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

According to the latest polls, approximately 42 percent of the nation believes the president is doing a good job. Various favorability ratings go along the same vein, while other polls show the public’s confidence in his leadership skills rates a little higher. A figure on pollingreport.com shows that approximately 40 percent of the population approves of Judge Alito’s appointment and ...

Noticing a trend?

It would seem, judging by these numbers, that about two out of every five people support the president and his decisions. I’m guessing one could poll how many people approve of the president’s tie or his method of brushing his teeth in a circular manner and the numbers would stay about the same.

This just in — we’re divided.

Perhaps there is no more amusing example of that division to me than observing presidential addresses. While half-watching President Bush’s pep rally, er, State of the Union, address Tuesday night, I giggled how half the room would stand and applaud like Romans enjoying a gladiator battle after every sentence while the others would clap politely while looking around the room with a level of disinterest not seen since my ex-wife on our honeymoon.

Also on the belly laugh list for me was watching Vice President Cheney and Rep. Hastert seated behind the president throughout the address. Hastert looked like he wanted to be anywhere in the world but sitting in that seat, and, I can’t swear to this, but it seemed that when I looked real close I could see Cheney’s lips move whenever the president spoke. In fact, there might have been some thin strings going from Cheney’s hands to ...

But I digress.

What truly grabbed my attention throughout the night was the importance the television analysts placed on the current polls. The “pundits” spoke of the figures before the address began and opined that the speech would be designed to lift people’s spirits and generate enthusiasm for the administration. After the rally, pollsters quickly threw out numbers reflecting the 40 percent figure of satisfaction with the speech. Throughout the night, the talking heads pondered if various sections of the speech were aimed at alleviating distressing figures in various polls.

Curious, I popped in “Bush polls” onto a Google search and came out with 19,700,000 choices.

This got me thinking (be afraid).

Imagine living under the kind of stress that comes with being president. Fine, fine, there’s that whole issue of nuclear war, and I’m guessing the responsibility of sending people off to combat would be a burden, but I’m guessing that the polls would be no picnic, either.

Let’s face facts, by our very nature human beings are insecure. Many of us feel a need to be liked by everybody (fortunately, I have not been plagued by this desire) — we are pleasers, and pleasers do not like to think there is any conflict we can’t repair.

Imagine if a poll was conducted on your favorability in the community today. Now let’s say the results came back and they reveal that 80 percent of the people in this area think you are a good person. Presidential administrations would do backflips and ... well, I don’t even want to guess as to what else they’d do for a number like that.

But we’d look at 80 percent and think, well, 20 percent. That one-in-five polled who went against the “good person” vote would be the 20 percent that would garner the most attention, and cause the immediate rush to open a bottle of Tums. It would consume us. We would want to know who that 20 percent is, and what we could do to change their opinions.

Or what if our job approvals were polled?

What if servers at restaurants or Realtors or chefs were rated publically by how well they do their jobs? We know that town council members are elected, and that’s the ultimate kind of poll, but what about town clerks or police chiefs or weekly newspaper editors ... scratch that last one.

Would we change the way we do our jobs, or would we feel confident we’re doing the right things and keep going forward? How often are presidential decisions dictated by how well they’ll be received by the public?

I’m guessing quite a bit.

The fact of the matter is that polls consume us, particularly on the national level. I have seen polls rating the popularity of wars and others illustrating whether or not the public believes Brad Pitt was mean to Jennifer Aniston. There have been polls on digging up Alaska for oil and debating if dogs are more popular than cats. We are polled out.

And, by a 1-0 vote, I have decided to end this column now, rather than seeking deeper into the obtuse.

Town incomes tough to call

Town budgets are interesting. No, really, they are.

We are all very intent on where the money goes — police, infrastructure, miscellaneous projects, etc. Towns must juggle the priorities of these things when deciding their budgets because, let’s face it, the money going out is dependant on the money coming in to the town.

“Whenever we do budgets for permits, it’s like shooting dice,” said Fenwick Island Mayor Peter Frederick. “It’s an estimate.”

And that’s the problem.

Towns do not know how much will come in each year from building permits, transfer taxes, parking fees or traffic tickets. Oh, they can take educated guesses based on previous years and projects that have already been approved, but it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what will come in when all is said and done.

Hence the problems with deciding what projects can be done in a coming year and what kind of loans the towns might need to take to make the projects a reality.

And so goes the ongoing conflict between the growth that comes from building and the desire to improve public services.

Stricter ordinances have delayed some of the growth, but it has done little to stave off the need for public services.

We’ve been spoiled around here for a long time. Oh, we like to bemoan the growth the area has seen, but we’ve also benefited from what that growth has provided. The egg or the chicken. The chicken or the egg.

Is the answer to begin going on quarterly budgets than can be altered depending on the income the towns are receiving? Probably not.

We have enjoyed reasonable taxes in this area for decades, but higher tax rates could be the direction towns inevitably need to go if push comes to shove.

Especially if we are so intent on slowing growth.

Senator defends Pratt’s motives, involvement
Editor:

A few weeks ago a public hearing was held in Bethany Beach by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to discuss and take comments on proposed changes to regulations concerning a building line intended to protect the coastal dune system along the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean.

The regulations were authorized by law passed in 1972 by the General Assembly and include rules for construction within 1,000 feet of the high tide line.

Unfortunately in this public process, Tony Pratt and staff from DNREC were the subject of a great deal of criticism from property owners about the proposed changes and the lack of public notification about the process. I have known Mr. Pratt for many years and he has been at the forefront of protecting our beaches and property during his more than 25 years of state service. His position in DNREC has taken him to Washington, D.C., to advocate for federal beach replenishment funding and he has worked hard to see these projects accomplished.

Frankly I disagree with regulations which would in any way diminish the property owner’s ability to build back their structure should it be damaged by a coastal storm, fire or other event. We have worked hard for years to replenish our beaches and to protect our economy. What is so disconcerting is that unless you own property fronting the Bethany or Rehoboth boardwalks, the ability to build back your existing house will be limited by the DNREC designated building line.

The fundamental problem lies in a law passed in 1972, not with Mr. Pratt, who has served our state well.

Sen. George H. Bunting Jr.
20th District

Community thankful for service of officer
Editor:

My husband, Randy, and I would like to extend a warm welcome to a new member of the Bethany Beach Police Department named Robert Talbot.

On Saturday, Jan. 28, the day after his graduation from the Delaware Police Academy, Robert interrupted his personal plans to stop and change a flat tire for me as I was stranded on Route 26 near Kent Avenue. He was not to start on duty until Monday.

Bethany Beach is extremely fortunate to have such a caring, enthusiastic and respectful young man on its police force. We wish Robert all the best in his new career.

Linda Dabney
South Bethany

Height restrictions are not being followed
Editor:

I’m contacting you regarding the NV Homes code violations at the property located at Fenwick Avenue and Bunting Avenue.

This adjoins our property, which is located on Bunting Avenue. This residence has been in my family since 1948, and while we have witnessed extensive growth and development, the cottage has remained a part of the quiet family-oriented community of Fenwick.

While we did not oppose the original application for a zoning variance to accommodate a decorative copula on the new NV Homes, the current situation is unacceptable and seriously impacts our property in a negative way.

NV Homes has built two homes in violation of the height requirements that the zoning board had set. Now NV homes is going back and requesting again to change the height restrictions that they violated. They are also requesting to build an additional four homes over the height allowance after they have disregarded the restrictions for the first two homes.

I question why the Sussex planning board would allow the plans to go forward, or did NV homes just totally disregard height restrictions? This appears to have the same scandal that occurred in Montgomery County, Md., in Clarksburg. (The Washington Post has written many articles.)

We will strongly urge the board to require the immediate removal of the height violation and impose strong sanctions against this builder for the apparent deliberate fraud in disregarding your zoning requirements concerning heights.

We further object to the manner in which the builder contracted to remove large amounts of sand and dirt from the property in an attempt to keep the maximum height. When they removed the dirt, no consideration was taken for the adjoining property owners.

Having such a drastic and sudden drop with no retaining wall will lead to our property caving in over time. This was brought up to the builder and they have no concerns for our rights.

Jack Straughan
Fenwick Island
[Editor’s note: The Fenwick Shores development built by NV Homes is located outside the corporate limits of Fenwick Island in unincorporated Sussex County. Requests for variances from the county’s building height limits for homes in the development have been set for public hearings before the county’s Board of Adjustments on Feb. 6 and 27.]

Delaware has a lot of work to do on issue
Editor:

Stunningly, Jerry Falwell stated on MSNBC’s “The Situation” on Aug. 5, 2005, “Civil rights for all Americans — black, white, red, yellow, rich, poor, young, old, gay, straight, etc. — is not a liberal or conservative value. It’s an American value that I would think that we pretty much all agree on… Housing and employment are not special rights.”

He’s correct: a 2003 Gallup poll found 88 percent of us believe in sexual orientation nondiscrimination on the job.

Not just an American value, employment fairness toward gays is good business. Our own Delaware Treasurer, Jack Markell, wrote in a 2004 op. ed., “In competing for the jobs of the future with other states and foreign countries, people are our greatest assets. They are the key to ensuring that Delaware companies compete in the new global economy. We must create an environment where innovation drives growth. We must be able to attract capital. All of that requires the best people no matter what their sexual orientation is.”

But American values and good business sense must not concern our Delaware senate. With 17 states and D.C. having passed sexual orientation workplace fairness laws, Delaware is not “the first state” here: we are not even close.

Douglas Marshall-Steele
Milton

Outside the box on Assawoman Canal
Editor:

A final solution to the Route 26 traffic tie-ups — pleasing both the Sierra Club and our county political representatives, who wish to develop the canal into water front condo construction:

Fill in the canal, save the bordering trees and provide an easy-access, paved road from Route 1 to Route 26, ending at the low bridge, where Central Avenue becomes Cedar Neck Road, where the bridge is too low to pass any float or cigarette boats.

A well-designed cloverleaf at this point will allow merging traffic on and off the paved canal roadway and will allow a merge at 15 mph to Cedar Neck, to and from Hudson Road back to Ocean Highway (Route 1) to G&E Grocery.

Another cloverleaf at the Assawoman Canal Road at the intersection of Route 26, where the existing bridge is high enough to allow cars, trucks and SUV’s to pass underneath, will further ease auto traffic where only yield signs will be necessary. No 18-wheelers or buses.

The properties surrounding these two cloverleaves are easily subject to eminent domain and those at the ending cloverleaf are presently for sale “on the market” at reasonable prices.

Realizing that present property owners of canal waterfront have auto access (and access to kayaking on Assawoman and Indian River bays, so long as speed limit is controlled to 35 mph on the possible roadway for two way, north-south auto traffic, they should have no right to object to the use of the canal right of way without access.

Those in South Bethany who may become totally landlocked could settle for cash payments as they can hardly use the existing canal now to navigate motor boats.

Most summer and full-time voting residents agree that we want no more development and that summer traffic is the worst on Route 26. The Sierra Club will discontinue their planned appeal to the latest court decision, which has yet to be finalized and the politicians pushing for dredging will have solved the primary bumper-to-bumper traffic situation, which their “foresight,” with the help of the state highway planners, has created.

The Sierra Club continued to stonewall the dredging and has already cost us taxpayers a “pretty penny” and paving the canal will not interfere with the tide of the Salt Pond canals. Lastly, it will stop the land speculators, expecting to develop the waterfront which will occur if the canal is dredged. We have no area to economically place the “spoils” from such a dredging and no money in the budget to pay the marine contractors who would be politically awarded the contract to dredge.

Dick Lamb Peters
Ocean View