r irs 1 Y| | CAPE%AY j COUINTY ^ ^ thralii V z' r

Vol. 21 No. 17

IMS iMam Corp. Al rights r— « raid.

April 24, 1985

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News--^ DiPP^t Weeks 6^". Top Stories Spring Ahead EVERYPLACE — The bad news is that everybody loses an hour's sl^ep this weekend as Daylight Saving time takes effect at 2 a.m. Saturday move Vqjr clock ahead. The good news is that you get an extra hour of afternoon sunshinestarting Sunday — if it doesn't rain. A Harmless Shark AVALON — A dead, 15-foot basking shark was found in the surf off 75th Street last Thursday morning and disposed of by the borough. A spokesman at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Atlantic City said the shark was "a harmless (toothless) filter feeder" which swims through the water with its mouth open to feed. He said many are dying • because they're swallowing plastic products. The sharks, which go as big as 40 feet, are migrating to cooler waters off Novia Scotia, the spokesman said, where an industry uses their livers as a vitamin source. For a closer view of the incident, see 'Ug, Yuk; What Killed Her?' on page 66 Suits f Suits , Suits COURT HOUSE - The Burdette . Tomlin-Dr. Suketu Nanavati Conflict will continue. The hospital's board of directors announced last week it will appeal Superior Court Judge Marvin Rimm's January ruling that the physician must (Page 14 Please)

WILLIAM F. DEAVER

Domestic Violence Up 54% in County By E.J. DUFFY

Child and wife abuse increased throughout the state last year, ac report. In the premininary Uniform Cri police record a 54 percent jump frt (Some) Aid For Police Some county officials get upset because the state bases local crime rates on yearround rather than peak summer i population. \ The result, they say, makes the area seem to have more crime than it does. There is one time, though, when high crime rates bring few complaints: when state or federal aid is to be based on them. Consider last week, for example, Proposed legislation to help local municipalities hire additional police did a flip-flop that gave, then took away, $100,600. The original bill, using size of police department last Jan. 1, had $228,691 for 13 county municipalities. Then, briefly, the Legislature considered using the crime rates and the amount would have been $329,291, a 50 percent increase. Cancel the celebration. The final legislation passed by both houses and on the governor's desk went back to number of police. Following is a comparison of what the communities would receive. The first figure is the number of police, according to the state. It does not always agree with local information. After that is the forthcoming allocation based on police department size. Last, the allocation that (Page 14 Please) —inside ... lfssprom night. From the Principal, page 19. Where would marriage commuters file for divorce? Joyride III, page 67.

d dramatically in the county and iccording to the latest state police rime Report (UCR) for 1984, state rom 363 to 559 between 1983-1984, in county domestic violence offenses despite an overall two percent decrease in crime. Despite a statewide drop of six percent in the overall rate during the same period, crimes of domestic violence soared 43 percent, from 24,477 to 35,050. "In our office, it's mostly child abuse It's increased three fold in the past 18 months," Chief William B. Matthews Sr. of the county detectives said of the local increase in domestic ciolence. "And I think most of it's due to better reporting and the attention it's getting in the media. "YOU'D BE LUCKY if you'd see one case a year before," he added, speaking from 18 years' experience. Two investigators are currently assigned domestic violence cases nearly full-time. "Now, people are not afraid to come forward because they know something will be done about it," Matthews observed. Besides domestic violence, rape and (Page 14 Please)

^liir _J a I m < I ■ -- MOCK DRILL — Cape May Court House firemen Dan McGann and Haifry Johnson \ prepare "victim'! of a school bus-truck accident to be rushed to Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital in a mock drill last Saturday coordinated by the county) Office of » Emergency Management. Truck in the simulated disaster was carrying radioactive material. Main purpose of the drill, behind Elementary School No. 3 in Court House, was to test the hospital's ability to respond.

Dearer Resigns Purchasing Post By JOE ZELNIK COURT HOUSE — bounty Purchasing Agent William C. Deaver of Rio Grande resigned last week, capping months of behind-the-scenes difficulties that no one would discuss for the record. Deaver, 51, and a 6v?-vear veteran in .the post, will become purchasing agent at the county Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) May 6.

Deaver's resignation was received by freeholders the same day that county Road Supervisor Leroy Reeves of West Cape May announced he will retire June 6 from his $26,978 a-year job. Deaver and Reeves have at least two things in common: Both had some affinity for former Sheriff Beech Fox, dumped by the county Republican Party last year. Reeves, whose son, Edward, was administrative secretary to Fox. actively supported his losing fight in the June primary. Deaver, although not campaigning for Fox. was a friend and made no secret of the fact that he voted for him. SECOND, both departments — Public Works and Purchasing — are under the jurisdiction of Freeholder William E. Sturm Jr. who appears to be more and more isolated by the board. If seniority had been the criterion, Sturm %ould have been elected freeholder-director this year to replace the retiring Anthony T. Catanosa. But the post went to Gerald M. Thornton. The seven-member Purchasing Department is a key one, responsible for spending $23 million a yedr with thousands of vendors. Many of those recipients of county contracts — whether for goods or services rare the county GOP's hard core contributors for political campaigns. Sturm and Deaver have made it a policy not to use the county vendor list in political fund-raising, they've said. BUT PERHAPS THE KEY purchasing issue surfaced with the Governor's Management Improvement study of count y government in the fall of 1983, a much-ballyhooed effort to increase county economy and efficiency. Conducted by local officials and coordinated by state officials, that study led off its final report of Nov. 22. 1983» with a critique of purchasing policies. While praising the policies for ' 'substantial savings and benefits," it went on to change that "there are areas where respon- . sibility is unclear, resulting in duplication of effort and a waste of manpower. "For example, bidding and contract procedures in some cases do not involve the purchasing agent. There are no procedures (Page 14 Please)

cy I ' ♦ Off. •»- . Atff f< r. '• WILLIAM E. STURM JR A Bad Week ' For Sturm It was "a bad week," Freeholder William E. Sturm Jr. of Rio Grande agreed last week. Two key employes (out of five operations he heads) bit the dust: Roads Supervisor Leroy Reeves, 57, in a cloud of annonymous charges that he "rarely" came to work, and Purchasing Director William C. Deaver. 51, after months of undefined "personnel problems." No replacements have been named Reeves is already gone, using up accumulated vacation time, and officially retiring on June 6. Deaver will work through May 3 and be paid for 12 days vacation, he said. Left unscathed are three other Sturmdirected departments: Treasurer, Board of Taxation, and Board of Elections. IN BOTH DEPARTURES. FreeholderDirector Gerald M. Thornton has been identified as having problems with Sturm's employes. Although public disagreements seldom surface, neither freeholder would organize a fan club for the other. In both cases, Sturm defended his employes. "I had no problem with either man," he / said. "Think they're fine people doing real good jobs." Of Reaves, a 14-year-veteran with the coufity. Sturm said "As far as I'm concerned he could s^ay as long as He wanted to. He's been a damn good county road supervisor Jor 14 years. He's a respected man in v the county and in his field. I'm sorry to see * \lwn80-"k * *. "I did my job." Reeves told the Herald • Monday. "I- just didn't see jjie election the way Thornton saw it." (P^ge 14 Please)