"^18 S Herald & Lantern 20 June '84

Next: The Bridge Again

> STONE HARBOR - Residents won't have to wait long for the other shoe id fall. With a little good luck, the 96th Street "revitalization" will be completed by the Fourth of July. Three months later the 96th Street (Great Channel > Bridge closes. Then, from Oct. I to April 19 i they hope, they hope, they hope), people bound for Stone Harbor can take a 10-mile detour via either Avalon or North Wiidwood boulevards. T II E B R I I) G K reconstruction started last Jan. 23. morp than three i months later than planned. The bridge was, supposed to i be closed for two six-month . periods, so as not to in- | convenience tourism. ; The contractor. Raymond International ( Builders of Houston. Tex.. I asked for a two-week ex- ( tension in April. Stone Har- i bor said no. Last week, Raymond i asked to start phase two r two weeks early, on Oct 1. (

Stone Harbor said okay and Middle Township (the bridge connects the two) is expected to go along. Raymond would have liked to start even earlier, "but Stone Harbor early on made it clear they wouldn't budge from Oct. 1." said Neil Clarke. Cape May County engineer. THERE WAS a general discussion at last Thursday's meetrig about how to accelerate the project." Clarke said. "They feel they can make the April 19 deadline if the weather's nttf too bad," said Clarke. ■ Clarke's a good man to to. He predicted last January that "they're not , going to get much done this year." Clarke said Raymond i will start in August i fabricating forms for con- i crete piers in a yard rented Stone Harbor. Clarke also said Ray- ■ mond "will consider some method of pouring the • concrete, maybe

precasting some of the units so they can be ready when allowed to closd"3t)wii the bridge " tC x THE STATE Department of Transportation has previously reported that the job was only 15 percent completed in its supposed first-half time period And Raymond spokesmen have said it will be "very hard" to make the April 19 deadline. Officials have already said privately that any attem pt to enforce a $3.500-per-work-day penalty clause for being late would be ineffective since red tape made the job so late in starting. The federal government will pay 80 percent, the state 20 percent, of the $3.57-milljpn job, which includes a new superstructure and drawbridge repairs.

Dorii Want WINNERS — Debra Emery of New York City won the female division of Cape May Point's 5-Mile Run last Saturday. And at right. Sean Smith of Northfield, left, and Bob Rimpkins of Glassboro finished one-two in the male division. Debra did it in 30.15: Sean in 24.31.

Vesper » Service Schedule CAPE MAY - The schedule for vesper services to be held 7 p.m. Sundays in Convention Hall hes been announced. Programs slated for the summer are: July 1. "Sands of Hope" from Ranch Hope; July fj. Local Ecumenic^Pervice: July 15. The Master's Clowns from Ft. Monmouth Methodist Church will provide pianist and soloist ; July 22. Chancel Choir of the Cape Island Baptist Church Rev. Forrest Spriggs. pastor, with Rev Cass ' Shaw assisting; July 29. 1 Macedonia Baptist Church Choir, Rev 'Robert Davis, pastor Aug. 5, "All the King's Men" muppets, Audubon; Aug. 12, undetermined. Aug. 19. Trinity Youth Group. Central Methodist Church, Linwood; Aug. 26 — Chaplain Mark Brown. U.S.C.G. Training Center.

«r Social Security Questionshnd Answers Q. I understand Medicare won't pay for care that is not ''reasonable and necessary". What does /easonable and necessary mean'' A. If a doctor places you in a hospital or skilled nursing facility when the kind of care you need could be provided elsewhere your staywould not be considered reasonable and necessary. So Medicare would not cover your stay. Also, if you stay in a htppital or skilled nursing facility longer than you need to be there. Medicare payments would end when further inpatient care is no longer reasonable and necessary

»— «SJ01IP0N I Here sjt^oufrw you can clip and save. If, at some time. rotJ ; Mknow of someone W inf we should write a- story about ] ■/<?f us know. ' m | Include any details we may need (name, addresses. telephonM Mnumbers. etc.) and a brief description. | 1 ■ It may not be possible to use every suggestion, but we 'rem 1 I always looking for ideas. I 1 ■ Also use the couponfor commons. Tell lis what you like on A ! ■ don't like. ^ istory idea | ; i — — — g i Jfomiiienls: j * | v J : I \ame and Tefepboae: I I; Id t< "■ «il » JOSEPH ZELMJv, EDITOR HERALD AM) UTTERS ■ Si P.O. BOX OH CAPE MAT CT. HSE-. RJ. 98210 I si J^^^^^TEUmwSE: A*S-S«S5 j ft

Scratching on 96th Street

By JOE ZELNIK v STONE HARBOR - Say 96th Street and Ted Pain Winces. That's the street and this is the year Pain, borough manager, and a lot of Stone Harbor officials would probably like to forget. That is because of the half-million-dollar Central Business District "revitalization" that was supposed to be completed by May 11. The July 4 weekend is the latest estimate. Paving was completed last week and street barriers removed at 1 p.m. last Friday. But street light standards, which were to be shipped June 15, are reported delayed a week That sounds familiar since electric service was part of the original problem "Everyone is just scrat ching their heads and wondering how so much coild goof up. " commented one local resident. "Members of the Central Business Committee are also scratching their heads." responded Pain He's on the committee, along with William Fox and councilman Louis C. Clelland WHAT WENT wrong? How much time do you have'' The two biggest problems. Pain said, were weather and difficulty negotiating a right of way so Atlantic Electric could run a line from 96th Street to 97th Street There were 45 days or rain or adverse weather. said. When the good weather did break through, the subcontractors were elsewhere. And what about the decision not to put a penalty clause in the contract for failure to finish on schedule0 "In hindsight it would be a great thing," said Pain "I can say today there should have been one. But we knowingly did not put in one rather than run the risk of raising the cqst." THE COST, incidentalv. is only $49,000 over the half-million-dollar bond issue, despite rumors that it has a million dollars. , And that $49,000, Pain said, resulted because ! sewer line laterals were t found to be in worse shape j than anticipated. So, rather <

than just put in two new / sewer mains and patch the i street, it was necessary- to put in about 25 laterals and > regrade and repave the eni tire^fitreet. • Ah, the repaving. As the project fell further and further behind, the ■ subcontractors, such as the I paver, moved on to other jobs. So, a job that took on1 ly l'« days of work, was I delayed for seven weeks. Pain said the additional $49,000 is available in other parts of the budget so that '"the borough's i n - debtedness has not changed; fiscally the borough position is the same " IT ALL STARTED with "delays occasioned by the time it took to negotiate a suitable right of way arrangement." Pain said Time lost: five to six weeks. Pain said He declined to name the other party, but the name of Jerome Sauls was readily available Pain said the borough had to negotiate for Atlantic Electric a right of way to run service from 97th Street to the south side of 96th Street (From the north side of 96th to 95th was no problem. Pain said. ) Without that service. Atlantic Electric couldn't move the poles off 96th. pain said. Sauls, who owns a park tng lot on 97th Street a"dja~^ cent to what was HaHn's. said is "at a loss to tf/iow why I was a factor^! was

cooperative all the time. They changed their mind five different time's as -to where and how, " ■* "They can't single me out," said Sauls, owner of the Shelter Haven Motel. He said there were different opinions frojp the electric company, phone company, borough officials and adjoining property owners. Sauls also said "Money was not a factor.", The borough offered to codemn a 10-foot strip of land and pay him $17,000. he said That turned out to be unnecessary. s FOR ITS PART. Atlantic Electric said it bore 'no responsibility for delays. "We had the north side of 96th Street prepared and ready for poles to be removed by the last week in December," said Bruce Breunig. manager of the Cape Division. "We were requested by the borough to leave the poles in place to allow for Christmas lighting to be attached and for several street lights to remain in place during the construction period." And the south side0 "The removal of poles on the south side of 96th Street was delayed while the borough negotiated with a property owner for service to the rear of Hunt's ^Minimal and the Park Theatre originating from 97tn>Street." said Breunig. "Once j that problem had been sqked and those two

businesses served from the rear, we removed the poles on 96th Street the following day." WERE THERE brick problems? Only a couple : the wrong sized bricks were delivered and the bricklayer was 10 days late. The borough chose to go with wrong - sized bricks rather than reorder and delay further. Pain said. Some persons have objected to the fact that the bricks are laid in sand and could be pried out by a determined person. That is not a mistake, as far as Pain is concerned. "The architect (Thomas Sykes Associates of Margate) recommended that for the very fine appearance and good value." said Pain. What about sidewalk superintendents' comments that parking meter posts aren't in and the bricks will have to be removed for them0 That comes after the street is lined for parking spots and was planned that way. Pain said. So now, except for the delayed street light standards, everything is pretty much okay? "Well,'' said Pain, "some of the trees seem to be dying." He didn't seem surprised.

Drinking Wntfr- Still Some Sodium —

(From Page 1) J Site in Lower Township failed/ One of Avalon s four wells tested at 55.3 Ihe other three were 28.6. 31.2 and 48 1 Four samples at private homesAvere okay jjvith readings of 29.8, 37.4 38.6 and\46.9. . Two of Stone Harbor s wells tested at $5.8 and 74.9: the other two read 4B-.2 and 49.1 One private home tested af 5fT three Other samples were 48.8. 46.3 anrf44 2 As required, the countyyin^7ch issued an alert to physicians with patients on lowsodium diets that some communities had sodium problems. But county cardiologists Robert sorensen and Suketu Nanavati. who agree m little else said the levels of sodiifmjn drinking water are nothing to worry abeii The Hearth Department is supposed/To# be testing water for sodium monthly The sample prior to this was taken March 28 by the storm of March 29. and completed April 4, so there was a six-week

period between it and the most recent tests. Clay Sutton, county environmental program administrator, said the next samples should be taken next week. That also will be a six-weekispread. Results wil be reported in the Herald and Lantern. A recap of other communities from the May sampling: Ocean City had municipal well readings of from 24.6 to 25.7 and distribution samples of from 23.7 and 25.9. Sea Isle City: wells 25.6 to 28.4; homes, 26.9 to 29.5. Wjldwood : wells, 6.6 to 28.7; homes. 7.6 to 12.7. Lower Township: welly 23.3 to 28.3; homes. 24.2 to 28.5. . „ Middle Township: four homes tested at 42.4. 42.8, 42.8, 42.8 and 43.7; the well in Court Hous<\at 43 Woodbine: wells. 5.2 and 6.2; homes. 6.2 and 6.3.