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County Council funds
holding tank help
Sussex County Council agreed
this spring to provide $25,000 to
help the Department of Natural
Resources and Environmental
Control (DNREC) develop a
holding tank monitoring program.
Council made that decision, al-
though some members of county
council argued that it should be up
to DNREC to do the job without
county funding. Rodney Wyatt of
DNREC said that there are an es-
timated 250 holding tanks in the
inland bays areas. Holding tanks
essentially hold, but do not treat
sewage. The tanks have to be
pumped out and are usually tem-
porary, but some have been in
place for a number of years. That
has caused concern that the tanks
sometimes don't get pumped out
and that the sewage simply over-
flows and leaches into the ground
and the waterways. Wyatt said
DNREC has no way of knowing
how much or how little the prob-
lem created by the tanks really is.
This program will be designed to
monitor the area holding tanks for
compliance to see if they are cre-
ating an environmental problem
and if so, how much of a problem.
North Shores
requests groin permit
North Shores is requesting per-
mission to extend an existing
groin in order to help maintain the
Police briefs
Missing Rehoboth girl
found in Angola
When a Delaware State Police
trooper found Monica Hayden,
12, of Rehoboth Beach, at midday
June 2, at a pay phone at Peddlers
Village in Angola, she was un-
harmed. Hayden had been miss-
ing since she left home May 30.
Nancy King scheduled
for case review
Nancy King, 42, of Louisville,
Ky., will appear in Superior Court
July 27, for the customary Case re-
view prior to trial. King, who
pleaded not guilty of two counts
of murder during a March hear-
ing, is accused of killing her 5-
month-old baby and an 8-month-
old Dewey Beach baby, Corey
• Henley, for whom she was
babysitting in 1976.
Walls waives
preliminary hearing
Michael E. Walls, 51, of Lewes,
waived his preliminary hearing
pertaining to his fourth-degree
rape charge in connection with an
allegation he had inappropriate
sexual contact with a 17-year-old
female Cape High student. The
Delaware Attorney General's Of-
beach nourishment sand placed
on the beach in 1998.
The request has been made to
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
to rehabilitate 87 feet of the exist-
ing groin and to extend the groin
both landward and channelward.
The purpose of the request is "to
stabilize and enhance the beach
areas immediately to the south of
the groin and to provide storm
protection for the existing dune
and oceanfront residences," ac-
cording to the application. The
project must still receive a permit
from the Corps of Engineers. Pub-
lic comments will be taken until
June 23. To comment on the ap-
plication, send to District Engi-
neer, U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers, Philadelphia District,
Wanamaker Building, 100 Penn
Square East, Philadelphia, PA.,
19107-3390.
Pinetown may get
central sewer
Sussex County Council plans to
apply for a $675,000 grant to pay
to extend the boundaries of the
West Rehoboth Sewer District to
include Pinetown, a small com-
munity of about 45 homes west of
Five Points. The county plans to
apply for the grant from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture in the
effort to provide sewer for the
area, which is believed to have
problems with failing septic sys-
tems, at a reduced cost.
County approves
32-townhome project
Sussex County Council ap-
rice has assigned Paula Steiner,
deputy attorney general, to prose-
cute the case.
Charges were filed against
Steve Wolak, 46, also of Lewes
and also facing fourth-degree rape
charges for allegations he had in-
appropriate sexual contact with a
17-year-old female Cape High
student. No trial date has been de-
termined in either case. Melanie
Withers, deputy attorney general
in charge of the Felony Trial Unit
and who has six years specializing
in child sexual abuse and domes-
tic violence, will prosecute the
Wolak case.
Lewes police seek
license tag thief
Lewes Police Department is in-
vestigating a theft that was report-
ed at 4:20 p.m., June 1, at Beebe
Medial Center. A victim reported
the tag on his 1997 Chevrolet
pickup truck was removed from
his vehicle. The Delaware tag
number is C81611. Police are
asking anyone with information to
report it to police at 645-6264.
DNREC investigate
boat accident off Lewes
Department of Natural Re-
sources and Environmental Con-
trol (DNREC) officers are investi-
gating a boating accident early
Saturday, June 3 that injured one
man. Jim Graybeal, chief of en-
forcement for DNREC's fish and
proved a request by Silver Proper-
ties to place multi-family units on
approximately eight acres of land
located just north of Coco's Diner
on Route 1. The project was ap-
proved on Tuesday, June 6, but it
was reduced in size by council.
Maximum density was reduced
from six units per acre to four
units in an effort to make the den-
sity closer to other area projects,
reducing the maximum number of
units from the requested 48 to 32.
Conectiv not guilty for
July '99 power outages
The Delaware Public Service
Commission (PSC) ruled Tues-
day, June 6, that last July's rolling
blackouts were not the result of
poor planning on the part of the
state's largest utility, rather the
outages were caused by extreme
hot weather during a three-day pe-
• riod over the July 4 weekend.
The problem peaked on July 6,
1999, when Conectiv was forced
to institute rolling blackouts from
10:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. The
move left some 138,000 cus-
tomers without electricity for pc-
riods of up to two hours on the
first workday after the annual In-
dependence Day holiday.
An investigation into the black-
outs was initiated by the PSC after
thousands of angry customers
called to complain about the sud-
den blackouts. Conectiv had an-
nounced the blackouts at !0:30
a.m., just as they began initiating
them.
After a 10-month investigation
into the issue, PSC hearing exam-
iner Arthur Padmore announced
wildlife section, said the charter
boat "Fatal Attraction" hit the
daymarker at the entrance to Roo-
sevelt Inlet while returning from
Cape May, N.J. some time around
midnight. Graybeal said the boat
was piloted by Captain William
Bayard. The accident ripped a
gash in the side of the charter
boat, but it was able to return to
Lewes.
Graybeal said one man, 48-
year-old John Doucette of Mills-
boro, complained of rib and back
pains and was admitted to Beebe
Medical Center for further obser-
vation. Graybeal said the impact
apparently knocked Doucette into
a box on board the boat, causing
the injury. There were no other in-
juries and no charges have been
filed. Graybeal said the cause of
the accident is undetermined and
the investigation is continuing.
Lewes police told
drugs on sale in town
Lewes Police Department was
alerted at 3:30 a.m., June 5, that
cocaine was being sold from a
Ford Bronco at a business on the
east side of the inlet. Police are
investigating the allegations and
are asking anyone with informa-
tion that could assist in the inves-
tigation to contact 645-6264.
:June Bugs hit Dewey
in traditional style
Dewey Beach police logs for
the past week reflect the return of
CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, June 9 - June 15, 2000 - 3
Dennis Forney photo
Seat belts on; driver's injuries minor
David M. Vecchioni, 48, of Lewes, sustained only minor in-
juries when the 1992 Ford Taurus he was operating June 3,
flipped during a single-vehicle crash. Vecchioni was wearing
a seat belt. The crash occurred at 3:18 p.m., when Vecchioni
was traveling on Sussex 277 and approaching the Sussex
277B intersection. Vecchioni told police he swerved to avoid
striking an animal, which caused the car to exit the west
edge of the roadway. The car continued forward sideways
through a grassy ditch until it struck a concrete sewer box,
causing the car to flip onto its roof. Vecchioni was cited with
inattentive driving and driving while suspended. After be-
ing treated at Beebe Medical Center for neck strain and con-
tusions on his head, he was released.
that he believed Conectiv officials
had been at fault because they had
not listened to warnings by their
planners, advising the company to
accelerate improvements to its
generation and transmission sys-
tem.
The five PSC commissioners
took a softer stand than Padmore
on the issue, saying the company
could not have predicted the ex-
traordinarily hot weather of three
consecutive days with tempera-
I
June Bugs, the name given to re-
cent high school graduates who
come to the resort for a break be-
fore returning home to a summer
job. Scores of complaints were
registered from June 2 through
June 8 about underage drinkers,
possession of alcohol in public,
urinating in public, rowdiness,
disorderly dwellings and fighting.
Dewey Beach police and 41 of its
summer officers were kept busy
writing tickets for violations of
town ordinances. Most offenders
faced hearings before the town al-
derman, and many were fined for
their actions. Dewey Beach - a
decade ago known as a wide open
party resort - still welcomes all to
the town, but reminds visitors that
a beefed-up seasonal police force
will ensure that the wide-open
party-town attitude is a thing of
the past and that town ordinances
will be enforced.
Dewey dumpster fires
under investigation
The early hours of Sunday, June
4, brought a blaze of activity to
the Dewey Beach police force as
fires erupted in several dumpsters
and trash cans in the oceanside
block of Clayton Street.
Police complaint logs show the
first call about a fire occurred at
1:59 a.m., June 4, reporting a
dumpster fire at the Atlantic View
Motel. It was extinguished by
2:36 a.m., but others broke out in
receptacles at Colliers Trim Shop,
tures in the high 90's and did the
best they could with the rolling
blackouts to keep the entire elec-
tric infrastructure from collapsing
on the Delmarva Peninsula.
PSC executive director Bruce
Burcat noted that the issue of reli-
ability raised over Conectiv's
blackouts was centered around
the transmission of power, rather
than the generation of it. The util-
ity has spent $32 million since last
Continued on page 4
the Beachcomber Condos, Sea
Scape and a private residence,
which received some damage.
The last fire call occurred at 3:16
a.m. Damages for all the fires
were assessed at $1,500. Coinci-
dentally, officers had to contend
with a fight at Dagsworthy Street
oceanside and a loud explosion in
the front yard of 2000 Bayard St.
Delaware State Fire Marshal's Of-
fice joined Dewey Beach police in
the fire investigations and an-
nounced, June 5, they were inten-
tionally set. Dewey Beach Police
Chief Ray Morrison said the in-
vestigation will continue in an ef-
fort to apprehend those responsi-
ble for the dumpster arsons. Any-
one with information may call
Dewey police at 227-11i0 or
Chief Deputy Fire Marshal
Richard Ward at 85625600.
Old Inlet Bait &
Tackle victimized
Delaware State Police and
Dewey Beach Police are seeking
the identity of the suspect or sus-
pects who smashed the front loor
of Old Inlet Bait & Tackle at ap-
proximately 3:30 a.m., May 29.
Police said there appeared to be
nothing stolen from the shop and
there was no evidence even to
suggest the vandals entered the
store.
The case remains under investi-
gatiffn. Anyone with information
is asked to call Troop 7 at 644-
5020.