Bethany Beach News

After years of construction, delay and turbulent waters, the Indian River Inlet Bridge opened to traffic last Friday, with Gov. Jack Markell taking the maiden ride across its span.

Bethany Beach Town Council members this week voted unanimously to reject a proposal from Velocitel to host AT&T’s cellular antenna equipment on the town’s water standpipe.

Bethany Beach Town Council members this week unanimously approved a resolution supporting concept of the proposed recreational path along the Assawoman Canal, but they did so through a modified resolution that limits the town’s commitment to the project – at least for now.

Bethany Beach officials are getting tough on those who don’t get required rental or business licenses from the town by the deadlines – or, in some cases, at all.

Early this week, as Bethany Beach Town Council members prepared to discuss and possibly vote at their Jan. 20 meeting on whether the Town will host AT&T’s cell phone equipment on its water standpipe, attention turned not to the existing standpipe and the controversial proposal but to the need for a new water tower.

Bethany Beach Town Council members this week continued their discussion of how the town might be able to better advertise the events it hosts without continuing to add to the damage done by placing banners on the lifeguard station, as has been the tradition since the structure was renovated.

The Center for the Inland Bays this week named Chris Bason as its new executive director. Bason has been acting director of the CIB since October and was selected after a four-month search.

Beach replenishment work in Bethany Beach under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is once again under way, using federal dollars to pump sand onto the beach, where it is to be moved by state workers as needed to restore the beach and dune after major damage sustained in the November 2009 “Nor’Ida” storm and subsequent degradation.

In an effort to move the Route 54 Improvement Project toward completion, the Department of Transportation (DelDOT) announced Thursday, Jan. 5, that contractor Mumford & Miller, will be doing paving operations this weekend.  Unseasonably warm weather will allow a portion of the project to be paved now instead of in the spring, officials said. 
 

Delaware State Police and officers from the Ocean View Police Department this week arrested two Ocean View-area residents in connection with a string of armed robberies at businesses throughout the area.

More than half a million babies are born prematurely — before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Bethany resident April Fels never thought that her second child, Trustin, would be one of those babies.

The Bethany-Fenwick Chamber of Commerce has been printing a Quiet Resorts Visitors Guide since 1977, and currently the Chamber, which serves approximately 800 area businesses, is working on their 35th edition.

The Quiet Resorts Charitable Foundation (QRCF) has established a number of movements to improve the community, through fundraising efforts that supply organizations and individuals with grants, donations and scholarships. Now in its 10th year, the QRCF is adding yet another way for people to give back, and a way to jump-start those New Year’s resolutions.

Depending on the region you’re in, you may exclaim “Alaapaa!” or “Ikkii!”, loosely translated from the Eskimo-Aleut languages, commonly associated with regions of Alaska, Greenland or the Canadian Arctic, to “Wow, that’s cold!” But there’s no doubt that the exclamation, however it’s worded, will be on the lips of hundreds of individuals, braving the chilly Atlantic Ocean this weekend. The Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce is once again “freezin’ for a reason,” as New Year’s Day plays host to the 16th Annual Leo Brady Exercise like the Eskimos in downtown Bethany Beach.

Visitors to Delaware’s beaches like to leave with wonderful memories of their time spent, and most want to take a piece of that vacation with them. With all the local shops, it isn’t hard to find a souvenir or fluorescent T-shirt with a favorite town name printed on the front.

Bethany Beach homeowners have begun discussing a rising problem: insurance companies not renewing policies in coastal areas. Delaware Deputy Insurance Commissioner Gene Reed explained to members of the Canal Association and other Bethany home owners on Dec. 3 how insurance companies make rate decisions and the State’s own role in regulation.

Delaware State Police this week arrested the Town of Bethany Beach's public safety director on charges of unlawful sexual contact after he allegedly made inappropriate sexual contact with a female acquaintance during a work-related holiday party at a West Fenwick restaurant.

Bethany Beach officials on Dec. 15 announced the results, to date, from a survey the Town sent out to its citizens on Nov. 9 regarding support and opposition to the proposed Assawoman Canal Trail project, which would run along the Assawoman Canal, partly inside town limits.

On. Dec. 6, the Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce’s Ocean to Bay Bike Tour received the Southern Delaware Tourism Recognition Award from the Southern Delaware Tourism Board, based on the event’s impact to local tourism.

Selbyville police arrested Jeffrey Paddock, 49, of Ocean View on Wednesday, Nov. 23, for his alleged involvement in a string of local burglaries.