Ocean View

Following an executive session this week, Ocean View Mayor Gordon Wood told town council members that he had presented a written directive regarding the Ocean View Police Department.

They perform CPR. They investigate rape cases. They use kayaks to check on residents during hurricanes and floods. They also write grants and keep up with administrative needs, cover shifts, and go above and beyond their call of duty.

Any film buff who has been preparing for Oscar night has likely gone to the movie theater to see many of the nominated feature-length films. But it’s not as easy to see some of the other films nominated, so the Rehoboth Beach Film Society is offering two local screenings, to give locals and visitors the chance to experience this year’s Oscar-nominated short films.

The Ocean View Town Council this week voted to approve a schedule for hiring a new police officer, who would be sent to the state police academy for training. Councilman Tom Sheeran told fellow council members that the Town would have to extend an offer to the candidate by the end of business on Feb. 13, in order to ensure the candidate would have a spot in the upcoming academy session.

Delaware Department of Transportation officials, community leaders and state legislators gathered in Millville on Jan. 29 for the second Route 26 Working Group meeting ahead of construction of the Route 26 Mainline Improvements project. Even DelDOT Secretary Shailen Bhatt attended.

Sussex County will hold an additional public hearing on the proposed expansion of the Millville Sanitary Sewer District. The expansion would include an additional 82 parcels located along Route 26 that are contiguous to the existing sewer district.

The Town of Ocean View is preparing to make one neighborhood a little more pedestrian-friendly. The Town and Delaware Department of Transportation have designed Phase II of the Pedestrian Improvements Project under the Federal Transportation Enhancement Program.

A high wind warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for 7 p.m. Wednesday evening to 4 a.m. Thursday. Winds are predicted to be from the south at 25 to 35 mph, with gusts up to 55 mph.

The strongest winds are expected between 10 p.m. Wednesday and 4 a.m. Thursday, just ahead of a cold front crossing Delaware and southern New Jersey.

The Indian River School District's public referendum meeting originally scheduled for Jan. 24 has been postponed due to inclemenent weather. It has been rescheduled for Monday, Jan. 28, at 7 p.m. at East Millsboro Elementary School.

District officials will give a presentation outlining the various referendum initiatives and the public will have the opportunity to ask questions.

For the fourth year in a row, Beebe Medical Center has received the Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence. Beebe is the only hospital on Delmarva to receive the award four years running, and the distinction puts them in the top 5 percent of hospitals nationwide.

Same-sex marriage? Check. Gun control? Check. IRSD referendum? Check.

On the cold, rainy afternoon of Jan. 18, about 40 emergency responders geared up at Ocean View Police Department to prepare for an event they hope never happens. They were finishing a two-day seminar on managing casualties in a large-scale emergency.

Gun sales have increased in the area since the December shooting in Newtown, Conn., according to several local gun retailers, but they also said that sales had already been rising because of the number of home invasions reported in the area in recent months.

Last week, four local men were arrested and charged after allegedly participating in a home-invasion robbery that occurred in Plantation Park near Frankford.

For its 100th birthday, the American Cancer Society is coming to the beach. The organization’s signature Relay for Life will make tracks May 10 with an overnight walk at Camp Barnes.

It’s a new year, and as they say, ‘Out with the old, and in with the new,’ which is exactly what Hocker’s and G&E have done, with a revamped Hocker’s Gold Card and gasoline now coming from Liberty Gas.

It’s never too late to start something new. And age really is just a number. Just ask Neva O’Hara, 91, a regular at World Gym in Ocean View. O’Hara has been a member since it opened and has met many friends along the way.

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for Thursday afternoon through late Thursday night, Jan. 17, projecting snow accumulations of between 2 and 6 inches.

Delaware State Police detectives have arrested four suspects in a home-invasion robbery that occurred in Plantation Park near Frankford on Thursday evening.

Castaways Bethany LLC has officially withdrawn their applications to Sussex County Council that would have paved the way for multi-family duplex residential units, an RV campground and a waterpark on Cedar Neck Road near Ocean View — a proposal that has garnered much opposition since September, when the applications were first heard.

The Ocean View Town Council met earlier this week to discuss possibly extending the use date for excess accumulated employee vacation days.

Sussex County’s senior population got a boost recently when the Quiet Resorts Charitable Foundation (QRCF) presented its largest donation ever to help fight hunger through Cheer’s Meals on Wheels.

For the past five years, Mariner’s Bethel United Methodist Church in Ocean View has been offering a different kind of service during the holiday season — because, while the Christmas season is one of joy and hope for many, for some it may be a sad time of year.

The Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission this week recommended denial of the three applications by Castways LLC that would pave the way for Castaways Bethany, a proposed development consisting of a campground, multi-family duplex residential units and a water park, located off of Cedar Neck Road in Ocean View.

The Ocean View Town Council has begun to work on the town’s budget for the 2014 fiscal year.

For more than a decade, Mariner’s Bethel United Methodist Church has been offering the community a chance to share in the Christmas story, through their Live Nativity.

“As you look upon your Nativity set, may you remember and celebrate God’s love for His creation. To show His abundant love, mercy and forgiveness, He became a person like us. This is what the creche symbolizes.”

The Ocean View Board of Adjustment met last week and unanimously approved variance requests from the land use and development code.

Man arrested after allegedly fleeing police

A 27-year-old Millsboro man was arrested recently after allegedly fleeing from Ocean View police on Nov. 5.

Suspects sought in park vandalism

Police are seeking help identifying the individuals responsible for damaging property at John West Park in Ocean View. According to police, unknown people have damaged and vandalized park property on multiple occasions over the past two months. Picnic tables and electrical outlets have been broken and the park bathrooms have been vandalized.