The Penn's Grove record., 1916-03-10
FINES TO Be REDUCED
Board Of Health Revising Code.
Cleaning Up Progressing Finely.

Grove Board of Health was held last
Friday night. Edward S. Harris, pre-
sided. The Others present were H. l..
Blohm, secretary, S. q. Hurff and w. A.
Summerill.
ID. Z. Bowen, state inspector, was pres
ent and expressed an opinion that little
had been lone and Penns Grove was in
about as bad a sanitary condition as for
merly.
The scavenger, Oliver Cuff, was pres
ent and 5. j. Hurff read his report which
showed that during the past two months
ne had cleaned out more than 200 toilets
that needed it most and had hauled 1913
=two-horse wagon loads of garbage and
rubbish. That is more than was report
ed done during the year 1915.
Considering that he was the first mar
who has continued on the job more than
a month, that he lives below Salem and
the bad roads, President Harris express
sed an opinion that the Board had made
much progress and deserved some credit.
even though others did not wish to con-
cede it.
1t is true the present Board has not
legally CD robbed citizens of $500 in
lines for alleged offenses which injured
no one, more cleaning up has been done
under the democratic moral suasion of
members of the Board than was done un.
der the imperial ukases of a $500 in.
spector.
w. A. Summerill introduced a "Sani-
tary Code to take the place of the pres
ent one. The changes are in the fines,
which are made as low as 50 and So with
a maximum of $25, $50 and 800. The
present code made the fines arbitrarily
$25. $50 and 500 for alleged offenses
which have proved to be injurious only
in the minds of former members of the
local and State Board of Health. The
code was read twice and will come up for
final passage at the meeting next Friday
night. the 18th, when citizens are invited
to appear and state their approval or
objections.
State Inspector Bowen questioned the
right of publishing the notice in the
Penns Grove Record because Mr.. Sum
merrill is a member of the Board of
Health, because there is a law, common
or statute which forbids in certain cases
men employing themselves in a public
capacity. An answer was that if such
was done'b votes OF other members OF
the Board where is the ~crimiGaIitv?
LAW OF PUBLICATION
The law for the local boards of health
says:
80. That the said local boards of
health have power to pass, alter or
= amend ordinances, but such ordinance
shall have three readings before its final
passage and at least one week shall in
tervene between the second and third
readings of said ordinance and a notice
stating the title of said ordinance and
the date when it passed it's second read
ing SHALL be published at least one
week prior to its final passage in at
least one newspaper published in the bor-
ough, if any newspaper is published
therein"
The statute law of 1909, chapter 81, to
regulate the price for official advertising
says: "The price to be paid for publish
ing official advertising in any newspaper,
except in cities or counties of the first
and second class SHALL be at the rate
of five cents per nonpareil Tor 6 point)
line for each insertion"
The purpose of changing the fines in
the Sanitary Code is not to give Mr..
Summerill a job of printing but to make
the fines conform to the state law of
1893 which fixes the minimum at So and
the maximum at 500, thus giving the
Justice or Judge power to discriminate
as to the badness of the offenses and the
disposition of the persons to create a bet
ter sanitary condition on their premises.
If any personal or political friend (?)'
of the publisher of the Penns Grove Rec
ord wishes to object to w. A. Summer
i'll receiving legal pay from the Board of
Health for publishing the Sanitary Code,
reducing the fines or alleged offenders
against sanitary premises now is the time
to enter objections before the Board of
Health. Our purpose in becoming a
member of the Board of Health was not
to make conditions such to get a job of
advertising, but to reduce and hinder the
legalized robbery of citizens for some
thing that had not caused injury nor ILL
Less to anyone, but was only in the minds
of members of the State Board of Health,
obsessed with ideas which are not facts
in Penns Grove. If any other citizen
will take the position and protect the cit
izens against imperial robbers they may
nave it.
ORIGIN OF EXHORBITANT FINES
When Penns Grove had an epidemic of
a disease declared to be atypical of
smallpox, after the manner of smallpox
in a benign form there was no local or
dinance to regulate such. The local
Board of Health did the compulsory work
thought necessary and made the ordin-
ance later on March 8, 1911. The or
dinance and the arbitrary, and exhor-
bitant fines were made at the instigation
of D. G. Bowen, state inspector. In
1893, eleven We IFS previous the State
Legislature passed a law, prescribing
that local boards of health may make
penalties not to exceed 500 nor less than
81. Salem, Woodbury. nor Atlantic City
do not have arbitrary fines as high as the
present code of Penns Grove which is to
be repealed by the code to be finally pas
sed next Friday night.
Our idea for the correction of an al