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Vol. 20 No. 23 ittj (».<>.. c»rp ah *4 |um*6, 1984 . '~W.*

News— ^ j Digest 5L This Week's Crisis WILDWOOD — City Council President Victor DiSyivester has notified Mayor Earl Ostrander that he had until Uxtight to prove he lives in this resort or council will investigate his residency Council can declare the mayor's seat vacant if it determines that he lives outside city limits, as a Wildwood citizen purports Tm Sal* STONE HARBOR - Borough Council has voted to limit the size of sale and rent signs to 24 inches wide by IS inches high and no more than three feet off the around, effective next March 31. The former ordinance permitted signs fivefeet square, which is still the maximum, but being reconsidered in neighboring Avalon Stone Harbor also says one sign per lawn; Avalon, two. Lonely Job COURT HOUSE - Trying to maintain surveillance over someone on the streets of Cape May in the dead of winter was among the interesting problems" cited by special FBI agent John W Reemmer at a meeting of the Middle Township Chamber of Commerce in the county Library Building Tuesday night His topic was "organized crime infiltrating legitimate buuness Hefty Hike WOODBINE - Avalon, Sea Isle City and this borough will be paying 211 i Page 41 Please >

Motorsport Plan Stalls By JOE ZELNIK WOODBINE — Motorsport Park has stalled The proposed major sportacar road racing facility which planned to open this August won't start racing until next summer. "We've dumped the entire #4 schedule, said Jack LaBounty, president of Cape Motorsport Promotions Inc. of Stone Har bor "We'll start in '85 with a full (racing) calendar year program ." Current snag is approval by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) for a two and one-half mile track at the Woodbine Airport. LaBounty had predicted that for early April. Now he says July Without the approval, a 75-day construe tion period that LaBounty hoped would be finished by late June won't start until (Page 41 Please) t

w WINNER — Ocean City patrolman James Plousis defeated Sheriff Beech N. Fox's bid for a sixth term yesterday, winning the GOP nomination by an unofficial vote of 7,107 to 5.485. Plousis' Regular Republican Organization running males. Gerald Thorton and Herbert Frederick, won the Freeholder nomination with 7,934 and 7,495. respectively, to 3.899 for Charles D. Reeves and 3.K28 for Dorothy R. Armand. who ran with Fox.

From Ocean City to Villas Water Monitoring Under Way

Dortt Ward COOLIN' OUT — Some people drag beach chair*, umbrellas, aeach bogs, blankets towels, radios, buckets and shovels, etc. to a spot guaranteed to get them sand In their eyes. But 2>,-year-oM Zoe Clarke, daughter of Mr and Mrs T Patterson Clarke of Cape May. was satisfied to cool her heels in the water at the curb of her Pennsylvania Avenue borne.

By JOE ZELNIK OCEAN CITY — Jeanne Hansen and Laura LaForge went wading into the 55-degree ocean at 6 a m Monday No, they weren't tourists determined to get their money s worth The! were starting the Cape May County Htilth Depart ment's 1984 season water monitoring program to guarantee the health and safety of county bathers Every Monday through September. Hansen and LaForge will go waist-deep into the ocean to get water samples at 40 bathing sites from Ocean City south to Cape May Point and around the point as far as Villas THOSE SAMPLES will be tested at the county's laboratory in Crest Haven, a process that takes four days By Friday, the department will have results A copy will go to the Department of Environmental Protection <DEP>, another to the municipality Hansen, senior environmental planner from Seaville, and LaForge, assistant environmental planner from Middle Township, are looking for, but hope they don't find, fecal coliform bacteria, an indicator of human sewage pollution. "If it's there," said Clay C. Sutton Jr., environmental program administrator, "there could be viruses and pathogens ON TUESDAYS, the same procedure will be followed in 90 bay sites, but these samples will be taken largely from the department s boat The program also includes sampling at 18 sewage treatment plants in the county. Put it all together and you have "the most elaborate water monitoring program of all the counties in New Jersey." Sutton said "The state requies we sample every mile every two weeks That would be 20 sites in this county We're doing 40 every week." said Sutton "IT MAY SEEM like overkill, but our entire economy is dependent on water quality We're doing it as a precaution, a way to guarantee we have clean water to swim in We've proven we have clean water By working at it, we keep it clean " About 12 persons are involved in the program four regular, full-time lab staff members, four hired for the summer, and^ four collecting samples A fecal coliform count higher than 50 MPN (Most Probable Number) "would be considered cause for concern", Sutton said One such reading "might not mean much, but if it repeats, we'd want to know why." THE BAYS are the chief concern, because the county's sewage treatment plants discharge effluent into them, except ( Page 41 Please)

Police Petitioning For Earlier Out

By E.J. DUFFY Police Benevolent Association (PBA) Local 59 will learn today if voters from four Cape municipalities shall decide ballot questions on police retirement plans this fall. PBA members have been circulating petitions in Avalon, Stone Harbor. Sea Isle City and Lower Township With enough signatures on them. Local 59 can call for referendums in each town on whether the four municipal police departments can change retirement plans. If voters approve the referendums. the four departments would switch from the Public Employes' Retirement Systems (PERS) to the Police and Firemen's Retirement System (PFRS) The change in plans would allow policemen to retire with 60 percent of their final salary after 25 years instead of retirement at 55, "regardless. of the number of years in," said Lower Township Patrolman John Maher. chairman of the PBA committee campaigning for the change. SWITCHING PLANS would also mean a

7 percent increase, from 8 to 15 percent, in each town's police payroll, a jump of $42,000 a year in Lower Township. For example Hikes of that size killed the proposed change when Stone Harbor and Avalon voters decided similar referendums in the past "We've got our work cut out for us," Maher conceded, "but we need it ( the pension change)." Money that has been paid into the PERS can be transferred to PFRS, he said, and the additional money needed to bring each town's appropriation in line with benefits can be paid over 25 years — easing the drain on local coffers "To get out of it (PERS). the law says you have to go through petition and referendum," Maher noted, explaining Local 59's drive to collect signatures for 10-15 percent of each town's registered voters. "Signatures are no problem, he said, predicting more trouble at the ballot boxes, based on the Avalon and Stone Har- • (Page 41 Please)

_ inside. RENTING movies for home TV? See "Video Eye," Page 36 CAPE'S attractions often overlooked. Page 36. THERE'S no magic system for weight loss. See "Diet Do's," Page 20. CHURCHES of the Cape. Page 43. READERS sound off about the cost of parking in Cape May, the lack of sidewalks in Court House, and alleged cronyism in Middle Township: Page 62.