Herald & Lantern 9 lanuary '85 . 10 >

Lower Chamber: KO'd, Or Just on the Ropes?

# By JOHN DONOHUH ^ VILLAS - Has tile Low£r Township Chamber of Commence qurflly gone out of business0 There is no sign of life at the chamber's office in Villas, where a sign outside welcomes visitors but the doors remain locked The telephone has been disconnected/ Richard Giuliano. vice president of the County Chamber of Commerce, said. "We have a seat open on the board of directors for Lower Township We have one seat for each local .chamber, but they (Lower Township* haven't sent anybody to our meetings in about three months." Giuliano said he was not aware of any problems within the Lower group, but when told that the office is closed and the phone disconnected, he replied. "Gee. I had no idea it was that bad." -THERE WASN'T ettaugh community support from the businesses, said Abraham Bonet. owner of Cape TV & Electronics in North Gape May. who is a former Lower chamber president. Bonet says the group has folded Right now. nobody will say anything about it. They don't want the publicity." said Bonet. "We're going to have a meeting tonight to see what's going on." Bonet said ^chamber closed its Villas office at 26tellay shore Rd and disbanded the membership But that is denied by the most recent chamber president. Warren Garretson, an advertising man in Erma who operated

Coastline Advertising Agency with his wife at 703 Seashore Rd. MRS. GARRETSON answers the phone there, now. She said her husband is . presently working in Hammonton, and is no longer involved with the chamber. But her husband says. he still is. Bob Conroy, owner of the Pirates Den i tavern in Villas, also said that the chamber hasn't been disbanded. "But, then, I haven't been too active in the last couple of months," added Conroy, a director. "As far as 1 know, though, it hasn't been disbanded." he said. "I haven't heard anything. Who told you to call mel" GARRETSON who said he is just finishing up his term as president, said [ that any rumor to the effect that the > chamber has disbanded "is false." [ Garretson also said that any rumor to I the effect that the chamber might merge ! k with the Wildwood Chamber of Commerce 1 "is also false." He said the Lower Township chamber is i currently in the midst of electing and installing new officers, and "although I don't want to speak for the new president — I I don't know who he is yet — as the outgoing president, I can categorically deny both i rumors as false." i The reason nobody answers the phont he s said, at 2605 Bayshorefad.. is because it is 1, a pay phone. "Nohody's there." Garretson said. "But we still have dinner meetings t and everything. '. l THE LOWER CHAMBER is listed in the i 1984 phone directory, but a recorded \

message answers, '"Hie number has been disconnected ... no other information is available." Stu Millard, a vice president of-the chamber, has been reported sick in bed and unavailable for comment. His wife, Bonnie, secretary of the chamber, did not return Lantern phone calls. The couple operates the Villas Market at 902 Bayshore Rd. Garretson, however, said he would try to get in touch with Stu Millard himself, "as soon as Stu gets out of bed." One indication that things may not be roiling along too smoothly with the local chamber is that it hasn't named its "man of the year" yet. "We don't do that every year, anyway," said Garretson. "We might have one by the spring, though." he added. :?

Schmidt, Repici (From Pagel ) area and expansion of the ratable base which will have the impact of reducing taxes." It called for a water conservation program including "bricks in toilet tanks... and washer-like flow restrictors in every faucet" to "...bring about a significant reduction in daily flow." jju The memo also said ground watert*ltration of the sewerage system would have to be eliminated by July 1, 1988, as a condition of the county MUA (Municipal Utilities Authority). THE SCHMIDT MEMO said the combination of conservation and collector system rehabilitation would "probably provide additional capacity to hook up known health hazards" and "may also provide some additional capacity for some expansion between now and the time that the Cape May County MUA is ready to start treating our effluent." Schmidt, Repici and Avalon Realtors William H. Tozour Jr. and David J. Kenbought eight acres on Magnolia Drive for $167,000 in June, 1983, sold 2.5 acres to Court House Convalescent Center for $235,000 last October, and 'still have about five acres there for additional development

TCE Found ( From Page l ) tal Health of the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. 0a.. told the Herald- . Lantern the agency "has not been able to demonstrate any acute or immediate health effects" from TCE in water. "It is a carcinogen (cancer-causing substance) in animals," said Dr. Kimbrough, "but it's not quite clear whether it also would be in humans. Studies have looked at small groups of people, but they've been unable to find anything. It's

metabolized differently in people than in animals. 4 "WHEN WE GET INVOLVED." said Dr. Kimbrough, "we take remedial action so people will not continue to drink water as heavily contaminated as 500 parts per billion (ppb). (The worst test results on East Pacific were 6,600 ppb. ) "But even though we can't demonstrate health effects," said Dr. Kimbrough, "we have always said people should not continue to drink it."

.^lews Notes from Seven Mile Beach M Ellen Rowland 368-2294

When Ann Allen, Peg Grimes. Marie Spence, Dotty Stump and Jean Westhoff team up to give a Christmas party it's a biggie. About 75 of us started off at the Stump house on 95th Street for cocktails with two self-service bars and a dining room table crammed with irresistibles 4 We stayed there for two hours before crossing the street to Peg Grimes' ^ house, which was built with an eye to giving sit-down dinner parties for more than 70. The gals could have saved time decoratjng the inside of both homes because once inside one could see nothing but people in their most sparkling attire. You ' went a long way. ladies, to give us a memorable evening, and you succeeded. THE KIT group had its usual successful Christmas party Dec 17 at the Fire Hall Former president Gracine McMenamy took a nasty, but not serious, fall while delivering goodies but shortly after the scare subsided Santa Claus arrived and the day w6nt into full swing. Harry Strohmetz had a prior commitment and Gene Grossweiler.came up from Cape May Point to fill in for our missjng front tooth When Harry got there later he-sent word to the musicians he wanted to hear 'First class sound only and that's just what he got We sat with Jean Hollz. Marion Kenton. Jo Levison . and 96-vears -young Alan • Marior wearing his invitation. Another colorfully ■dressed gent was S.H.'s favorite man-about-town. Bob Yeoraans. in his red Christmas vest. Ann Townley. Sara Brady and Marcelle deLaurentis were the

vocalists. Surprised danseuse Teresa Sosangelis did a bozouki for us and made a brief speech saying how happy she is that her daughter. Alexandra K ok on os. who chaired the affair, is so popular Santa distributed a gift to each guest and everybody went home feeling full of cheer, food and good spirits. AFTER THE KIT party we met Mayor Arden Hand, who was sorry he couldn't make the party but was also brimming w i t h c h e e r notwithstanding. He had just returned from a DEP meeting in Trenton accompanied byBorough Administrator Ted Pain, engineer Al Herman. attorney. William C. Balliette. Bob Sorenson, a guest consultant from Lehigh University. Senator James Hurley and a representative from Congressman William Hughes office. All agreed that erosion of sand at 127th Street had to be terminated and there were three or four possible options to.be explored The good news is that the state agreed to assume 75 percent of the cost thereof if the borough would pay for the remaining 25 percent. All councilmen urge residents and merchants to attend their regular meetings held the first and third Tuesdays monthlystarting in February at Borough Hall at 7 p.m. This is the only way to ensure that your elected representatives know how you want them to respond to a given situation! Elaine and Dr. Bob Juni recently returned from another lengthy tour of Turkey. Greece and Spain. They lead the most exciting lives of anyone we know.

Elaine did a lot of Xmas shopping there for things unobtainable elsewhere, at attractive prices. She got exotic Christmas cards, addressed them when home, stamped them and took them to the S.H. Post Office to mail. They were not oversized cards and she was horrified when the postmaster said "I'm sorry, Mrs. Juni. but you'll need 9 cents extra postage for each card " SEEMS THAT while the cards could be handled locally by hand when they were sent to the next relay station computers woul($ spit them out. "If I hadn't included a return address would they have wound up in the dead letter office? " she inquired. "No. they would have been delivered but the recipients would have had to pay the postage due" was the answer The cards were 54 inches square and that's too narrow for the postal ' machines to handle. American greeting card companies are aware of these three-year-old regulations and size their cards accordingly, but beware of sending foreign cards. We think computerization and the Postmaster General are Scrooge and Leonard Tose combined. Bah humbug! • • • Avalon's Garden Club held its annual decorated houses Christmas tour Dec. 17. The event was chaired by Bonnie Feise and Lee Francis. Seven homes participated in the event Len and Peggy Borkland

entered the best mantle category. Len created the wooden reindeer who greeted more than 100 visitors on the tour Peggy's mantle was banked with fresh greens, in which dozens of tiny packages wrapped in blue paper tied with cream fluffy bows were partially hidden. Brass angels holding matching blue candles flanked the mantle. A carved blue and cream duck v nestled on a bleached grapevine. Peggy's terrific bell collection hung gracefully down one side. Milt and Elsie Kuhn's dining room was the principal attraction in their home where we were greeted by Santa. Milt decorated the tall, tree which appears to be floating on water when lighted at night. The table was set for a family dinner and attended by life-like figures of mother, father, daughter and son made out of muslin. Elsiejs 93-year-old mother, Mrs. Roth, prepared all /the goodies the ersataz family surveyed. Centerpiece was a Williamsburg collection of greens. Antigue ornaments graced the tree, and another plus was a gingerbread house done by Cafe Loren. Herb and Emily Hunsworth's doorway was a masterpiece decorated with boxwood gathered in Tennessee. Handmade angels perched on the wreath. Herb made the oldfashioned train which served as a mailbox posted at the entry. t Bob and Dolly Moore entered their graceful staircase, decked from top to bottom with white pine

garlands interspersed with colored taffeta bows and tiny white lights. Their 18-foot tree was enhanced by cones made of wallpaper, fringe and snow flakes dipped in tea to blend with other ornaments. Steve Stattner's theme was a Christmas wedding done in crystal, silver, white and pink. Their home is contemporary with a glass table ablaze with fiery crystal and rose wine in the cooler. Centerpiece was a combination of pink coral antriums and tide leaves bearing silver berries. Crystal card holders supported guests' names written by a calligrapher. surrounded by pink roses, heather and boxwood. John and Martha Barb's picture window was just that, a picture overlooking Dune Drive, festooned with ropings of local natural

greens and lights. It afforded an enviable invitation to friends for the holidays. Shirley Wiesenbaugh displayed her kitchen with its unmistakable feeling of warmth and hospitality. In an ambiance of crystal, blue and white Copenhagen circling an arrangement of flowering kale, we were served punch and other Christmas goodies while we admired her antiques. The tour sparked imagination in those of us lacking if and injected the spirit of the holidays in grinches. At noon in Community Hall, guests holding Mary Jane Lea's holographic tickets were served Maude Holberg's and Be.tte Statner's (hospitality committee) punch, tea sandwiches and cookies while purchasing critte'Koraaments made by members of the Garden , Club. It was great!

DEAUVILLE FEATURE — Nancy Dennis. Atlantic Citybased lounge act consisting of Nancy and Dennis Righter, is appearing I p.m. -2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Jan. 2$ at Deauville Inn in Strathmere. Act blends vocal harmonies with performance on variety of instruments.