Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 18 September '85 £7

Sick of Cable? Try TV Dish

To The Editor: In your Sept. 4 issue, an article on page 61 said Cablentertainment is charged with general insensitivity toward community needs and interests. On page 63, a reader writes she is sick of Group W cable service going off so frequently and the inability to get them on the phone. She says she wishes cable companies had some good competition They do. namely us private citizens! Many of us are installing satellite TV dishes and getting a hundred more channels than the cable offers. What makes them even more attractive is that there is no monthly cable bill I have had a dish for three years and have never had my service interrrupted for as little as one second, regardless of rain, snow, or any other weather condition. No need to fear scrambling. It is possible that several of the movie channels will scramble in the future, but with more channels signing on each month, who cares? It's high time homeowners examine this wonderful alternative to cable. DAN KEEN Soft Horizons Magazine Cape May Court House Cooperation Works To The Editor: On behalf of the Middle Township Committee, the Middle Township Recreation Department, and KIDS STOP. I wish to express my sincere, appreciation to the Board of Chosen Freeholders and the Cape May County park Commission for the assistance they are providing us in the placing of a playground on ground owned by Cape May County Park South on Bayshore Road in Del Haven. At the Sept. 9 meeting of the Cape May County Park Commission in developing this project. The willingness of the freeholders and the Park Commission to assist, shows how different levels of government can cooperate to help our residents in securing a safe, wholesome recreation facility for our children in that area. It just goes to show; "When government cooperates — the people always win." CHARLES M. LEUSNER Middle Township Committeeman

, > -< xfr- , , loyride III git By Libby Demp Forrest v J

I've learned a lot from my kids. While it's supposed to be the parent who leads and teaches. I often find it's the other way around. I take my parental duties very seriously But No. 1 and No. 2 have taught me to say "so what?" to a lot of things, just as they do. Take the trash, for instance. Since trash pickup is Monday morning, it always seemed like a good idea to top off a pleasant weekend with a trash encounter Sunday night. But the kids' attitude is what's wrong with beginning a lousy Monday with a trash encounter? MORE THAN ONCE, I've asked myself just how important is to to drag myself away from an absorbing TV movie just to haul the trash cans from the back of the house to the front of the house. If the time the trash leaves the house isn't very important to No. 1 ahd No. 2. maybe it shouldn't be very important to me either. Ditto dirty dishes. If there's a lot of fun going on in the living room, should I be standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes just because it's a habit to wash the dishes the minute a meal is finished? If the dishes don't mind one way or the other what time they get washed, maybe I shouldn't care too much either. ANOTHER THING I've learned from No. 1 and No. 2 is not to take the weather so seriously. A rainy day doesn't seem like a very good reason to them to put off a walk. What's a little rain and wind between the houses of two friends? This all reminds me of a little philosophy I came across years ago written by an elderly woman. She w as quoted as saying. "If I had my life to live over I would have danced more." She said she would have taken her shoes off more and danced in the grass. "I'VE TRIED to instruct No. 1 and No. 2 not to walk around barefooted. "There are things in the grass that will eat your feet," I've told them. But at the same time I've envied them the soft padding of grass beneath their feet While I cannot recapture what the years have taken away, I have to grudgingly say thanks to No. I and No. 2. You guys are pretty good teachers.

Working Moms Not a Disease

'From Page 66) children, who would teach her children in school? Who would care for the sick in the hospitals or the elderly in the nursing homes? Who would check her out in the grocery store? Who would do her banking transactions'' Who would do her hair? Who would make the connections the next time she made a telephone call? And that just barely scratches the surface. Would Sandra Day O'Conner have been better off today if she sat home being "traditional"? How about Sally Ride9 Geraldine Ferarro? or Cmdr. Brice O'Hara for tiiat matter9 OR PERHAPS all these people should have been denied the right to have children. Do you suppose the only reason Madame Curie. Florence Nightingale or Sister Theresa went to work was so they could have "material possessions"? Don't cut yourself short, Andrea. Women have contributed greatly throughout history and raised families too, all with little or no material rewards. If your contribution is staying home and raising your family — Good for you! Isn't it wonderful we have a choice. But don't even think that because you are staying home that you are a better mother than me. Please don't tell a working mother about self sacrifice; she wrote the book. The working mother puts in an eighthour day at work and then goes home and puts in at least another eight hours for her family. That is not counting the two hours before she leaves for work. Don't tell me the mother that stays home puts in more time than that, because I have been there too Much is sacrificed by the working mother to keep her family happy, provide constancy, stability and emotional security. A working mother's income, which is also taxed, helps to ease the burden placed on the father to support the family. The father is also given the chance to spend more quality' time with his children. Just as the support of the family becomes a more equal venture, so does raising the children. There certainly cannot be anything negative about that. ADDITIONALLY, the extra income allows us to do such selfish things for our family as take vacations. We can take our children out of Cape May County, show them the vast world around them, let them see for themselves there is life past the Villas. If this is a crime, I am guilty, guilty of broadening their minds, something Andrea very desperately needs. We are accused of wanting bigger and better; guilty again. Don't forget a bigger and better house pays higher taxes, which means more of our money goes to the school district. More cars per house means more taxes to the state through additional registrations, more gasoline tax and more taxes paid on repairs and tires. We must also consider the senior citizen and childless couples. We are all tapping their hard earned dollar through school tax included with their property taxes. Yet Andrea expresses no coocern for than. What makes her think her

husband's dollar is harder earned than ours? CUT ME A BREAK with the designer jeans; my children don't have "Calvin Kleins", but if I found them in the store, as I have found Nikes. and think they are the best quality, I will be able to afford that choice A working mother does not have much time to shop; she knows quality costs more, and is usually well worth it and she can usually afford to take advantage if she finds them on sale I will not apologize for sending my pre school aged child to a qualified learning center, to spend the day in the care of yet another working mother. At least there I am confi dent in knowing he is learning and not sitting in front of a television catching up on soap operas. If statistics are so important concerning working mothers, then we must also believe the statistics showing 9 out of 10 televisions are tuned in to General Hospital every weekday. Are televisions really doing the babysitting for the "traditional mother"9 Judg ing by the statistics, I would say yes. but we all know stat&tics are not an accurate measurement. Census also shows that the two-income families have smaller families Again, we are paying more per child than the one-income family. Yet we do not complain or condemn them. I apologize for being able to give my children computer classes, swimming classes, gymnastics or a BMX bike If others cannot afford to. or chose not to, don't put me down because I can. You can call them frivolous expectations. I call them needs. It is a tough competitive world, everybody needs an edge, no matter how slight I AM THANKFUL I don't "need" to work. I go to work each day thinking my work needs me Just as much as I want more out of life for my children. I want more out of life for me, I don't think I am being selfish; I owe it to myself. Hour for hour, dollar for dollar. I give my children as good or better than the traditional mother I give my children my very best, and I cannot do any better than that. But before anyone makes a judgment against working mothers, let's wait a few years and see which child becomes the most responsible, well rounded, well adjusted, mature, independent, productive adult After all. we are all in on this together: our children are our future. I will make no judgments now since I do not have a crystal ball to see what the future will bring. In closing, I ask, what does Andrea really have against working mothers? Instead of condemning, why don't we join forces and work together. She and others like her could also provide a service and babysit. Since she has so much to offer children, and the working mother wants someone who would care for her children as she does, it is an idea that might work. It is something to think about ; it could benefit everyone. MRS. DIANE W IE LAND Del Haven

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BURLEIGH - Over 200 persons attended a cocktail party for Middle Township Committeeman Charles M. Leusner. Sept. 6 at the Wildwood Golf and Country Club. Leusner, seeking a second three year term on township committee, said he was pleased with the show of support given him. The party was attended by Congressman William J. Hughes, Cumberland County Freeholder Director Edward Salmon. Mayor Mike Voll, Committeeman Jim Alexis. Township Clerk George Simpkins, and Dennis Township Committeeman Frank Murphy. Avalon Attorney and 1st District Assembly Candidate Raymond Batten and Sea Isle City Commissioner Jim Iannone also attended.

The long awaited 'first step' in the reunification of The Republican Party in Upper Township has taken place, as both the Upper Township Republican Club and the People's Republican Organization have endorsed the same candidates for election to the Upper Township Committee. Bob Jeffers and Ken Baker. Both clubs pledged during the Primary election that they would support the candidates of choice of the Republican voters, and a joint announcement this weekend by Jerry Livingston. president of the Upper Township Republican Club, and Jack Crimins, president of The People's Republican Organization, confirmed that

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