opinion_

Our Readers Write Incinerator: Who Will Pay? To The Editor: Lower Township Mayor Robert Fothergill hasn't given up He's still trying to find a way to put an incinerator at the defunct magnesite plant, even though he was the only one in favor of it at a recent township meeting. His was the only affirmative vote, so what's the matter? Doesn't he trust the rest of the governing body? Are the taxpayers aware of how much they are being soaked for and how private investors will get rich at the public's expense? Dresser Industries wants $2,327,300 for the land. Who will end up paying for most of that? Who will pay for the $100,000 appraisal? Who will pay the $2,000,000 to tear down the old plant? IF THIS COUNTY starts its mandatory recycling program. Lower Towaship will be penalized $5 a ton in tipping fees for not joining. Not to mention the fact that the county promises to pay top dollar for newspaper, glass and metal. Why does Fothergill want to burn it? Where will the 100-tons-per-day of waste to fuel the incinerator come from? Will it be barged in from Philadelphia? Do we want a playground next to an incinerator? Would you let your kids play there? Who would pay to insure and maintain the playground? These and other questions were not answered, and committee voted not to accept nearly one million dollars in funds from Green Acres The reason: that was only a small part of the $6 to 7 million project that promises to soak Lower taxpayers for years to come. But Fothergill hasn't given up. He's talking about a revote. Think of this! Where will Fothergill be when your children are still paying for this foolish project? ELIZABETH SKILLEN Cold Spring Concerned Citizens of Lower Township, West Cape May Cape May & Cape May Point Teens Deserve More To The Editor: • This is in response to your March 12 article, • Teenagers: Nothing to do But Hang Out." I read it and was saddened by the lack of entertainment our young people have. The movie theater just added Saturday matinees, but neglected to consider the average age of the viewer. On March 8 and 9, the Rio Twin Theatres were showing Rrated movies. NOW REALLY, who is going to see a movie in the afternoon who is under 17-years-old? If they were allowed, the theaters would be filled, but the fact is that most teenagers don't even have a decent movie to see. As a concerned parent. I feel the least we can provide is Saturday movies with a PG or G rating. Doesn't the future ^enrfation deserve a decent movie to see on weekend afternoons? / MARIANNE NECE North Cape May

j \ Joseph R. Zelnik Editor \ Bonnie Reina ^^ieneral Manager Gary L. Rudy Advertising Director John Dunwoody Special Promotions Director Darrell Kopp * Publisher SamoxCorp A> t-pKn rmr>«d A» fgkn *« n*»« a I p«**«a— - <Ao* ba p'oparty a I *• Swm Carp No pof kotos' bo 'opcoAicsd "K~P'~ — DEADLINES News & Photos Thursday Advertising Friday — 3 P.M. Classified Advertising Friday — 3 P.M. . 465-5055 For News or Advertising Information Mail Subscription: Yearly, $40; Six Month, $20 Call 465-5055 For News, Advertising or Subscription Information MMWr panirtpoww WMkm oor Ih. poMkim ot Ik. HI HALII AM) LAVn.Hk mV r .«•.< ... — •«* u.

'Archaic Precedents ' Should Be Scrapped To The Editor: During the Lower Township Zoning Board meeting of March 6, Carl DeMusz, chairman of the township Planning Board, through his attorney, Louis C. Dwyer. requested a variance to build on a 50-foot lot. It was indicated that DeMusz had contacted the adjacent 50-foot lot owner in an attempt to secure more ground and that the owner of the lot was not interested in selling. DeMusz, who told council last month "I own absolutely no lots that would fall under this," was granted the variance. Undoubtedly, the owner will receive the same hardship variance. In his summation of this transaction, the zoning solicitor (Stephen D. Mare) stated in part." ... that the relief requested can be granted without substantial detriment to the public good." * v THE PRESENCE OF salt intrusion in Villas wells, the newly-discovered presence of nitrates in wells located in other parts of the township and the knowledge of toxic waste disposal in landfills throughout the state vehement ly disputes this determination. , Rbbqrt J. Smeltzer, chairman of the zoning board who. as reprtfed-byshe media, is also a member of developer Carl T. Mitnick's organization, took time from a heavily scheduled meeting to announce that instead of Mary Bax(Page 51 Please >

The State We're In Map, Protect Recharge Area By DAVID F. MOORE Executive Director New Jersey Conservation Foundation Ever hear the story about the underground river flowing beneath New Jersey, bringing unlimited supplies of pristine pure water down from Canada? Forget it. Like the 100-mile-per-gallon carburetor, it just does not exist. Geologists know that water does actually move underground, but very slowly. Ooze is a more accurate word than flow, when it comes to a description. Not everyone visualizes the groundwater below our feet correctly ; many think of it as a body of water like a lake, only below ground. Actually, even in hard-rock country like northern New Jersey, tiny cracks in the rocks are filled with water, and the collective mass of water in a given area moves in a given direction, very slowly. In central and southern New Jersey, where the geology is mainly sand and gravel, a lot more groundwater can exist in a given area than up north. It moves slowly there too. \ . UNDERGROUND WATER is the source of drinking, irrigation and industrial water for half the state's population. We tend to forget this because of all the media attention to surface reservoirs and their varying levels. Sandy or rocky formations which harbor water are called aquifers. You should know^ljiat what's in reservoirs and what comes from wells is connected, however. Water that falls as rain soaks into the ground, seeping slowly downward and downhill, moving faster when it finds cracks in the underground rock, and slower through soil, sand and gravel formations. When we drill into the ground to a point where it's saturated with water, we reach what's called the water table. It's not a table at all, and it isn't even flat: it's the top of an aquifer. Wherever that water table meets the surface of the ground, we find springs, streams, ponds or wetlands. So groundwater feeds brooks and streams, which in turn feed surface reservoirs. The places where water soaks into the ground to form those underground saturated spots are called recharge areas; rain recharges the aquifer below so that we can withdraw water for our various uses, provided we don't take out too much. If we do that the water table sinks lower in the ground, perhaps lower than the bottom of our well. ONLY IN RECENT YEARS have we begun paying attention to those aquifers, realizing that we often collec tively overdraw from the water bank. Recharge areas for • Page 51 Please)

j— The Rudy-NRA Divorce Out-of-Sync in a Cherokee

By JOE ZELNIK Gary Rudy is a nice guy, but totally out of place in Cape May County. Our advertising director iy^he rustic type, happiest when he's roaming the hills of western Pennsylvania where he was born. I'm not sure he belongs in a sophisticated place like Cape May County. II mean, it's 1986 and he lives in a log cabin. All the ad people here are a genial bunch and we in editorial don't mind them so long as they don't get in our way as we rush out the door to cover floods and fires and murders and the like.. I mean, they're station wagon types, and our reporter Jack Smyth drives a Honda Civic CRX (whooosh! ) GARY ON THE OTHER HAND, drives a Jeep Cherokee and looks like he belongs on a horse. He's sort of a cross between John Wayne (when he was alive) and Ronald Reagan, both of whom he likes, which should tell you something. Gary is simply out-of-sync with most of us. For example, 97.6 percent of this county's residents dread snow worse than a cholera epidemic. But Gary is always praying for snow so he can use his snowmobile. I mean, if a guy lives here and wants to snowmobile, he should move, right? I think if Gary stays here long enough (he's only been a resident for 26 years), he might start to acclimate himself. BUT EVEN IF HE someday blends in with the populace. I never thought there was a chance he could be "one of us" here at the paper. That's because Gary loves to shoot edible birds and animals. He's a hunter. Journalists. on the other hand, can't stand the sight of blood So we rib Gary a lot about his membership in the Natibnal Rifle Association (NRA). Now is where this column gets serious. Last week I received in the mail a form letter from Mrs. James Brady whose husband was shot by John Hinckley during his at- ■ tempted assassination of President Reagan in 1981. VI She said she is a conservative Republican and believes r I responsible citizens should be able to purchase guns for

sporting or other legitimate purposes. But, she wrote, she was appalled at the NRA's legislative efforts in favor of easing handgun restrictions. I put her letter in Gary's "in" box, more as a joke than anthing else. I was astounded later that same day when Gary brought me a "letter to the editor" on handgun control. And, with his permission, I conclude my column with his words: AFTER READING the letter from Mrs. James Brady, I i felt obligated to write the following reply. As a member of the NRA since my mid-teens and an I avid hunter and gun collector for as many years, I couldn't agree with her letter more. Being from the state of New Jersey, we are presently under the strictest and most complicated gun laws in the country, many of which I feel should be implemented thoughout the remainder of the states. Now, however, my I NRA has seen fit to reduce these restrictions through the i McClure-Volkmer bill. IN THE PAST 25 years in this state, I have purchased for the purpose of hunting and sport shooting as many as 15 rifles, shotguns and handguns, each of which has taken time, extra expense and the answering of personal questions that a person in other states has not had to do. I didn't mind the expense, the questioning, or the waiting because I knew what I was purchasing the gun for. I also knew that everyone else who was purchasing a 1 gun in this state had to do the same things that I was doing and chances of a gun going directly to a Hinckley were ; greatly reduced. NOW. MY NRA IS PUSHING to pass legislation that will i allow the John Hinckleys to come to New Jersey and make it just as easy to purchase a gun here as it was in Dallas. I'll go by the statement that "They can have my guns when they pry my cold dead hands from them," but I can no longer support an organization that "fights" for the : likes of armor piercing bullets and handguns such as • Saturday night specials that suit no legitimate purposes. The next time my NRA dues request comes, my money will go as a donation to Handgun Control Inc. i GARY RUDY • \ Rio Grande