Editorial

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.

I. Don’t. Get. It.

There’s no secret that many of the people who call this area home have moved here from somewhere else. It’s part of the very fabric of this community that makes it such a tremendous place to live.

There have been so many efforts to help our troops overseas. Republican or Democrat, the one thing most Americans agree on is that it is our troops who are in harm’s way on a day-to-day basis in service of this nation, and groups and organizations have received great support in efforts to help them, both while overseas and upon their return home.

The winds of change are alive in Sussex County.

Under state law adopted last year, local governments and community associations were no longer allowed to require special approvals in order to allow installations such as windmills or wind turbines. This was seen as a way to help residents either go green or save money on their electric bills.

The first-ever Coastal Point Candidates Forum was held in Bethany Beach Town Hall last Friday night for the town’s coming town council election, and the results had to provide optimism for anybody with strong ties to Bethany Beach.

Labor Day weekend has long been considered the end of the summer season around here, and no event better captures that feeling than the Bethany Beach Jazz Funeral. The event started more than 25 years ago, as Bethany Beach entrepreneur Moss Wagner created a little event for the locals to celebrate the end of the summer season.

The Town of Bethany Beach will be holding a town council election on Saturday, Sept. 10. There will be five candidates vying for three seats — with challengers Tony Carmen and Tom Lennon battling incumbents Jerry Dorfman, Joe Healy and Carol Olmstead.

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell put the brakes on the proposed Route 113 bypass project last year following extensive news coverage by this paper and The News Journal — but that doesn’t mean improvements for Route 113 are dead.