Where’s Jersey Tomatoes & Peaches: Joe Griffies

[April 7, 2026]  Good morning, General.  I’ve been wanting to write about this subject for a long time. Finally, today, I am reading an article in a local newspaper, and it is talking about the very subject that has been bothering me for a very, very, very long time.

Let us not blame the Cape May County branch campus of Atlantic Cape Community College for their enrollment being down. That students from Cape May County are not attending this great school. I believe the College did what they promised to deliver to Cape May County. We did not as a county deliver back to the college what we should have. We have failed the College, not the other way around.

I want to get one thing perfectly clear. When I went in the Army as a teenager, I was drafted a short time after graduating from high school. One of Uncle Sam’s rules about the draft was if you were not enrolled in college, you are most likely going to get drafted. By the way, they put it as    not being smart enough to get in college then you are a perfect candidate to probably end up in Vietnam or some other foreign country in the Military.

Coming home from Vietnam, still not old enough to vote, I enrolled in Saint Joe’s College on City Line Avenue. Three years of night school, three days a week was a lot for me to handle. I was working six days a week learning a trade. Going to school three nights a week, dealing with PTSD from Vietnam and all the other baggage Vietnam Veterans were facing alone upon coming home was too much for me to handle.

I had a lot of trouble during one of my summer courses on Economics and I believe it was this class that convinced me that I was in the wrong place and College was not for me.

I always believed that I was not college material. What I always believed and still do today is that I was like many of my Vietnam Brothers and Sisters, that we were GREAT SOLDIERS and given the responsibility to stop communism from spreading throughout the world. We took this responsibility very seriously and the last time I checked, we are a communist free country. This happened because our Vietnam Veterans, not our college bound students, protected us for their freedom.

Great, Great, Great job all my Vietnam Brothers and Sisters for doing a job that only we could do. Our diploma from Vietnam said thanks for making the world free to live in.

We were the best our country had during the 60s and 70s. We could drive a vehicle, fly a plane, walk thru elephant grass or make our way thru a rice patty while being shot at. Our food sucked, we got very little pay. A rain called a Monsoon; a disease called Malaria and many other diseases became part of our young lives. I also forgot about the temperature very, very hot and our gift from the sky called “Agent Orange.”

So, upon my retirement almost 50 years ago, I went to enroll at a college about 50 miles from where I live. On my second visit touring this great campus I was told that I could not continue using my GI Bill to take a few American History courses This was due to the fact that my GI bill ran out after ten years of getting out of the military.

The first thought that came to my mind and my lips when I told one of the Deans I was speaking to about this was that I told him that his freedom did not run out after my ten years of being home and out of the Army. That my thoughts of Vietnam did not fade and go away after ten years of being home. Why did my GI bill disappear.

I was lucky that I got into a trade, worked hard, worked for a few companies that provided me with a very lucky life. Along with my wife it is the reason I am still around today. Hard work, surrounding myself with great friends is the formula for success and longevity.

Last year I got a phone call from Atlantic Cape Community College asking if I would promote a course, they were offering free of charge to Veterans. I not only promoted the course on our Radio show, but I took the course. What great professors I had but I really enjoyed my time spending two nights a week last summer with them. I will always be grateful to Denise Coulter, Jean McAlester, Krista McConnell and all my professors for allowing me to be a small part of their college but a big part of my dream of going back to school to learn. They allowed me to do this.

So, what does all this have to do with Jersey Tomatoes and Peaches? Well, growing up in Philadelphia every day we had the Great Hucksters selling produce up and down our streets and alleys. Peaches, Blueberries, Grapes, Cantaloupes, Strawberries, Jersey Corn and, of course, Jersey Tomatoes.

Philadelphia had the Phillies and Eagles, but Jersey had the Peaches and Tomatoes. The best you will ever eat. I think growing up on fruits and vegetables from Jersey made us the healthy soldiers Uncle Sam was looking for.

Sadly, most of the Jersey Farms are not in business today. Malls, roads and highways have replaced most of our farmland. We still have not found a way to grow Jersey Tomatoes thru concrete.

So, what does all this have to do with Atlantic Cape Community College enrollment being down? Just look at our past. We lost our farmland, so we are pretty much at the mercy of supermarkets to get our fruits and vegetables. Read the labels. Not too many say grown in New Jersey. As a matter of fact, a lot don’t even say grown in the Unites States.

I have watched for many years our politicians sitting back and ignoring the reason our enrollment in our college is down. Way back 50 years ago sitting in that economics class at St Joe’s that I hated, I did pay attention. I learned that if we do not have jobs for our students getting out of college they will not come back home to live and work. Jobs is what makes young people want to live where they work.

Cape May County is becoming a very large retirement community. The few young people that we have leave after high school to go to other parts of our state or out of state to attend college. This is the sad part; they don’t return home because there are no jobs here.

Fix our roads, make them longer, wider, safer. Make our part of New Jersey attractive for business to come here. If business come back so will our children after college. I will speak to our Navy Veteran Governor Mikie Sherill about building a new highway to south Jersey. It has been to long since any new roads have been put on the map. This will all help in jobs and our kids coming back home.

If our Politicians running for office don’t start talking about the life of our Country on election days all our voting polls will soon be in nursing homes.

Stop fighting with one another and start talking about the life we can and should have here in South Jersey. New Jersey was the second star on our great flag when our country was born, why are we down near the bottom of our 50 states where people want to live. Atlantic Cape Community College did not run the enrollment down our Politicians did by not doing their jobs. Bring Jobs Back plus College Kids and that adds up to success.

Don’t let our young, bright, future citizens go by the way of our Jersey Tomatoes and Peaches. Our young people are our future lifeline. There are about 250,000 Veterans that live in New Jersey, we did our job in keeping our country free and safe. Our Politicians must do their jobs by keeping us prosperous.

Running for office is a serious job, it is not on the job training.

Love Ya, General.   Joe.

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Joe Griffies

• Director of Veteran’s Affairs
• The Welcome Home Radio Show
• WIBBAGE Radio   1020AM  97.9FM  101.3FM  101.9FM
• 3328 Simpson Avenue
• Ocean City, NJ 08226

SUNDAY’S 9AM TO 11AM

609-398-1020

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Please read my books:

1. “55 Rules for a Good Life,” on Amazon (link here).
2. “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” on Amazon (link here).