Delmar DustPan

The March Delmar Joint Council Meeting for Delmar Delaware and Delmar Maryland took place tonight. Among the members missing were Delaware Councilpeople Lonnie Figgs and Mary Lee Pase and Maryland Commissioner Carrie Williams.

As I have said before; what I write is not the minutes of the meetings, it is just my interpretation of what took place and what I am interested in posting. If you want to know the real story go to the meeting.

The approval of the minutes for last month was tabled until next month because Vice Mayor Houlihan felt certain wording he had proposed for the Tidewater Utility Agreement should be in the minutes verbatim.

The Maryland side of town had their Constant Yield Public Hearing. The Delmar Maryland side of town wants to retain the same tax rate as last year in spite of the fact additional revenue over the prior year is to be produced. The few public comments from Maryland residents that attended did not oppose this tax increase so the council carried on.

Norma and Ernest Pegelow of 601 E. Walnut complained about dog control.

In the Police Report it was mentioned there was a drug arrest out at Delmar Crossings.

When the Delmar revitalization report was given it was said that neither representative of the town council for the two sides of town had attended last months meeting. The Heritage day festival is going to be held in connection with the School homecoming parade and homecoming weekend events. They are doing away with a Vice Chairperson and making Mr. Mitchell the committee historian.

In the Public Works report, they said the attachment on the Street sweeper to clean sewers was working well. The roof on the pump building at the south water tower needs replacing. More play equipment has been added to the West Delmar Tot playground.

Several presentations by developers were given as Conception plans;
Andrew Collins gave a presentation for a 9,950 sq ft retail store to be built north of the McDonalds at Delmar Commons. The building is to be split into three stores with the larger one to be possibly a mattress store. The store exterior will blend with the buildings at Delmar Commons.

The Bank of Delmarva gave a presentation on building a new branch bank south of Rite Aid drugstore. The lobby of the old Bank of Delmarva will be closed after this branch is built and the intown building will be used for back office work. The branch bank will be similar in style to the Beaglin Park Drive branch bank and may blend with the exterior of Rite Aid.

There was a request for a portable Hot Dog Cart to be operated in town, mostly the business would operate in the parking lot at the Laundry mat and Drug store.

Councilperson Diane Buckley commented on the size of the Town Newsletter and requested it be printed in a larger size print so normal people can read it. She also commented there was an ice cream truck that came thru her section of town after dark selling ice cream and she thought it should not be allowed as kids should not be running around after dark. A comment was made that this ice cream truck was not licensed in Delmar.

From Town Manager Sara Bynum King she said the repaving contract for Jewell Street was too be advertised on April 4th and bid opening was too be April 28th. No mention of Maryland streets but no one from the Maryland side of town asked about repaving their streets. If you don't ask, you don't get.

Questions and comments I asked; A resident earlier in the evening had asked why something was not done about the old building on the corner of State and Pennsylvania. Maryland Mayor Niblett told him it was because the building was under contract. I accused Mayor Niblett of blowing the guy off as there is a current owner of the property - contract or not - and the town should go after that owner to fix the building up. I also complained about the annual trash pickup. when I first came to Delmar they would pick up up large trash items (sofa, refrigerators, TV etc) once a month. A few years back they switched to doing so once a year. Now they want for you to phone in and let them know if you have any trash to be picked up on this annual day and they have given a long list of things they won't pickup. Obviously they want to do away with this completely. A little less service we get from the town each year for the money we pay. Yet the number of town employees we pay for keep increasing.

Very little happened at the March Utility Meeting. Mary Lee Pase, Utility Commission Member and Councilperson, didn't attend because she is in the hospital. There are still negotiations going on about the cost of the adapters on the fire hydrants at Heron Pond. As is typical of the developments in Delmar the paper work and the building extends over several years. In this case Heron Pond had signed a public works agreement prior to approval of new standards for Delmar, so there is confusion as to who will pay for the adapters that will go on the fire hydrants in the Heron Pond Development.

I don't know if I have mentioned on the blog Mostly Cajun he does a weekly piece called The Name Game. The one this week was typical. First, let me say I agree with his comments on names, the names children are labeled with today are ridiculous. Second, let me say if you did "The Name Game" around here you would be hunted down and beat to death so he scores even more points with me for having balls enough to do it.

Remember if you change your inkjet cartridge turn the old used one in to the Delmar Library as they get $4.00 for it.

I am not someone that believes a weak dollar in comparison to other world currencies does American any good, however I was reading this article that puts a different spin on it. In the article it talks about Brazilian immigrants in America (USA) returning to Brazil due to the falling dollar, lack of work, and a tougher climate on immigrants. Now they eyeing going to Europe where the Eurodollar is strong.

After last year's lack of rain and current lower water table do we really have a water shortage? It is irritating to me for our State and County governments to yell about a water shortage and drought conditions and still they issue building permits and irrigation well permits. If we truly have a shortage wouldn't you stop new drainage of water from the aquifers? If Well permits are still being issued why would the individual be told he or she can not water their lawn? I can see it coming again this year, all this crap from the State of Delaware, which in turn will be forced down to the County, and the Town of Delmar about water conservation. I have contacted DNREC and asked about about the potential for wells to go dry in Sussex County and they assure me there is plenty of water in Sussex County. Yet, they will be the ones the water warning will come from. In no way do I want to sound like we should waste water but if the warning of water shortages come out then it is time to put the blame where it should go - new homes - new developments - irrigation wells. I for one, as a member of the Delmar Utility Commission, will, if there is screaming about a water shortage from the State, look at putting a moratorium on new home hookups to the Delmar water system.

The Rosemary in the garden has small pale blue blossoms on it.

From the March 23, 1951 Bi-State Weekly

DELMAR RACEWAY OPENS 1951 SEASON SUNDAY

The 1951 racing season will officially begin for the Delmar Raceway this Sunday afternoon with racing sanctioned by the National American Stock Car Racing Association for the first time in the career of the track.

Ed Otto, promoter of 10 other tracks, has leased the track for three years from George Bower, owner, who operated it last year.

An additional grandstand has been erected at the track this week which will give a total seating capacity of 3,000.

Sunday's racing program will include a 7-race program: 3 six-lap 8-lap consolation for non-qualified and a featured 20-lap event.

Time trials will be run off this Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. At future races no time trials will be held and all cars will be lined up by the point system. Line-up will be the reverse-field start, fastest cars in the rear.

The first race of the day is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.

From the March 30, 1951 Bi-State Weekly

PVT. ROBT. S. BEACH WITH THE FAMED 8TH INF. DIVISION

Private Robert Smiley Beach, son of Joe I. Beach of Delmar, Delaware, has recently completed a 14-week training cycle in infantry methods with Company A, 28th Infantry of the famed 8th Infantry Division at Fort Jackson, S. C.

Prior to his induction into the Army last December, Private Beach was employed by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Seaford, Delaware.

During his 14 weeks of Infantry branch traing Private Beach fired all infantry weapons, engaged in practical squad and platoon problems, and underwent intensive physical training in preparation for duty as a service type replacement.

From 1951 B-State Weekly

WORKMEN PICKET PURINA CONSTRUCTION

For the past several days pickets from the local carpenters and laborers union have formed a picket line across the entrance to the construction site where the Ralston-Purina Company has begun construction operations

Men of both unions are wearing placards proclaiming the job unfair to their respective locals.

According to a picket man from each trade union the construction company is hiring non-union carpenters and laborers.

The carpenters union is No. 2012 A. F. of L. with headquaters in Seaford, Del. The carpenters union scale is $2.30 per hour, they said.

A picket for the laborers union is from local 847 with headquarters at Georgetown, Del. Their present scale he said is $1.10 per hour , but it is expected to be raised to $1.35 within a short time.

Note: allowing for inflation $2.30 would be $19.61 in today's money and $1.10 would be $9.38 in today's money

In the hard copy edition of today's "News Journal" they had 2 page graphic layout of Hoopes Reservoir. I think the section is called "Did You Know?". Anyway I guess about weekly they do a spread on some place in Delaware. It has a lot of maps and 3D views and I find it interesting. As I said today it is Hoopes reservoir - part of the Wilmington water system. The online article isn't bad either. The online article is here for those interested in Delaware Water.

Well another GOP potential candidate (Donna Stone) has declined to run for Governor of Delaware. I would have to say it is time for Elbert to become Governor, naturally I would want to be his running mate as Lt Governor, I can't imagine a more posh job for an old lazy man with no ambition. Elbert has that catchy slogan of "A vote for me is not a vote for Proteck". Unless of course it turns out Outraged Richard does stand a chance for President in which case I would try for Vice President. I guess that couple of years working for employed by Wicomico County just got me use to sucking off the government payroll tit.

Howard is someone who believes a birthday party for youngsters should be a cake and a couple friends invited over and it should last about an hour, however, Howard has a wife and that said over the years we have had birthdays for our two daughters that has far exceeded my concept of a birthday party. It has involved a search each year for that special theme and place (different from the previous year) where 100 of their closest friends (couldn't cut even one of the little dears out) are invited for the night. Hopefully since they, in age anyway, are adults I should not have to go thru that anymore. For those who still do those special birthdays I will mention a place that Dana of Civil 3d Rocks called my attention to a place called Mrs Peapod Teacup Cottage It is at 205 S. Fruitland Blvd, Fruitland Md - phone 410-334-3600. Now I have not been there, nor do I know anything more than what their blog talks about. Dana said she took her daughter to a tea party there. It sounds likes something my daughters would have liked - dressing up as a princess and having a tea party. I am throwing the information out there so if you are looking for that "special" place here is a possibility.

The Planning and Zoning Meeting came off without a hitch tonight at 7P. M. in Town Hall. Cindy Fisher, the recording clerk, was out so the commission was a little disorganized without her keeping control of things. As I have said before; what I write is not the minutes of the meetings, it is just my interpretation of what took place. If you want to know the real story go to the meeting.

Charlie Towers of Towers Signs came before the P & Z Commission to ask about putting a "For Sale Or Lease" Sign on some property by Ashley Furniture. The commission said it was okay as long as it didn't exceed 6' by 10' (60 sq ft).

Bill Mervine again came before the commission asking for a favorable recommendation to build a house on lot #3 of Bynum Lane. Bynum Lane is located in Delaware on the West side of Delmar off N. Memorial Drive. Mervine of Prestige Homes brought this land at an auction and now wants to build a home for first time buyers on the property. All kinds of arguments have been put up by the Delaware Mayor and Council and the P & Z Commission for him not to build on this lot as they feel it is too small. In 1962 the land on what was to become Bynum Lane was made into an approved subdivision for six houses. Who ever made the subdivision had approval from the "Town" for six houses and that person sold the land and made his or her profit from the six house subdivision. Most all of the houses are on small lots and most have had to have an approved variance for the homes and additions put on the homes. Mr. Mervin has come up, on his second try at building a home there, with a two story design that calls for a 7 foot variance on the backside of the house. The house will have parking for two cars on site. The commission voted 5 to 1 to not give him a favorable recommendation to the Board of adjustments. William Boyan being the only to speak out saying Mervin could build.


Now I have drove by this lot and photos of it are in this post however you can't tell much from photos as to how it fits into the existing property. I suggest you all ride by and look at it. I think this is arbitrary discrimination against Bill Mervin in building this home. The neighborhood has gotten use to having the lot vacant and doesn't want anyone else moving in, so all the arguments about too many cars, the traffic etc are being thrown up. As I said before who ever made the subdivision got their money out of it. Bill Mervin should be allowed to build. The lot is pretty much the same size as the other lots on Bynum Drive. If the people who live on that street didn't want anyone building on the lot they should have purchased the lot themselves and took it off the market.

You can get an ideal of the size of the property by going to the Sussex County On-Line property map click on Search Option and entering the Parcel ID of 532-20.14-6.00 You can expand out and see how it relates to the other properties. You may have some difficulty with entering the website as it took me a couple trys before I made it.

Some years ago a small house was put on a small frontage lot by the post office. I didn't think the lot was big enough and I didn't think that size and style house fit the neighborhood but it was built and now I don't even notice it as I have gotten use to it. I am sure it will be the same way when Mr. Mervin builds the House on Bynum Lane.

McDonalds was given approval for their restaurant

Henry Hanna and Frank Nachay came about the zoning for LightHouse square. This project has been going on since 2002 and still nothing has been built on the property by the Holiday inn. They decided the original annexation agreement called it "Commercial" and they would go with that zoning. This is typical of the developments in Delmar - approval is given - then the owner flips the property to another buyer - nothing is done and they just keep flipping the property until it ends up in a tangle web of paperwork.


Jeff Webb, Robbin Roberts, and Phyliss Roberts came to ask if the "Blue House" on Bi-State Blvd (Maryland) would be allowed to continue as commercial property. As long as I have been here it has always been some kind of low traffic commercial property (Piano store) with a rental apartment in the second story. They want to put a private investigation company in the bottom and continue to rent out the top.

Pat Hurley said he owns a 42 acre farm by Yorkshire estates and he will probably sell it to a developer as with the existing and proposed developments he doesn't see being able to continue farming there.

I broke down last week and purchased a copy of "The History of Nineteenth Century Laurel" by Harold Hancock. The Laurel Historical Society had the book reprinted and is selling it as a fund raiser. You can buy it at the Laurel library for $45.00 (no tax), yes that is a bit of a hefty price but everything has a hefty price on it now days. I had held off buying a copy for a number of years now, but it is a "standard" to read even if you are not from Laurel as it tells you about common things in Little Creek Hundreds. It has a wide range of historical articles about Laurel mills, roads, basket-making companies, census and advertisements. I had hesitated buying the book because it had nothing about Delmar in it and the layout of the material is irritating to me in the fact there will be an article about something in the 1700's next to an article about something in the 1880's and than back to the 1700's, a logical layout doesn't seem to be in the book. Perhaps H. Hancock was going for the hunting thru Grandmom's attic approach but it doesn't work for me. If you are building a library on Eastern Shore History the book should be included plus the money is going to a good organization.

Karen, of a A Woman's Point of View has started to post again. Welcome back Karen!

Today in 1997 39 bodies of the cult Heaven's Gate were found. They had committed suicide so their souls could go to the spaceship waiting for them, hidden behind the comet Hale-Bopp.

As a reminder, the Delmar Community Yardsale will be April 19th. Should you want to register for a booth the cost is $20. Contact Sharon Ledvadnuk at 302-846-9574 for additional information. This year's profits will be given to the Little League.

The Delmar Planning and Zoning meeting will be held tomorrow night at town hall at 7 p.m. As usual there is no Agenda published on the town website for P&Z, perhaps later it will be put on.

I have been down with a cold for the last few days and yesterday finally got to the point where I thought I could venture out. I decided on a trip to the Delaware Public Archives in Dover. Now the archives is a place where I have had varying results from my trips there. What makes the good trips is how helpful the people who work there are. Bad trips is when you encountered some one looking at you asking if Delmar is in Delaware. Now I know I talk about how people in Dover refer to Delmar as the Town that doesn't know which state it is in, but it still pisses me off to hear that from them. Yesterday was a good trip. The person working there was helpful and looked up additional material I had not even asked for. It was what you expect your visit to be like. For those who have not been to the archives, during the week in the day at any given time there are usually only about six other people researching in the research room. Given they have three staff members inside the research room helping you, the ratio of helpfulness should be high.

Yesterday's project was to look at the Sanborn Maps of Delmar. Sanborn is a company that did maps of towns for use by the fire insurance companies for insurance assessment. The company is still in business. On microfilm, the archives have for Delmar; the 1911, 1923 and 1931 maps. They are fascinating to go thru. Okay you have to be interested in history, infrastructure, etc for them to be fascinating but there is something about a map that draws you too it. Over that 20 year span of maps you could see how the motor car effected the town with stables being replaced by service garages and gas stations. The detail information is great also, it doesn't just show a square indicating a house is on a certain lot, it shows the shape of the house, the pourches that were on it, and the out buildings, stables etc that were on the property. Of course the street names changed over the twenty years and business that were going full blast then, today are just residential homes. As to be expected water lines and fire related infrastructures are marked. I found it a surprise that in 1911 the movie theater was along side the Bank of Delmarva, and the tomato canneries in town supplied housing to their work force, and the undertaker was located across Grove Street in which is now the funeral home parking lot. I finally gave up as my cold was returning.

After leaving the archives I stopped off at Spence Market for a midweek fix on my flea market addiction. Always a good crowd there and I had some of that good food they have. It intrigues me how these "flea Market' operations work, one will be open here one day during the week, another will be open there a different day of the week. The people that work them travel from one to another and they have complete operations set up at each one for that one day a week that it is open. I would think to set up a complete kitchen must be some expense and to only use it one day a week seems like a waste. Yet being open only one day a week must be the attraction as they have a better crowd turn out than places I have been that are open Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I have been to Green Dragon on their one open day during the week and had difficulty finding a parking space.

As I said I have had a cold for the last few days so traffic bothers me more than usual. On the way up to Dover, besides the road construction, I must have encountered every backhoe, piece of earth moving equipment, farm equipment and overloaded truck that couldn't get out of second gear that could be put on the road that morning. On the way back it was no better. Certainly my cold had returned and when I got to Seaford and came across their usual two mile backup I cut off onto old RT13. I discovered old 13 is the route all the scrap metal dealers use, so I got behind about three different pickup trucks loaded to the sky with scrap metal going about 30 miles an hour. Driving was a no win deal yesterday.

As I left town yesterday I saw construction equipment on First street and thought they were finally getting ready to re-pave it. On returning later that afternoon I found they were just putting in a new water line to the laundromat. On a street that had a number of pot holes before now it has three more street cuts and holes. Won't be long until we look like the Maryland side of town.

Well they are walking around my neighborhood today taking down data to reassess the tax value of the Delmar, Delaware houses. The last time it was done was about 1990 in Delmar. At this time I don't object to them reassessing my house, even I know the cost of everything has gone up since 1990, and the way the town gets their money to pay for things is thru the tax assessment. Of course once I see what they value my house at than it might be another story. I am not planning to sell it and if they value it based on houses that sold two years ago when the market was out of sight than I will no doubt argue it out with them. Unlike Maryland which reassess houses every three years, Delaware doesn't. Matter of fact I think Sussex County tax assessment is based on 1974 and this assessment doesn't apply to them. The question is how are they going to handle the increased tax assessment - phased in or lower the tax rate? It won't be used for next year's town taxes and I understand we won't first see it until 2009-2010 tax year.

Well it had to happen sometime, I went out and fired up the lawnmower and made the first pass at the lawn. Found all those beer bottles I had tossed on the lawn last year with the intend to pick them up before winter came. Hope the kids don't step on that broken glass. The first pass is always hell on a lawnmower blade - bottles, bricks, sticks, and limbs.

I see in today's "Daily Times" there is a notice that the Maryland side of town will have a real property tax increase. The tax rate of $0.676 per $100 of assessment will not change but in total the amount collected in taxes will go up. The notice said the town was not considering reducing the tax rate to lower the amount taken in. They did the same thing last year and the same thing the year before. Now I assume the increase amount collected is from the increased housing being built on the Maryland side of town. As long as it doesn't increase your rate why would you complain about it? Well wasn't that the whole point of annexing land and the selling point the Mayor and Commissioners gave to everyone was that if the tax base increases the tax rate could be lowered because now we have more people paying for the town services. What went wrong? You went wrong. You didn't attend the council meeting and you let your elected officials pull the wool over your eyes and at what point and year will it be that not only the tax assessment base will increase but they will also increase your tax rate. If you don't go to the meetings they will screw you over every time. The Maryland side of town isn't known for complaining about town services or taxes and I don't know why with those roads they have but anyway there is a public hearing on this at 7:15 Monday March 31 at Delmar Town hall (the usual joint council meeting).

Before there was a banking industry in Delmar (1897), Merchants had to rely on other ways to do their banking. I guess they had two ways; one was deal with a bank in a town along the rail line, train traffic being much more common then as opposed to now - Salisbury or Philadelphia might be used. A second method however was Adam Express. Adams Express, with it’s competitors of Wells Fargo, and American Express, were the UPS and Fedex of the day. The express car of trains (the one with the gold and money in it) were usually owned and run by them and the train holdups so frequently shown in western movies were usually directed at them. Adam’s Express offered additional services other than just delivering documents and moneys to where they were directed. I am under the impression Adams Express would buy the merchants checks and money orders, at a discount of course, and give the merchant cash or act as his agent to cash the check. If the check later bounced Adams Express would come back to the merchant for reimbursement. This was in the days before effective clearinghouses for banks. In my post on a
fraudulent check, Adams Express was handling the cashing of the check.



Adams Express was started in 1840 by Alvin Adams. He had a business that carried small parcels, bank drafts and other valuables between Boston and New York. The express company grew and expanded into the mail business. Altho there was a US Government postal Service established in 1775 it was not efficient and small independent companies were cheaper and more efficient in sending mail. By 1845 the US government had crushed those mail companies and mandated only the Post Office was authorized to carry letters for a fee. In the 1850, with the gold rush, Adams Express expanded to the west coast where it would transport gold or buy gold from the miners and transport it back. Due to holdups etc it lost money on the operation and eventually settled on the Midwest, South and East Coast as it areas of operation. During the Civil war it split the company into the Adam Express company for the North and the Southern Express for the Confederates. It operated as pay master for both the Union army and the Confederate army. In 1918 the US Railroads were federalized and the US Government degreed the railroad express carriers of Adams Express, Southern Express, American Express and Wells Fargo would become the American Railway Express. The Railroads eventually purchased the shares Adam express had in American Railway Express and with this money Adams Express moved into the Stock trading business forming a closed fund in 1929. In 1976 they moved from wall street to Baltimore where they continued to deal in stock.

From the State Register March 23, 1990

Girl Scout Sunday was observed March 11 at St. Stephen's UMC with Girl Scout Troop 208 attending as a group. Leading in the impressive service were co-leaders Karen Gordy, Joanne Gum and Elaine Messick. Processionist was Kara Gordy, and greeters were Karen Hill and Kristy Short.

The following were ushers; Dawn Palmer - head, Alice Perchin, Shawn Scott, Jeanna Cooper and Michelle Messick. Acolyte was Brandy Smith with presentation by Rachel Gum, Erica Wagenhals, Emily Wilson and Michele Messick.

From the Bi-State Weekly March 22, 1940

FIREMEN ANSWER THREE CALLS ONE DAY

Delmar Firemen had a busy day Tuesday when they answered three alarms within the town limits of Delmar. Stepping out of their role as fire fighter the firemen were called Tuesday afternoon to remove a man from the roof of a building formerly known as the "Frank Brown Garage" on S. First street. Ralph Messick, local theatre employee saw a man lying on the roof, believing him to be dead and seeing no ladder with which to reach the man called the firemen.

When the firemen arrived they found a man on the roof with two cans of paint and a brush, lying on the slanting roof near the top. A ladder was placed on the roof and two men went up to bring the man down, only to to find that he was drunk. He fought the firemen in an effort to keep them from bringing him down and had to be brought down bodily.

As soon as he hit the ground he staggered off and the firemen were unable to get his name. No one knew him or where he came from, or how he got on the roof without the use of a ladder.

The company was also called to the home of Herbert Johnson on Grove St. and the home of Edward Thompson on E. Chestnut St. to extinguish chimney blazes. No damage was reported.

R. L. Polk & Co.’s
Peninsula Directory of Delaware and
The Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia
For 1908 – 1909

Delmar – A prosperous town of 1,500 inhabitants in Sussex County, Del., and Wicomico county, Md. On P B & W and N Y P & N R R, 24 miles from Georgetown, the county seat of Sussex county, and 5 from Salisbury, the county seat of Wicomico county. It supports 5 churches, 2 banks, a newspaper, the Delmar News, a hotel, lumber mill, 2 fruit package manufactories, flour mill, brick works, etc, etc. Ex. Adams. Tel, postal sec Delmar Md. Chas C Tomlinson, postmaster.

Bank Of Delmar, Capital and Surplus of over $53,000, F G Eillott, president, J G W Perdue, cashier
Brayshaw James, Physician
Calhoun Herman, barber
Culver Daniel E, livery
Culver Irving, fruit buyer
Culver Pollie, dressmaker
Culver Samuel N, clothing and men’s fngs
Delaware Buggy Co, William H. Hayman, mngr carriages, harness, hardware, etc
Delmar Lumber Mnfg Co, lumber mnfrs
Delmar News The, Frank A. Robertson, editor and Proprietor
Delmar Union Store, Benjamin W. Parker, general Merchandise
Diamond State telephone Co., J H Truitt
Donaway Wm J., general merchandise
Ellegood Robert E, physician and druggist
Elliott F G & Sons, whole and retail hardware, farm impts, seed, etc.
Elliott Wm B, brick manufacturer
Elliott & Hearn (Roland F Elliott, James W Hearn) grocers and meats
Ellis Jackson L., general merchandise
Ellis M W & Sons, (Monroe W, Edgar M, and L Clark Ellis) undertakers and carpenters
Ellis Samuel M, Insurance
Ellis S J & Bro, (Seith J and Harry H Ellis) confectioners
First National Bank of Delmar, capital $30,000 S Ker Slemmons cashier
Frank A B Rev, (Bapitist)
German Arthur O, contractor
German M H & Co, (M H German) department store
German W E, milliner
Hammond L G, general merchandise
Hastings Gardner L, whol lumber, corwood and piling
Hastings & Co, general merchandise, lumber and fruit package mnfgrs
Hearn J Masden, barber
Hearn & Smith, (Ira F Hearn, Carl H Smith) jewelers
Hickey Harry T ,pass and frt agt P B & W and N Y P & N R R
James Burton, fruit buyer
Ker Lewellyn livery
Lowe L B, baggage
Lowe Martha Mrs, dressmaker
Lowe R H & Co, general merchandise
Lynch Frank E, cordwood and piling
Marvel Wm S, undertaker and wagonmkr
Mills Jefferson D, grocer
Morris & Lowe Bros (J Polk Morris, Isaac S and Carr Lowes) lumber mnfrs
Oliphant Zepha, Pharmacist
Perdue J G W, Cashier Bank of Delmar
Perry E P Rev (M P)
Robertson Frank A, Editor and proprietor The Delmar News
Sirman Wm L, lumber and fruit pkg mnfr
Sirman Wm T, pigeon breeder
Smith Jennie E, dressmaker
Stephens Willard O, blacksmith and wagon maker
Stephens & Hitchens (Walter B Stephens, Shepherd J Hitchens) flour mill
Stevens Solomon F, wholesale lumber
Stone House, Theodore A Veasey, propr
Sturgis J H, general merchandise
Sturgis Thos A, general merchandise
Tomlinson Charles C, Postmaster of Delmar
Truitt James H, Physician and druggist
Truitt William C & Son, (William C and Charles H Truitt), ice and phosphates
Tyre James H, Justice
Veasey Theodore A, propr Stone House
Webster Z H Rev, (M E)
White Greenbury S, shoemaker
Williams William A C, justice of the peace, deeds, mortgages, etc. Drawn and acknowledged, collections, Insurance
Wilson James T & Co (James T Wilson), clothing and men’s furnishings
DELMAR FARMERS
J W Anderson
Oscar Bacon
Jos Beach
W H Calloway
D S Culver
William E Culver
William S Culver
E G Dennis
Archeilus Elliott
Albert E Ellis
Clarence Ellis
Frank Ellis
George F Ellis
George W C Ellis
James Ellis
H C Ellis
J W Ellis
L W Ellis
William M Ellis
James Elzy
D H Foskey
Elijah E Freeley
John H German
Mrs. A C Gordy
J M Gordy
C C Hastings
J W Hastings
Levin S Hastings
W W Hastings
H P Hayman
Philip C Hearn
Samuel T Hearn
S G Hearn
John Henry
John H Henry
M B Hitchens
William Hitchens
C W Holloway
George Hulse
W J Kenney
James Lecates
N B Lecates
H E Lowe
I S Lowe
G W Nichols
Asbury Oliphant
Minos Oliphant
R A Otwell
John G Smith
N B Smith
Charles Tingle
Chas C Tomlinson
Brad Vincent
William A C Williams

The Bi-State Weekly March 23, 1962

LATE SATURDAY NIGHT BLAZE THREATENS BUSINESS SECTION

An alert police officer probably saved the entire business section of Delmar from going up in smoke late last Saturday night. Officer Leslie Baker, on duty in the uptown section, saw fire in the vacant second floor room over Wootten’s Market and called the fire department at 11:45 p. m.

The local firefighter were on the scene before the flames had gained much headway and were able to confine it to one spot. Fire Chief Charles Palmer said the fire appeared to have started on the floor in the upstairs room. Damage was estimated by firemen at $400, which was covered by insurance, Palmer said.

The building is owned by the L. W. Gunby Co., of Salisbury. Mr. and Mrs. William A. Dill operate a grocery on the first floor of the building known as Wootten’s Market. Mr. Dill said after the fire that thanks to the efficiency of the Delmar Fire Department he had very little damage and was open for business as usual Monday morning. The firemen had covered his merchandise with plastic to protect it from water coming from the room above.

At 3 a. m. Sunday the firemen were again called out to assist the Pittsville Fire department. A large home burned down with the loss of a life. The local firemen stayed until 6:30 a. m. to protect surrounding property.

Sometimes people will ask me where I find the Newspaper articles and Ads I have posted on my blog. This is a list of the location of newspaper sources I use most often.

Delmar Library – In the reference room are bounded original copies of the Bi-State Weekly Newspaper from 1949 to 1962

Del Tech Library – They have – on microfilm - an extensive collection of Delaware Newspapers. The Bi-State Weekly is there beginning in 1938. At some period the Bi-State Weekly was purchased or merged with the Laurel State Register so they have microfilm copies of the State Register into the 1990’s. They have a broad array of newspapers from Delaware from the 1850 forward to today. I find those newspapers that were in Sussex County sometimes will have a Delmar News column. Naturally they will have major weather events or catastrophe that effected Sussex County and Delmar.

Wicomico County Free Library – They have Salisbury newspapers (The Wicomico News, the Advertiser, The Salisbury Times) back to the 1880’s on microfilm. Frequently those papers would have a column for Delmar News.

Nabb Research Center (In Salisbury, part of Salisbury University) – They have limited newspapers on microfilm (a great deal of other research material) but limited newspapers. I think they are all Salisbury papers. Again they may (Or may not)have a column of Delmar News.

Delaware Public Archives - in Dover, again a wide selection of Delaware papers on microfilm. I can’t say it is worth the extra ride just for newspapers – DelTech will probably have what you need.

Seaford Library – Bounded original Seaford paper – Seaford leader – going back into the 1930’s. I think DelTech has the same issues on microfilm.

Laurel library – Laurel papers (originals) going back to 1925 to today. I think DelTech will have the same issues on microfilm. I have been told that Laurel library now has a microfilm reader and has acquired, on microfilm, copies of the News Journal and it's predecessors, back to the 1880.

New York Times Archives – sometime this online internet source may have what you need. They have two data bases the first is 1851 to 1980 and the second is 1981 to the present. Enter a keyword (like Delmar Delaware). A large number of articles in the second data base may cost money to see. Most articles in the first data base are free. The site is NY Times

A couple of comments on the way I use the newspapers, both original papers and microfilm. First the original newspapers are fragile. They will rip just turning the pages so you need to be careful. It is useless trying to drag them out to a copy machine to copy an article, as i said they are fragile and you may destroy what you are trying to copy and, the library staff will be pissed because you want them to try and copy it. What I use is my digital camera. I take a picture of the page, article, ad etc using the macro setting so I can get up close and I have the flash turned off. I take about 500 pictures a month of which over half are newspaper articles. I can then print it on my printer the same as a photo or just read it in photo gallery. Several years ago before I had a digital camera I would handwrite the articles which took forever.

If you know a specific date of the event you are looking for, looking thru newspaper isn’t too time consuming. If you don’t know a date or you are just skimming the paper looking for interesting material it will take about an hour and a half to go thru a years worth of original weekly papers.

Microfilm is the most common media I find newspapers on. It will make you go blind trying to read it. It takes me about two hours to skim three months of a weekly paper on microfilm and two hours seems to be my limit on reading microfilm. Most microfilm readers will be connected to a printer and it will cost about 20 cents a page to copy an article. Again you can use your digital camera and take a picture of the face of the screen of the microfilm reader. It will not be as clear as shooting a picture of the original newspaper but sometime that is the best you can do.

Remember Rita's gives away a free Italian Ice today

As a reminder for those who do not have kids in school the Delmar Middle and High School will start Spring Break this Friday and all next week. Watch out driving, they will be running all over Delmar all day long next week.

Hardee’s is supporting the Delmar Chorus. They are donating 20% of their profits from sales on Wed. March 19th from 5pm-8pm. No flyer needed. Just say you’re supporting the Delmar Chorus. Good for the drive through.

My neighbor, who is from Minnesota, must think Delmar is a subtropical paradise, as she goes around barefoot all the time. This morning (I thought it was chilly) on returning from my walk I found her outside doing some work, once again barefoot.

It ain't over till it's over, The Iditarod is not finished until the last musher crosses the finish line and Deborah Bicknell, rookie musher, in the number 78th position was the final musher to cross over the finish line into Nome. Deborah Bicknell is a 62 year old that finished the Iditarod in 15 days, 5 hours, 36 minutes. She was down to 8 dogs when she entered Nome at 8:36 p.m. Alaska time (36 minutes past midnight this morning for us). She gets around on a artificial left knee and a surgically rebuilt right knee and she did what the 18 mushers who dropped out of the race couldn't do - she finished.

The story is in the Anchorage Daily News.

Well Saturday we went to Wilmington just in time for the end of the St Patrick's day parade. We encountered a ton of people wearing green and drinking beer from cups. To add to it at the duPont theatre (the oldest continually operating legitimate theatre in the nation) had "Seussical" a children's musical based on Dr Seuss stories, so there were about a hundred kids, some of which were wearing "Cat-in-the-Hat" hats also running about. If I did drugs it would be my idea of being spaced out on them, drunken people wearing green and midgets in Cat-in-the-hat hats.

Anyway for all those Irish people, and wannabes Irish in Delmar, Happy St. Patrick day.

The Doctor James Brayshaw House, about 1910, back when Jewell Street was unpaved. The house is located on Jewell street and Second street.

James Brayshaw was born near Baltimore, MD (Wetheredsville) in 1847. He was a farmer until he studied medicine in 1890 with his brother Thomas Henry. While studying medicine he married Clarissa Lodivick. She died before he graduated Medical school. He graduated Kentucky School of Medicine in 1893. In 1894 he moved to Delmar to sit up shop.

In 1896 he married Agnes Ellis, a young lady 27 years his junior. She was the daughter of Jonathan Waller Ellis (1840-1915) and M. Carrie Ellis (1854-1930). James and Agnes had one son, James Ellis Brayshaw (1897-1931). The son married Laura Rodney (1897-1930). Altho the house is called the Doctor James Brayshaw house from what I can determine the house was owned by his mother-in-law, M. Carrie Ellis. The house was built between 1903 to 1906. It is unclear when the house was sold. It could have been after Jonathan Ellis died in 1915 or after Carrie Ellis died in 1930. Regardless, in the 1920 census Dr. Brayshaw is practicing medicine in Delaware City and his mother-in-law is living with them. James Brayshaw died in 1927 and Agnes Brayshaw died in 1957. The Brayshaws and Ellis' are buried in Parson Cemetery in Salisbury.

After the house left the Ellis family it was owned by a number of people and due to it's size was used as a nursing home and boarding house.

Today Scott and Wendy Reynolds live in the house. As you can see from the photo below, the house has not changed much from the original photo. Scott and Wendy have done an excellent job of keeping the house in it's original condition. In August I did a previous post on Reynolds auto repair shop just north of town.


The Dr. James Brayshaw House Today

Once again the Delmar Community Yardsale is coming up. The Yardsale is held twice yearly in the State Street Park and it is put on by the Concerned Citizens. They donate any profit from the event to a civic organization in Delmar. This yardsale is being held on April 19, 2008 from 7am - 2 pm.

This year the Delmar Little League will be the receipents of all profits from this sale. The cost for pre registration of a booth is $20.00 and $25.00 the day of. Vendor check-in will begin at 6 am under the pavillion. Pre-registration will begin on April 15. Any checks made for the booth should be made payable directly to the Delmar Little League as this may be tax deductible. At the moment they are not sure if the Delmar little League has non-profit status.

The Delmar Kiwanis will again provide breakfast sandwiches and lunch items and the yardsale will also be contact other community groups to see if anyone would be interested in doing bake sale items or such. Anyone wishing additional information can contact Sharon Ledvadnuk at 302-846-9574.

40 years ago in South Vietnam American Soldiers massacred a village, killing about 500 children, women and elderly. It brought home to America that something went wrong with the clean cut, morally correct, young men they had sent to keep South Vietnam "free". The only one who received any punishment was a Lt William Calley and the other 100 or so men involved escaped free. When Calley stood trial he had a simple response to the charges, he was following orders - the same justification the Nazis used twenty years before. The finding of the investigation are here.

A good series on this is the BBC as I think the American versions are bias.

It is difficult to condemn servicemen if you were not in their position. I don't try to pretend I was in Vietnam. When I was in the service it was still building up to the larger war it became. I do know other soldiers went thru the same thing and they did not massacre a village. One of the things I did notice when I was in the service, when you went 'overseas" there was a complete breakdown in leadership, discipline and morale. The outlook of the servicemen was like the people in the country you were in were nothing -just completely inferior to you - non humans. It was really shocking to watch some of the things that happened that Americans did.

"They were all enemy. They were all to be destroyed.”
Quote from Lt William L. Calley, Jr.

I was in the Wicomico County Library earlier this week and was looking at an exhibit of art work by Adah Marie Guy. It has an appealing "primitive" look about it with a little Frida Kahlo thrown in. I started at one end of the wall and worked my way down the wall until I came to a description of the artist. The description mentioned she suffered a broken neck a few years back and was only able to move her facial muscles. She uses those lip muscles to control a toggle switch that she moves with her lips, that in turn I assume works a computer to make her art work. Now, Howard is not some one who would recommend artwork based on pity. Howard has very little pity for anyone. Results are the only thing that counts in my life. I enjoyed her "paintings" before I came to the description of her handicap and I would recommend the exhibit to anyone who is going by the library.

I don't know about the rest of you but since the Daily Times went to their new press my paper has been screwed up. The printing looks faded. The color registration on photos and ads are off. Some days you can't even read the comics, which is the most important part of the Daily Times. Yesterday the paper had red ink smeared all over it. If you didn't know better you would think it was being printed by government people.

Bears Stearns an investment banking, securities trading and brokerage firm is to be bail out of a near financial collapse by our federal government (ig taxpayers) and J P Morgan bank. The collapse of the subprime mortgage market has forced global banks to write down $105 billion worth of investments, putting Bears Stearns in a bad cash liquidity position, meaning it's money is tied up in house mortgages that aren't worth today as much as they were two years ago.

Bears Stearns has over 13,000 employees world wide. It is not just an investment bank who territory is limited to the United States. It is international. It makes home loans to people in foreign countries and we are bailing foreigners out, again, with taxpayers money. It's previous CEO was James Cayne who stepped down from the position in January. He was paid in 2007 a total compensation package of $28 million. Good pay for being a fuck up. I am sure he got a bundle when he left the company. The new CEO is Alan Schwartz, who prior to the promotion made a salary of $250,00 plus bonus of $16 million, plus along term compensation of $19 million. The stock for Bears Stearns (BSC) has fallen from a high of $159 per share a year ago to $26 last Friday and I don't feel sorry for them in the least. These are the very people who supplied the money for speculators to drive up the price of houses and gasoline. They deserve to collapse.

The newspaper/government spin on this is if Bears Stearns collapse it will like a domino effect causing the financial system to fail. I have heard about the domino effect most of my life (If Vietnam falls it will cause a domino effect and all of south east Asia will fall) I am tire of hearing it. The only fear going on in the Financial system is some rich New York Jews are going to go bankrupt. Does that sound anti semitic to you - good it was meant too.

I feel the same way about bailing them out as I do the government (ig taxpayers - me) helping homeowners who house is being foreclosure - you made the mess - you work it out - leave me out of it.

In Pre-Revolution days there were few roads on the Eastern Shore. Those that did exist would appear to meander along but in truth they were touching long forgotten settlements. These communities were frequently centered around a mill pond. One road extended from Forktown (now Fruitland), crossing the dams at Tony Tank creek, continuing north thru what would become Salisbury, across the dams at Middle Neck and Leonard’s Pond, on into Delaware (although at that time it was still part of Somerset County, Md.). It didn’t go in to Delmar as there was no Delmar at the time. It then wandered northeast to Houston’s pond (now called Chipman pond) and the bog iron furnace, crossed the dam there and on to Hearn’s Corner (It didn’t go thru Laurel as there was no Laurel), north to Concord and another iron furnace, east to what would become Georgetown and into Lewes. From Lewes it would go to Dover. The road was called variously; the King’s Highway, Old Stage Coach road, the Post Road, and the section in Delmar is called Old Stage Road. Of interest is; in the 1930 census, Daniel Short was the census taker, he noted by the people he listed, the road name they lived on and he wrote "The King's Highway" when he was listing the people that lived on what is now called "Old Stage Road".

The road itself was dirt and sometimes when the road passed over the swampy areas, logs were laid close together to make a corduroy road. Sometimes planks were laid down making a plank road. Either way it must have been a slow bumpy ride in a carriage on that road. The road was narrow, as traffic was light, and the road was surrounded by woods.

North East of Delmar and South East of Laurel, there was a small community that worked at the bog iron furnace on James Branch. This settlement was near the Laurel American Legion on Rt24. It was the reason why Old Christ Church was built where it was built. Since old Christ Church has seating for 350 people we can assume the community that was there approached that number. There is almost nothing left of the iron furnace, unlike the iron furnace in Snow Hill the stone and brick was hauled away by farmers to be used as building material.

Most parts of the road has been plowed over by farmers or reverted back to woodland or swamp. Parts of it no doubt became the modern day road we refer by any of those old stage coach road names.

So they are going to pay some guy from Minnesota $165,000 plus benefits to be Superintendent of Wicomico Schools. I guess that means there is no one already living in Wicomico County who is smart enough to be Superintendent and the only thing the residents of the county are good for is be the sheep that get fleeced to pay for government workers from out of state. This guy has 35 years in the Minnesota school system so you know he is retiring from that school system and just can't get rid of the habit of sucking off the government payroll tit so he is coming here. Sort of like the new Salisbury Zoo Director. The area is made of farmers who care for animals everyday and they go out of state for someone to run the zoo. John Fredericksen reminds me of Evelyn Holman, a prior Wicomico County School Superintendent, who came here from a retired school position on the Western shore and than retired from Wicomico County and took a job in a New Jersey school system. Government payroll must be like drugs to these people.

From the March 2, 1990 State Register

Students of Delmar Junior-Senior High School are making yet another effort to beautify their environment and profit from the undertaking in the process.

Science Club members have acquired permission from the town officials to install two igloos for glass recycling at the future site of the Brown Derby Store on Bi-State Boulevard in Delmar, Md.

The effort is being made with assistance from Owens-Brockway Glass Co., which has agreed to pay for the glass and revert profits back to the Science club.

According to an Owens representative, last year the program debuted in Sussex County and brought in more than 350,000 pounds of glass, saving the county close to $10,000 in tipping fees.

The success of the program in Delaware inspired Maryland officials to initiate the use of igloos in that state this year.

Igloos will be placed at the Delmar, Md site as they are available. When igloos become available in Delaware (there is currently a shortage due to demand), two will also be situated at Goff's IGA on Bi-State Boulevard in Delmar, Del.

The igloo project is one of many environmental activities undertaken by Delmar High students. Numerous school organizations are currently participating in Maryland's Adopt-a-Highway program, a continuing effort to beautify Maryland roadways.

I read an article by Outraged Richard that listed the people's demand for a renewed United States. The only person I know that could have the qualifications he list would be Outraged Richard himself (I'm out for being obese), so lets start a campaign to write his name in for President. VOTE FOR OUTRAGED RICHARD

Okay, I am a little slow in finding new blogs. I back tracked on a comment left by Brian Shields, who apparently lives in Seaford, and found he has a blog called Ponder Mints. It is really an interesting blog, well written, and he gives what sounds like an honest opinion. I didn't see any bad mouthing of other blogger (well not that much) he obviously has more to do in his life than center the focus of his blog on other bloggers. Take a look, I think you will like it.

From the Milford Chronicle - Delmar News March 12 1934

A near tragedy was enacted on the Delmar-Hebron road Sunday night when the sedan in which Mrs. James C. Morgan and son Thomas, were traveling from Dover to their home in Quantico, Md., was overturned in a snowbank, landing on its side in a ditch. Mrs. Morgan was knocked unconscious by the impact of the car with the frozen ground but the young son, although severely cut by the flying glass, shook and called his mother until she revived. The mother then attended to the son’s wounds and faced the problem of escape or the dangers of a lengthy wait in the car. Believing the boy unable to brave the blizzard and fearing to leave him alone in the car, she choose to risk refuge in the car. After suffering terribly from the near zero cold and the terrifying effects of the darkness and the howling storm, they were rescued by Henry Ellis, a farmer, who noticed the lights of the machine about two hours after the accident and struggled across fields and through deep snowdrifts to rescue the occupants of the wrecked car. This good Samaritan then gave them refreshment and shelter until the arrival of Mr. Morgan who took them to their home early Monday morning.

NOTE: The year of the wrecked car is not given but safety glass was not used in Motor Cars until 1928 and than only in some models and mostly just in the windshield. It was not until 1937 that it became mandatory for glass in autos to be safety glass.

Lance Mackey won his second Iditarod this morning at 2:46 AM Alaska time, which would be 6:46 AM our time. It took him 9 days and 11 hours to run the 1,123 mile course. He came into the finish line with eleven dogs pulling. He wins $69,000 and a new Dodge Truck.

I was up in Elbert's territory today at Moore's Quality Meats Market in Laurel. As I have said before I am disappointed in the meats at Food Lion and Wal-Mart and I am looking for other sources. Moore's Meat Market is at 537 East 4th Street, Laurel DE. Steve Moore is the owner and he has been a meat cutter for a while, I think he worked a number of years at Giant in Salisbury. It is a meat market, don't look for groceries or even a soda. The steaks look great (don't expect Wal-mart prices) and the man can cut the meat anyway you want it. I was there however looking for Crab Seasoned Bratwurst. They are the sole retailer of them in the area. Basically they are bratwurst with crab (imitation) in it. Now I thought the crab would be overpowered by the pork and seasoning but they are quite good. He sells them for $4.99 a pound, the package I brought had five at $6.59. I cooked them very simply for the first time as I wanted to get the taste of them, not confused with onions peppers etc. They are good and I will no doubt buy them again. He is open 10 to 6, seven days a week. If you are looking for something special his phone number is 302-875-2373. If you go north on Rt13 at the Carey Gas Station turn left and go about a mile. Opposite a church on the right is Moore's Meats.

Just slightly off the subject is a memory I just had of Jimmy Smith about 1980 when he ran a grocery store in downtown Delmar. He use to cook a really great rotisserie Chicken at his store. I use to buy a couple of a week. He also had some good steaks and chops.

On a Sunday evening on March 11, 1888 an enormous blizzard hit the East coast and for the next week everything was snowed in. With the snows came hurricane force winds that wrecked ships up and down the coast. Lewes, Delaware was no exception. The Harbor at Lewes and the breakwater off Cape Henlopen was filled with ships seeking refuge, too no avail for a large number of them. Ships were tossed about and men froze to death clinging to the rigging and masts of sinking ships. When it was over 29 ships were sunk or severely damaged and 18 men froze to death in the riggings of their ships.
There is a story on it at the Ocean City Life Saving Museum


From Shipwrecks, Sea Stories and Legends of the Delaware Coast by Seibold and Adams
The following ships were wrecked;
Allie W. Belden, schooner, Two men died but five survived by taking to the rigging.
A.P. Crammer, schooner
C. B Hazeltine, Five deaths recorded on this coal transport.
Earle P. Mason: schooner
Elizabeth M. Lee, schooner
Elliot L. Dow, schooner
Flora A. Newcombe, schooner
George W. Anderson, schooner collided with the Paul & Thompson and the C. H. Kirk
George J. Simpson, tug
Isabella Alberto, schooner
Lizzie Crawford, tug
Lizzie V. Hall, schooner
Paul & Thompson, schooner
Providence, schooner
Rebecca M. Smith, schooner
Tamesei, Dredging steamer
Vanadis, Norwegian bark
William G. Bartlett, schooner
Zephyr, Norwegian Brig

As they say “it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good”, the Delaware beach wreckers (those who pick clean beached, wrecked or stranded ships claiming salvage rights) made a big haul salvaging lumber, cargo etc from the beached ships.

Update: The News Journal on March 12th did an article on the storm

I had a visit from my brother last night, he is a correctional officer in a local jail. In our visit he was talking about my blog and how he thought the posts were getting to long (Who really wants to read FDR's Inaugural speech and who would want to read anything about the 1933 Bank Holiday?) and there were not enough pictures in them. Well, I had thought about putting a code in the title of the posts with more than 200 words that indicated the content was not suitable for correctional officers. Might save them some time before they used up their 200 word retention span and realized there was still more to go in the post. Anyway I will have to work on that reader problem.

Today's Correctional Officer joke; How many Correctional Officers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Six, actually none screws in the light bulb, they drag an inmate out to do the work but it takes six to "guard" him while he does it and three of the six are on overtime.

An Update on day 11 and it should finish today or early tomorrow, Lance Mackey and Jeff King have left Elim. With only 123 miles left until they come into Nome it could be either one of them winning. Mackey is down to 12 dogs and King has 16 still left. They have to go thru the Goloyin, White Mountain and Safety checkpoints before entering Nome. Of the 96 mushers and over 1,500 dogs that started out, 12 mushers have scratched from the race. Bid Number 83 is Steven Madsen, who is in last place, just today checking into the Ruby checkpoint. He has another 445 miles to go. He may be the last musher to cross the finish line in Nome and he may be the one that receives the Red Lantern award, which is the award for finishing last.

Yesterday the dogs were running on sea ice into a heavy wind. As you can see from the photos the dogs have on their jackets as they are further north from Anchorage and into slightly cooler weather. Last time I looked it was 40 degrees in Anchorage and 9 degrees in Nome.

As is mentioned in the rules the mushers have to carry 8 pairs of booties for each dog. The booties cost between $10 to $40 for a set of four booties and they seem to lose them frequently. In the past the booties have been a wider range of colors and must not have fit as well as the trail was littered with booties. If you figure an average of 16 dogs times 8 sets of booties times 4 feet times 96 mushers you have 49,152 booties out there on the dogs, in the sled or on the trail.

From the Milford Chronicle, May 11, 1934

DISCOVERY OF “OIL” AROUSES HOPES OF BOOM IN DELAWARE

Farmers Near Bridgeville Have Happy Visions of Soaring Land Price

A group of employees of the Cleveland Petroleum Corporation drove into Bridgeville Wednesday night with samples of oil they said had been struck at a dept of 400 feet on the Bunting Apple Orchard Farm.

Less than two hours later the adult population of every town and village in Sussex county was in the throes of a boom, farm prices in the vicinity were soaring rapidly and Delaware was winding up for its private oil rush.

Before midnight the lingo of Texas and Oklahoma “derrick farms” was being spoken in general stores and on corners that had never heard anything before but the soft twang of agriculturists.

“I ’ve got a lease” he said “which guarantees me a share of the profits if the well should prove a success The people drilling tell me the farm lies over a lake of natural gas and oil extending 25 miles north of Bridgeville.

The Cleveland Company came in here early in the year. They said their instruments showed gas and oil. They have been quietly studying the section for seven years. We hadn’t anything to lose so we signed a lease.

“I am told the company has leased thousands of acres of adjoining lands so that nobody can cut in on them. At the time our oil lease was signed, we asked if this was a stock selling proposition. We were told the company had no stock for sale.

Drillers employed by the company stayed in Bridgeville only long enough to snatch a cup of coffee and wait for a train to Washington. But there was plenty of time to touch off the boom.

Telephones in the homes of the owners of the land were buzzing with the calls of concession hunters. Real estate men were lining up prospects. Wires were being sent throughout the state.

United States Senator John G Townsend and Clayton A Bunting , son of levy court Commissioner Bunting, of Selbyville are joint owners of the apple orchard. It covers a thousand acres.

Alone of all his neighbors for a radius of 25 miles Bunting remained calm.

Most of those who talked with the drillers were so excited over the oil rush that they could not agree on the quantities of oil exhibited. But they did agree that it is supposed to be a very special oil “much better than the general run of the Western wells”.

Mr. Bunting said he had been told the company expected to find natural gas at 1800 feet and oil at lower depths. The drillers told people that the oil had begun to flow at 400 feet.

All sorts of stories were being circulated in Bridgeville, Seaford, and Selbyville Wednesday night about the rise in the price of farm land. One man who had been trying to sell a small holdings for a few hundred dollars was offered $1500. “I wouldn’t take $4000 for it now “ he said.

In Seaford the largest town near the farm, seven miles away merchants were getting together on a plan to build everything from hot dog stands to hotels as near as they can to the site.

The Cleveland Company went to work shortly after the first of the year and has one drill operating. Its engineers had marked other spots for wells if the first failed to pan

A new local blog is out there, it is called Breda Blog it has just started but give it a look and see how it turns out. Welcome to the blogging world Breda.

From January to May in 1942 the German U-Boat wolf packs worked the east coast and as many as 400 merchant ships were sunk in this time period. The entrance to Delaware Bay was one of the prime hunting areas for these U-boats as Philadelphia built 35% of all ships constructed in World War II. In reviewing local newspapers from Milford, and Lewes only a hint of the number of ships being sunk were given in the newspapers at the time.

As the German U-boats operated in their assigned positions, farther out in the Atlantic were the U-boat tanker ships loaded with fuel and supplies for them to continue their destruction.

In 1942 the coastal defenses had not been worked out for submarine detection. The U.S. Government did not order a blackout of seacoast cities until June 1942 and ships were not organized into convoys with armed escorts. For part of 1942 the C & D canal was still closed from the SS Waukegan collision with the St George Bridge that sent the bridge crashing into the canal and closing it. Ships had to run out into the Atlantic to go from Norfolk or Baltimore to Philadelphia. The U-boats would watch the entrance to Delaware Bay and the Chesapeake Bay as it constricted the ship traffic into a narrow area.

In sending the U-Boats to the East Coast German Admiral Karl Donitz said “There were admittedly, anti-submarine patrols, but they were wholly lacking in experience. Single destroyers, for example, sailed up and down the traffic lanes with such regularity that the U-boats were quickly able to work out the timetable being followed.”

The submarine attacks continued beyond this time of early 1942 thru out the war. It was lessened due to better anti submarine defense and observation.

Some better known ships that were sank due to war activity in the winter months of 1942;

On February 4th, 1942 the Panamanian United Fruit Company ship "San Gil" was hit by a torpedo, killing two engine room workers. The survivors took to the lifeboats and the U-Boat surfaced and fired fifteen shots into the ship to sink it. Unable to sink it by shell fire, they fired a second torpedo into it, finally sinking it. About six hours later the freezing men were picked up and transported to Lewis, Delaware.

From ENEMY ACTION DIARY it was stated “SAN GIL (Panamanian cargo ship 3598-tons) 38-05N; 74-40W, torpedoes and sinking (cannot receive). "Putting boats out." USCG NIKE picked up al survivors. Ship sank 15 miles south of Fenwick Island light. 38 survivors (2 members of crew lost - 1 man broken hand).”

On February 4th and 5th, the twin ships, S S India Arrow and SS China Arrow were carrying oil. On February 4th, the India Arrow took a torpedo and broke into flames, sinking. The ship lost 26 men. About a dozen survivors made it to Atlantic City. On February 5th the China Arrow was hit by two torpedoes, the U-Boat surfaced and finished off the tanker. Thirty men made it into three lifeboats that they lashed together and spent the next three days adrift until a navy patrol plane spotted them. A Coast Guard cutter was called to their rescue and they were taken in to Lewis.

From Enemy Action Diary “Lat. 38-06; Long 75-47. USCG NIKE located the 3 lifeboats previously sighted and picked up Capt. and 30 seamen of the S. S. CHINA ARROW. Torpedoed 1115 EST 5 February enroute Beaumont, Texas, to New York. One hospital case -- others good shape. Expected time arrival NIKE at Lewes, Del. 0330 8 February.”

The USS Jacob Jones, a 1090-ton Wickes class destroyer, was built in Camden, New Jersey, and commissioned in October 1919. She was assigned to anti-submarine patrols between Cape May to Norfork in February 1942. While steaming off Delaware Bay on 28 February 1942, USS Jacob Jones was struck by at least two torpedoes from the German submarine U-578, causing heavy casualties among her crew and completely wrecking the ship. The remaining crewmen abandoned ship, but more were killed in the water when depth charges exploded as she sank. Only eleven of Jacob Jones' men survived their ordeal of explosions and exposure to the wintry seas.

The 3,915 ton British Freighter Gypsum Prince was sunk just 1.1 miles off of the Cape Henlopen point on March 4, 1942. She was headed toward the port of Philadelphia with a full load of Gypsum (a substitute for fertilizer) when at 6:40 AM , while visibility was still bad, Lights out and radio silent she collided with the British tanker Voco sailing out of Philadelphia on an outward bound course. She is considered a “war casualty” because she was trying to avoid detection at night by running with her lights off and her radio off. As we know ships at night stand out like a Christmas tree on the water. They provided an easy target for submarines. Six crew members from the Gypsum Prince died, twenty were saved and carried into Lewis.

The S S Hvoslep, a 1650 ton Norwegian freighter, was torpedoed March 10, 1942, two miles east of the Fenwick Island Shoal buoy. Sixteen survivors were picked up out of a crew of 20. It is on the dive circuit

On January 27th 1942 the Francis E, Powell, a 7,800 ton Atlantic Refining Company Tanker, was torpedoed by U-Boat U-130. Altho it was sunk down by the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay it is mentioned because seventeen of the survivors were bought into Lewis, Delaware. Ten more were taken into Chincoteaque. Four were missing, assumed dead. The wreck is broken into at least two sections. The stern section is off of Parramore Island in 90 fsw. The section frequently dived off of Virginia Beach in 90 fsw is almost unrecognizable as either the bow or midship section.

At the site NJ Scuba Diver are maps and info on the Jacob Jones and other wrecks

Carol Hill of Hill Top Studios is going to be 50 March 6th! If you see her, make sure to wish her a Very Happy Birthday!

Today in 1933 President Roosevelt officially signed a Proclamation declaring a Bank Holiday. All the banks in the nation were closed. The Bank Holiday was to go from March 6, Monday, to Thursday. No bank could transact any banking business except by permission of the Secretary of the Treasury. The stock exchange was closed. The declaration of a national bank holiday was somewhat secondary as the majority of banks in the United States had already been closed by their state governors. A small number of states still had their banks open, Delaware being one of them. The Banks in Delaware closed with the enactment of Proclamation 2039. The Federal Proclamation closed the banks until the March 9th, but a second proclamation Proclamation 2040 extended it indefinitely. Indefinitely was changed to March 13th, 1933.

So why did they close the banks in 1933? The great depression had been going on for a number of years and people were unable to pay their bank loans. The assets they put up, mostly farms, simply had no buyers so the banks were not able to sell them or had to sell them at a greatly depressed value. Now days of course the government would step in and bail out the banks at taxpayers expense, but this was prior to 1933 and the banks were losing assets. As we know in the banking system the money you deposit is loaned out and the bank only keeps from 6% to 15% of the total amount of deposits on hand to pay customers checks and withdrawals. As banks begin to close their doors because they did not have sufficient funds available to pay their depositors, people in panic or smartness begin to withdrawal money from the banks that were still operating, creating a run on the bank. You may recall in the movie “It’s a wonderful Life” George Bailey tries to stop the bank run on his saving and loan bank and he explains the banking system to everyone. Well at this period in time gold was the standard that backed the US Dollar and people could request their withdrawal to be made in gold. If they couldn’t get gold, they took silver, if they couldn’t get silver they took paper back money. It was being removed from the bank vaults at the rate of $20 million a day. At this time The US didn’t print money unless it was backed by gold, since the gold was being hidden at home and not in the banks they couldn’t print more money. All went into the mayonnaise jar buried in the backyard. The president referred to this as hoarding and to be labeled a gold hoarder was an awful thing (also a smart thing). More and more banks failed. In December 1932 State governors started closing their banks. In February, Maryland Governor Albert C. Ritchie closed the 200 banks in Maryland. The Bank of Delmar had to close down, however, on the other side of the street in Delaware was the First National Bank of Delmar and it was open. Needless to say business started to increase for the First National Bank as not only was it the only open bank in Delmar, it was the closest open bank for people in Wicomico County Maryland. The Delaware banks remained opened until the President closed them on March 6th.

So the bank closed what is the big deal? First, you couldn’t withdrawal the money you had in them. Second, the amount of cash in circulation was not enough to make change at stores, or pay employees in cash (checks were useless without a bank to cash them at). The excess cash people did get went into that mayonnaise jar buried in the back yard. The States that had closed their banks a couple of months before the National Bank Holiday had even more of a problem trying to find cash to circulate, they went to scrip. Local institutions supplied their own money. Towns and counties, factories and unemployment agencies, a fish processor in Massachusetts, and a college in California all created money for their communities. Emergency issues came from all of the forty-eight states, plus the territories of Hawaii and Alaska and the District of Columbia. In Cambridge, Maryland 200 merchants put up $1,000 to issue scrip. When you purchased from these merchants you received your change in scrip instead of US cash. In the collectors world today depression era scrip is a valuable thing. Business had to scramble to find cash to pay their employees, An exchange was established at the business office of the Salisbury Times Building in Salisbury to change larger denomination bills into coin or small denomination bills so people would have change to pay for things. The Eastern Shore Public Service Company (Today’s Delmarva Power) disbursed $22,000 in cash to its 300 odd employees in Maryland, Delaware and Eastern Shore of Virginia to meet it’s payroll. Standard Oil Company paid it’s employees by money order.

During this bank holiday banks had to submit financial statements of their conditions and the federal government determined if they could open again. An army of examiners fanned out and checked the solvency of banks across the United States. They certified the sound ones and closed the unsound ones.

By March 13th, a Monday, the Government had started issuing regulations to the Banks to re-open, the Bankers studied them on Tuesday and most re-opened on Wednesday, March 15th, although some had limitations placed on them and some didn’t open.

Complicating the bank holiday in Wicomico County was the Savings Bank of Nanticoke caught on fire and burnt to the ground. When the vault was opened all the funds were found intact. The money was removed and the bank reopened about a week after the bank holiday was removed in a building adjoining the burn structure. In addition, Joseph G. W. Purdue, cashier of the Bank of Delmar, died March 1st from an illness. He was 76 years old and before working for the bank had been a school teacher. All adding to the rumors floating about the conditions of the banking industry.

When the banks re-opened there were three categories of re-opening. First banks that allowed 100% withdrawal of deposits made before the bank holiday. Second, were those that allowed only a 2% withdrawal of deposits before the Bank holiday. Third were the banks that didn’t re-open.

In Delmar, Delaware The First National Bank of Delmar re-opened on Wednesday, March 15th with 100 per cent withdrawal. The Bank of Delmar in Maryland re-opened but with a two per cent withdrawal limitation on deposits made before February 25th (the day the Maryland banks shut down). It would not be until May 19th when the reorganization of the Bank of Delmar was completed and it would be on a 100% withdrawal basis. It had also applied for membership to the Federal Reserve System.

In Wicomico County; the Salisbury National Bank, Farmers and Merchants Bank, Bank of Fruitland, Hebron Saving Bank, Savings Bank of Nanticoke, and the Saving Bank in Pittsville, all opened with 100 per cent withdrawal privileges. The Eastern Shore Trust Company in Salisbury, The Farmers Bank of Mardela, and the Farmers Bank of Willards opened under a two percent withdrawal of deposits made before February 25th.

By the March 15th all but 4 of the 52 banks in Delaware were open. Among those on limited restrictions were the Fruit Growers National Bank and Trust in Smyrna and the First National Bank of Milton.

Well the local populace was treated to a couple jet planes today doing some low level maneuvering over Delmar. One seem to be following the other in some turns and loops. The two of them made a lot of noise. I couldn't tell what kind of markings were on the planes as the sun was too bright. Something long and sleek with two jet engines on the rear and what looked like two vertical stabilizers.

A little update on the Iditarod, The leaders have made the checkpoint at Takotna. they did the restart at Willow on Sunday and have gone thru the checkpoints at Yentna, Skwentna, Finger Lake, Rainy Pass, Rohn, Nikolai, McGrath to finally arrive at Takotna where most will rest. Besides the official website for the Iditarod you can also get news at The Anchorage Daily News. Mitch Seavey took the lead about 11 a.m. our time when he did not take a rest at Takotna, Lance Mackey and Jeff King are in second and third place at this time. The mushers must take two eight hour rest on the trail and one 24 hour rest on the trail. The mushers average from five to eight miles an hour. Three of the mushers have already been scratched form the race.

It is interesting to look at some of the rules for Iditarod.
Mushers must wear a numbered bib for identification and carry the following supplies on the sled: a proper cold weather sleeping bag weighing a minimum of five pounds; an ax, head to weigh a minimum of 1.75 pounds and handle to be at least 22 inches long; one pair of snow shoes with bindings, each shoe to be at least 252 square inches in size; promotional material provided by the ITC; eight booties for each dog in the sled or in use; one operational cooker and pot capable of boiling at least three gallons of water; and a notebook, to be presented to the veterinarian at each checkpoint. The notebook is for the musher to record information about the dogs and for the veterinarians to examine; the rest of the gear may be checked at most checkpoints.

The musher must use a sled or toboggan that is large enough to carry injured or fatigued dogs under a cover. He can ship one or two extra sleds to checkpoints along the trail and switch if necessary. No sled can be used more than once unless it is to replace one that has broken.

The maximum number of dogs on a team at the start is 16, the minimum is 12. At least five dogs must remain at the end of the race. No dogs can be added after the start of the race and all dogs must be either hitched to the tow line or riding on the sled. Mushers must exhibit good sportsmanship, cannot accept help along the trail except in emergencies, and must care for their own teams.

If a musher kills an edible big game animal such as a moose in self-defense along the trail, he must stop and gut the animal before proceeding. Any mushers that come upon the scene must stay and help. The gutted animal must be reported at the next checkpoint. Mushers must sign in at each checkpoint and sign in and out at all mandatory stops. Each musher must take one 24-hour stop during the race at a time that is most beneficial to the dogs. In additional to the 24-hour layover, he must take two eight hour stops at designated checkpoints.

Some photos stolen from the websites

If you haven't already got your ticket to the dinner let me remind you they are going fast. The band parents organization is hosting an all you can eat Beef and Dumpling Dinner at Delmar’s VFW Hall on Sunday, March 9th, 2008 from 1-4 p.m. Tickets are $10.00 and can be purchased from any Delmar Band student. Some tickets will be available at the door.

As a reminder you have until Friday to file for the Delmar school Board Election. see my post on school board election
School Board election

So far Shawn Brittingham and Greg Cathell have filed.

I have been on the Delmar Utility Commission for the past ten years. I enjoy it but I do think it is selfish of me to continue to stay on the Commission when another Delmar Delaware resident may want to serve the town. Besides, after being on the commission that long you don't have any new ideas - a good history of the utility operation - but no new ideas. I told Mayor Outten, a month or so back, I would stay on the commission until he found someone to replace me, than I would resign from it. The job itself consist of attending a half hour meeting once a month so if you are interested complete the Application for Board form and email it to Sara Bynum-King, town manager, at townmgr.delmar@verizon.net They will get back to you.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sworn in today in 1933 as the 32nd president of the United States of America. I have always rated Franklin Roosevelt as being somewhere between a womanizing, communist, dictator to one of the better presidents the USA has had. I will say when he went into office he had more problems, not of his own making, to solve than any other president. He is some one who hit the deck running with a plan.

On his first day (a Saturday) in office he took immediate action by closing the banks and preventing a complete banking collapse. I will post more about this action in the next few days. His first 100 days in office saw a wide range of new agencies set up to implement his "New Deal". He increased government spending, had an unbalanced budget, and removed a number of personal liberties from the people.

He is famous for his inaugural speech in which he had the line "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". He told the American people he was going to do something about all the economic problems they had and they believed him. His inaugural speech is below;

First Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt

SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1933
I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.

More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.

Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.

The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.

Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.

Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now.

Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources.

Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, State, and local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced. It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, and unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities which have a definitely public character. There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly.

Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order; there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people's money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.

There are the lines of attack. I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the several States.

Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo. Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time and necessity secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy. I favor as a practical policy the putting of first things first. I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.

The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not narrowly nationalistic. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in all parts of the United States--a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer. It is the way to recovery. It is the immediate way. It is the strongest assurance that the recovery will endure.

In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor--the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others-- the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.

If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at a larger good. This I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in time of armed strife.

With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.

Action in this image and to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has produced. It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.

It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.

I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.

But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis--broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.

For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.

We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of the national unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values; with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stem performance of duty by old and young alike. We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent national life.

We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it.

In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come.

"I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues."

The Delmar Fire Department will be conducting a “Door to Door” campaign to ensure every home in Delmar has a working smoke detector.

The date will be March 8, 2008 beginning at 10am. Fire crews from the Delmar Fire Department will be going within the town limits to ensure residents have working smoke detectors. If the home does not have a working detector crews will install one free of charge. If no one is home, the fire department will leave a door tag on the front door and town residents may call the fire department with a time they will be home, and the fire department will come and check to make sure all smoke detectors are working properly.

For more information or questions please call the Delmar Fire Department at 302-846-2530.

Howard's Note, I received this notice from the Fire Department, I assume this is an optional choice for the homeowners in town, if you don't want people going thru your house "inspecting" you can tell them "no".

I went to the Delaware Economic Development Office presentation last night at Town Hall. There was about six other people there. A slide show was given by Diane Laird, State Coordinator for the Main Street Program. As usual the theme of the meeting was "I am from the state and I am here to help you." Well after you get done trying to decipher the initials and acronyms of government agencies involved, what it amounts to is; she got a grant of $234,643 from the United States Department of Agriculture for her Main Street Program to be used over the next three years. She hopes to provide "training" (no direct money) to seven towns in Delaware with this money. Those towns are Bridgeville, Delmar, Harrington, Laurel, Milford, Millsboro, and Milton. Training seems to consist of conferences and forums on promoting, marketing, advertising the down town area of those seven towns. She talked about hiring "professionals" in those before mentioned areas of expertise to talk at the conferences. Frankly, what it sounded like was she was providing jobs to that group of "professionals" that feed off government funding. The bad thing is down town Delmar is in such bad shape even this program may be worth while. She wanted the town manager to sign an agreement for the training so she could show her "people" there was interest in the program.

Tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall the Delaware Main Street Economics group will give a presentation on revitalizing our down town.

Delaware Main Street controls some grants and funding for revitalizing run down towns, so maybe we should all go to it tonight so we can get some tax money flowing back to Delmar.

Always a hard choice to either maintain some dignity on one hand and not beg for our own tax money or beg like hell to get money so we can tear down the LeCates Building, a hard choice.

Tyler Merritt, a student in Laurel, wants to go to China this summer and is trying to raise money for his trip by way of a raffle. See That Elbert post concerning it.

On March 6th, Thursday,there will be a Spaghetti dinner given by the friends of Kim Johnson. It is from 5 p.m. till 7:30 p.m. at the high school. Adults $8.00, children $4.00

St. George's Methodist Church is located Northwest of Delmar. Not to be confused with the other St. George's Methodist Church in the eastern part of Sussex County, St. George's is one of those simple Gothic style country church that are found throughout western Sussex county. It is part of the Methodist circuit in which the minister also attends King's Church and Mt. Pleasant Church. St. George's was formed after a successful camp meeting in 1842, which converted enough people to form a congregation. The first church was built in 1844 and rebuilt again in 1888 and 1928.

Of note; St. George has a luncheon this coming Saturday between 11a.m. till 3 p.m. Oysters, chicken salad sandwiches, crabs soup, peas and dumplings - sounds good.

"Don't forget what I discovered that over ninety percent of all national deficits from 1921 to 1939 were caused by payments for past, present, and future wars. "
Franklin D. Roosevelt

As the ad says, Sussex Trust, a Delaware-chartered bank and trust company, opened it's branch office in Delmar on September 15th in 1975. For Delmar the triangle shape footprint of the building was a radical architectural change. A brief popular past time for the local natives was to walk around the building looking at it's strange shape. Roy Jones was the first manager of the branch bank, followed over the years by Cliff Parsons, Linda Jones and today's branch manager is Kimberly Watson.

In 1992 Wilmington Trust bought the Sussex Trust Company, which by than was a $400 million-asset bank with 20 branches, and the Delmar Sussex Trust became Wilmington Trust.

The shape of the building is defiant to taking a decent picture of it except from the air.

It in 1895 the Sussex Trust Title and Safe Deposit Company was chartered by the Delaware Legislature. In 1898 on October 25 it opened the Lewes office. On January 2, 1899 the Laurel office was opened and in 1902 the Milton branch was opened. In 1911 the name was changed to The Sussex Trust Company. On April 1 1957 the Rehoboth Branch was opened, followed on April 7, 1971 by the Milton office and than the Millsboro branch on March 1, 1972 and than the most important one, Delmar, in 1975.

Well the wife and I have started to have withdrawal symptoms from the winter devoid of yard sales and flea markets so we had to take a trip to the Mason Dixon Auction in Delmar yesterday. Now we really do not need to buy another treasure to pack in to this house but it is addictive so we went. The Mason Dixon Auction is held on Fridays - starts at 4 P.M., preview the stuff starting at 10 a.m., furniture and larger items auctioned at 9:30 p.m. It is located at the corner of State Street and the Railroad tracks. Mike and Patty Conklin own and run the place. Their number is 410-896-3783. Stop by, you are bound to find something you never knew you couldn't live without.

"If I went to work in a factory the first thing I'd do is join a union."
Franklin D. Roosevelt