Our Readers Write 5.3.2006

Mom of 10 Raises Questions of DYFS
To the Editor:
I’m a proud mother of 10 children. I think it’s important to praise all of my children and let them know how proud I am.
Nine are high school grads. My youngest, Benjamin, attends Middle Township High School in 11th grade.
A few of my children’s accomplishments:
Beanice attended Berkley College. She married and is a great mother to three sons: Olandieu, Avence and Elijah. She works at Wildwoods Convention Center.
Benessa is a great mother of one son, Jahad. She graduated from McCullough Modeling School and she is a mediator at Middle Township High School.
Barclay graduated from Cape Christian Academy in 1999. He attended Pfeiffer University then ACCC. From ACCC he went to St. Peter’s College where he is working on his Bachelors in biology.
My two youngest sons, Bobby and Benjamin, were awarded $250 each, and a plaque for reporting illegal dumpers under Mayor Michael Voll.
Barbara attended M.T.H.S. and graduated in the National Honor Society. She graduated from St. Peter’s College with a bachelors of art in criminal justice. She is pursuing her master’s degree in criminal justice at St. Joseph’s University.
Bichelle at M.T.H.S. was involved in Ebony Awareness, a peer mediator, choir, track and field, She attended ACCC, and is attending Seton Hall University in her second year.
Bearetta Black is a diligent mother to one son “Jazzy” a bakery manager at Acme in Avalon, a part-time CNA. At M.T.H.S. she was involved in Ebony Awareness, sports and a peer mediator.
Some of my children preferred to remain anonymous but are successful.
God has blessed us to accomplish so much and to be considered poor by this world’s standards. I bless God. I’m rich.
DYFS wants to bring this family down. Actions do speak louder than words. DYFS stands for Division of Youth and Family Services. In my opinion it’s better known as the Division of Youth and Family Separation.
They have called us violent. I say to DYFS, as my daughter said, “where’s the violence?”
I call it violence when they take children from a home that they loved and put them with strangers.
Violence is separating a family of three unnecessarily and all live in separate homes. This is violence. Where’s the vision of trying to keep families together?
“Where there is no vision the people perish,” Proverbs 29:18. The example I gave is sad.
One young man mentioned separating from one’s family is like a death. We are all hurt by this.
This kind of action reminds me of slavery days when families were ripped violently apart for money.
The love of money is the root of all evil. DYFS gets plenty of money for these children, in my opinion. There was a report of how much they get. Does DYFS want to give the children back?
Our children being put in foster care unnecessarily, is this another form of human trafficking? I have more to say about the police department, Judge Kyran Conner, and Judge Segal’s comments…but, not now.
Through all of this, God gave me a song: “To dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe,” My foe can be beaten.
The powers that be come with their laws and untruths.
I come after my Goliath in the name of the Lord.
I’ve had my share of run-ins with DYFS. They’re aware I’ve disciplined my children, but by the Good Book not with their permission.
I  spanked or beat. What is the interpretation of beating? I’ve got scripture. What is their authority? Now that my children are raised and a benefit to society, don’t try to crucify me now.
Drastic changes are coming for DYFS, it’s time.
BRENDA D. HARRISON
Whitesboro
 
Loves Roar in the Rain
I think the event is a pain.
The noise nearly drives me insane
You know, I just can’t complain
About “Roar to the Shore” in the rain.
They invade our once-peaceful terrain
For the businessmen’s financial gain
They speed through our streets like a train
Loud as a low-flying jet plane.
But this spring the weatherman’s brain
Forecast clouds which much moisture contain
So, to end this happy refrain
I love “Roar to the Shore” in the rain
THOMAS M. JORGENSEN
Wildwood Crest
 
Call of the Diamond Hits Fever Pitch
To The Editor:
This past weekend, I found myself coming down with a fever. But this fever is not caused by some unknown bacteria or virus. This is baseball fever. I attribute this affliction to the change in the weather and genetics.
My father had the fever. He grew up on a farm and went to a one-room school in rural Pennsylvania. With all his farm chores, I doubt he had much time to play, but I am sure a baseball, brown and scuffed from use, was among his most prized possessions.
As an adult, my father was teacher. That meant his working hours were the same as my sister’s and mine. But in spring, he disappeared, donning a coach’s uniform. Over the 20 plus years that he coached high school baseball he taught hundreds of young men to throw, slide, and field a ball.
Due to my lack of athletic ability, and that they did not permit young ladies on the baseball team, these were skills he did not teach me. But he did teach me the game.
Baseball is not about million-dollar contracts, anabolic steroids, or deals made by CEO’s who never set foot on the field. Baseball was grass stains, mud, sweat and tears.
After he retired from coaching, he kept the fever burning by umpiring. As he got older, and his knees began to creak, he worked the bases, sometimes covering the entire field.
Dad did not limit his baseball fever to the sandlot. He enjoyed watching baseball on TV, or listening on radio. He was an avid Phillies fan, though he only saw a few games in person. Living two hours away from Philadelphia, he did not like driving there for a game, but took any opportunity he could to go to games if someone else offered transportation.
I remember one such game over 15 years ago. It was August, it was sunny, and it was hot.  I was now grown and married, and my mother, father, husband, young daughter and I all went to the Vet for a game
Our seats were terrible. I spent much of the game in fear that my wiggly two-year-old daughter would fall head first over the railing and land on Lenny Dykstra.
Few people knew that game would be historic, but my father knew. He carefully watched the line of zeros increase in the hit and run columns on the scoreboard. By the ninth inning, others realized the magic that was happening. That day, Terry Mulholland threw a no-hitter, an event that still creeps into the ESP÷ Classics about Veterans Stadium.
It will be 11 years this August since my father died. But every spring, I think of him. His passion for baseball has been passed on to me and to my children.
This fever takes me to the local sporting goods store with my son, where the scent of new leather greets you at the door and boxes overflow with new gloves waiting patiently to have a hand slide inside and a fist punch the pocket.
The fever takes me outside with the glove I received for Mother’s Day four years ago, a ball, and my son, for a game of catch.
The fever brings a tear to my eye when Cub Scouts march out onto the field with the American flag and the choir from a local middle school sings the National Anthem in perfect four-part harmony.
The fever is what helps me believe that a part of my father is still alive in my son, who will spend hours hitting a ball attached to a strap on a tree, who has practiced throwing a ball against the house so long that the shingles are cracked, who has a framed print of the Phillies winning the pennant in 1980 hanging over his bed. That same print hung over my father’s desk in his den.
As the mercury rises into the 50’s, I find the fever getting stronger and I will anxiously wait that day when we “play ball!
ALISON S. LOGAN
Court House
(ED. Note: The author is a fifth grade teacher at Bishop McHugh Regional School, Ocean View)
 
l
Avalon Trash Collectors Kick Cans
 
To The Editor:
We want to thank the guys in Avalon who picked up the grass trimmings and weeds April 20. hey returned the can to our back fence after emptying it.
The trash collectors, the day before, emptied the garbage container, set the can at the end of the driveway and kicked it half way up the drive.  That is why we are all upset with the garbage collection.
 
NANCY BLOCKLINGER
Avalon and Wilmington, Del.
 
 
 
To The Editor:
On March 20, the Cape May County Animal Shelter Alliance opened its new, low-cost spay and neuter clinic. The clinic is  centrally located next to the Cape May County Animal Shelter, in Crest Haven. In a county where there are thousands of homeless animals, the benefits that this clinic will provide to the public are immeasurable.
People may wonder why they should have their animals altered. Listed below are spay/neuter myths and facts from The Humane Society:
MYTH: It’s better to have one litter first.
FACT: Medical evidence indicates just the opposite. In fact, the evidence  shows that females spayed before their first heat are typically healthier.  Many veterinarians now sterilize dogs and cats as young as eight weeks of age. Check with your veterinarian about the appropriate time for these procedures.
MYTH: My children should experience the miracle of birth.
FACT: Even if children are able to see a pet give birth-which is unlikely, since it usually occurs at night and in seclusion-the lesson they will really learn is that animals can be created and discarded as it suits adults. Instead, it should be explained to children that the real miracle is life and that preventing the birth of some pets can save the lives of others.
MYTH: I want my dog to be protective.
FACT: Spaying or neutering does not affect a dog’s natural instinct to protect home and family. A dog’s personality is formed more by genetics and environment than by sex hormones.
MYTH: I don’t want my male dog or cat to feel like less of a male.
FACT: Pets don’t have any concept of sexual identity or ego. Neutering will not change a pet’s basic personality. He doesn’t suffer any kind of emotional reaction or identity crisis when neutered.
MYTH: But my dog (or cat) is so special, I want a puppy (or kitten) just
like her.
FACT: A dog or cat may be a great pet, but that doesn’t mean her offspring will be a carbon copy. Professional animal breeders who follow generations of bloodlines can’t guarantee they will get just what they want out of a particular litter. A pet owner’s chances are even slimmer. In fact, an entire litter of puppies or kittens might receive all of a pet’s (and her mate’s) worst characteristics.
MYTH: It’s too expensive to have my pet spayed or neutered.
FACT: The cost of spaying or neutering depends on the sex, size, and age of the pet, your veterinarian’s fees, and a number of other variables. But whatever the actual price, spay or neuter surgery is a one-time cost-a relatively small cost when compared to all the benefits. It’s a bargain compared to the cost of having a litter and ensuring the health of the mother and litter; two months of pregnancy and another two months until the litter is weaned can add up to significant veterinary bills and food costs if complications develop. Most importantly, it’s a very small price to pay for the health of your pet and the prevention of the births of more unwanted pets.
On May the 6 in honor of our spay/neuter program, CMCASA will hold its first “Paws On The Promenade.”
This will take place on the Sea Isle City boardwalk.
The public has an opportunity to ensure that their pets are altered and to help end the horrific animal overpopulation. All that is needed now is the will to do so. Call 628-4553 or go to our Web site at: www.cmcasa.org
JOAN D’AVANZO
Court House
(ED. NOTE: The author is vice president of The Cape May County Animal Shelter Alliance, and director of the Spay/Neuter Clinic.)
 
Give Equal ‘Bashing’ to Republicans
 
To The Editor:
Regarding the April 26 From the Publisher column “Finally, Jon Asks The Right Question.”
I take no issue with Publisher Art Hall’s comment about the State of New Jersey’s finances, but I do take exception to his response to a co-worker who asked him if he were bashing Democrats, Hall responded, “That’s not my intention.”
Really?
So if that were true, did Hall ever comment on previous New Jersey  administrations, including that of Christie Whitman who got this state into the mess that it is in?
 I’d love to read all the “From The Publisher” columns written during her administration.
And about not bashing Democrats.
Why not an article about what is really going on in Washington at this time or, to be frank, for the last five years?
Hall seems to be a victim of spin by the Bush administration and along with many in this county and this country refuses to go beyond the “party line” for fear of what acknowledging the horrific state of our country, admitting that maybe he was conned or naive in wanting to believe that  the man he voted for, the administration that he believed in has been proven time and time again to have lied and deceived the American public.
The legacy that Bush will leave will resonate for generations to come, in paying off the deficit, unheralded in American history, in the destruction of so many American lives, those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and those who have come back home in pain and suffering, both physical and mental.
Untold mistakes have resulted in massacres of the Iraqi peoples…..and still no “From the Publisher” detailing what, finally the majority of Americans now see as horrific mistakes made on the first Tuesday in November in both 2000 and 2004.
I can’t wait for Jan. 21, 2009.  Bashing Republicans? You bet.  How does Hall feel about that?
 
MICKI GOLDBERG
 Swainton
 
 
Monkees’
Fan Likes
Interviews
To The Editor:
Thanks so much for the fabulous interviews with Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz.  I have been a Monkees fan from the very beginning (1966) and a die-hard one since the mid-70s when I was in junior high and the television show was broadcast in local syndication in the New York area.
I love Cape May County and have spent a few days to a week there almost every summer for quite a number of years now. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to Wildwood for the Fabulous 50s/60s event, but I’m very excited that it’s going to be happening and that two of the Monkees (as well as the Monkeemobile, as I understand it) are going to be involved in it.
Will “Monkee Way” actually keep that name, or is it just for the weekend?
Thanks again and continue to keep all of us Monkee fans posted about upcoming events. I read about the events and the podcast interviews on both theMonkeetalk.com and Monkeeland.com message boards.
ANNETTE LaDUE
Bronx, N.Y.
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Our Readers Write
Hereford’s Still Active Aid
 
To The Editor:
Regarding the April 12 Spout Off: Now hear this, someone from Anglesea is incredibly uninformed. That light is still on the official list of active aids to navigation.
Not every boater has GPS, and that system may fail a boater. It is an important honor that the light is tended by the U.S. Coast Guard. The building under the lantern is listed on both the NJ State and National Registers of Historic Places; it was built in 1874 from plans for a group of six fourth order lights.
Of the six “Sisters of Light” Hereford Inlet Light Station was the only one built on the Atlantic, while the five others were built on the Pacific coast. Only three survive and of them Point Fermin, in California, and Hereford have been properly restored.
Our building is the honored historic landmark and symbol of North Wildwood’s origins, when it was called Anglesea. Our historic building has hosted between 30,000 to 40,000 visitors per year since 1999 – that’s roughly 180,000 cultural tourists who contribute to the local economy. They follow the NJ Coastal Heritage Trail to come again and again to see the progress of our grant-funded restoration and to enjoy the award-winning gardens that surround the building.
The site is owned by the State of New Jersey, leased to the city, and is being wisely preserved, enhanced and protected by the terms of that lease. We have over 750 sustaining members of the “Friends of Hereford Lighthouse.” This is your invitation to come visit the building, see the film, take the tour and learn these facts.
Get to know the town’s history by way of this 19th century survivor and that will be a reward. The active light is also a bright symbol of preservation even in North Wildwood. Keep the old light shining proudly.
HUGH McCAULEY,
Cape May
(ED. NOTE: The author is a former North Wildwood resident.)