The Hammonton Gazette 07/02/14 Edition | Page 6

Page 6 • Wednesday, July 2, 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, Zack Brown, Staff The Hammonton Gazette is located at 233 Bellevue 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 our finest hour Hammontonians, you should be very proud of yourselves this week. Two huge events were held on the same day – June 29 – in the same town, and both were a success. The 28th Annual Red, White and Blueberry Festival drew thousands to the grounds of Hammonton High School. Hundreds of classic cars were on display. Many vendors sold out their blueberry-themed wares by mid-afternoon. While there were traffic delays – sometimes severe delays that kept some people from going to the festival – throughout town, those delays did not seem to impact the attendance at the festival. In true Hammonton fashion, one enterprising landowner turned their field near the festival into a parking lot, charg ed $5 a car, and did very well. Downtown, hundreds of people stood behind fences or sat along sidewalks to cheer on the 1,200-plus riders of the first-ever Challenge AC Triathlon, which originated in Atlantic City and came up the Atlantic City Expressway to Hammonton. Buses from Atlantic City brought tourists to watch the race, many of them relatives of the race participants. Many major roadways were closed, causing major traffic delays. Those delays quickly ended after the race was concluded. Communication and cooperation was at a high level. The leadership of Chief Robert Jones and Captain Nick Salvatore, and the plan created by Lt. Mark Fiorentino and Det. Sgt. Edward Slimm that was executed by the members of the Hammonton Police Department helped make a difficult traffic day far more bearable than it would have been without that plan. Councilman Thomas Gribbin, who as Deputy Mayor filled in for the vacationing Mayor Stephen DiDonato, was a calm, steady force on June 29 in the mayor’s absence. DiDonato also took phone calls from residents and was checking in throughout the day. The highway department and volunteers all were invaluable assets. As for the blueberry industry, production went forward, mostly without incident. Congratulations to all growers for their hard work and planning. There are changes that can, and should, be made to the race event. Not holding it on the same day as the Red, White and Blueberry Festival, which continues to grow in popularity, is one. Another is making the racers loop through Hammonton once instead of twice. Not having state and local officials decide – on June 29, the day of the race – to close the White Horse Pike (Route 30) without warning would have helped as well. The traffic issues that plagued the middle of the race, when the most bikers were in town, must be reduced. As one impacted business owner on the White Horse Pike put it, having new events come to town is a great idea, but they must help businesses and the community overall, like the soccer games at Tuckahoe Turf Farm. The traffic delays hurt some business owners throughout town and traffic delays inconvenienced many people. These two side effects cannot be allowed to happen at next year’s race. Now that we have a precedent, business owners can prepare – and they should be notified well in advance about the race and accompanying traffic delays by town officials next year. Ultimately, though, most people were able to enjoy the day safely, and when June 29 ended it was as if the carnival had come to town, set up, and left, all in one day. It was a great day for our town. It was our finest hour. And we will be reaping the benefits of the publicity from June 29, 2014 in the years and months to come. PerSPective/the economy We live in an interconnected world. Energy, cars, televisions, clothes and much more are traded among the countries. There are positives with global trade. If we can’t get a good price at home then we can shop elsewhere. Shopping is as easy today as clicking on a computer webpage. Competition keeps everyone on his toes. I’ve noticed in the last few years that a lot of my shirts are coming from Mexico, Vietnam and any place except the United States it seems. Years ago we laughed when we looked at little transistor radios that said made in Hong Kong. We didn’t laugh very long as now it seems that everything electronic is made over “there” somewhere. Competition grows as we import food, furniture, billions of dollars in oil and to be redundant, about everything. As competition stiffens Americans must decide if we are going to compete. If we don’t work harder and smarter we won’t have anything in America that anybody else wants to buy. If we are buying everything from someplace else then who is buying our stuff made in America? If we are not selling our stuff made here then we will quit making or growing anything. Eventually we won’t have any money in this country and China or Japan will not pay our Social Security or medical bills. We need to regain our independence in America. We need to use all of our energy including oil, coal, solar, wind and natural gas. We need to stop buying all foreign oil. We need to grow our own food and catch our own fish. We need to bring our jobs back to America. It’s time that we made that attractive to all the corporations that we’ve lost. It would benefit all of us for our jobs to come home. We need to secure our borders. We can’t take care of all the illegals coming into this country because we are struggling to take care of ourselves. We need to get control of those who pilfer our government money. This includes public universities who charge exorbitant tuition rates because most of the tuition is either paid by taxpayers or student loans that bury young adults. Medical providers sock it to the system as they bill Medical payers more than most Americans could ever pay. We are spiraling out of control in America. In the meantime our Veterans are dying from poor medical care and our active soldiers worry if they’ll even have a retirement or medical care after serving our country. While our country struggles, Congress can’t agree on anything except paying themselves more while too many Americans are drowning in the pond of “Me, My, Mine and I.” America will make it but it will be on the backs of those who are willing to dream, work and compete. Those are the people that carved out this wonderful place of opportunity and liberty more than 200 years ago. Those are the same people who will keep this country going. Dr. Glenn mollette newburgh, indiana PerSPective/the FLAG Glenn Mollette is an American columnist and author. Contact him at [email protected] Once again, we come to the time of year when we celebrate the Fourth of July in remembrance of all the wonderful things this country means to us. The celebration will include fireworks, parades and picnics when the hot dog will be king for a day. It is a wonderful time of the year. Yet, in the midst of all of the celebrations, there are a few black clouds blocking the sunlight. Just the other day the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and I were watching a news program where they featured somebody offended by the American flag displayed in a meeting they were attending. We both looked at each other and sadly shook our heads. What kind of nonsense is going on in this country? People’s lives are so shallow that they have to try to think of something to be offended? I am not sure why the American flag offended them so, but I have the perfect solution. I am not sure why people do not think of solutions like this, but if the American flag offends you then go to a country that has a flag that does not offend you. Simple. Problem solved. No more offense. It would not offend me in the least if people would do this. The American flag reminds us of all the wonderful things we enjoy in this country. The Fourth of July is an opportunity to express our thanks for living in a country such as this. If this was such a terrible country, why are so many people trying to get in at all cost? We still have some freedoms here that the rest of the world is envious of. The flag represents the foundation of our country and the ongoing sacrifice that has kept it free for so long. How can that be See FLAG, Page 7 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 email 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.