The State Route 26 Mainline Improvement Project continues with a road closure in Ocean View.

Due to relocation of the sewer force main, Central Avenue will be closed at Route 26 to through traffic. (Vehicles cannot turn from Central Ave. onto Route 26 and vice versa, but both roads are otherwise passable.) Motorists should follow the posted alternative routes.

Although there seems to be a lot of construction orange blazing on the streets, downtown Bethany Beach is open for business.

Sussex County Councilman Vance Phillips filed for reelection to his District 5 seat on April 10.

“I’m a sixth-generation Sussex Countian. My roots run deep in Sussex County. Public service is in my DNA,” said Phillips. “Public service is a sacrifice. I take this decision to prayer every cycle.

On April 24, the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission will hold three public hearings regarding revised requests submitted by Castaways Bethany Beach LLC, for a proposed campground, multi-family duplex residential units and waterpark, to be located off of Cedar Neck Road, near Bethany Beach and Ocean View.

Drivers returning to Route 26 will see the construction zones, stacked pipes, bare patches of earth and a lot of traffic cones; this is the groundwork for the State Route 26 Mainline Improvement Project.

Coastal Point • R. Chris Clark: Katherine Riedlbauer recounts some of her memories from her time in a Russian concentration camp during World War II.When Russian soldiers arrested Katherine Riedlbauer’s entire village in World War II Yugoslavia, she was fortunate to survive the walk to the prison camp. Even after catching typhus, she eventually escaped the camp with her life and her 4-year-old daughter.

“They wanted us to die,” Riedlbauer says now, having celebrated her 100th birthday on Feb. 22 at Atlantic Shores Rehabilitation & Health Center in Millsboro.

Yugoslavia was a new country, formed in the World War I peace settlements, to include part of Austria-Hungary. People often spoke German and even considered themselves to be German.

“We were living in a village with 16,000 people,” said Riedlbauer, who was born in a part of Hungary that became northern Yugoslavia. “We were German people in that town.”

At 17, she married Josef Fabach. In 1940, she gave birth to her daughter, Cathy Wills, who now lives near Ocean View. That, she said, was the best time of her life.

Then Germany invaded in 1941 and sent many people to war with the Axis Powers, including Riedlbauer’s husband, Josef. But when communists took Yugoslavia back, Germanic families left behind were punished. In 1944, the Russians told Riedlbauer to pack her belongings and come outside.

Sussex County Council candidate Bob Wheatley is calling for leaders in Delaware’s southernmost county to work in a new collaborative manner, with the goal of increasing economic activity, and thus economic growth, in all of southern Delaware.

After months of bitter cold temperatures, snow blanketing our pristine community and ice coating our roads like it was simply part of the surface, spring has officially sprung for many of us here at the beach, with Easter weekend now upon us.

CareerCast, a website that focuses on career advice and salary listings, recently examined 200 jobs that have the most employees in the nation, based on numbers acquired from the United States Department of Labor.

The administration, staff and students of Indian River High School are inviting the public to join them as they celebrate Prom 2014 on Saturday, May 10, at the Bethany Beach Boardwalk.

From October 2013 to February 2014 – 5 months – 70 Delawareans’ deaths were attributed to suspected heroin overdose. Their average age was the early 40s.

Lawmakers are considering a new way to wake up downtown districts. To get the lights on and people moving, Gov. Jack Markell has proposed “Downtown Development Districts” (DDDs) — districts within cities or towns that would benefit from development, with State incentives offered to those who move to fulfill that need.

Millsboro’s Blue Water Grill will be closed for the next few months, following an electrical fire on March 28.

The restaurant, located on Main Street, is owned by Jessica Wiggins and her husband, Josh, who have been serving area patrons since 2007.

The Greater Millsboro Chamber of Commerce will hold its Annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 19, at Cupola Park.

“Over the four years I’ve been involved in it, we’ve seen a tremendous growth,” said Chamber Executive Director Amy Simmons. “I think the first year out we had about 100 kids, and last year we had over 300.”

Coastal Point illustration • Shaun M. LambertHave you changed your passwords this week? If you haven’t, you may want to consider doing just that, after the Heartbleed bug impacted an estimated two-thirds of the world’s websites this week, potentially exposing users to having their passwords and other information stolen by those seeking to exploit the flaw in the open-source OpenSSL protocol used by a vast number of sites.

Most Internet users have by now learned to recognize the padlock symbol and https:// address that are used to indicate that a website’s communications with their web browser is secure, encrypted and not subject to being easily intercepted by a hacker. We rely on those indicators to know we can safely do our banking online, buy items and services online with our credit cards and be assured that our personal information isn’t readily available to identity thieves.

Coastal Point • Submitted: Chase Ponton and his mother, Tammy McCabe, show off the shoes they’ve collected at Taylor Bank as part of a shoe drive started by Ponton on his sixth birthday.When Chase Ponton, then 6, told his mom that he didn’t want presents for his birthday, she was proud.

“‘I don’t want presents. I want to collect shoes for those less fortunate,’” Tammy McCabe, Ponton’s mom, recalled him saying. “I was pretty proud of him when he said that.”

At both his 7th and 8th birthday parties, Ponton collected 40 pairs of shoes instead of receiving presents.

McCabe, the senior customer service associate at the Ocean View branch of Taylor Bank, took her son’s idea to the bank’s Human Resources department, to see if the branch could collect more shoes to be donated to those in need.

“Tammy and her son were the inspiration. He started it by collecting a bunch of shoes. Chase wanted to keep going, and so Tammy brought it up to our HR director,” said Branch Manager Lynne Nicodemous. “We just suggested that it could be a good initiative. Could we do it here at the branch? And the bank picked up on it and thought it was a great idea.”

Survival during the Civil War was not an easy task, especially given that the risk of being killed, wounded or a victim of disease was constantly present. For many soldiers, an even less-desirable fate was incarceration as a prisoner of war.

After much delay, the Town of Selbyville expects to officially close on a loan for the town’s new wells this month. That will clear the way for the Town to receive $2,526,300 to build a water filtration system to filter out gasoline additive methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE).

New legislation aimed at fighting human trafficking has been introduced in the Delaware General Assembly. The bill, introduced last week, is designed to enhance criminal penalties for those who engage in human trafficking and provide greater protections for victims of human trafficking.

SCORE, WSFS Bank and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce are joining together to sponsor a forum at which successful Sussex County entrepreneurs will share their strategies on how to grow successful businesses in Sussex County.

Following a longstanding tradition, the Southeast Sussex Ministerium will hold an Ecumenical Easter Sunrise Service on Sunday, April 20,, at 6 a.m., at the bandstand in Bethany Beach.

In the event of inclement weather, the service will be held in the sanctuary of St. Ann Catholic Church on Garfield Parkway.

Cole earns bachelor’s degree at SUNY Maritime College

John M. Cole of Ocean View recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marine transportation from the State University of New York (SUNY) Maritime College, college representatives announced this week.

Cole has also been an active member of Maritime’s Billiard Club.

Coastal Point photos • R. Chris Clark: Right Coast Tattoo artists Jeff Brown (left), Todd Noble (center) and Adam Weir (right) pose for a shot at their Fenwick Island-based shop. Below, Noble represents his shop with some Right Coast ink.Over the past five years, Right Coast Tattoo has provided local residents and beachgoers coming in to their Fenwick Island shop with a variety of unique designs, to go along with a wealth of knowledge regarding the art form that is tattooing.

Owned by world-renowned tattoo artist Todd Noble, the shop also features veteran tattoo artist Jeff Brown and their most recent addition, Adam Weir, to form a team that, according to the three artists, makes for an ideal work dynamic.

“We try to keep that drive as a group, to try and drive one another, which works fantastic in this shop,” Brown explained. “Everyone pushes one another to do something better, and something better, which makes every day at work a good day at work.”

“You want people that you can mesh with,” Noble said of his hand-selected tattoo team. “It’s not your normal work environment. It takes a certain kind of person.”

Noble has been tattooing professionally for almost 19 years, dating back to his younger, more nomadic days living in Hawaii and Seattle. Frequently putting together drawings and selling them to tattoo shops, his first actual tattoo opportunity almost seems like it was fated.

ResortQuest Real Estate recently announced the March 2013 top producers in its southeast Sussex County locations.

Shannon Smith-Pantall of the West Fenwick office won top honors for listings for the month.

The award-winning Lighthouse Restaurant at the Lighthouse Cove Resort complex in Dewey Beach reopened for the 2014 season on April 11, and representatives said Que Pasa Mexican Restaurant will open later this month, with a date to be announced soon. Meyer Jabara Hotels will assume operations of both the Lighthouse and Que Pasa restaurants, effective immediately, they noted.

Coastal Point • Tripp Colonell: Freshman midfielder George Martin makes his way past two Smyrna defenders in last Friday's 9-5 victory. Martin currently leads the team in goals, with 15.Last season, in Indian River High School’s first year of varsity lacrosse, they relied heavily on the athleticism of their upperclassmen to carry the team. This year, not only are those veteran athletes becoming more polished lacrosse players, but they’ve added two freshmen with considerable lacrosse experience to the mix, in midfielder George Martin and goalie Hayden McWilliams.

While Martin has continued to develop as one of the team’s primary ball-handlers due to his more seasoned stick skills, his breakout performance came in last Tuesday’s 17-4 win at rival Sussex Central. The standout freshman racked up a team-high six goals in that matchup to go along with his two assists, bringing his points total to 22 (15 goals, seven assists) through six games so far this season.

“At first, it’s a little over whelming,” said Martin about being in an impact role as a freshman. “But all the senior guys really welcomed me into the team — it’s really been a good transition.”

Coastal Point • Tripp Colonell: Junior Sean Whelen returns a shot against second-doubles players Neil Patel and Cyrus Shanehsaz in Monday's loss to Caesar Rodney. Whelen and doubles partner Darsh Patel fell to the Riders 6-4, 6-1.Both the boys’ and girls’ Indian River High School tennis squads suffered 5-0 losses to Division I powerhouse Caesar Rodney last Monday, April 14 — but after the non-division matchup, both teams still remain in contention for another Henlopen South title.

The IRHS boys currently sit at 3-3 on the season and went into the match against the state’s top team without their first-singles player, Rydge Murray, who was away on a band trip. Instead of changing the lineup and bumping players up a spot, head coach Kelsey Waite opted to play freshman Adam Izzo in Murray’s spot.

At the end of the day, Izzo may have fallen to one of the state’s best players, in CR senior Nikola Sijan, 6-0, 6-0, but Waite said she hopes the freshman gained some valuable experience from the match.

“I didn’t want to mess with their conference seedings,” she explained of the strategy. “I decided to give him an opportunity — that’s a cool opportunity for him as a freshman.”

Coastal Point • Tripp Colonell: Justin Viele and Gergory Lorenzo round the bases to score after being knocked in by Mike ‘Yaz’ Yastrzemski's bases-clearing triple in the Shorebirds' 9-2 victory against the Hagerstown Suns on Monday night, April 14.After getting swept by Greensboro in a three game series last week, the Delmarva Shorebirds bounced back in front of a home crowd last Monday, April 14, with a convincing 9-2 victory against the Hagerstown Suns.

The previously 4-7 Shorebirds improved to 5-7 with the victory, and as of Coastal Point press time on Wednesday, April 16, sat four games behind Hagerstown — which currently leads the South Atlantic North at 9-3.

The team had a chance to close that gap on Wednesday, facing the Suns in a doubleheader after Tuesday’s game was postponed due to heavy wind and rain.

Shorebirds veteran Gregory Lorenzo was the catalyst sparking the scoring rampage on Monday night, stealing a base after a first-inning single and scoring the game’s first run off a sacrifice fly from Trey Mancini.

To some people, ALS is just three letters, bearing little significance otherwise. Maybe they’re aware that those letters signify a disease but don’t know much about it. Maybe they’ve even heard to it referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s disease” and can connect the dots to the fact that it ended the legendary New York Yankee’s baseball career and eventually ended his life.

Coastal Point • Aaron Mushrush: Keegan Orhelein takes a swing at Cripple Creek Golf & Country Club.With practices limited due to inclement weather, the Indian River High School golf team is now starting to find their swing after starting off the season with four straight losses to some of the state’s more stacked programs.

After being outscored by Caesar Rodney, Delmar, Sussex Central and Sussex Tech, the Indians snapped their losing streak on Friday, April 11, against Milford, on their home course at Cripple Creek Country Club — getting the win against the Buccaneers by seven strokes and shooting a collective 216.

Sophomore Joey Cooper was the team’s low-scorer on the day, as he has been throughout the season so far, shooting an impressive 42. Senior Mike Thompson wasn’t far behind, notching a 47, and the team’s second-ever female starter, Tori Buchanan, finished the day with a 65.

The Indian River High School girls’ soccer team continued their impressive shutout streak last Wednesday, April 9, dominating Division 1 foe Cape Henlopen 5-0. Three of those scores, and an assist, were off the foot of sophomore forward Brooke Beam.

Kite aficionados can enjoy a Saturday by the shore on April 26, designing, building and testing handmade kites. With the help from park staff, participants will build kites and use their imaginations to decorate one of their own. At the conclusion of the program, the group will head outside to send their finished products soaring over the coast of Delaware Seashore State Park.