The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 28

THE RECORD. THURSDAY. AUGUST 29. 1385 C-3 makes offers for homes in flood area us. Housing outside the flood area became so costly that the low prices in the flood zone made that housing attractive again.

"It's unreal," Abate said. "Houses that last year were selling for $100,000 are this year selling for $120,000. And you just can't find anything under $100,000 any more." After the Pequannock residents eligible for the buy-out hear the government's offers this week, they'll have two weeks to think things over. "They can accept our offer and sign the agreement they may reject the offer and decide to withdraw from the program, or they may wish to continue negotiations," said Mary CoLdn, a hazard litigation officer with FEMA's New York office. Ms.

Colzin met with Pequannock residents yesterday. "They may hire their own appraiser at their own cost to complete an appraisal within 14 days to submit to us for further consideration," she said. New appraisals will be considered seriously, she said. "There is no magic limit to how much more we would offer. Based on a By Bid Sanderson Staff Writer For the suffering she went through during the 1984 flood, Diane Comparato isn't sure that she wants to sell her house for just $2,000 more than she paid for it two years ago.

"I think they could have come up with a better fair-market price," she said after talking with officials yesterday about selling ber house to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is buying homes in Pequannock's flood plain. "Everybody else's property value has increased in the last year and a half," said Ms. Comparato, who lives on Harrison Road. "Why shouldn't ours?" Yesterday, for the first time, Pequannock residents living in some of the worst parts of the Pompton River flood plain got formal offers from FEMA for the purchase of their property. The government has budgeted $2.17 million to buy 28 properties.

FEMA officials met with 15 homeowners yesterday and will By law, FEMA can pay no more than the price for which the homes would have sold at the time of the flood. FEMA will deduct whatever payments a homeowner received from National Flood Insurance, but the value of improvements made to a house after the flood will be added to the appraisal Based on the market values of other homes in the area, a homeowner who sells to the government will not be able to buy a similar house outside the flood plain for the amount of money he receives. Real estate agents in Pequannock said that houses outside the flood zone can cost from $20,000 to $30,000 more than those inside it Also, they say, property values throughout the town have risen at least 20 percent since the flood. "Even houses in the flood zone are selling at a fairly good price," said Frank Abate, a salesman for ERA Van Real Estate in Pequannock. After the flood, Abate said, the price of housing in the flood area dropped, while housing outside it became more expensive.

soundly built appraisal, we certainly would be inclined to give them a higher value." Ernest Swiger of New River Gorge Corporation, a North Carolina company that is helping the government with the buy-out said that people who have applied to sell their houses to the government should take some time to consider, their decisions. "I try to tell people not to say 'No' to me right on the spot" he said. "This is a way to get out" After she heard the government's offer for her one-story house along the Pompton River, Ms. Comparato wondered if there was a better way for her to sell her property. She plans to hire an appraiser and ask the government to submit a new bid for her home.

"If the appraiser doesn't come up with something more than that, I'll put it on the market" Ms. Comparato said. The flood cost Ms. Comparato all of her property, and whether or not the government buys her house, she is sure she wants to move. "I don't want to live through it again," she said.

meet with more of the homeowners today and tomorrow. After the homes are bought, they will be razed, and the township will have to maintain their lots as open space. The idea behind the buy-out program is to reduce the amount of housing in the flood plain, cutting rescue costs and reducing the chance that someone might die in a flood. In the wake of the devastating floods in April 1984, Pequannock was the only town in the area to apply for the buy-out money available for this year. Township officials said they feel fortunate to have been offered nearly half of the money available.

Pequannock's success in getting the money has encouraged Wayne, Lincoln Park, and Fairfield to apply for the $4.78 million in grants to be offered next year. For those who are eligible to receive the money the 28 homeowners who are thinking of selling out and moving the reality is that what the government pays for their houses may not be as much as they could get on the open market 1 N. Haledon denies van rides for fourth graders I 1 1 live farthest from the High Mountain School. There may be spots on the bus for more fourth graders later this year, Lalley said. Lalley said after the meeting that it would be difficult to calculate exactly how much the district spends on busing, since the state reimburses part of the $100,000 paid to hire buses.

In other business the board raised lunch and milk prices by a nickel for this school year. The cost of student lunches will go from 95 cents to $1, and the price of milk from 15 to 20 cents. Although the board unanimously approved the increase, board member Barbara Polito said she was not particularly pleased with raising the price of milk. The wholesale cost of the milk is a penny or two higher for this year, said board member Sabino Porraro. However, the cafeteria manager recommended the increases also to cover higher labor costs, he said.

The board agreed to monitor the cafeteria operations to determine the effect of the higher prices. Also last night, the board accepted an $8,917 grant from the state Department of Education that will en able the High Mountain School to install a shop for metal working. Seventh and eighth graders will be able to enroll in the new class beginning this fall, said Superintendent Emalene Renna. She said the application for the grant under a very competitive program, was prepared by the school's industrial arts teacher, Robert He-benstreit On another matter, borough Councilman Angelo Cif aldi questioned the board about the district's $50,000 budget surplus, which was reported in July. The board had taken a conservative view of the amount of money set aside for unanticipated costs that would probably be in the school coffers at the beginning of the 1985-86 school year, said Ms.

Polito. "When we closed the books, we found ourselves with more of a surplus than we had originally anticipated," she said. Lalley added the board had feared at one point it would be short on surplus funds for this year, but those fears were proved unfounded by the audit report on last year's budget. Ms. Polito said afterward that she would check the figures from past meetings.

By Linda Sadlouakoa Correspondent NORTH HALEDON The worry expressed to the board of education last night by a mother is one the trustees hear every September, said board President Anthony Lalley. Linda Parsells's daughter will be in fourth grade this year, the level at which students must begin walking to school But the Overlook Avenue woman told the board that she fears having her daughter walk unattended along busy streets to get there. She asked the board to consider acquiring a mini-van to transport fourth graders she knew to be in a similar situation. "We certainly do not have the money to hire a mini-van for those other children, much as we would like to," Lalley said. He reminded her that all borough children live within legal walking distance of the two schools, but the board chooses to provide the so-called courtesy busing for students in Grades K-3.

"There are an equal number of people who do not even want us to have courtesy busing," he added. In past years, it has been a practice for buses with empty seats to pick up those fourth graders who Jtiy.rv&.-: Staff photo by Peter Monsees Debris left by the fire at the Stripping Depot, a Midland Park furniture-stripping firm. Photo by Gary Mann Paramedics work on Marinus "Patrick" Witte at the scene of the accident. Volunteer fireman, 74, is killed in truck mishap railroad station building from Con-rail. Authorities yesterday said they did not know who owned the factory, which is about 40 yards across the railroad tracks from a large lumber supply company.

An employee at the lumberyard said the doors on the side of the building "got so hot you couldn't touch them." "It's a good thing those tracks were there," Bellusci said. The tracks and three empty boxcars on a siding probably prevented flames from reaching the yard where lumber is stored, he said. The boxcars did not burn. The DEP is investigating the types and amounts of chemical substances that were used in the furniture-stripping factory. A man who identified himself as a relative of the factory owner told DEP investigator Joe Mirabella that environmental officials investigated the business last year.

He said a substance with a methylene chloride base was used in the stripping process. Methylene chloride Compounds, which are considered moderately toxic by inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption, usually will burn readily if exposed to flame, but are not explosive, Mirabella said. Another DEP inspector on the site said solvents used in stripping would not typically be highly toxic. If methylene chloride were present in sufficient amounts, it would be considered a hazard, he said. Correspondent Jeffrey Lamm contributed to this article.

By Dana P. S. Cardullo Staff Writer A 74-year-old volunteer fireman was killed yesterday afternoon at the scene of a fire that gutted a furniture-stripping company in Midland Park. Marinus "Patrick" Witte jumped off a fire truck to connect a hose to a hydrant and the truck backed over him. Witte was taken by ambulance to The Valley Hospital in Ridge-wood, where he was declared dead on arrival He had been with the volunteer department for 43 years and was the first borough firefighter to die in the line of duty in the department's 76-year history.

Police could not confirm the cause of the fire, which broke out at 1:10 p.m. at the Stripping Depot factory in the railroad station at Goffie Road and Lake Street But Fire Capt Gene Bellusci, who directed the fire department at the scene, said, "I understand an employee was inside and lit a cigarette," igniting vapors from the solvents used in the stripping operation. "They had old chemicals all over the place," he said. "The fumes from the chemicals may have ignited." The fire was contained within a half hour, officials said. Three employees inside the building when the fire broke out escaped serious injury.

One of the workers, whose identity could not be confirmed, was taken to the hospital where he was treated for minor burns and released. Witte, a retired carpenter who lived a block away from the fire-house, had been among the first firefighters to respond to the alarm yesterday, Fire Chief Edward Hollema Jr. said. "He was always on the first truck," recalled Hollema. "He knew where every hydrant was.

He knew the town better than any man." Witte had joined the department during World War II and remained an active volunteer in the force, which currently has 52 members. Several years ago, he was named Fireman of the Year, fellow firefighters said. "He was one of the men who trained the new members who came on," added Hollema. "You couldn't find a more dedicated man." Officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and from the Bergen County Arson Squad are investigating the fire. Police Lt Dick van Veen said that there was "no suspicion of arson at this time," but that the arson squad is often asked to investigate when significant property damage occurs.

A firefighter, who declined to identify himself, said several explosions occurred in the building. One explosion, he said, set off the fire, and three or four smaller explosions followed. Irene Wostbrock, who was working in a building near the site of the fire, said she saw "a tremendous flame over the depot building. I thought it was going to hit our building, but the winds were going the right way." The company, which has been at the site for eight years, leases the Fishing is a relaxing way to spend a summer day even when they're not biting. 'GtmefishM 9 a sure sign of the relaxing season WARNING FISHPOX; very contagious to adult males-Symptoms include: continuous complaint as to need of fresh air, sunshine, relaxation.

Patient has blank expression; sometimes deaf to wife and kids. Has no taste for work of any kind. Frequent checking of tackle catalogues. Hangs out in sporting goods stores longer than usual. Secret night phoning to fishing pals.

Mumbles to self. Lies to everyone. No known cure. Treatment Go Pequannock will sell bonds Fishing is a favorite pastime in the Skylands region of Passaic and Bergen counties, and Cal's backyard access to the Ramapo River is only one of many places to do it Calvin Learsch, the owner of Cal's for 30 years, says the Ramapo is the best river in the area for trout fishing. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Fish, Game, and Wildlife stocks the Ramapo with trout each spring.

Pompton Lake in the Pompton Lakes Borough is a municipally owned recreational facility. Trout are plentiful in the begining of the season, but gamefish like smallmouth bass, catfish, white perch, and sun-, fish can be caught for the fun of it Moving farther up into the natural beauty of the Skylands region, Ringwood State Park in Ringwood offers fishing on Shepherd Lake. Here anglers share the waterfront with swimmers and boaters. Angling can be done from the shore or from boats, which are for rent Trout are available during the length of the season, as are largemouth bass, pickerel, catfish, yellow perch, and sunfish. Admission to the Shepherd Lake section of the park is 4 per car and free on Tuesdays.

Ringwood in Passaic County is a freshwater fish-See FISHING, Page C-4 The Great Outdoors By Bill Sanderson Staff Writer PEQUANNOCK Township officials are planning a $2,757,000 bond sale next month to pay for improvements to the water system. Pequannock began improving its water system two years ago by expanding its well fields and building a new pumping station and new water lines in the western part of the township. In the next few months, the township plans to begin work on a 1-million-gallon water-storage tank and improvements to the water lines along Route 23. Officials hope the improvements will increase the amount of water available for firefighting and eliminate Pequannock's dependency on Newark's water supply, from which it gets as much as 20 percent of its water. So far, the water system improvements have been paid for with short-term loans called bond anticipation notes.

When the township sells its bonds, the proceeds will be used to repay the short-term loans and fund future work on the project The bond sale is planned for Sept 10. The $2,757,000 raised will be paid back over a 14-year period starting next year. The bond sale is subject to approval of the township council When the council approved the first phase of the water system improvements in January 1983, it left open the issue of when the bonds for the project would be sold. Township Manager Harry Gerken said that by selling bonds in September, the township will probably get a good price. "Interest rates are low.

They're lower than they've been in quite a while," Gerken said. "It appears that right now is a propitious time to go to market" He said he expected that the bonds would be sold at an 8 percent interest rate. By Louis A. Baril Stan Writer The sign on which that slogan appears, like the tackle shop it hangs in, is worn and friendly. Fishermen are welcome to come in and browse through the large array of fishing rods, lures, hooks, and bait kept in stock at Cal's Sport Shop on River Road, just off Route 208 in Oakland.

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