• - ,4. ;• \ V *" Herald/Lantern/Dispatch 1 May '85 55 *» — ^r-

From The Principal IBy Stanley Kotzen ^ Principal, Lower Cape May Regional High School

With the prom and graduation approaching, we are entering the celebration season - a dangerous time for teenagers. None of us likes to pick up a newspaper and read about an 18-year-old whose life was suddenly snuffed out in a senseless accident, but it happens - often. The awful waste of a young life about to blossom is always so much more bitter when the tragedy is closely related to an occaision of accomplishment or joy We must stop these tragic events by renewing our efforts to make celebrating safe and sensible. This is a war on complacency and ignorance, and too often the enemy is us.

,IN ONE 18-month period in Essex County, 14 young people were killed in Alcohol-related accidents - 10 had been at parties where adults were present. During a graduation weekend in Maine one commynity lost seven teenagers in crashes due to drunken driving. Events like these get people's attention, but shouldershrugging and head shaking will not effect any changes. That youngsters " are only having a good time is an attitude that can no longer be tolerated. The law is clear. Anyone under 21 who consumes alcohol is in violation of state law. ANYONE OVER 21 who serves a minor or permits that minor to drink in his home or on his property

County Library by Kathleen Duffy

Dickinson's letters and poems are both found in the 800's. •v ''Life is but a strife— T'is a bubble— T'is'a dream— And man is but a little boat Which paddles down the stream." WHAT INSIGHT is given to us by the letters of people famous for other things who have witnessed other times. "Your favor of October 7th did not come to me till March. I was at Camp when Captain Folger arrived with the Blank Packett. The private letters were, I believe all safe. Mr. (President) Laurens forwarded yours to Yorktown where I afterwards received it." This letter was written to Dr. Benjamin Franklin i .while he was in France and it was penned by the man who wrote — "These are the times that try men's souls." — Thomas Paine. (The Life and ' Works of Thomas Paine) THERE IS quite a sense of history to be gained when one's information is, not strained through a textbook. "Great! Everybody you mentioned is dead and gone. What do they know? you ask. "More things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your v philosophies, Horatio." I knew I could work in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Consider the following names: H.L. Menken; C.S. Lewis , Robert Frost; Bennett Cerf; J.R.R. Tolkien. These people are among the many "modern" names and they are in the same area as Plato, Homer, Cicero and many others. There are men and women represented in letters, crttictaatt, and collected works all to be found in the section of the library numbered 800-899. Give it a try. I began this exercise with the sincere purpose of exalting one literary form, i.e. the letter. By examining several examples in the library's collection I hoped to cause an influx of patrons seeking to delve into the thoughts of men and women from other ages. I lost. There is not only one srftall section of neglected •v.

letters; indeed, it is an entire collection of essarys, letters, poetry, and plays assigned to the 800's by Dewey. SOMETHING there is that does not like a Dewey Decimal. I am amazed that 3,000 years of western thought can be discounted. Only rarely are these books used, mostly by a few people aware of the treasures therein and by students looking for Shakespeare and one of his "Elizabethan novels". There is so much more. "Magnum bonum, 'ha rum sea rum,' zounds et zounds, et war alarum, man reformam, life perfectum, mundum changum, all things flarum?" So opens a letter written in 1851 by one of America's foremost poets, Emily Dickinson (Emily Dickinson Selected Letters). Yes a letter: not a poem. s

I must face the responsibili- \ ty of civil and criminal i liability. The courts of late have been renderingi sizable punitive judgments against adults who permit | or encourage drinking by - minors in their homes. It is i about time! > Prom and graduation > parties are wonderful events, but they cannot be permitted to cloud adult judgment and conceal ; adult responsibility. For years now I have turned down invitations to many l parties where adults have r professed that the > youngsters would be safer i drinking where they can be l supervised. THE SHEBK IDIOCY of } this rationalization is s always lost on those sturdy s adult tyces with the 1 reassuran«£ that they can handle the kids and their booze. We must begin to tell our youngsters that it is possiJ ble to enjoythemselves without drinking, and we must stand firm and state plainly that at our house s "no alcohol will be y served". Once you make this coms mitment. all you have to y face is a teenager who tells t you that (1) no one will ri come to their party if there I. is not drinking and ( 2 ) the

kids will find some other place to drink. Stand up and try not to forget it is still your house and you can still set the rules. Explain that if youngsters won't come to your house unless they can drink, popularity is overpriced. PARENTS WHO face * their children and set boundaries for them are not always rewarded for their efforts, but there' never were any guarantees of,appreciation, and doing what is right has to be enough. The point here is that we are all responsible for what happens to our youngsters. They must know that we will not tolerate or encourage drinking. Anything less is our shame and too tragecally, our guilt. If your youngsters are in a celebrating mood and heading for Prom or Graduation make sure you do everything to enable them to tell you about it the

s Our Readers Write » e (From Page 54) H Philadelphia. His name was Edgar Allen Poe and he brought suit against the city ; he also wrote a poem claiming a large pothole became Anna Bellee's sepulcher by the sea. Judge Yenot put Poe's suit on hold. She was never [ seer again. The big wheels and tongue of her carriage were found on a lot where City Hall now staiMs. Her horse was last seen q grazing on dune grass near 1T weather-beaten sign that n said: "Beach lots: one hundred wampumpeag" s And that is why all candidates stand on a platform of y better streets. It's traditional. JOE RUSH Sea Isle City

Joyride III By Libby Demp Forrest \J Krl First there was Coke. Then came Pepsi. And now No. 2 waits to taste the secret "7X" ingredient in the new Coke. The other day Nq. 2. was reading the newspaper when he shouted to me, "Mom, come quick. Something imports tant is going to happen." I clutched my heart and ran into the living room where No. 2 was sprawled on the sofa reading the newspaper. "What is it?" I said, still clutching my heart. No. 2 handed me the newspaper. "Read this," he said. AND THERE IT WAS - a story on the Coke changeover* - "Well?" No. 2 demanded when I handed back the paper. "I've seen a lot of changes in my lifetime so far," I said. "I remember when skirts were long. I remember when skirts were short. When they got long again. And when they got short again. I remember we had an ice box when I was growing up. I remember penny candy. You're not just talking to your mother — you're talking to a history /book." No. 2 looked at me. # "I've always liked Coke better than Pepsi," said No. 2. "I don't want them to make it taste more like Pepsi." "I'VE HAD PLENTY of Cokes in my time," I Said philosophically "I've had Pepsi a lot of the time too. When I've gone out to eat and asked for a Coke, and the waitress said, 'We serve Pepsi here' I've drunk Pepsi. That's life." ■**- No. 2 looked at me again. * "Do you think we ought to go out and get some Coke with the old flavor while we can still get it?" asked No. 2. "You mean stockpil&it just in case we don't like the new flavor?" I asked. [ "Well, maybe for A while," said No. 2, "until we adjust." V * , "WHATS TO ADJUST?" I asked "I guess I'm a little nostalgic," said No. 2. "I guess I get that from you." I went into the kitchen and found a two-liter plastic bottle of Coke. "This makes you nostalgic? One of the old glass Coke bottles from 1894 would make me nostalgic. Or - one from 1916. That's nostalgia." "Well, since you're up," said No. 2. "would you mind putting some ice cubes in a glass with some Coke. I just want to lie here and reminisce." I went into the kitchen, got two glasses, ice cubes and poured the Coke. I brought the glasses into the living room and No. 2 and I sat in front of the TV drinking Coke. "It's the end of an^era," said No. 2 staring at his glass. Letters Welcome The Herald and Lantern welcome letters to the editor on matters of public interest. Originals, not copies, are ,-tequested. Writers must sign name, address and phone number.

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