STANFIELD

(Continued from Page 4) do to help people, and he genuinely is that kind of person.”

When asked by this newspaper what achievements in either of her elected jobs she took the greatest pride in, Stanfield said it was the things she managed to accomplish on behalf of individual constituents who later took the time to make her aware of how “either myself or someone in my office was able to help them with something worthwhile.”

“As I said, I’m not into the political process,” she declared. “It is not fun and gets discouraging sometimes when you’re campaigning. But when I could help people – that’s what kind of keeps you going, just knowing that you are making a difference for someone.”

In response to another question as to what, if anything, she would go back and change if she could in her career, she answered, “I’m not really sure. Nothing jumps out at me. I’m not saying I did everything perfectly. But life is a process of learning – a work in progress.”

Stanfield also responded to more philosophical questions about how she would like to see society’s current political and law-enforcement issues resolved.

Where the political picture is concerned, she said, “I think we need to just slow down and talk to each other, and restore civility.”

“I’ve always been able to work with people with different viewpoints than I have,” she declared. “We could always find common ground. We all kind of want the same things, but we have to work together more and listen to each other and see where we can all agree.”

As for what kinds of reforms might help restore confidence in both the equity and effectiveness of the law-enforcement community, the former sheriff said she thought some of those already enacted state-and countywide, with which she is most familiar, would be good examples.

“We have police chiefs who have really embraced community policing and the idea that we need to have transparency,” she contended, adding that at least in Burlington County, a lot of policies have been achieved that the nation would do well to follow. “We have so many things in place in New Jersey to make sure things are done fairly and justly. I am all about that. I think it is important for the community to respect law enforcement, and that is why when I was sheriff, we did so many community programs.

“I think, right now, the single thing we can do to make law enforcement better going forward is to start appreciating police officers and sheriff’s officers and law enforcement officials again. Because if we don’t, if we keep demeaning the profession, we’re not going to get good people to sign on—and assuming the cops are bad, good people aren’t going to want to be police officers. We need to make them feel appreciated again, to be able to recruit good people who want to make a difference and want to help, to sign up and do this very difficult thing.”

Finally, asked if there was anything else that she would like her constituents to know, Stanfield replied, “I would just like to thank people for trusting me.”

(Continued from Page 8) a year, which she could ill afford, and that failure to do so would result in the woman’s water being shut off.

Other speakers described tap water they have found to be unusable, either due to exceptionally high levels of chlorine or apparent contaminants.

“The quality of the drinking water is not great,” contended Hampton Lakes resident Lila Myer, who said that she has to have a filtration system in her refrigerator because the chlorine smell is so strong, it is very difficult to tolerate at times.

“It’s not drinkable,” was how another LeisureTowne homeowner, Dorothy Bartolino, described the water supplied by Pinelands. “People have to have filters in their refrigerator or buy bottled water. We don’t even give it to our pets.”

Bartolino then told of deposits of “slime and black gunk” in the aerators of her kitchen and bathroom faucets, and “circles of slime that build up in the toilets and the