May 1979 - On-Line Newspaper Archives of Ocean City

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editorials /comment
The MUA's arrogance...
Tens of millions of taxpayers'
dollars will pass through the Cape
May County Municipal Utilities
Authority over the next few years
and yet when Jersey Cape residents
tried to ask questions of MUA
Chairman John Vinci and Solicitor
John Mead at a freeholder meeting
last week, the pair walked out.
Unfortunately, this arrogance has
been typical of Vinci, Vinci's
predecessor, Thomas Brodesser,
and Mead during their turbulent
years on the MUA.
Hiding behind the technical
jargon associated with the
development of a county-wide
wasiewater treatment system,
Vinci, Brodesser and Mead have
traditionally passed off criticism of
some of the authority's actions as
either political rhetoric or the sour
grapes of dissidents.
Last year this attitude led to a
grand jury investigation of the MUA
and the subsequent resignation of
former Chairman Brodesser.
Now the MUA finds itself the
target of a federal probe; it has
alienated at least two freeholders,
and at a critical moment in the
construction, of the Ocean City
Region wastewater treatment plant
it fired authority Executive
Director Walter D. Taft Jr., the
moat candid, open and seemingly
honest MUA staff member.
•••
Then, as if to add insult to injury,
Vinci and Mead walk out on the
people whose tax dollars now — and
user fees later — support the
authority. •
Vinci and Mead said that anyone
who had questions of the pair could
visit an MUA meeting — but it is
unlikely that even then would they
answer the tough questions that
area residents would like to air.
However, considering the vast
amounts of money that will be expended
on the MUA projects, both
Mead and Vinci should be willing to
discuss the issues with any public
official or area resident at any lime
and at any place.
According to U.S. Rep..William J.
Hughes (D-2nd) who initiated the
federal Environmental Protection
Agency probe of the authority, a
thorough investigation of the MUA
is needed to "lift the cloud of
suspicion" that hovers over the
body.
Considering the traditional
arrogance of Vinci and Mead,
however, no probe is going to
cleanse the stigma that the pair has
allowed to envelop the MUA.
The freeholders should dismiss
Mead and Vinci immediately and
initiate a reorganization of the
authority after public hearings and
a thorough review of the MUA's
actions to date and its plans for the
future.
and Taft's dilemma
New folk hero: (
The pump jockey
By TDM FAHERTY
MoVe over pilgrims and
pioneers. Stand aside lawmen
scene, who is demanding
The
you your precious allocation
of fuel,, sometimes wisely
limiting your supply, other
times showing a generbisity
that makes you only too glad
to pay 90 cents a gallon for the
magic laxative which "keeps
America going."
Tell the truth. How did you
feel last weekend when, after
all your fears and sleepless
nights, you:'
Didn't the person
that gas look just a
Charlton Heston?
pumping
little like
And in California, where for
some mysterious reason the
gasoline crisis is at its worst,
there are reports of people
seducing, bribing, and
begging the pump operators
for the precious liquid. The
men at the end of those incredible
lines have gained
new attention and respect.
Some have benevolently
Trying to get away from news
entertained their customers
by y dressing g up as Arab £
others have
shieks, while
the lines.
The same thing that hap?
pened to truckers a few years
to see a Steve
McQueen movie about a pump
jockey. But how did this
strange cultural phenomenon
develop? •
A few years ago, the man
whoownedyour neighborhood
gas station was just another
local businessman. Like any
other group of businessmen,
they i
not.
But then things began to.
change. We began to heat
words like "petroleum
of these station owners and
the people who manned their
pumps changed.
At first we blamed the
pump jockeys themselves for
the rising prices and longer
lines. Tempers flaired as we A,
were faced .with unac-^
customed obstacles to the
purchase of a suddenly
limited commodity.
Then, as mysteriously and
'While on the subject of the Cape sibility for hiring these two men.
May County Municipal Utilities As anyone who has followed the
Authority, Freeholder Gerald
By TOM HALLIGAN weekend with talked about
machinations of the Cape May
gas shortages, the execution
•tfiornton has, in effect, challenged County Freeholder Board over the Thoughts from a Memorial
turner MUA Executive Director past three years knows, not only is
Walter D. Taft Jr. to request a Thornton a close political ally of
public hearing on Taft's recent Catanoso's, but he also owes a
sudden and highly mysterious heavy debt for his original ap-
dismissal.
pointment and subsequent election
Taft was dismissed in the midst of to the board to Catanoso.
a public and still-unresolved debate Thornton's invitation to Tafl to
over who was responsible for the request a public hearing from the
hiring 0f a relative and a political freeholder board, then, is akin to
July of Cape JMay County Freeholder asking early Christians to volun-
Director Anthony T. Catanoso as tarily walk into the lion-filled
construction observers for the arenas.
• 3rean City project.
Taft's best and wisest recourse for
• Not only are the salaries for these relief is the one he has apparently
two people seemingly high and a chosen — the court.
seemingly unnecessary duplication In a court of law, not only will Taft
of the responsibility of the con- be under oath but his accusers also
struction firm itself, but also no one will be put to the test of sworn
as yet has been able to answer how testimony.
the jobs were created or who hired Free of the political jaws of the
the pair.
freeholder lions' den, perhaps the
."There has been speculation that real truth behind Taft's firing and
•Taft's firing was the result of his other recent authority actions may
unwillingness to take the respon- finally come to light.
of "?9 hn quickly as it had developed;
discussion to a local tavern. house was? He told me the the oil shortage subsided, for
After a few rounds of drink house was a place that helped awhile. jk
Spenkelink, the our conservation slowly the community in many And, while we got used to
Day weekend.
terrible airplane crash in headed towards less im- olfferent ways.
paying higher prices at the
When I was in college I which 273 persons lost their portant issues like; Are the He continued to speak about pump, we also became more
made it a point not to read, lives.
Phillies going to win the the many social ills of New aware of oil, gas and the
listen or watch any sort of There was no escaping the World Series this year? Wfll York City; the poverty, complex international net-
news during holiday news Memorial Day weekend. Spectacular Bid win thecrime,
drug abuse, the work that brings them to our
weekends.
Conceding my plan of total Triple Crown? Will the frustration people have living automobiles. i,i
I thought I deserved a ignorance, I quickly rushed weather clear in time to catch in a ghetto such as Harlem. We realized, for instance, «•
much-needed break from the out and bought newspapers, a few rays?
He told me how the Moonies that any competition between
daily routine of studying, turned on the tube for the
(a group of people devoted to oil companies was about as
keeping abreast of current latest news up-dates and after Now this type of con- Sun Myung Moon, a self- real as the feud between Jack
events or discussing major feeling satisfied with a versation was what I had in proclaimed Korean God) Benny and Fred Allen had
issues with friends. Any sort general knowledge of those mind for a holiday weekend. were gaining]
been'. We also realized that
of mind provoking stimulls major events; brought- my , _,But an old friend of mine advantage
there was one group that
wasn't for me during those two-cents into the con- came' up to my perch by the who were dissatl
seemed to suffer more from *
few days.
versations.
bar and we rekindled old their lives and looked to Moon the period of shortage than V
The holiday weekend was a
times. He told me he wasas
a savior.
any other — the independent
time, I thought, when family Questions as to whether the working in a half-way house in
station owner.
and friends got together for death penalty might deter a Harlem, New York City. Now I found this all very Across the country in-
rest and recreation. A person from eliminating I didn't know what a half-way depr miring
dependent stations, unable to
backyard y barbeque, q, a g game another member of society y house was but I was pretty Sometimes living in a small survive on the rations they
of Softball, a trip to the shore came up. Who was respon- sure it had something to do resort comunity, it's easy to received from the mother
was what a holiday weekend slble for the gas g shortage was with a sodal or humanitarian disassociate yourself with the companies, went out of
was supposed d to be b about. b The Th ***** around. around Should we cause.
many problems that face the business, .only to be replaced
hassles of daily life were to be worry about Jet engines I wanted to change the thousands of people who live by shiny, new, company-
forgotten.
falling off while flying? subject matter and talk about in an environment that is owned stations. Once again,
I had that same theory in Well, after a few hours of old times and that sort but something short of the thousands of dollars were
mind last Friday only it didn't discussion on how to solve the since I had already broken my American dream. spent on advertising to entice
work.
world's problems, a motion pledge piedn to ignore Janore heavy l»«i«. tan . I can't wait tffl the weekend us to buy b something hi that, h just j
Everyone I spent the was made to table our {asked him what a haD-tf r-way is over.
months before, the entire ,J
world had been snort of. KaAM,
some of us began to see the
independent station owner
The Ocean City Sentinel-Ledger
and the pump jockey as unwilling
pawns in the power
letters/readers react
Page Two, Section Two Thursday, May 31,1979
and profit struggle of the oil
companies.
Perhaps it is this feeling ^
that has given a new tone to
PBA lends its support to retaining Judge Kozmor
the present "fuel shortage."
Or perhaps it is the realization
that no matter how trumpedup
this crisis may be, there is
a limit to the world's fuel
• Editor, Sentinel-Ledger: thfield, as well as several question of obtaining search If there were a problem of obtaining a qualified city with signatures of police wanting a local man." The supply, and we are living hi ,
'• the Ocean City Policemen'sother
communities, do not warrants from a judge thav obtaining search warrants, in administrator. They went officers from PBA. Local 61 position of judge is that of the autumn of the petroleum'tp
: Benevolent Association has have judges who reside inside resides out of town. This area an emergency, one could be outside the dty for this man expressing our, desires to importance and carries a age.
:becn watching with interest the dty limits of the town he has not been a problem to the applied for by telephone. because, the positioVi was of council and to the citizens of great deal of responsibility These may be the reasons
•the problem regarding the serves?
police of Ocean City. Judge
importance. What position Ocean City in supporting and should be treated as such. that we are suddenly treating
• reappointment of Judge
Kozmor's whereabouts are The Ocean City Council and carries more importance than Judge Kozmor. We hope that
John Rock station owners and their
'• Edward P. Kozmor. In addition, Councilman known by the department or the citizens of Ocean City mat of a judgeshlp? council renders a decision
employees with more respect.
Henry S. Knight raised the the court clerk 24 hours a day. realized the importance of A letter was sent to council with all facts and not "just
PBAUK4U1 But there is a certain look in
the eyes of gas-hungry*
: The Ocean City PBA Local
patrons when they see an open
'M is in favor of retaining
pump that may tell us more
Edward P. Kozmor as Marmora man answers question posed in column
about the relationship than
municipal judge of the City of
anything else.
Ocean City. Judge Kozmor Editor, Sentinel-Ledger: In What else did this man do that us as presidential material Mr. Halligan talks about Mm.
fed that we should expose all It's the same look a wino
gives the Ocean City the May 24 issue of the Sen- a Watergate-type search but there was never a full protecting against repeat* by Or how about the story I wrong-doing fairly and notgives
a friendly bartender.
Municipal Court the expertise tinel-Ledger Tom Halligan could bring to light? disclosure on Chap- keeping history alive. Then have been reading that cover up some and h*r»iyw
: needed to operate efficiently. asked why Americans have a In I960 we will have another paquiddick. Are we never to let's have full coverage Carter-Lance deals are being others. The public is smarter
; Judge Kozmor not only has short memory about fair-haired boy that the press forget all other sins but Watergate-style on Lyndon covered up.
than the mind-benders think.
' past. experience as Watergate. There are a few never used their big guns on. forgive and forget the great Johnson's election and the The reason we have a short
GusFunk
'prosecutor, but is currently reasons and I will try to cover This man is being offered to swimmer?
grave stones that voted for memory is obvious. Most of us
Marmora
; the presiding judge of Eggsome
of the more major ones.
; Harbor City and acting judge
Letter policy
• of Galloway Township and Many of us are sick and
• AUantiCfClty.
Youngster commends the Ocean City school teachers
tired of having some issues
harangued to death while
'• During his tenure as others are covered up by our Editor, Sentinel-Ledger: In secondary school admittance Had I not received it, I I would Uke to publicly chance to further their The 8eat!mel-Udfer
; with the Ocean City Muni self-serving media.
recent articles, particularly test and thus was not only wouldn't be able to attend this thank my teachers, and at the chances of getting a better eaetBrages Ms readers
; Covet, Judge Kozmor While Mr. Halligan was the one entitled "Reduction in accepted at the Lawrenceville excellent school. I think that same time try to prevent education.
to express their views
• rendered fair judgements not watching "Blind Ambition" I Force Set for Ocean City" School but I received a full my teachers are greatly anything from happening that
Chris Randan OB this page. Letters
. only to police but to all per-was
watching "A Man Called (March 8.19TO), the Sentinel- scholarship to this school. responsible for this honor. could deprive others of the
Ocean City •fcouM be brief. aJfaed
: sons-involved.
Intrepid." This picture was Ledger' has reported fiscal
aai ifwpiM by as
based on fact.
problems in the Ocean City
address aa4. whea
\ It appears to PBA Local 61 The facts were set forth that school system. Reader lauds contributions of volunteer firemen pettlMe. a talepfc«*e
< that-it is not a question President Roosevelt actively
aamker. ItrBasrts for
This is a plea to the school Editor, Sentinel-Ledger: In Ms time, and last week of his bargain. But still many of us
; whether Judge Kozmor is
opportunity to pay tribute to
bed to the House and Senate
the nam ef (he writer
board and the towns people of a free society suctt as ours, Hie, to make the community a take this as a matter of
r *»*«»» a satisfactory lob. M
W. Curtis Corson, iny per-
and tried to get the United
to ke wttaheM wfll be
Ocean City to please, 4f any many things can happen, and' •lifer place for people to. five course, never- taking into
' flimflrtl hf* already stated
sonel fesUng of gratitutde to
State* into World War U two teachers are to be cut after
al theeistar's
many times I am afraid that in, and all this for free*. Tnere
; thai Judge Kosmbr's ability is
r h < nnKin the family,
years before Pearl Harbor. the new budget becomes
; not * question. The question
. w* take many of these in- is no salary involved* no of « volunteer fireman.
The picture made many effective, not to Ut it be the
JohnJ.Barawaop mate* the right to e4M
ctdwMs as a matter of fad, extra fringe benefits, whj* a I would Hte to tak* thto
• appears to bi that council just statements that all his teachers of the advanced
vOesaoOy kUers lar . laagtk
• without considering the
Wlthaal eaaaglag
• local ' '
work bad to be kept out of J. « the Intermediate significance of each event. High school student asks why the roads can't be remdrad • f lag. Te fatWe
Edgar Hoover's lnowlsdfe.
A vivid example!* the deaUv
BjcttUy Councilwoman Watergate wa* a temp** hi
Nib M. China compared
taman tth grade student at recently., of a vo'
A *• Jd
• teapot alongside OUs. Y«t the wlecmtdiate sckoott flriemanwho. gave, Ms
ffM,iDlwn l
Ifcrit tggliaiwd boy
l
was never
gad that 8aa Isle City,
Hbr,AVBJGQ* Utyptr
the algebra and c
^HB^^^P^^^^BHB'^^^P' _ Cnghabciasae*. I was
^^V«ry • Wgh|y
views /reviews
When Assembly reconvenes
By JAMES R. HURLEY
Assembly Minority Leader
The General Assembly
stands in recess with the next
«e"lon two weeks off and an
exceptionally heavy workload
of Important and controversial
legislation awaiting
its return on June 14.
• It is a virtual impossibility
that the Assembly will be able
to deal with all the pressing
issues which face it in a single
session, even though the June
14 meeting was originally
scheduled to be the final one
until sometime this fall.
Asa result, theprocpect of a
marathon get-away session
looms large, indeed, even
though most would agree that
acting on far-reaching
legislation such as that which
faces us now is less than
desireable under such drcumstancei.
These 15-hour — and longer
— sessions have become
much too common in recent
years and, despite the
grumbling and complaints
about them, they seem to
occur year after year.
Page Three, Section Two
Thursday, May 31, 1979
. • • • . . • . • • *
warns that 'crisis issues 9 may lead to marathon sessions
Even a partial listing of the
.issues with whteh the
Assembly must grapple
reveals the extent of the
problem:
— An extensive package of
bills aimed at reform of the
state's "no-fault" automobile
insurance system;
—a major and very controversial
proposal to halt all
construction in New Jersey's
Pinelands;
—a great many amendments
and revisions to the
new criminal code;
' —amendments to the
state's casino gambling law,
including one to double the
state tax rate on casino
profits;
—the question of legalizing
gambling on jai alai in Jersey
City, Camden and Long
Branch;
—a state assumption of the
state's, financially-troubled
private bus lines;
—broad reform of the Civil
Service system, and
—granting permanent
status to the State Commission
of Investigation.
Any one of these issues —
and it is but a partial listing—
has the potential for
protracted, if not bitter,
debate. Conducting that
debate in the kind of atmosphere
which normally
surrounds marathon get away
sessions is almost certain to
lead to errors and decisions
made on, perhaps, less than
sufficient Information.
From personal experience.
I can relate incident after
incident In which complicated
amendatory language was
approved, written into pending
legislation, and only
later it was discovered thStt
called for something which
was either m members have been in session face are certainly not newrather
minor or provincial: Now, the problems hsM
fir 12 hours or more, many ones; the auto insurance interest, while the major mountedtoa point wberettar
without taking breaks for crisis, for instance, has been areas of concern are ignored, verge on being 'juf-
lunch or dinner.
with us for several years, In fact, on at least one oemanageable. If tfak
What is all the more
while the scandals in the casion, an Assembly session Legislature is forced kifp
disturbing about the prospect
state's 160 million per year was scheduled, no bills were anothermarathonsesakm,4be
**