Herald/Lantern/ Dispatch 10 April '85 57

$2,500 Solution (Continued) preliminary. He promised to return in about a month with more specific figures COPP SAID the presence of water close to the surface in the areas where pipes would be laid would increase costs. He said the higher estimate that he gave allows for such a problem. Vincent E Pellegrino of 316 First Avenue , told Copp there is water about two feet --below the surface in some areas. In other parts, you can dig three to four feet before striking water, he said. "You'll never make three feet in the FOw tract," an unidentified man interjected. MUNICPAL CLERK Charlotte F. Daily said after the meeting that the likelihood of any relief project would depend on cost. "If it is too heavy a burden. I guess we'd have to issue bonds for it. and then we might not have money for anything else," Daily said. "In any case, it would have to go to a referendum, and I don't think it would pass." Daily said most of the pressure for relief comes from residents of the tract that "don't want to spend the money to fix their septic tanks. They want to fhe borough to spend the money ." Daily said some of the residents of the area are elderly, and not in a position to bear the costs of sewers "WE'RE TRYING to be a very responsible type of government that considers all the people," she said. "We consider the yearround residents a lot." Copp said seven of the 20 residents who answered the questionnaire are year-round residents. Copp said his firm is being paid $13,800 to develop solutions One unidentified man at the meeting ques tioned Copp's cost estimates "It could be double that." the man said "You don't know anything about the terrain." Lower Incinerator — (Continued) cinerator next to the water plant would be ideal for the entire area south of the Cape May Canal," said Gorman, who accompanied Fothergill to the meeting. "It could solve two problems at once, and be almost irresistible to the people," Gorman said. Gorman said a study done by William Harrington, a consultant from Glen Burnie, Md., hired by Lower Township, showed that the cost of trash disposal will go "sky high." "It's $26 a ton now, and the MUA expects double that." said Gorman. "A joint plant could reduce the costs in our region, and the water plant could buy the energy. " FOTHERGILL SAID the study of the incinerator done by Harrington showed that the plant would produce a sanitary ash from trash burned many hours at temperatures in excess of 2,000 degrees. "Absolutely no pollution comes from it," said Fothergill. He invited council members to accompany him on a tour of a similar incinerator in Connecticut that produces $600,000 in revenue yearly. "I'm looking to get you fellows on board with us," Fothergill told the two councilmen. Fothergill described the MUA's contention that permitting Lower Township to handle trash would lead to anarchy as "a lot of crap." Fothergill said there are two sites where the incinerator could be built. One is near the township MUA facility adjoining the airport in Fishing Creek. The other is the location of the former Dresser Industries magnesite plant in Senset Beach. No decision has been reached on either, Fothergill said. HE SAID THE PLANT could be built at a cost of between $4.8 and $5 million; would have a capacity of 100 tons of trash a day; and could be operative in from 17 to 18 months. City Manager Fred Coldren seized on the prospect of regional cooperation proposed by Fothergill and Gorman in dealing with a number of problems. Both men cited increasing pressure for high density development in secitons of Lower Township including areas near the magnesite plant. "The thing that excited me was looking at regional things together," said Coldren. "We ought to be with them to assure what's done is done in a way we could all benefit."

Dispatches (Continued) Plaza Changes Hands CAPE MAY — Victorian Plaza, the hub of the city's commerciail district at Washington and Ocean streets, has been sold for $810,000. Lawyer Peter Koury said last week that a group consisting of "New Jersey businessmen." has pur chased the plaza which includes eight businesses and a large parking lot, from Robert M . and James J. Gillin, of Philadelphia Koury said the new owners will continue the shopping center use. but upgraded Moving On CAPE MAY — Dane Wells, founder and chairman of the city's Parking and Transportation Committee, resigned his post last week to take on added responsibilities with the County Chamber of Commerce. "He's done a wonderful job. and I want to salute the help that he's given," said City Manager Fred Coldren. "Wells, Coldren said, is responsible for proposed changes to the city's master plan. Residents, 1, Wawa, 0 CAPE MAY.— A decision by Council in 1982 to rezone a property on Pittsburgh Avenue earmarked for a Wawa convenience store after area residents objected to the store has been upheld by the Appelate Division of Superior Court Frederick Schmidt, a lawyer for a Wawa subcontractor, had argued Council reacted to "hysterical" protests byresidents The court ruled that the move was intended to promote the common good, and was approached "honestly and upon due consideration ." Hughes Switch Hits CAPE MAY — Rep William Hughes (D-2nd Dist.) last week tried a new ployin an attempt to persuade Congress to appropriate long-overdue funds to reverse erosion of Cape May beaches Appearing before a House subcommittee on appropriations for energy and water development, Hughes asked for $1.3 million to curb erosion threatening the Coast Guard base here Past appeals to halt erosion as a threat to the tourist industry have failed. Presidential Veto CAPE MAY — Former board president Robert Le Munyon, 59. a retired postal worker, failed in his second bid to be returned to the School Board last week as voters reelected incumbents John Daly, 71. a contractor, and home maker Kay Douglass Also elected was Margaret Markley, a retired telephone company manager Daly received 233 votes. Markley 230, and Douglass, 220 Le Munyon's total was 118. Vandal Swath (Continued) slashed on a car owned by Mrs. Catherine Humphrey of the 800 block of Queen Street, and the paint was scratched on a van owned by Perry Collier that was parked near the Acme market on Victorian Plaza. Jane B. Briant, secretary of the city Board of Education, said she paid $180 to have her car towed from in front of her house in the 500 block of Jefferson Street to a garage and to replace two slashed rear tires. "I can't tell," said Mrs. Briant when asked if the damage might be related to incidents of vandalism that have occurred on the parking lot of Cape May Elementary School. She said her car had never been damaged before. Coldren said police arrested teenagers who went on a similar spree last year. But be said he could not recall whether they lived in Cape May. ,

Addition Under Way at Library Doris Ward Emma Elwell Made the Library Special —

(Continued) Elwell found when she started. "ONE WOMAN SAID. 'Here's your library,' pointed to the stacks of books, and walked out," she recalled recently. "There were no cards, no supplies, no tables, and no lights. My son and I worked 15 hours a week at $1.25 an hour. And I wasn't there a week before I was working 40 to 50 hours a week," she said Recognition of her long years of service has only recently come from officials outside of the community. Last year, she was appointed by the State Librarian to the Interim Planning Committee, a group created to review library usage statewide. BORN AND RAISED in Pittsburgh, Pa., Mrs. Elwell comes from a family steeped in the work ethic. Her father came to the U.S. from England when he was 12. Her grandfather, a miner, died of lung disease at 36 "Dad used to paint our house every year, and you didn't tolerate debt in those days. Our house was paid for in four years," she said. Soot and smoke from the steel mills hung heavy over Pittsburgh in those days. "Every morning my mother had to go along and wipe soot off the window sills, and every week you took down the curtains and put up a full set," she recalls "The dirt, oh, the dirt!" SHE ATTENDED Carnegie Tech and was studying to be a costume designer when she met Joseph Elwell. a student from Cape May. "I met him in the Belfield Presbyterian Church. Our church had the habit of feeding students, and if the student knew he would get a good supper, he stay's for the service. He said he got the only good thing he could find in Pittsburgh," she said. As a bride of 20. Mrs. Elwell came to Cape May to set up a home "I feel in love with the place." she said. "I had never seen the ocean before. I'm so grateful that I've been able to spend my life here." Her first library position came when she went to work at the Cape May Naval Base during World War II. From there she went to the Wildwood Navy Air Station library where she worked for five years. BEFORE THE WAR. she worked as county supervisor with the National Youth Administration, a federal program designed to put jobless young people to work on public projects. "We cleaned up fire traps in the woods, dug a lake by hand at Crest Haven, and built catch basins for firemen," she said. Asked if she had any engineering skills, Mrs. Elwell said, "No. But maybe I had some nerve and some brass." There was a great of skepticism about the projects at first, but results won the skeptics over, Mrs. Elwell said. "It was almost impossible for our kids to do it, some thought. But kids have amazing powers you find out as you grow older," she said. REFUSING to be satisfied with inadequate quarters in the City Hall basement, Mrs. Elwell kept plugging away from a proper library. When the Bell Telephone Co. moved from their building at Ocean and Hughes Street, she saw her opportunity. She obtained a federal grant, and with help from her legion of supporters, raked the needed matching funds. The task of moving the library, books, supplies, and mementos the block and a half from City Hall to the new building in 1982, added a memorable chapter to the forklore of Cape May. Professor Harold Hill in "The Music Man" couldn't have organized a more star-spangled display of civic hoopla. A bevy of city officials led by Mayor Arthur Blomkvest and Council members

marched to the scene to the music of the Richard Teitelman Junior High School band A human chain was formed, and each of the library's treasured volumes, was passed along hand-to-hand to their new home. With Mrs. Elwell's popularity, there was no shortage Of volunteers. THE VINTAGE HOME Association, comprised of owners of houses built in Cape May prior to 1920, coordinated the effort. Men stationed at Cape May Coast Guard base joined in, and a bride and groom emerging from First United Methodist Church paused to help out. Mrs. Elwell wasn't in the new, larger library more than a few months before she proposed an expansion. A new room is being built currently, and she has anything to say about? it, it won't be the last. "I'm not going to be satisfied until we have a large room on the side of the building," she said last week "I want to see a room that will seat at least too so we can have programs for adults. And we should be able to show movies, maybe about poisons people should know about those things." MOST OF THE PEOPLE who come to the library want to borrow mystery whodunits, Mrs. Elwell said. "They like the more gentle type that have happy endings, and the principals get married. There is also quite a lot of interest in biographies." she said. She credits a majority of the people who live in Cape May with being "good readers There are a lot of retired, educated people living here who are still alert and want to read." she said She is proud that the library has a range of books for the blind and the handicapped and a weekly program for pre-school youngsters The library serves as an unofficial adjunct to Our Lady Star of the Sea parochial school, which has no library. As a consequence, Mrs. Elwell sees that books in the reference department are kept up to date.ALTHOUGH Mrs. Elwell is regarded by many as Cape May's unofficial historian, she thinks her husband's memory is better than hers. "He has a very fine memory. As a builder, he can remember who built what house and when. Recently, he told me he recalled building a house in the 1920s for $4,500 that just sold for $75,000," she said. Mrs. Elwell's son, who shared some of her early travails at the library, is a professional engineer with the Army Corps of Engineer. He and his wife live '-in Wadsworth. Ohio, with their children, Betsy Lynn and Adam Michael. AS A KEEN OBSERVER of life in Cape May for nearly 60 years, Mrs. Elwell is well acquainted with its social conventions. "It doesn't matter how long you live here, I'll never be a 'native,' " she said. "Cottagers," she defines as "the people of the upper crust financially who built some of the big homes on the beachfront." "New people," are those "who live in condos, or rent them," she said. The influx of condominiums in Cape May troubles Mrs. Elwell. "It really pains me to think about them," she said. "When you think what we have to offer, condominiums just don't do anything for us. I remember when we used to be a one-house, one-lot town," she said. She recalls, too, the days before erosion when the beaches were wider than they are today. "Cape May at one time had a beautiful beach, and I trust that it will again," she said. There is no place like Cape May, Mrs. Elwell said. "To me, it's home. And the people are very kind. You just can't help but want to reach out and help them."