Delaware's Cape Region
Friday, April 5 - Thursday, April 11, 1996
Volume 3, No. 46
Sussex, state join forces in shaping Rt. 1 development
By Miclul Short
Sussex County Council agreed on April 2
to not accept preliminary site plans or
rezoning requests for additional projects on
Rt. 1 unless they have received entrance
approvals from the Delaware Department of
Transportation.
That's the latest development in a sim-
meting Rt. 1 development controversy. It
follows an announcement last week by the
Department of Transportation that it can no
longer issue entrance permits for large pro-
jects like outlet malls on Rt. 1 between the
Five Points area and Rehoboth Beach.
Transportation officials said that this
doesn't mean such projects can't be devel-
Batten third to file for at
large Cape Board seat
By Kerry Kester
Reverend Grace Ruth Batten
filed candidacy for the Cape Hen-
lopen Board-of Election race on
Thursday, April 4. She is running
for the At-large seat and faces
Milton "Butch" Archer, current
board president, and Estie Class in
the May 11 election.
"I think I have something to
offer the educational arena," said
Batten. "I taught adult education
for 10 years. I've always been
involved in education."
Batten said she taught adult edu-
cation in the James Groves pro-
gram from 1979 to 1990. "I ran a
satellite program for Groves [in
Milton]," she said. "A lot of peo-
ple got their degrees - GEDs
(Graduate Equivalency Diplo-
mas).
"I'm looking for better teaching
conditions," she said. What's
most important to her is manage-
able class sizes. "If you want
quality education, you've got to
have the right class size."
Batten said she is also interested
I I
in seeing
more contri-
butions to
school deci-
sions from
teachers,
something
that would be
managed
through care-
ful selection BATTEN
of administra-
tors. "I would like to see, in
administration, somebody who is
going to get more input from the
teachers.
"You want the kind of people
[in administration] who are really
tuned into what is really going on
and what is really needed. You
need the kind of leadership that is
going to listen to the public."
Batten said another of her con-
cerns is school discipline. "I think
that just [discipline in] the kids'
homes is not the answer," Batten
said. She said she believes pro-
grams in schools can also be very
Continued on page 11
oped. It only means that developers must
work with them to develop plans that have
less impact on traffic and highway safety.
County Administrator Bob Stickels said
"what we want to avoid is having an appli-
cant go through the whole process and then
have the application sit out there for a year
or more [with everything but DelDOT
approval]."
Two major projects in the Rt. 1 area, a
Wal-Mart and a I_owe's, are already await-
ing the go ahead from DelDOT.
"Based on a directive issued by Delaware
Department of Transportation Secretary
Anne Canby, the Sussex County Council
Continued on page 10
Angle Moon photo
Hippity, hop! Easter's on its way
Debbie Marsch of Rehoboth Beach takes a break from her job at Franklin Hardware to
dance in the streets of Lewes with the Easter Bunny, better known as Julie Thomas. The East-
er Bunny was making a special appearance at Kids Ketch Saturday afternoon, March 30.
Everyone is ready for spring to bust loose, although the weekend weather isn't promising.
By Dennis Forney
Frank H. Buck Jr., who ran unsuccessful-
ly against George H.P. Smith for the Lewes
mayor's post in 1994, decided shortly
before deadline on Thursday, April 4 to try
again.
Buck, 75, issued a brief statement after he
filed at city hall:
"In a recent past election," reads Buck's
statement, "the voters of Lewes were out-
raged by the prospect of no choice in the
selection of a mayor. In an effort to avoid a
repetition of that situation, and hopefully to
put an end to the out-of-control machine
politics, I am announc-
ing my candidacy for
mayor of Lewes. My
candidacy is not in
opposition to George
Smith as an individual,
but rather George
Smith as mayor."
Buck declined to
comment further on
his candidacy at this
time. "I will have BUCK
plenty to say in the
weeks to come on a number of different
issues." A resident of
Drake Knoll with his
wife, Carol, Buck
retired a number of
years back from the
DuPont Company
where he worked as
manager of industrial
trade shows.
Smith out-polled
Buck.583-288 to win
FORD
his first term as mayor
in the 1994 election.
Smith filed a few weeks back for his second
term as mayor.
Incumbents Jim
Ford and Tony Pratt
also filed this week for
a third term on Lewes
Council. Their filings
bring to four the num-
ber of candidates seek-
ing two council seats to
be decided by voters in
the Saturday, May 11
election. The terms are PRATT
for two years.
Continued on page 11
Buck files for mayor's post; Ford, Pratt seek re.election
