Delmar DustPan

Well last night my three Delmar Football fans came home dressed in their orange and blue with heads down low. Yes, Delmar had lose to Laurel by an astonishing 27 to 7. They said Biff Lee's election campaign sign colors ruled the field last night. Now as if that was not bad enough, this morning my wife opens the Daily Times to the sport section and there in big bold print is; "Laurel Runs Over Wildcats". As I drank my morning coffee I heard an amazing range of expletives describing the Daily Times who could not print the wins the Wildcats had but can only print about the ones they lost. As she walked out the door to go to work she was still mumbling about it.

On Friday November 9th 1979 the Delmar Wildcats beat the Laurel Bulldogs 16-6. At halftime Penny Adams was crowned Delmar's 1979-80 homecoming Queen. Prior to the game a homecoming parade was held. The cheerleaders had sponsored a bonfire the previous night. On Saturday, the 10th , the Student Council and Keyettes sponsored a homecoming dance featuring the New York band "Star Point".

Today in 1977 the Jolly Jack's Restaurant, located south of Delmar, was almost completely destroyed by fire. 100 firemen from four fire companies resonded to the blaze. Jack Echaulk, of Echaulk Enterprises, had, only a couple of months before, purchased the building. As I recall this was the bar and restaurant at the Greenway Inn.

Another Halloween - this year's trick or treater (TT) count was 77. I understand the high school was mobbed with kids which kept them away from my house. As you know I record my TT count each year.

My daughter started keeping count for me tonight but she refused to put the numbers down by time increment preventing me from doing my time increment vs trick or treater count graph. Non number people do have a hard time with the data gathering part of Halloween.

The Delmar police was cruising the streets and it was a good thing they did.

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the radio show "War of the Worlds". The show gave Orson Welles a great amount of publicity. For those few who may not know about the radio show it broadcast on Sunday October 30 1938, it was a show within a show. The radio play started out as a normal music hour and was interrupted by news announcements of martians invading New Jersey. It created mass hysteria in New Jersey and New York and across the country. as I have mentioned before a Delmar native, William Alland, was an actor in the play.

I looked thru some local newspapers in that time period and found very little effect on our local populous. In part I think this was because it happened on a Sunday. Most of the local papers were weekly and would not be published until the following Thursday or Friday. The daily paper at that time, The Salisbury Times, didn't publish on Sunday, not that it would have had anything on a radio show that was produced that evening, and by the time it produced it's Monday evening edition it was old news so the only thing in the paper was an AP story of the event. Maybe everyone in this area listen to the Charlie McCarthy radio program which broadcast opposite the Mercury Theatre on the Air.

What did come to light in reading in this time period was with the expectations of going to war shortly. The US Navy had increased it's blimp patrols from Norfolk to New York. I can't help but think when the announcements of invasions started coming thru people begin to think "wait I saw a big shiny thing in the sky today". This would set them in the right frame of mind to accept the story.

There has been many many stories written about that broadcast so I will not try to add anymore to it.

Over at The Mourning Constitution, Brian has asked five questions of the candidates for Insurance Commissioner in Delaware. Now Insurance commissioners sounds like a nondescript elected office but depending on how the holder of the office uses that position it can be one of most important positions in the state. We may recall David N. Levinson, former Insurance Commissioner from the 1990's who use to use a strong arm approach to convincing insurance companies to invest in Delaware.

"I brought jobs to Delaware and refused to bow down to multi billion-dollar insurance companies and the lawyer/lobbyists to whom they pay millions of dollars per year to do their dirty work," Mr. Levinson said. "The industry went berserk."

I personally had no objections to what he was doing, except when he seem to personally benefit from it. The multi-billion dollar insurance companies directs more state policies than I would care to talk about and that direction is in their favor, not the individual.

Altho I looked at their finance forms and did not see any obvious contribution from Insurance PACs they may be buried under a name I didn't recognize. Of interest Tom Savage is the only finance form filled out by hand instead of a computer.

Anyway Brian did a good job asking questions and getting the candidates to answer them.

I went over to the "Tina Fallon" christening today. The "Tina Fallon" is the latest ferry to be used at Woodland. A ferry has been in operation here since about 1743. This current ferry was named for Tina Fallon, a State Representative from the area. The ceremony was to start at 1:30 P.M. but Governor Minner went to the wrong side of the river and had to drive back around to the Woodland Ferry Park landing. There was a crowd of about 150 attending the ceremony which started about 2 P.M.

The "Tina Fallon". I have written about the ferry before and the previous ferry the "Virginia C."

The ramp, as we all know the old one was so steep the bottom of your car would scrape leaving the ferry. This is at an in between tide level and it still looks steep.

On board - The Ferry has that new ship smell - fresh paint, no heavy diesel oil smell to it.

The "Tina Fallon"

New Line untouched by mud

Car wheel stopping device

The real live person, Tina Fallon, being interviewed

Tina Fallon being presented with a commemorative plate from Governor Minner.

Biff Lee speaking, other speakers were; Robert Venables, Daniel Short, Roger Hamrick, Rev Jervis Cooke and Pastor Richard Bridge. Biff Lee is everywhere now days. He was the first person I saw when I arrived at the landing.

Secretary Department of Transportation Carolann Wicks breaks the bottle of "champagne"

Dignitaries on board. They made the rest of us riffraff stay ashore

Leaving the landing

The Ferry on the East Shore

They were passing out a samll booklet called "Woodland Ferry: Crossing the Nanticoke River from the 1740' to the present." It was interesting and I have included a couple of photo from that booklet of earlier ferries at Woodland.

The 1900 to 1930 ferry being "poled" across the Nanticoke.

The 1930 to 1937 Ferry with the Model T engine

The 1937 to 1961 Ferry. It is interesting that just a couple of weeks ago I was reading two newspaper articles in a 1937 paper about this particular ferry. The first article talked about the new ferry being put into service. Two days later they had another article about two cars that had rolled off the ferry and sunk in the river. In the photo it looks like the ramp stayed permanently down.

The Virginia C took over as the ferry in 1961.

Clipping from the Bi-State Weekly Friday, November 2, 1951

On Saturday October 27th 1951 Delmar put it's first police car into action. It was a new black Ford (Does new mean 1952 or 1951) with "Delmar Police" on each door panel and the word "Police", all in gold lettering, on the trunk lid. The car was equipped with a siren on the top and a "stop" light on the right fender.

Shown left to right in the clipping photo are; Councilman Howard King, Automobile Salesman Leslie Evans, Mayor A. E. Hantwerker, Officer Philip Breyer, Councilman Gene Hammond, and Councilman Alton Tryuitt.

From The Milford Chronicle, Friday, October 29, 1937

Delmar News

Mrs. D. B. Waller has returned from Wilmington where she has been visiting her son, Franklin and family.

Mrs. Lizzie Elliott is spending some time in Norristown with her daughter, Mrs. James Van Ellen and family.

Mr. Frank Taylor, who was retired by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company a short time ago, left on Wednesday with Mrs. Taylor to make their home in the future at New Freedom, Penna. The town regrets losing these good people, but our best wishes go with them.

Fire, caused by burning a pile of leaves in the yard, spread over five acres of wood land on the Hughes farm, four miles east of Delmar on Tuesday afternoon. The Delmar Fire Company responded to a call for help and soon had the fire under control.

The winners in the essay contest on Fire Prevention were as follows; First prize, Mary Nehf; second, Robert Elliott; third, Bobby Adkins. These awards represent the best essays submitted by the pupils of the fifth, sixth, seventh and eight grades of the Delmar, Delaware school.

I was over to Rockville Maryland yesterday. I guess you would call it downtown Rockville, anyway Court House Square is a very nice area in which a lot of money has been dumped. I didn't see much in the way of business except those that would live off the Court building business (usual restaurants for lunch, parking lots, law offices) that are there. Brick is used a lot, from brick paved streets to inserts in the sidewalk to the building themselves. The place looks nice.

This is a statue in Courthouse Square Park, behind is the Old 1891 Red Brick Courthouse. The courthouse was closed in 1982 but preservation groups restored it and it was put back into use in 1996.

Dick Dykes sent me this clipping of a 1955 Halloween contest in Salisbury. Click on it for an enlargement. It appeared in the October 29th 1955 edition of the Salisbury Times.

The Adults from left to right are; Frank Ulman, Judge Fanny B. Murphy, Mayor Rollie W. Hastings, and William Agnew.
The children are Debbie Shores, Bill and Dick Dyke.

Picked up from This Day in Delaware History:

Today in 1869 Griffin Seward of near Dover, Co. G, 8th US Cavalry, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry in action in a fight with Apache Indians in the Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona Territory.

This Day In Delaware is compiled by historian Roger Martin and brought to you by the Delaware Public Archives.

In Today's News Journal there are two articles of interest to me. The first is an 81-year old Lewes woman was denied approval by the Delaware State Police to purchase a handgun due to her age and gender. She wanted the .22-caliber pistol for self defense. There are a number of comments on the website to this article. In the second section of the News Journal is an article about an 85-year old man who was sitting on his front porch was attacked at 1:45 P.M. by three teenagers who shoveled him into his house at gunpoint, kicked him and ransacked his house. Does anyone see the obvious here; first, the state denied ownership of a self defense weapon and than those that do own the illegal weapons beat the hell out of you. The State is working against you. It sends the message that if you are in your eighties in Delaware you should buy an illegal handgun and carry it with you. It would at least put you on the same footing as the criminals because the police are not going to be there when you need them.

When the $700 Billion bailout was passed I swore I would not vote for any elected official who voted for it. I am sure this has Biden, Castle, Obama and McCain shaking in their shoes, but this leaves me looking for other choices now for President and Vice President. In Delaware those that have filed for election for those positions are;

The Constitution Party
U.S. President - Chuck Baldwin
U.S. Vice President - Darrell L. Castle

The Green Party
U.S. President - Cynthia A. McKinney
U.S. Vice President - Rosa A. Clemente

Independent Party
U.S. President - Ralph Nader
U.S. Vice President - Matt Gonzalez

Liberterian Party
U.S. President - Bob Barr
U.S. Vice President - Wayne A. Root

Socialist Worker Party
U.S. President - Roger Calero
U.S. Vice President - Alyson Kennedy

I did not go to the Delmar Joint Council meeting last night so you all will have to wait a couple of months until the minutes of the meeting is posted on the town website to find out what happened. This was Diane Buckley last meeting (also Lonnie Figg's last meeting but I don't think he showed up) and on Monday November 3 at 7:00 P.M. two new Delaware Councilmen (Glen Payne and Robert Thompson) will be swore in.

I did obtain a copy of Diane Buckley's farewell address and I have reprinted it below:

This is my last meeting as a Delmar, Delaware Councilperson.

For approximately the past 6 years, I have held this position as a representative on Delmar’s Town Council.

I am proud of my years of service as I have had the chance to take part in many very important decisions to help make Delmar a better place to live and do business.

I stand by my votes on all issues and I hold my head high.

I feel that I did my best to represent the citizens I have served and I believe that many of them are satisfied with the work I have done.

I did not take this position for any one purpose and I leave just as I started….not aligned with any type of “special interest” group, or anyone’s personal agenda, including my own.

I would like to thank the former Mayor John McDonnell and the Delmar, Delaware voters for giving me the opportunity to serve the community which I love so much.

I would also like to thank my fellow Council Members and Mayor Outten for understanding my dedication to the Town and to the voters I represented even when at times I was very passionate about one thing or another.

To the Maryland Mayor and Commissioners, I thank you also for understanding my passion and being willing to work with me even though we found ourselves on the opposite ends of the spectrum more than once.

Last but certainly not least, thank you to my fiancé` John Johnson for his support and understanding.

I bid farewell to all of you tonight and I wish you all the best in dealing with the issues of the Town that are current and those which are forthcoming.

Since I chose not to file for re-election, I will say, I came in on my own terms and I am leaving on my own terms as well. I leave with my integrity and my pride intact.

Thank you.

The Delmar Utility Commission meeting was held last night. All members were present. Among the items discussed were;

Work continues on the Urban Service Agreement with Wicomico County.

We accepted the utilities installed at Lighthouse Square based on a letter of recommendations from the town engineers. The effective date to be September 29th.

The Holly Oak lift station requires repairs and estimates are being received.

Flushing of town hydrants will begin November 7th.

We accepted the utilities part of the Jewell Street project as being complete. Effective October 10th.

Tidewater Utilities is still in discussions with the State of Delaware about spray irrigation.

There was a meeting on the 17th with Maryland and Delaware to review the funding for the Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) project that hopefully will have the bid process started in January.

Discussion is going on with the State of Delaware concerning the depth of the backup well recently drilled.

The commission all told Diane Buckley what a pleasure it was too work with her and we all hope the incoming new Delaware councilperson will be as concerned with Delmar as she was.

In Delaware you can go to the Campaign Finance Online Reports to look at candidate campaign financing. Two reports are filed the first is a finance report thirty days before the election and the second is a report eight days before the election.

Since I mainly talk about the Biff Lee and Barbara Hudson campaign lets look at their reports. At the end of Biff Lee 30 day report he had an ending balance of $33,624.36. He had previous campaign contributions of $35,188.70 to start this year's election campaign with (you can roll money over from the last year's election, obviously an advantage to Biff since he was running unopposed in the last election). Barbara Hudson started her campaign with zero dollars. On his eight day report he had an ending balance of $31,994.59. Barbara Hudson had an ending balance of $2,525.92 on her 30 day report and on her 8 day report she had a balance of $2,900.92.

The 30-day report has the most information on it. Looking at the 30-day report you wonder why out-of-state people would contribute to a fairly local campaign fund. Remember $650 is the most you can donate to a campaign fund. Biff Lee has donations from;
Walmart Stores Bentonville, Arkansas $600
Medco Health Solutions,Inc. Franklin, N.J. $100.00
PHI-PAC Washington DC $120.00
Bank of America Atlanta GA $400.00
Genesis Healthcare Corp PAC Kennett Square, PA $150.00
Norfolk Corp Norfolk VA $100.00
Walgreens Deerfield IL $250.00
unknown $650.00
unknown $300.00
His beginning balance for this year's election was made up of even more out-of-state monies.

Barbara Hudson had no out-of-state sources of money.

The website is not the most user friendly site but once you find the reports they are interesting reading.

I was reading an announcement this morning for the Annual Green Fair to be held in Rehoboth Beach at Epworth United Methodist Church on November 2nd. Energy Companies and business will provide information on how to "go green". The fair itself was of secondary interest what got my attention was the line that said Fair Trade items (coffee, tea, and chocolate) available. Perhaps I just have not paid attention to the ads before but this, I think, is the first time I have seen this included in an announcement. It was a nice touch.

Now Fair trade items is a program where items (handicrafts, clothing, bananas, coffee, tea, chocolate etc) are imported from poor countries or poor areas of the United States and a fair price is paid for the item. This fair price will allow a fair wage to be paid in local communities. There is more to it than that but those select products should help with a fair wage, Children rights, Women rights, and environmental rights. Right off you can figure it is going to be more expensive and you are not apt to find many of these items at Wal-Mart. However I thought for festivals and fairs and other like events this would be a good ideal. The price of a cup of coffee is always higher at these events than what I would normally pay, why not make it a fair trade item cup of coffee and I would feel I was doing more than buying a cup of coffee.

A number of church groups such as the Lutheran World Relief, and Catholic Relief Services support this program. A little more information is here.

Most of this was started under the administration of President Bill Clinton, who tried to set free trade agreements that would encourage countries to adhere to minimum labor and environmental standards. He argued that citizens of other countries will not receive the benefits of free trade if their employers exploit workers or damage the environment in an effort to compete more effectively in international markets. Given the buying power of our dollar today most of us will continue to shop for the cheapest price and turn our heads to sweatshop practices.

Here in the East about the only cause of wildfires out West we hear about is some camper dropping a cigarette or his campfire burning out of control and burning half of California. As I have said before I receive the Ramona Sentinel which is a newspaper for an area east of San Diego. Actually I receive it about three weeks late in the mail but that is another issue. Reading it has certainly given me a different outlook on fires out West. The Ramona area had a fire last year, about this time of year, they call the Witch fire. 1,500 homes were destroyed and 500,000 acres of land was burned. The fire had a number of sources starting it but the most recent determined source of the fire was high winds had blown overgrown trees into the electric power lines of San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E). The power lines, touching the tree limbs had set off the fire because SDG&E had not pruned the trees back away from the power lines. The outcome of this is now San Diego Gas and Electric has made an emergency plan in which Ramona residents could have their power turned off during high fire risk weather. SDG&E is saying only about 1,000 to 5,000 customers would be affected by this outage at one time and the outage could last from 7 to 72 hours. So when there are high winds in the high risk fire season SDG&E will consider cutting residents power to avoid a wild fire. Actually there five conditions that have to occur for power to be turned off. One more thing we never give much thought to around here.

In the paper they have ten tips (questions) to prepare for the next disaster (they know it is going to happen again)

1) Have you and your family registered your cell phone with AlertSanDiego, the County emergency notification system?
2) Have you removed fire hazards near your home?
3) Have you checked to make sure none of your tree branches are touching or are located too close to your roof or home?
4) Have you scheduled a high-fire hazard inspection from your local fire agency?
5) Have you completed a family disaster plan?
6) Are you ready to evacuate your home in just 15 minutes?
7) Do you have emergency supplies to last you and your family at least 72 hours?
8) Have you removed any outside furniture or other items that could be blown into your home if you have to evacuate?
9) Do you have a non-cordless phone that does not require electricity to charge and a battery-powered radio?
10) Do you have a plan for your pet?

It must really be freaky to live in an area where wildfires could happen at any time. We can rest assured that Delaware Emergency Planning has a plan for any disaster that may happen in Delmar. I would feel more comfortable if Biff Lee hadn’t said it was being kept secret from the public due to national security reasons.

This week some events I am interested in;

Monday Oct 27th; Delmar Utility Meeting 6:30 Town Hall - No agenda posted on website
Monday Oct 27th; Delmar Joint Council Meeting 7:00 Town Hall - no agenda posted on website

Wednesday Oct 29th Dedication of new Woodland Ferry at 1:30AM

Thursday Oct 30th Halloween in Delmar. School will give out treat at night

Friday Oct 31st Delmar-Laurel Football game
Friday Oct 31st Punkin Chunkin begins at 7:30 AM, competition at 10:30 AM

Saturday Nov 1st Punkin Chunkin 2nd Day open 7:30 AM Competition at 10:30AM, Fireworks at 8:30 PM
Saturday Nov 1st Book Festival in Dover and First Saturday tours in Dover

Sunday Nov 2nd Punkin Chunkin final day 7:30 Am open, competition at 10:30AM