opinion

Our Readers Write Why Disregard College Expert? As a college educator and permanent resident of Cape May County. I am greatly concerned that the Community College Proposal Review Committee make the best decision presenting their recommendations to the freeholders. If the educational consultant's first recommendation was a joint Cape May/Atlantic Community College, why not agreee with him? He is the expert paid to do the research and to give his "best professional judgement." It seems ludicrous to hire someone and then disregard his advice. I think it would be a disservice in the name of "autonomy" and "cost effectiveness" to offer the students of this county a fragmented program from several colleges under the auspices of the county college commission. That program would be no different from what is offered now by the several colleges who give extension courses in the county, except that there would be a bureaucratic structure at the top overseeing them all. County students still would not be able to receive a degree in the county because, according to the commission format, degrees may not be offered by the brokering institutions. Also, as a parent of a student, I would not invest the money for college courses from a non-accredited institution as the college commission would be, at least initially. Accreditation is the first step toward the insurance of quality education. Atlantic Community College is an accredited college with a good reputation and, under its current president, it is committed to the students of this county. A merger with an already established, accredited institution is a logical, step. Let's give the residents of our county a good chance for a quality education right from the very beginning and take the advice of the expert for a joint Cape May/ Atlantic Community College. BARBARA L. CHOJNACKI Ocean View Tough Time for Turtles To The Editor: Again this year there are those who rightly try to save the turtles by warning people to be careful, but when you drive back over the same spot on a bright, sunny day with light traffic and see fresh remains, you know there are those who think nothing of killing turtles. There is another dedicated group carrying out a plan to prevent any turtles from being run over on Ocean Drive. "* They are the builders who are putting bulkheads, block walls, rocks on the bank and anything else that a turtle can't climb over, but will allow man to extend his lot to the water with or without the proper permit. Take a boat ride and see how few places a turtle could leave the water to reach the sand and deposit her eggs in sand treated with weed killer. • , How many baby turtles do you see crossing the road heading back to the water, or even the remains of? BOB WILSON Avalon ^UrraliT vEiiif0II^ PvMisked Every Wedaeaday Lower TomtUp The Seawive Corporation EdWooofthe P.O. Box 430 Cm* May Court Cape May Coraty Herald House, NJ. 08210 Joseph R. Zelnik Editor Bonnie Reina General Manager Gary L. Rudy Advertising Director John Dunwoody Special Promotions Director Parrel I Kopp _ Publisher Wwo., C<W(J '•>»•'•<* All ptmn, ..qM, to« «»•«•... mwi oi p Iihlicow tM b« *• ptoppffy &PO-001 Corp Ho pox Hml bo 'tp'oAxod 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 >'»■" I * 'l|j il * ■»— mm Wo I iiHI > I r. ol iw HUUJWDU1TM1 ■ltao. TW rfw nun., tbr rtpfa, ta, r+ri amy ImmVomX? '.LmxT iZ t A rS MAT r ^

glS "...and now — the CONTRAID concert!" Education Needed To Change Folkways To The Editor : Regarding Leonard Parucha (Joe Zelnik's column. June 11) ... I couldn't agree more about the need for a clear and effective county police on education. Education is fundamental to economic development in Cape May County, not only to slow the "brain drain," but to change a pervasive cultural attitude that says if all you have to look forward to is a minimum wage and no benefits, you might as well work for cash and sign up for the public dole Aspiration is apparently not hereditary. Educational institutions have traditionally been the way to change rural folkways that no longer serve the community. But it takes a strong commitment to place the general welfare above personal concern. Let's hope Cape May County is ready WALTER S SACHS JR Cape May Point (ED NOTE Sachs is county Economic Development director and a borough commissioner in Cape May Point. )

County Pre-School J A Well Run, Fun Program To The Editor: One of the cover stories in the June 18 edition of your newspaper dealt with the underenrollment in the county Pre-School Program at the Vocational-Technical Center in Crest Haven. Apparently, the number of children currently enrolled is below the number projected in order for the program to break even. Understandably, this is cause for concern for all involved. At this time, I would like to encourage county employes who have children 2'2 to 6 years of age to look into this wonderful program. My daughter Lauren has been attending since she reached the mandatory entry age of 2'*, and she truly loves it. THE FACILITY IS extremely well-equipped, both materially and in terms of warm and caring staff persons who take a genuine interest in the children who attend. All play equipment is very well maintained; children are provided with a balanced lunch and snacks , nap time is observed; and, above all, gentleness is shown to all. My daughter looks forward to playing with her friends, and takes great pride in her art work for the day. The Board of Chosen Freeholders and the administration of the Vocational-Technical School have gone to great lengths to meet the needs of working parents and it would be a loss to see such a fantastic program close its doors. When it comes time to line up your child care arrangements, please look into the county Pre-School Program. It will be well worth your while. BETH WIERMAN Stone Harbor A Great and Fun Dinner To The Editor : I'd like to commend the administration and faculty of the Richard M Teitelman School in Erma for the Student Achievement Dinner given in honor of those students achieving academic excellence for the year That was a great idea and a fun night Congratulations, kids! MARY DICKINSON Villas

-Schnapps and Peanuts Wanted: A Smiling Democrat

By JOE ZELNIK Jack Smyth will die laughing. Not soon, I hope, because we need him to cover Cape May ! Jack's laugh, which is notorious, doesn't always have much to do with humor If you told him the IRS was going to audit your returns for the last five years, he'd laugh until tears came. I understand nervous laughter. The wife of one of my best friends died in about 1970, leaving him and five-year-old twins. After the funeral, we all went back to his house and he and I and his brother and a few other guys sat in the kitchen sucking on schnapps. The women were in the living room, eating cake I guess. WE STARTED remembering funny times and that progressed to telling dirty jokes and soon all of us were laughing uproariously. My friend's mother-in-law appeared in the doorway with an incredulous look on her face. I have never forgotten the guilt. One of my daughters and I think the funniest TV show we have ever seen was an early Mary Tyler Moore where the entire staff from the TV station went to the funeral of a friend who had been crushed to death while feeding peanuts to an elephant. The minister preached about the tragedy and Mary and her cohorts broke up. So did my daughter and I. Humor is inexpiainable, and personal. Gary Rudy of this newspaper, for example, laughs every time he serves deer meat. He's spent thousands on psychiatric advice and the best they can come up with is that his mother was scared by a buck. I KNOW THAT LAUGHING need not indicate a sense of humor. And I also know that a lot of people don't have one, the same way I don't have any mechanical sense. We recently had a retired CIA agent sneak into the homes of the county freeholders in the middle of the night and connect a "Sense of Humor Gauge" to their sleeping big toes. It measures from zero to a high of 10. I can reveal that the needle never moved on Herbert Frederick, and twitched slightly to about one on James I Kilpatrick and Gerry Thornton. Ralph Evans and Bill I Sturm scored 4 and 3, respectively . Sturm used to score a " 4, but his rating has dropped since he became freeholder-

director and started taking life too seriously. FREDERICK'S ZERO does not mean hie can't tell a joke. For example, a couple days after a consultant told the county that students would consider "south of Crest Haven-Court House" inconvenient for a community college, Frederick suggested classes be held in the Everlon plant the county is buying at the airport in Erma. Frederick will probably stick with this joke and just change the punch line to Cold Spring Village, another place he's trying to get out of the red. The local GOP made a mistake by having Sturm and Evans running the same year. My polls show voters prefer candidates who can laugh at themselves. Sturm and Evans, who occasionally can, will swamp their opponents this fall. But it would have been smarter to run one of them this year and the other the next. Instead. Frederick and Thornton will run together next year. The Democrats could topple them if they had a couple of jovial candidates. Unfortunately for them, there hasn't been a Democrat even smile in this county since 1966. THIS COLUMN is often thought of as a humor column, even though I am usually serious. My publisher, on the other hand, is always writing me memos suggesting, "Why don't you try a humor column sometime?" Certainly newspaper people have a different sense of humor than the general public. For example, over the commode in our office is a onefoot by two-foot sign, red letters on white background, reading: NOTICE: SWIMMING It BATHING PROHIBITED. CAPE MAY COUNTY OF HEALTH. We think that's very funny. Some guy taking his Saturday night bath in the polluted area from which this was swiped probably wouldn't. STRANGE THINGS amuse me, such as: The Eckerd Father's Day ad that suggested such "Outdoor Gifts for Dad" as a lawn rake, hedge trimmer, and roach killer bait tray. Or the Wetlands Institute newsletter that described a research project "to determine the extent of the mortality of female terrapins along the North Wildwood and Stone Harbor causeways during the nesting season." Why didn't they just say they're counting dead turtles?