• Herald * Lantern 19 September '84 39

County Crime Rate Declines

(From Page 1) UCR with lower 1983 crime rates than Cape May County (89.2 and 35.8, respectively). Both show decreases from 1982. But, Corino maintained, "a culmination of things need to be looked at before you can accurately compare counties," among them the "different procedures" in processing criminal cases. Some counties, he noted, have assistant prosecutors on duty 24 hours to screen arrests from municipalities and decide if suspects should be prosecuted. Cape May County assistant prosecutors screen arrests but in a modified manner. The difference irythat prodecure is one of several that can aflect crimes reported for the UCR and, thereby, the resulting crime rates. "THE IMPACT ON THE prosecutor's office is attributable to the increased criminal activity in summer months," Corino wrote in his 1982 Annual Report, "and the advent of casino gambling in adjacent Atlantic County." In 1976, before casino gambling, Atlantic City was lucky if it saw 5,500 tourist a day. But, in 1981, the resort averaged 52,000 dai- . ly visitors and 40,000 vehicles. "It's an absurdity," Atlantic County Prosecutor Joseph Fusco scoffed when the UCR was released two years ago. He criticized the 1981 report's reliance on permanent population figures. Atlantic City Police Chief Joseph Pasquale griped about a related complaint last week The latest crime reports include casino-related offenses and, Pasquale maintained, City police have no control over the casinos which are patrolled by their security squads and State Police. Crime in New Jersey dropped 9 percent between 1982- '83, decreasing 8 percent in the northeastern states and 7 percent nationally. Violent and non-violent crime also decreased 9 percent in the state during the same period. Regionally, violent crime dropped 6 percent and non-violent crime dropped 9 percent while nationwide violent crime slipped 5 percent and non-violent crime dipped 7 percent. THE 1982 -'83 DECLINE in crime nationally was the second two-year decrease recorded by the FBI. Crime fell 3.4 percent nationally between 1961-'82. The highest national crime rate was recorded in 1981 and some experts connect the recent

decreases to the aging of the post-World War n baby boom. Cape May County's violent crime rate remained at about the 1982 level (3.4 victims per 1,000 people) in 1983 (3.3) but nonviolent crime dropped from 83.1 victims in 1982 to 77.2 last year. Violent crimes reported then were seven murders, 36 rapes, 83 robberies and 162 aggravated assaults. Non-violent crimes last year were 8,358 burglaries, 15,664 larcenies, 5,373 auto thefts and 379 arsons. Robbery decreased 13 parcent last year and auto theft dropped 18 percent but aggravated assault rose 7 percent and four more murders were committed last year than in 1982. More crimes were committed here in August than in any other month last year; the fewest crimes were recorded in February, lending weight to the argument that a large percentage of them are linked to the tourist season. LOCAL POLICE ARRESTED 8.M9 PEOPLE last year, a decrease of 14 per- ■ cent over 1982. Of that total, 7,464 were adults and the remainder juveniles. Fifteen percent fewer adults and 11 percent fewer youths were taken into custody last year than the year before. The arrest clearance rate was 15 percent in 1983. Last year, police recovered 24 percent of the $3.5 million in property stolen here, according to the UCR. Cape May, Sea Isle City, Stone Harbor, Upper Township, West Cape May, West Wildwood and Woodbine recorded crime increases last year. Avalon, Cape May Point, Dennis, Lower and Middle townships, North Wildowod, Ocean City, Wildwood and Wildwood Crest reported decreases. The UCR lists the following crime statistics for each community: • Avalon's crime rate fell from 101-74.4 victims per 1,000 between 1982-'83 with 48 burglaries, 172 larcenies, nine auto thefts and one arson reported. No violent crimes were listed. • Cape May's crime rate jumped from 56.2-72.1 with six rapes, five robberies, 18 aggravated assaults, 77 burglaries, 254 larcenies, 10 auto thefts and one arson reported. * • Cape May Point's rate dropped from 60.4-40.1 with six burglaries and five larcenies listed. • Dennis Township, which is patrolled

by State Police, saw its crime rate drop from 21.1-20.3. Three robberies and aggravated assaults plus 39 burglaries and larcenies, four auto thefts and two arsons were reported there last year. LOWER TOWNSHIP POSTED a crime rate drop from 50.8-49.7. Crimes reported to the UCR included three murders, two rapes, four robberies, 22 aggravated assaults, 287 burglaries, 538 larcenies, 32 auto thefts and 13 arsons. Walter O. Keresty's slaying of his three baby daughters during the Easter weekend last year accounts for the murders listed. Keresty, 29, of West Pacific Avenue, Villas, was sentenced to 30-years in prison last November. Township police reported the triple slaying to the Herald and Lantern when sum marizing 1983 crimes for the Jan. 18 editions, but did not report the rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults in Lower last year. • Middle Township's crime rate fell from 82.8-67.5. Crimes listed included four rapes, five robberies/ 19 aggravated assaults, 179 burglaries, 555 larcenies, 33 auto thefts and 13 arsons. • North Wildwood 's crime rate dropped from 147.9-122.3 with two rapes, seven robberies, 15 aggravated assaults, 149 burglaries, 407 larcenies, 15 auto thefts '.and three arsons recorded. • Ocean City saw a crime rate decrease from 105.5-90.1. Police there reported one murder, four rapes, six robberies, eight aggravated assaults, 337 burglaries, 944 larcenies, 27 auto thefts and 10 arsons. • SEA ISLE'S CRIME RATE crept up to

119.9 from 116.5 with five rapes, 115 burglaries, 207 larcenies and 13 auto thefts. • Stooe Harbor listed an increase from 121.5-125.2 that included two aggravated assaults, 18 burglaries 141 larcenies and one arson. • Upper Township, which is also patrolled by State Police, reported an 26.8-30.3 crime rate hike, including four robberies, two aggravated assaults, 101 burglaries. 94 larcenies, 20 auto thefts and three arsons •West Cape May's rate dipped from 10.8-7.5 with a single rape and robbery, five burglaries, one larceny and a single car theft. • West Wildwood 's rate soared from 38.9-75 but only 27 crimes were listed in the UCR: one aggravated assault, 11 burglaries, 10 larcenies and five auto thefts. , • Wildwood 's crime rate slipped from 326.1-323.1. Two murders, six rapes. 44 robberies, 47 aggravated assaults, 577 burglaries, 820 larcenies, 70 fcuto thefts and arsons were listed. • Wildwood Crest recorded a crime rate drop from 58.1-54.3. Threerapes, robberies and aggravated assaults were each listed along with 32 burglaries, 176 larcenies, 14 car thefts and ah arson. • Woodbine, the third county municipality covered by State Police, saw its crime rate rise from 40.4-49.4 victims per 1,000 people between 1982-'83. One murder, rape and robbery each were committed there last year plus 19 aggravated assaults, 46 burglaries. 61 larcenies, five auto thefts and two arsons, according to the UCR.

Sandpiper Players Stymied

(From Page 1) "AS I SAY. THEY'VE (city officials have) been very generous with us," the director stressed. "They still are." - City officials, she added, permit the group to use the Franklin Street gym. But there, actors must also schedule their time to conform with recreational activities. They're looking for a more permanent playhouse in the resort. "Somewhere in this town, there must be a garage or loft that measures roughly 20by 30-feet that we can use," Warner continued hopefully. Guest house owners support the 10-year-old, 100-member JCPAG but none can offer a space large enough for its productions. Despite their backing, Warner noted, "We don't seem to be getting community support — the number of people in the audience." A regional repertory' company, the Sandpiper Players specialize in Victorian melodrama. Their second performance of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and the comic "Mrs. Heard on Drinks a Little" pulled in more than 100 ticket-holders each last winter but "Seascape," a contempory and serious work, drew about 30-40 theater goers. "Mrs. Reardon' is the kind of thing we like to do," said Warner, adding that its Victorian flavor corresponds to ' the resort's image. "WE'RE A WINTER GROUP," she noted. Sandpipers perform from October through May and could help attract tourists to town after Labor Day, Warner maintained. "The pity of it is, Cape May is trying to develop this off-season season." Further more, theater is a positive cultural influence on a town, she argued, and should be supported. "It's the kind of community that should support a community theater," she said of Cape May, "whether it's MAC (MidAtlantic Center for the Arts) or the New Jersey Center for the Performing Arts — Cape May should have a theater. It had one 30 years ago.

Warner, who taught theater and acting at the state University of Binghamton, has performed on MAC'S stage at the Emlen Physick Estate. She's been JCPAG's artistic director since the beginning of last year. The non-profit guild "can't afford to pay rent" for a permanent playhouse, she said. "If we pay rent year-'round, we can't afford to put, on performances." Each cost $1, 406-81,600, the director added, "so, if^Wre talking six performances (a season), you're talking quite a bit of money." From ticket sales and guild members' dues, the organizations rents lights, fashions costumes and props, and pays royalties to playwrights. THERE'S NOT A WHOLE lot of money left to pay rent, thus the search for a gnerous landlord — sounds ironically like a plot for one of the Sandpipers' ) melodramas. « Musicals are popular in Cape May's 1 summer dinner-theaters at resort 1 restaurants and hotels, but "we're not i equipped to do musicals,". Warner said, ' because of the expenses involved. Besides, 1 she added, the group wants to preserve its ) present character. "We have some very ' good people — actors," she observed. Some of theinportrayed as many as five ( parts in last year's performance of "A Christmas Card." Without the prospect of a permanent home for the Sandpipers, V Warner was worried about this season's J production of the holiday classic. JCPAG has planned to open the '84- *85 season next month with "Love Rides the Rails or Will the Mail Train Run Tonight?" * Cape May's Board of Education came to I the guild's rescue last week by permitting ^ the Sandpipers to open in the Layafette F Street tehool auditorium. Warner regards 1 that as a temporary solution to the group's 1 problem, though. Players still need a per ? manent playhouse. The director will be s glad to bear offers at 884-0005, she said. E "We're going to try our darnedest to stay C in Cape May," she concluded. "We may have to do it play by play: ii

News — ^ Digest < From Page 1 > deadline. County planners want the resort to restrict development and build a bulkhead along the narrow, flood-prone beach but commissioners have said that's their business. They considered forgetting the project and letting'the county clean up Ocean Drive after storms. Better Watch Out SEAVILLE — Two GOP candidates acted injudiciously by working at the polls in Seaville Fire House during the June primary in Upper Township, the county- Board of Elections concluded last week Robert Burlingame served as an election judge and Mary Dougherty as a board worker, according to a complaint filed by township resident Mary Hamlet and verified by the board. Burlingame and Dougherty were candidates then for the county GOP committee. The board has advised Republican and Democratic party chairmen in Upper to keep a better watch on the polls. 'Road to Nowhere' Study CLERMONT - Nearly 1225,00(1 from the state's $3.3 billion Transportation . Trust Fund will be used to study an eastward extention of Route 55, the 'Road Nowhere,' and upgrading Route 40 as another east-west highway, state Assemblyman Guy F. Muziani and state officials confirmed last week. Muziani has proposed extending Route 55 from Port Elizabeth to Route 9 and the Garden State Parkway near Clermont, Middle Township. Dune Detour OCEAN CITY — Catamaran owners will have to find a new route to the here now that the city has to enforce an ordinance that prohibits destruction of sand dunes. workers have been plowing paths through dunes to allow the catamaran easier access for the craft every spring and fall. Dunes on East Atlantic are more like sandpiles, Councilwoman Jeanne Clunn complained last week, because the sailboat traffic inhibits the growth of dune vegetation.

Multiple Charges WILDWOOD - William A. Curry, 39. of 226 E. Glenwood Ave. faces multiple drug charges stemming from his arrest last Thursday after a search of his room at the Del-Ray Hotel here. He was sent to the county jail in lieu of $100,000 bail on two counts of drug distribution, three counts of possessing methampbetamine, four counts of possession with intent to distribute and related charges. 3 Rescued OCEAN CITY — Local police and Coast Guardsmen rescued three boaters, including two resort men, from a catamaran that capsized about 400 yards offshore early Saturday night. Strollers on the Boardwalk at 17th Street alerted police who notified the Coast Guard which dispatched an amphibious helicopter and two 41 -foot utility boats Rescued from the chilly water were Tod Peterson and James Maclean of Ocean City and an unidentified man. $40M Battles Asbestos TRENTON — State senators voted 38-0 last week to appropriate $40 million for removing asbestos from New Jersey schools. Since state assemblymen approved the bill 69b in April, the measure was sent to Gov. Thomas Kean for action. The cancer-causing insulation has been found in Ocean City, Wildwood, North Wildwood, Middle and Lower township schools. Ocean City and Wildwood removed it but the opening of Wildwood High School was delayed briefly while its officials awaited a state certification of post-removal air quality. What About Sails ? VTRENTON — Gov. Thomas Kean signed into law last week legislation that will require boat owners to register craft of over 12-feet and pay a «5 fee for titles when the law takes effect in March It creates a Boat Certification Fund in the state Division of Motor Vehicles and is designed to make it easier for police to trace and return stolen boats. Owners of nonmotorijed inflatable craft, canoes, kayaks, and craft under 12-feet are exempt.