Hospital Extends Smoking Ban to Lots, Vehicles

Holy smoke!
Starting on Independence Day, Cape Regional Medical Center will become a smoke-free campus.
Smoking will not be permitted anywhere on the medical center property.
That includes the buildings, grounds, parking lots, company vehicles, vehicles parked in the lots, and sidewalks adjacent to all properties owned or operated by the medical center.
That includes the properties on Village Drive and Cape Radiology in Rio Grande.
As a frequent user of hospital services, it will be great not to walk through a cloud of smoke outside the entrance.
My hat’s off to the hospital, but this new policy will only be as good as its enforcement. On that, I remain to be convinced. Who’ll be the first to take a cigarette out of the hand of a doctor lighting up in the physicians’ parking lot?
How do you feel about this — a great idea or has the hospital gone too far?

Marketing to Gays

Weddings are a big “industry” in Cape May, bringing thousands of dollars to the resort.
Some in the city envisioned a large increase in gay and lesbian visitors after the state approved civil unions in December.
It apparently hasn’t happened.
Innkeepers say one reason is because many gays aren’t satisfied with civil unions. They want real marriages.
At the recent county tourism conference, a speaker said gays represent a $64-billion market in this country. He also said Cape May County is not doing enough to reach out to that market.
The county Tourism Department has responded that it doesn’t have enough money to promote to the gay niche.
I suspect there may be other reasons than lack of money.
Marketing to gays and lesbians is a logical business tactic. But if anyone is advocating gay marriage over civil unions simply to get more of their money, that person don’t have his priorities straight.
What do you think?

Better Late Than Never

In a piece last month, headlined “Greed in Higher Education,” I commented on the practice of kickbacks from student loan lenders to colleges and/or their financial aid officers.
I concluded by noting the U.S. Department of Education was supposed to regulate, but apparently hadn’t.
Guess what?
The department has released proposed rules for lenders and universities.
They take up 225 pages and provide “a change in direction,” according to the New York Times.
The department’s own inspector general has been calling for these changes for years, but was ignored. This is just another example of how election of a Democratic Congress, with investigative powers, is forcing reforms within the Bush administration.
Among the proposed rules:
• Universities would have to have at least three lenders on their list of recommendations to students.
• The schools would have to explain why they were making the recommendations.
• Most gifts and payments to financial aid officers would be banned.
These proposals would apply only to federally-guaranteed loans, a sizable portion of the $85-billion industry. Yes, billion.
The chief operating officer of the office of Federal Student Aid, Theresa S. Shaw, has stepped down (read pushed out).
But I’m sure she was following the policies of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, and of the administration, that believes the loan industry should be left unregulated.
Spellings should follow in the footsteps of Shaw.

Mayor Fraser Carries Torch for Porch

The Cape May Point Planning Board at 7 p.m. June 13 will review a proposed zoning ordinance aimed at discouraging “boxlike” houses. And borough commission will hold a hearing at 7 p.m. July 12.
The ordinance would allow builders more total square feet for more diverse construction. Officials cite Wildwood and Ocean City as places they don’t want Cape May Point to resemble.
Mayor Malcolm Fraser has suggested a change: Keep porches out of the square feet limits so more of them could be built.
Amen, Mayor Fraser.
Essays, poems and books have been written in honor of porches,
In two separate childhood houses, I was privileged to have porches,
As a small child, my porch was used as an imaginary submarine, a fort under attack by Indians, I mean native Americans, and all sorts of things.
As a young man, my porch was the perfect place to sit and have a beer, swat an occasional bug, and watch the birds in the field across the street.
Later in life I had a carport — not a porch but better than nothing,
The front porch is the outstanding feature in our current home. From it, I watch the seasons change, usually according to the type of tourists walking by: Right now, young parents with children not yet in school; soon, your general, all-around tourist; and after Labor Day, senior citizens.
Where would you rather have your morning coffee and newspaper, in a kitchen looking at the same old scene, or on porch where the view changes by the minute?
Fight for porches, Mayor Fraser. You are right, again.