The Coastal Point encourages the exchange of ideas. Letters to the editor must be signed by the author with phone number included for purposes of verification. Please send your letters to P.O. Box 1324, Ocean View, DE 19970.

Darin J. McCann

Life moves fast. That statement’s probably right up there with water is wet, Mark Hardt is loud and Dr. Phil always takes the woman’s side, but it’s a stone-cold fact.

Life does move fast, and we often bog ourselves down with so many of the more unpleasant things we must face on a day-to-day basis that we lose sight, or take for granted, the things we truly have to be thankful for in our individual lives. Yes, the good things might be noticed to some extent, but they’re quickly pushed to the side so we can really get down to the business of complaining about things that have happened, or worrying about the impending doom we’re soon going to face.

Therein lies the beauty of Thanksgiving.

For one day a year we are forced to reflect on the things we are grateful for, those elements of our lives that make things a little more bearable and, quite often, provide us the sanity to face the inevitable avalanche of negatives cascading down upon us at any given time. In the spirit of the holiday, I’ve decided to take stock of my own life and reflect on the things of which I’m most thankful.

For instance, I’m thankful for that guy in the baseball hat who walks his beagle near Bethany Bay every day. It might seem like a small gesture, but he waves every morning when I drive past him to go to work, and it always brings a smile.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to work with Sam Harvey, M. Patricia Titus, John Denny, Bob Bertram, Shaun Lambert, Ruslana Lambert, Jane Johnson, Monica Fleming, Carolyn Fitz and Susan Argo. A more talented group of individuals I’ve never met, and I’m proud to include each of them amongst my friends.

I’m also thankful that they all have little quirks I can readily pounce on when needed.

I’m thankful for my parents. Though I fear my father’s not joking when he says he’s only being nice to me so I take care of him when he’s older, and I fear my mother’s ... well, I flat-out fear my mother. Hey, you would, too. This is a woman who spends a good amount of her time creating substitutes for swear words and has historically greeted sobs with, “Do you want me to give you something to cry about?”. By the way, why would anybody even ask that question? Nobody could ever possibly answer that they would indeed like something to cry about ...

But I digress.

I’m thankful for Dave and Beth Long. Good friends, great people.

I’m thankful for Heather Wiles and Christina Weaver, who come to our rescue whenever we need them.

I’m thankful for my grandparents who will be hosting my family for Thanksgiving this year in Cape Cod, though I can’t get away to attend. And I’m thankful for Kate, Randy, Chelsea and Karli opening a seat at their dinner table for me so we can still enjoy a family holiday.

I’m thankful for Pamela Anderson and the “Pause” button on my DVD player. Trust me, those two things are very much connected.

I’m thankful for the troops doing their thing in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places around the world. Extremely thankful.

I’m thankful for reality television like “Survivor,” “The Bachelor” and the United States Congress. There is no better deterrent against abhorant behavior to show our children than these public platforms of the inane.

I’m thankful for the efforts of the people in this community in terms of raising money, food, supplies and energy for those in the Gulf affected by hurricanes. Let me amend that. I’m thankful for the people of this community.

I’m thankful for Jamie Price. Thanks for the smiles.

I’m thankful for my sister, her husband and her two beautiful sons. Actually, I’m really thankful for her husband. I kind of always assumed she’d grow old, surround herself with 783 cats and name her floor lamp so she’d have someone to talk to at night — and I assumed the floor lamp and those cats would be in my basement.

I’m incredibly thankful for the support of our readers and advertisers, who have helped us grow and become more ingrained in this wonderful community.

I’m thankful that I don’t have to worry about making travel arrangements to see my Baltimore Ravens play in this year’s Super Bowl. Between cancelling those plans and my intent to see the Orioles play in this year’s World Series, I’ve really shaken loose a lot of free time.

I’m thankful that I have a sense of humor about those disgusting piece-of-filth teams I root for and ...

Oh, wait. I already digressed.

I’m thankful for Susan and Andy Lyons. A simple newspaper editor could never ask for a better business partner or publisher, and no man could ask for better friends than I have in this couple. Thank you for all you’ve meant to me, and for the promise of our future together.

Turnaround is too short

Individuals running for a seat on the Dagsboro Town Council had their candidacies officially recognized Monday evening for the town election on Saturday, Dec. 3. That gives them 12 days to convince voters to select them to govern the town.

That doesn’t seem like a lot of time.

Dagsboro is not alone in this short turnaround, but with the election right around the corner it reinforces this notion to us. Also, the distraction to voters and candidates due to the Thanksgiving holiday detracts from that campaign time as well.

So, what happens when turnaround is only 12 days for an election? Well, quite often it creates the incumbent vs. challenger notion to the voter. If things seem to be operating well in the town, voters are more likely to stick with what’s been working. If a voter feels things should be done differently, the challenger will get the nod.

Notice that the election becomes incumbent vs. challenger, rather than the merits of the individuals being the deciding factors.

The other element that rises when an election turnaround is this short is the rising of a popularity contest. The individual well-known around town is more likely to win because of that, potentially leaving the unknown candidate who might have terrific ideas and leadership skills in the dust.

Another reality to towns in our area is the limited exposure. Local newspapers come out once a week, giving exposure to the candidates one, possibly two, times before voters have to make a decision. The Coastal Point philosophy, for example, is to not run campaign letters the week of an election because nothing somebody says can be disputed before the vote.

Candidates should have a month to state their cases. Much longer, people lose interest. Any shorter, voters never get the opportunity to get an interest.

Dagsboro candidates are addressing needs
Editor:

As new residents of Dagsboro, we would hate to see this beautiful, historical town go the way of just another congested area. We ran from a little town in Pennsylvania where we lived for 25 years, when we no longer felt safe walking or riding our bikes to the local stores.

We saw homes vandalized by people who did not care about preserving our small-town community. Our local police were overburdened by traffic control and criminal acts. We went through a lot of real estate before deciding on the town of Dagsboro as being the perfect spot in the world for us. We would hate to see that dream destroyed again. We know for a fact that it can happen.

The new candidates running for town council are addressing some of our concerns and we are thrilled that these residents are taking a stand and demanding accountability for actions taken supposedly on our behalf. These folks sound like they are as concerned as we are, and they will be getting our vote to keep our dream alive.

Mr. and Mrs. Jim Zsido
Dagsboro

Resident offers food for thought in Fenwick
Editor’s note: The following letter was addressed to the Fenwick Island Town Council, to be read at its next meeting, and forwarded to the Coastal Point for publication.

Items that the council should be working on:

• Trash collection trucks:

I know in the past that the council has written to the trash collection companies about early collection in the town. This seems to work for a while. However the trucks are now in the town between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m., disturbing the quiet of the residents. My main point is that they dumped Captain Pete’s Dumpsters this morning at 6:09 (Thursday). Captain’s Pete’s trash Dumpster is right under my bedroom window.

It seems that the council is able to pass ordinances on almost everything, including pile driving. Why can’t the council pass an ordinance to stop this?

• Post office for Fenwick Island:

We should have our own post office for many reasons.

1. We are a retirement community with many elderly citizens. By not having a post office in town it creates a hardship on them to have to travel to Selbyville to obtain postal services.

2. UPS and FedEx have made our ZIP code, 19944, a rural zip code. This means that all cartons will have a surcharge of $2.24 each on delivery in Fenwick Island. I am sure that not having a first class post office in town had something to do with this as that Ocean City, Md., and Bethany Beach were not classified as rural ZIP code.

• Local calling area:

We should keep up pressure on Verizon to make the Delaware 539 and 537 numbers local calling areas (no charge) with Ocean City 289, 524 and 250 numbers. Again, there are many reasons for this. It can be done. As an example look at Selbyville and Bishopville, Md.; they are a local calling area. There are several more examples along the Delaware and Maryland borders.

1. This should be coordinated with Ocean City Maryland Council as they may be able to bring more pressure on Verizon then we could by ourselves.

2. This would be a big help and money saver to the residences as Ocean City is the major shopping area for Lower Sussex County.

3. It would also help all the local business in both Ocean City and Fenwick Island.

J.B. “Jack” Childers
Fenwick Island

AAUW thanks area for support with gala
Editor:

Equity for women is the goal of our organization, the American Association of University Women.

On Nov. 4, we hosted a successful Education Scholarship Gala as a result of support and donations from the following: our sponsor for the evening, Mercantile Peninsula Bank; DiFebo’s Restaurant of Bethany Beach; Coastal Winds Ensemble; Beauty at the Beach; Carlton’s; Chardon Ltd. Jewelry and Gifts; Country Wicker; Cullen’s Apparel; Design Studio; Dragonfly Design Inc.; Faraway Places; La Dolce Vita; Lavender Fields; Marsha’s; and Twila Farrell. There were also many personal donations.

Your generosity has helped us put one more crack in the glass ceilings.

Florence Devlin, publicist
American Association of University Women

Candidates want town residents to be heard
Editor:

Town meeting after town meeting, we sit for hours on cold, steel chairs and witness five of our neighbors strangle the life out of our town of Dagsboro. They propose projects for land use and supposedly it is up to the townspeople to be for or against such projects. But those in attendance, who stand up to protest this use of the land have time restraints imposed on them.

We thought that if you attend a town meeting, you would be given the opportunity to voice your opinion. That way the town council would have a clear picture of what their neighbors’ vision was for their community and they would be able to vote accordingly.

Three of your neighbors have gotten together and decided it is time to listen to all our neighbors in Dagsboro, whose history as a friendly, “small town” community that is safe and provides a wholesome environment for raising a family can be more than a memory.

We have sat right next to you in those town meetings and witnessed our town council tell us to write in our objections to certain projects by a certain time and then those objections are read into the minutes and then the town council votes to approve the projects any way.

By just our mere presence at these town meetings, we were able to knock out 83 of those proposed homes in the General’s Green project. What do you think could have been accomplished if someone on the council had actually taken into account what the people in Dagsboro really want?

We are running for town council seats in our next election: Dec. 3 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Dagsboro Fire Hall. It will take your vote for all three of us to get your voices heard on any upcoming projects and to make certain that the projects on the table remain loyal to your vision for our town.

We know that you realize growth is inevitable, but we hear you want “smart” growth for our town that means being consistent with Dagsboro’s heritage of single-family homes. We hear you want less density not high density. We hear you are concerned with the infrastructure (availability of water and sewer) and traffic congestion. We hear you want more parks and playgrounds for our children so we do not have to take our children to Frankford in order to play on a public playground or ball field.

Our latest fiasco is the water situation where our very own neighbors, Mayor Brad Connor and the rest of the town council, withheld an announcement from us at the town meeting about the contamination of our drinking water.

This announcement would have gone a long way to assure the people of Dagsboro that these neighbors were looking out for us as elected guardians and good neighbors. What happened Town Council, were you too immersed in a sea of brick and mortar to give your neighbors a “heads up” on the possible dangers pouring into our own homes?

We know our neighbors have many concerns about our town and we plan to listen. We are property owners and permanent residents of Dagsboro who have no motive to capitalize on land values, but instead want to promote a vision of the town that respects its history. We would appreciate your support on Dec. 3.

Cathy Flowers, Patti Adams and Wayne Baker
Dagsboro

Penny Party a hit, thanks to community
Editor:

The Ladies Auxiliary of the Millville Volunteer Fire Company would like to thank the following merchants who so generously donated to our recent Penny Party:

All Out Sports, Armand’s Chicago Pizza, Bear Trap Dunes, Bethany Auto Parts, Bethany Bay Gold, Beauty at the Beach, Beach Liquors, Bethany Florist, Calico Tree, Calvin Taylor Bank, Candy Kitchen, Casapulla’s, Creative Concepts, Cripple Creek Golf Club, County Bank, Coastal Library, Country Wicker, Curves, Custom Mechanical, Delaware National Bank, Ellen Rice Gallery, Fat Tuna, First Shore Federal Bank, Fish Tails, Fisher’s Popcorn, Five Guy’s, Forget-Me-Not, Food Lion, Frog House, Good Earth, Hair Snippery, Happy Harry’s, Dr. Hattier, Hickman’s Liquors, Hocker’s, Holt’s Liquors, Homework’s, K-Mart (Rehoboth), Kim’s Interiors, Kool Bean, La Mirage, Lord’s Landscaping, Massage Therapy, Mercantile Peninsula Bank, Miller’s Creek, Murray’s Bait and Tackle, Ocean View Deli, Papa John’s, Parts Plus, Robert’s Repair, Salt Pond Golf, Sea Crest, Sea Dogs, Sea Needles, Shorty’s, Sweet Treats, Tansey-Warner, Treasure Quest, Tulip Ltd., Venus Nails, Wawa, Wild About Birds.

Thank you for helping to make our Penny Party a success.

MVFC Penny Party Committee
Ladies Auxiliary