Fenwick Island

The Fenwick Island Town Council met on Friday, Jan. 23, for their monthly town council meeting. Topics up for discussion at the meeting included the town’s voter registration ordinance, utility construction policies and town charter updates.

Issued by the National Weather Service, Philadelphia, Pa., 3:35 p.m. EST, Wed., Jan. 28, 2009
... Dense fog advisory now in effect until 8 p.m. EST this evening...

Fenwick Island’s Environmental Committee was back to business in the new year at its meeting this past week. Some of the items on their agenda included a possible recommendation to the town council that it write a letter to state natural resources officials about the dangers of the fly-ash pit at the power plant in Millsboro. Councilwoman and committee member Vicki Carmean also put forth a motion to have an experimental rain garden created on a property in town.

A Fenwick Island-area resident was killed Monday, Jan. 5, when a fire erupted in her home off Route 54, just southwest of Fenwick Island. Officials from the Delaware State Fire Marshal’s Office said the fire broke out about 5:57 p.m. on the second story of a two-story home on Jefferson Avenue in the unincorporated area outside Fenwick Island town limits.

Feel like freezing, Fenwick? If so, the fifth annual Fenwick Freeze, an annual New Year’s Day jump (or walk, or dip, or swim) in the ocean is set for 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009, at the beach off of Bayard Street.

The 13th annual Exercise Like the Eskimos and 5th annual Fenwick Freeze, in which brave souls jump into the cold waters on the Atlantic to celebrate New Year’s Day and raise some cold hard cash, are both right around the corner.

A 21-year-old Seaford man died in a fiery single-car crash that closed the northbound lanes of Route 1 in Bethany Beach for several hours early on Monday morning, after he fled from Ocean City, Md., police. Delaware State Police reported Monday that Elijah L. Foreman Jr. had failed to negotiate a curve in the road at Jefferson Bridge Road while traveling at high speed in a vehicle about 2:05 a.m.

The Fenwick Island Town Council met on Friday, Dec. 5, for their regular monthly meeting. At the meeting, Councilman William Weistling Jr. re-introduced a first reading of Section 13-31, Registration by mail. The recently introduced ordinance had omitted a deadline for voter registration prior to a special election, instead only detailing the deadline for the town’s general elections.

The Fenwick Island Town Council held a special meeting last week to discuss possible revenue enhancement options in a time of economic concern. Financially, the town is in good shape, according to Town Manager Tony Carson, but he said they wanted be proactive and “be ahead” of any need to raise revenue.

In fast-paced American society, people have made an art of accomplishing as much as they are capable in as little time as possible. Tasks deemed as trivial are outsourced to someone elsewhere on the food chain, and it is easy to forget about taking care of oneself. Fortunately, there are places out there to help people with their hedonistic needs.

Organizers of Sussex County’s annual Return Day festivities in Georgetown confirmed Wednesday, Nov. 5, that Vice-President-Elect and Delaware U.S. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be attending this year’s event.

The votes are in!

At Fenwick Island’s regular town council meeting held Friday, Oct 24, the council voted down a second reading that would have raised the number of permitted bonfires on the beach on a single day from three to six. They had approved a first reading of the amendment last month but, after talking with residents, they decided they would turn down the motion, as it was not popular.

What is a rain garden? How is it different than a pond? Who should plant one?

Sally Boswell, education and outreach coordinator for the Center for Inland Bays, answered all these questions and more for the Fenwick Island Environmental Committee on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at town hall.

Engagement ring? Check.

Gone are the days when calling 911 for help meant explaining that you lived in Sewell Franklin’s old farmhouse. While one might still occasionally be able to get away with that, depending on who’s on duty at the call center, the massive amount of growth and development in Sussex County can’t be ignored.

An unnamed storm that lashed the area with high winds and heavy rain late last week, combined with the offshore force of Hurricane Kyle, caused significant beach erosion and flooding along the Delaware coast and inland bays.

The Fenwick Island Town Council met on Sept. 26, with a full agenda. The council approved the purchase of an electronic sign for town hall with a vote of 4-2, with Council Members Todd Smallwood and Vicki Carmean dissenting. The purchase is contingent upon Homeland Security funding.

An unnamed storm that lashed the area with high winds and heavy rain late last week caused significant beach erosion and flooding along the Delaware coast and inland bays. The late-September storm, despite falling during hurricane season and exhibiting counterclockwise rotation, was not classified as a tropical system but as simply a low-pressure system and therefore was not named.

The Board of Directors for the Center for Inland Bays bypassed a resolution put forth by the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) on Tuesday, Sept. 23, and instead passed a different motion, with a vote of 3-2.

Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) Secretary Carolann Wicks, state and local officials, residents and others were on hand at a Sept. 17 event to unveil the design for a new bridge over the Indian River Inlet and present the selected design/build team — Skanska USA Civil Southeast — to the public.

Denise Curtis and her husband wanted to try something different when they moved to Delaware. Their children had attended public school in Montgomery County, Md., and although that public school system is noted as one of the best in the country and was part of the reason they had settled where they did, when they moved full-time to Delaware, they were ready to try something new.

The Sussex County Emergency Operations Center mid-week was monitoring a developing storm system off the eastern United States that threatened to bring heavy rain, gusty winds, and prolonged higher-than-normal tides to the region for the next several days.

On Wednesday, Sept. 17, many area professionals and residents had their questions (and prayers) answered as state and local officials unveiled the new plans for the long-anticipated Indian River Inlet Bridge project.

For Kay Ryan, running for representative for the state’s 38th District will be like an extension of the last seven years of her life before her retirement.

It’s hard to miss the Little Red School House, complete with an antique school bell on top, on Bayard Road. The building, which blends in with the scenery and looks as if it were an actual restored school house, was, in fact, built just 20 years ago by owner/teacher “Miss Debbie” Jahnigen and her family.

By popular demand, Old World Breads is now available at Good Earth Market in Clarksville. On Fridays and Saturdays, Steve Kogler’s Old World Breads, famously known and sought-after at the area farmers’ markets — especially for the cinnamon shorties — will be sold at Good Earth on Route 26.

Update, Sept. 6, 7:14 p.m. -- With Tropical Storm Hanna clear of the Delmarva Peninsula as late afternoon and evening arrived on Saturday, residents and visitors alike turned out by the dozens to check out the storm-tossed waves of the Atlantic and see what, if any, damage had been left in the storm's wake. By and large, the answer to that question was none -- a puddle here, a pile of pinecones and twigs there, and mild to moderate erosion to the front sections of the area's reconstructed beaches.

The Sussex County Emergency Operations Center is continuing to monitor the movement of Tropical Storm Hanna, which is forecast to track along the East Coast this weekend and bring gusty winds and heavy rain to Delaware. Forecasters expect Tropical Storm Hanna to pass just to the east of Delaware’s coast on Saturday. However, as the storm’s center moves northward, the system is expected to reach far enough inland to spread heavy rain and strong winds across Sussex County. Rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches, with winds up to 40 mph, are possible. Gusts could reach 50 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

Last Friday, Aug. 29, a slew of representatives and honorees spoke at the conclusion of the inaugural year of Fenwick Island’s Farmers’ Market, which started this June. Among the guests speakers were Market Master Ellen McGee, Delaware Farm Bureau President L. Edward Jestice Jr. and U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.).