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January 19, 2001     Cape Gazette
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January 19, 2001
 
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6 - CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, Jan. 19 - Jan. 25, 2001 VIEWPOINTS Editorial Let's get it in high gear We've become far too complacent and tolerant of a bureaucracy moving at a pace half that of the rest of the world. Finding a solu- tion to the environmental problems facing Delaware's Inland Bays - specifically getting treated wastewater out of the bays - is going vir- tually nowhere and has been in that mode for far too long. That's one example. Property values are declining due to fish kills and the stench of rot- ting sea lettuce and still no concrete steps toward a solution by any certain date have been taken. If the state were looking at this prob- lem as a business would, it would see revenues disappearing and would get into high gear to stop the hemorrhaging - simply to sur- vive. But the state gets more tax dollars every year - regardless of its performance - so it feels no direct pressure to get the job done. It doesn't have to worry about surviving. For some reason we put up with it but it's a wonder why. Another example is the endless dialogue over making improve- ments to Route 1. We've been hearing now for five years that a new lane should be added from Five Points to Route 24 to help ease sum- mer congestion. And we know that as a developing city we must have a grid system of streets and boulevards developed to keep local traffic moving around Route 1. But all we hear about is more stud- ies, more memorandums of understanding - a code phrase for inac- tion and delay - with no concrete plan signed off and agreed to so we know a solution will have been effected by such and such a date. Our new governor focused much of her attention as lieutenant gov- ernor on making government more efficient. She's a woman who likes to get things done. She's a woman who understands how a business works and that the payroll can't be met unless services are rendered and payment - reflecting the value of those services - is col- lected. The robust economy of recent years has taken the pressure off the state in identifying and addressing problems in an expedient fashion. People have had plenty of money to spend and they've done so with a willingness to overlook a few problems here and there. Shrinking resources, however, will result in closer examination. As taxpayers, we pay the bills. We should encourage our new gov- ernor to restore good service and prompt action to the governmental equation. It's time to set a firm date and financing plan for remov- ing the wastewater nutrients that are squeezing the oxygen and ben- eficial species out of our inland bays. It's time to set a firm date and settle on a financing plan for adding the third land to Route 1. It's time for the voters to put a little more passion into the requests they make of their government to show results for the ample tax dollars collected each year. Give us something to celebrate. Letters The Weather Picture Dennis Forney photo Scenes like this are all too common on cold recent winter days. Volunteers from Lewes Fire Department responded to this blaze at Whispering Pines mobile home park at 5:30 a.m., Jan. 14. Chief Gordon Davis said the doublewide was heavi- ly involved when firefighters arrived. "They did a real good job knocking it down quickly," said Davis. "There were no injuries, civilian or firefighters." He said the cause of the fire is still under investigation. Davis said four engines, one res- cue vehicle, one ambulance and 35 firefighters responded to the blaze. "Sussex County paramedics were also at the scene and Rehoboth Beach Fire Company stood by for us with two of their pieces of equipment while we were at this one," said Davis. The Decline and Fall of the New Year's Diet Resolution "Well, of course I watch what I eat...how else would I stick a fork into it???* Going... "This is the most effective diet patch available...it goes over your mouth." Going.., "Now THIS is my kind of Chinese...double chocolate fudge fortune cookies!" Gone. Bunting's stand on development upsetting Hundreds of us in coastal Sussex are deeply saddened and feel betrayed by the position expressed by Sen. George H. Bunting in a letter to the "Delaware State News" last week. We have supported him for years in the belief that he was truly our leader, a man who would stand up for what was good for the coastal area of Sussex and was good for those of us who lived here full time as well as for the thousands of visitors we have each summer. Now, we read that, as far as he is concerned, the disastrous overdevelopment, polluted bays, fish kills, drinking water problems plus the catastrophic lack of infrastructure is all our own fault. For years and years, hundreds and hundreds of people, individual citi- zens, members of the Citizens' Coalition, Friends of Herring Creek, The Sierra Club, Audubon Society, Save Wetlands and Bays, many homeowners associations and good- ness knows how many other groups have protested excessive approval of zoning changes at both the planning and zoning level and at the county council. There were so many protest- ers at both hearings for Americana Bayside, the very land grab that Sen. Bunting seems to feel is so wonderful as well as so inevitable, that the loca- tions had to be changed to accommo- date everyone. The people of Sussex have not been the passive turkeys that Sen. Bunting would have us think ourselves to be. Our main problem seems to be that the Sussex County Council is dominated by members from the western part of the county (and who, incidentally, appoint the members of he planning and zoning commission and have refused to allow George Cole, who represents those of us who live in the: coastal area, to have the same privilege accorded the other members; of the council, i.e., to name a member of the planning and zoning comrmission.) One western Sussex former council member, now deceased, told me to my face that "all of the develtopment, all of the congestion, all the pollution, all of the problems, is in the coastal zone, and that's just the way I like it." We make pleas for help that fall on deliberately deaf ears. We took great comfort last year from the joint efforts made by Reps. lh-ice and Schroeder and, we thought, Sen. Bunting, to recognize the extremely sensitive conditions which pertain in the Inland Bays and the sur- rounding land areas. Much has been made of the fact that the area pro- posed for the Americana Bayside monstrosity is within the so-called "development district." Nowhere is there mention made of the fact that many, many of us disliked the inclu- sion of this very large tract in the development zone and said so at the time. There are also many, many of us who do not think the Freeman devel- opments are the greatest boon to mankind since the invention of the wheel. The enormous looming bulk of Sea Colony glowers over the sea in a manner totally out of conformity with the rest of the coastal developments and plunges the beach in front of it in shadow all through the long summer afternoons. Golf courses in wetlands are anathema to many with the accompanying introductions of toxic chemicals into the water and air, plus the destruction of habitat and death of wildlife. It doesn't really matter if the plan is good or bad because the place where it is to go is wrong. Such a huge project on a two-lane road, so congested now in the summer that it is lethal as an evacuation route, is entirely too hazardous to even consid- er. The argument that others may come along and try to develop this same area is true, but if it is wrong for Freeman, it is wrong for anyone else. The county council is constantly rail- ing about DelDOT and the lack of road construction in Sussex but approving massive new land grabs before any of this construction takes place is hardly the way to make things Continued on page 7 Write Now Letters mast be signed and include a telephone number for verification. Please keep letters to 750 words or less. Write to Cape Gazette. PO Box 213, Lewes, Delaware 19958. fax to 645-1664 or email newsroom @capegazette.com. Volume 8 No. 35 Publisher Dennis Forney DNF@capegazette.c0m Editor Trish Vernon newsroem @ capegazette.c0m Associate Editor Kerry Kester kester@capegazelte.com News Editor Michael Short mshort @ capegazetle.com News Steve Hoonigmann steveh @ capegazette.com Jim Cresson Rosanne Pack r pack @ capegazette.com Jen Ellingsworth jen@ capegazette.com Bridin Reynolds-Hughes Janet Andrelczyk Photographers Bob Bowden Dan Cook Sarah Greene Sports Editor Dave Frederick fredman @dmv.c0m Sports Writers Tim Bamforth tbamforth @ prodigy.net Frederick Schranck Fsch ranck @ HoleByHole.com Advertising Cindy Bowlin cindy @ capegazette.com Sharon Hudson Nancy Stenger Joseph njoseph @ capegaze.e.com Maureen Russell mrussell @ capegazette.com Pat Jones Classified Sandy Barr Office Manager Kathy Emery kemery@capegazette.com Webmaster Catherine M. Tanzer web @ capegazette.com Receptionist Kandy Vicary Circulation Harry Stoner Production Coordinator Susan Porter Production Staff Chris Wildt Molly Wingate Laura Kucharik Norma Parks Contributors: Susan Frederick Nancy Katz E-mall for news, letters: newsroom @ capegazette.com E-mail for advertising: production @ capegazette.com E-mail to subscribe: subscribe @ capegazette.com The Cape Gazette (USPS 010294) is published by Cape Gazette Limited every Friday at the Midway Shopping Center, Highway One, Rehoboth Beach DE 19971. Second class postage paid at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Address all correspondence to Cape Gaz- ette, PO Box 213, Lewes, Delaware 19958. Telephone: 302-645-7700. FAX: 645-1664. Subscriptions are available at $25 per year in Sussex County; $40 elsewhere. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Cape Gazette, nO. Box 213, Lewes, Delaware 19958. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke