Delmar DustPan

February 28, 1993 U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF)attacked the Branch Davidians' church, Mount Carmel Center. Up until April 19, 1993, when the church was burnt and 74 men, women and children were killed, the public was entertained on TV with scenes of the United State government, one of the most powerful governments on earth, playing games. It was one of the most dumbest things I have seen. There are so many spins on this I don't know if the Branch Davidians and David Koresh were right or wrong, I do know the way the government handled the entire thing was ridiculous. Frankly I just could not believe it. As usual all the government officials kept their jobs as opposed to bring them up on murder charges. Rats protect rats. I kept expecting some mass public intervention into Waco, but it never came.

Some references: The Waco massacre

FrontLine Waco

The Town has owned 201 East Jewell for a number of years. The town decided the house was in bad shape and should be torn down. I also understand people have been sleeping in it at night. Today was the big day, it started out looking like this in the morning.

By 11 AM it was looking this

At 2 PM this was it. I am sure it came down a lot quicker than when it went up, but it is always easier to tear something down than to build something. I don't know what the cost is to tear a house down but with dumping fees and filling in with dirt, I would guess at $13,000 to $15,000. So now what is the town going to do with the empty lot that will be there?

David Faison, of Largo Maryland, was sentenced yesterday to nine months in federal prison for stealing uncut sheets of $100 bills from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. He will also have to pay back the $37,200 he spent. Now I would have thought stealing from the mint would carry a stronger prison term than what he got. The real question is how did he get 21 sheets of uncut bills out of the mint? Apparently there is less security at the mint than what we have been lead to believe.

The Delmar, Delaware and Delmar, Maryland Joint Town Council was held Monday, February 26th, 2007. It started at 7 PM and ended about 8:45 PM. Delaware Councilman Lonnie Figgs was absent. There were about 15 people in the audience.

A discussion of the Jamie Rostocki Annexation Request was held in which the Delaware Mayor appointed an annexation committee to look into the annexation request. This annexation is for property on both sides of Old Stage Road, north of Yorkshire Estates. The land is owed by a number of people and has more than 15 tracts of land connected with it. The bulk of it is land owned by old Stage Road LLC.

A Maryland matter was discussed concerning the Wilbet/Maszera Agreement. Maszera needs a storm drainage ditch for his property development and the ditch is on Wilbet property. Since there is flooding in that section of town, the town would like to have access to the drainage ditch in that area on Maryland Avenue, if needed, and this agreement would help that problem.

Delmar Revitalization Committee; From the audience point of view there was a confused half hour discussion about the agreement between the town and the Delmar Revitalization Committee. Chris Walter from the Delmar Revitalization Committee and the Mayors and council people discussed the agreement while each had two different copies of the agreement. The public was not let in on what this agreement was about (and they wonder why the residents don't trust them), but I am sure anything Chris Walter is involved in will cost the taxpayers money. Chris Walter also pointed out the Delmar Revitalization Committee is selling personalized commentative bricks to go in the sidewalk downtown. The profit from which will be used on the "Doctor" museum. He said the Delmar Revitalization Committee is working on the "doctors" Museum and the caboose. They hope to use the museum as a meeting hall. There was a discussion on rather brick sidewalks were legal in Delmar. Now back in 1984 when First Street was paved the town made Joe Morris takeup his brick sidewalks. I think they were the last brick side walks in Delmar. I know Joe was pissed about it. So I guess things change and exceptions can be made for some people.

Walnut Street Extension - As was discussed in last month's meeting, The Maryland side of town researched the request of the owner of 700 East Walnut to see if the town would pay for paving the street. This is currently a dirt road at 7th street and Walnut (It is at the end of Walnut street). The owner is proposing to built houses on this street. The people building the houses would, of course, like for the town to bear the cost of paving the road. Tonight Mayor Niblett and Maryland Commissioner Carl Anderton said they didn't see the town paving the road as the town had too much too handle now. It would be up to the developers to pave the road.

Public Works has the new truck in service. They bought a bulk spreader for salt distribution. The new public Works Director will began work March 1st.

Planning and Zoning - The Verizon wireless company in State Line Plaza would like to put up a sign in order to attract business. Several possibilities were discussed.

The house at 201 East Jewell Street is to be demolished as it is in poor repair. The house is owned by the town.

The Delmar Elementary school is looking into the possibility of putting an antenna on the town's south Water Tower in order to provide wireless Internet service to the school. The town agreed they would not have a problem with that as long as there was an agreement that the school would do maintenance on whatever problems they may create with the antenna

The Delmar Utility Commission held their meeting on Monday, February 26, 2007.

Among the items discussed;

The Tidewater agreement - this agreement is between the Town and Tidewater Utilities to supply and operate a water and sewer plant on the east side of Rt 13. This operation will supply the new annexed developments on the east side of RT13 with water and sewer. This agreement is still being worked on.

The Pine Street Pumping station is down. The sewage is being pumped pass this station. This pump station has two pumps installed about 1994 and both have failed. There was some question as to if maintenance procedures had been followed. We agreed to buy a new pump at $21,000 and repair another pump at $13,500. The repaired pump should be arriving this Thursday and should be installed shortly after that.

Harvey Mack Business Annexation - At the corner of Foskey Lane and RT13 is the Harvey Mack Company. They have requested annexation into the town and would like to have sewer connected before the annexation process is completed. I was against this as we don't know that once they are connected they will back out of the annexation. I am also under the impression, in Maryland, you can not disconnect sewer lines once they have been hooked up, however other members of the utility commission felt that since the Maryland Town Lawyer had not mentioned this than we should be able to disconnect if they were hooked up and not annexed.

Wicomico County has an urban service agreement with the town to supply water/sewer to some county residents. They requested two more properties be added to this service in the Wood Lawn area. We decided against doing that.

The Delaware Dept of Health told us the town was not meeting Fluoride standards. This problem is also occurring in other towns so it may just be the testing procedure used by Delaware Dept of Health.

I mentioned that I had seen the water meter readers at work today and I questioned why there were two of them reading the meters. Again the Town Manager said it was for training purposes - the same answer I always receive from her when I ask this question. I have worked for two utilities, a water utility and a gas utility, in neither one did we have meter readers work in pairs. When you see the electric or gas company meter reader come by your house it is one person. Why are we wasting money having them go in pairs. It remind me of when the town collected trash and there would be 6 to 10 people on the trash truck. Now it is handled by a private company and two people are on the truck. In addition we have spent quite a bit of money on electronic meter reading wands, so meter covers would not have to removed. They were purchased so two people would not be used, but still we waste money. No doubt the reason is because the water and sewer utility is rolling in excess funds created by unreasonable rates and do not have to watch their money.

On Tuesdays the Delmar Bonanza Restaurant has "Kids Eat free Night". To add to this night they are having the Lone Ranger make an appearance. Now I don't know as the Lone Ranger is a popular hero with kids today, but he will be at Bonanza tomorrow night. Tonight at the Joint Council Meeting Maryland Mayor Niblett said the manager of Bonanaza had invited the Mayors and Councilpeople/Commissioners to Bonanaza after 5 PM for a free meal and a chance to meet the Lone Ranger. ( See my previous post on Elected Officials accepting "free" meals).

I got a few of the new dollar coins from the bank yesterday. Frankly, I am not impressed with them. They are gold colored like the previous ones but they feel lighter. The coins remind me of Mardi Gras money. Instead of being milled on the edge they have writing around the edge and the stamping of the writing doesn't look of very good quality.

With all the liberties that have been removed from us over the past 40 years I don't see why the government is having a problem with converting to a dollar coin. Just stop printing one dollar bills and everyone will have to use the coin.

The News Journal has been running articles on how lobbyists influence Delaware State elected officials. Click here Lobbyists Let me say that I was pleased neither Representative from the Delmar District was written up too bad. Representative Clifford Lee received about $655 in lunches etc from Lobbyists and Senator Robert Venables received nothing. The Northern Delaware elected Representatives and Senators however must stood on a street corner begging Lobbyists for a handout.

Of greater concern to myself, as a retired accountant, is the amount the Delaware state Auditor R. Thomas Wagner accepted. The News Journal says he accepted $5,340 in gifts. Those gifts were listed as:
$250 for Chamber of Commerce Dinner
$250 for NCCC of Commerce Dinner w/spouse
$416 for Motorsports
$416 for Motorsports
$208 for NASCAR
$208 for NASCAR
$456 for nascar
$150 for Chamber Annual Dinner Ticket
$1,152 for Nascar tickets
$150 for Chamber Annual Dinner Ticket
$672 for NASCAR TICKETS
$852 for Nascar Tickets
$160 for Chamber Annual Dinner
Now an auditor should be independent and I just don't see one being independent if they are accepting gifts. Which state audit will be slanted or not performed because of these gifts? He is a disgrace to the profession because he accepted these items. I have contacted his office over the years to look into some the going ons of Delmar government but his office has always refused or ignored my requests. I will probably have another request to the state audit department coming up shortly, so maybe I should include $50 cash attached to my request to see if it handled this time.

In Delmar, over the years, I have had issues with the Town's auditing firms because of shit like this. When the Town was looking for it's first computer system we contracted with the then current town audit firm to assist us in finding the correct one for the town. It turned out the audit firm, besides being paid by the town, told the computer vendors they expected a 2% fee of whatever the town purchased as a finder fee. How independent was that firm?

Just as bad is the non elected State employees accepting gifts. Click here Non Elected Gifts Among those listed were;
Superior Court Judge Calvin L. Scott Jr
Chief Justice Myron T. Steele
Justice Henry duPont Ridgely
Deputy State Treasurer Ann Visalli
Deborah J. Messina
Joy C. Bower, assistant secretary of the state Senate
Thomas M. Jarrett, state Department of Technology and Information

Lilly Howard has a birthday today. Happy Birthday!!!

Tonight there are three public town meetings at Town Hall. They are;
Delmar Public Works meeting 6:00 PM
Delmar Utility Commission Meeting at 6:30 PM
Delmar Joint Council Meeting at 7:00 PM

There is a non public Joint Council Budget Workshop on the 28Th at 7:00 PM. Remember to submit your thoughts on the budget to your elected officials.

Good day for Chinese. Stopped off by the "New Peking Cheer" restaurant for takeout. Not surprising it has the same menu as the "Taste of China" restaurant across the street. For those who may want to phone in an order the phone number is 302-846-2857.

Big Flakes came down for a couple of minutes, nothing came of it. Mixed with too much rain.

The Dollar Tree Store is opened in Delmar, Delaware. It is a nice store and the best part you actually only pay a dollar as opposed to the one in Salisbury that you pay a dollar plus tax. It will be interesting to see how much business it does with two Dollar Trees Stores only three miles to the south of it. One thing I have noticed is the amount of food that is being purchased at the Dollar Trees. The food seem to be purchased by people over 40 so I assume those people are single or are just a couple. I understand food processors have begun orientating the size of their products to the Dollar stores so more can be sold in them.

Other stores that are open at Delmar Commons are; Natiowide Insurance, Black Belt World Karate, New Peking restaurant, Crystal Dry Cleaners, First State Wireless, and Delmarva Paramedical Services.

Susan Burkholder, resident of Selbyville, Delaware was charged in November with embezzling more than $27,000 from Keith Properties Inc., a Selbyville real estate business. She allegedly cashed company checks, forged checks and used the company credit cards. She worked as a bookkeeper/office manager for the company. She had worked for Keith Properties for about 9 months. I have not seen an update on this case since November. She was scheduled in Superior Court in and of Sussex County on Tuesday (Feb 20th) but I don't know if it was for this case.

A newspaper article on her arrest is at Susan Burkholder
and also a WBOC article at Susan Burkholder

Wendy Sue Bowers, former financial secretary at South Carroll High School, charged with stealing $228,000 over six years from the Sykesville, Maryland school was sentenced in January to serve 15 months. The money taken from South Carroll High was from fund-raising student accounts and vending services. She was also ordered to repay the money. Her Attorney said she made $10 an hour, so I think you can figure this will never be repaid. She does 15 months in jail and gets $228,000. It may be the best paying job she had.

For the story of her arrest in "The Gazette" click here Wendy Sue Bowers

Also at washington Times Wendy Sue Bowers

Linda Sprinkle, the former financial secretary at Shiloh Middle School (Westminster Maryland), was convicted of pocketing cash in the amount of $13,000 from student funds and fundraisers raised from events such as flower sales, yearbook sales, field trips, the school ski club and a charity basketball game. The Judge sentenced her to 18 months but suspended all but 6 months plus five years probation and restitution.

She has maintained her innocence saying “I never took that money, and I have always been a good person my whole life,”

For the story click here Linda Sprinkle

Sandra Suiter of Hebron pleaded guilty to theft by deception was sentenced to a year and a half in prison. She received $5,600 in donations from St. Paul’s Methodist Church in Hebron by falsely claiming that her 3 year old twins drowned during Katrina.

For the brief story click here Scammer

In todays News Journal was an article on two Caregivers who allegedly stole over $7,300 from two elderly people. Antonia Stevens and Sarah Baker, both of Wilmington were care givers to a couple who were 87 and 89 years old. They allegedly forged sixteen checks and used the couples ATM cards for 13 unauthorized purchases.

Once again another window fell out of one of the dilapidated buildings downtown. It is a danger when you walk the downtown area that a brick, door or window may hit you.

We will see how long this stays on the sidewalk.

Delmar at 6 AM

After a false start back a few weeks ago, when it was warm, the crocus are blooming.

I enjoy looking at the group of blogs called daily photo blogs. They post a picture a day of their town. Phil of Wedderburn Australia(a town of about 900) posted this street sign. It has an amusing story about how it was named.

Yes, Lisa Dennis has a birthday today. Happy Birthday Lisa!!!

The Delmar Nursing and Rehabilitaion Center on 101 East Delaware Avenue in Delmar Delaware.

This nursing home has been around since the early 1970's. I have not been able to find out when it was first built or what it was first called. The first name I knew it as was Shangrila Nursing Home. Nursing homes are like banks and they go thru a number of ownership changes. Since Shangrila it was The Harrison House, then the Chancellor Care Center. For the past year it has been the Delmar Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. It is licensed for 109 beds and it is one of the largest employers in Delmar.

Since it has become Delmar Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a year ago, it has improved in the Delaware Nursing Home Annual Survey Rating Also at Delmar Nursing home Rating

There is a gender related theory that every man is a Carpenter and every woman is a Cook. As we know that is an incorrect theory as once again I have proven it's falsehood in building a bookshelf. To give the reader an insight into my lack of carpentry skills; when I was in Wicomico Senior High School in the 1950's the woodworking instructor, Mr Nicholas Guilliano, said on my presentation of the final woodworking project for the year "You know Howard this is the last year Woodworking is a requirement, after this year it is an elective and you will never have to take woodworking again". Guilliano was obviously a prophet, as over the last 40 some years I have made a mess out of a lot of lumber. Never less there is a corner of my house in which a small bookshelf would fit and the dimensions were such that I would have to have it built or build it myself. What is a bookshelf but a couple boards nailed together? After a day or so of cussing, banging, and bleeding it is complete. I will admit it is crude looking, however it fits well in my 90 year old house in which nothing is plumb, level, or square. As a result of my lack of skills in the manual arts I have the utmost respect for masons and carpenters. They must have the most fulfilling jobs of any of us. Long after they have passed away their works lives on. I am sure after I have passed away my daughters will look at this bookcase and wonder why I would ever build something like this.

Well it has finally happened a Delmarva Newspaper has the photograph of someone who achieved success by way of smarts instead of being an athletic game player. David Walter ,as everyone must know, won a "Jeopardy" Teen tournament. David Walter (17) is from Brandywine Hundreds, that in Delaware folks.

While sitting in a Doctor's waiting room yesterday, I thumbed thru the February issue of Metropolitan magazine and saw they had an article on Delmar. Well, actually, it was an article about Delmar businesses that had brought ads in their magazine and and they concocted an article to mention them in. Oh well, anything that mentions Delmar is always good.

In today's paper (The NewsJournal) was an article on Adam J. Levinson of Wilmington. Levinson committed fraud on the company he managed and was part owner of. He stole over $500,000 and spent it on a car, country club membership, Florida and Europe vacation trips, repairs to his home, and repayment of personal loans.

Chief District Judge Sue L. Robinson decided since his victim was a business entity that had resolved it differences with Levinson, (not according to the company) and jail time would cost both society and Levinson family and did not seen to serve a purpose in this case. She ordered Levinson to serve six months home confinement, perform 100 hours of community service and repay the company $177,000. Another example of a sentence that lacks a meaningful deterrent impact (according to Attorney Bob Stauffer) .

U.S. Attorney Colm F. Connolly said of the case: “Corporate executives who lie about the profitability of their companies to fool investors are thieves, pure and simple. For our economy to prosper, investors – whether financial institutions, companies, or individual shareholders – need to be able to trust and rely on the accuracy of financial reports in making informed investment decisions. When a corporate official takes advantage of investors’ trust in him and his company and deliberately falsifies financial records, he should expect to pay significant legal consequences.” Colm Connolly is of course known for his work on the Tom Capano case several years back.

One of the many candidates for the three open seats on the Salisbury, Maryland city council is John Atkins. No, not Delaware State Representative John C. Atkins who is famous for beating a DUI rap in Ocean City, this is John B. Atkins of Salisbury. No doubt his campaign will be marred often by the confusion of the two names. Duvalies made the mistake and I don't think ever corrected it. Now I can't imagine anyone wanting to be on the Salisbury City Council - let's face it it is very close to a clown show. I don't know what John's platform is and I haven't seen much advertising for him. The times I have talked with him he seemed like a good guy, like I said I don't know why he would want to run for Salisbury City Council. Anyway the primary is February 27th, if you live in Salisbury John deserves a look at.

Susan Picking Crab Legs
Susan has a birthday today. She is 19, the last year as a teenager.

I stopped by the 43rd Salisbury Coin Club show at the Wicomico County Youth and Civic Center today. In addition, the Eastern Shore Stamp Club and a Post Card show was being held. Great events and it looked like all were well attended. Amazing to see those Silver dollars we actually used as a dollar in the 1950's going for the prices they are asking. I wonder how much the crap we have as currency today will be sold for in the future. Should be worth as much as those German Marks from the 1920's and 30's.

Earlier this week Janet Parks, of Berlin, was arrested for alleged embezzlement from Fowler Construction Company. She allegedly embezzled between $63,000 to $100,000 from the company by issuing herself a credit card in the company's name. No doubt she will get 6 months in jail and the rest of the time will be probation. She will be required to pay the money back, which she probably won't do. White collar crime is the least punished crime. Had she had $63,000 of illegal drugs on her and she would do ten years, but the court system figures the only one she hurt was her employer so she will bearly notice the time she does. I would guess she was paid $25,000 to $30,000 a year and she stole $63,000 so she actually made out better than working if she just gets six month (six months of jail time would be the equivalent of $126,000 a year tax free. The embezzlement cases that make the newspapers is but a very small number of the actual cases that occur. Most people just want their money back. The bad thing is so many embezzlement cases are non profit groups, such as high school sport support groups, band support groups, PTA's, Boy scout and girl scout troops.

Rebecca turned 29 on February 7th. Happy birthday Rebecca!!!

On February 6, 2007 my wife's niece gave birth to a daughter, Elia Lynde Mason. Congratulations Jeremy and Rebecca Howard Mason!!

There has been a great deal of talk about the impact Blackwater Creek development will have on Delmar. With a planned 1,179 homes, a golf course, and some business it certainly will have an impact, but it will be a positive impact. The drama given by the Delmar town government is a bit over board however. To hear them talk next year we will see the full impact of this development. Lets put a little reality in here. Which 1,000 plus home development do you know of, that has ever been fully completed as planned? None that I know of, but perhaps a reader out there knows of one. Even Ocean Pines has been building for 40 years and is no where near complete. I think over the next ten years you will see perhaps 700 homes completed and that is if the housing market has improved over what it currently is. This will give everyone sufficient time to absorb the impact of Blackwater Creek. I would guess the golf course and first group of 100 homes is at least two years away if not three years away. After that an average (allowing for market conditions) of about 70 homes a year would be built.

I think everyone knows how approvals for developments are handled. They are worked on long before any official approval action starts. Agreements are made out of the public eye than one day it appears on the agenda of Planning and Zoning, than the next day it is approved in council session. That is the way annexation is handled in the Town of Delmar, so it should come as no great surprise to the town of Delmar that the same method was used by the Blackwater Creek developers in Sussex County. The real complain should be against governments that use executive sessions as a means to hide things from the citizens.

Let me say that I am not a friend of developers as I view them the same as I view Used Car salesman - rarely do you get the entire truth. This development will however becomes a reality and it is outside the Town jurisdiction so it is best to live with it and make the best of it. We don’t live in an isolated world so I certainly am aware Blackwater Creek will have an impact on us, that impact will not be immediate and we will have time to plan on how to handle it and take advantage of it.

The Post Office - Let’s fact it, with the developments already approved in the town limits of Delmar the Post Office will be over run. Add Blackwater Creek to it and it is just more problems. Those problems would occur anyway with the number of houses already approved by the Delmar Town Council for developments in the town limits. There was not a great outcry from the Town Council about the Post Office as long as they were the ones approving the increased usage so I think it is strange now for them to be using the Post Office as one of their reasons to fight against Blackwater Creek.

The school - Again, the impact of the approved developments in the Town limits of Delmar will require a new school to be built. As mentioned before on this blog the present school was too small the day it opened so I think we can figure it will continue to be too small as long as we live here. So lets look at the additional children Blackwater Creek will bring into the school. Somewhere, I think Diane Buckley mentioned that each housing unit would add .83 of a child to a school. I don’t know if that is right or not but using that number I would say in about two to three years perhaps 83 kids will come from Blackwater Creek to Delmar school. After three years, if the development has success, perhaps another 83 will be added each year. It certainly is less than the planned development impact of approved housing in the town limits of Delmar.

Lets be honest about the school in Delmar, does anyone really think that at the time the 6th grade was moved to Delmar that was not the first step to removing Delaware children from the Maryland school system. When that removal is complete it will be far more of an impact on Delmar than Blackwater Creek ever would have.

The Streets - The main street the residents and construction crews for Blackwater Creek will use will be State Street. I certainly think there will be an impact on that street, as there will be on RT 54 west of town. In addition the State of Maryland will be hit hard for traffic on Log Cabin Road and the continuation of Route 54 to Route 50. Noise, heavy trucks, increased traffic, it probably will take forever to cross State from Pennsylvania Avenue and the increased vibration will probably knock that Legates property on the corner of State and Pennsylvania over, which will be a blessing. State is however a public street and I think State and Route 54 is a State(s)/Counties maintained road, so beside increased traffic, which is the purpose of a street, what will be the cost to the Town?

The Police -The town council currently is not providing the police department with enough officers to handle the developments that will occur in the town limits of Delmar. As I have spoken of earlier you are not going to have 1,179 homes built tomorrow so in the next couple of years you may have to occasionally send a Delmar Police Officer out to Blackwater Creek. In my years in Delmar the problem has always been that the Delmar police officers view Delmar as too boring and look for reasons to leave the town limits to assist in whatever may be more interesting. I think if there is excess of police calls to Blackwater that will be the reason as opposed to a real need. I am under the impression the Delaware State police is the police agency that residents of Blackwater should call for problems.

The Fire Department/ Ambulance service - The Fire Department is too busy trying to get a substation in the southern part of Delmar to stop the Salisbury Fire Station from taking over their territory to be concerned over Blackwater Creek. They may make puffing noise about it but they know the development impact is far off. I assume besides new members from Blackwater Creek they will collect money to service Blackwater the same as they currently do from everyone else.

The Library - The library has a problem. It allows Maryland residents to join the library and receives nothing from Maryland for this so over half of the users are not supporting the Library. Most of the new development is on the Maryland side of town and is the cause of increased use. I however do not see where the library is over used, with the exception of the computers. Beyond the weekend traffic it is not overcrowded when I visit it. The library would like for the town of Delmar to contribute more than just free water and sewer and those few thousand dollars they contribute. Since it is not part of the town government any money, that comes from town taxes, the town gives to the library is an involuntary contribution by the tax payers and should be unlawful.

Business, Churches, VFW, American Legion, and other Organizations -
Lets face it business is going to improve with Blackwater Creek being built. Once it is built and as it is being built, the liqueur store and shops on State should boom. The question should not be how to stop Blackwater Creek but “how can I get a piece of the action it is going to bring”. Maybe it is time for that fast food muskrat restaurant. The VFW, American Legion, Churches, Lion Club etc are all going to increase in size and activity from Blackwater Creek and other developments.

As a summary I would content that most of these organizations, with the exception of the library, felt that they were kingpins and any developer should come running to them for approval. In this case the developer ignored them and now they are too late to do anything, so they are puffing air trying to make like they are protecting the citizens of Delmar when in truth they didn’t get off their asses fast enough. A simple matter of too little too late. No doubt some attempt will be made by these groups to file a court order to stop the development but the development will win out.

Although I will hate the traffic it will bring an influx of new people and new ideals from the people that will live in the developments in the town limits, Country Grove, and Blackwater Creek. Delmar will be greatly improved.

I noticed gas prices fell slightly below two dollars last week. The price seems ridiculous but than when I think back to 1974 when you were happy to find gas at any price it is reasonable. Actually, I think in 1974 it was under a dollar a gallon, but you had lines to any station that was open. Some gas stations would only sell you five or so dollars of gas so everyone could buy some. They had an odd/even sales days system; based on the number that your vehicle tag ended in, you could buy gas on odd calendar days if your tag ended in an odd number or if it ended in an even number you could buy on even numbered calendar days. People that traveled for a living found themselves trapped in towns far from home until they could get enough gas to get home. The above photo is from the February 1974 State Register newspaper in Laurel. In case the gas pump sign isn't that clear it says "No Gas".

In spite of the rumor that I have been on the road trying to open a nationwide chain of fast food fried muskrat restaurants and as such have not been posting to this blog , the reason for not posting is quite simple - computer problems. One of those software - hardware - comcast problem that still is not resolved.

However I think the Muskrat fast food chain is an ideal whose time has arrived. Think of it for barbecue crowd you could have "Rack of Rat Ribs". For the beach boardwalk crowd you could have "Rat on a Stick". A couple of Korean investors I have spoken to have told me there really would not be much of an adjustment for their Chinese take out places to convert over to the muskrat theme.

Back in January, 1973 Tex Ritter, Country singer, came to Delmar. He was doing a tour encouraging country music. He visited town officials and had lunch at Orrell's State Line Restaurant. This was his second trip to Delmar, as he had a few years earlier came to help the Delmar Fire Department with some fund raising. Tex died a year later on January 2nd 1974. I guess once he had been to Delmar, he figured he had done it all and dieing was the only thing left.

Those of us who are older, have all sit around a bar, drinking beer and singing to Tex's songs on the juke box of "Rye Whiskey", "Deck of Cards", "Wayward Wind" and that tear jerker of "Hillbilly Heaven". He sang the title song in "High Noon" of "Do not forsake me oh my darlin". His son was, of course, John Ritter of "3 is Company" fame and his grandson is Jason Ritter of "Joan of Arcadia" and "The Class" fame.

Horray for old people.

In the 1960's Delmar became more sensitive to race relations. The race riots in Cambridge helped speed up that sensitivity. The Delmar High School stopped having Blackface ministerial shows and "Aunt Jemima Pancake and Sausage" Suppers stopped. Blackface never returned and now the suppers are just called "Pancake and Sausage" Suppers. The ad was from a 1962 issue of the Bi State Register. All that for just a dollar.

I stopped by "Country Grove", the development north of Delmar, today to see how the building that encloses the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) was coming along. As you can see from the photo, it is pretty well closed in. Tidewater Utilities serve Country Grove for Water and Sewer. Of interest, they charge $80 a month fixed fee for sewer and $23 plus usage a month for water. I think the ideal of enclosing the Water and Sewer facilities so they look like a building as opposed to a large black box, is a good ideal. When smells are detected, if someone see a large black box they know is a WasteWater Treatment Plant (WWTP), then they naturally think the smell is coming from there. This poses customer service questions to the Water and Sewer company and has an outcome of a lot of finger pointing. If the WWTP is not a so obvious the people may look elsewhere for the source of the smell. Certainly with the number of drainage ponds Country Grove has on the property smells could emit from them.

I have an interest in Water and Sewer that goes back to when I worked for a Water and Sewer company in Ocean Pines. Ocean Pines is one of those unique developments where a developer filled in swamp land and sold it to government employees from the Washington DC area. Many of those people had never lived in a "country" environment so they thought every unpleasant smell came from the sewage system. In many cases it was true.

Now, Country Grove is an interesting situation. At full build out it will be 177 homes. Currently they have twenty or so built. The houses in the development will have a Delmar Post Office address. The majority of the people and houses will be in the Delmar School District (there is a group of about twenty houses in the Laurel School District). I don't know if the development falls into the Delmar Fire District. With a Delmar mailing address they will use the Delmar Library. I can assume most people will use the "Delmar streets", at least in order to get to the library or post office. These are the same items the Town Council is in an uproar over for Blackwater Creek development, yet I have never heard the town council complain about this development that is "out of town" and will have the same impact on Delmar service facilities as Blackwater Creek.

For more information on Country Grove you can go to these two links
Country Grove Indian River Land Company

Country Grove Maryland Shore Homes

One of the informative things the "Daily Times" does is to print the cases that were heard in the Wicomico County District Court. It is a shame the court cases in Delaware are not printed also. It is also infuriating to see the results of those cases. In the weeks of December 18 to January 5th, 34 cases were listed. 22 of those cases had charges put on stet docket or the charges were dropped or were given a suspended sentencing. Of the 12 found guilty, 5 had under aged drinking charges for which they only had to pay a fine.

It is obvious that something is wrong. Either we have too many laws which means you are charged for a number of different things when you are picked up for one thing in hopes that one of those charges will stick, or the police are not doing a good enough job in providing evidence to make the charge stick, or the Judges and State Attorneys are just drawing a pay check and not interested in prosecuting criminals. No doubt it a combination of all three. Either way the cost of "public Safety" continues to increase and the taxpayers pays the cost of it and has less protection from criminals that should be behind bars.