Editorial

This is a smart idea.

The Town of Selbyville has been discussing water issues in the town for quite some time. From run-off to wastewater to water bills to the quality of the town’s drinking water, Selbyville officials have been dealing with water in some shape or form for years.

It’s probably not surprising to anyone who regularly reads our paper to see that Ocean View is the subject of our editorial this week. After all, the town has seen discord between council members, staff, residents and, yes, newspaper reporters over recent years.

State Sen. George H. Bunting Jr. (D-Bethany Beach) announced his retirement on the floor of the state Senate on Tuesday, March 13. Bunting has served as senator for the 20th District since 1996, and prior to that was a state representative from 1982 to 1984, and 1986 to 1996. It’s fair to say he’s put in his time.

There’s really only so much athletes can control when in the heat of battle, particularly in a sport like basketball. They can control their energy. They can control their effort. They can play good defense. What they can’t always control is whether or not they are making their shots.

State Election Commissioner Elaine Manlove recently dismissed an appeal by Frankford resident and 2012 town council candidate Greg Welch in which he argued that town officials had not acted properly in refusing to delay the town’s recent election “to allow proper voter and candidate registration.”

One of the things we really enjoy about being a community paper is that we can heap a great deal of attention on the young men and women from local schools who excel in athletics. In our case, we focus the vast majority of our coverage on Indian River High School, and the secondary and elementary schools that funnel students into the high school when they advance that far in their studies.

The Millville Town Council voted Tuesday night to hold a farmers’ market this summer, taking place on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Millville joins Bethany Beach, Millsboro, Sea Colony, Selbyville and others in the area as locations where shoppers can get their goods directly from the farmers who grow or produce them.

There are differing opinions on how governments should be run, who should run them and how much responsibility they should have in our day-to-day lives. Those differences in opinion are often linked to political party affiliation or personal experience, and they can either divide us as a people or bring us together in compromise to make the world a better place.

It’s not every day there’s a town council election in Frankford. In fact, it’s not every year there’s a town council election in Frankford. For the first time since 2003, voters in that town will come to the voting booth on Saturday, Feb. 4, to cast their ballots for who will lead the town into the future.

Millville officials have made it pretty well-known that a top priority for the town in their eyes has been to increase police presence.

Attorneys for Derrick Powell, the man convicted of fatally shooting Georgetown police officer Chad Spicer in September 2009, have filed a motion in their client’s appeal to move that trial out of Sussex County. Powell was sentenced to death for his alleged role in the crime.

The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) announced earlier this week that soutbound traffic on Route 1 would be routed onto the new Indian River Inlet Bridge on Friday, Jan. 20. Officials said northbound traffic would be moved on to the new bridge shortly thereafter, creating one lane of traffic in each direction for the remainder of winter into spring.

I was going back through my New Year’s resolutions this past weekend, as well as formulating a plan on how I would explain to people how all of them are now officially dead, when a jolt of reality shot through my body.

Last week, we used this space to alert local business owners about a string of armed robberies in the area. We also emphasized that people needed to let the police do their jobs, and not try to take the law into their own hands.

When word got out that Fox’s Pizza Den in Millville was robbed at gunpoint on Monday, Dec. 19, much of the community was stunned. That simply isn’t the type of crime we are used to here. Oh, we’re not naive enough to believe that there is no crime in our little slice of Heaven, but it usually involves property crimes, drunk driving offenses or people burglarizing unoccupied homes.

This week, as we huddle around our fireplaces, Christmas trees, menorahs, Yule logs, or just an oven filled with treats cooked on our vacations, it’s also an opportune time to think about those who don’t have family to gather with them around a tree; who don’t have heat, let alone a fireplace; who can’t afford candles or to pay to keep their lights on; or who don’t know where their next

The Ocean View Town Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to lift the five-year censure of former councilman Bill Wichmann, and that sounds about right to us.

On Dec. 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the United States Constitution. Nine years later on that date, John Adams was elected to be the second president of the United States. Lethal injection was used in an execution for the first time on Dec. 7, 1982, and Hamid Karzai was sworn in as Afghanistan’s first popularly elected president on Dec. 7, 2004.

On Dec. 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the United States Constitution. Nine years later on that date, John Adams was elected to be the second president of the United States. Lethal injection was used in an execution for the first time on Dec. 7, 1982, and Hamid Karzai was sworn in as Afghanistan’s first popularly elected president on Dec. 7, 2004.

It’s been said that a succesful sports team can galvanize a community. Lines of race, religion, gender and socio-economic status can be erased as people can unite in getting behind the home team and either reveling together over its success, or despairing as one over the team coming up short.

We are seeing that this year with the Indian River High School football team.

The power-shopping time of the year is now officially upon us. Clear up those charge cards, roll up the coins in the giant jar in the hallway and pull together those coupons and gift cards you have been holding on to throughout the year.

Black Friday is here.

Well, it will certainly be interesting to watch ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” Friday night.

What has been expected for several months took place in Ocean View Town Hall on Tuesday night, as the town council voted 5-0 to terminate the contract of Town Manager Conway Gregory without cause.

It was a turbulent few days for Sussex County Councilman Vance Phillips last week.

According to the Delaware State Police, two men forced their way into a home on John J. Williams Highway in Millsboro last Thursday night and confronted the 41-year-old male and 33-year-old female residents of the home with handguns. The men reportedly demanded and received cash, as well as prescription medicine, from the victims before fleeing in an unknown direction.

People in Ocean View just don’t trust each other very much.

Now, we don’t mean that neighbors are hanging outside their windows with binoculars at night to spy on what the people next door are up to, though we have heard of a few similar circumstances. No, we mean “Ocean View” in terms of the leadership and government of the town.

The economy has been a basic staple of conversation for the past several years. More specifically, our awful economy has been the major topic of discussion for people of all economic levels.

Before I moved back to our little coastal oasis of Delaware in 2003, I was the editor of two weekly newspapers in the Atlanta area — the Rockdale Neighbor and the DeKalb Neighbor.

The Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce recently awarded its prestigious Lighthouse Award to Patti Grimes, the executive director of the Carl M. Freeman and Joshua M. Freeman foundations, and we couldn’t think of a better recipient.

The award is basically a lifetime achievement commendation, according to Chamber Executive Director Carrie Subity.