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If Only We Had a 'Great Adventure'...

By JOE ZELNIK Wanted: a "concept, theme or attraction" that would make Cape May County attractive to tourists year-round. Saying "the lure of the seashore is no

longer enough," the county Chamber of Commerce tourism committee has called for "a long-term drive to bring our county into>the wind of America as the vacation mecca they can't wait to discover because we have something to offer." The report said that "fierce competition throughout the entire United States in the areas of tourism forces us to stop relying on our natural resources as our sole attraction." IT POINTED TO such places as Great Adventure in New Jersey, casinos in Atlantic City, New Market in Philadelphia. Inner Harbor in Baltimore and Disney

World in Florida as "examples of tourist attractions created by far-sighted planners. "If the August disaster of Wildwood reoccurs." it said. "Or ocean dumping off New Jersey is made a public issue, we are lost. We need an alternative to our natural resources as attractions." Author of the report is Steve Wade, owner of the S.A. Wade Tavern in North 'j Wildwood. "WE'RE I-OOKING FOR something that would give us a winter economy,"

said Wade, "a biggie for the Jura, more than tourism." j The committee's report recommended • "possibilities short of expensive market studies" and suggested ''work through New Jersey institutions." such as Atlantic Community College. Rutgers. Seton Hall or Princeton "...to* develop an urban renewal project..." A second approach, it suggested, "would be to petition the Assembly to undertake a study of the county with the goal of a specific economic concept ." ( ASKED WHY the committee focused on (Page 57 Please)

rhe Week's II // // Family in Need OCEAN VIEW - Gary Gregson, manager of the new Jamesway store here, is coordinating a fund drive to help Mr. and Mrs. Earl Baum of Dennisville Road, Petersburg, whose 9-year-old son. Earl, is due for brain surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City tomorrow. The operation will cost $30,000 and the Baums have no medical insurance. Friends and neighbors have been raising funds with bake sales and donations. Gregson said he has a drop-off box in the store and will accept mail contributions to the Jamesway, 2087 Shore Road, Ocean View, N.J. 06230. The Sky Is Falling COURT HOUSE - Ceiling tiles and plaster in the county courthouse record room started falling last week. A caller to this newspaper said it was dangerous. County officials said it wasn't. Facilities and Services went to the rescue before work hours last Friday, according to Director Harry E. Kenr, removing tiles and loose plaster in a six-to-eight-foot square area, but not bothering to replace them since the whole building's due for a rehab. Better Than Nothing COURT HOUSE — Proponents of saving the county prosecutor's building, just north of the courthouse, from the wrecker's ball met with Freeholder James S. Kilpatrick Jr. and courthouse renovation architect Edwin Howell, both of Ocean City, for two hours Monday. Sources said the county offered to leave the building's unique facade, 48 feet wide and 20 feet back, standing, but unused. The rest of the building would come down and be replaced by a new two-story building for the prosecutor and surrogate. Fat, Happy and Free BURLEIGH — Middle Township Police haven't caught the person or persons who stole $30 in cash, $592 worth of meat and (Page 47 Please)

Welfare: $17~Million Narcotic?

^ By JOE ZELNIK RIO GRANDE — President Reagan in his State of the Union message last month ■ { A <r jgfl \ . JAM 1 -f 4 t IT lj I I • « B plHSIHKH HIUWIN I i

called welfare "...a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit." The program pumps more than $17 million a year into the Cape May economy. That includes $4 million for AFDC (Aid for Dependent Children), $2.4 million for food stamps. $9 million for Medicaid, and 41 million for Home Energy Assistance. The President said the welfare program "perpetuates poverty" and its success "should be judged by how many of its recipients become independent of welfare." AFDC. the largest welfare category, started in 1960 with 110 clients. It has remained at a "relatively stable" figure of 1,000 households (an estimated 2.300 persons) for years, according to county Welfare Director Ralph I. Schellinger of Villas. He said 300 to 400 of them are "the same basic people." the others constantly changing. TIIE PRESIDENT has asked Congress to require employable adult welfare recipients to look for jobs as a condition of eligibility. "I want to be told it's national (and state) welfare policy to put people to work," said Schellinger. "Then I want the cash to do it. Otherwise, it's futile." AFDC payments (see chart) represent the money paid in the previous month and show a consistent yearly cycle. Rolls climb in January, reflecting people who resort to welfare in December to do Christmas shopping. PAYMENTS DECLINE until April when

the numbers peak because people with seasonal (summer) jobs find their unemployment running out in late February or March., Then comes the spring-summer welfare decline as people return to work, primarily in the tourism industry. The rolls are their lowest in October, reflecting the August peak employment period, and bounce to_ a high rate in November. There is a bureaucratic explanation for the October dip. a period Schellinger call ed "the worst time for mothers with children.',' A six-month redetermination tof eligibility) was replaced in October 1984. with mandatory monthly reporting of income. But there is a two-month lag before eligibility is determined Result: the applicant laid off in September is ineligible until November Schellinger said those federal regulations result in ,fa disincentive to work seasonally." SCHELLINGER. 53. came to the county Welfare office in 1956. one of three case workers and a staff of 10. Today there is a staff of 90 and $l.7-millioo payroll In 1956 there were 600 clients receiving three basic benefits: old age assistance, disability assistance, and assistance for the blind All have been taken over bySocial Security and Supplementary Security Income (SSI). ^ (Page 57 Please)

College Questionnaire Probes Adults

CREST HAVEN — The Community College Proposal Review Committee reached out to the county's adult population this week with a questionnaire on page 49 of today's issue. Dr. N. Dean Evans, consultant studying the county's higher education needs, urged readers to "take a few minutes to fill in the questionnaire" and return them by mail or in person to the newspaper's office at 106 N. Main St. in Court House. Replies are The 15-member, freeholder-appointed committee is studying a half-dozen options to meet the county's higher education needs. It was appointed last July, originally to study June proposals from Atlantic Community College and Cumberland

County College to establish branch campuses here. But that responsibility was widened to include the entire gamut of higher education choices and Evans, a former community college president and president of Foxgill Consultants of West Chester Pa., was hired last December THE QUESTIONNAIRE on page 49 is one of three needs surveys Evans is conducting, he told the committee at an 8 a.m. breakfast meeting at the vo-tech school last Wednesday. / A survey of 1.75Q juniors and seniors in Lower Cape May Regional, Middle Township, Wildwood Catholic, Wildwood, Ocean City <and Millville Senior high schools is all but completed, he said, with a response of mre than 1,400 usable returns. He said that was "very significant return" and "its results will be valid." CONDUCTED IN late February and early March, those survey results are being put into a computer "to tabulate what kinds of offerings you ought to be considering," Evans told the committee. The second effort will include in-depth interviews with the county's 10 largest employers and a mail survey to another 90 smaller employers. Evans had met March 18 with county Economic Development Director Walter S. Sachs Jr. to get help with that survey.

Evans told the committee county government was believed to be the county's largest employer with more than 1 900 workers. OTHERS ON HIS LIST of the top 10: the state of New Jersey, including Woodbine Developmental Center, with 1,156; local governments (Ocean City and Wildwood being the largest) ; Atlantic Electric: New Jersey Bell; Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital; Stokes' Laundry; Acme; Super Fresh; and Cold Spring Fish & Supply. County Schools Supt. Robert Bongart suggested Evans include schools as major employers, and Vo-Tech Supt. Wilbur Kistler proposed "banks, lawyers and Realtors." Freeholder James S. Kilpatrick Jr. added doctors. Evans said he would include all of them through their various associations. EVANS SAID he chose this newspaper for his "general adult survey" because of its "wide visibility." The newspaper donated the space for the survey. It is aimed at permanent, year-round residents. There also could be a random telephone sample. "Do senior citizens defer from filling out this kind of survey?" asked Rev. Cliarles Rowe." "Not at all," said Evans. "I find many (Page 57 Please)

Dorjs Ward COURTNEY AND EBONY - This is not the Easter bunny, but it will have to do until our photographer catches the real one. Courtney Peek. 7-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Peek of Woodbine, snuggles with her newest (of three) bunnv. Ebony. The rabbits are a 4-H project.

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