program administrator Clay Sutton has said that "we know if the chloride is over 250 (mg/1), we’ve got a problem.” The data released last week showed no chloride readings higher than 120. That was in Cape May, in a well no longer in use. But the sodium reading from the same well on the same day was 125, 24 times what the DEP a ealh; “maximum contaminant” and six times what doctors want their low-sodium diet patients drinking. La manna said the variance in chloridesodium readings “is precisely why we’re having these independent samples done." He said the independent sampling “will cost us a lot of money, $200, to $300." That’s based on a "discount price” of $5 per analysis from Stockton State College. It normally charges $8 apiece, La manna said. “We can’t afford that every week,” said La manna, pointing out the special testing program is not in his department's budget. THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT intends to get its own sodium testing equipment, at a cost of $2,217, once the' 1984 county budget is passed. That is a few weeks away and the equipment may not be obtained until April or May. County officials have called salt water intrusion the county’s “main pollution concern” and “most crucial problem “The major reason planners have to look at salt water in wells is to see what's happening over the long haul to salt water intrusion," said Elwood Jarmer, county planning director. “In the long haul, it’s our contention we will have to rely on ground water in the mainland for the majority of the county's water supply. "Wildwood’s water, for example, is supplemented by wells on the mainland. Most will have to do at least what Wildwood does, if not more so. Water Quality (From Page 1) keep records that well, or that long." La manna said the problem is “well on its way to being resolved. Once we get everything in place, we won’t have to worry about going to anybody for results anymore. We will have control over collection and monitoring.” "THIS IS A START in gaining the information,” said Jarmer. “I’m not necessarily happy with the form we have that data in. Unfortunately we, neither Health nor Planning, don’t haw the person-hours available to be farther along. We’ll do the best we can.” Jarmer said he was “not aware of any big crisis. If there’s a health problem, it’s the Health Department that has to take action. The purpose of the Planning Department is to try and look at trend lines and see what’s happening over time, not to serve as a public health function.” “We’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time, especially in the summer, of collecting samples and running them through the lab," be said. “We haven’t been able to take the time to get it in good planning format.” JARMER SAID the county expects softwear for the Planning Department computer in a month that will make it possible to call up data by such categories as date, municipality, and type of sample. “This is not the way we want to do it,” he said. “But this is a temporary hangup. We’re off and running." He said plans to sample 32 sites along the Tuckaboe River, requiring use of a boat and taking “a couple days, will be "toned down” to “two or three sites we can hit with a car.” "We’re spread a little thin,” he said.

“We have to anticipate when the island communities will have to supplement their water supplies from the mainland “And we have to not pollute mainland water with improper development or improper placement of septic systems," Ke said.

Fatalities Down WOODBRIDGE — The reputation of the Garden State Parkway as one of the nation’s safest highways has been enhanced by a drop of 16 percent in traffic fatalities or the toll road last year. Charles Starkey, commissioner of the New Jersey Highway Authority, reported 31 fatalities in 1983, down from the 37 recorded in 1982. The parkway was used by a record 256 million vehicles last year.

Cape May (From Page 1) lions of Lower Township. Adrian S. Capehart, city council member and local health board member could not be reached for comment. Dr. Irving Tennenbaum, member of the health board and city health officer for 20 years until three or four years ago, declined to say whether the board knew about the problem or whether the medical community was informed. He directed questions to county Health Officer Louis J. I .amanna who, Tennenbaum said, was responsible for putting out any alert. La manna said the Cape May data “just came into our possession in the last two weeks.” He said the data came from Cape May and “they would also have an obligation to notify public officials. They know what their responsibilities are.” “WE HAVE HAD that problem (salt water intrusion) for years,” said Coldren. “We’ve had averages of 66 for the past year." Coldren said be “put an inquiry” to the city’s water superintendent about the need to inform the community. “If it’s supposed to be done, of course it will be done,” he said. “But it’s his understanding it’s not required at the levels we have.” Officials at DEP told the Herald and Lantern that “when a water purveyor exceeds the maximum contaminant level (50 mg/1), the requirement is usually that the purveyor notify the local health authorities so, in turn, the local health authorities can notify the local health care facilities^ physicians, hospitals, you-name-it.” The city’s No. 1 well, now used only when water is needed to fight fires, according to Coldren, had a sodium reading range of from 60 to 125 and an average of 83. The city’s No. 3 well, down for repairs now, according to Coldren, had a sodium reading range of from 30 to 82 and an average of 45. COLDREN SAID it is “no secret” that the city “has to look inland because of the encroaching salt water table.” He said new wells have been “a high priority” of the city for about eight years. Coldren said “several programs are underway to get a more stable and longterm supply of water” and “quite a number of plans are in negotiations now with suppliers We would link up with another utility that has wells offshore. It would involve a pipeline.” He declined to be more specific about who the city is negotiating with, pointing out that Lower Township two years ago scuttled plans for the city, to drill wells in the township after some residents charged it would drain their water table. —Uncommon— Knowledge A rap of careless hammer on an acorn soft and new will crack a shell so tiny and break it swift in two. A rap with that same hammer on an acorn grown to oak will swiftly learn that aging defends against the stroke ... tiny hammers poke. e.j. Huffy

News

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pulled into a dark yard, robbed at knife point, and sexually assaulted at 2 a m. Sunday, according to police They described the suspect as a black male, approximately 5-10, well-built, clean facial features, wearing tan pants, a gray jogging-type sweatsuit top with hood Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Robot Harkins of the city police department, or investigator Marie Hayes of the county prosecutor s office.

counts of aggravated arson and two of aggravated assault, the latter because his wife and children were asleep in the building at the time. Authorities would not say whether Allegretto, a member of the Dennis Volunteer Fire Co. since September, 1963, is a suspect in a series of suspicious fires which have hit the community since October.

Beach Tag Game

ffhat Do Birds Say? COURT HOUSE - Recreational activities such as hunting, birding or dune buggy operation at Higbee Beach will not be restricted so long as they don’t hassle the wildlife. That’s the word from officials of the state Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife as given the county Planning Board last week. New restrictions on such uses will be imposed only if and when the, division can document that the activities disturb migratory birds and resident wildlife.

MUA Probe Rolls On COURT HOUSE - The special grand jury investigating the county MUA will continue in session through May 31 for a record-setting fourth three-month term. Continuance of the jury probe was ordered by Superior Court Judge Philip Gruccio. The 23-member jury was impaneled last May and has met once or twice weekly since then. According to court house sources, the investigation is focused on the matter of site selections and property acquisitions made by the MUA betwwen 1979 and 1981.

Topic: Pay Scales OCEAN CITY — Because a councilman switched his vote to break a City Council deadlock, a veteran labor attorney vpll handle arbitration relating to a police contract dispute — at $90 an hour. Councilman Herbert' Brownlee changed his mind to permit selection of Rahway attorney Gerald Dorf over Lawrence Pepper Jr., who has political ties with Mayor Jack Bittner. Pepper had offered a price of $65 an hour. One councilman estimated the difference between the total bill of the two attorneys at about $1,500, with salaries and benefits worth hunderds of thousands of dollars depending on the arbitration.

Just for Practice? SOUTH DENNIS - A volunteer fireman, Anthony Allegretto, 27, has been charged with setting fire to his own home twice, on Jan. 23 and Feb. 13. The second blaze destroyed the home. Allegretto, who was living in the bouse at the time be allegedly tried to burn it, faces two

> AVALON — Seasonal beach tag prices will go up a dollar this year and bring in an estimated $36,000 in extra revenue as a result of an ordinance passed by Borough Council. The price will be $5 for tags boughi by May 31, and $7 thereafter. The price of weekly tags, boosted to $3 last year, remains the same. The move also should mean reinstatement of a reciprocal agreement with neighboring Stone Harbor for tags from either municipality to be valid on all erf Seven Mile Beach.

Spending Huddle COURT HOUSE — Shore protection issues and plans for the $50 million bond issue approved last fall will be discussed at a public meeting 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 7, in the Oid Court House Building. The meeting is sponsored by the state Department of Environmental Protection and the county planning board. Inlet stabilization projects will be discussed. Pizza Sentenced COURT HOUSE — On counts of promoting gambling and possession of a controlled dangerous substance, Louis Pizza of North Wildwood has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. The sentence, Superior Court Judge James A. O’Neill ruled, will run concurrently with an eight-year loansharking sentence Pizza received recently in federal court. Other gambling and drug counts were dropped as part of a plea agreement with the prosecutor's office. Pizza has a criminal record dating back to 1958, O’Neill, said

Another Rate Hike TRENTON — Instead of getting the $25.3 million rate hike it’s seeking, Atlantic Electric.should slash its rates by $20.5 million, says Public Advocate Joseph Rodriguez The utility used inflated and speculative data to justify a fourth increase in 18 months. Rodriguez says. Rodriguez is looking for headlines, says Atlantic Electric spokesman William Elliott. The issue is before an administrative law judge acting on behalf of the Board of Public Utilities.

Fishing Grant Jobs Goal Reduced

The ECD has not yet selected a “prime bank” to administer the program,

(From Page 1) ing some private funding to the program, whether their own capital or banking financing. It sets a $50,000 loan limit, with some exceptions, and it requires that, for loans of more than $25,000, the applicant has to have a letter from a bank saying that it either is willing or unwilling to participate. "We hope to divert the applicant to a participating arrangement," said Edmund Grant of the EDC. A “participating arrangement 1 ' would be a collective loan from a financial institution and the loan program, with shared risk. “We want to take ourselves out of the competitive market with the banking industry," he explained. “We hope most will be piggybacking with a bank and sharing the cost and liability." THE PROPOSED CONTRACT also requires the applicant to pay up front from the loan for the title search and title insurance, credit report, recording fees and any legal opinions. The program is intended primarily for the purchase of fishing vessels and equipment, according to the proposed contract, but it also could be used for such things as dock construction or renovation, vehicles to transport fish products, etc.

although Childs said be has met with several banks, including four times with First National Bank of Toms River which is involved in the Ocean County program and is new to Cape May County. All banks can participate in the loan program, but only one will be the depository of the mortgage payments in an interestbearing account. Childs said he thought that bank might not charge EDC anything for administration beyond normal service fees. \ EDC MEMBER Richard 0. Pfaltzgraff suggested a letter be sent to all county banks, to see which are interested And EDC member Frank McCall suggested contacting the county to see with whom it banks. Most of the county’s checking accounts were with Guarantee, which was recently acquired by First Jersey-Na-tional Bank/South. “It’s very difficult to find a home town or home county bank,” commented EDC vice chairman Schreiner. “But we don’t want to get lost in a maze.” “If it’s possible to keep it in Cape May County, it should be kept in Cape May County," agreed Pfaltzgraff.