Sussex County

On Thursday, May 5, the Town of Georgetown, along with the Georgetown Police Department, unveiled a black granite memorial on N. Bedford Street at Georgetown’s Circle to honor Officer Chad Spicer, who was killed in the line of duty in September of 2009.

In yet another development concerning the proposed AT&T cellular tower near Bethany Beach, attorney Robert V. Witsil, Jr., on behalf of the Sea Pines Condominium Association, many of its owners, and several nearby residents, sent a letter to Sussex County Council asking that they issue a cease and desist order to prevent the “continuing use of cellular facilities.”

Sussex County Council members on April 12 voted unanimously to state their opposition to proposed state legislation related to dog control, under which – as currently written – dog owners would be prohibited from tethering their dogs outside for more than 15 minutes at a time between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., or on a tether longer than three times the length of the dog’s body.

Sussex County Council members, state representatives and federal dignitaries, along with members of the Flexera team, were on hand this week for the groundbreaking for what will be the largest ground-mounted solar farm in Sussex County.

The Sussex County Board of Adjustments on Monday, April 18, voted unanimously to deny approval of a special-use exception requested by AT&T for a telecommunications tower just south of Bethany Beach town limits, adjacent to Route 1, ending a nearly two-year saga involving the application.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A COASTAL FLOOD WARNING AND WIND ADVISORY FOE THE AREA UNTIL AROUND MIDNIGHT. A TORNADO WATCH WAS IN EFFECT FOR AREAS NORTH AND WEST DUE TO THE SAME STORM SYSTEM.

Sussex County Council members this week considered a draft ordinance that would create rules, restrictions and a process by which casinos could be permitted within county jurisdiction. The move came on the heels of a new six-month moratorium on applications for casinos in the county, as the council works to create such rules.

UPDATE: The tornado watch for Sussex County has been dropped as of 7:05 a.m.

The National Weather Service in Mount Holly, N.J., has issued a wind advisory that is in effect from 1 to 6 p.m. Monday, April 4. The advisory covers the southern two-thirds of Delaware, a portion of Maryland’s Eastern Shore and a portion of southeast New Jersey.

Sussex County Council members this week canceled scheduled discussion of selecting a replacement for retiring County Administrator David Baker, opting instead to schedule a meeting of the search committee for next Tuesday, April 5, at 9 a.m.

Sussex County government’s attorney, J. Everett Moore, wants people to know that care and quick action could save their eyesight.

Sometimes the best method of coping with tragedy to learn from it.

It was déjà-vu all over again on Monday, March 21, as AT&T and opponents of the proposed 100-foot-tall telecommunications tower just south of Bethany Beach came together before the Sussex County Board of Adjustments to plead their cases for and against the special-use exception needed to erect the tower so near to residences.

Sussex County Council members at their March 22 meeting accepted a $20,500 bid from Robert Witting to purchase a 75-foot-by-242-foot piece of county-owned land at 16 Daisey Avenue in Ocean View.

It’s a showdown two years in the making, as opponents of the proposed AT&T telecommunications tower east of Route 1 and just south of Bethany Beach town limits prepared this week to finally have their full case heard before the Sussex County Board of Adjustments (BoA) in a hearing set for Monday, March 21, at 7 p.m.

With the exception of one out-of-order audience member who was escorted out near the end of the meeting, and the announcement that Sussex County Chair Ron Sams and Vice Chair Bryan Shupe would be resigning, the Sussex County GOP meeting this week was – perhaps unexpectedly – business as usual.

Big changes are coming for those who drive over the Indian River Inlet, and those responsible for them offered more information on those changes to the public at a Feb. 28 construction advisory group meeting on-site near the base of the bridge.

“‘Keep the focus on me — it’s just soup.’” That was what Dale Dunning, in a voice she attributes to the Holy Spirit, heard more than 10 years ago. She and one of her sons were trying to figure out a name for her new soup-kitchen ministry. With a background of the white walls of her home, in a vision, and with the thought of keeping focus on the Holy Spirit, the name spread across the walls, spelled in its own unique way… It’s “Jusst Sooup.”

The National Weather Service in Mount Holly, N.J., has expanded a flood watch to include portions of Delaware, Northeast Maryland and New Jersey, including the Delaware beaches and inland Sussex County from Thursday morning through Friday morning.

The Delaware Superior Court this week ruled in favor of Sussex County in the case of Sussex County vs. the State of Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), over the agency’s authority to impose its Pollution Control Strategy. The ruling was handed down Friday, Feb. 25, by Judge T. Henley Graves.

Delaware: the first state to ratify the constitution and the last state to have a national park.

That’s not exactly a tagline to be proud of, but – if the First State National Park Historical Park Act of 2011 is adopted – it could at least be changed to “Delaware: Better late than never.”

Inside the Aviation Maintenance Education Center at the Sussex County Airport on Feb. 25, with the Delaware Tech hangar as the background, national, state and local legislators sung the praises of the Federal Aviation Administration Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act, which recently passed in the U.S. Senate and is now being considered by the U.S.

While you may have missed some of the classes included in the Delaware Seashore State Park’s October 2010 to April 2011 program, many will be repeated in March and April, and new ones, fit for the spring season, are already on the schedule.

The soon-to-be boot camp graduates sat disciplined and ready.

A 5K run, 1-mile walk and kids’ fun run are scheduled for Sunday, April 17, in the Assawoman Wildlife Refuge and Camp Barnes to promote the summer camp offered at Camp Barnes.

For the last few weeks, residents living along the Assawoman Canal have watched as their decades-old docks were removed piece by piece and the debris loaded onto a barge for disposal. The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) has removed approximately 10 docks located south of the Central Avenue canal crossing in Ocean View.

Wednesday, after less than three hours of deliberations, jurors voted 7-5 in favor of recommending the death penalty for 24-year-old Derrick Powell, who was found guilty on Feb. 8 in the shooting death of Georgetown patrolman Chad Spicer on Sept. 1, 2009.

“We’re very satisfied with the decision that was made,” said Ruth Ann Spicer, Chad Spicer’s mother.

“He didn’t have any respect for authority. He said the teachers would not speak to him in the correct way,” said Tina Durham, the mother of 24-year-old Derrick Powell – who was found guilty on Feb. 8 on 10 charges, including murder in the first degree of Georgetown patrolman Chad Spicer.

Delaware Department of Transportation Secretary Carolann Wicks will be resigning effective March 18, 2011.

Hands-on family fun will be offered at the second annual Winter Fatherhood Carnival at West Seaford Elementary School on Saturday, Feb. 26. Sponsored by non-profit group Parents as Teachers, the carnival will run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and focus on celebrating fathers while, at the same time, getting dads more involved with their children.