Plan referenda approved

By TOM RUE
WAYNE COUNTY - On May 20, residents of Buckingham, Damascus, and Manchester will have an opportun- ity to vote on whether their townships should cooperate with the National Park Service (NPS) in the creation of a plan for the management of the Upper Delaware.

Wording for the ballot questions has been submitted to the county by the respective township supervisors, and approved by the county commissioners and board of elections.

In Buckingham, the proposition will read: "Should Buckingham Township accept or negotiate with the National Park Service or the Department of Interior on the River Management Plan?"

Similarly, the wording in Damascus will ask: "Should the supervisors of Damascus Township accept the River Management Plan?"

Manchester residents will answer: "Should Manchester Township enter into, or cooperate with NPS through contractual agreements and management plan?" The Manchester referendum is the only one of the three to mention contractual agreements.

Supervisors in Buckingham and Damascus have already entered into agreements with the NPS for trash collection and law enforcement. Referenda in those townships will ask strictly whether supervisors should accept or cooperate in the formulation of a River Management Plan.
All three Wayne County river townships have participated, at one time or another, in the Conference of Upper Delaware Townships (COUP) since its formation in 1981. Damascus was a founding member of COUP, while Buckingham and Manchester joined later. COUP was formed to provide a forum for local government input in the drafting ofa management plan.
The ballot vote will serve to advise township officials, but does not bind the supervisors in their decision whether to cooperate with NPS. "The only binding referendum in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," explained Joseph Fitzsimmons, Wayne County Director of Elections, "is on a constitutional issue."

An indication of how the May 20 vote might turn out, could come when a landowner survey, conducted recently by COUP, is released. Claims made by some COUP offi- cials put the number of respondents who support the plan as high as 80%.

Yet one longtime political observer predicted that voters would say "no" to township participation with the NPS, and that the federal government would then step in and force the hand of the supervisors. He said this would relieve individ- ual local officials of liability in lawsuits which have been threatened by some valley landowners who fear federal confiscation of their property.
No matter how the votes turn out, the Park Service is not going to go away, said NPS management assistant Angus Ross, "Since we're not leaving, and since the law says we've got to be here, there's got to be some kind of a compromise. If they choose to ignore it, in that case, the compromise becomes the sole responsibility of the Secretary of Interior."

Ross acknowledged that he was worried about the out- come of the referenda, because the NPS would like to have local cooperation in drafting a plan. "Never have so many been so scared by so few who do not have a true understand- ing of all the issues," said Ross.