Local News

Anyone who closed their eyes in Ocean View Town Council chambers this week, clicked their heels and repeated, “There’s no place like home; there’s no place like home,” might just have thought they had been transported back to 2006, as debate again focused on the censure of Councilman Bill Wichmann.

Students in the Indian River School District can rest assured that they will not be in school come July making up snow days. On March 1, the Indian River Board of Education met at a special emergency meeting to discuss and approve changes to their 2009-2010 academic calendar. As of March 1, students in the district had missed 11 days of school due to closings, 10 of which were weather-related.

Ocean View officials welcomed state Rep. Gerald Hocker and Sen. George Bunting to a discussion this week on the town’s proposed charter changes. The town has been in the process of compiling proposed changes over the past year and half and, before the updated charter is proposed for passage in the Delaware General Assembly, a public hearing and input from the Senate attorney is still expected.

The Ocean View Town Council this week voted to grant the Millville Volunteer Fire Company monies from the town’s Emergency Services Enhancement Fund.

Fenwick Island has officially launched its new Web site. At last month’s town council meeting, Town Manager Win Abbott explained that Town Clerk Agnes DiPietrantonio had entered the town into a competition, and they had won first prize, which was a total overhaul of the town’s Web site at no charge to the town.

This year, for the second time in five years, the Lewes Polar Bear Plunge was rescheduled due to inclement weather. But as the ice and snow finally melt away, organizers this week were making preparations for high anticipation and quite possibly the event’s biggest turnout to date. Plungers, runners and spectators can expect a fun-filled, weekend-long celebration benefiting Special Olympics Delaware, starting Friday, March 12.

Ocean View residents Michele Steffens and Geoff Christ announced this week that they are joining forces in their campaigns to run for the two district seats in this year’s town council election, set for April 10.

Frankford’s own Josephine “Jo” Richardson was recently chosen as WBOC-TV’s 2010 Jefferson Award winner. The Jefferson Awards are a national recognition system honoring community and public service in America. Richardson will now represent the area at the national-level Jefferson Awards in June. Richardson and 15 other local Jefferson Award winners were honored last week in Salisbury, Md.

“We are addressing you as students, but we are recognizing you as teachers,” explained Col. Robert M. Coupe of the Delaware State Police to an auditorium filled with high school students at Sussex Central High School last week, as the Disaster Preparedness Coalition introduced their 2010 Disaster Preparedness DVD – one subtitled in Spanish and one subtitled in English.

The Rehoboth Beach Writers’ Guild will host its fifth annual Writers at the Beach Conference next month, on March 25-28. The four-day event, held to raise money for mitochondrial disease, will be held at the Atlantic Sands Hotel in Rehoboth Beach.

This past winter, the Shamrock Shanty made a move for Fenwick Island, and with St. Patrick’s Day nearly arrived, store owner Pat Griffith won’t even need the luck o’ the Irish this season, as business is already taking off.

The house lights dim. The audience is hushed. The stage lights fade to their brightest as I prepare mentally to shine my brightest. I take a step forward into the spotlight as my heart rate accelerates, and, suddenly, I feel radiant. All eyes are on me as I feel my gown flowing on the ground, adding silkiness and glamour to every step I take. It was at this moment, during my evening-wear walk at the Miss Delaware’s Outstanding Teen Pageant at the end of February, that I realized: When you feel beautiful, the world is your stage.

Understanding the game of poker on a full table can be quite a daunting task – reading your opponents, playing in and out of position, calculating pot odds. But what if you find yourself heads-up, facing only one opponent. Once you’ve made it to heads-up play in a game of poker, be it Texas Hold’em, Stud, Omaha or any other form of the game, playing styles and strategies can change tremendously.

In less than two weeks, the Lady Indians’ soccer team will pick up where they left off last season, with hopes of advancing past the second round of the state championship, where Ursuline awaited in 2009 to vanquish the Indians’ post-season dreams. This year, Indian River is returning plenty of talent, but they’re doing it without some integral athletes from last season’s squad.

Indian River softball coach Chris Megee will have his hands full this season as he looks to fill the cleats left empty last year by the graduation of shortstop Lindsay McCabe. As the season quickly approaches, young talent and new faces are filling out the lineup for the Lady Indians, in hopes of bringing conference and state titles to the program.

My pocket vibrates, and I can sense that it is the text message that I have been anxiously awaiting: the wind and waves are cooperating and it is go-time. I always get nervous and excited for winter sessions. The waves are the best of the year, but the last day I went out, the air and water temperatures were a balmy 38 degrees.

On Friday, Feb. 19, Nogiko Kertesz took her two shih-tzus, Skoshi and Daise-Mae, for a walk in their neighborhood in Bayside.

A designated public safety building is a little closer to reality in the Town of Fenwick Island, although much still needs to be decided on the issue. Mayor Audrey Serio noted that it is something the town has talked about for years, and on Monday, the town’s Public Safety Building Committee had a meeting to discuss their next steps to make it a reality.

On Saturday, March 6, from 4 to 8 p.m., DiFebo’s Bistro on the Green at Bear Trap Dunes will be holding a Helping Hands for Haiti fundraiser.

First Steps Primeros Pasos – an early childhood education program located in Georgetown, Del. – on Monday took the opportunity to thank U.S. Sen. Tom Carper for his assistance with $194,800 in appropriations funding to support the construction of a new facility. The new facility will be able to accommodate five times as many children as the current facility.

The plan has had many incarnations, numerous public hearings and many discussions at town meetings, but Bethany Beach’s Streetscape project to beautify its downtown area has yet to see significant progress.

Trying to get your chocolate fix this weekend? Well, area chocolate lovers are in luck! On Saturday, March 6, the 20th annual Rehoboth Beach Chocolate Festival will be held at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center. The festival will benefit Rehoboth Beach Main Street and the Friends of the Rehoboth Beach Library, two area non-profit groups.

Unless your family has been affected by a horrific tragedy, chances are you have never heard of The Compassionate Friends.

The message is clear: for homeowners facing foreclosure or even just starting to feel the pinch of not being able to make mortgage payments: don’t give up. And no matter what, don’t just walk away. With the economy and housing industry still struggling, there are plenty of options out there and more ways to get help every day.

Although Delmarva is known for its chicken industry, the days of having backyard hens seemed to have gone the way of the dodo for a while. With the fast-paced life of ample development and grocery stores on every corner, rural Delmarva seemed to be taking a back seat. But a new trend on the peninsula is green living in the form of going back to basics. And, for some, that means once again having backyard hens that are free to roam, and enjoying the “fruits” of labor in the form of fresh eggs.

In the world of all things green, everybody’s an expert. Well, not everybody. As “green” has gotten more popular in the past few years, it has become increasingly hard to tell who really knows their stuff and who’s just jumping on a bandwagon. So, for cautious homeowners, the best bet could be going with a company that has been around for a while.

A coastal storm, combined with astronomical high tides and a full moon, has resulted in the National Weather Service issuing a coastal flood warning and a hazardous weather outlook for the Bethany Beach area. Minor coastal flooding during Wednesday morning’s high tide may elevate to moderate flooding on during the next high tide into Thursday.

Although snowflakes are few and far between in Delaware as of 3:30 p.m., Thursday, the National Weather Service predicts that snowfall will gradually increase over the state and continue through Thursday night into Friday. However, forecasts for accumulation have been lowered since early Thursday morning.

Just shy of five years to the day of being named defendants in a lawsuit regarding school prayer, the Indian River School Board has closed another chapter in the case, after Judge Joseph J. Farnan Jr. ruled in favor of the district, stating that their policy regarding prayers before regular school board meetings is not unconstitutional.