We Enter ‘The Rips’ Where Bodies of Water Clash

Thomas Jefferson, on the necessity of a free press (1787)
“The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
Somewhere just off the tip of Cape May County is a nasty stretch of water commonly known as “The Rips.” It’s where the mighty Atlantic Ocean and muddy Delaware Bay meet. For anglers, it’s a bountiful place to catch a variety of fish, for the weak of stomach; it is a disaster waiting to happen.
Consider the little snippet of talk from the March 22 freeholders meeting something like The Rips, where two bodies of thought smacked into each other.
Freeholder Susan Sheppard, following the mandate that put her in office Jan. 4, is asking questions, lots and lots of them. It is good, since there are things Sheppard does not understand, and, instead of nodding in the affirmative and wondering why, she is not fearful to pose thoughts that pop into her head.
The body of five, which governs this county, has not had all that many caucus sessions in the past. Those are supposed to be meetings before meetings where freeholders question each other in a public setting, and they held one March 22. There are few who gather in that sea of seats at the William E. Sturm Jr. Administration Building to watch the workings of county government unfold.
Sheppard, like all present government officials, looks at spending with an eagle eye. On that day, she surfaced the subject of trying to trim the budget by placing public notices on the county’s website on the Internet to save about $10,000 annually.
I often thought “public notices” was a misnomer, since the advertisements, which are placed in “legal” newspapers (which is subject few fathom), are in type so small they can best be viewed with the aid of a magnifying glass.
Nevertheless, I didn’t make the law, and the Herald, as do many other newspapers in this state, meets the mandate of “legal” newspaper, and is therefore the recipient and publisher of those notices.
Such notices include resolutions that are about to be enacted so that the public, informed legally of what is about to take place, can attend a meeting when a public hearing is held.
Such ads also call for bids of needed county services and requests for proposals. Those who have contracting and other service businesses read them like kids read comics and dad reads sports news.
Monmouth County, said Sheppard, is floating the idea of posting its legal advertising online, rather than in newspapers, to reduce costs.
“I read it over,” said Freeholder Gerald Thornton. “The cost factor is less costly on the Internet, but in this county we have a high population of elderly who do not have computers, and that would kind of eliminate them having access to public notices.”
He admitted he thought about the saving, but stated, “I don’t know.”
Freeholder Director Daniel Beyel, serving his last year on the board, opined, “Notices are created on computer, they are transmitted to a newspaper, and we’re talking $10,000 for legal notices.”
Administrator Stephen O’Connor told the board the New Jersey Association of Counties “is aggressively pursuing this.”
“A lot of people out there do not have computer savvy or some just can’t afford it. It’s that simple, public access. I think it ought to go in the The Herald,” said Thornton, casting an eye toward this writer.
Here, folks, is where we enter The Rips: Public’s right to know. Many do not want to read legal advertising on a computer. Still, freeholders are under the gun to squeeze pennies from rocks, do more with less, or just do without so as not to raise the tax rate.
Swoosh! Bam! There goes an eight-foot swell right over the bow of the SS N.J. Budget Mess.
Like many ideas about saving money, there might well be a greater price tag than what is saved.
“It’s mostly geared toward contracts,” said O’Connor, adding that means “anyone out there bidding.”
Beyel agreed, contracts are “one thing, notice for the budget” is something else.
I was starting to get seasick at that moment. I flashed on the conversation between the chicken and the pig when the focus turned to ham and eggs for breakfast. The hen said, “That’s a great idea!” The pig replied, “For you it’s a donation, for me, it’s a real sacrifice!”
Thornton, realizing the freeholder “ship” had sailed straight into The Rips without realizing it took the diplomatic escape.
“I’m not sure if we want to adopt it without discussion,” he offered.
Yet to be learned was the specific amount of cash saved by going Internet over newspaper publishing.
“We should look to support that resolution,” Sheppard urged.
By that time it was too late to swallow seasick pills, and I got a salty taste of reality.
All right, let’s suppose the future means no legal advertising for the Herald. It all goes into the bottomless pit known as the Internet. Will the public be better served, or could it care less, as when the $143.7-million budget passed without so much as a squeak from the public?
Where was Ruth Fisher to ask about mosquito spraying or another line item? Freeholder meetings without the lady from South Dennis are, well, flat as Delaware Bay near Reed’s Beach at low tide.
Few have Fisher’s moxie to quiz the board. Moreover, secretly, I think the board misses being challenged.
So what will future meetings be if legal ads go online and no one reads them? Aha! Look at money saved. But who’s to know when the meeting is scheduled? If they don’t know, don’t have a computer, and don’t know whom to ask, is that a wise saving of tax dollars?
See what I meant about The Rips? Doesn’t it make your stomach churn just a little?
Not all that glitters is gold. Not all that is saved is truly a saving.