Beebe Healthcare’s Board of Directors earlier this month approved a proposal for a comprehensive expansion of the system over the next several years. The $180 million expansion will touch three communities — Lewes, Rehoboth Beach and Millville.

Construction projects in the single-school Sussex Technical School District have caught negative attention from the state auditor.

The Indian River School District has been juggling school choice for the past few months. Between space constraints and the now-resolved question of next year’s kindergarten program, school board members have spent more time each month combing through their rules on and goals for school choice.

Imagine giving birth to a first child. It should be the happiest day of one’s life. Now, imagine an unforeseen complication that causes the mother to lose so much blood she needs a 400-unit transfusion.

While some may say, “This will never happen to me,” each year 5 million Americans need a blood transfusion.

When Jenna Carnuccio traveled to help fight sex slavery in Thailand, she said, many of the clients were white men picking up local teenage prostitutes in white-owned bars. The men were sometimes delighted to meet another American so far from home.

The Indian River School District this week approved the tax rate for this autumn.

For the 2018 fiscal year, the property tax rate will increase from $2.578 to $3.097 per $100 assessed value (which, in Sussex County, is much less than actual appraised real estate value).

Bethany Beach’s traditional Fourth of July fireworks celebration may be a little less grand this year but could also last a little longer — both changes being a function of the Town’s storm-narrowed beaches.

A group of local vendors will hold their first annual vendor event on Sunday, June 25, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Bethany Beach fire hall. The event will feature local vendors selling apparel, jewelry, makeup, skincare, health and wellness supplies, home decor and more.

The Sussex County Council voted unanimously this week to deny a conditional-use application for a “tiny home” campground in the Long Neck area.

Architect and property owner Joy Marshall Ortiz told the council she wanted to create a small, sustainable small-home community on her 4.199-acre property, located on the north side of Cordrey Road, approximately 800 feet west of Streets Road.

Well, it’s summer.

Honestly, “summer” really kicks off around here Memorial Day weekend, but the sun and the calendar are now in agreement over the switch of the seasons, and kids from our surrounding areas are out of school. So it is now official.

Fireworks company calls for legalization

Editor:

Delaware has fallen even behind further in the inevitable path to legalization of consumer fireworks. This year, Iowa adopted a full-line consumer fireworks bill.

Coastal Point • Shaun M. Lambert : The Lord Baltimore Lions Club donated two benches each to the Lord Baltimore and John M. Clayton elementary schools.For 71 years, the Lord Baltimore Lions Club has been working to addres the needs of the community it serves.

According to its website, “The Lord Baltimore Lions Club meets the needs in our communities and the world. Our volunteerism spans from assisting the visually impaired, assisting LOVRNET (low vision rehabilitation network) interviews, working with local youth through scholarships, etc., providing emergency assistance to individuals and families, building ramps for handicapped individuals, providing medical equipment to those in need, etc., as well as providing disaster relief as needed.”

“We have four major areas of focus, but we also respond to community needs. Mainly, this year, it’s been vision, youth, environment and fighting hunger,” said club President John Monahan.

For the club’s Legacy Project, as a part of Lions Clubs International’s Centennial Celebration to commemorate its 100th anniversary in 2017, the Lord Baltimore Lions donated benches to two area elementary schools.

Anyone driving by Lord Baltimore Elementary School next week who notices a large gathering of emergency-services vehicles should not be alarmed.

The Ocean View Police Department will be hosting Rescue Task Force (RTF) Training for three days next week, on June 26-28.

For more than a decade, the Ocean View Police Department has held a bicycle safety checkpoint in the summer. At those checkpoints, cyclists are welcome to stop and have officers inspect their bicycles, as well as receiving free safety items, including a light kit.

This year, the checkpoint will be held on Thursday, June 29, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. in the Taylor Bank parking lot.

Coastal Point photos • Susan Lyons: A glimpse of one of the gardens that will be featured on the inaugural garden tour on Thursday, June 29.Nine private gardens and one local landmark in the Fenwick Island area will be in the spotlight next week, and members of the Barefoot Gardeners Club have been very busy getting those gardens ready for their close-up.

On Thursday, June 29, the club will host its inaugural Coastal Garden Tour, featuring nine homes located on the oceanside, bayside and in between. The Fenwick Island Lighthouse grounds, which the club members have also been tending to for years, will also be a highlight of the tour.

Last Saturday morning, many of the club members attended a “preview” tour, during which Gregory Tepper — director of horticulture for the Delaware Botanic Gardens — provided helpful information on each garden to the Barefoot Gardeners members who will be hosting each of them on tour day.

As Tepper and the gardeners traveled to each garden, he could be heard uttering the scientific names of many of the plants on display and giving tips as to where each grows best. At one stop, Tepper gave advice that could be the theme for all gardens: “It’s trial and error,” he said.

The gardens on the Coastal Garden Tour are a testament to that. Some have been planted, replanted, cultivated and loved for more than 50 years; others have been brought to their present glory after being recreated and reimagined after storms and home renovations have done them harm.

Coastal Point • Shaun M. Lambert: The chefs at the new Bluecoast in Rehoboth from left, Scott Viselli, Doug Ruley and Jason Diettrick.Choosing the right menu took about 10 months. Choosing the right blueprint for their now 10th restaurant took nearly that long, too.

But even with the layout designed entirely around the restaurant’s open kitchen — setting the stage for the chefs of SoDel Concepts more so than ever before — choosing the right chefs for the job took hardly any time at all for SoDel Concepts President Scott Kammerer and Vice President/Corporate Chef Doug Ruley.

“It was important to us to make the open kitchen a focal point, so you could see the action and from every seat,” said Kammerer of the new Bluecoast location on Route 1 in Rehoboth Beach, which celebrated its grand opening earlier this month.

“An open kitchen connects you more to the food and connects you more to the chefs. We’re a chef-driven company at SoDel Concepts. The chefs are the stars — and these are three of our biggest.”

Coastal Point • Submitted: Scudieri is featured in the book ‘Modern Masters of the Martial Arts.’They consider it “the Academy Awards of Martial Arts.” And, if that’s the case, Delaware Budokan’s Hanshi Philip M. Scudieri can consider himself an “Oscar” winner.

In front of the 1,500 in attendance at the ceremony held at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., in January, Hanshi Scudieri was inducted into the Action Martial Arts Magazine’s Hall of Honors and presented the award for Outstanding Contributions in the Martial Arts.

But even after 45 years of both training in and teaching martial arts, and even after his fair share of past honors — including three other Hall of Honors inductions and two invitations to represent the United States at the Kyoto Budofest in Kyoto, Japan — the Selbyville-based Hanshi was still more than humbled when he got the news.

“It’s just amazing. I was blown away,” said Scudieri. “To get called up in front of all these pioneers of martial arts, I was thrilled to be considered for this kind of recognition.”

Jeremiah Millspaugh Crist was born in Montgomery, N.Y., near West Point, in 1843. He joined the Union army in 1862 and served in the 124th New York Volunteers, known as the “Orange Blossoms,” from Orange County. The 124th’s role in the Battle of Chancellorsville, Va., in May 1863 would be immortalized in a Civil War novel.

Coastal Point • File Photo: The Parsons Family Farm Blueberry Festival will be held on Saturday, June 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Parsons Farm Produce in Dagsboro.If the antioxidants in blueberries prevent cancer, then the Parsons Family Farms Blueberry Festival could be viewed as an antioxidant to help the U.S. fight cancer.

The Dagsboro festival will be held Saturday, June 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Parsons Farm Produce in Dagsboro. A portion of proceeds will be donated to American Cancer Society.

Family-friendly activities include blueberry U-pick, blueberry pie-eating contest, haywagon rides, face painting, petting zoo, moon bounce, a “Hope” blanket raffle and more. Beebe Healthcare will provide screenings for blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol.

Local artisans will sell handmade crafts and products. Guests can grab lunch from Hocker’s BBQ, Nothing Better, the Corn Exchange and Juicebox.

Coastal Point • Submitted: The new Freeman Stage is packed to the brim.The Freeman Stage at Bayside could not have picked a better act to show off their new stage last Saturday than the Tedeschi Trucks Band. The 2,600-person venue was filled with devotees who got what they came for and new enthusiasts who were rightly amazed.

As Mark Banaszak, a long-time Freeman volunteer and music lover posted on Facebook, “Never seen the Freeman rocked like that… EVER!!! The new stage is fabulous. Everyone had an amazing time.”

In fact, without the new stage, an act like Tedeschi Trucks would not have signed up to come to West Fenwick. They are a national touring, 12-piece roots band whose music ranges from R&B belters to gentle ballads to gospel. They are led by power-vocalist Susan Tedeschi and her husband, master guitarist Derek Trucks. Each member of the band brings unique and incredible talent.

Opening for Tedeschi Trucks were Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett, the two surviving members of the beloved band Little Feat.

Coastal Point • Submitted: Mariner’s Bethel United Methodist Church plans to build The Hope Center. Blessing Bubbles soap came about to help raise funds for the building.On a recent Sunday, Amy Rice sat in Mariner’s Bethel United Methodist Church, listening to the Rev. Woodrow Wilson preaching from the book of Matthew.

On that particular day, Wilson was preaching about Matthew 25:14-30, which is known as “the Parable of the Bags of Gold,” or “the Parable of the Talents.”

The parable tells of a man who leaves his considerable wealth in the hands of his servants, giving three of them different amounts of treasure; to one he leaves five bags, to another two bags and to a third man he leaves one bag.

Both of the men with the greater amounts invest the money wisely, and the master is pleased with them when he returns because his treasure has multiplied. The third man, however, chooses the “safe” option and buries the bag of gold in the ground.

Organizers behind the Southern Delaware Wine, Food & Music Festival (SoDel Fest, for short) this week kicked off their preparations for the Oct. 7 festival set near Millsboro with an event aimed at offering just a taste of what this year’s festival will hold — gourmet food, the chance to taste a variety of wines and something equally appetizing to the ears of music lovers: local music.

(Editor’s note: This is the eighth in a series of previews of the homes that will be on display during the 26th Annual Beach & Bay Cottage Tour, to be held July 26 and 27, from 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m.)

When the owners of this home moved from Arlington, Va., and made the transition to become full-time Coastal Point • Submitted The view from above shows off a well-appointed living area in this Salt Pond home.Bethany Beach-area residents last year, the owner began the process of transforming their beach home into their permanent residence.

Her aim was to keep the home light and airy but still homey and comfortable, warmed by darker wood tones that reflect their former life but softened by a palette of blue and tan to reflect their new life at the beach. Treasured heirlooms and antiques blend seamlessly with coastal styling to create the balance she’d planned.

Situated on a corner lot, the four-bedroom home boasts more than 800 square feet of porches and decks, and is perfect for handling their two dogs and four active grandsons. A spacious kitchen anchors the home and is flanked by a sunny breakfast nook and a formal dining room.

Coastal Point • Shaun M. Lambert: Gianni Gottschalk displays his 2017 U.S. Lacrosse Bob Scott Award.It was after every Tuesday and Thursday practice, without exception, that Indian River High School boys’ lacrosse head coach and founder of the Tribe Youth Lacrosse Program Jim Dietsch would turn to his players and ask: “Alright — who’s going to step up to help coach the kids tonight?”

And it was after every Tuesday and Thursday practice, without exception, that senior co-captain Gianni Gottschalk would be the first to volunteer.

“Gianni was always the first one to say, ‘I’ll be there, Coach,’” said fellow co-captain Hayden McWilliams of his long-time teammate. “He was there for all the indoor practices, all the outdoor practices, and he really took the time to personally work with every kid out there and make a positive impact on them. They all loved Gianni.”

“Gianni is a really good coach and worked really well with those kids. I know from just watching him out there that he took pride in that,” added co-captain George Martin. “And he’s just a great guy that you want out there on the field with you. He’ll pump you up, he’ll make practices more intense — we definitely felt it when he wasn’t out on the field with us.”

But his coaches and teammates were equally without exception when it came to taking notice of Gottschalk’s dedication to the youth program at Tribe.

Coastal Point • File Photo: The Firecracker 5K is back to support the Bethany Beach Fourth of July Parade.It may have looked all but terminated, but the Bethany Firecracker 5K will officially back this Sunday, June 25 — now, and for the future, too.

After a one-year hiatus, the annual family-friendly race to help support the family-friendly Bethany Beach Fourth of July Parade and help kick-off the Independence Day week’s festivities will return under USAT race directors Rick Hundley and Ernie Felici of Focus Multisports — who bring with them an array of experience putting together larger-scale races, including the Coastal Delaware Running Festival and Bethany Beach First-Responders Tri-Du-Aquabike.

The event, originally put on by long-time race director Greg Mavraganis, had become a vital part of the parade and its own Bethany Beach tradition since launching in 2009, but extenuating circumstances forced its cancelation in 2016.

“It was kind of heartbreaking when we found out it was getting canceled last year,” said Hundley. “So we met with Greg, and we told him that we’d love to keep the tradition going as part of the Fourth of July celebration in Bethany.”

Special to the Coastal Point • Karen McCormick: Griffin McCormick represents the Indians during this year’s DRFC Blue Gold All-Star game, held at the University of Delaware on Sunday, June 17.His family had been there to cheer him from the sidelines for every football game of his high school career — even through the famous Hurricane Joaquin game against Seaford in 2015.

But until the DRFC Blue-Gold All-Star football game on Saturday, June 17, recent Indian River High School graduate Griffin McCormick had never had his family there with him in the locker room during halftime.

“That’s when I realized that the Blue-Gold wasn’t going to be like any other game I had ever played in before,” said McCormick with a laugh. “It was definitely different, as a player, to spend halftime with your whole entire family.”

Lightning storms had caused a near two-hour delay at the annual All-Star game, held at the University of Delaware, sending players and spectators alike into UD’s Indoor Field House to take cover.

Fitter & Faster Swim Tour headed for Georgetown on June 27

The national Fitter & Faster Swim Tour will make a stop in Georgetown on Tuesday, June 27, offering local swimmers a chance to learn techniques from Olympic gold-medalist Tyler Clary.

In an opinion released Wednesday, June 14, Federal District Court Judge Richard Bennett declared that White Marlin Open Inc. was correct in denying last year’s presumed tournament winner of more than $2.8 million in prize money.

Coastal Point • Shaun M. Lambert: IRHS lacrosse coaches and captains celebrate a belated victory. Pictured, from left, are: co-captains Griffin McCormick and Hayden McWilliams, head coach Jim Dietsch, and co-captains Gianni Gottschalk and George ‘G-Mart’ Martin with the HenlopeThey were even in the categories of division record, head-to-head record and head-to-head points differential. They even had an edge by holding one more win in the category of record overall.

So, considering the evenness, it was odd when the Indian River High School boys’ lacrosse team saw the bid to the 2017 Henlopen Conference Championship game and automatic ticket to the DIAA state tournament go to rival Milford after a committee decided to defer to “record against common opponents” for the official Henlopen South division tie-breaker late last month.

For the team’s 12 soon-to-be graduating senior leaders — who, during the pre-season, had made it their own personal business to bring home the school’s first-ever division title for lacrosse — the news was admittedly hard to take in as they hung up their cleats for what would be the final time in green and gold.

“I remember walking out of school on the second-to-last day with Hayden [McWilliams], pretty disappointed,” said George “G-Mart” Martin of the day he received the news. “Honestly, we just wanted to play Milford again.”

Although pickleball players are some of the nicest people I have met, it never hurts to review some rules of engagement for the good of the order. In case you were wondering:

• Do not forget to introduce yourself before every match or to shake hands at the conclusion.

The Millsboro Town Council opened the doors for new businesses, new developers and new potential with a unanimous vote in February to cut the building fund portion of the Town’s building permit rate by more than 80 percent.

Coastal Point • M. Patricia Titus: The historic Dinker-Irvin Cottage, following months of controversy and anticipation, recently moved to its new permanent home a few parcels away from its former location.It’s not uncommon for people to “move house,” but sometimes it’s the house itself that moves.

After months of anticipation, the Dinker-Irvin Cottage finally got on the move this week, traveling just a few hundred feet to the west from its longtime location near the intersection of Route 1 and Garfield Parkway in downtown Bethany Beach to a Town-owned lot just a few parcels away.

Planning to sell the lot upon which it had sat since 1911, Christina and Clem Edgar donated the historic cottage to the Town last year, amid some controversy over its proposed re-location to an undeveloped parcel that had been used by neighbors as a sort of unofficial park.

The cottage, built in 1904 by the Dinker family — one of the town’s founding families — had been moved to its longtime location after the Dinkers had built a larger house (known today as the Dinker House and located at 99 First Street). It was purchased by Christina Edgar’s family in 1925, having during the prior two years also served as home to the town’s post office.