• • 50 O p I 111 OH Herald & Lantern 2 May '84

Our Readers Write Rabbits Third Most Popular * « To The Editor: I am writing in response to Nina Austenberg's letter, "Nix Live Bunnies", which appeared in your April 18 issue. True, members of this highly-misunderstood mammalian order ( Lagomorpha : pikas. hares and rabbits ) are " indeed used and abused during the Easter season; however, to say that these creatures do not make good pets (quote-unquote) is indeed not true. I should like to respond with a volley of retorts to that innane suggestion. I have had rabbits as housepets for £ number of years now. My present one is a New Zealand White doe aged three years. She is very docile, humorous and quite litter-trained. HAD SHE NOT been saved as a two-month' bunny while performing physiological experiments at Rutgers, she would indeed have been "nixed," obviously meeting a more unfortunate fate than that which she has encountered here in Ocean City. True, the over-commercialization of the rabbit during the Easter holiday season, has indeed meant big bucks (pun?) for the pet shop owner, and horrid treatment for the bunny itself due to over-affectionate and sometimes irresponsible children. Tnis is not the children's fault, for they do not buy the creatures. Thus it is up to the parents to properly educate their child. I know of many instances where rabbits have been a success in a household of youngsters — whether it be a house rabbit or hutch rabbit. THAT RABBITS DO NOT make good pets is absurd. They happen to be the third most popular pet (mediumlarge size animal) in North America. Rabbits are also used as a prime laboratory experiment animal. 1 do not have strong views against that for science must be progressive and not regressive; however in certain documented instances, these creatures are subjected to agonizing fates. So in these instances, Ms. Austenberg could be comforted in knowing that those rabbits which ordinarily MIGHT be subjected to controversial laboratory practices ARE alive and well in households where parents properly teach their children respect for life and responsibility. Yes, rabbits are indeed abused in certain instances; take it to the source. But it is unfair to say that rabbits do not make good house pets. GARRETT PEZZECA Ocean City

Ban Auto Junkyards A To The Editor; I don't know what the ordinance is in reference to junked cars in North Cape May, buj something must be done to correct it. If we don't correct it. we will wind up having numerous auto graveyards throughout our township. I am proud to live in North Cape May and enjoy the beautiful country in the spring and summer. So if we have to change its looks, let's make it for the better. I hope our newly-elected local government vvill get behind this critical "condition and do its best to eliminate it. C HARRY O'DONNELL North Cape May e

S — JT A — TUralii Published Ever* Wednesday By P O. Bos (30 The Seanave (Srporatkm ' ' Cape May Court House. N.J. 08210 Joseph R. Zelnik Editor Bonnie Reina General Manager Gary L. Rudy Advertising Director John Dunwoody Special Promotions Director Darrell Kopp Publisher 'Saawox Corp. I9M. All rights rosorvnd. All property rights for tho onriro contents of this publication shall bo tho property of the Soawave Corp. No port hereof may be reproduced without prior written consent. DEADLINES ^ News & Photos Thursday Advertising Friday — 3 P.M. Classified Advertising Friday — 3 P.M. [ 465-5055 For News or Advertising Information | Nebfcer participating advertisers nor (he publishers of the HERALD Atfnt LANTERN will be responsible or liable for misinformation, misprints, typographical errors, etc.. in any issue. The editor reserves the right to edit any letter or articles submitted for pobUeaQoe. ' fower Tow nship •LANTERNS Published Every Wednesday By P.O. Bos (30 The Seawave Corporation Cape May Court llousr. N.J. 0X211 J V— — — — — , ^

| I (/ 1 J IW * ' ' i ~S w\\ v > "Will They Give A Gold Medal For Propaganda At The Summer Olympics'" j 1

Our Readers Write A Marked Man i To The Editor: 1 Eight years ago I noticed a tingling in my right leg. The 1 tingling grew to a numbness and a burning sensation that persists to the present During the first four years of this condition, I fought it. I must have gone to every doctor from here to Philadelphia • and back trying to find relief. 1 changed careers thinking ; it was in my mind. One day I realized that the pain just was not going to leave, ana my search for a cure was going to drive me to bankruptcy (and the nuthouse". "So the hell with the pain," 1 said. "It's time to get back to work." IT HAS TAKEN ME the last four years to catch up. but 1 have fought my way back to solvency. It is an accomplishment of which 1 am very proud. I Well, recently I thought it was time for my family to i enter a "replacement" period. That is. 1 wanted to get a > new car. some new furniture, etc.. but then I got my first ; experience with the credit system — namely, the credit i report. I During the period of my illness and career change, even ; though 1 managed to pay my bills. I was sometimes late • and had to make partial payments to a couple of creditors I scratched and I crawled and I and my family did without and I paid the creditors in full. ) APPARENTLY. ALL THAT work didn't mean a damn thing to the world of account numbers and computer printouts. for now I am a marked man. I cannot get credit. k I cannot get credit, that is. until the Credit Bureau ; Associates . of Camden gets off its duff and clears my credit rating. By the way. did you know it only costs $10 and a phone calf to find out w hat C.B.A is doing to you? ED ROSENBERG Cape May Court House

Lookin' and Listenin' On Scallops By DOROTHY D. FREAS Looking at a recent picture of a new boat in Cape May that is going to specialize in scallop dredging brought two main thoughts to mind. Not necessarily in this order: the beauty of dozens of pairs of scallop shells from all over the world in a formerly owned collection, and the delicious taste of a plateful of scallops. "' . Each scallop has two shells, one round and arched, with small extensions of the shell at the hinge, and the opposite shell flat, with matching "ears." Found in all seas, they gather in certain areas and are dredged as they lie on the sand or move quickly through the water looking like a flock of small birds. THEY ARE TRULY jet-propelled for the round muscle near the hinge of the shell snaps the two valves together, throwing a jet of water out, which propels them about a yard straight ahead. They can change direction at every spurt, thus evading an ememy. Known as one of the most beautiful family of shells, colors run from deep purple, reds, brawn, pink, yellow and white, often with striped or zigzag designs, and even multicolor in one single pair. The common edible scallop of our area is usally less colorful, its shell averaging two or three inches. If by chance you haven't sampled the cooked scallop (simpiy the muscle which closes the shell), you are missing one of the most delicious flavors that comes out of the sea. There are scallop shells as large as six inches in diameter, and the arched side is sometimes used as a "dish" in which to serve other seafood recipes. WE HAVE ALL SEEN the Shell Oil Company insignia, a scallop shell. However, this colorful bivalve has a tale of more historical significance that came down through the ages. During the Crusades, the wars fought between the 11th and the 14th centures. the European Christians planned to recover Jerusalem from foreign conquerors. As scallops were plentiful along the Palestinean coast where many of the battles occurred, the story goes that a Crusader picked up a colorful scallop shell, attached it to his hat or his cloak, before he traveled home to Europe, and started a fashion. Any man who wore a scallop shell either carved, etched or embroidered, was known from then on to have been a Crusader Aone who had returned from the Holy Land. The bands of knights who formed groups, social or otherwise, used the "St. James Scallop" on their banners. Many wealthy families added a scallop design on their banorial armor to show that an ancestor of that family had been a Crusader. Scallop shells are often used to make novelties to be sold at coastal resorts, but of that for which the word "scallop" stands, a platter of hot. well-cooked nuggets of flavor is by far the very best use. Letters Welcome The Herald and Latern Welcome letters to the editor on matters of public interest. Originals, not copies, are requested. Writers should sign name, address and phone number.

. r'Keep Me in Your Memories' o For a Son , Marine , and Friend

e By JOE ZEl.MK ( I ■t I have daughters. That should spare me the loss of a | e child to war. I've known few people whose loved ones died in battle. L But. although it was 40 years ago. I remember the day the | y body of a young soldier named Mirko Pavlin was brought ; home to be buried. World War II was winding down; I was | not quite a teen-ager. His parents lived across the street | and his mother's screams have stayed with me. He was her only child, replaced by a gold star that hung in her liv- . ing room window. | She is still in Gowanda. New York, and when I go ; "home." rf I see her sitting on the porch. I stop to chat. j I nevei] knew the James Dramis family in-Middle Township whose eldest child. George. 19. was lulled in ; Beirut Jap. 30. But his parents were kind enough to spend some time last week talking to me about him. LANCE CPL. GEORGE DRAMIS was the last Marine killed in Beirut. The day he was buried, the President ordered the Marines moved offshore to safety. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who must be satiated with tragedy, wrote in "Rolling Stone" Magazine that those servicemens' deaths were "a mistake." The Dramises can't think so. "If George felt he needed to be there." said his mother, "who should know better than him?" THE FAMILY RECEIVED, over a thousand letters of condolences: Mrs. Dramis answered every one. The Dramises have a four-foot-high box filled with mementos of George's service career. It included a scrapbook she started for him that he never saw. There is a prophetic newspaper clipping showing a Marine's bereaved ~ mother long before Luretta Dramis became one herself. Her most precious remembrance is a letter found in George's wallet after he was killed. It was addressed to I every member of his family. "AS YOU KNOW," he wrote. "I won't be coming home. I knew that this day would come. I was proud to serve my

country and I was w illing to give my life for it no matter if the people back home didn't think we should be here or not. I love each and every one of you all." It was a letter without a selfish thought "I want all of you to know how proud I was of my parents." he wrote. "You helped me when I was in need and gave me acjyice when I asked for it. You and Dad turned your back on me and I love you both dearly for that." There were regrets that he never paid back his grandfor a loan ("It was only $150," his mother said), a plea that his aunt and uncle "keep those memories of me and how ornery I was." a wish that his four sisters "have good futures and I hope your dreams of success will come true." And for his brother. Bob. "I hope you meet a nice girl and have beautiful kids." V HIS LETTER ENDED:"To attfl want you to go on*and finish every thing you startedfl hope you will continue to be happy even though I am noSlnnger with you. May God be with you always. Keep me iiiyour memories." ! One way the Dramises will do /hat is with a memorial to George on a 1.500-squa re-foot islnqd at the intersection of Shunpike Road, Dias Creek Road and Sites Avenue, one mile from their home. A small uprignhnonument, black ' granite from Vermont, will be unveiled Memorial Day dedication services. It is engraved on bjjth sides with illustrations of the important tlSng^-fn George's life: wrestling, football, skiing, syrfing. dancing, his home, his education, his religion, afmotorcycle, a van, his dog, Louis. / THE MEMORIAly/will be engraved with 'George's name, date of birdfand death, and the words, "Our Son, Our Marine, Our/Best Friend." It will mean afferent things to different people, and that's fine. ' The project wijl cost the Dramises at least $5,000. Thpy wouldn't dream* of asking others to share in the cost. I would. Their mail address is 22 Solar Way in Court Hotise, 08210. . • /