BRIDGETON -- The Cumberland County Freeholder Board passed two resolutions Thursday opposing the proposed actions of federal and state groups that would affect the county and its surrounding region.
The first objects to the U.S. Army's plan to have Dupont Chamber Works
treat and dispose of VX nerve gas byproducts at their plant in Deepwater.
The second opposes a plan by state legislators to remove Urban Enterprise Zone and Abbott designations from Cumberland County.
While such resolutions don't have any direct bearing on state and federal decisions, Freeholder Director Doug Rainear believes that when the freeholder board makes their opinion known, legislators listen.
"We're very fortunate in both the first and third legislative districts to have legislators that have been very supportive," he remarked.
Both the VX nerve gas and the UEZ and Abbott designation issues have caused public outcry here in recent months.
The U.S. Army and representatives from Dupont claim that VX nerve gas, which was developed in 1952 as a chemical-warfare agent, would be neutralized before being shipped to Salem County.
Many citizens refuse to accept the assurances offered by supporters of the plan.
Meanwhile, school administrators balk at a North Jersey legislator's plan to strip Cumberland County of its Abbott designations, designed to bring extra funding to underprivileged school districts.
The legislators claim Cumberland County has met all the criteria that Abbott funding was supposed to help with and this extra support should be discontinued.
Freeholder Mary Gruccio, principal of Max Leuchter School in Vineland, said that's not true.
"We have not met all our benchmarks," she said Thursday. "We have shown definite progress but still have work to do. We know other schools want to be Abbott. I can understand why they would want to be. But when something's working, why take it away?"
Removing Abbott designation could result in cut-backs, according to Gruccio.
"If it's removed, we would not be able to have some programs," she said. "They would have to be eliminated."
Bridgeton, Millville and Vineland are Abbott districts.