160TH YEAR NO. 42 , N.J. SERVING AMERICA’S NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK CITY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 75¢

House family creates of the habitat for week butterflies Page B3 Page B1

Police station, MUA major issues in Lower Twp. election By MARY LINEHAN Township Municipal Utilities Erik Simonsen (Ward 3) and will also challenge in Ward 1. job with the Department of Cor- Special to the Star and Wave Authority (MUA), which was Thomas Conrad (Ward 1), and The Star and Wave has been rections and begin collecting Regular and JACK FICHTER calculated to be worth nearly local fire district official Dave unable to contact Will. his pension. Republican Cape May Star and Wave $1 million annually in savings Perry (Ward 2). The three In terms of recent history, Simonsen had resigned from for ratepayers; and whether will face off against an “In- Simonsen is serving the re- his Ward 2 council seat in organization LOWER TOWNSHIP — Sev- a new public safety building dependents for Lower” ticket mainder of Douglass’ term December 2011 after buying en men are vying for three should be built to replace the that includes veterans activist in Ward 3, at the behest of a home in Ward 3; former accuses Neville seats on Township Council in aging World War II-era build- Johnnie Walker in Ward 1, in- the Lower Township Regu- Mayor Walt Craig was named of wrongdoing. the Nov. 4 general election. ing that presently houses the cumbent Jim Neville in Ward 2 lar Republican Organization. to finish the term by the Lower Their respective positions township’s police and munici- and former Councilman Glenn Douglass, because of a glitch Republicans. Craig lost the seat Page A2 are most clearly defined by pal court. Douglass in Ward 3. Joseph R. in state law, was required to in November 2012 to Neville. two issues: the township’s pro- The Republican slate of can- Will, listed on the ballot as the resign the council seat in 2013 posed takeover of the Lower didates comprises incumbents “Time for Change” candidate, in order to retire from his state See Election, Page A2 Beacons of the past Cape May leaders see court battle as necessary step in school-funds fight

By JACK FICHTER cost of the special election, the Cape May Star and Wave same percentage the city pays Lower Cape May Regional in CAPE MAY — City Coun- school taxes, if Lower Town- cil met with special attorney ship would pay 58 percent of Vito Gagliardi in closed ses- the cost, the same portion it sion Oct. 7 to discuss its next pays to fund the school dis- steps in changing the funding trict. He said West Cape May formula with the Lower Cape was asked to pay 7 percent of May Regional School District the cost. following a Dec. 9 special “They both declined, they election. didn’t want to pay a nickel,” Deputy Mayor Jack Wich- Wichterman said. terman said the city was aware He said Gagliardi had point- it would not win the special ed out that historically school election with a ballot question districts pay for special school asking whether Cape May elections. Judge Julio Mendez should withdraw from the concurred with Gagliardi. school district. He acknowl- Wichterman said it was edged Lower Township has a shame the matter went to more than 12,000 voters and court with additional money Cape May has just 1,800. expended by the three sending “It’s just a step we have to district “because they don’t take before we end up in the listen to us.” court system,” he said. “We hired him because this The matter of who should gentleman knows what he is pay for the Dec. 9 special elec- doing,” he said. “He’s has done tion went to court. this before.” “Once again our special at- Wichterman asked residents torney, whom we have hired to vote in the Dec. 9 special on the school funding formula election. He said legally, coun- problem, has prevailed in the cil could not ask voters to vote court system,” Wichterman “one way or another.” said. “The cost of the special During public comment, Jack Fichter/CAPE MAY STAR AND WAVE election will be borne, as he former Mayor Jerry Gaffney Ben Franklin impersonator Ward Larkin visited the original lense of the Cape May displayed at the Museum of Cape May so ably pointed out to every- asked what the next step would County during the Mitten Festival on Oct. 11. The event celebrated the entrepreneurial spirit of Cape May County women who knitted body all along, by the regional be for the city if voters reject school.” Cape May leaving the regional and sold mittens as a cottage industry in the pre-Revolutionary War years. Mittens were tied with white cedar lumber as the county’s Wichterman said Cape May third-most-profitable export. offered to pay 35 percent of the See Court battle, Page A2

Betty Wund/Special to the Restored Fishing Creek School reopens CAPE MAY STAR AND WAVE

By BETTY WUND focused on the change of use Kellen. They recalled the fam- Special to the Star and Wave of the building in 1927. ily history of how Grandma “The reason communities Leckey paid $500 for the build- VILLAS — The historic Fish- came together was to take ing in 1927. Two of the Leckey The historic Fishing Creek ing Creek School on Bayshore care of the next generation. brothers turned it over to the School in Villas, which was Road was re-dedicated at a They wanted to give them an state in 2002 so it would be pre- built in 1888 and used as a grand opening Oct. 12. education and values,” Clark served. The state declared it a Built in 1888 by Civil War said. “It was really the inven- National Historic Landmark one-room schoolhouse veterans, the one-room school- tion of the school bus which and Lower Township signed a until 1925, has been house has been preserved and changed education in America. 20-year lease to take responsi- restored and now will be restored with elements of its The schools consolidated and bility for the building. used for early childhood original use until 1925. everyone got on school buses Many of the decorations for The imprint of the Leckey and went to a bigger school. Sunday’s event were put up development education family, which owned the build- School districts were formed by Babbish, a member of the by the Lower Township ing for 65 years, has also been and one-room schoolhouses Friends of the Fishing Creek Elementary School District. preserved. Lower Township went out of favor and they School, and Kellen. She re- Deputy Mayor Norris Clark, were put up for auction.” members spending summers master of ceremonies at the Marion and Tom Leckey in the house, walking to the opening, recapped some of the were in attendance with their history of the school. He also nieces Laura Babbish and Sue See Restored, Page A4

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