I • • 70 w opinion Herald * Lantern 23 May '84

V ' "% Our Readers Write Garden State Also Scenic To The Editor: Pleading north on the Garden State Parkway, just out side Cape May Court House, you will see a new road sign It reads: "Welcjune to Pineland National Park." 1 suppose hundreds of drivers pass this sign each day. I am certain these people, like me, have noticed its appearance^ but I wonder if any of them have given it some thought. You know, it's only a sign - one of those tfgns like Thomas Kean '^Keeting to the ferry patrons in North Cape May or ^wild\j{ood Welcomes World." Really nothing important ••• ore; it? LIVING IN Cape May County for most of my life. I never thought much of the Garden State Parkwav. It was a road to take me to Searstown or the Atlantic Tity Expressway and that's all. Of course, vacationers from Philadelphia have another point of view. The Garden State Parkway to them is a road to the shore. But it is more than a means to an end Closely examined. it has personality. It has a niche in our area which should not be overlooked. A few years ago. I hit the road period, but most of my business, has been local During this period. I have seen almost every nook and cranny on the parkway from Cape May to Beeslev's Point. ON THIS KOAI). I have seen deer, rabbits, egrets, hawks and a foxor two I have seen the sun rise over the marshes. I have viewed autumnal scenery that rivals any New England has toiiffer. I have seen oak. cedar and holly and marsh ^grass in unbelievably spectacular contrasting combinations. The kind of stuff you see in art galleries. 1 have thought about that sign and. yes. it means a lot to me. You see. I have discovered the parkway , and. indirectly. the state and nation has too. Indeed, we should do what the sign says and help preserve the Pinelands in Cape May County not only for the ecological value but also because the Garden State Parkway passes through. If Ocean prive can be termed "scenic" w hat could we 'say about the parkw ay ED ROSENBERG <> Cape May Court House * ..J ^

> Hrralii Published Every Wednesday By P.O. Bo* 430 The Seawave Corporation Cape May Court House, N.J. 08210 Joseph R. Zelnik Editor Bonnie Reina General Manager e, r Gary L. Rudy Advertising Director John Dunwoody Special Promotions Director Darrell Kopp Publisher laawtYO Corp. 1 M4. AH right* ruaurvad. AM pra^arty rjjKi for tho onHro contents of this publication shall bo the proper- j ty of the Seawave Corp. Np part 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 [ Neither participating advertisers nor the publishers of the HERALD AND 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 publication. Voteer Township ' — Lantern z Published Every Wednesday By P.O. Bos 438 ^%^JeawavejTaq»oratio^^^^^Cap^!ajMrourUlouse^^^Ki^^ • * V ' 1 11 |

Art Subsidies Benefit l The Privileged Minority

By WILLIAM D. GRAMPP The federal government in several hundred ways assists the arts directly. There were 252 programs in 1975 when the last inventory was made. Indirectly it assists the arts by tax concessions to arts organizations and deductions to taxpayers who make gifts to them. There also are state and local programs. Whether any of them are a proper function of government is asked by Prof. Edward C. Banfield in his new book, "The Democratic Muse: Visual Arts and the Public Interest" (Basic, 1984). He argues against federal programs, and an argument also may be made against the others. Neither argument appears to interest the Arts Caucus of Recount Cost? To The Editor: There is considerable misinformation being circulated in Lower Township by people in high places who knovJFit is misinformation, yet persist in using the misinformation to their advantage. The recount ordered for the May 8 election was not done at the expense of the Lower Township taxpayers. The cost of the recount was paid for by the Non-Partisan Change Team. I want to thank the voters in the Second Ward who came to the polls on election day despite tne uncertain weather and a tornado watch. The poll results gave me<pi,0 votes compared to my nearest opponent's 504. When the allowed absentee votes-were counted, my opponents received 11 versus my 4, giving him 2-vote lead There were, h'owever, 15 absentee ballots that were disqualified because of questionable technicalities that were being challenged in court. When I am sure 1 did not lose the election because of manipulation. I will gracefully .concede the new form of government off to a successful start. I am not intimating that my opponent is a part of any irregularities. I consider him an honorable, conscientious man. The Charter Study Commission tried to make the May election truly non-partisan The non-partisan phrase was an attempt to describe an election fi'ee of political party backing. That intent was circumvented when each major party put forth a party-backed slate of candidates JOHN B WADE NORTH CAPE MAY (£D NOTE Judge Philip A Gruccio ruled Friday that the contested absentee ballots should not be counted >

the House of Representatives, some 200 members who do not doubt the propriety of government assistance and consider only how much there should be. Congress soon will act on the appropriation of the National Endowment for the Arts, which received just over $3 million when it began in 1965 and $162 million last year AMONG ITS original purposes was bringing the arts to more people. While it never aspired to making the arts a mass phenomenon, it now wants to do no more with its subsidies than "to encourage those on the edges. " If Congress does not care to ask whether the people should provide for themselves in the article of art, it might consider how well the government has provided for them. It could begin with information collected by the NEA itself and go on to other sources. AU make the same report. The people who are interested in art today are those who were interested in it before 1965, and they are the kind of people who have been interested in it throughout history. They always have been a minority of the population and have been privileged. The American government, after all of its millions have been spent, has not altered the fact and could not have done so. It should have known as much and wouldjiave if it had consulted the experience of time and if its pur)rae had truly been to improve popular culture. NOT EVEN ANCIENT Greece, with its magnificent drama, could bring the common people into the theater without paying them to attend. It did just that, but mistakenly set the amount equal to the daily wages of a solider, so that men went to the theater instead of into the army. Still, to pay people to experience art would be quite in order if it were the invaluable asset it is said to be by some who advocate subsidies. The NEA published in 1978 a survey of- 272 audience studies, two-thirds of thera made in the '70s. They showed that the median inc&me was 15 percent to 30 percent above the population median; that about 85 percent of the audiences had been to college while only 26 percent of the population had; that 56 percent of the audiences were in professional occupations while only 15 percent of the labor force were; that blue-collar workers comprised 7 percent of the audiences and 47 percent of the labor force, and that the "data do not reveal any striking changes in the composition of audiences" between 1960 and 1977. A survey reported in Museum News last year stated that hundreds of studies made over 50 years show that museum visitors "are likely to be in the upper education. (Page 71 Please) Hello, Baby iBoy)! Gail Milgram Beitman. who wrote "Hello. Baby'" on this page May 9. gave birth to a boy May 15. She and husband Dr Robert Beitman named their son Adam Lee

-See You at the 'Deja Vu?— Adam Paints Without Nostalgia

By JOE ZELNIK I read in this newspaper last week that Cape May Coun ty Freeholders will spend up to $225. 000 for permanent works of art at a new nursing home in Crest Haven and renovated county courthouse For my entry. I propose to paper the walls of a reading room at the nursing home with clippings of the stories I wrote for the Philadelphia Bulletin - about 1.250 during its last five years. This original work of art would be called "Futility " Price would be $7,000 if placed on the walls helter-skelter. $14,000 if the stories are arranged in chronological order I prefer the latter because it would illustrate my development as a writer. I also could use the extra money MY FELLOW JOURNALIST. E.J Duffy, intends to submit a montage made up of the drawings of his three-year-old son, Adam This is a collection of vivid impressions absolutely devoid of nostalgia. With bright colors displayed in youthful, carefree abandon. Adam s drawings reflect a bold love for the bizarre and an almost supernatural maturity. The mural would decorate the nursing home's entraneeway. uplifting all who pass through its doors. Duffy's price is $20,000. which suggests he is greedier than I. But. remember, he has to share the loot with Adam. ' THE COMPETITION for the remaining $191,000 is expected to be stiff. A local Sculptor has proposed a life-size work show ing Sheriff Beach Fox pointing an unloaded handgun at county Republican chairman Phil Matalucci. The judges, I am told, face a dilemma They would like to commission the work because of its emotional impact. The sheer terror in Matalucci's eyes is said to be awesome On the other hand, the statue would be larger than available space The price would be $23,000 in gray marble, or $1,700 in pfnk cement. Another entry focusing on the Fox-Matalucci love-hate relationship has already been turned down . ^An Erma publicist submitted a huge photographic blowup of Fox 4

and Matalucci dancihg a polka together at a Republican corn boil in happier days The problem is. it may be tied up in litigation for some time Matalucci claims Fox never paid him for the dance OTHER PROPOSALS already rejected An aerial color photograph from the county Planning Department showing sewage line ocean outfalls: too many browns , A surrealistic painting of a long line of parked cars in Cape May with traffic tickets waving from their windshields: too negative. A wall tapestry illustrating the significant events that prepared Charles W Sandman Jr for the Superior Court bench: too small. A magnificent oil painting of Freeholder and Lower Township Republican Leader Gerry Thornton under attack by Philadelphia immigrants: too reminiscent of "Custer's Last Stand." THERE HAVE BEEN a number of extremely creative proposals for recorded sound projects, original works that would alternate with radio station WWOC in the nursing home elevators. v — v Under consideration is a tape recording of county Prosecutor John Corino reading the complete transcript of the MUA fjfand jury proceedings. Big hangup is" whether the $10,000 commission should go to Corino personally, or to the Prosecutor s office to purchase two more electronic eavesdropping devices. My own proposal to travel to Yugoslavia to tape Slovenian shouts and curses during bowling competition was rejected. I know it's nothing personal since the Freeholders have accepted my suggestion that the Upper Township branch of the county library, a replica of the Lower Township branch, be called the "Deja Vu Library." Politics has had nothing to do with any of the awards. Proof of that is the acceptance of county Democratic chairman Jim Iannone's proposal for a mural in the refurbished courthouse showing every Democrat in the county. Still to be determined is whether they'll be pictured leaning from the windows of a Fare Free bus or a casino van.