The paper has been legitimately covering the races for the past 20 years without ever receiving a complaint regarding the conduct of its professional writing and photography staffs.

The reporters respect the drivers and their teams by staying out of their way during the weekend, by not hounding them for autographs or by preventing them from doing their sometimes perilous jobs during practices and the races. They treat the facility and the event with the utmost respect.

Maybe if the paper were a sponsor for a soft drink or car wax company, the racetrack would be less stringent with a pass so that we could become more of the \”What’s In It For Me\” frenzy around the drivers and teams.

So local NASCAR fans and race-goers, remember next race how little Dover Downs thinks of this area’s fans and how they feel they have become too big for our areas insignificant followers.

Jack Dilks, Gloucester City

Former Dover Reporter

• Gloucester City Fire Alarm Bell Christened In 1891

• Mount Ephraim Superintendent Joseph Rafferty Turns Down Raise; Will Contribute To Health Care

• Bellmawr Board Of Education Swears In William Murray and Eric Hoban

• Gloucester City Steering Committee Favors Walk-Up Light Rail Station

CHEER-To the fire department members that showed up at Brother of the Wolf for a cook out on April 22nd to honor them for their service to the community. A JEER to the police department who said they would come and then didn\’t show up. ~Dawn Watson

CHEER-The Haddon Heights Borough Council was able to reduce municipal taxes by .4 percent or about $30 less for a home assessed at the borough average of $295,000. The budget totals $7.39 million.

KUDOS to Gloucester City Police Sgt. Bill Wiltsey for his quick response to the six- year- old he found wandering about the City in the early morning hours one night last month.

JEER-Another month and another complaint received about Waste Management leaving empty trash cans and recycling buckets in the street. Waste Management is the company hired by the City of Gloucester City to pick up trash and recyclables. A resident writes, \”I have a pet peeve. Why do the trash men put the empty containers in the street? This bugs me to have to chase my cans all over the place otherwise they do a great job.\”

CHEER-Despite losing over $324,000 in state aid, Haddon Township Commissioners’ 2010 budget slightly lowers municipal taxes by $1 for the average home assessed at $120,000. Overall spending will be reduced by nearly $296,000 to $13.1 million.

JEER- to Gloucester City and other communities for not fixing the many pot holes that are plain to see and easily found on the majority of streets in this area. The streets are horrible to drive on.

CHEER-For the first time in nearly 20 years municipal taxes in Gloucester City will not increase thanks to the hard work of Mayor James and City Council. The 2010 budget totals $16,984,500. Mayor James said recently that state aid for the City was cut by $1.3 million.

JEER- In 2006-2007 the replenishment sand project for Surf City beaches totaled $6 million. Because of the harsh winter this year 800,000 cubic yards of sand was washed away. The leaders of the community want more federal funds to replenish the beach. Surf City beach fees are $25 season, $13 weekly, $6 daily. That money should be used to replace the sand, not our tax dollars. Incidentally New Jersey is the only state that has beach fees.

JEER-To bicyclist riding and talking on cell phones, to moms pushing a baby coach talking on a cell phone and to pedestrians not paying attention to traffic because they are busy talking on a cell phone. Add to the list people texting messages while driving a vehicle.

CHEER-The Gloucester City Rotary Club celebrates its 75^th anniversary this year. An event will be held May 15^th at Freedom Pier, King and Cumberland Streets. For more information contact Mark Ford, Rotary President, 456-8811.

JEER- The Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation is also a big donor to Planned Parenthood. Many people who donate time and money to this organization are not aware that they are unwittingly killing babies. You can find the info by digging into their own site in the FAQ. They try to play it down and kind of skirt around just how much is donated. ~John M. Waszewski Barrington

CHEER– Mayor Frank Filipek, the Bellmawr Council and Municipal Clerk Charles Sauter deserve Kudos for their work in overcoming obstacles in converting a long time dump on Creek Road into a proposed waterfront recreational facility. Recreational space is a quality of life issue and something in very short supply in South Jersey. This is a great project. When it’s complete (at least 3 years away) we should have one of the biggest recreational areas in South Jersey with miles of trails and waterfront access to the Big Timber Creek. The developer also plans retail space (they promised no strip malls) and a solar farm to gather solar power.

JEER-To the parents of young children that allow them to walk the streets on Friday and Saturday nights. Their loudness (at 2 and 3 A.M.) plus the repeated use of the \”F word\” is very disturbing. C\’mon, folks. Make them come in by 11 and let us sleep!

CHEER-For a second year in a row Westville was chosen as having the \”Best Town Spirit\” in South Jersey, based on the readership of the Courier-Post. A big round of applause to Mayor Russell Welsh and council for their effort to keep the municipal tax rate from going up this year.

Now is your time to voice your opinion on New Jersey high taxes. Maybe you are upset with Governor Christie, does he deserve a cheer or jeer. Or you think your governing body/school board deserve a cheer or jeer for the way they are managing your town’s/school district’s budget.

Everyone in New Jersey/Philadelphia region is invited to participate. Although we would rather you sign your name we will honor your request if you would rather remain anonymous.

BY Bill Cleary

SPECIAL KUDOS-One administrator stands out above all the others. Joseph Cirrinicione, superintendent of Lower Township schools in Cape May County is cutting his own salary by more than $115,000, and plans to return to work in the fall at a starting teacher’s salary of $43,660 with no benefits.-

CHEER–To Gloucester City for the respect that they showed my brother Steve at both the viewing and funeral. The chief would\’ve been proud of the city and his brother officers. Next time anyone bashes either the City or police officers just remember when you treat people with respect you\’ll get the respect in return. Thank you mayor for taking part with the bag pipes. It was what he wanted and to have a friend playing made a fitting part of the funeral. signed Steve’s little brother JOE

JEER – A resident writes, Stray cats are overtaking our neighborhood from the feral feline group; there are 3 that sit on my porch two in my yard. If I wanted cats I would get one. But my daughter and I are allergic to animal dander. Make this group change their ways.

CHEER-To the Mt. Ephraim police department for their extraordinary efforts during the recent snow storms. You did a remarkable job tag teaming with the borough workers keeping the residents safe. Thank you for all your hard work.

JEER-Lehigh Avenue, Princeton Avenue and Harvard Avenue (Gloucester Heights) are filled with pot holes. The streets are terrible. Spring is here, and now is the time for the Highway Department to fix them before someone ruins their car driving over one of the deep holes.

JEER-Some of the people who work for Waste Management who pick up the recyclables throw the buckets all over the streets. It would only take a minute more for them to put the buckets back on the resident’s property.

CHEER-To the Mt. Ephraim borough workers for working so hard during the recent snow storms. They did a remarkable job keep the streets plowed, working long sleepless hours to keep our residents safe. Thank you for all your hard work.

CHEER- The Montclair Education Association has voted to forgo a raise. The union’s decision will save the Montclair School District about $900,000 and enable the district to retain some staff members slated for dismissal due to the insufficient budget. Also every person employed by the West Essex Regional School District has also agreed to a wage freeze for the next school year to avert job losses and program cuts.

CHEER-Gloucester City Mayor and City Council have recently passed a resolution reducing their annual compensation by 20 percent. The mayor receives $2500 annually while council members are paid $1000 a year. Councilman Dan Spencer is donating his total salary to the St. Mary Grammar School Development Fund. Spencer is the only member of council who doesn\’t accept paid City health benefits nor does he accept reimbursement for opting out as other members do.

JEER-For years the 5^th and Market Streets parking lot owned by the City of Gloucester City has been used by people to dump their empty beer cans, trash, and other junk. These individuals sit in their vehicles at all times of the night drinking beer, smoking pot, and doing other illegal drugs. The remnants of their parties can be found lying all about. The City is aware of this problem but never cleans the lot. It is blight on the entire neighborhood.

CHEER- To the 7th and Market Street area neighborhood for picking up trash even though they may not have thrown it on the ground, for saying hello to passers-by even though they don\’t know their names, and for stopping a moment to chat at any time of the night or day!

CHEER-On Sunday March 14 Brooklawn’s seventh and eighth grade boys’ basketball team battled to repeat as 2010 Memorial A.A. Tourney Champions. The Brookers beat Merchantville by a final score of 31-29. Brooklawn was behind with three seconds left on the clock when Mike Davis’s shot fell in the basket to give them the win.

JEER- To the Mr. Softee guy that drove down Market St at 40 mph, playing his theme song while talking on his cell phone. Didn\’t he see the little old lady jumping up and down in front of 700 Market St? Didn\’t he know that is the universal signal for \”I want an ice cream\”? Do I really need to shoot out his tires to get him to stop? Geez.

CHEER-On March 5^th the St. Mary’s Boys Varsity basketball team squared off against Christ the King (Haddonfield) for the Camden County Catholic Athletic League Championship. In front of a standing room only crowd both teams battled hard the entire game with the lead changing hands many times. In the end the Hawks, guided by Head Coach Tom Quinn and Assistant Coach John Nolan, lost 40 – 35 in a game that came down to the wire. The team, led by co-captains James Burkhardt and Phil Dickinson, finished the season with an impressive 18 – 4 record. These young men represented St. Mary School and Gloucester City with the utmost pride, determination and sportsmanship all season. Congratulations to the outstanding coaching staff and all the players on a great season.

JEER-It is important for everyone to have health care. However, the cost of the recently approved federal government health care program is ridiculous…$2.5 trillion. As such the government will now control 17 percent of the US economy. That alone should scare all of us. Just look at the record, government controlled programs such as social security, Medicare, the post office, Amtrak are all bankrupt.

Contributors to this month’s column in no particular order, Dawn Watson, Theresa Babcock, Mildred Stubbs, Joe Farrell, and two anonymous people.

March 3, 2010

A male was shot this morning around 9:30 AM. He was sitting in a SUV parked at the WaWa on Wellwood Avenue, Bellmawr, near the New Jersey State Police barracks.

The victim was transported to the Cooper Trauma Center in Camden City by the Bellmawr Fire Department EMS and Virtua paramedics. Law enforcement authorities are at the scene.

By Bill Cleary

CHEER-To neighbors helping neighbors during the recent snow storms.

JEER-The new Mayor of the impoverished Camden City, Dana Redd wants to double the top salaries for her three aides to $150,000 from $71,000. In the midst of one of the worst recessions in decades; this is insane. Camden has become a patronage pit for corruption and the results are disastrous. Camden is the poster child for inefficiency despite all the monies wasted by the state.

JEER-Because of a $2.6 billion budget deficit New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has cut financial aid to schools and municipalities. Yet at the same time he is asking everyone to make sacrifices, he has created the position of director of new media to promote his official Twitter account and handle blogger outreach. The salary for this job, which an intern would have done for nothing, is $60,000. Only in New Jersey!

JEER –The management of New St. Mary’s Cemetery in Bellmawr cleared their own drives and public areas within their gates of snow, but made no attempt to clear the sidewalks outside of their gates, along Browning Road. The sidewalk along their property is the main route for Bellmawr children to commute from Bell Oaks School to the west side of town. Cones were placed in the street along Browning Road (presumably by the Borough) in order for the students to have a place to walk.

Finally on February 15, the sidewalks were cleared apparently by the Borough. As with all construction \”babysitters,\” a patrol car was there to slow traffic. A Borough employee was flagman. With tongue in cheek, I have to question if New St. Mary’s was trying to \”drum up business\” at our children’s expense. Shame on you…. ~C.I. Dolson, Bellmawr

JEER-To the City of Gloucester\’s habit of keeping citizens\’ money in escrow for months when even the regulated 90 days is too long. And the city keeps the interest earned.

A BIG JEER to the idiot that shot Valentine with a dart. How on earth could someone do this to an innocent creature? Valentine was shot at close range. Someone intentionally fired a 5-in. pronged dart through her left eye — and shockingly, the 2-year-old cat survived. Valentine is being cared for by Joa’s Arc.

Contributors Bernadette Gorman, Joyce Moyer, C.I. Dolson, Anonymous Mouse.

ClearysNoteBook is in the process of writing the monthly Cheers and Jeers column for February. If you have a Cheer or a Jeer for some person, place or thing now is the time to speak up.