opinion

Don't Look to the Assembly Well Pay for Rape of Wetlands

By DAVID F. MOOKK Executive Director New Jersey Conservation Foundation Things are really buzzing in the marshes and wetlands of this state we're in. This is the time of year when Mother Nature is working on doubletime. It's as though every lifeform has a subliminal warning system which says, "Eat more, jump more, swim more, for tomorrow we may die." At any rate, the frogs are busy catching insects, which Our Readers Write Authority Is 85's Top Flop To The Editor: 1 should have never let that lawyer from Wildwood, I'll call him Prince, win a few games off me in tennis this past summer. The poor soul was so overwhelmed that I had to offer him my sweat towel during a point ! Now, I can't take 4 anything seriously anymore. the "Lack of Common Sense Coalition," better known as "Democrats for Clydesdale," had to abandon their dreams of a 4th of July celebration for lack of fireworks. I understand that the solicitor of that township suggested rubbing their fists gently into their eyes for a few seconds remove their fists, look up into the sun and clap real loud! This he noted would replace the need for dangerous fireworks. YVell. that celebration flopped. And. speaking of flops, this just in over the wires... there is a tie for this year's "Lower Township Flop of the Year Award!" Yep. it's a toss up between Biebcrbach, Clydesdale and Fothergill's creation of the 1983 Incinerator Authority and the candidacy of Tom Clydesdale and Peggy Bieberbach for Township Council A BltlKF BACKGROUND on the Authority. Purchasing the 123-acre Harbison-Walker site at a cost to the taxpayers of about $2 million The erecting of lovely smoke stacks smiling over Cape May Point and the Atlantic Ocean to burn, that's right, your garbage They said it might smell a bit like roses. This neat little package would cost, according to professionals I contacted, about $10 million to $15 million. And. finally, with the framers of this idea sitting at the helm, on the rest of the 120 acres, we would be able to play bocci, lake hikes on little trails and practice for the PGA on a nine hole golf course. As any thinking person knows, this incinerator scahi/plan was destined for failure from the starl. The original study violated the Local Public Contract Law. This legal guideline states that professionals be hired to conduct professional studies. Since the two friends of the mayor from Michigan were not professional engineers, they should have never been hired by the township lo perform this costly and sensitive research OKAY. OKAY, I could go on about this anti-county, antistate law scam, but what really amazes me is the recent resignation of Chairwoman Pat Bowman from the authority. If she would have listened to certain enlighte nend people two years ago. she could have saved herself the trouble and embarassment of this past week However. I congratulate her now Mayor Fothergill should follow suit. The authority had its roots planted by the 1983 Township Committee. They proceeded lo lie to the public about saving money for solid waste removal, etc They made a mockery of their oath of office They "tried to make fools of you and I They cost the tax- ( Page 63 Please) t Htraiti " v' Lantern"' Pvbitahnl Fvary By Tl» StiMn Corporation _f O. Boa 430 Capa May Coort How. N.J 08ZI0 Joseph R. Zelnik Editor Bonnie Reina General Manager Gary L. Rudy Advertising Director John Dunwoody Special Promotions Director Darrell Kopp Publisher Sma-o.t Ctwp 1<J1> Ait trir>«rd AH lo, ... .. ,0.,— „ „< pJklHOho. kfcoll br p. op.", ol >h> Sm»o» Cj.p Na pa" ►...ol ma, t„ ,ap.odv.«d DEADLINES News & Photos Thursday Advertising Friday — ,'t P.M. Classified Advertising Friday — It P.M. 465-5055 For News or Advertising Information \\ PnWuWa Errry Wrdnrrday By Th« Saawawr Corporation J B O. Baa <30 Capo May Coart Hoorr. N J 08110

in their turn are munching on vegetation, or other insects, and the greenery in this biological supermarket is also at its peak, warmed by late summer sunshine and nourished by water running off of farms and woodlands. Indeed, this concentration of life in wetlands makes them especially valuable for people, too. Wetlands can clean up dirty water and prevent flooding by slowing the runoff of heavy rainfalls which otherwise would rush down to the seas. SO YOU'D THINK we would do a better job of wetland protection than we do. But summertime is construction time, too. Some of our most productive and valuable wetlands, somehow missed in earlier waves of development erupting outward from our urban centers in recent decades, are now targeted for the buzzing of chain saws and the raor of bulldozers. And while that kind of noise may be music to the ears of the few who profit by the rape of our wetlands, we should all realize that we will have to pay more for the services the wetlands have performed for nothing. I strongly suspect that we have a more frequent cycle of floods and droughts than heretofore as a direct result of our lack of protection for wetlands, and our overzealous concern for keeping land dry. WE CANNOT KEEP ON filling up natural waterstorage places, paving over areas where water soaks down to our aquifers, and channeling water in pipes and ditches so that it gets away with scarcely a chance to be used for people needs. Good resource management is, after all, good fiscal management too. Most town governments, in their stampede toward short-term economic gains, fail to see the long-range effects of poor land and water management. It makes no sense to me to promote a shopping center today for the tax revenues it produces, only to have to pay double tomorrow to hold back the flooding it creates through fast runoff from all that pavement and rooftop. Long overdue wetlands protection legislation (S-602) is now under active review by the New Jersey Senate, and awaiting a vote ( A-672) in the Assembly. SINCE THIS IS an election year for the Assembly, no action can be expected there before November. That's because the Assembly doesn't meet much, what with all that campaigning, and because campaign contributions from major development interests might be jeopardized if a legislator votes the wrong way. You may think me cynical, but that's the way the system works: You can't get elected without campaign money, and lots of campaign funding comes with strings attached, if only by implication. So where's the public interest served, you ask? Your vote still counts, so you should make your voice heard. The man in charge of putting the wetlands bill up for a vote in the Assembly is Speaker Alan Karcher of Middlesex County. His counterpart in the upper house is Senate President Carmen Orechio of Essex County. They should know you care If you expect things to keep on buzzing in our wetlands, you'd better buzz your legislators

20 More Areas Need Playgrounds To The Editor. I had to laugh when I read Charles Leusner's letter to the Editor on Sept. 18. Just like I had to laugh when I read a local daily publication on Sept. 3. You see, on Labor Day I was watching the Jerry Lewis Telethon and reading the newspaper. An article in the paper described the plight of the Kids Stop Organization of Del Haven. Usually, my family and I give a donation to Muscular Dystrophy each year, but after reading the article and seeing the tote board numbers on television, I decided that this year we would give money to Kids Stop. So I wrote out a check and gave it to Chief Frame of the Green Creek Fire Company that day. The next day I read in the daily newspaper how Leusner saved Del Haven and now I have read his letter. Isn't it amazing how newspapers, groups, and individuals (or should I say opposing candidates) can motivate elected officials... especially around election time? By the way. I know of about 20 neighborhoods in Middle Township that need playgrounds. I wonder what Leusner plans to do about them? EDWARD ROSENBERG Court House (ED NOTE Rosenberg is the Republican candidate challenging Democratic incumbent Leusner for Middle Township Committee.)

—Two Cases of Stroh's No Secrets in Small Town

By JOE ZELNIK No soap My father has absolutely refused to move to Stone Harbor. woo a childless widow, and eventually <no hurry, dad) leave me the owner of a barrier island home that I could otherwise never afford Pointing out that he fathered me. raised me as both mother and father from the age of II. paid my waythrough college, gave me groceries aN cost (and less) for \ years, and has always been generous on birthdays. Christmas and other assorted holidays ( plus everytime he sees me), he now feels he's done enough I should say that he has nothing against childless widows But he prefers them 40 instead of 80. which is what his birth certificate says he is. FINALLY, my dad feels there is something morallywrong and spiritually lacking in an area where a refurbished motel room can be offered as a $150,000 condominium. And he is appalled that a house one could buy in Gowanda. New York, for $35,000 to $50,000 costs $250,000 to $300,000 in Stone Harbor or Avalon. I tried to explain to him that this is because it's close to the water But he thinks a house close to the water is damp, will flood sooner or later, and should be worth less, not more Come to think of it ... DISHEARTENED AT his turndown, we tried to make the host of it bv playing pool, drinking wine and listening lo polka music Also, as many depressed people do. my wife and I gorg ed on ethnic foods home made Slovenian one night. German two nights. Hungarian one night, and pigged out in :: Toronto harborfront shopping mall one night Yes. most of my visits to the Buffalo area become lax deductible business trips after a quick i two-hour • slide to Toronto to get a first hand account of the effect of the weak Canadian dollar on Cape May County tourism. My U.S. dollar got me $136 Canadian So. the Hungarian dinner complete with table-side violinist and gypsy love songs cost $40 Canadian, or $2fr American.

I KNOW THIS W'll.L bring tears to Lou Rodia's'eyes, but it's difficult not to conclude that the more logical tourist appeal is for us to go there Many people say snide things about the Buffalo area simply because it's hell in the winter — which lasts six months. But it's a great place June through September. You ever had a beef on 'week, charcoaled baloney steak, Buffalo chicken wings? Of course it's also "home" for me. One of the nicest things about being in one's hometown is that I am forever young. Everybody calls me "Young Joe" (a few even call me Joey). The kinda creepy thing about a small town is that everybody knows everybody, and their business, and their monkey business. One night at dinner my dad recounted the waitress's life story that, on TV, would have knocked "Dynasty" out of the box. IN A SMALL TOWN, little things people do somehow get attached to their names and follow them forever. This can be okay, like "Charlie, the clothier," or not so okay, like "Louie, the cheater." < If people in a small town find out you cheat at cards, that's it.) My dad sometimes refers to his grocery store customers by what they're noted for buying, like "Frank who gets two cases of Stroh's a week." What's scary about this is that it's contagious. We were having breakfast in the town's only restaurant when a fellow I vaguely remembered strolled by "Isn't that Ernie Kionke''" I asked It was. About two minutes later. Ernie returned from the other direction, a small bag in his hand -Wonder what Ernie bought?" I 'said out loud. .11 *T \ COt I'I.E D XYS in town and a i ready 1 wanted to know every tiny secret For that reason, it was good to return to Cape May County where there is a certain sophistication, an urbanity. a no-quest ions-asked acceptance, a nonchalance about the unimportant, a "je ne sais quoi." Back in the office, my first phone call was a complaint that the Republicans at their annual picnic gave their leftover rolls to people from Philadelphia.