Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 28 May '86 69

Rescue Recycling

(From page l) couldn't the MUA do this without asking us?" O'Neill said, "We're not asking you. Your board has a long-standing interest. You have a vote. If you choose to recommend to our governing body, you can." "Will there have to be a public hearing?" asked Calloway. "Of course," said O'Neill. O'Neill and Leonik pointed out that nine of the county's 16 municipalities have endorsed the MUA recycling proposal, "a couple did not respond, and only two took exception (to it). "It's now practically a 60 percent consensus,' said O'Neill. THE PROBLEM IS that the MUA, and county, would like to see at least 25 percent of the waste recycled, both to relieve the sanitary landfill and to add to the efficiency of the proposed trash-to-energy recovery plant. But the county currently has about 2-5 percent recycling rate, one of the worst in the state. Among the "unique problems," Leonik said, were "seasonal variations, distance from markets, the small size of the communities." The MUA last month puts its recycling plan on the back burner after failing to get commitments from communities with 75 percent of the county's trash. LAST WEEK'S Planning Board discussion focused on the sensitive "mandatory" issue. "We spent quite a bit of time on this before." said board member Fredrick A, Long Jr. "If you expect to achieve your target, you have to come to grips with mandatory." "Yes," agreed Leonik. "Would it be constructive for us to recommend that to the freeholders?" he asked. "That support is helpful and welcomed," said Leonik. "Of course the municipalites can take the initiative on their own, like Stone Harbor. "THE (STATE) LEGISLATURE is looking at various forms of mandatory," she continued. "We expect legislation on the state level in the next couple years. You could amend the Solid Waste Management Plan and require it. Enforcement is a problem. There could be A ban at our landfill on all recyclables." "How does one amend the Solid Waste Management Plan?" asked Long. "The freeholders do it," said O'Neill. "Middle Township has recycling,"

observed Ellwood Shephard. "Why didn't it go along with the MUA?" "OUR PLAN doesn't go far enough to satisfy them," said O'Neill. "Their p cogram includes bulky waste and scrap materials. They have a local market. By going regionwide, it's conceivable they'd lose that local market. They'd suffer financially and otherwise." "Middle is closer to 25 percent than anyone," said Leonik. "Their residential is pretty good, 7 or 8 percent, and they're doing excellent in the commercial area. They target larger businesses." After Long's motion to ask the freeholders to amend their plan to include the MUA plan, county Planning Director Elwood Jarmer suggested, "You might include that the Planning Board staff would work with the MUA to come up with a reasonable program, from gentle persuasion to hitting em over the head with a two-by-four. It probably has to be a little of both." "WHAT'S WRONG with the plan they (the freeholders) now have?" asked Shepherd. "This would result in the freeholders dirqpting the municipalities to adopt ordinances," said O'Neill. "That act would not make it mandatory. The freeholders don't have the authority. But they can say to the municipalities, your means of solid waste disposal is not in conformance because you don't have mandatory recycling. Diane has described a reasonable bunch of carrots and a few sticks. The ordinance is not a big stick. A $5-a-ton surcharge for recycled material is a big stick. That will bring compliance, if the freeholder board chose to endorse it and amend their plan." "Now is the time to keep the ball rolling," said Harry N. Hand "Yes," said O'Neill. The strategy of having the MUA and Planning work out a plan to bring about a minimum 25 percent recycling rate was discussed at the December meeting. AT THAT TIME, Jarmer said it could take a year to come up with proposals, hold the required public hearings, and follow with "a phase-in period." That would seem to extend the date of possible mandatory recycling at least until mid-1967. Voting in favor of Long's motion last week were Long, Hand, Shepherd, William J. Diller, Neil 0. Clarke, and William Laskey.

Everlon Taxes 'Tricky'

(From page 1) not only on ownership, but on use," explained Sharpley. "If the building were used for county purposes, it would be exempt. If other than public use, my inclination is, it's taxable." "Our intention is to lease it," said Walter S. Sachs Jr., county Economic Development director. "But until it's leased, it's county and not taxable." "Tricky" and "ticklish" were a couple words Sharpley used in describing how difficult it could be to resolve that potential difference of opinion. THERE ARE OTHER uncertainties. The Everlon building includes 195,000 square feet on 20 county-owned acres. The county has said it hopes to use 20,000 square feet for cold storage for the fishing industry. That, of course, leaves another 175,000 square feet for other tenants. Application for $850,000 in federal and state grants to construct the cold storage facility isn't likely for another 60 days, according to Sachs. HE SAID THE COUNTY is "talking to dock owners and fishermen" to learn two things: •General, overall interest in cold storage, including whether there is sufficient volume to support a cold storage capability. •Who's interested, and whether they might be interested in operating the facility. Sachs had said in March that it was conceivable the county would operate the plant if the fishing industry declined. THE COUNTY has received a firstpriority ranking for this project from the four-county South Jersey Economic Development District. That should assist it in receiving grants of $600,000 from the federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) and $250,000 from the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA). The county is buying the plant for $2 million from Fabrican Inc. of Bergen County via a bond issue expected next month. The purchase gets the county out of a 75-y4ear lease that would have transfer-

red to any private enterprise that bought the building. EVERLON. BUILT IN 1971, was once the county's largest private employer with 400 on the payroll. It has knitting machines rand produces curtains and drapes. It began massive layoffs in 1963 and closed about two years ago. Company officials told this newspaper at the time that it was losing money because of the 1962-83 business decline and high overhead caused by taxes and utility costs. The county has said the lack of a cold storage facility is "a severe constraint on development of this (commercial fishing) industry". The cold storage project, it said, would serve reefer vessels, freezer trawlers and shore-side processors. BUT. IN AN ARTICLE on commercial fishing that appeared in this paper three years ago, Warren Lund of Lund's Fisheries, Cold Spring, said his overseas customers were "not happy with" the quality of his seafood because it wasn't flash frozen on a factory ship like those used by foreign fishing firms. Consequently, he was getting a lower price for squid and other seafood that are "underutilized" in the U.S. but delicacies abroad. To improve his product and profit, Lund planned the processing ship. American Prince, which he saw return from its maiden voyage last month. THE COUNTY SAID there would be 38 construction jobs for one to two years, 40 long-term jobs operating the plant, and 180 jobs created by "industry's expansion." Everlon had a $3,500,300 assessment which it appealed last year, requesting a reduction of $1 million. The assessment was Jowered, instead, to $3 million. Its $59,100 annual tax bill is broken down as follows: Local purpose (township), $15,900; regional school district, $15,360; township elementary schools. $13,920; county, $11,730; fire district, $1,500; library, $690. Tax Collector Joan Taylor said Everlon's 1965 taxes were paid, but two quarterly payments for 1966 (totaling . $29,550) were not. «

JNAL IUUKIOM WttR ' , .■ '■ jr. WINNING POSTER GIRLS — Top finishers in seventh and eighth grades in the National Tourism Week Poster Contest accept the awards presented by local banks. Left to right are Cheryl McDonald. Court House branch manager. First National Bank of Toms River; Amy Dia Ocean City; Tequila Carter, Glenwood Avenue School. Wildwood; and Grace Gilbert. Ct.urt House branch manager. First Jersey National Bank South.

Less Juveniles Going to Court-

(From page I) "And by not committing a second offense. court cases are kept lower," he added. "I'm sure that's your reason," agreed Joe Martella, a juvenile officer in Ocean City. "Kids aren't going to court; just the paperwork is. Each juvenile is, technically, arrested, but they're not all going to court." BASICALLY, the programs work like this: Once juvenile's are arrested, police are obligated by law to get their parents' permission to interview them. After investigation and arrest reports are filled out, a complaint form is completed, but not signed. The juveniles are then interviewed to see if they qualify for diversion. "Basically, we look at wheter fhey have had any prior offenses, whether they have a good attitude and wheter they're admitting guilt," Teasenfitz said. "We're not here to determine quilt, we're just here because they say 'yeah, I did it.' " IF THE JUVENILE appears to meet the criteria, a letter is sent to the county Prosecutor's Office. Assistant Prosecutor Michael A. Fusco II makes the final determination of who is diverted. If accepted, the juvenile signs a contract with the municipality ( if it has a program ) or with the Prosecutor's Office that binds him to completing his obligation. Youths in diversion programs perform commQnity service. Fusco's office has recommended guidelines, depending on the offense. For example, 20 to 40 hours is recommended for disorderly offenses, 20 to 50 for misdemeanors, and 48 to 80 for high misdemeanors like breaking and entdtong. YOUTHS WHO violate their contract are re-arrested and the complaint form is signed. The Prosecutor's Office is notified by municipalities that have their own programs when juveniles complete their work. Some municipalities, such as Middle Township and Ocean City, have their own community services programs. Thomas B. Naglee of the Probation Department coordinates services programs for those without. Youths perform duties such as picking up litter, washing and waxing municipal vehicles, cleaning floors and windows, mipor office work and cleaning beaches. 11IEIR WORK is done solely on public property and they aren't permitted to use machinery. "They're not here to have a good time, they're here to work." Teasenfitz said. "That's not to say we don't have fun sometimes, but they're here because they did something wrong and they are rectifying the situation." "Kids get more punishment out of these types of programs than they would from going to court," said Marie Hayes, an investigator with the Prosecutor's Office, "and it gives the judge more time to handle serious complaints." TEASENFITZ said one problem with

community service is the lack of volunteers to oversee workers. "The amount of kids we have and the number we have supervising them can turn out to be a problem," he said. "We need at least one person per four kids. They have to make sure the kids are working and aren't goofing off and have to check on their job performance to see if it "is satisfactory." According to Teasenfitz, the programs have speeded up court procedures. "I CAN REMEMBER getting subpoenas to appear in juvenile court and waiting all day to appear," he said. "Now its very rare to get a subpoena for juvenile court, even if you deal with a big number of. juveniles. "Already I've gotten two subpoenas for cases less than six weeks old," he added. "Before it could vary. It was usually about three months before, unless it was a serious matter that demanded the court's attention immediately." "It's taken a lot of less serious complaints out of the court system and given the courts more time to hear serious cases," Hayes said. "BEFORE the diversion program was set up. automatically (juvenile delinquency cases) were handled by ( Family Court i intake or went right to court." said Police Chief Raymond Saunders of Middle Township. B Saunders, who set up Middle's program five years ago when a captain, said only about five municipalities in the county have such programs The rest go through the Prosecutor's Office for diversions. "It's not mandated; it's up to the police department to set it up." Saunders said. "What it really boils down to is that someone in the department has to take the initiative You need someone who wants to be bothered to do something for our young people." IN THE COUNTY, only Middle and Ocean City have full-time juvenile officers. Middle has one (Teasenfitz) and Ocean City has two (Martello and John Tacarino.) Teasenfitz said a full-time juvenile officer will be needed by all departments in the future. "I think that eventually they're going to have to (have one) mainly because, if you can get a kid when he's younger, you can try to change and modify (unacceptable) behavior before they get older," he said. County program^, were started with the ' help of the Juvenile Officers Association, which was formed in I960. In that year. Ocean City became the first community to have its own diversion program. "OCEAN CITY is the model prototype of the program," Martella said. "We had people come in from a three-county, area to help us set it up and the county approved it." "There are quite a few counties that have juvenile officers associations, a lot are involved in juvenile diversion and then there are some other counties not as involved with their kids," Saunders said. "When you have a case like that, everything is being sent to the court and it's burdening the court system."