The Hammonton Gazette 04/30/2014 | Page 6

Page 6 • Wednesday, April 30, 2014 • The Hammonton Gazette The Hammonton Gazette “The Paper of Record” gabriel J. donio, Publisher gina rullo, Editor-in-Chief dan russoman, Sports Editor benny mendez, Staff Artist marysusan hoffman, Paul J. macrie iv, michael hozik, donna brown, Joseph bruno, lauren bucci, lauren crescenzo, brian morris, Staff The Hammonton Gazette is located at 233 b ellevue Ave. to reach a staff member, call 704-1940 or fax at 704-1938. the mailing address is P.o. box 1228, hammonton, nJ 08037. editoriAls The Hammonton Gazette is published Wednesdays, by The Hammonton Gazette, Inc. Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved. ISSN 1093-6181 debt of thanks According to Hammonton Police Captain Nick Salvatore, sometime on the morning of April 12, the municipal water alarm sounded. The three hours that followed were tense ones for town officials, who mobilized employees of the public works department, police department, fire department and highway department for a search that ended when highway employee Sam Cannistra found the water main break on the White Horse Pike (Route 30) near Hammonton Independent Volunteer Fire Co. No. 2. At one point before Cannistra found the water flowing into a creek bed, turning it into a near-river, the town was considering sending someone up in a helicopter to search for the water main break from the air. As water levels dropped and the break remained undiscovered, the intensity of the search grew as town officials became concerned about water pressure and the ability to maintain a water supply for the town. Imagine if you turned on the faucet and no water came out of it. No water for drinking, bathing or cooking – or a greatly-reduced pressure for the water coming out of the faucet. What if a fire occurred and there wasn’t enough water available from the municipal water supply? Hammonton owes Sam Cannistra a debt of thanks. By finding the water main leak when he did, Cannistra allowed the town to immediately begin the process of repairing the leak and stopping the municipal water levels from becoming dangerously low. As a result, most residents of the town were unaware that there was any problem, and the crisis was averted. In times of crisis, like the water main break that led to the plummeting municipal water levels on April 12, it is comforting to know that the town officials can coordinate an effort with all the resources of the local government, find the problem and fix it with such efficiency that the majority of residents do not know the problem existed at all. Thanks are also extended to everyone involved with the search for the leak and its repair. Their efforts helped keep the water flowing to homes and businesses throughout Hammonton. A day of fun There was a time when there were only a few town-wide events on the local civic calendar. Those days are happily behind us, as there are so many organizations holding large events now, several days have two town-wide events on them. June 29 will be one of those days, as the Red, White and Blueberry Festival will be held uptown, and the cycling portion of the Challenge Atlantic City Triathlon will be speeding through the downtown area. May 3 will be another fun-filled day in Hammonton, with the Hammonton Rotary Club hosting the first day of its two-day Hammonton Wine Festival at the Mt. Carmel Carnival Grounds located between Third Street and Mt. Carmel Lane (Tilton Street) and the Hammonton Mothers Club holding their 5K Run for Fun on the streets of Hammonton. Both events are sure to bring out many participants, and as the weather is (finally) warming, people will be coming out to enjoy each others’ company in a public way. While the events are different in nature, they both have the same purpose: a good excuse for people to get together and have some fun outdoors. Hammonton has always been a town that enjoys socializing, particularly in a public setting. Our biggest events are held against the backdrop of public spaces. In recent years, events like the Hammonton Wine Festival, the 5K Run for Fun, National Night Out, Downtown Trick-or-Treat, Third Thursdays and the Easter Eggstravaganza have joined perennial favorites like Cruisin’ MainStreet, the Kiwanis Halloween Parade, the Firemen’s Christmas Parade, the Red, White and Blueberry Festival and the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel on the civic calendar. They are welcome additions to that calendar, because they provide new reasons for Hammontonians and people from other communities to come together. As usual, Hammonton bucks the trend by adding civic events instead of seeing them dwindle in number. PersPective/Weekly Address President Barack Obama’s weekly address from April 26. In my State of the Union Address, I talked about pizza. More specifically, I talked about a pizza chain in Minneapolis – Punch Pizza – whose owner, John Soranno, made the business decision to give his employees a raise to ten bucks an hour. A couple weeks ago, I got a letter from a small business owner who watched that night. Yasmin Ibrahim is an immigrant who owns her own restaurant – Desi Shack – and plans to open another this summer. Here’s what she wrote. “I was moved by John Soranno’s story. It got me thinking about my … full-time employees and their ability to survive on $8 an hour in New York City.” So a few weeks ago, Yasmin put in place a plan to lift wages for her employees at both her restaurants to at least $10 an hour by the end of this year. But here’s the thing – Yasmin isn’t just raising her employees’ wages because it’s the right thing to do. She’s doing it for the same reason John Soranno did. It makes good business sense. Yasmin wrote, “It will allow us to attract and retain better talent – improving customer experience, reducing employee churn and training costs. We believe doing so makes good business sense while at the same time having a positive impact on the community.” Yasmin’s right. That’s why, two months ago, I issued an Executive Order requiring workers on new federal contracts to be paid a fair wage of at least 10 dollars and 10 cents an hour. But in order to make a difference for every American, Congress needs to do something. And America knows it. Right now, there’s a bill that would boost America’s minimum wage to 10 dollars and 10 cents an hour. That would lift wages for nearly 28 million Americans across the coun- try. Twenty-eight million. And we’re not just talking about young peop le on their first job. The average minimum wage worker is 35 years old. They work hard, often in physically demanding jobs. And while not all of us always see eye to eye politically, one thing we overwhelmingly agree on is that nobody who works full-time should ever have to live in poverty. That’s why nearly three in four Americans support raising the minimum wage. The problem is, Republicans in Congress don’t support raising the minimum wage. Some even want to get rid of it entirely. In Oklahoma, for example, the Republican governor just signed a law prohibiting cities from establishing their own minimum wage. That’s why this fight is so important. That’s why people like John and Yasmin are giving their workers a raise. That’s why several states, counties, and cities are going around Congress to raise their workers’ wages. That’s why I’ll keep up this fight. Because we know that our economy works best when it works for all of us – not just a fortunate few. We believe we do better when everyone who works hard has a chance to get ahead. That’s what opportunity is all about. And if you agree with us, we could use your help. Republicans have voted more than 50 times to undermine or repeal health care for millions of Americans. They should vote at least once to raise the minimum wage for millions of working families. If a Republican in Congress represents you, tell him or her it’s time to give the politics a rest for a while and do something to help working Americans. It’s time for “10-10.” It’s time to give America a raise. President barack obama Washington, d.c. Quote of the Week: “there Are no necessAry evils in government. its evils exist only in its Abuses.” — Andrew Jackson The Hammonton Gazette welcomes letters to the editor that are no more than 800 words long. All letters must include the name of the author and an address and telephone number for verification. Letters should be mailed to The Hammonton Gazette, Editorial Page, P.O. Box 1228, Hammonton, NJ 08037. Letters also will be accepted via fax. The fax number is 704-1938.  Or by e-mail to [email protected]. Deadline for all submissions is 2 p.m. Monday. The Hammonton Gazette reserves the right to edit any submissions. The opinions expressed in letters, perspectives or in guest columns do not necessarily reflect those of The Hammonton Gazette.  The Gazette is not responsible for factual errors in letters, perspectives or in guest columns. The Gazette retains the right to refuse any submission or advertisement.