34

— opinion.

Our Readers Write

Citizens Deceived, Deluded

Herald & Lantern 29 February '84

To the Editor: - ' ■* Recent headlines, alluding to the action taken by the Lower Township Committee in hiring Sanborn Wielenga Associates were startling, to'say the least Our elected officials began their efforts to deceive and delude the citizens of Lower Township by hiring people to work as recreational advisors, even though .they had no license to do business in New Jersey. Instead of perform ing the task they were hired for, they worked months op an incinerator/Energy Study. By producing a study, and publishing it. Sanborn and Lange violated New Jersey Statutes This has been published and verified by the State Board of Registration of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors Based on this illegal report. Lower Township now has an Incinerator Authority, controlled by Mayor Peggie BieBerBach, and Committeemen Robert Fothergill and Thomas Clydesdale. IT IS BEYOND comprehension how this fool hardy and expensive project has been allowed to proceed The two visitors^ Sanborn and Lange, have not presented any evidence, to date, to indicate they are not guilty of the charges against them. There has been no rebutal of the public accusations Where is our expensive solicitor, or rather, where was he when this whole sordid affair

— began’’

The taxpayers have apparently been made the scapegoats in this unwarranted endeavor, which ultimateLookin' and Listenih' Holly Abunclant

By DOROTHY D. FREAS

Looking around at wintery woods as we drive through the back roads, almost the only green color comes from

needfecTb Ced ^ ^ pineS ' with lheir fealher y sprays or

The trees that are full of leaves — dark green and glossy - are easily identified by everyone. Holly it is and very abundant in Cape May county. Until recently, the biggest

holly tree in New Jersey, age known to be well over 300

years, stood on Broadway, in West Cape MayAll along our coast, holly grew before the resorts .were even planned. A section of Five Mile Beach that is how

Wildwood was called Holly Beach on the 19th century-

maps and even as recently as the beginning* of this

century.

AMERICAN HOLLY, our familiar Christmas decoration, usually grows as a small tree, 40 feet or less. It has a white wood, close-grain, loved by wood-carvers but still

tough enough to be used for tool handles.

For a special treat^we-who live in Cape May County can drive for about an hour and enter an orchard of thousands

of holly trees.

This was started just east of Miiiville in 1939 by one

ly turns out to be a complete failure Thousands of dollars have been spent paying the cost of preparing a study of very little, if any, value. It is a non-professional study, prepared by persons working illegally in our state ITS TIME for Township Committee to abolish the Incinerator Authority; they cannot supersede the County MUA L*t the thousands of dollars thus far spent, be returned to.the Lower Township treasury , either, by the Sanborn Lange duet, or those responsible for bringing them to our township in the first place, the Lower Township Committee All connections should be severed from these out-of-state employes; they should be removed from the township payroll. Because our elected officials refuse to work constructively with the County MUA, and would rather spenrLmore taxpayers dollars on a doomed project, we witness Mayor Biebertwich stating publicly she will lead "thefirst Cape May County Revolt.'’ Need more be 88,117 DOROTHY PANAS

Villas,

So Get Started

To The Editor:

Many people see fit to celebrate leap year, and why not? If you live to be 80, you’ll see only 20 leap years ' What’s leap year to most of us? Well, it means we get one -more day added to February and this year St. Patrick's Day will fall on a Saturday instead of Friday. Big deal, right? Well, if you were born in a year ending in a 4 such as '34, '44, or '54 as I was, we are. astrologically

speaking, in for a good year.

But. if all this leap year talk does not interest you maybe it will dawn on you. as you find it nearly impossible to emerge from your La-z-boy in front of the fire, that this is also a good time to catch up on all those things you never get around to. Here’s a list to get you started Fifteen ideas' a leaping, or what I should have done all

winter.

Givejyour dog a haircut. TaWa Calgon bath. Wax your surfboard Eat your Girl Scout cookies Visit your in-laws> Find out when the real garbage pick-up days are. Send away for "how to get things free" catalogue Try- to figure out when Stone Harbor opens again. Try on your old band uniform. Use your ‘apple’ and compute how much money you would save by- moving to a tropical country. Count how many- Tupperware items you have. Figure out why so many cooks insist on eggs at room temperature. Wonder why you got that parking ticket last summer. Try to run a mile in a week (it’s still winter, we have to start slowly). PATRICIA TREGO

Avalon

By Ourselves

To The Editor:

March is Red Cross month. This means thousands of appeal letters will be going out from the Cape May Red Cross Chapter house in Cape May Court House in an effort to raise funds to support the services that are synonymous with Red Cross: disaster relief, service to Armed Forces and vets, blood, first aid, water safety, youth services and

health education

Many people in Cape May County believe that they are supporting their local chapter when they give to the United Way when, in fact, they are not. Our Cape May County- Chapter is one of very few in the country that is not part of a United Way and. as such, depends completely and solely on the generosity of county residents. Nor do we receive any funds from the government. Indeed, we are “out there” all by ourselves trying to get

financial support.

Regrettably, all Cape May County residents will not be reached by the mailing. Those who are, are asked to please respond generously to the appeal. Those who are not can send their donations to the chapter office 10 N Main St., Cape May Court House 08210. All donations are

tax deductible.

MARIE DUGAN

Chairperson

Cape May County Chapter

American Red Cross

Other Interest?

To The Editor.

A company from out-of-state built an incinerator in Baltimore at a cost of several million dollars in the early 1970s. It turned out to be a bomb and did not work. Because the company was located out of state, the pity of Baltimore had no recourse. The taxpayers had to ac- * cept the loss of millions of dollars. Lower Township doesq’t have this kind of money to play with, and this could spell a disaster. If this incinerator is to be bum, it had better be by a local company within the state with foolproof guarantees. Lower Township has the land and buildings. Now let’s see the people that are pushing this incinerator defi have a meeting with the other communities such as Stone Harbor. the Wildwoods, Cape May, etc. and see if they are interested in putting up some of their cash in this venture As things now stand, they have all to gain and nothing to lose with their more expensive homes and big businesses. RAY BRASKIS North Cape May

By JOE ZEL.NTK

- ... '■ vr* 1MUJTUJC III 1309 u_v one Clarence Wolf who owned a sand company and who sent n

5^TciSlra^me x “ 0,h0ll> branches t sa thank Persecution and Paranoia-

He propagated the trees to make sure that he would have plenty of holly on hand, and now thousands of small

plants are sold from there

ON THE GROUNDS, a museum full of holly related items, is a fascinating place. China, each piece decorated in a holly- pattern, plus carvings of holly wood, are

beautiful to see.

One room full bf furniture made of the wood is very interesting. for one Wooden chair takes a bit of muscle to life - the wood of the holly Ujee is that heavy in weight. In the spring, the blossoms everywhere are delicate to see and to smell, but of course, autumn shows the glorv of millions of berries. Those trees with the shiny green leaves we see now in our woodlands will follow the same

timetable.

Do you have an opinion on this subject? Write a letter to the editor. Herald and Lantern. P.O. box 430 Cape Mav Court House. N.J. 08210. ’ ^

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Bonnie Reins Gary L. Rudy John Dunwoody Darrell Kopp

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^ DEADLINES News & Photos Thursday Advertising , Friday - 3 P.M. Classified Advertising Friday — 3 P.M. 46S-se5S For News or Advertising Information i nor U" pabltakm ml thr HERALD AND I.ANTS.RN will br mpootibir or liabk- (or mklafarmaUoo nmpnnu. t.ypograpfcical MTarv rtc . la ant kiar Thr rditor reawir. (hr rlgbl to rPM an) IrUrr or artlcln labmiunl for pobbeauan

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CsptMsiCvattUmt. NJ, mitj

Sorry Your Wife Was Flattened?

j When I was 21 years old, I faced the difficult choice of working on a beer truck or becoming a newspaperman. I

may- have made the wrong decision. I like to be liked. Journalists aren’t.

Public opinion polls indicate that reporters are thought to be "smug, resentful, officious, insensitive, venal, unnecessarily suspicious and abusive, and even

unpatriotic."

They’re not so good at spelling, either. Did any of you sbe “The Lost Honort)f Kathryn Beck” on T\ a few weeks ago? Mario Thomas was so maligned by a newspaper editor that she put six bullets in him. Frankly, I’d have done the same thing. IN-HIS REVIEW of the show. Philadelphia Inquirer TV columnist Lee Winfrey called the finaUy-dead journalist "a slimy newspaper editor.” Now there’s a redundant phrase if ever I heard one People don’t like journalists because they insist on telling the truth. Who needs it? And they go barging in anywhere, pne of the frequent assignments for daily newspapers or TV stations, for example, is to go to someone who has just suffered a tragedy and ask the survivor how he feels about it. "Are you sorry, sir. that your wife and three children were flattened by a steamroller?” they’ll ask. Yuk. A RECENT BOOK REVIEW referred to “the predatoryreflexes of the journalist in pursuit of a story.” How true. You know how we re always hearing about Communist children reporting their parents to the State for watching “Lawrence Welk" or something? Journalists are the same. They'd expose anyone for> byline: mom, dad, sis. brother, girlfriend, husband. Wen almost anvone. Not the boss, of course. That woOMlbe -biting the hand that feeds you. C The problem with journalists is that they are writers And writers are truly awful people. In Ernest Hemingway’s "To Have and Have Not,” when Helen Gordon is telling off her unfaithful husband Richard, she calls him the worst things she can think of’ “You writer!” she snarls.

Writers are always taking notes, either on pads, on tape recorders, or in their heads, that they can use later , ™'JLtST PHILIP ROTH was recently ^foted as say ing that he look notes at his mother’s funeral. Might be pie bucks'^'' 10 *** Alla ” lic ' someday a nd make a cou--nif IkT 51111 i- 11 ^ 15 t ^ t Poopie are always saying Off the record to writers. That's okay at a Freeholder

meeting, but it carries over into real life.

••n« .k* 5 ' ro l!f freshr '. I ilskL * d the supermarket clerk.

Off the record, no. she said. So now I can't use the information.

In no time at all, one can get a persecution com nip y i bS, 1 * ^ ay "“"dJ wl «m the trolley went b itS^ lhe gmde “S’- ' There's one now." i.,Ii? ,0U ? h meant me ' and 1 ■*«* rny fist at her Ac-

tually, she was pointing to a gabled roof.

NOT ALL THIS is paranoia, though When I ao tn.» Fri. mr ic 5 apB ' h<Hlr -’’ £link >' women with thick accenu lor is it thick women with slinky accents?) pour tiny vials ofwtate powder in my drinks. I leave mm^unfimshrf 1 “" e „ e - d ? r< ' si ! with my back to a door or window “, problem at Henny's. but it keeps me from lunching outdoors, in season, at the Windrift. An irate reader could take Us boat up the coast and plink me off with a rifle from a half-mile off-shore. Don't laugh it happens slKtfSK makes one merreartbTthe slightest hint of affection. I was in the library the other day trying to take out a book without my card and one

librarian said to another, "He's okay.”

ik ea f? gratitude came to my eyes. She likes me I tteSr OU ' She ^ 1 “ve" 1 ^ bo 1 v W eviiSa°”“ 1 rem ' mber being born and thinking

“■‘“^’•TVn tSg sUrt«h^ 1 guess 1 should be thankful 1 didn't study law.