To the Editor ~ 2.22.2006

To The Editor:
I would just like to take a moment to thank the “act-ing” Public Works manager in North Wildwood.
When I called to thank Public Works, I was told it was Joe MacAnaney and his men who did such a won-derful job with the snow removal on Sunday Feb. 12. Once they started to plow, they were meticulous about having the intersections cleared to insure our safety.
Good work and thank you.
SISSY BELL
North Wildwood
To The Editor:
Homeowners of Avalon (taxpayers), here we go again, taking sand from one area of the beach and putting it down in another part of the beach.
According to the last report, the council gave the okAY to purchase sand and gravel from the sand plant in Dennis Township to help the beach erosion. The taxpayers of Avalon are surely paying for Mother Nature.
The borough of Avalon will start preparing the beaches for the vacationers who will be coming this summer by taking huge rakes and raking the beach of seashells so they can enjoy our beaches.
Don’t they know if you leave the shells on the beach it creates a bed of sand and helps to hold back beach erosion?
Maybe they should buy flip-flops at our local 5 & 10-cent store like we did in the 40’s.
All along the coast beach erosion exists and has to be addressed. With global warming and Mother Nature, the oceans are rising.
The builders can go up another floor when building the new houses in town due to the sinking of these mud flats. What a tragedy — it would cost us all.
Let’s get together and pursue a solution to the problem and not band-aid it.
HELEN GAROFALO
Avalon
The  Editor:
 The following letter is to the Cape May County freeholders and whomever else this may concern:
I was promised that I would receive a title change and a raise a year from the date I was hired. This is a promise made to every person, hired before and after me, in my department.
Every person before me has received their raise, and yet, I am coming up on my two-year anniversary with the county and still no title change or raise.
I already make a salary that is well below poverty level. The raise I am supposed to, and entitled to re-ceive, still will not put me above the poverty line. There are nine of us in my department at the county jail, employed to do a job that requires an enormous amount of responsibility.
We are privy to private and confidential information that the average person is not legally privileged to know.
Most of the time, each of us has to handle a work-load that is enough for three people and we are grossly under compensated.
I realize that we are not the only department in this county that is severely underpaid. That being said, I speak for them too. Why is it that the “higher-ups” in this county continue to receive promotions and raises, but those of us who make only a quarter of their sala-ries cannot receive a raise that was promised to us in the first place?
I believe, unfortunately, that you have no compas-sion or consideration for those of us “lower”
 on the county career chain. We work extremely hard and receive very little in return.
Wake up. You would not be where you are without the “little people.”
TIFFANY MCVEY
Cape May
To The Editor:
 I remember the Herald doing a story on Rabbi Jacob Malki of Beth Judah Temple, Cape May County’s only year-round Synagogue, when he first came. Your article stated that he was raised and edu-cated in Turin, Italy.
As you might know, Beth Judah Temple is some-what associated with the Conservative Movement whose founder of the Jewish Theological seminary of America was Sabato Morais, which today serves as the Academic Heart of Conservative Judaism.
Before coming here, Rabbi Jacob Malki was vaguely aware that Sabato Morais was born and raised in Livorno, Italy.
Of course, he had no idea about Sabato Morais con-nection to the Woodbine Brotherhood Synagogue. He and Marcus Jastrow consecrated her on the Eve of Chanukah, Nov. 29, 1896. That made front-page news of The New York Times preserved on microfilm and with a more extensive article by the Cape May County Gazette on microfilm.
The quote on Universal Brotherhood by Lamennais appears that of a Jewish Sage. Lamennais was an Ital-ian Catholic Priest who greatly influenced the writing of Guiseppe Mazzini whose teachings are still a part of an Italian child’s public and private elementary educa-tion.
It is a shame that the progeny of the Italian immi-grant doesn’t even recognize the name nor has ever read his writings, which their ancestors knew verbally.
Maybe in a college level course in world history they will come across his name, but few will delve into it more.
Rabbi Jacob Malki, I believe, is working on or has already received a doctorate in world history and still teaches courses at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
MARK SINGER
Millville
 
To The Editor:
I am completely at a loss to understand the motives of our elected officials and their agents.
No one can believe the development under way in Middle Township is a good thing.  Little or nothing will benefit the local community.  Everyone of these folks and the local media refuse to look at the negative impact of their actions.
Rio Grande will soon be total gridlock and it is ignored.  We hear of the successes of the Grande Center Mall with nothing said about the many Mom and Pop stores that have fallen because of the development in the area.
Gone are the tasty little hoagies enjoyed at the Mini Mart in Green Creek, the good food and camaraderie enjoyed at both Tom Foodery and Deli Haven. Will KMart go the way of Sears when WalMart arrives?
People will not want to camp in the shadow of tall buildings and sit in traffic jams while trying to enjoy some local amenities; this is what they left behind.
The senior housing project planned by Mr. Juliano will get affordable housing credits for the community without creating any affordable housing for anyone in the community. I am not the only one that understands this.
Mr. Juliano came to the zoning board with a beautiful artist’s rendition and a flowery film to promote his project. He did not bring the environmental studies that were required to gain approval.
Mr. Juliano, after being told by the township engineer and members of the board “he had the cart before the horse,” advised everyone that he would not spend the time and money to achieve the necessary studies until he had certain assurances and that everyone should have faith in him to do the right thing.
Obviously they did because they ignored their own concerns of traffic and an incomplete application. They ignored the pleas of local residents to stop this madness. The only support from the public came from some Rio Grande firefighters who were promised a big shiny new truck from Mr. Juliano.
The board approved the variance with overwhelming support.
Mr Juliano did offer to reduce the project from five stories to four, a tactic many of us had thought he would do right from the beginning. With this concession he will build 342 units on 22 acres. This is a density level of over 15 units per acre and absolutely unacceptable for this area.
I will research the legalities of the incomplete application issue. I will do what I can to stop this giant, but my resources are limited.
If our elected officials were protecting the interest of their constituency, I would not miss all the goodnight kisses from my granddaughter while attending meetings and hearings where the residents are ignored and the outcomes seem never to have been in doubt.
As I have said before, I accuse no one of wrong doing though I see little being done right and do not understand the motives.
 SAM KELLY
Middle Taxpayers Association