opinion

Our Readers Write ' Nightmare ' Not Accurate To The Editor: On May 28, your newspaper reprinted a story from the Delaware County (PA) Daily Times by Bob Finucane recounting his rental of a beachfront home in Avalon for two weeks in summer 1984. He recounted this experience as a ... "$2,400 nightmare." Finucane also told Daily Times and your readers that he is considering renting again this summer in Avalon, where he says most rentals are $1,000 a week or more, characterizing such weekly rentals as "crazy." A careful reading of Finucane's story suggests an unconvincing characterization of his 1964 rental experience as a "nightmare." The closest he came to describing a "nightmare" was the need to walk a bit from his beachfront home to the beach because a more direct walk was circumvented because the boardwalk was built "too close to the sand." YOUR NEWSPAPER might have directed Finucane to the New York Times for May 15, which cites the price of summer rentals on Long Island. Long Island summer rental prices for 1986 are far above those for Avalon and the rest of Cape May County. If Finucane wants to support use of the word "nightmare," he might try renting on Long Island. As someone who rents his Avalon home in the summer, my objection is not that Finucane opined to readers of the Daily Times that rents in Avalon in 1986 are "crazy and that he experienced a "nightmare" while renting in Avalon in 1984. He is entitled to his personal unsubstantiated definition of "nightmare." He is entitled to set his own threshold for the point at which rents become "crazy." Readers of the Daily Times can judge for themselves whether or not his recounted 1984 experience constitutes a "nightmare" and whether or not prices in 1986 for property located near the beach — $1,000 a week and up — are "crazy." My objection is not to your newspaper reprinting the story from the Daily Times. My objection is to your newspaper reprihting the story without comment about the characterizations of "nightmare" and "crazy." YOUR NEWSPAPER could have noted that the sand which Finucane described as "too close to the boardwalk" was. in fact, a man-made barrier to protect shore homes from the beach erosion caused by severe storms in recent years. As for "crazy" rental prices, you could have noted that owners must recover the substantial investment costs of such properties and their substantial annual expenses — mortgage reduction, taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, etc., — in a short season. Considering the substantial operating costs of the owners, Finucane may have received a bargain by renting a beachblock property in 1984 for $1,200 a week, Whether or not he picked out a beach plum is open to debate, but it surely is good news that he is sufficiently recovered from his nightmare of 1984 to consider renting again in Avalon in 1986. WILLIAM E. SHEEHY Avalon Wilington. Del. Do you have an opinion on this subject? Write a letter to the editor, P.O. Box 4 30. Cape May Court House. N.J. 08210 fHtTiuiVGifitf Joseph R. Zelnik Editor Bonnie Reina General Manager Gary L. Rudy Advertising Director John Dunwoody Special Promotions Director Darrell Kopp Publisher S'« ■ ■ 19*6 U ngtoi nnmd Al poo**, natoi tow-m o I pJbUcAmm +at w p»op— ty el Am iwrtw Ccp No pa" W»ol may b* 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, S40; Six Month, S20 Call 465-5055 For News, Advertising or Subscription Information ■fop'p — ■« t ralfi " Uispatco I

Berry's World / TAX reforn \ "The IRA and real estate lobbyists are here again. QUICK — TO THE SECRET PASSAGEWAY!" Live Today; Live Now To The Editor: As I was a child, I was impatient to reach adulthood. As I reached it, all obligations and responsibilities came with it. Now in my retirement, I ask myself "what have I done with my life?" Nobody has the right to say that the sense of life is to reach 120 years. Very often young mankind ends in tragic death and often their life was more fulfilled as mankind who lived longer. One example is my only gifted son with a bright future ahead who died young at the height of his career and left behind valuable scientific books he had written for posterity. Or is the sense of life to get rich and be healthy and happy. Many of us give it up and abandon our way of life as we miss these things. Wait not for retirement or vacations. Press out every moment of life, the most possible — what life offers. Let not a moment elapse. LIVE today, live at present, live now. I would like to have a fulfilled life left behind me. EUGENE KELLERT Stone Harbor (ED. NOTE: Kellert. a lifelong summer resident of Stone Harbor, is 99.)

Robert E. Lee, The 'Traitor' To The Editor: I certainly opened up a can of worms when I wrote the April 30 letter about Robert E. Lee, traitor. In addition to the others who live in Ponce De Leon's city, who have not yet found the Fountain of "Truth," now comes Ruth Kendrick Erke with a diatribe that is almost unbelievable in its lack of fact. How does she know how much Lee searched his soul? In any event, the Constitution of the United States does not give any state the right of secession. The whole of Section 10 is too long to quote, but in part it states: "No state shall enter into any... confederation... no state shall without the consent of Congress... keep troops or ships of war... or engage in war, unless actually invaded..." Who fired the first shot at Fort Sumter? See also Article III, Section 3, "Treason against the United States shall consist only of levying war against them..." 1T1ERE IS ABSOLUTELY no parallel or analogy between our war of Revolution against England and the Civil War. The colonists were not bound to England by any formal document or contract, whereas the Constitution was in full force and effect when the South fired on Fort Sumter. The expression "the late unpleasantness" came from a haughty Grande Dame who conducted a tour of the historic houses in Charleston, and which she used over and over. I can't find the quotation in Bartlett's, but I remember, "My country, may it always be right: but my country T right or wrong." FOWLER H. STRATTON Avalon Vets Need Consideration To The Editor: I am writing to let you know that I am a 20-year resident of Lower Township and a Vietnam War veteran In the past months, I have applied for jobs at the township Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) and the Department of Public Works. I explained to Township Manager James R. Stump that I am a veteran and want to work for the township. After talking to him, I felt I had no rights as a veteran. So 1 wrote Congressman Willian Hughes a letter. A letter was sent to the congressman from township council. IN THE LETTER, it states that if there is no Civil Service test, veterans have no preference nor consideration for these jobs. Even though there is no Civil Service test for these jobs, don't you think our veterans should have some consideration? It seems as though the township has no conscience (Page 75 Please)

1 .-The Freeholders Stir All Hail Leonard Parucha

By JOE ZELNIK , I've been invigorated by visiting three "college towns" recently. I was a student in Carlisle, Pa.; proud parent of a college graduate in Lock Haven. Pa. ; and in Priceton mostly for the helluvit. V There is something stimulating about a place where a majority carry books under their arms, even if they don't read them. There is the scent of intellectual curiosity in the air, blending with the smell of stale beer It is a mood this county lacks — so far. Elsewhere in this issue there is an article explaining what a consultant proposes we do about that. I READ EACH of some 350 adult responses to a community college questionnaire published in this newspaper in March. Many came from senior citizens interested in classes for their children, grandchildren, and themselves. Intellectual curiosity has nothing to do with age. At Lock Haven University's graduation, by far the biggest roar of approval from fellow graduates came with the announcement of the name of Leonard Francis Parucha, bachelor of arts. He is 73. Once a week he "protected" my daughter, a sturdy lifeguard, by walking her home from an evening class they shared. THIS COUNTY has many Leonard Paruchas, and it would be a mistake to ignore them in planning for our higher education needs. Many will want to attend classes. Some will pay; others will be able to enroll for free on a spaceavailable basis. The politicians in this county do not seem to appreciate that a college is a new industry — an environmentally clean one, at that. 1 remember the politicians in Delaware County, Pa., who had the same problem. They fought a community college tooth and nail. To them, it represented a large employer with jobs they could not control. It came, without them, and Delaware County is a better place because of it. LOCK HAVEN'S commencement speaker was an RCA executive. He looked out at several hundred students. Many J without jobs and owing banks as much as $10,000, borrowf ed to finance their educations.

Know what he told them? He said we are in an economic crisis, spending more than we make, engaging in self-indulgence, wanting to be paid too much. He made the same old comparison with the Japanese who, everyone says, build a better car quicker for less pay. He forgot to mention the lifelong job security of the Japanese in major industries, and the sweatship conditions of the many in small plants. WHILE THE SPEAKER TALKED, a small child in front of me began to wail. It's no wonder. I felt like crying myself. Face it, the executive told this group of new college graduates, our standard of living will decline and you will be the first generation not to do as well as your parents. That is a much ballyhooed conclusion of a recent study. But a poll of the under-35 baby boomers has found nearly half believe their standard of living is already better than their parents. TO HIS CREDIT, the commencement speaker devoted the second half of his talk to challenge the students to "turn the situation around." work harder, make sacrifices, be perfectionists, lead rather than manage, get involved, take some risks, and, as Vince Lombardi allegedly said, "Score, damnit." But at a party that followed, graduates agreed that it was the speaker's dismal outlook, not his challenges, that stayed with them. Those of you who have relatives or friends graduating from high school or college know the dearth of opportunities available to young people in this county. The wasted potential is tragic. THOSE WHO MEASURE the "quality of life" gauge such things as art, health care, recreation. Some factors we can't do anything about, like climate. Others we can't do much about, like crime or transportation. But education and economic opportunity, which go hand in hand, can be influenced by progressive public officials. The community college study is a sign the freeholders are finally stirring. But beware the danger that they, like Delaware County 15 years ago, will be more interested in control and cost than quality.