f ♦ capSway 1 , COUNTY ^ tbraiu r

s Vol. 21 No. 36

e 1985 Sm>o>i Corp All rights reserved

September 4, 1985

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Have You Ever Collected? Here's to — Unemployment Insurance

Bv JOE ZELN1K COURT HOUSE — The county's. Republican Board of Freeholders last week paid homage to a New Deal Democratic program — unemployment insurance. With facial expressions varying between sheepish smirks and pain, the board last Tuesday approved a resolution citing the 50th anniversary of the inception of Frank-

lin D. Roosevelt's Social Security Act. which I also established unemployment insurance. Motion to approve the resolution came j from William E. Sturm Jr., a frequent past , critic of unemployment insurance abuses. His fellow freeholders clearly enjoyed his dilemma as he voted "expletive deleted, yes." UNEMPLOYMENT HAS BEEN CALLED a way of life in this county because of its seasonal tourist economy. Many work two jobs for the summer and collect in the winter. One must earn at least $72 a week for 20 weeks to qualify, according to the Unemployment Insurance claims office in Wildwood. During that tourist season, unemployment drops to 3 or 4 percent. By January it peaks at 15 percent or more. During the height of the season, from the 4th of July to Labor Day, there are so manyjobs in the county that swarms of nonresidents. many of them college students, enter

the local job market. But they leave by midAugust for their own "vacations," resulting in the swarm of "help wanted" signs on display everywhere in the county at this time. HOW DID THIS resolution appear on the freeholders' agenda? County Administrator Diane Rudolph explained that Freeholder-Director Gerald Thornton was asked by the state Labor Department's district supervisor to issue the proclamation. Ironically. Thornton wasn't present last week, busy with the Wildwoods' oceait water problems. So he didn't get to vote. The resolution, based on one submitted by the state Labor Department, stated that "...these benefits have aided the county by | providing needed revenues to aid the econo- i my during periods of high unemployment, i thus limiting the extent and duration of ' recessionary periods..."

i m 1 41 B; IT ALSO SAID THAT "...this vital income protection program has further benefited the business community of Cape May County by enabling the employers to retain / experienced employes during periods of temporary layoffs." (Page 61 Please)

News™ l-v • « Week's Dlg0St Top Stories Sewer Hookups Halted SEA ISLE CITY — Building permit applications for dwellings of more than four units must be approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection, according to a City Commission resolution passed last week. The DEP has imposed a conditional moratorium on sewer hookups here, in Stone Harbor. North Wildwood. Wildwood. Wildwood Crest and Middle Township Sewage District No. 1 because they didn't adequately update sewage treatment plants. The ban is on structures which would have a sewage flow of 2.000 gallons daily. Peers Back Mayor AVALON — The county Mayors' Organization announced its support for Mayor Rachel Sloan last week, following a meeting to discuss a recall movement against her. The group praised Sloan for making decisions for the good of the entire borough and for her integrity and dedication. 'Patch' Traced WILDWOOD - Royal Prints of Chester, Pa., was named last week as (Page 4 Please)

Don. Word EXODUS — Although many with good taste will continue to seek out the shore for rest and relaxation, the majority, pulled by many pressures including back-to-school, packed up and vamoosed the county Monday in observation of Labor Day as the official end of "the season." Some locals were observed on their knees, praying that few will learn that the best month. at the shore is — October.

Hospicomm: New Sewage Proposal

By JOE ZELNIK COURT HOUSE - Middle Towaship Committee will consider at a 3 p.m. work session today Hospicomm s latest effort at

a sewage solution for its Court House Convalescent Center. The Philadelphia firm has abandoned its proposed septic system after a legal challenge from the Cape May County Court House Neighborhood Association. It now proposes a "package treatment plant." a temporary measure until the 120- bed home can connect to the Seven-Mile Beach/Middle Township regional sewage treatment plant expected to open in June. 1987 Association Chairman John Beitel said it will tell the committee that the nursing home's proposed plant "is not large enough." But he said the association, having spent $18,000 to defeat the home's proposed sep-

tic system, will not continue a legal battle "NOW IT'S UP TO the township committee to protect the town." said Beitel. "We had to do it because the tow nship commit tee wouldn't do it. If the town approves the system as it stands, we'll monitor it on a ^regular basis." Hospicomm officials declined to talk to this newspaper. Its president. Eugene Mayer, responded. "No comment, to you." to a series of questions about its proposed package plant. Hospicomm has been dogged with the sewage problem since it purchased 2.5 acres on Magnolia Drive from Holly Associates, a firm made up of Court House attorney (Page 61 Please)

Commission: Not Up to us COURT HOUSE - The Middle Township Sewage Commission will offer no official opinion today on the proposed package sewage treatment plant for Court House Convalescent Center. The commission decided at its Aug. 20 meeting to send member Phil Heck to the Township Committee meeting to explain that we can't evaluate it as it appears it is not within our jurisdiction." Heck will be backed up with a legal advisor. attorney George B. Neidig Jr. of Avalon. The commission's boundaries apparently match its service area and the Magnolia Avenue site of the nursing home is thought to be outside that. THE COMMISSION and Middle Township Committee met for 75 minutes July 8 to discuss whether the commission should be left as is, expanded to cover more or even all of the township, or abolished. Township Committee still hasn't decided. In the meantime, apparently no one is preparing for the regional MUA sewage treatment plant ex- ( Page 4 Please)

Abandoned Pets: ' the Worst'

By TOM FLYNN DIAS CREEK — Cass Clark is having the animal kingdom's verison of the "Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe." Clark has so many cats and dogs, she doesn't know what to do. She is the president of the county Animal Welfare Society, a volunteer group that takes in unwanted pets and tries to find homes for them. Currently, the shelter is so overburdened that Clark said there is no more room for pets. EVEN WORSE to Clark is the growing stray population that live wild, abandoned by owners who no longer want a pet and are to callous to handle the situation properly.

"It's unbearable, the way some people treat these animals. Inhuman is what I call f the people who do it," she said. I Dennis Kelly, director of the county's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to ; Animals, said his agency is handling about 10 percent more strays then last year. I Both agreed that the time around Labor t Day is tljeir busiest, as tourisfc leave the I county, but their pets behind. "IT'S BEEN BAD. but the worst is the week after Labor Day," Clark said, i Kelly said that of last year's 1,168 strays collected by the SPCA, 894 were 5 destroyed ; the rest either were adopted or I claimed by their owners. 1 Clark, whose agency does not dispose of > animals, declined to give a figure of (Page 4 Please)

! Williams [ Dump Gripe j Session Set | By E.J. DUFFY i SWAINTON — "1 don't know. I haven't > heard anything," Middle Township Mayor Michael Voll replied Friday when asked C about the Williams' Dump cleanup study , that was supposed to begin last month. I "That's why I'm calling for this special I meeting on Sept. 10," he said of a 7:30 p.m. r session next Tuesday in Elementary t School No. 3, 211 S. Main St.. Court House "Tired of getting the run-around" about ' cleaning up the Siegtown Road property that's been contaminated by toxic chemicals since 1979. the mayor has invited citizens and the media to hear why little has been done. Besides local newspapers and regional television stations, Voll's invited the governor. U.S. senators and congressmen, state senators and assemblymen, countyfreeholders and health officials, and the state Department of Environmental Protection i DEP). "I'M GOING TO SET up a stage with all the agency names." said the mayor, so people can see who does and does not attend "I'm getting the run-around and I'm tired of it," Voll griped. "Let them ( the invited officials) give the people the runaround Let them answer If they want to give them a bunch of bull ... it's up to them." "I'm getting a little mad myseff.'Mark Brown, an aide to Congressman WHIiam (Page 61 Please) -inside, UPSWING m surf fishing, lou Rodta, (>♦ 5t SEVEN, cox* 'em, seven irate letten to Che editor, pages 62-63. YOUR library has 32 ol 19841 42 notable books. County library, page 15. TOURISTS LEAVE; water quality improves. Rage 5. DOES your mirror reflect shallow, marred and distorted images? Congratulations; it's probably more valuable. Antiques page 21. K3HN MAC LEOD retires after 27 years as county agent Page 3.