Delmar DustPan

The Joint Council meeting of the Towns of Delmar Delaware and Delmar Maryland was held tonight. All council people were present and there was about 12 people in the audience. I was surprised at the low turnout considering we are only about two days from a full moon but I guess there was nothing of major importance tonight.

Both Mayors gave a proclamation declaring it "Municipal Clerk Week".

The Town application to FEMA to be accepted into the Flood Insurance program has been accepted. Residents who need flood insurance can now apply to their insurance representatives.

The Wicomico County Council will host a meeting at Delmar Town Hall on June 28th from 7 to 8 PM.

The local schools are looking for handicap children who may not be in school and they would like for them to apply for school by contacting the elementary school or the middle/high school.

There was a discussion on the "free" newspapers being tossed out on the street in Delmar. These orange wrapped papers stay in the street, as trash, making for an unsightly mess and clogging the storm drains. Bill Smith, the manager of this operation, said he was not aware they were creating a problem and would like to correct it by having residents who do not want the paper contact him and he would put them on a "Do Not deliver" List or those papers not picked up he would have someone pick up and put that lot number where the paper was on the "Do Not deliver" list. The council decided they would give this a try and if it didn't work in the next month discuss it in May.

The Parks and Recreation Committee said they were repairing some doors on the dugouts and in order to help the basketball court, they would like to keep the lights on later at night and keep the bathrooms open. There was also a question as to why a water fountain couldn't be made available in that area of the basketball courts.

The downtown revitalization committee said they were working on setting up their requested financial reports, the museum had electric in it, they were cleaning stuff out of the museum, they were looking at painting the caboose gray as it fit the color scheme for a 1929 caboose better than the red, and their next meeting is to be at the Top Hat Cafe on May 17th.

Ordinance 703 MD and 145 DE were read and approved tonight. This will put the fine for parking in a Fire Lane up to $65.00 and if it goes to court at a $150.00.

The Code Enforcement people issued 16 letters in Maryland for junk in yard and 8 letters for junk in Delaware. The Maryland side issued 17 building permits and the Delaware side had 3 building permits issued. The Code Enforcement people visited 177 rental properties on the Maryland side and 44 rental properties on the Delaware side.

The Public Works Department had interviews for the Director of Public works position. An offer was made to one person but not accepted as of yet. P&A Paving is working in Yorkshire Estates. There is some flooding on State Street due to clogged storm drains, this is a Maryland Department of Transportation issue and is to be worked out with them. DP&L has been replacing utility poles in Delmar. In some places they have left a hole in the sidewalk, where the old utility pole was, and not filled it in. In the interest of speed, public works was going to fill them in but the two Mayors said they would talk to DP&L and see if that company couldn't repair the holes. For Bulk Pickup day some residents put their stuff out late and Public Works said they would not be going back to pick it up.

Planning and Zoning, final plat approval was given to Ramled Villas. Approval was given for a Cabinetry business to go into the old "Furnture Plus" store. Altho annexation has not been approved for the "Brittingham Property" on Old Stage Road (Delaware Side), Element Design presented a conceptual plat design of 352 units (not all single family dwellings) for the property. Ellis Hammond wants the empty lot by his house and next to the school subdivide for 6 lots, approval was given. Approval of the light fixtures and poles for the Down Town area was given.

Other comments; Day in the Park is to be June 2nd. At the Delmarva Inn there seem to be some kind of drug dealing connection and there was a discussion on how long people could stay at the motel as it was not envisioned homeless people would live there. On a previous matter on Delmarva Inn, the Town Manager said she had looked at the old agreements and there was not any mention of the motel being torn down after 3 years, Joan Tisinger says she is sure there was an agreement to tear it down. The group from Woodcreek asked about a previous item that said Woodcreek would have additional parking by June.

The Delmar Utility had their monthly meeting tonight. It was a short meeting as there were no pressing issues. Some items discussed were; All pump stations were working correctly, A sludge pump is to be repaired, the outstanding bill at Delmarva Inn has been satisfied, the Tidewater Utilities company agreement with the town for service to the east side of town is still in the works, The State of Maryland approved $200,000 for the BNR update project (Biological Nutrient Removal, BNR, is equipment to remove phosphorous and nitrogen from the treated water discharged from our sewage treatment plant), Work on the BNR project is scheduled for mid-summer, and finally, it is unknown when the metal plate on Foskey will be removed.

This week
Monday 6 PM the Public Works Meeting is held at Town Hall
Monday 6:30 Utility Commission Meeting at Town Hall
Monday 7 PM Joint Council Meeting at Town Hall
Wednesday 8 PM Parks and Rec Meeting at Town Hall
Sunday The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Walk, Starts at 9 AM

THE CAT AT DOVER

The whippings at Dover on Saturday were only two in number, and Sheriff Cooper had an easy time of it. The unfortunates were George Manlove and John Allen, both of whom had been convicted of larceny - the former of twenty cents worth of coal and the latter of $19 worth of lumber. Each received twenty lashes.

I stopped by Town Hall, yesterday, and looked over the proposed town budget for next year. Naturally I think everyone who pays taxes should do so, but the only time you can look at it is during "normal" business hours so that will prevent a large number of people from doing so. When will we get to the point where the town puts more material out on their website. The budget is not all "numbers", there is a narrative attached to it that explains what the town is planning to do with the money and where it comes from.

To put it simply I found no large issues to complain about. The Town of Delmar Delaware simply does not have that much money that they can waste. Sure, I may not be happy with some of the line items but if you were to eliminate them you still would not have a reduction in expenses that would produce any kind of significant tax reduction. Street sweeping didn't seem to get any attention in the budget. The largest item is salaries and perhaps looking at "outsourcing' some functions might be in order. The tax rates remained the same as this year. Now if I lived on the Maryland side of town I might complain about the Delmar, Maryland budget but since I live on the Delaware side there is no reason to shoot a cash cow.

The two towns are looking at increasing the police force next year by one officer and adding a part time utility clerk. The utility clerk will be paid from the inflated Utility Budget. This will bring the approved towns personnel positions to;
Police and Public safety, 14 full time and 3 part-time
Executive and financial, 8 full time and 1 part-time
Public Works and Waste Water Treatment, 9 full time and 1 part-time
For a total of 31 full time and 5 part-time people
Of course approving the positions and getting the people to fill them are two separate stories. Delmar, Maryland has a population of 1,859 people and Delmar, Delaware has 1,407, for a total of the two towns of 3,266. This would mean an average of 90 Delmar people are supporting one town employees.

In addition, on the town personnel roll are the Paramedics and EMTBs from the fire department. This would be 8 full time and 32 part-time people. The Fire department however reimburses the town for the salaries, etc related to carrying these personnel.

One revenue item it would appear they did not go with and they should have, is the street breaking permit charge. Currently, in the budget for the Delaware side they have a total of $30 and for the Maryland side $10 for the year for street breaking permits. This is a charge for when a utility or construction company comes into town and cut the street to lay a cable or pipe. Most towns charge an amount based on the square footage of the street cut made. We do not. A ride down Foskey Lane will make you want to charge them a $1,000 a square foot for the mess they have made and are making. I think, as had been suggested, a street breaking charge of $100 administration fee and $10 a square foot which would be about $600 for a street breaking permit would be fair. This would at least reimburse the town for the time and effort to inspect the paved over street cuts and repair those that collapse.

Andy over at the Delmar blog "Delmar At it's Best" said he was unable to find time to keep the blog up so he was dropping it. Hope you come back one day Andy.

"It has been a splendid little war; begun with the highest motives, carried on with magnificence's intelligence and spirit, favored by that fortune which loves the brave."
John Hay, United States Ambassador to England

The Spanish American War was a short war, begun in April - pretty much over with in August. The flag of Spain had flown over Cuba, the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico for over 300 years and in the end the United States of America flag took it's place. It gave America that false sense of power that it could take on anyone in the world. In the end, the war treaty gave us Guam, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and we went ahead and annexed Hawaii. Altho we did not annex Cuba we had economic control over it. It allowed history teachers forever after to drum into their students the term "Manifest Destiny". The army went from under 29,000 men to over 250,000 men in in three months. Needless to say it could not train and supply this many. Most of the men spend the time in training camps and were discharged in the fall. For the Confederate and Union Veterans of the Civil war it was a last hooray. It was a training grounds for the new military men for the upcoming fighting in the Philippines, the Mexican Border War, World War I and II.

The title of this series of posts "A Splendid Little War" is a common title used by a number of authors and given to a number of articles on the Spanish American war. My posts should not be confused with them.

From the book by Charles Johnson Post called "The Little War of Private Post"
"Any book about the Spanish-American War of 1898 needs a word of introduction. For this particular subject is regarded as among the little wars that are mere trivia of history. Yet, for those who are in the war and battles and on the fighting line, there is no triviality in shaking dice with death. It makes no difference whether a man gets his along with twenty thousand others, or falls while on outpost duty all by himself. He is a hundred per cent casualty to himself. For him there is no lesser percentage. What more could there be to give?"

As the new troops were sent off on the troop trains they were given bouquets of lilacs and other spring flowers. The custom of the time called for patriotic young ladies to sew a red flannel bellyband for the men leaving for the military. The red flannel bellyband was suppose to protect the soldier from tropical ills as blackwater fever, malaria, yellow fevor etc. Due to the large number of volunteer troops in a short period of time it created a shortage of red flannel. The young ladies would also trade a kiss for a brass military button off the soldiers jacket leaving many men showing up in camp buttonless. It also created a shortage in replacement brass buttons.

William E. Carmine, who was born in Delmar Delaware, enlisted in May 1898 at the age of 21 with the 1st Regiment of the Delaware Volunteers. He was to spend his time in Camp Tunnell at Middletown, Delaware for the course of the fighting and was discharged in October. Others from the surrounding area in the 1st Regiment were; William T. Baker, Zollie C. Collins, George W. Davis, William Driskill, Harry F. Hastings, Ira E. Hearn, William L. Hearn, Emmett Hegeman, William L. Hitchens, John W. Massey, William O. McGee, Edward P. O'Neal, Joseph F. Osborn, Eugene H. Philips, Claude S. Venables, James F. Waller, Earl A. Wiley, Harry L. Wooten, and Edward M. Wootten.

Odd Fellows Cemetary Laurel Delaware
Corpl Harry F. Hastings Co I
1 Del. Inf.
Spam. War

Over in Maryland, G.Vickers White, John H. Waller, Wade Porter, William Bensinger, Percy Brewington and Morris Hitch joined the 1st Maryland Regiment. Harry Johnson and James H Burke joined the 5th Maryland Regiment. Lieutenant Albert Laws was with the 24th Infantry.

Private William Bensinger Company F, 1st Regt Maryland Infantry
Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Delaware

St. Stephens Cemetery (Grove Street)
James H. Burke
Company H
5th Maryland Infantry

Some general Spanish American war stats;
Total service Members 306,760
Battle Deaths 385
Other Deaths 2,061
Non Mortal woundings 1,662

On April 23rd, 1898 Regent Queen Maria Cristina of the Kingdom of Spain broke off diplomatic relations with the United States of America and declared war. Click here for The Spanish Declaration of War Both sides had now given an official date to begin the Spanish American War.

The following was sent to me as information on an event. If your church, school or organization has an event coming up EMail me and let me know.

"Tonight at Delmar’s Youth Activity Center at LiveWire, Cornerstone Community Church will be hosting New Life Drama Company. Teens 11-High School age, Come out and enjoy the fun dramatic presentations by this dynamic drama company. The center opens at 7:00 pm and will go until about 9:00 pm Monday night, April 23, 2007. Come and bring a friend. Check out our home page at Cornerstone for more information. The Drama company will also be ministering at the 605 BiState Blvd. Delmar, MD, location on Sunday, April 29th, 2007 at the 10:30 am service. Come and bring the whole family and enjoy the drama outreach and fun."

On Wednesday from 12:00 Noon to 9:00 PM we will be given a chance to vote on a referendum in the Delmar School District. This referendum is called for because the School District wants to transfer money from the "debt service tax fund" to the school "operating fund", which means the residents of Delaware who live in the Delmar School District will vote to approve or disapprove this transfer. Now the result of this election is a forgone conclusion as the apathy in Delmar is so low the main group of people who will vote will probably be employees at the school, who will naturally vote to increase the "Operating Budget". Lets face it in the last referendum less than 100 people voted and determined the tax outcome for the 1,400 or 1,500 Delaware voters who could have voted. I am sure these referendums are always frustrating to the Maryland residents who have kids in the Delmar school as they don't have a vote in the matter, of course they won't be directly paying the school tax either. I have attempted to contact Dr. Ring at the school but so for have not been able to talk with him on this referendum. Should I talk with him I will update this post later.

Now, school budgets are one of the more complicated type of budgets I have looked at. To make sense of the budget is like trying to cut fog with scissors. They have sources of money flowing in from everywhere and all of it has strings attached to as to how they can spend it. I do know that the source of pretty much all the money leads back to me and the other taxpayers.

My guess is they are not paying as much in interest on the debt they took on, as they had originally budgeted, and would like to transfer some of the unused amount in this fund to the operating fund. This will amount to 15 cents per hundred. They are also combining this transfer with a five cent per hundred decrease in operating taxes.

Does this mean if you vote "no" will the amount not paid in interest decrease your taxes by 15 cents plus the 5 Cents from the normal operating fund? Will the tax rate I paid last year of $3.20 per hundred be reduced to $3.15 or $3.00? Does this mean what we are really looking at is a ten cent tax increase in the school district operating fund that is being offset by a transfer from the "interest on debt fund" (an accounting slight of hand trick)? Anyway if you vote "no" at this referendum I have no ideal what the tax outcome will be. Will taxes decrease, remain the same, or increase? It would appear if you vote "yes" to the referendum your school taxes will go down by some amount next year. This may be a good subject for Andy over at Delmar at its Best to speak on as he will be on the school board shortly.

UPDATE: Dr. Ring called me back today (4/25/07) and said a vote for the referendum would decrease the school tax by a nickle next year.

What ever is your opinion, or lack of opinion, on this referendum you should vote. It would be good to see that people turned out and at least gave it an enthusiastic approval. Apathy in an election of any kind is always pathetic. Anyone who is eighteen years of age, lives in Delaware and the Delmar School District should vote Wednesday at the Delmar School District Board of Education meeting room. You do not have to be a registered voter.

In a backdated resolution, the United States of America declared war on the Kingdom of Spain and stated it had existed since April 21, 1898. Click here for The American Declaration of War Thus started the Spanish American War.

What does it take to put on a Little League Parade in Delmar? It takes school grounds to form the parade. It takes Delmar Public Works people to block off the streets.

It takes the Delmar Police to lead the teams in the parade.

Any Delmarva Parade and particularly a Parade in Delmar, calls for the Fire Department.

It calls for a lot of supporting civic organizations and businesses. And it calls for kids and a whole bunch of people to organize it.




Hats off to the people who did the parade.

The yard sale, held by the Concerned Citizens, in State street Park came off very well. The weather was great and a number of people were there.

The Delmar Police had their booth set up with free information. You could also get a great Scrapple Sandwich over at the Kiwanis.

I don't know if it is just Spring or an on going problem, but we seem to be having another rash of small crimes. It those irritating things like egging cars, high school age people driving by and yelling obscenities at people, moonings, an increase in speeders, petty thief of bicycles etc. Most are things frankly the police can't seem to do anything about. Altho I do think the presence of a marked police car on town streets, more often then what we currently see one, would help. The petty thief are too small to report to your insurance company as they are under the deductible so it ends up coming out of your pocket to replace the items. In the time I have lived in Delmar, I have learned not to invest to much money in hanging plants for your porch as they are often stolen, likewise for porch furniture, try and lock your car as they will rifle thru it at night (when I first came to Delmar I didn't even lock my house at night or when I went work, now I have a shotgun in the house and am constantly looking at new locks for the house), and my kids' bicycles were stolen at the rate of one or so a year, I am sure most people in town could tell you the same thing.

What to do about it? First, always report these things to the police. They may not be able to help after you report it but it is for sure nothing will be done if you don't report it. There no sense belly aching about it three months after it happens, report it when it happens. Second, if you are not happy about the way the police handled the problem go to your Town Council meeting. You can voice your opinion on things in the public comment section of the meeting. It helps if you are specific not just some general comment like "crime is up in Delmar". If you feel it is important, call town hall and request to be put on the agenda at the council meeting to speak about it. Bring photos of damaged things for a show and tell presentation. Bring your neighbors to the meeting, this will show it is not just you with some gripe against the police. Finally get involved, take photos of cars riding by with people that seem to causing the trouble, form a neighborwatch group, go to the Concerned Citizens meeting.

Spring and warm weather always bring out an increase in these type of crimes, so don't think it is going to go away in the next couple of weeks.

Today, in 1993, the siege at Waco, Texas ended. A fire destroyed the compound the Branch Davidians were hold up in. Much like who killed JFK, questions continues as to how the fire was started.

April 21st Saturday Yard Sale at State Street Park by Concerned Citizens of Delmar
April 21st Saturday Little League Opening Day and parade
April 25th Wednesday Voting for Delmar School District Referendum

The following is a reprint of a Letter to the Editor from the Tuesday edition of the News Journal. Since I share some of the same sentiments, but not all, as Mr. Wohlust of Dagsboro, I am reprinting it here.

Taxpayers ultimately pay for generous state pensions

Retirees are living longer than ever anticipated. Earnings on invested assets of defined benefit pension plans have proved to be less predictable than expected. As a result, virtually all private-sector plans have been closed and benefits have been limited.

In the steel and airline industries, most plans have failed and been turned over to the government. The only large defined benefit plans still going are provided by taxpayers to government employees. What companies like Verizon and IBM can no longer afford, taxpayers presumably can.

The assumption is that politicians and bureaucrats, facing no requirement to make a profit, can raise whatever funds they need to pay promises by taxing future generations.

New accounting rules are requiring public bodies to come clean about the financial status of their benefit plans. It's already obvious that pension plans of cities like San Diego, Detroit and Pittsburgh, and states such as Massachusetts and Rhode Island, are under-funded and insolvent.

Some Delaware legislators propose to enrich pensions of state workers by reducing the years of service required for full benefits from 30 to 25. There is no need to do this to attract qualified workers, as the state offers competitive salaries, full retirement after 30 years regardless of age, and free medical insurance for most workers.

So what's the purpose? The state is the largest employer in Delaware, and gaining the support of all those voters is too much for some politicians to resist. Paying for this largess will fall on future taxpayers after current legislators have retired.

The wonder is that taxpayers aren't up in arms over proposals that they should not only pay for benefits to public employees that they themselves no longer receive, but that they should make benefits even more generous.

Ron Wohlust, Dagsboro

I noticed a new business today in Delmar, Delaware. In the commercial building on Bi State where "Think Pink" is, a Mini Market is going in. Their sign says Mini Market, Spanish Products, La Mexicanita.

The Delmar Police Commission held their quarterly meeting tonight at 6:30PM. There was about four people in the audience. Police Chief Hal Saylor said credit for the arrest of suspect Antonio Herneison in the killing of Van Crawford should be given to the members of the church Crawford attended as they gave them the leads to arrest the suspect.

Chief Saylor and Officer Ed Ferro gave a demonstration of the new security camera they have. The camera is mounted outside and surveys a given area of town. The long range goal of Chief Saylor is to have 10 to 15 cameras located around the town. He said volunteer civilians would monitor these camera and report anything suspicion. The civilians would undergo a background check, training, and have to commit to a set number of hours a week to monitor the cameras. The civilian force would provide an extra set of eyes in Delmar. The cameras cost about $6,000 each.

Chief Saylor gave the police report. One item was the confiscated drug money. He said they confiscated $16,500 in cash, a $50,000 bank account and 15 kilo of drugs. Eventually a portion of this money will come back to the town. The money returned to the town does have strings attached as to how the town can spend it. Again it would be nice if the police report was made public.

At the last council meeting there was a resolution to increase the fine to $75 for parking in a fire zone. Chief Saylor said he thought the state may not allow this as the highest fine the state (Delaware) has is $65 for parking. The town police issued 21 state citations for parking in a fire lane.

Councilperson Buckley asked if there couldn't be more police monitoring on Route 13 as when she is driving at 60, people are passing her by. (Isn't the speed limit 55mph? Why is Buckley doing 60mph?)

When Mayor Niblett asked for public comments, I asked if there could not be more publicity, regarding crime in town. I suggested they put the police report crime on the town/police website or newspapers. He said they lacked manpower to update the website and they did not routinely supply information to the newspaper unless asked for it. It frankly doesn't sound like there is going to be any change.

The Commission then went into executive session.

UPDATE: Karen, from the Delmar blog "A Women's Point of View" attended her first Police Commission meeting last night. Her post on the meeting is great as it gives a newbie's first impression of Delmar town government. Her blog is listed in my sidebar, click it to go to her blog.

There have been many ships named the "Pearl", this is a post about two of them and slavery. In 1858 the ship "Pearl" took Doctor David Livingston to the mouth of the Zambesi River on the South East Coast of Africa. As we know Dr. Livingstone was a great missionary and explorer of Central Africa in the mid 1800's. Oddly, in spite of his good deeds, he is best remembered from the quote "Dr. Livingstone, I presume". He was also a strong anti-slavery person and attempted to prevent the African tribes and Arabs, who captured slaves to sell, from doing so.

On April 15, 1848, ten years prior to Dr. Livingstone arrival on the Zambesi River, 77 slaves tried to escape from Washington DC, on another ship named the "Pearl". Abolitionist had made arrangements with Captain Daniel Drayton to sneak the slaves out of Washington and take them north to Philadelphia so they could travel on to Canada. He had done this before with a few slaves, but never 77 of them. At the time he was without a ship so he hired the schooner "Pearl" with it's Captain (Edward Sayres) and a helper named Chester English. The "Pearl" was a small bay craft of 150 tons that was leased to Captain Sayres from Caleb Aaronson of Bordentown, New Jersey. The ship was used to haul coal, lumber. oysters and anything else that would make money around the Chesapeake Bay region. Daniel Drayton And Edward Sayres were aware they were going to help runaway slaves but apparently Chester English did not know anything about it. On the 15th (Which was also a Sunday Morning) the slaves were loaded on the "Pearl" and the ship sailed down the Potomac River until at the mouth of the river they encountered strong winds and had to anchor at Cornfield Harbor.

Meanwhile, a slave named Judson Diggs tipped off the slave owners that their slaves had escaped. The slave owners had the steamship "Salem" pursue the "Pearl" where it was found at the mouth of the river. They took all on board the "Pearl" prisoner. Captain Drayton and Captain Sayres spent four years in jail for helping slaves to escape. The slaves were sold down south.

Back to Dr. Livingstone and how he connected to slavery in America. Dr. Livingstone had a son named Robert Muffat Livingston living in England. Robert Livingstone traveled from England to Boston, Massachusett in 1863. He enlisted under an alias of Rupert Vincent into the New Hampshire Volunteers, 10th Army corp and fought in the American Civil War. He was wounded at Laurel Hill Virginia, captured there, and died in 1864 during a riot at the infamous confederate prison at Salisbury, North Carolina. So although David Livingston was unable to carry on a fight against slavery in America his son was able to continue in that tradition.

"I don't care if you pay your Income Tax but please keep paying into the Social Security Fund"
Quote from Howard

Today Ellen turns 43, Happy Birthday Ellen!!!

Today Alan turns 56. The only way he can continue to say he is middle age is if he truly thinks he is going to live to be 112. Happy Birthday Alan!!

This photo is of our neighbor's house after the storm we had last Thursday. I always suspected they had a pot of gold in their backyard. Now we have proof.

While looking thru some of the 1951 editions of the Bi State Register my attention was drawn to someone who had several articles about him. The person was Franklin E. Mitchell, son of Mr and Mrs Otis Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell, at that time Private Mitchell, was in the Korean War/Conflict. By the time he was 17 he had been wounded on three different occasions. He was wounded once in December of 1950, a second time on March 15, 1951 where he received shrapnel in both arms, and a third time on April 23, 1951 where he received three pieces of Shrapnel in the hip and one in the shoulder. No doubt other than some other old people who remember this and people like me (also old) who look thru old newspapers, the sacrifices of Mr. Mitchell are long forgotten. It seem to be the pattern for soldiers who go to war, there is a lot of attention at first than no one remembers as new wars come along and new people are wounded and return home. One Delmar soldier I can not find information about is Glenn Raye the person the American Legion post in Delmar was named after.

"When there is a single thief, it's robbery. When there are a thousand thieves, it's taxation'
Quote from Vanya Cohen

A big Happy Birthday to Prentiss Howard of Pocomoke. Today he turns 63.

From the BiState Register in April 1951.
The post war Baby Boom hit Delmar in 1951. This Photo and article speaks of 25 children in 10 homes all on one block in Delmar.

As someone who like to plant a few flowers and other plants around the house I was surprised at the range of plants Delaware consider to be invasive. The Delaware Invasive Plant List lists plants that are commonly sold in greenhouses and garden centers. Some are just wild plants I never considered as invasive, they are just there and growing. The list has about 66 kinds of plants. A few listed are; Garlic Mustard, tickweed sunflowers, Canada thistle, Asiatic dayflowers, English ivy, yellow iris, european privet, 4 kinds of honeysuckle, pachysandra, bamboo, bradford pear, multifloral rose, red raspberry, perwinkle (vinca), and Japanese Wisteria. Surprisingly Marijuana isn't on the list. I guess the growers paid off the right people. Some seem to be on the list because they spread quickly and are nonindigenous. The News Journal had an article about the Delaware Invasive Plant List yesterday. One comment they made was "invasive plants - non indigenous species that quickly move outside their original ecosystem - threaten native plants, sapping their resources". Now being a native of Delmarva it is surprising how that comment can relate to people and the number of people who move to Delmarva from outside the area. They also said "State regulation isn't yet part of the equation". I am sure it will only be a short time until we have Delaware garden police with complete authority to walk on your property and fine you.

UPDATE: the writer of the blog "Invasive Notes" is much more involved in invasive plants and animals than I am. His blog is worth visiting for a more detail insight into invasive plants and animals.

"The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination."
Quote from President Ronald Reagan

Prior to 1943 individuals paid their taxes for the previous year in one lump sum on March 15th. They did not use our current payroll withholding system. This did not sit well with the government because they had to wait an entire year before seeing any revenue arriving to the Treasury. In typical government fashion they wanted more money and they wanted it quicker. After all they had a war on and the taxpayers they drafted for the war reduced the number of taxpayers they could collect from. Their 1942 method of collecting the income tax payment had the basic defect that tax payments were not synchronized with the receipt of the income on which the tax is based. They wanted to go to a pay-as-you-go income tax withholding. Everytime you were paid the income tax would be withheld from your paycheck. This would give the government cash flowing in all through the year not just on March 15th. The problem with the plan was if they started it in 1943 the taxpayers still had not paid their 1942 taxes and this would create a double taxation tax year. One in which they had to pay 1942 and 1943 taxes in the same year. The payment of two years' taxes in one year would be a severe hardship, if not an impossibility for a number of taxpayers in 1943.

Enter Beardsley Ruml, the chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, an economist, and treasurer of R.H. Macy & Co. He proposed that the United States Government forgive the taxes owed for 1942. Even though the taxes for one year would be missing, the cash receipts coming into the Treasury would continue in 1943 because of the pay-as-you-go form of withholding.

Naturally there was no way the government would approve something like totally forgiving taxes. The tax act finally passed (the Current Tax Payment of 1943) allowed for taxes to begin withholding on July 1, 1943 and to forgive 75% (100% up to $50 of tax liability) of each taxpayers 1942 or 1943 taxes, whichever was lower. In addition the act allowed for tax rates to increase for 1944 and 1945. So although the government still collected some taxes for the 1942 tax year, the amount collected was greatly reduced and in many cases for the lower income taxpayer 1942 was truely a year in which taxes were cancelled.

Today and Tomorrow is Delmar, Delaware cleanup day. It is the once a year time in which you can throw all your old junk you have accumulate out to the curb and the Town of Delmar will pick it up. Last year was fiasco for me. I hauled stuff to the curb and it sit there for a week before the Town finally picked it up. This year however was an entirely different story. The Town fired up the old trash truck and by 2PM my junk was picked up and gone from my house. Congratulations to Public Works for doing a good job.

"Over and over again Courts have said there is nothing sinister in so arranging one's affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich and poor, and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands. Taxes are enforced extractions, not voluntary contributions, to demand more in the name of morals is mere cant."
Quote from the Honorable Learned Hand, US Appeals Court Justice

There are many towns called Delmar and their names seem to have originated from railroads or, in the case when it is spelled with a space, as in Del Mar have a Spanish origin. The ones I have heard of most often, besides our Delaware and Maryland communities, are in New York, Alabama, and Iowa. Delmar, New York is located outside of Albany and was named Delmar by the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. At one time the Delmar Fire department would participate in parades in Delmar, New York. I haven't heard of that being done in a while.

Delmar, Alabama is located in the North west part of Alabama. It has a website, Delmar Alabama and it too has a connection to the railroad. A railroad construction worker had a retired race horse named Delmar. The horse was well-known and loved by the community. When the work on the railroad was completed around the year 1887, the community was renamed after the race horse.

Delmar, Iowa is located between Clinton and Maquoketa, Iowa. About twenty years ago I had some communication with the Town clerk and Delmar, Iowa seems similar to Delmar, Delaware and Maryland. It is Small community that is a bedroom community for Clinton Iowa. It was named by a railroad worker who supposedly had six daughters and he used the first letter of each of their names to form the name Delmar.

The others Delmars I know very little about. They would be;
Delmar, West Virginia located at the intersection of Interstate 68 and Interstate 79.
Delmar, Illinois which is located East of Kankakee Illinois.
Delmar, Arkansas located North east of Fort Smith.
Delmar, Missouri located North East of Lebanon.
Delmar, Oregon, located south of North Bend, Oregon.
Delmar, South Carolina, of which there are two of them. One is West of Columbia and the other is South East of Spartanburg.
Delmar, North Carolina is North east of Rocky Mount.
Delmar, Georgia is North east of Valdosta.

Del Mar with the space has several places named that way. Del Mar, California comes to mind as it is north of San Diego and compared to Delmar, Delaware a very wealthy community.

Del Mar, Texas of which there are three. One is located around South Padre Island. Another is close to Laredo. The third is west of Longview.

"There is no art which one government sooner learns from another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people."
Adam Smith

In the gray dawn of 7:30AM these workers are out busy picking up the trash in Delmar Delaware

"The trick is to stop thinking of it as 'your' money."
Quote from a Revenue Auditor

Megan turns 23 today. Happy Birthday!!

“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.” — Albert Einstein, physicist

I have just found out the Delmar Police Commission meeting has been changed to April 16th (next Monday) instead of tonight.

We took a trip over to DC to see the Cherry Trees at the Tidal basin. Missed the flowers by a couple of days as most all of the blooms had fallen. This time of year it is always hit or miss on flowering trees as the weather is warm one day and freezing the next. Stopped by the National Arboretum where something is always in bloom. Had to feed the Koi.

This is a Bouganvillea Bonsai.

Another bonsai. Most are quite old. One supposedly was started in 1625. The staff must sweat it out hoping the plants don't die on their shift. Bonsai trainers are like the public school system, they shape and kills any natural growth of the plant, until it is something they think looks right, and the end product is something that is an unnatural freak, but accepted as the public as something nice to look at.

"Only the little people pay taxes."
Leona Helmsley

Over at Objectivity and Observation there is a link to an article on a large marijuana growing operation that was underground. Can't seem to link this to illegal immigrants so it seems to be an American homegrown operation. Looks like they had a lot of money tied up in it. Of course they no doubt made a lot of money.

By 9:30 its was over with and melting.

Well the snow started about 6:45 this morning and by 7:05 the flowers had a dusting on them.

Our cat looking out the window at the snow.

This is an interesting article in the BBC on eating dogs in Nigeria
It is of course a matter of culture, as one man says in the article he would never eat a frog but someplaces in the world they do eat frogs. I guess he never heard of a muskrat or he would have a fit.

There is an article about Helen Mulholland, the first female Master Blender at Old Bushmill Distillery, in the Belfast Telegraph. Old Bushmill Distillery is about to celebrate it's 400th birthday in 2008. It was given a license to distill whiskey in 1608 from King James I. Helen Mulholland started at Old Bushmill 14 years ago as a lab tech. She was trained as a Food Technologist before going to Bushmill. After 12 years she was made a Master Blender.

Bushmill is a good Irish whiskey, but usually out of my price range. In our area the "original" is about $25 for a 750 ml bottle and the 10 year old version is about $40 a bottle. It is not usually sold in the Delmar liquor stores as it doesn't come in a 1/2 pint (200 ml) bottle. You have to sell to your market and the basic half pint bottle in a paper bag seems to suit the customers best for sitting around downtown in the "park".

The trees are in bloom at Delmar High School. When you ride by you can feel the electric energy waiting to burst forth as Easter/Spring Break starts at the end of the school day.

Work is proceeding on the Delmar Heritage Center

At the last Delmar Joint Council meeting the 1st reading of the budget for the year 2007 to 2008 was given. This is usually referred to as the 2008 budget. Included in this budget is the Delmar Utility Commission budget. For the past couple of years I have been against the Delmar Utility Commission budget because the rates that are charged to the users of the water and sewer system are incorrect and should be less than what is currently charged. Again this year at the budget workshop when I asked for the rates to be lowered in order to accurately reflect the requirements for the upcoming year the other members of the commission were against lowering the rate. The reason given was the Town does not want to lower rates when in the budget year 2009 the Town may have a major problem that will require increased revenue and they would have to increase the rates again. Their feeling was it is better to overcharge than to change rates each year.

The fee I was most against is the Water Availability fee and the Sewer Front Foot fee. The revenue from these fees were originally set up to cover the annual repayment of loans the Utility Commission has outstanding for water and sewer capital loans. Currently the fees are; Water Availability $17.35 a quarter ($69.40 a year) and Sewer Front Foot Fee of $33.00 per quarter ($132 a year). The total for the year for water and sewer Availability and Front Foot fees would be $201.40 per residential user. The projected revenue from these two fees in the 2008 budget will be $507,000. The problem is the debt payments we will make in 2008 is only $323,000. This will result in an overcharge to the users of the water and sewer system of $184,000. I suggested reducing the combined water and sewer Availability and Front Foot fees to each user from $201.40 to $131.40 a year. This would be a reduction of $70.00 a year ($17.50 per quarter) per user from the proposed charge to bring the charge into alignment with the actual requirements. As I said the other members of the Utility Commission (Diane Buckley, Mary Lee Pase, Joan Tisinger), the Town Manager (Sara Bynum-King) and the Municipal Town Clerk (Kimberly Layton) were against this.

Now seventy dollars now days isn’t a lot of money. If you own an SUV it probably won’t fill the gas tank. However there are a number of people in Delmar who are on Social Security and while seventy dollars may not make the difference in buying the necessities of life, it may allow them to buy a couple gallons of paint to spruce up their house, or make a “voluntary” contribution to the town library, or retain a little dignity by having some extra money so they can give a grandson ten dollars on his birthday. Regardless of the income level of the users of the Delmar water and sewer System, I think I can do more with $70 in my pocket than to let my $70 be in the town’s pocket.

At the next Joint Council meeting they will vote for the second and final time on the budget. Once approved it is somewhat fixed in stone. If you feel as I do that the rate should be reduced than contact your councilperson or commissioner and tell them so. If you are not sure who they are see the below list.

DelawareMayor John F. Outten, Sr.
Vice Mayor Michael Houlihan
Council Person Mary Lee Pase
Council Person Diane Buckley
Council Person Lonnie Figgs

Maryland
Mayor P.Douglas Niblett
Deputy Mayor C.Luther Hitchens
Commissioner Joan Tisinger
Commissioner Carl Anderton, Jr.
Commissioner Carrie Williams


A quote from President Calvin Coolidge
Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery

I was reading an article in the Baltimore Sun by Laura Vozzella called Every Little Breeze Rustles Bags in trees
In the article she points out a blog site dedicated to photographs of plastic bags in trees in Baltimore. The blog Bags in trees.com is a website dedicated to showcasing the beauty of the omnipresent plastic accessories that adorn the trees of Baltimore, MD.

A year ago I wrote on post on the subject of plastic bags and how something has to be done about them. "Bags in trees" is a humorous outlook on them but the number of bags out there really is not funny. To a lesser degree the plastic wrapper bags on newspapers are just as bad.

UPDATE: Additional Articles on Plastic bags
SF Bans Bags

Tax on plastic bags

articles on plastic bags

Plastic Newspaper Wrappers

Plastic bags

Oil saved on not using bags

Ban the bags - Baketown

The Delmar Library has financial problems according to Dr Bastian at the last Joint council Meeting. Their needs seem to fall into two areas; first is a shortfall in the operating budget and second is an expansion plan to double the size of the library.

The 2008 operating budget seems to come up short. If I wrote the number down correctly at the Joint Council meeting, the budget is $271,000. Of this Sussex County and the State of Delaware will pay $191,000, leaving $80,000 for the library to pay. Dr. Bastian said the trust fund they have will only generate $52,000. This leaves $28,000 as a shortfall. He feels the Town of Delmar government should support the library, financial, more than what it currently does. Currently the Town gives the library some token contribution of a $1,000 plus free garbage pickup, free water and sewer, and exempts it from taxes. I assume it can take the taxes collected from town residents and do this based on the Delmar Town charter Section 4, item 45 which allows the Town to use tax payers money to assist private enterprises. Like the fire department the library has a district that it provides service to, it is not just the Town of Delmar town limits. It seems however the easiest source of money is a government as the people that distribute the money seem to have no problems with giving it away. Since we have no choice but to pay the Town taxes or have our home sold, the town makes an involuntary donation on our part to the library. The library has said it provides “free” membership to anyone who lives in the Delmar School District. It is considering, supposedly, charging people in the school district but on the Maryland side of town a fee of $15. I think Dr Bastian said out of the 4,624 users of the library 1,832 had a Maryland address. This could generate $27,480 in added revenue. Personally I doubt it. Even if they were to charge the membership fee, most families would not buy a membership for everyone in the family. They would do like we do with the Wicomico County Library, buy one membership than everyone in the family would use that one card. I also think a number of them would just start using the Wicomico County Free Library more than what they currently do. Everyone likes something that is “free” but when you ask for money to support it, it is another story. I would guess at a revenue number of half the $27,000 would come from charging Maryland residents.

So what is my suggestions on this, I really am a cut expenses person rather than a revenue generator and I would suggest they cut staff or whatever to achieve their budget. I would agree the amount the Town of Delmar gives the library is minimal, however it is not part of the Delmar town government and we should not be taxed on a non government operations.

The expansion plan is to double the size of the current library. This cost will be about two million dollars of which the State of Delaware will pick up half of the construction cost. Needless to say you know where the other million dollars will come from. The expansion is too increase the library services and space needed for the projected increased population over the next twenty years. We are told this expansion is needed based on “State” requirements and a study conducted by a consultant and paid for by the library. Now with the exception of the computers services provided by the library, I can’t say the Delmar Library is an overly crowded place. Even on their busy time of Saturday it doesn’t seem too inconvenient in comparison to two million dollars. The lack of space that I see when I am in there is in office space for employees. Laurel has just had a major expansion and frankly it is like a ghost town when you walk around the upstairs part of their library. Salisbury is yelling they need a new library but I can’t say it is overly busy either, with the exception of the computer services. All non profits organizations like to increase their size but frankly I can’t say a 6,000 square feet expansion, parking spots, and landscaping is really necessary. I am sure we all realize that with an increased building size will come increased staff which will mean increased operating costs and since they can’t meet their operating costs now why would they want to increase the size of the building? Do they have a hidden potential source of money? I don’t see the Town of Delmar using taxpayers dollars to pay on a routine basis the shortfall in operating income for an organization that is not part of the Town Government. The Maryland side of town may be rich enough to do this but I am sure the Delaware side is not.

No one wants to be against the library, but I think you have to live within your budget. As someone who lives off social security I know every month how difficult it is to live off a budget, but governments and non profits organizations should learn to do so and adjust their operating methods to fit their budget. If people truly want increased services or just to maintain the current level of service they will have to open their wallets and make a donation to the library. If they don’t it sends the message that the residents in the Delmar school district does not want increased services or the current level of services and perhaps the library should readjust their outlook on what the residents will support.

Today David G Howard of Pocomoke turns 58. Happy Birthday David!!

The Delmar Police Force arrested a suspect in the killing of Van Crawford. So do you all feel more safe? I for one do not. I question if there has been a series of break-in leading up to this murder. As I have stated before the Delmar Police do not release their crime report to the newspapers or the general public.

If you believe the information posted on Joe Albero blog he states;
"I met with the Delmar Fire Department who informed me that things were getting pretty bad in Delmar, crime wise. They’re stating there are local Gangs and they are praying on the elderly. They even stated that some elderly people were being mugged during broad daylight leaving the local Bank, yet we’re not hearing of any of this in the local news."

I think it is a shame that if you are not in the public safety clique in Delmar you don't know about the crime that is going on. The Delmar Police Force has a web site and if they can list stolen bicycles they should be able to list a summary of crime that is occurring each day. At least you would know what areas not to go walking in. When I go to the quarterly Police Commission meeting, things are spoken of in such vague terms you still don't know for sure where the danger areas are. It is time they spoke up and be straight about what is going on in Delmar. Everyone is being taxed but yet you never hear in the news what the police force is doing unless someone gets killed.

There is a quarterly Police Commission meeting next Monday night. The Police Commission consists of Maryland Mayor Niblett, Delaware Mayor Outten and Delaware Councilperson Buckley. Maybe you should attend or give those Police Commission members a call to see what is going on.

April 3rd 7PM Delmar Revitalization Committee meeting
April 6th Town Hall is closed for Good Friday
April 6th thru April 13th Spring Break for Delmar Middle and Senior Hi School
April 9th 6:30 Delmar Police Commission
April 10 and 11th Spring Clean up on the Maryland Side of town
April 12th and 13th Spring Clean Up on Delaware Side of Town
April 12th 7PM Concerned Citizens meeting
April 21st Spring Yard Sale in State Street Park contact Melanie Boltz at 302-846-3079

A week or so back Charlotte Winters, the last American female World War I veteran, died. Today, they are announcing Lloyd Brown the last World War I Navy Veteran died. There are now three known survivors who served in the American Army, all over 100 years old. It is something of a miracle to reach age 100 so those three veterans are lucky, if they are in reasonable health for their age.

The period in American history of World War I to the 1930's is one of the most interesting periods in the changing of American society. All kinds of technology was produced for the masses. Social values were reinvented. In today's outlook extreme viewpoints were popular and Delmarva changed from a very clannish society to one in which it was only a little clannish. Over at Objectivity and observation Historical Wit is writing a 25 page on World War I.

I understand today an elderly Delmar Maryland man was beaten to death and his home broken in to. The Police force really needs to start posting their crime reports so we can get some idea on how bad the crime situation is in Delmar. We don't need hush ups.