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Vol. 20 No. 49 i»m smwovi Corp. an right. roMrvod. December 5, 1984 I * »

In Stone Harbor

Purchase of Property on Ballot I

By JOE ZELNIK STONE HARBOR — The Elementary' School Board hopes to use $145,000 from its surplus account to buy a house and two lots at 235 93rd St., adjacent to the school. The property's two-year-old assessed valuation is $123,500. Voters will ballot on the expenditure from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11, at the school. Officials said they had no specific use of the site in mind. ••rrs A GOOD MOVE for us," said school board member Billie J. Sellers. "Access to land adjacent to a school is very rare. This is in the best interest of the community."

School Principal R. Donald Wendorf failed to return Herald-Lantern phone calls. Through his secretary, he offered to discuss the topic on Thursday ( tomorrow ) . Solicitor John Mead said he understood the board plans to use the site for "expansion of its recreational program. A non-school board source said he thought the location was to be the source of an all-purpose room that could double as a community crater. ALSO UNAVAILABLE was the total amount of the school district's surplus. School board secretary Joan B. Hutchinson said she didn't know, promised to phone back with the information, but didn't. Sellers, who also is borough tax collec-

tion, said she didn't know. School board president Douglas V. Stani ford could not be reached. He appeared before the Stone Harbor Seniors last week I I to urge a "yes" vote and reportedly told I them the site, could house a community I crater where they would meet. They now I meet in the present school in winter I f months. i Audrey Sherrick, of Tracey, Heun, Bren- I nan and Sherrick, the school board's Nor- [ thfield auditor, said she was "not allowed to give out information on our clients." ' MEAD SAID the negotiated sale price of ' i the property is $138,000. Owner is Charles ! Guest, trading as Guest Trailer Rentals Inc. of Bridgeville, in western (Page 49 Please)

OsrU War 4

CRAFTY — Jennifer Klettsl.ras sips a soda at the Middle Township Christmas Craft and Art Bazaar held at the high school last Saturday to benefit the Panther Marching Band. She's the 20-month -old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dan Kienskens of Cape May Court House.

Nevvs—^ Diffpst Weeks Top Stories

Another Look COURT HHJSE - The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is taking another look at potential water pollution from the proposed Court House Convalescent Crater on Magnolia Drive. DEP will prepare an addendum to its earlier CAFRA (Coastal Area Facilities Review Act) permit in time for the county Planning Board's next meeting set for 3 p.m. Dec. 18 in the county library building. DEP is responding to a Planning Board appeal that claimed inadequate attention was given to the potential threat to ground water quality from the home's septic system. Royal Flush CAPE MAY — County MUA customers will be paying more for sewer use here and in Ocean City next year, according to projections from the MUA last week. Ocean City will be billed 2.7 percent and Cape May about 18 percent over the 1984 rates. What that means to each user awaits a review of MUA figures by city officials. Sewage volume from Cape May was 70 percent higher than expected in the off-season and 20 percent above projected summer flow. Back to School? CREST HAVEN — Forty percent of county residents lack a high school diploma and that percentage is likely to increase with tougher proficency tests for high school students. So county freeholders informally approved plans last week to open an adult high school at the county Vo-Tech next fall. Faced with declining enrollment, Vo-Tech plans to operate the adult program three days a week for $50,000 and use staffers currently teaching remedial adult courses. Rush to the Polls COURT HOUSE - Pressured by a critical grand jury presentment that cited poor business practices, Middle Township's three-member Sewerage Commission has scheduled elections for a new, five-member board from 2 to 9 p.m. (Page 49 Please)

County: Move the Williamses

RIFS Now; Fight Later By E.J. DUFFY SWAINTON — Wheaton Industries is suing Cape May County, state and federal environmental authorities, over the Williams hazardous dump here. Federal Judge Stanley S. Brotman is scheduled to hear Whea ton's request for a preliminary injunction Monday in U.S. District Court, Camden, against the county, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state Department of Environmental Protection* (DEP) Commissioner Robert Hughey. Lawyer Stephen Tasher, who drafted the injunction request for the Millville-based conglomerate, said Friday he's been negotiating an out-of-court settlement. He declined, however, to discuss the progress of the talks or whether such a settlement might be reached before the hearing date. Wheaton, he confirmed, has been named as a "potentially responsible party" in the Williams contamination case (see related story). His client, though, does not accept responsibility for lethal chemicals contaminating the Seigtown Road tract in Middle Township. That issue is addressed in the company's suit, he said, but not as the major matter before Brotman. "THE BOTTOM LINE was, Wheaton Industries wanted to conduct the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RIFS) of (Page 4 Please)

■A . « * ' " Is ^3* Doris Ward

MAKING DO - Aram in go Water Co. has bagged the top of its water tank in Strathmere against seagnll droppings while residents and officials continue to seek a solution to the firm's financial woes.

Woodbine Demands Town Watch

By JOHN DONOHUE WOODBINE — An incensed group of 60 neighbors crowded into town hall last week to get a few things off their chests. Some told the mayor off Others threatened to replace the borough council. And the mayor threatened to shut down all the town's saloons, to thunderous applause. They had gathered to talk about forming a Town Watch organization to keep ah eye on juvenile delinquents, rowdies and hooligans. But what emerged was the comnmunity's frustration and anger over the way things have been sliding ever since the local police force was disbanded a few

years ago to save money. THE CROWD, which plans to meet again tonight, was especially critical of school and municipal authorities for turning their backs in recent years on recreational needs for the young, even though the facilities exist. In a stormy exchange frequently interrupted by shouting. Mayor Ernest Materio said: "We let them have the school auditorium to play basketball and they tore up the inside. I don't like to say we need a town watch to police ourselves. I don't want the bad press." Only one of six councilmen, Jose Rodriguez, showed up at the town meeting, and the new sheriff-elect of the county, James Plousis. wasn't there, either.

Why not? the crowd demanded to know. "I don't know," the mayor replied, prompting threats by some voters that they would get themselves a new town council, and perhaps a new mayor. PLOUSIS, reached the following day, explained why he didn't attend the meeting: "I wasn't supposed to. I spoke with the mayor over there a couple of weeks ago and told him I'd be there on Dec. 5." A former youth recreation organizer, Greg Hudgins, 40, who said later that he had ruined his health trying to keep kids off the streets, tore into the mayor, accusing him of opposing a town watch that had been proposed before. Referring to gangs of boys who reported (Page 49 Please)

Middle: But Who Pays? By E. J. DUFFY SWAINTON — Superior Court Judge John F. Callinan is expected to decide this month whether two families will be removed from a hazardous waste site here, and who should pay their moving bill. The judge ruled last week that county officials could enter the 5 6-acre tract on the south side of Siegtown Road to cap a well at the infamous "Williams' property." Callinan's action followed Cape May County's complaint against Middle Township, Theodore Willigms and his 11 u relatives who live on the contaminated land. Despite repeated warnings, they continue to use the well although the county supplies them with water, according to that complaint. County Solicitor Albert M. Ash has asked Callinan to order the Williams' families off the property for their own safety. Ash also asked the judge to order Middle Township's payment of the relocation costs. CALLINAN. HOWEVER, postponed a hearing on the complaint for 30 days, or until legal counsel can be arranged for the | Williamses. "It's the position of the township that we want to protect the health and welfare of the families living at the site," said Middle Committeeman Charles Leusner, "but we can't go along with the county's position.' He said last week that he agrees the Williams' well should be capped, but not that the township should bear the "expense to relocate them, and their (housing) expenses on a monthly basis. " "That's what the county is seeking and we're questioning whether we should have to pay for it," said Middle Solicitor Bruce Gorman. "But that's not the major issue in the case." That issue involves two questions, according to Gorman: Whether the families should be moved and if "they're continuing to pollute the area." "DESPITE PROSECUTION of criminal action and despite warnings by the ... county Health Department and other agencies, the (Williamses) continue to live on said premises and apparently additional wastes appear to be accumulating at said site," Ash wrote in the complaint. In July 1979, Theodore Williams pleaded guilty to a public nuisance charge in connection with the dumping of 200-300 drums of toxic chemicals in 1978 and 1979 on the (Page 49 Please)