Continued from page 2
Feb. 28.
The group will meet at the Sus-
sex Conservation District. The
Center for the Inland Bays is
charged with helping protect
Delaware's inland bays and the
agenda for the meeting will in-
clude land use planning, setting
priorities and possible efforts to
protect submerged aquatic vegeta-
tion. The vegetation known as
SAV's, is being re-established in
the inland bays to improve
wildlife habitat and boost water
quality. The Sussex Conservation
District offices are located at 21
Shortly Road.
Renew America Confab
Feb. 26 at Del Tech
A Renew America Teleconfer-
ence will take place on Monday,
Feb. 26 at Delaware Technical
and Community College.
The teleconference will include
a 1:15 p.m. speech by Governor
Tom Carper on "ensuring a sus-
tainable future" for Delaware.
There will also be panel discus-
sions from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. on
"environmentally sustainable
communities."
The teleconference at the
Owens Campus will be held in the
Higher Education Building and
will highlight some of Sussex
County's sustainability success
stories. The Sussex panel will
consist of: John Hollis, president
of the Western Sussex Boys and
Girls Club Board of Directors,
Moderator Ileana Smith of
Delaware Technical and Commu-
nity College, Cindy Small, the ex-
ecutive director of Sussex Coun-
ty's Convention and Tourism
Commission, Ron McArthur, past
president of the Nanticoke Water-
shed Preservation Committee and
Kay Wheatley, chair of Greater
Seaford Transition Team.
The teleconferenee will bring
together via satellite more than 50
cities, countries and state agencies
to focus on ways to further im-
prove our environment. The event
is organized nationally by Renew
America, a national organization
that coordinates a network of
community and environmental
groups, businesses, civic activists
and government leaders who are
involved in environmental im-
provement.
The teleconference is free and
open to the public. To register,
call the Delaware State Chamber
of Commerce at 576-6595. Seat-
ing is limited.
Fitzgerald services
'set after deadline
The date for a memorial service
for Beatrice Fitzgerald of Re-
hoboth Beach was announced af-
ter our Obituary page had left the
office prior to deadline. The ser-
vice will be held at 2 p.m., Satur-
day, March 9 at The Lutheran
Church of Our Savior, Bay Vista
Road, Reboboth Beach.
Tenants Association
meeting now set Feb. 24
A meeting scheduled for Feb.
17 for tenants of Ell-Cap Commu-
nities (McNichol Place, Aspen
Meadows and Camelot) was post-
poned because of winter weather.
The meeting is a general meet-
ing to discuss sewer bills and ne-
gotiations between the owners and
tenants over the West Rehoboth
Sewer District, according to Alan
Hedlund, the president of the
Camelot Neighbors Association.
The meeting has been resched-
uled for Saturday, Feb. 24 at 11
a.m. at the Lewes Library.
County Council
gets inland bays update
Sussex County Council got an
update on Feb. 20 on the status of
Delaware's Inland Bays. Dr.
Bruce Richards, director of the
center for the Inland Bays, and Dr.
Kent Price gave the update.
They said that problems still re-
main in the three inland bays, Re-
hobotli, Indian River and Little
Assawoman. Main problems per-
sisting include non point source
pollution, according to Price.
Land use is also an issue and Price
and Richards said they would like
to work with the county to incor-
porate elements of the compre-
hensive conservation and manage-
ment plan designed to protect
those inland bays into the land use
plan which will be developed by
Sussex County this week.
Price said that progress is being
made, but that protecting the bays
is a long term process. Progress is
slow, but "we are moving in the
right direction," he said.
Price said that it's difficult to
name one most difficult issue and
said that everyone needs to work
together to solve the environmen-
tal problems of the bays.
He was asked by County Ad-
ministrator Robert Stickels about
the impact of the West Rehoboth
Sewer District and how much it
would help improve the inland
bays. "I would rate it as a top ac-
complishment," Price said.
Frederick takes
MDDC Press award
Susan Frederick, sports writer
for the Cape Gazette, received an
honorable mention for a sports
story in the non-dailies under
12,000 circulation division in the
1995 Maryland-Delaware-D.C.
Press Association Editorial Con-
test. Frederick won the award for
her article entitled "Cape hockey
wins championship."Otber local
honorable mentions went to Scott
Nathan, Delaware Coast Press
photographer, who received an
honorable mention, also in the un-
der 12,000 circulation division,
for sports photos with his "Bas-
ketball Guy" and their sports-
writer, Phil Burke for his column.
Lewes zoning drafting
committee to meet
There will be a meeting of the
Zoning Ad-Hoc Drafting Com-
mittee for the city of Lewes on
CAPE GAZEWE, Friday,
Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. The
meeting will be held within coun-
cil chambers of city hall on East
Third Street. The meeting is open
to the public.
Lewes Council budget,
personnel meeting set
The Mayor and City Council of
Lewes plan to meet in a special
session on Monday, Feb. 26 to
discuss "personnel matters involv-
ing names, competency, and abili-
ties of individual employees" and
to discuss the budget for the next
fiscal year which begins April 1,
1996. The meeting will 15egin at 7
p.m. in council chambers of city
hall on East Third Street. The
portion of the meeting devoted to
personnel discussion is the first
item on the agenda and will be
closed to the public. Mayor
George Smith said the closed
meeting will focus on perfor-
mance of employees and possible
salary increases. Those items
have to be discussed as part of the
overall budgeting process. Fol-
lowing that discussion, the budget
discussion portion will be open to
the public.
Lewes BFW 1995 net
income doubles 1994
Net income from Lewes Board
of Public Works (BPW) opera-
tions, interest income and pur-
chase power refund in 1995 dou-
bled the total from 1994 according
to the audit report accepted by
BPW members at their Feb. 15
meeting. The net income total for
1995 was $781,292 versus the
1994 net income figure of
$351,612. Biggest factors in that
total increase were increase in in-
vestment interest from $106,359
in 1994 to $176,960 in 1995 and a
purchase power refund from Del-
marva Power and Light in 1995 of
$303,140 against no such refund
in 1994. According to Glenn Bar-
low, a Certified Public Accoun-
tant with the Robert M. Hoyt
Company who prepared the audit,
the interest income increase re-
suited from a revised investment
program for Board of Public
Works contingency funds along
with improved market perfor-
mance in 1995. The purchase
power refund resulted from a
number of rate case settlements in
1995 involving the Board of Pub-
lic Works's wholesale purchase of
electricity from Delmarva Power
and Light. Additionally, Board of
Public Works electric, sewer and
water operations generated ap-
proximately $54,000 more in in-
come in 1995 than in 1994. BPW
cash investments increased in
1995 to $2,070,377 from
$1,867,183in 1994. Barlow said
Lewes BPW has targeted
$2,000,000 as a cash investment
fund it ideally keeps to cover sev-
eral months' worth of operating
expenses and a percentage of
fixed assets to cover extraordinary
costs that might arise in the case
of a storm or some other unfore-
seen circumstance. A summary of
the audit is printed in this edition
on pages 30 and 31.
February 23 - February 29, 1996 - 3
Michael Short photo
Blaze destroys 10 Sea Strand units
An early morning fire on Saturday leveled ten units of the
Sea Strand Complex.
The first alarm went off at 6 a.m. and the Dewey Beach
building on Chesapeake Street near Silver Lake was fully en-
guIfed by the time firefighters arrived. Rehoboth Beach Fire.
Chief Leonard Tylecki said the scene looked "like a big barbe-
cue pit." No one was injured in the fire, which did an estimat-
ed $2 million worth of damage. The ten units were leveled and
continued to smoke for hours on Saturday. Little remained
except twisted lawn furniture and the remains of a burned
jeep parked beside one of the units.
Tylecki said firefighters were hampered by strong winds
and cold weather. Some firemen's coats Hterally froze after
being sprayed with water, but the firemen were able to keep
the blaze from spreading to neighboring buildings, including
the rest of the Sea Strand complex.
The Fire Marshal's Office is still investigating the cause of
the fire and has not released any findings yet. Tylecki said
that approximately 80 firemen from Rehoboth, Bethany
Beach and Lewes battled the fire and brought it under con-
trol at 7:17 a.m. Millville, Georgetown, Milton and Indian Riv-
er Fire Companies covered Rehoboth, Lewes and Bethany
while fire fighters from those companies fought the Sea
Strand fire.
Jack Redefer of Rehoboth By the Sea Realty, which owns
the land in the 36-unit Sea Strand complex, said it was fortu-
nate the fire took place during the winter. During a busy sum-
met" when the units were rented, he said that 20 or 30 people
could have died in the fire. The Dewey Beach police removed
two residents from an adjoining building when the fire broke
out, but no one was in the building which was destroyed.
Dewey Beach has scheduled a meeting for Sunday to speak
with owners of the units, according to Building Inspector
Karen Ulrich. Redefer said there was one permanent resi-
dence among the ten units and one unit which was rented for
the winter (the remaining units were seasonal).
The last unit sold in the complex sold for $165,000, he said.
Redefer said he was called at 6:10 a.m. and when he arrived,
"you could see the (neighboring) houses through the flames.
It was burned down that far.., you could see the smoke from
the canal bridge."
Sussex nixes resolution
on immigrant awareness
Sussex County Council failed to
approve a resolution designed to
raise awareness about the soaring
immigrant population in Sussex at
its Feb. 20 meeting.
County Council failed by one
vote to approve the resolution,
which would have had no legal
power. The resolution supports lit-
eracy programs, multi-cultural
programs, the Fair Housing Act
and other efforts to meet the needs
of the county's immigrant popula-
tion. County Councilman George
Cole called it "feel good legisla-
tion." County Administrator Bob
Stickels countered that the resolu-
tion would raise awareness. Stick-
els wrote the resolution, using a
resolution recognizing Latino im-
migrants as a basis.
That resolution was considered
by the Sussex County Association
of Towns recently, but did not te-
cei,ve approval. Stickels re-wrote
the resolution, which is dramati-
cally different in one regard.
Rather than focusing on the
Latino population, this resolutions
focuses on immigration. Stickels
said he was concerned that one
population was being singled out
with the first resolution.
The new resolution was adopted
by the steering committee of the
Sussex County Association of
Towns. It will now go back to the
individual towns for considera-
tion. Cole complained that people
who need a lot of services are be-
ing encouraged to come to Sussex
and suggested the poultry industry
be required to have minimum
standards for workers.
But County Council President
Dale Dukes objected, saying "I
don't want the county coming in
and telling me who I can hire."
Councilman Ralph Benson was
absent. Councilmen Dukes and
George Collins voted yes. Coun-
cilman Bill Stevenson voted no
and Councilman Cole abstained.
