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

Traditionally, this is a season of tradition.

We collectively share some of these traditions, such as singing carols, admiring a giant Santa Claus hat on top of the totem pole in Bethany Beach or just watching those time-tested television classics that somehow still fill us with a sense of warmth every year. We send cards, hang up the cards we receive and swallow aspirin by the handful.

Yet, we all have those little private traditions, don’t we? Those things we’ve done with our families or friends since we were little kids and grew up with the expectations that all families did the same things — only to find out at a socially awkward time later that’s not necessarily true.

More than one of you are nodding your heads, aren’t you?

But that’s fine. We cling to these things nonetheless, because the simple act of repeating these traditions from our youth, even as adults, brings a smile. We incorporate them into the things we do with our own families, and hope at least some of our traditions continue on through generations.

For the sake of openness, and because I went brain dead on coming up with an actual original thought this week, I’ve decided to open up the vault and share with you some of the McCann Christmas traditions (Editor’s Note: This is a family newspaper, so we’ll omit some of the profanity and gratuitous violence of the traditional McCann family Christmas).

Like many of you, we begin our Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve. I recall waking up as a child, rubbing the effects of a hangover out of my eyes (ah, the memories of a 6-year-old in an Irish Catholic family) and finding the other members of my family pouring through the newspaper to find the perfect family movie we could all enjoy. After a few hours of fighting, we’d ultimately go with whatever movie my mother would choose — a tradition that still lives on today.

Having decided on a movie, and nursing our wounds from the ensuing free-for-all steel cage match determining what time we’d see said movie, we’d load into the car, jockey for position in the back seat yet again and make our way to the theater.

Yeah, I know, not a lot of Noel so far, but it’s all part of the package. Trust me.

We’ll fast forward through the whole movie sequence because I earlier promised no profanity or violence as we were not, well, the most well-behaved children in the world. In fact, I distinctly remember one Christmas Eve movie that involved a plastic straw, an eye and ...

But I digress.

Next on the McCann family tradition list is the Christmas Eve dinner at a Chinese restaurant. First off, I’m not sure how this tradition even started. I have a theory that it’s at least loosely based on my mother’s adversion to cooking, but there’s also the possibility my father negotiated it in at some point because it’s one of the few times a year he gets his way and has Chinese food. But nobody complains, and we usually have a pretty good time at the restaurant.

Here’s where it gets strange.

After dinner, we’d hit Christmas Eve mass at the church and head home. There my mother would pass out matching pajamas for all of us to wear. Sounds harmless enough, right? Wrong. A few times these pajamas would in reality be dressing gowns. Long story short, I learned to cross my ankles when sitting on the couch in these particular Christmas Eve outfits, sipping a horrific punch my father would concoct each year made of 7-Up and green sherbert with Johnny Mathis singing carols on the stereo.

Christmas day does not come with as many traditions for my family. There’s a mass opening of gifts, and we used to travel to see my one set of grandparents in Newark, before heading to New York to see the other set. Distance and loss have ended that tradition.

As you read this, I’m in Denver with my family, preparing to maintain our grip on tradition, while sprinkling in a few new ones along the way — many of which are centered around red wine and black-label Bushmill’s. I’m hoping you all are celebrating your own.

Merry Christmas.

Point gets in the holiday spirit

In honor of the holidays, we offer a southeastern Sussex County rendition of a Christmas classic:

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me a seagull in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me two turtle shells and a seagull in a pear tree.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me three broiler hens, two turtle shells and a seagull in a pear tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me four squawking egrets, three broiler hens, two turtle shells and a seagull in a pear tree.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me FIVE COASTAL POINTS, four squawking egrets, three broiler hens, two turtle shells and a seagull in a pear tree.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me six units an acre, FIVE COASTAL POINTS, four squawking egrets, three broiler hens, two turtle shells and a seagull in a pear tree.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me seven towns a’growing, six units an acre, FIVE COASTAL POINTS, four squawking egrets, three broiler hens, two turtle shells and a seagull in a pear tree.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me eight crabs a’steaming, seven towns a’growing, six units an acre, FIVE COASTAL POINTS, four squawking egrets, three broiler hens, two turtle shells and a seagull in a pear tree.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me nine Realtors selling, eight crabs a’steaming, seven towns a’growing, six units an acre, FIVE COASTAL POINTS, four squawking egrets, three broiler hens, two turtle shells and a seagull in a pear tree.

On the 10th day of Christmas, my true love sent to me 10 cars in traffic, nine Realtors selling, eight crabs a’steaming, seven towns a’growing, six units an acre, FIVE COASTAL POINTS, four squawking egrets, three broiler hens, two turtle shells and a seagull in a pear tree.

On the 11th day of Christmas, my true love sent to me 11 pipers ploving, 10 cars in traffic, nine Realtors selling, eight crabs a’steaming, seven towns a’growing, six units an acre, FIVE COASTAL POINTS, four squawking egrets, three broiler hens, two turtle shells and a seagull in a pear tree.

On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love sent to me 12 lifeguards mooning, 11 pipers ploving, 10 cars in traffic, nine Realtors selling, eight crabs a’steaming, seven towns a’growing, six units an acre, FIVE COASTAL POINTS, four squawking egrets, three broiler hens, two turtle shells and a seagull in a pear tree.

TTF shortfall is a trust misplaced
Editor:

Two legislative members of the state’s Joint Bond Bill Committee apparently felt the need to offer some “insight” regarding the $211 million shortfall in the state’s Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) to readers of newspapers around the state.

What they call “insight”, however, could easily be viewed as misrepresentation by those who don’t share their agenda.

In an obvious attempt to shift responsibility from themselves for what has taken place to DelDOT, Reps. Bill Oberle and Roger Roy made several statements that tend to insult the reader’s intelligence and damage their own credibility.

For example, they state, “Legislators, including ourselves were not aware we were going to need to make some changes to TTF until 2005 when Secretary Hayward indicated there was a shortfall.” They went on say, “Until early this past spring the state’s transportation plan appeared to be sound.”

Yet Sen. Robert Venables had earlier indicated large sums of monies had been taken out of TTF on a continuing basis since 1990 without being replaced. He went on to say, “It’s not as if this financial shortfall should come as any sudden surprise to our legislators. In addition, Ann Canby, the previous Secretary of Transportation, warned the legislators of the growing danger when she left (2000) but no one apparently paid attention.”

Even during the 2005 legislative session our legislative leaders refused to address this obvious crisis. Sen. Thurman Adams, for example, was quoted at the end of that session as saying, “We addressed everything we needed to address, maybe not everything everybody wanted to address but everything that needed to address.” Hey, Senator, how could you have overlooked something this critical?

Reps. Oberle and Roy go on to say, “It has been a long-standing practice to finance Delaware road projects with a 50-50 mix of cash and borrowed money (bonds). This sound and prudent device is designed to insure that the state does not run up a burdensome debt.”

What’s going on here? In light of what we now know this seems to be an inappropriate argument based on meaningless data. After all this long-standing practice did not prevent the state from running up a burdensome $211 million TTF shortfall that is now causing our legislators and the Minner administration to frantically look elsewhere – even to the point of considering leasing or selling state roads in order to raise the needed money.

As the truth continues to come out, it becomes obvious this was not an unknown crisis but rather one that this administration and our legislative leaders were unwilling to face up to until their financial irresponsibility was about to explode in their collective faces.

Apparently one of the ways this administration “balanced” past operating budgets” was to take normal operating budget items such as DelDOT and DMV payroll monies out of the TTF.

Of course, this now makes the governor’s past “balanced budget” claims more than a little suspect. Obviously our legislative leaders had to go along with the deception so as to make the governor’s claims credible. With the exception of Sens. Bonini, Copeland and Simpson, the rest of our legislators went along with it as well.

It is perhaps ironic and a little more than fitting that Roy and Oberle are the ones trying to “spin” the rest of us into believing that the $211 million missing from the TTF “does not constitute a crisis.”

That’s because Rep. Roy is also co-chairman of the legislative Bond Bill Committee and the Bond Bill helps pay for DelDot’s construction budget. Therefore, you would certainly think a person in his position would have been well aware of the TTF shortages long before the spring of 2005. You would also have thought the same of Rep. Oberle, since he too was a member of the Joint Bond Bill committee.

Furthermore, Roy’s priorities and objectivity are in serious doubt as it turns out this is the same Roger Roy who is the executive director of a non-profit company called Transportation Management Associates. This is a company that has twice won lucrative state contracts from Delaware Transit Corporation, a Department of Transportation (DOT) subsidiary.

That contract is now worth $387,000 and has paid more than $147,000 of Roy’s company salary, currently $99,400 plus benefits over the last six years. This in spite of the fact Roy had publicly said he would not receive salary payments from the contracts.

In addition Rep. Roy had been instrumental in arraigning discounted ski trips to Maine’s Sugarloaf Resort for groups of people, at least one of which who had gone on the trip several times and who sat on the Delaware Transit‘s contract-selection committee.

In ’99 and ’03 she gave Roy’s company near perfect scores to help it win the contract over competitors. Asked if that individual should have ruled on his company’s proposal Roy said, “That’s something she had to decide, whether she had a conflict or not.” Another former Transit employee had also given Roy’s company a perfect score in ’99 after she had a private meeting with Roy at his company’s expense.

My point is that both Reps. Oberle and Roy stretch their credibility to the breaking point when they claim not to have been aware of the need to make some changes to the TTF until the spring of 2005. In addition, as co-chairman of a committee that helps determine the financing for DelDOT, Rep. Roy showed extremely poor judgment in how he allowed his own personal company to interact with a department dependent on his decisions for its financial well-being.

Furthermore, one has to believe a legislator of his experience would have been well aware of what he was doing when he offered a state employee that could determine if his company got a state contract or not, something that could be perceived as a special inducement. In truth, one has to wonder if Rep. Roy really is the best qualified legislator to be chairman of such an important committee.

Frankly I find assurances coming from these particular gentlemen “that there is no crisis, nor need for panic or rash decisions”… not to be very reassuring.

(Information pertaining to Rep. Roger Roy was extracted from Chris Barrish’s Nov. 2, 2005, Delaware News Journal article titled, “Group wants integrity probe of Del. Official.”)

Allen Ide
Millsboro

Local police chief offers holiday thought
Editor:

As Christmas approaches, and the year comes to an end, I wish special blessings to special friends.

To the men and woman out protecting our streets, thank you very much for walking the beat.

If space is available, I respectfully request that you print the following poem in honor of our local police officers, active and retired.

Chief Kenneth McLaughlin
Ocean View Police Department

A Police Officer’s Christmas Poem
(Author Unknown)

’Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the streets,

Not a person was stirring, ’cept an officer on the beat.

As he quietly patrolled the town with care,

Children and parents slept peacefully there.

The officer was clad in his blues and his vest,

Gun on his hip, always looking his best.

He’d just pulled aside for a quick bite to eat,

When all of a sudden, out on the street,

A bright light appeared from out of nowhere,

He shielded his eyes from the brilliant glare.

’Twas an angel of the Lord at the car’s rear,

He smiled and spoke, “Dear Officer, don’t fear.

I’ve been sent by God with a message for you,

Who faithfully serve while wearing the blue.

He wants you to know that He loves you all,

He’s pleased with the way you’ve answered His call.

To protect and serve others, so selfless you’ve been,

Your bravery and kindness have no end.

Even in tragedy, when nights become long,

You’ve helped countless strangers by just being strong.

God sees your heart, the joy and the pain,

He knows the profession can often bring strain.

So he sent me down here to let you know,

That as you patrol, you are never alone.

s you protect others, your Father protects you,

His angels go with you, His Spirit does, too.

No bullet’s to fast, no bad guy too strong,

I’m sent to make sure that your life will be long.

So fear not the night, and fear not the day,

fear not the threats that might come your way.

I’m sent to accompany you on the beat,

There’s not one moment you’re alone on the street.”

That officer sat stunned by the love of His God,

He bowed his head, with a tear gave a nod.

As the officer said thank you, the angel took flight,

“God’s got your back, carry on, and goodnight.”

Church is a historic part of Ocean View
Editor:

I was so sorry that the Ocean View Planning and Zoning Commission decided so quickly to approve the demolition of the Victorian Church at West and Atlantic avenues.

I hope the University of Delaware will have time to document and its history before it is removed from the town.

The university is preparing a nomination for Ocean View to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places on a prime example of a late 19th century American oceanside community.

The removal of this historic portion of the Church of Christ will be one less element to tell the story of Ocean View and the people who created, nurtured and loved it.

Jean Athan
Ocean View

Local officer thanks police for donation
Editor’s note: The following letter was addressed to Ocean View Police Chief Kenneth McLaughlin, Ocean View police officers and Sally Byrne, and forwarded to the Coastal Point for publication.

Once again you proved your true friendship, and that I can always count on you. I can not thank you enough for your generous contribution.

We all sometimes find ourselves in tough situations in which the hardest punches come from people we trusted the most. My family and I are overwhelmed with your gesture.

We want to contribute this money to the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 16, so all of the police officers and their families can benefit from it.

Your gift to me means more than any gift that I receive this Christmas. I am truly touched and grateful to have you on my side.

Cpl. Joanna Robertson
Bethany Beach Police Department