/ 4 _j ■' Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 14 May '86

Middle Township — -w 1

Elementary School 3 presented its annual spring concert May 6. The school's fourth and fifth grade students demonstrated their musical talents to a ' standing room only" crowd of families and friends. "Repaz Band March", "Folk Meldoy". "Round". "Old McDonald ", and "American Medley" were played by the 43 Beginning Band members. "Star Spangled Banner". "Chorale and Dance", •

ACC Hears Land Study MAYS LANDING - At its meeting April 22, Atlantic Community College's board of trustees heard a preliminary presentation on future campus land use. The Hillier Group, a Princeton-based architectural firm, suggested locations for proposed construction of student housing, a new culinary facility, technology center, fine arts facility, and added space for ESL, developmental programs and the library. The board agreed to move ahead with the study. The next phase "will be presented at the May meeting. Antique Show Set in Linwood LINWOOD- The annual antique show given by the Antique Collector's Club will be held Saturday. May 24, 11 aim. - 6 p.m. and 12 p.m. 5 p.m. Sunday. May 25, at Our Lady of Sorrows Church Hall, Wabsh Avenue. Dealers from Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey will feature furniture. glassware, silver, quilts, toys and other antiques and collectibles. Refreshments will be available on both days. For further information contact Bob Lacovara, chairman, 927-8279. Wanted: Coupons RIO GRANDE - A* coupon drive to collect enough store coupons to redeem and purchase equipment for its day care centers in Wildwood and Woodbine has been started by Cape Human Resources, Inc. All store coupons, regardless of type (grocery or other) or value are being accepted at the following Cape Human Resources, Inc. Divisions: Whitesboro. East Main Street, 465-4531 ; Wildwood, 1 5 W. Davis Ave.. 522-0231; Woodbine, Longfellow and Monroe Avenue^. 861-2816; Ex- < ecutive division. Social Services Building, Rio Grande, 729-4902. For more information contact Midge or Gladdie at 729-1902.

"Too Fat Polka", "Dr. Dixieland". and "Triumphant Festival were played by the 37 Advanced Band members. The. Beginning and Advanced Bands played under the direction of Lesley Weber. THE FOURTH and Fifth Grade Choir sang and performed a dramatic presentation of "Tradition", "Match-maker", "Sabbath Prayer", "If I Were A Rich Man", and "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the roof. The introduction was given by Michael Schultz as the Fiddler and Glenn Elliott as the Narrator The- 84-member choir was under the direction of Lois Likens. The co-stage directors were Joe Candelora and his wife Bettie-Ann. Candelora is the show director at the Camelot Dinner Theatre in Ocean City and performs in national television commercials with his wife. He was also the show director at the former 76 House in Swainton. Candelora is Liken's son-in-law. MEMBERS OF the Middle Township PTA elected its new officers for the 1986-87 school year last week. Karen Ortman was elected president ; Terry Hand, vice-president; Lorraine Mersch. secretary; and Colleen Menz, treasurer. Dot I^hman. a community educator of CARA., was the guest speaker at the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 198 meeting in Court House May 6. She informed the group on what women can do to prevent themselves from being a victim of sexual abuse. Her presentation placed emphasis on preventive ' measures a person should take while shopping, walking alone to a car in a parking lot, and staying at home alone. She also showed the group slides during her discussion It was Lehman's birthday and the auxiliary gave her a party during the meeting We wish Elementary School I Principal Charlotte Harmon a belated 'Happy Birthday"! AMJMUCAN LEGION AuxirfPf Unit 198. will sponsor a bus trip to the Golden Nugget Casino May 28. Departure is from Jamesway in Court House at 8:15 a.m. For reservations, call 465-5579. In recognition of "Teacher Appreciation Week" last week, the local PTA placed fruit baskets in the teachers' lounges at Elementary Schools I and 3 on behalf of the students. THE COUNTY Youth Soccer League season is in full swing with 26 teams this year. The five Middle Township teams consist of a junior team, the Panthers, ages 7 and 8; two cadet teams, the Cougar Cubs and the Booters, 9 and 10; the middle team, the Cougars, 11 and 12; qnd the intermediate division, the Eagles, 13 and 14.

The local teams began their season by playing games at the Goshen Road Sports Complex on April 12. All home games are played there Saturday mornings. The season runs through May 27. Steve O'Connor of Court House is area commissioner for the Middle Township teams. We wish Edith Ludlam of Court House a belated "Happy Birthday"! She is the coordinator of supplemental instruction for the local school district. THE FILING deadline to participate in the "Hands Across America" project is Friday. Return your applications to the Middle Township Recreation Department, 209 S. Main St., Court House, or calL-465-2325 for more information. The Citizens for Justice will hold a meeting at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, West Main Street, Whitesboro. 7:30 p.m. May 20. Jason Stewart, a student in Marjorle Parkhurst's fourth grade class at Elementary School 3, won first prize for his terrarium in the 11th Annual Spring Garden Show at the Rio Mall April 30-May 2. Second and third place prizes in this division went to the terrariums made by 4the 25 students in Parkhurst's class as a group project. Each of the students also made individual terrariums. Students from Nancy Roller's and Janette Callaway's fourth grade classes also entered plant projects. THE STUDENTS' entries were judged by members of the County 4-H Club Each student received a participation ribbon. The project was a science lesson on how to make terrariums and served a dual purpose as the individual stildents each gave their mothers their projects as Mother's Day gifts. The students in Parkhurst's and Roller's classes visited the Flower Show May 1. THE 12 FOURTH and fifth grade safety patrols from Elementary School-3, along with 14 parents and guardians who acted as chaperons, visited the Great Adventure Amusement Park May 2. This was the Ninth Annual Safety Patrol Trip sponsored by the State Police and the AAA. The trip gives the students a day of recognition and fun. The students must give up part of their lunch time and recess to act as safeties in school. THERE HAS NOT been a serious accident in the school since the safety patrol has been enforcing the rules of conduct in the hallways, stairwells, playground gates, and lunchroom according to Norm Smith, who is completing his fourth year as the patrol's advisor. The Safety Patrol has two meetings per month in addition to monthly visits from a state Trooper. A different topic is discussed each month.

VIHV Pff RARE THRILL — From left. Deputy Cape May Mayor Adrian S. Capehart, Mayor Arthur Blomkvest, and Harry Hlrsch, owner of City Center, the new ll-store shopping complex on Cape May's Washington Street Mall, ride its escalator prior to ribbon-cutting ceremonies Saturday. New Trivial Pursuit question: how many other escalators are there is this county, and where are they?

'Workload' of Courts in Doubt

(From page 1) The "cases disposed of" statistics, on the other hand, have declined 1,043 from 1983 to 1985, a 11 percent dip. Howell's feasibility study said that the county 1983 "weighted caseload" surpassed the 1985 estimate of the National Center Court Study. Using the national study's projections, the feasibility study concluded "there will be a judicial requirement of eight judges by the year 2,000 at the present growth rate." The courts currently have three, the renovation project will result in seven courtrooms. BUT THE FEASIBILITY Study noted that "...accurate assessment of future projections cannot be made using a third year of a 30-year projection such as the national study. What is fact and cannot be disputed is that Cape May County judges have experienced a 37.6 percent increase in the cases added to their workload since 1980 " And the 1984 feasibility study urged that "the statistics for the next two years sfvOhld be viewed very carefully to determine'if the actual workload will be higher than those projected in this study." Thus the feasibilitystudy apparently did not even consider the possibility that the workload would be lower. ALL SOURCES warned this newspaper that it is not possible, or fair, to compare "workload" with "cases disposed of." "It's extremely difficult to predict with any consistency," said Freeholder James S. Kilpa trick Jr.. liaison to the courts. "You can make a projection do anything." said Freeholder-Director William E. Sturm Jr. "This could be the result of plea bargaining, pretrial negotiations. changed methodology.. A new method of managing and scheduling has come into being; it affects what comes out the end of the hose. I think we're in pretty good shape when this project is completed. It will serve the county's needs for a good, long time." "THE OVERALL statistics don't always reveal the whole situation," said Howard Berchtold, assistant trial court administrator. Berchtold was quoted in the feasibility study as the source for the 1983 courts "workload" figures. "There are a lot of variable," he warned last week. Berchtold divided the "cases disposed of" by five major types: matrimonial (basically divorce), criminal, civil, special civil ( formerly District Court), and juvenile delinquency. Of those types, only juvenile delinquency has had a steady decline, according to Berchtold, going from 2,110 in 1980 to 1,530 last year. *

BERCHTOLD SAID criminal and civil cases are the most time-consuming. He said criminal has climbed from 480 in 1980 to a peak of 1,014 in 1983 and has declined the last two years to 857 and 734, respectively. w He said civil has climbed from 249 in 1980 to 464 in 1983, declined to 441 in 1984, and jumped to a record 604 last year. Matrimonial has increased steadily from 272 in I960 to 436 last year. Special civil also peaked last year at 3,582. It totaled 3,030 in 1980. Berchtold also pointed out that jury trials ( both criminal and civil) have climbed steadily, from 20 in 1981 to 22 in 1982, 35 in 1983, 41 in 1984 and 54 in 1985. And McCaffery pointed out that the county has decreased its backlog to only 18 percent, the fourth best record in the state. MCCAFFERY ALSO TOLD this newspaper that the county courts have had 6,808 cases filed and 6,724 dispositions from last July 1 to March 31. If that ninemonth rate held for the 12-month period, there would be 9,077 cases filed and 8,965 dispositions. Both are increases over last year. Anticipated growth of the courts was discussed by freeholders and constitutional officers at a special meeting May 1. At that time, Surrogate W. Robert Hentges pointed out that the feasibility study had called for three to five full-time judges by 1985 "I call that the wishbook," replied Sturm. "It predicted seven to nine judges by the year 2010," Hentges continued. "My concern is that we are spending $6 million — I read that in the newspaper; I was never privy to the figure — for an addition where we barely have enough parking now. Future boards will have to wrestle with that." "THE PARKING (ISSUE) is being addressed," responded Sturm. "What will happen to this five or 10 years down the road?" asked Hentges. "Some county official replied to the Middle Township Planning Board — the statement was in the paper — that even though there will be additions to the courts, there will be no more employes hired." "I made that statement," said Sturm. "If you check the payroll," said Hentges, "you will see judicial employes were added in the past three years. If you're basing the project on this (feasibility) report, it opens doors to the relevancy of this report." "How many days are the judges not doing anything here?" asked Freeholder Ralph W. Evans. "This is ridiculous. They've got more time off than..."