Coastal Point • SAM HARVEY Workers replace the roof at St. Ann's Catholic Church on July 18.

Coastal Point ViewPoint 2005.07.22

South Bethany nears finalized comp plan
Members of the South Bethany Planning Commission prepared to wrap an update on the town’s 1999 Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) at the July 18 commission meeting, with plans to deliver a few recommendations to council in coming weeks. (Council will review the update and schedule a public hearing before signing off.)

Council returns and hears grant requests
Sussex County Council returned from summer break to an agenda full of grant requests, and one request for a loan, at the July 19 council meeting.

Competing teams, final details for World Series being finalized
Most of the logistics of Senior League Softball World Series have been figured out. All that is left is to determine which teams will be playing at the championship event.

Employers pass the hat for injured student
Ocean View Deli and Restaurant employee Dzmitry Fedarkevich is recovering and in stable condition following the July 15 hit-and-run that threw him from his bicycle and into the hospital with a hip injury and head trauma.

ARB concept rejected in Bethany Beach
During their meeting on July 16, the Bethany Beach Planning Commission eliminated the possibility of creating an architectural review board (ARB) that would provide style guidelines for area developers and instead decided to focus on ways of codifying a

Ocean View postpones rezoning issue
Ocean View residents who attended Tuesday’s town council work session expecting rezoning to be discussed were disappointed as the ordinance was not ready. Town Manager Kathy Roth said the process will not start until August.

Artists take the heat
For the past three years, artists at The Melting Pot in Dagsboro have been working within their custom-designed studio to keep a unique art form alive.

Fishing taxes create reef system
It’s but a short drive out of the Indian River Marina to several artificial reef structures created by the state division of Fish and Wildlife (part of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, or DNREC).

Gas prices hit new high in July
Record gasoline prices were reached again this week, with average prices for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in Delaware hitting $2.37 as of July 19, according to figures from AAA Mid-Atlantic. That topped the national average of $2.31 per gallon, exceeding the national figure by 6 cents.

Cottage Tour chair readies for round two
Sussex County has increased funding to the South Coastal Library by nearly 11 percent this year.

Millsboro agency merges with Bethany Travel
Cindy McCabe only just (in March) opened her Dream Vacations location in Millsboro — and she’s already expanding into the Bethany Beach-Ocean View-Millville area.

Assawoman dredging approval rumps appeal
Epilogue language in the state’s 2006 bond bill (a budget for capital projects, primarily) may have interrupted a state-appointed Environmental Appeals Board action.

Line-dancing class to benefit fire company
The Bethany Beach Volunteer Fire Company is in the midst of a new building campaign and needs as much help as they can get to raise money for their updated fire hall.

The Daytripper: Lewes a trip well worth the drive
Our trip today will take us north to the town of Lewes.

Blueberry Lane star of show
The Blueberry Lane Berry Farm, west of Frankford on (what else) Blueberry Lane, hosted its third annual blueberry festival on July 16 and 17 — the “Red, White & Blueberry Bluegrass & Blueberry Magic Food & Family FunFest & Craft Show.”

Ocean View B&B marks five years
Mark and Pat Culp said the happiest day of their lives was in 2000, when they threw away their cell phones, laptops and beepers and came to the Ocean View area to get away from it all.

Ocean Awareness Days set for Bethany Beach
Ocean Awareness Days are coming to Bethany Beach once again this year. The National Aquarium in Baltimore will be setting up shop on the boardwalk Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, July 25, 26 and 28.

Barbershop comes to the beach
Local singing group Nautical Sounds has been singing out of Ocean View for the past 16 years, sharing their traditional barbershop-style tunes to generate an appreciation for a form of music that was most popular more than a century ago.

The Agenda

Open Vault
Brandon Linden has been living at the beach since the first grade, so he knows all about the laid-back lifestyle. He brings that to his new surf and skate shop, The Vault.

Featured houses to star in Cottage Tour
The South Coastal Library in Bethany Beach has served the expanding beach community for more than 11 years now, ever since the town donated an acre of land and a local group put up money for a bulk mailing permit and their first funding drive.

Junior League All-Stars win district
Lower Sussex did it again and repeated to win the District III Junior League All-Star championship for the second straight year by defeating Laurel 9-4 on July 17.

Local skimboarder to star in TV series
Professional skimboarder Bill Baxter of Bethany Surf Shop will begin a new weekly skimboarding series on July 22, airing on local access television channels. It will be seen every Friday evening at 7:30 p.m.

Warriors wallop opponents heading into playoffs
The East Sussex Warriors rounded third so many times against RC Dupont on July 16 that apparently it sparked the Post 28 team to turn the corner going into the playoffs.

Softball All-Stars strike out
Building anything takes time. Houses, financial portfolios, classic hotrods and even sports teams take time to build — and in the case of Lower Sussex’s Senior League Softball All-Stars, they have a pretty good start for the future.

Fishing Report
Between the storms over the past week, fishing is pretty good.