Fishermen need an "Aunt Eller"

The Press has been covering the upcoming vote on reauthorizing the Magnuson Stevens Act, which governs fisheries nationally. While the fluke population has doubled in the last six years, the environmental lobby wants to see it tripled in a few more years, which means far fewer fish could be caught by both recreational and commercial fishermen.
I grew up fluke fishing off the Jersey Coast. I remember being a little kid aboard the Big Marie S out of Belmar, getting my little plastic "Fisherman of the Day" trophy. A trip meant fish for dinner (which was especially delicious when it was the one I caught), and more put into the freezer to last awhile.
In the last few years, the fishermen have abided by the limits that have increased several times, with fewer allowed in the catch, and the minimum size limit increased. I've heard complaints from friends who caught some really nice-sized fluke that were just under the length limit and had to be tossed back. But they do it. They abide by the rules. It's not unusual for someone to catch 20 to 30 fish and keep one or two.
Now they're being warned they could get the amount of allowable catch for the entire East Coast cut by more than 75 percent for next summer. Why bother paying for tackle?
I keep thinking of the scene from Broadway's "Oklahoma!" where Aunt Eller sings "The Farmer and the Cowman can be friends." I don't understand why the fishermen and the environmentalists can't get on the same page. The stock has doubled, why cut back more when the fishery is on the rise?

Is Death by Chocolate a capital offense?

Executives heading the federally funded Legal Services Corp. saw fit to treat themselves to trips across the country to hold their meetings -- ranging from $20,145 to $55,125 in bills to put up the 11-member board at hotels. They didn't want to "feel confined" by meeting at their Washington, D.C., headquarters -- with its multiple conference rooms and kitchen and pantry areas -- for two entire days. Puhleeze.

They've taken $400 limosine rides when their destinations were a short cab ride away. They also voted to let themselves double their meal expenses, provided the board members dined together. That led to per-person costs of$59 for a buffet, $18 for a scrambled egg breakfast, $12 bagel breaks, $12 for cookie assortments and $14 "Death by Chocolate" desserts.

Here's the kicker: While they were killing themselves on chocolate, the poor people the agency is supposed to serve were getting turned down left and right for "lack of resources." Legal Services officials defended their practices, saying administrative expenses are kept separate from the money distributed to the local, independently run legal outlets. (The local program in D.C. has a conference room too; it doubles as a lunchroom.) While those offices are generally unimpressive and in some cases shabby, the board's offices are posh and roomy, yet they need to hold their meetings all around the country. What an outrageous sense of entitlement!

A spokesman for the board said the members are "aware they are using taxpayer funds and try to operate in a manner that is frugal and appropriate." Eighteen smackers for scrambled eggs is frugal????????? Not in my house.

Less than 20 percent of the legal needs of low-income people are being met, and the hifalutin lawyers who run the agency are gorging themselves on Death by Chocolate, using funds set aside to help poor people. Let them eat cake, maybe? It's enough to make you sick to your stomach.

Driving the idea of safety home

My sister and I have teens about the same age, who are about a year away from having driver's permits. I've turned into "The Lecturer." ... Scares the heck out of me, that these kids will be driving so soon! But we were just talking about kids, cars and how we now understand why our Mom and Dad said, "No." Truth be told, they were often right to do so.

So I've become "The Lecturer." I'm about to become "The Mom Who Says You Can't Get Your License Until You're 21" person. Reading today's article on how kids just aren't following the guidelines of provisional licenses -- the "Cinderella" restrictions that include no driving after midnight and no more than one passenger who is not a family member -- is scary. Kids, who are kids, say if somebody drives by and says "Hop in," even with a carload already, they're going to jump in, too. See http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060814/NEWS/608140338

I remember overloaded cars as teens. I also remember accidents with short-term, long-term and lifetime consequences. I'm now trying to ready my own teen to understand, and respect, the tremendous responsibility he will have when he gets behind the wheel, that he could not only risk his own life, but that of others.

So there's the "You don't hit the horn every time you feel like it, and you especially don't hit the horn when I'm driving," lecture. The "Don't suddenly put your Ipod up to my ear because 'this is my new favorite song!' when I'm driving, especially when I'm in the middle of turning or a parking" lecture. (That's almost on a daily basis). And the "Don't try to show me something from the back seat when I'm driving," lecture. (That one's finally sinking in, although it's often because he's up front with me, and trying to stick his Ipod in my ear.)

I'm in favor of the provisional licenses. But I know how powerful peer pressure can be. And as much as I'd like to be "The Lecturer" 24/7, I also know that lecturing can become a signal to a teen to stop listening (the teen's "say uh-huh and nod" technique). So my Lecturer style is aimed at being conversational, nonaccusatory and sometimes repetitive, aimed at getting my points to stick somewhere in the teen psyche.

I hope I'm up to the challenge.

Stop looking and drive!

We've been talking in the office about the handling of accident/construction/gridlock problems on our Parkway and Turnpike. Everybody's been stuck behind an accident at one time or another, and it's a relief when the authorities finally get the lanes moving again.

One thing that really irks me is when you get stuck in traffic, then find out it's because of the idiots in front of you who had to slow down and watch a police car give a ticket to someone, or something equally as silly. Rubberneckers, "Looky Lous" or whatever you want to call them, make me crazy.

A few weeks back, I was bringing my daughters to visit friends in Toms River, and got stuck on the Parkway for about 20 minutes to travel 5 miles. At the end, I saw a cop car pulled over, and the officer was off to the side doing something. I don't know what. I didn't care. But apparently, everyone in front of me did. When I got to my destination and complained, someone laughed and said, "Yeah, everybody has to stop and see the pretty lights" on the police car.

I was slowed down once because everybody wanted to see a firetruck extinguishing a minor brush fire. On my way to Georgia a few years back, I was in bumper-to-bumper traffic for an hour. At the end of it, we found out that the cause was a camper fire. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD ... our side had nothing blocking the several lanes open to us. As soon as we passed, we were able to speed back up to 65 and had a clear ride.

Can't drivers just ask their passengers to explain what they see, so we can all keep moving? I understand a little slowdown if there's an accident or disabled car on your side of the roadway, for the safety of emergency workers or tow-truck drivers. But the gawking really gets ridiculous.

Loosening the old apron strings

OK, we let our 15-year-old go to the Warped Tour this weekend. Not his first concert, but the first one where I wasn't close by. Knowing that a friend of mine would be there and that some of his own friends would catch up with him, I dropped him off, alone, after a friend of his who he was planning to go with backed out at the last minute. Freaked me out.

Seeing the amount of security there and knowing my friend would be in the "reverse day care" tent for parents, I was relieved. This kid really earned the concert ... he's been talking about it all year, has been working hard all summer and just finished a particularly grueling week where he worked days and went to soccer camp in the evenings.

What really was strange for me was when it hit me that my most powerful emotion was a strange sadness at realizing how much he's growing up. Yet it was mixed with pride, too. He kept in touch by cell phone, reassuring me all was well, and dropped in to see my friend in the parents' tent a few times. He's a good kid, a hard worker (except for his room) and reasonably well behaved. When I got back from dropping him off Sunday morning, a neighbor asked when he will start driving.

I am sooooooo not ready for that.

Don't let crime pay at all

Kudos to Superior Court Judge James Citta for making sure crime doesn't pay ... $600,000-plus in this case. In Ocean County last week, Citta held off sentencing an admitted insurance scammer when he delayed sentencing a 55-year-old Dover Township woman until he finds out where the money went.

Citta was scheduled last week to pass sentence according to the plea bargain between the state attorney general's office and Mary Maschuci. When her lawyer asked Citta for an order that would limit the use of her guilty plea in any civil lawsuits filed by the insurance companies she defrauded by faking her death, Citta learned full restitution was not part of the settlement.
He said he accepted the plea bargain under the impression that all the money would be repaid.

He should have a chat with the deputy attorney general who helped craft the deal that required her to pay back only $105,000 ... far less than the more than $700,000 she's accused of taking. "These monies were ... alleged to have been stolen less than a year ago," Citta said. "Even my wife couldn't spend that much money in a year." (Hopefuly, Mrs. Citta has a good sense of humor.)

Maschuci's lawyer said the amount was based on her "immediate ability to pay." Sorry. Sell your assets, every one of 'em, down to holding a garage sale and getting rid of everything you own if you must. But thieves of any kind should at least compensate for what they took. Then they deserve a fine after their jail time. Crime should cost, not pay.

Citta should make sure every cent is paid back. He should probably take his wife out to dinner or buy her some flowers, too.

So clarify exactly what the mistake was ...

Pleading for leniency in his sentencing for taking a $1,000 bribe, former Monmouth County Deputy Fire Marshal Patsy Townsend said, "In 37 years, I made one big mistake. I would like to take the opportunity to say I am truly sorry to my family, my friends, my colleagues and the public for the embarrassment I have brought on them." His lawyer said he was "part of the fabric of the community" for most of his time in public service.

So what was the one big mistake? Taking a bribe? Causing embarrassment? Or getting caught?

It really digs at me -- in many of these cases -- where these people who were so willing to take bribes turn around and say they made one mistake. I don't care if it was once, which I doubt, or a hundred times. The amount, the number of times, really doesn't matter. That any public official thought it OK to promise a favor in exchange for cash even one time is more than despicable. And don't tell me what a "nice guy" any of them are. I don't care. By adding to the cost of government by letting those handing them cash charge outrageous amounts for goods or services, they might as well have picked our pockets. And that's just not very nice.

Hoping cops net the bird killers

OK, I'm not a big fan of seagulls. Even in the movie "Finding Nemo," another bird refers to them as "rats with wings." I don't have anything against them. But I have been annoyed one too many times by their boldness when I've had lunch on the beach or tried to have a bagel on the boardwalk. And try jogging or walking when they're overhead ... it's a little nerve-wracking, worrying if one will drop a crab, a clam or something worse your way.

But whoever is responsible for killing 35 of them in Pleasantville (no irony lacking there) should have their heads examined. Last week, three young people in a car stacked up french fries on the pavement in a shopping center parking lot, waited for the seagulls to swarm, then mowed them down. "It was kind of ugly, man, blood everywhere," said one of many horrified witnesses. In addition to the birds that were killed, many others were left flopping around injured. That's just nasty:
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060729/NEWS03/607290338/1007

I hope they're caught ... it's sickening.