M' CAP^IH ' COUNTY ^ ^ rralii ^ ^ i i i r

Vol. 20 No. 50 £*• Corp ah rigfct, r.wrv.d, December 12, 1984 r*.T.» """

iVo Williams Dump Study Until Spring?

By E. J. DUFFY SWA INTO N — Cleanup studies of the Williams hazardous dump here won't begin until "spring 1965 at the earliest" despite county announcements that they would start this month. That's one of several contentions Wheaton Industries presents as facts in its law suit against Cape May County, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Robert Hugbey. Scheduled to be heard Dec. 10 in U.S.

District Caul, Camden, Whea ton's request for a preliminary injunction was postponed late Friday until Jan. 25 while the parties involved try to settle their differences out of court. WHEATON ATTORNEY STEVEN A. Tasher filed the suit Oct. 19. That action apparently prompted the county to sue Middle Township and the two Williams families that live on the contaminated tract off Seigtown Road. That suit was filed Nov. 27 and is scheduled in Superior Court later this month. Although the 5.6-acre property was partially cleaned up four years ago and

Theodore Williams pleaded guilty to contaminating the property, both Wheaton and the county contend in their suits that additional dumping has taken place there Tasher argued for Wheaton that authorities should have secured the tract and removed the Williamses from it After the Wheaton suit was filed. County Solicitor Albert M. Ash asked Superior Court Judge John F Call man to order the Williams' families off the property and bill Middle for relocation co6ts. IN THE COUNTY SUIT. Ash maintains that the Williamses continued to use a contaminated well despite advice against it

and availability of a county supply of uni polluted water Callinan ordered the well capped but delayed decisions on the other (Page 45 Please) : < — Early Deadlines — Get ready for some super -early deadlines because Christmas and New Year's fall ori Tuesday, the day prior to Herald-Lantern publication News and advertising for the Dec 26 issue will have to be in by Wednesday, Dec. 19, and for the Jan. 2 issue k by Wednesday. Dec 26

News— ~ DldPCt Weeks ' * o ^°P Stories Out of Cash , Cops WEST CAPE MAY — Support for a referendum to increase the police department's budget will have to come from outside the borough commission, commissioner Lewis Feger told local businessmen last week. They're concerned about a recent rash of burglaries in town and lack of police protection since September during certain hours. Hie borough cut back on police then because it had spent its $34,000 annual police budget, Feger confirmed. Voters rejected referendums to increase the budget in 1980 and 1981. Host a Recruit COURT HOUSB - "Operation Fireside," the lofcal Red Cross project to give Christmas pinner to recruits at the U.S. Coast Guafd Training Center in Cape May, justVad its quota upped by 100, to 180 That\aeans Gertrude Reiss, in charge. needS about 50 more families willing to share then* Christmas with two or more recruits.- -Call her at 884-1587. or the Red Cross at 465-7382. Fireside hosted 300 recruits last year, but the number is down this year because classes were reduced during the fall budget crunch. Bulging at the Seams MARMORA — Upper Township voters approved a $2.2 -mill ion bond issue last week to expand the elementary school on Tuckahoe Road. If the state Department of Education approves expansion plans, construction can begin around June; six new classrooms will be built to replace trailers currently used. District enrollment is expected to increase by 800 students in the next 10 years so another elementary school might by needed soon (Page 45 Please) r-inside AFTER the new bridge, can the old bridge on North Wildwood Road be a fishing pier? Lou Rodia, page 42. BEFORE high school sports resumes action, Mark Mattem asks a few questions, page 40. THE FLOOD shocked Schatzie. Shouldn't she collect? Page 58. IN §EARCH of an unlined face. Dorothea Cooper, page 59.

Sludge Plant Near Completion

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Environmentalists Hit County Despoiled Vacationland?

By JOE ZELN'IK COURT HOUSE — A statewide environmental group from New Brunswick has asked the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection ) to oppose the proposed Court House Convalescent Center on Magnolia Drive. In a letter to DEP Commissioner Robert £ Hughey, the New Jersey Environmental Lobby charged the proposed home "is but the latest in a series of environmental abuses in Cape May County." Attorney James S. Lanard, who makes

up the staff of the lobby, also charged that "the environmental situation in this county is degenerating at an appalling rate" and that "imprudent development, facilitated by decision-making based strictly on political considerations, is causing surface water pollution and aquifer contamination that threatens to despoil this glorious vacationland " LANARD SAID the information on which his charges were based came from "several people who are extremely concerned about environmental protection (Page 48 Please)

From Waste To Peat Moss By JOHN DONOHUE CREST HAVEN — Rising in a clearing near the Garden State Parkway, an $8 million factory is being built to process the county's sewage waste into peat moss for the next 50 years The project, funded 85 percent by federal, 8 percent state, an<j5 'percent county money, is expected to yield a highgrade soil conditioner that could fetch between $30 and $40 a ton on the open market. "We're not going to give it away." said William W Cathcart, a Stone Harbor councilman and operations chief for the county Municipal Utilities Authority <MUA). which is sinking $634,400 into the job "If we can get 10.000 tons a year at $40 a ton, we could break even on operating costs It's not intended to be a moneymaking project, but the revenue would offset the operating costs," Cathcart added, of $587,073 a year MOST OF THE PEOPLE who have ex pressed an interest in this, such as nurseries and other commercial buyers, want it as a substitute for peat moss. We don't yet know exactly how we're going to market this. It would probably be done bypublic bidding." he continued The yearly operational costs will include $104,550 in salaries of three or four men plus summer help to run the computercontrolled plant, designed by Purac, a Swiss manufacturer of such systems And there is expected to be a stiff power bill of $135,000 a year Processing sewer sludge into compost is actually nothing new, Cathcart said. "Composting plants have been operating in Europe for 20 years, and other plants < Page 48 Please 1

Surprised Voll OKs Van

By JOHN DONOHUE COURT HOUSE - One of the vehicles in last week's Christmas parade down Main Street was an old van that had been spruced up for the occasion by the Middle Township Police Department. The van might well have been dubbed, "Tempest in A Teapot," because it set Township Committee to steaming. They seemed to feel the van had no place in the parade, even though the men who fixed it up were quite proud of their entry. Without any expense to the taxpayers, a handful of officers had bought the van for $5 from a used car dealer who wanted to get rid of it as a favor

THE ENGINE was still good, but the body had rust and the tires were nothing to brag about. So the men dug into their own pockets for new tires and found a body shop that gave them a good price on a newpaint job. Sgt. James Dramis, who takes care of the department's regular fleet of cars, worked on his own time to fix up whatever else needed to be done on the van. Finally, the van looked so good that it was occasionally pressed into regualr police duties as a "traffic accident unit." But after the van appeared in the town's Christmas parade. Mayor Michael Voll began sending memos to Police Chief Ed(Page 45 Please)

Middle Police 'Traffic Accident Unit* Doru v om