t °Franklin ne sreCorD - Franklin News-Record

town ;forum
4A Thursday, June 9, 1977
editorial
One-man patrol cars offer
safe, efficient protection
j~ ’ .
. Crurnp’s
Dear Computer: Drop dead
The role of "law and order" in
political campaigns has eased a
bit in recent years, but it undoubtedly
had some effect in this
week’s primary election¯ The
electorate seems now to realize
that politicians who shout tile
loudest about crime in the streets
are not necessarily tile elected o[ficlals
who will most sincerely
work for their protection.
But most of US are concerned
with tile increase of crime in tile
last decade and rate the desire in
our homes and on the streets high
in lhe equation making up the
"good life¯"
It is i,lteresting therefore to
note a recently completed survey
in San Diego which indicated
that one-man police patrol cars
are safer h~r the policemen;
cheaper for the municipality and
just as efficieot in maintaining
the peace. The study will raise
more than a few eyebrows.
Many commlmities in recent
years-- in Central Jersey and
elsewhere--have attempted to
eliminate one-man patrols. The
primary argnment has been that
the hme patrolman is too
wdnerable. Most citizens have
gone along with tiffs concept
even though it meant reducing
the number of patrol cars
available at any given moment or
a sharp increase in municipal
costs to provide more policemen
and patrol cars. It seemed to be a
worthwhile investment. Few
would knowingly put their
policemen in a perilons position
jnst to save a few cents on the tax
bill.
But the San Diego study
showed thai Ibat city could
operate 18 one-man patrol cars
at the same cost as 10-two-man
cars. At the same time there
would be better coverage of high
crime areas. The only negative
aspect discovered was that oneman
patrols needed backnp help
more frequently.
fewer civilian complaints about
police handling of the incidents.
Recent reports show that 39.6
per cent of the New Jersey work
force is municipal government,
and of that total, 29.4. per cent
are policemen. And yet it seems
no municipality is content with
its level of protection. Whether
the San Diego study would hold
up in suburban and rural areas is
unknown. One would guess so,
but then so many aspects of that
study are surprising, it is difficult
to make flat assessments.
It is, however, a study which
every municipality sbould investigate.
The goal of the most
extensive protection at the lowest
possible cost with a minimum of
danger to the officers involved
certainly is bigh on every
municipal list. One-man patrol
cars may be a means of attaining
that goal.
A bit of the grape and the first alcoholic
"Roman orgy." The phrase conjures
up images most people can
recall from Hollywood productions,
which featured, among other things,
lots of drinking and drunkenness.
Now a manuscript written by the
since-deceased founder of two Rutgers
university activities confirms what
Hollywood portrayed.
Dr. E. M. Jellinek was a member of
the staff of the Yale Center of Alcohol
Studies, which came to Rutgers in
1962. He died in 1963, leaving behind a
sel of memories that borders on the
legendary.
His competence in languages, for
example, included the, ability to
converse in the Latin of the 10th and
lllh centuries, and is pertinent to his
detailed studies of "Drinkers and
Alcoholics in Ancient Rome,"
published in a recent issue of the
Journal of Studies on Alcohol at
Rutgers.
He founded the journal and
estahlished the Summer School of
Alcohol Studies, both of which are
today important functions of the
Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies,
by Stuart Crump Jr.
proceed further unless you
Staff Writer
acknowledge that "’I have made
payment IMMEDIATELY."
Did you ever get one of those
At this point I had to diverge from,
"overdue bill" letters lhat begins: the form and colorful language of the
"Dear Customer: It rarely becomes original letter in order to document
necessary for us to refer an account to my claim.
a Collection Agency (in italics) for
"I originally ordered your product
assistance in collecting our money by telephone. At the time I placed the
However, shou d it become necessary order I gave my Master Charge
to resorl to this type of action - we
number to the woman who took the
consider it only fair to tell the
order, as your original ad instructed
customer what we intend to do."
me to do. Therein lay my first attempt
I did last week. It’s the first one of its to pay for my purchase.
type I’d seen since that time three "Every letter which you have since
years ago when a computer blew a
written to me I have responded to with
couple of printed circuits and began
a note explaining the above. I have
threatening me with the Iron Maiden.
also included my Master Charge
The letter went on. "We have
number in each subsequent letter. I
written you several times asking that include it again with this letter. This is
you pay your obligation; but, our your last chance to accept my
records indicate that you have not
payment before I take stronger action.
paid the amount due.
"I understand, for example, that the
"Your silence is sincerely regretted, Consumer Protection Agency .. which
and you leave us no choice except to to date has never protected me from
proceed further - unless payment is anything - has a team of commando
made IMMEDIATELY." Etc., etc. attack dogs ready to spring into ad:
The letter was signed simply, "C. tion. One word from me and you will
Smith, Corporate Collection find yourself mistaken for a can of
Manager." (Naturally, I’ve changed Alpo.
all names.)
"The Better Business Bureau is just
What would you do? I gave it some waiting for an opportunity to release
thought and replied as follows: its squadron of trained killer bees
"Dear Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. Smith which it deploys to help settle
(assuming you are a real person and customer complaints. The bees are
not a computer): It rarely becomes particularly fond of computer tape
necessary for me to refer an account and transistors.
to a Consumer Agency (in italics) for "Finally,
4
should it become
assistance in paying what I owe on it. necessary, I may be forced to enlist
However, should it become necessary the aid of Ralph Nader, who likes to
to resort to this type of action - I show up unannounced at midnight.
consider it only fair to tell the business You should see what the full moon
what I intend to do."
does to his face. It’s hairy.
I apologize to you English teachers "I’d rather not be bothered carrying
out there who find the dash between out any of the above threats. I have
"action" and "I" irrelevant and un- better things to do, like carry out’tile
necessary, but I was replying ins you garbage on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
have no doubt surmised) in the style of Therefore I implore you to give your
the original.
computer a good swift kick in the
"l have written t0yotl several times memory bank and accept my
asking you to check your records more payment.
carefully to confirm that I have paid
my obligation; hut, your repeated
"More or less sincerely
yours, (signed)"
letters to me indicate that you have If that computer named C. Smith
not vertified that I have made several has a sense of humor, maybe this
efforts to pay the amount due. approach will work.
"Your silence is sincerely regretted, If not, please forward any mail to
and you leave me no choice except to debtors’ prison.
Pine Barrens facing
development assault
Even more surprisingly, the
survey revealed that only a
slight majority of policemen
preferred the two-man cars, and
nmst of those in this group were
younger, less experienced ofricers.
In the safety factor it was
determined that patrolmen acting
alone were assauhed much
less frequently tban two-man
teams and ran into fewer instances
of resistance to arrest.
Perhaps this fact is a
manifestation of the feeling that
a single policemen is merely
doing his duty but two or more
represent enforcement overkill.
Another surprising survey
result was that one-man ears
produced more arrests and filing
of official charges and resnhed in
attracting participation and contributions
from throughout the U.S.
and Canada and man~ countries
elsewhere in the world.
JELLINEK’S INTEREST in ancient
Rome stemmed from his interest
iu the history of alcohol problems. His
manuscript was the only known attempt
to study the problem in Rome
through the entire history of the cityslate.
"It’s worth pointing out that the
Hollywood portrayal of drunken orgies
focuses only on a 200-year period (100
B. C. to 100 A.D.) of the thousand years
that Rome was a significant power.
The eight centuries before and after
that period provided little foundation
for that kind of movie.
Jellinek’s study covered the
production and the commerce in wine
in order to appreciate its availability
for drinking. He points out that the
wine grape, Vitis vinifera, has grown
in nearly all the present-day great
wine-producing countries of Europe
and the Near East for the past 1.75
million years¯
He points out that acquaintance with
wine dates to before any historical
document, even though the most
ancient use of beverages in religious
ceremonies involved milk and not
wine.
In earliest Roman times, grape
cultivation was more modest, on an
individual garden basis, and not
sufficient to support its production as
a cash corp. Jeliinek wrote that even
in Rome of the 4th Century B.C. "wine
must have been a rather scarce
commodity." This is 200 years after
the beginning of the period he
discusses.
¯ He called the period of 600-200 B.C. a
period of temperance. Grape culture
"hecame widespread in Italy after 15
B.C. and it became of real importance
only in the First Century A.D." By
that time, Italian wine had become
known for quality, although it had
earlier become important for the
amount rpoduced.
TIlE GROWING importance of
grape production was reflected in the
primary consideration of the vineyard
in judging the value of a farm, aeecrding
to a publication of that period.
grain land was sixth in importance, by
comparison, probably the result of the
economic crisis following the Second
Punic war of 201 B.C.
Wine became a major source of
Italy’s wealth. Export of fine quality
wines probably took place to Alpine
areas and the region of the Danube,
and even to Greece, even though the
Greeks also produced a good quality.
wine.
Drinking practices during the
earliest Roman period centered about
water rather than wine. There is no
indication that brewing was practiced,
nor did Romans have a taste for beer.
Beer was not unknown, but was
regarded with contempt.
The earliest Romans probably had a
law against drinking by women, according
to Jellinek, although it no
longer existed by 200 B.C., when a
marked increase began in the use of
wine.
By that time, playwrights were
mentioning "pantapolium" (a
drinking place) and "tbermopolium"
(a place serving hot drinks) in their
plays. People drank to one another’s
health, and there were many expressions
for different degrees of
drunkenness.
BY TllAT TIME, the language was
reflecting the increasing role of wine
and drinking in Roman life. One writer
wrote of celebrating a victory with
wine and of never writing poetry
unless he was drunk. Observers of the
contemporary scene commented
about "infamous and shameful eating
houses," the people who spent their
lime there, and with a special label -
vini buae - for winebibbing women.
"By the beginning of the Second
Century B.C., Bacchanalian orgies
apparently had spread in Italy" and
thisatarmed heRomansenators, who
passed a resolution aiming at
government control of the rituals.
Wine for therapy probably arose
during this period, and its persistence
to the present day is well known.
Drinking of medicated wine was a
Ireatment for snake bite, as a
laxative, for gout, indigestion, and
other ills.
Widespread problem drinking and
alcoholism reached its height in the
First Century, A.D. Jellinek writes of
Antony, who published a book about
h s own drunkenness and suggests it
might be the first "I’m an alcoholic"
story.
Horace in the First Century B.C.,
writes of addiction, commenting that
to many drinkers, the denial of wine
causes physical pain. And, as in our
own day, the ability (o "hold one’s
liquor" was a matter of prestige.
DESPITE ALL THIS, Jellinek
comments, "we should not picture the
whole Roman nation of that period as
a population of drunkards." He
compares that with nations today with
"lremendous medical, social and
economic problems through
drunkenness" yet with not more than 3
to 7 per cent of the adult population
suffering from alcoholism. Countries
like France, Russia and the U.S. would
he examples of these.
Jellinek has pointed out that
drinkidg and alcoholism took four
centuries to develop, and prevailed at
the problem level for another two
centuries. The decline in problem
drinking took place over the final four
centuries of the Roman Empire,
during the period 100-400 A.D.
Why did it decline, and could the
reason offer clues to modern concerns
about alcoholism? Jellioek offers only
the opinion of the historian Dill in the
1921 work "Roman Society in the Lasl
Century of the Western Empire."
"Dill’s conclusion was that the real
canker in the late Empire Period was
not gross vice but class pride, want of
public spirit, absorption in the
varieties of a sterile culture, and
cultivated selfishness," Jelltnek
points out.
If that’s what we, or any other
country with a national drinking
problem, have, then maybe we’ll
repeat the experience of the Romans.
[The following was written by David Ihen called for a meeting with Gov.
F. Moore, spokesman for the New Byrne to talk about Graham and his
Jersey Conservation Foundation attempt to do his job.
headquartered in Morristown.] Back in the legislature, meanwhile,
bills have been introduced in both
With the heady scent of fast dollars houses for a one-year delay in DEP
making nostrils twitch in and around imposition of its water quality
Atlantic City, thanks to legalized standards for the Pine Barrens, due
gambling, special interests are now to go into effect in mid-July. The
wasting no time in trying to crush bills, sponsored by Sen. Joseph
environmental proteclion regulations Maressa and 25 other senators and by
lest they get in the way of big and Assemblyman Francis German and
flashy casino construction.
five others, would let four county
Near Atlantic City, in the Pine health departments in the area study
Barrens, other interests (or are they impacts of septic tanks, or "on-s te
the same?) are working hard to deter disposal systems" on the vulnerab e
essential protection of water quality. aquifer which underlies the Pine, I
Blatent public relations pressure is Barrens. I
being used in Atlantic City. In lhe Pine
I
Barrens, it’s a legislative attempt to NO MATTER that a more definitive !
derail protection.
study is already being planned by ¯
Departure of Environmental Rutgers University experts hired "by i
Protection Commlssieaer David J. DEP. Or that federal law already calls ill
Bardin for new work in Washington for such protection. Or that detay in an I
has encouraged both gambits. Acting effective nondegradatien policy [Qr I
Commissioner Rooea Ricei now finds the Pine Barrens streams a~d ¯
himself being "tried out" like a new groundwater aquifers could cost New
teacher, inasmuch as the "smart Jersey its federal water pollution
kids" are testing his ability to keep control aid. Or that the Maressalegislative
support on one hand, and to German bills may nullify important
withstand public assaults on existing advances
~
in the new Water Pollution
regulations on the other.
Control Act.
What the developers pushing the bill
EVEN WITHOUT lusts inflamed by hope is that the counties will come up
legalized gambling, it would be the with recommendations more friendly
same. Those who hate protection of to their development schemes in the
our environment for the future Pine Barrens.
because it can impede their shortterm
profits are a wrecking crew
eying the protective structure. The Franklin NEWS’RECOR
In Atlantic City, we read that Mayor
~,, in~ ["i ~ n klin ’l¯,m
,
u.hll
Joseph Lazaruw says his city "will not
tolerate" Department of En-
P,,hll.h.~l v~ v~ ’n11~h~ iI ~
vironmental Protection wetlands
regulations which get in the way of
h, H,** rri,,, 1,1111, I’*1, [,,l. llw, ?
massive gambling-oriented construction
projects. Several such
schemes are envisioned for protected ~J~iti.1¢~, ~*: ’~ I. S ~ ~. MMdl,.hl, h. %.J.II~HT:I,
wetlands in undeveloped corners of
the city.
~.n* Puroll ........................
Sha~
I
Edk~"
The South Jersey Labor Council was
more direct after Donald T.’ Graham,
director of the DEP’s Division of
Marine Services, responded to .~1 ,’1.- I~,.Z.~¢v I~i,I .I M*m ille. NJ. U~4,13. ~ t
proposed casinos on protected
rlI~’:I’IUXCH’,,Xl,tCkF’r.I~;C, !.i
~
wetlands by pointing out that legalized *’.hiM., ,*
gambling had been sold to the public l’rl,,l,t ~,.,.: hlpl.’l~ 1.3211 ’
:,
as a way to redevelop beaehfront and
renew uptown seclors of Atlantic City. ~,,*, ¯ ,,..,.,...,, ~*. *’,..,.,,,.,. ’~,~. ,,~ u..
The labor council’s spokesman ~,.. ~,...,,,.,,,,,~,. L.,,..,,...,.~, .............v,,,,.,,~,;.,.,~,,,,,~,
.............. ~ c*,.*.,.~i,
pounced on Ihls aa proof that *’anti. IG4~IP.K,.II~ ........... F:~,theFIiak
casino forces" are still trying to halt II’~;’:’,~,’,",’; .................... v.., ......,t,,’,’",~.
lhegoldenemploymenlopportunltyof ~mi, ~.,~,, ..................
legallzed gambling. The labor council --
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