Coastal Point • Maria Counts : Kami Banks, second from left, receives the Lighthouse Award at the Chamber’s annual awards celebration. Pictured with Banks, from left, are Dale Bellinger, Todd Hickman and Anne Powell.Just running a business is a big responsibility, but that didn’t stop Kami Banks from working double duty for, and ultimately winning, the 2014 Lighthouse Award from the Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce last week.

One year ago, Banks (of Banks Wines & Spirits) was sworn in as the Chamber board president. That was expected. What the Quiet Resorts didn’t expect was the sudden resignation of the Chamber executive director just prior to the new board term.

Banks then agreed to fill that roll, too, doubly leading the Chamber for four months, until staffer Kristie Maravalli was announced as successor.

Banks was praised for handling the situation with “class, dignity and grace,” despite the obvious rush of running a business and holding two Chamber positions.

“She truly could take off her business-owner hat at the door and lead the Chamber with … integrity,” Maravalli said.

Open to public voting for the first time, the annual Chamber awards were announced at the Oct. 16 Member Celebration & Awards Ceremony, held at The Den at Bear Trap Dunes.

Although “shocked” to win, Banks said she ultimately feels “so blessed to be here.” She took home a small glass replica lighthouse, handcrafted by Bellinger’s Jewelers.

While Banks briefly left the state for college, the native Delawarean wasn’t long gone when she realized the lure of her home state.

“I’m born and raised in Delaware,” she said. “I graduated high school and said I wanted to get far away as possible. I quickly realized my freshman year … I wanted to be here.”

Today, she sees the future of the Chamber, full of old and new faces.

“New businesses are opening and see the value of a Chamber,” Banks said, sharing major issues with Chamber input, such as the construction schedule for Route 26, which was adjusted with business feedback.

With Banks’ name on the table, the Lighthouse Award vote was unanimous, new Chamber board President Anne Powell of ResortQuest Real Estate said.

Active in the Chamber for more than 10 years, Banks has also served on the Millville Town Council and Atlantic ImmediCare board, in addition to winning a Coastal Style magazine Best Of award and Friend of the Bays business award.

That doesn’t even touch on the large family business, which frequently partners with nonprofits and businesses for fundraisers and other events.

“I can’t tell you the awe and respect I have for you, Kami,” Powell said. “You wore two hats and gave of yourself professionally.”

Banks also won the Member of the Year award, for demonstrating the most dedication through her involvement in the Chamber throughout the year.

“It’s exciting to see a lot of repeat names here. It means these people are doing a lot,” Todd Hickman said.

“I think the best thing we can do is give back to our community,” Banks said. “So, thank you.”

Banks thanked Maravalli for her service since January, in “taking the reins [and] steadying the ship.”

Banks has repeatedly praised the Chamber staff and last week thanked its business members, saying, “We do not have to search far for volunteers” for various events. She called on members to be selfless, challenging “each of you to take on a project for which you are passionate.”

Everyone is contributing something greater, said Powell.

“Synergy is when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and that’s what the Chamber is to me — together we are more,” Powell said. “We serve more than just the businesses. We serve everyone.”

Slate of award winners named

Lise O’Connell of Send Out Cards was honored last week for her work as a Chamber ambassador — a position in which members recruit new members, welcomes them and helps ensure members get the most out of their memberships. As the winner of the Arlene Hauck Ambassador of the Year Award, O’Connell’s nominations called her a “super go-to person,” “full of ideas,” “who goes above and beyond with an amazing attitude.”

Coastal Point newspaper was named Best in Business for providing high-quality customer service, above and beyond industry standards.

Kristina Isom of Mind, Body & Sole was named New Member of the Year, for joining the Chamber and immediately diving into Chamber networking, programs and events.

“These people made some noise in the quiet resort,” said board member Andrew Stump.

Judy Layman of High Tide News earned the Inspiring Business Award, presented to an individual who actively encourages and perpetuates business innovation, freely shares ideas and opinions regarding business issues and is a catalyst for the future of business.

The Community Spirit Award went to Jackie Inman of Bethany Beach Books, for demonstrating an exemplary commitment to the community, above and beyond business contributions throughout the year.

The 2014-2015 Board was sworn in, including the executive committee of Powell, President-Elect Richard Mais of McCabe’s Gourmet Market, Vice-President Ron Derr of PKS & Company P.A., Secretary Terri Mahoney of WMDT-TV and Treasurer Cory Walsh of Calvin B. Taylor Bank.

Thanks to the annual Bethany Beach Boardwalk Arts Festival, the Chamber also presented a $3,000-plus donation to its charitable arm, the Quiet Resorts Charitable Foundation.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) recently presented a Congressional Record detailing the leadership skills and accomplishments of Auburn University student Carol Linde on Oct. 7 at the Auburn Student Center.

Linde, a Dagsboro native who is this year’s recipient of Auburn’s Political Science Leadership Award, is a senior in the College of Liberal Arts, majoring in political science and psychology and minoring in English and women’s studies. Rogers presented Linde with a framed copy of the document.

“The Auburn faculty made a great decision in selecting Carol for this leadership award, and I am proud to be here to present this Congressional Record to her. She’s got a lot to be proud of,” Rogers said. “This says a lot about future opportunities for her.”

Each year, Auburn’s Department of Political Science recognizes a student leader who excels in both the classroom and the community.

“I’m honored to have been chosen and that my professors recognize my leadership qualities,” Linde said. “I’m really passionate about everything I do.”

Linde has a 4.0 grade point average and is the recipient of other awards, including the Sloan Y. Bashinsky Sr. and Sam Long Hutchinson endowed scholarships. She is on the Dean’s List and is a member of Auburn’s Honors Congress.

During her time at Auburn, Linde has worked as a peer instructor for first-year students in the Honors College, tutored student athletes and provided writing assistance for students through Auburn’s Miller Writing Center. Beyond campus, she has helped spearhead recycling efforts on football game days, assisted with the Food Bank of East Alabama and assisted local preschools’ Head Start programs.

“At Auburn, I found my way to political science and learned the importance of education,” she said.

Linde said she hopes to travel abroad to teach English following her graduation in May 2015 and eventually attend graduate school.

Coastal Point • File Photo : Everybody gets into the spirit at the Selbyville Halloween Parade.Every year, thousands of people agree: the Selbyville Halloween Parade is the place to be. The classic tradition will return Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m., once again sponsored by the Fenwick Island Lions Club and Town of Selbyville.

“I’m surprised at how many people say, ‘I was in that parade when I was a kid,’” organizer Fran Pretty has said in the past. “So I think that’s a testimony to how people look forward to it.”

People may line the streets from Town Hall to PNC Bank, where the judging and main performances occur.

Besides rocking out to several local high school bands, people can take in appearances by floats, gymnasts, candidates for public office, fire trucks, scout troops, pageant winners, farm equipment, classic cars and much more.

Kids are welcome to join the magic of marching. All children may enter the children’s costume contest, by meeting at 6 p.m. at Salem United Methodist Church parking lot. First-, second- and third-place prizes will be awarded in five age groups (age 1-4, grades K-1, grades 2-3, grades 4-6, grades 7 and up, plus family groups).

Some incredibly creative costumes have marched through the parade in past years, organizers noted.

The Lions’ 50/50 drawing will help defray the parade’s costs. Past winning tickets have amounted to more than $2,000 dollars. Participants need not be present to win.

Those hungry for more than just entertainment can go to the PNC parking lot. Each year, local groups including the Lions and Selbyville Fire Company, sell food, such as hotdogs, hamburgers and oyster sandwiches.

Bring those old eyeglasses

Local eyeglass wearers may have moved on from an old pair of eyeglasses, but that doesn’t make them useless. The annual parade is once again themed “Sight Night,” and paradegoers are being encouraged to donate old pairs of eyeglasses, which are ultimately distributed to people in need in developing countries. The Indian River High School Leo Club (the Lions’ student service organization) will collect the specs.

Lions Clubs are best known for their sight and vision work, providing glasses to those in need, providing vision tests for young children, fundraising for vision research and addressing other sight issues, such as cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, corneal transplants and more.

Handicapped parking for the parade is available in the town lot behind the Georgia House restaurant on Main Street.

For more parade information, visit www.townofselbyville.com.

Medical professionals known that, when dealing with cardiac arrest, effective chest compressions deliver vital oxygen to the brain and can prime the heart for a successful shock. And sometimes, the most effective chest compressions come not from human hands but a mechanical device.

The Millville Volunteer Fire Company is currently raising funds to purchase three LUCAS Chest Compression Systems to equip the company’s three ambulances. The device is designed to help improve outcomes of sudden cardiac arrest victims and improve operations for medical responders.

“When we go on a call for a cardiac arrest, it starts out with hands-on CPR. You start out on the floor, you start the CPR, hook up the AED (automated external defibrillator) pads, and then during that process you hook the LUCAS up. Then you have to transport that patient from the house or the yard to the stretcher,” explained EMT Michele Steffans, who also serves as the MVFC’s financial secretary.

“If that LUCAS isn’t hooked up, you’re having to stop manual CPR to lift them onto the stretcher. Where, if the LUCAS is hooked up, it’s continuously doing CPR.”

Steffans said that surrounding fire companies already use the LUCAS device, and often the Millville VFC will request to use the Bethany Beach company’s on cardiac arrest calls.

“The LUCAS is the one that surrounding departments — Roxana, Bethany Beach, Sussex County paramedics — have. So everyone knows how it works. If we switched to the AutoPulse, it wouldn’t be interchangeable with the other departments,” she explained.

Steffans said that, unless a medical emergency has happened to a family member or friend, most people don’t know what a mechanical CPR device is.

“The LUCAS does the mechanical work,” she explained. “If there are interruptions in CPR, blood stops flowing to the brain, collects in the right ventricle… It’s not circulating through the body like it should. The more interruptions, the worse it is.

“It’s so much safer with this in the back of an ambulance than doing manual CPR. Imagine the brakes being thrown on. It just makes so much more sense. We can be strapped in, CPR can be done continuously, while other things can be addressed.”

Steffans said that, this past summer, with the help of Bethany Beach’s LUCAS device, Millville EMTs were able to save the lives of two individuals.

“Two people are walking today because the LUCAS was there to help,” she said.

So far, the fire company has raised more than $15,000 since beginning its fundraising efforts in June, and it has already ordered its first device, which cost $15,000 each.

“The community has been awesome. Our first donation was anonymous — $5,000 to start us off. Bay Forest has donated, and a couple in the Ocean View area has donated $700 toward it. It’s just been amazing,” she said, adding that she believes it is necessary to have two devices, and the third would be a perk. “We would like to do it like Bethany, where there’s one on each unit, so it’s always available.”

Steffans said the fire company has to hold various fundraisers in order to purchase the devices because there wasn’t money in the department’s budget set aside to buy them.

“People think there’s so much money out there for the fire service. There’s not. It’s a nonprofit. Really, we depend on the community, and what little the State and County give us.”

In order to raise the funds, the MVFC has held numerous carwashes and a fundraising night at Fox’s Pizza, and will hold a movie night at the Clayton Theatre on Nov. 25, showing “Ladder 49.”

“For anyone wanting to purchase tickets in advance, they will be $8 each, or 12 tickets for $100,” said Steffans. “[It’s] great for businesses, they can give the tickets to their employees and customers to show how much they appreciate them. It’s a tax-deductible donation and goes to a great cause.”

Those who attend will have the chance to win door prizes. The fire company is also selling 50/50 raffle tickets, with the drawing to be held the night of the movie.

“I would love to see the theater packed. We’re going to bring the antique ambulance up. It’s going to be parked right up front, underneath the marquis.”

Steffans said that Jeff Cox, paramedic field training supervisor for Sussex County EMS, will speak about the LUCAS device on the night of the movie.

“We’re hoping to fill the theater and do the largest hands-on community CPR event in Sussex County. Hands-on CPR is just that — no breaths,” explained Steffans. “A lot of people are turned off by the breaths, so they won’t help in that situation. They’ve found that the breaths aren’t really necessary. As long as you’re doing compressions, it’s pushing the blood through.”

This will be the first fundraiser the fire company has held at the theater, and Steffans hopes to get area businesses to help sponsor the event.

“We’d like to get some $100 sponsors, which would get your logo on the big screen and in the event flyer for the night. That would help defer the cost of the movie,” she said. “If we can get sponsors to help cover the cost of the overhead and the movie, then all the other funds could go to help fund the LUCAS.”

Steffans said that, along with its fundraising efforts for the LUCAS devices, the dedicated volunteers proudly serving their community — approximately 105 active members — will also be starting their Fire Fund Drive in November, as well as continuing to offer the community the opportunity to participate in an ambulance subscription.

“It’s $50, and it covers you for a year. If you get taken to the hospital one time, your bill is $800 to take you. That $50 covers that $800 bill. You don’t get charged for anything. If you have insurance already but they only pay $600, the $50 covers the other $200. It’s like insurance.”

Steffans said that, of the 14,000 households the department serves, only approximately 2,700 have signed up for a subscription.

“I’m really amazed more people don’t take advantage of it,” she said.

Of the LUCAS devices, Steffans said she hopes to have the second one ordered by the end of the year and that she thinks the department’s numerous fundraising efforts will make that a reality.

“I think, once the word gets out about what the LUCAS is, it’ll generate interest and people will start donating toward it,” she said. “I think it would be awesome if it was a packed theater that night. I get goosebumps thinking about it.”

To purchase tickets for the 50/50, for more information about the fundraisers or to donate, call the Millville Volunteer Fire Company at (302) 539-7557 or email Steffans at msteffens@millville84.com.

Bethany Beach officials on Oct. 17 reported the summer of 2014 as a “very successful, very busy summer.”

Town Manager Cliff Graviet offered praise for new events director and media coordinator Julie Malewski and her work on the slate of entertainment options offered by the Town.

“I can’t say enough about the good work she’s done,” Graviet said, noting “record audiences” for bandstand performances and that the Town’s Monday-night movie offerings on the beach continued to be a “popular venue,” while the beach bonfires on Thursdays “continue to grow a very significant crowd.”

Also referencing the “very nice weather we had,” Graviet said the entertainment offerings had “really brought people out in droves.”

Many of those people used the town trolley to get to the downtown area, Graviet noted, with 2013’s figure of 37,000 trolley riders being well topped by the roughly 40,000 people who used the trolley this year.

Graviet also pointed out that the trolley’s impact on the limited parking in the downtown area is often ignored.

“Those are 40,000 people who didn’t come downtown to park,” he said.

With that in mind, Graviet said he wanted to look at the idea of creating an express route for the trolley that would make it “accessible to the largest number of people” and run “far more frequently than we do the long loop, which can take an awfully long time for people who just want to come down to the beach.”

Graviet said he would be consulting with town staff to create a plan that would allow the longer loop to continue to exist but still function within existing resources, while also creating more of an express route.

While the trolley has lightened the parking load on the downtown area to some degree, Graviet emphasized that parking revenues contribute strongly to offset the costs the Town sees each summer. Though parking revenue had fallen off in 2013, he said, parking revenue for 2014 had reached $1.55 million.

“That’s a significant contribution to what we use here to offset summer expenses,” he said, noting that, when he first arrived in Bethany Beach as police chief more than 20 years prior, when the police department was responsible for parking issues, the Town’s parking revenue had been just $97,000.

Currently, parking on Garfield Parkway is slightly more limited than usual, as the final phase of the Town’s Streetscape project is now under way. Roads around the beach-end “loop” have been blocked off for the work, and Graviet said signage would be placed on the roadways to indicate to passersby that the downtown businesses are still open, despite the construction work.

He emphasized that individual businesses will only be impacted briefly, when work is being done right outside those individual stores.

The council on Oct. 17 also unanimously approved $60,000 to be added to the supplemental capital budget for the 2015 fiscal year, to cover costs of completing the final phase of its Streetscape project, which has included the repaving of Garfield Parkway from Route 1 to the boardwalk, as well as reconfiguring of parking and efforts to open up and beautify the sidewalk areas.

The bulk of the project was completed before the summer season began and was available to visitors starting in June, while the “loop” section was delayed to avoid impacting visitors during the season.

Even those who aren’t going to be in downtown Bethany at some point in the future should still be able to get a bird’s eye view of what’s going on in town, as Graviet announced last Friday that the Town had recently invested in a “mobile aerial camera,” or “MAC,” to be used to capture live photos that could be put on the Town’s website, including images of the town during and after storms, which would also be shared with state and federal legislators.

While Graviet notably did not refer to the device as a “drone,” he emphasized that the MAC will be operated by town staffer John Apple, who will be getting certified in its operation, and Malewski will be charged with oversight of the project.

Town purchases ‘mobile office,’ two police vehicles

And in another nod to the potential for storm damage in the town, Graviet also announced that the Town had recently purchased, for $10,000, a used “mobile office” from the Town of Smyrna. He said that town had itself originally purchased the vehicle for use as a mobile command post for its police department, at a cost of $90,000.

Graviet said Smyrna employees had driven the vehicle only 100 to 200 miles and, having kept it stored inside much of the rest of the time, had been looking to “make it available to another municipality.”

He said that, looking at significant storm events that have happened up and down the East Coast, including Hurricane Sandy, he recognized that in some cases municipalities had lost their town halls and were not able to establish any sort of presence in their towns after a storm, some of them forced to work out of police cars.

With the mobile office outfitted as an office — and not as a mobile command center, he emphasized, with a nod to emergency command facilities inside the Bethany Beach Volunteer Fire Company’s fire hall — he said it might not only prove useful for events such as triathlons but, “more importantly, be available to use in the event of any significant weather event,” in which case it could be used by the Town to “help people deal with the bureaucracy” that can come into play after such events.

He said the vehicle would continue to be kept inside when not in use.

Police cars themselves aren’t immune to the elements, though, as the Town found out this spring when a brand new four-wheel-drive Chevy Tahoe police vehicle caught fire and was totaled.

Graviet told the council on Oct. 17 that that circumstance had led to his unusual request to purchase not one but two new police pursuit vehicles this month, to replace both the vehicle that was destroyed and an existing vehicle with 90,000 miles on the odometer that has been racking up costs over mechanical issues.

The Town’s insurance company had paid out $55,000 to replace the burned vehicle and equip its four-wheel-drive replacement, he told the council, while the Town’s generally annual $25,000 police grant from Sussex County would be going toward replacing the older two-wheel-drive vehicle.

He noted both that the Chevy Tahoe has now been certified as a police pursuit vehicle and that the cost to equip a police car now almost equals the purchase price of the vehicle itself.

The council unanimously approved (with Councilman Jerry Dorfman absent) the purchase of both base vehicles, for $31,000 and $27,000, respectively. They will be fitted with police equipment before going out on the streets of Bethany Beach.

Also on Oct. 17:

• The council unanimously approved updated committee guidelines as part of their annual process of making new appointments to committees. Vice-Mayor Lew Killmer noted that changes to the guidelines for the Non-Residential Design Review Committee (DRC) would be forthcoming, as part of changes resulting from the creation of the CL-1 commercial lodging district.

• Appointments for committee chairpersons were also approved last Friday, with Dorfman remaining as head of the Budget & Finance Committee, Killmer for the DRC, Councilman Chuck Peterson for the Charter & Ordinance Review Committee and former councilwoman Carol Olmstead for the Cultural & Historical Affairs Committee. Patrick Shepley will chair the Audit Committee, while newly installed Councilman Bruce Frye will head the Town’s Fourth of July Parade Committee.

• Frye will no longer be serving on the Board of Adjustments, due to his new place on the council. Mayor Jack Gordon appointed Doug Mowry to complete his term, ending in 2016, while current member Len Kidwell will get a new term, ending in 2017.

• The DRC will also see some change in this council year, as member Faith Denault will be replaced by Jerry Morris for the remainder of her term (ending in 2015). Killmer said she no longer owns property in the town. “She had to come off,” he explained, “and she will be missed.”

• The October financial report for the Town (through the end of September) revealed that it had already taken in 90.8 percent of the revenue it had budgeted for the 2015 fiscal year, despite only having seen roughly half the fiscal year go by.

Committee members noted that there had been transfer tax, building-fee and water impact fee revenues taken in that were “well above normal” due to the start of construction on the new downtown hotel. Last year at this point, the Town had taken in 79.2 percent of its budgeted revenue. Expenses are on track with historical numbers, however, at 58.4 percent of the budgeted amount, compared to 55 percent at the same time last year.

• Gordon delivered to Olmstead and CHAC a book on D-Day that had been gifted to him after a local woman visited the town’s sister city of Periers, France, recently. He also presented a poster created by veterans participating in Operation SEAs the Day who had wanted to thank the town for its participation.

• Councilman Joe Healy and Frye reported on their attendance at the annual American Shoreline & Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) conference last week in Virginia Beach, noting presentations by DNREC’s Tony Pratt on cost-benefit analysis of beach replenishment and on issues concerning private funding of such projects, and that a comprehensive report on the impact of Hurricane Sandy is expected to be available in January.

Healy also reported that a committee advising the State on beach issues has planned an Oct. 31 workshop with DNREC in Slaughter Beach, from 2 to 4 p.m., with a follow-up workshop on Nov. 1 at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center from 10 a.m. to noon.

Frye, who was elected to the council last month, said of the conference, “I came away with the really good feeling that what we are doing with the beach, with our big dune and wide beach, is the right thing.”

• In response to a question about flood regulations and the new FEMA flood maps, Killmer noted that he has been working on the FEMA- required ordinance changes, using both existing town code and the “boilerplate” version offered to municipalities by the State of Delaware.

Emphasizing that he was endeavoring to make the resulting document specific to the town (eliminating sections on mobile homes, for instance, as they are prohibited in town limits), Killmer said he expected to have the draft completed in the next week or so, with a review from state officials requested “before we even bring it up for a vote.”

• Peterson reported that CORC would present the council with a “white paper” after their next meeting, dealing with a possible ordinance regarding objects that interfere with lifeguards’ view of the beach and water. He said other papers coming to the council in the future would deal with whether the council may want to take action on issues related to parking and residential lighting, the latter in regards to its ability to disturb neighbors.

• Olmstead reported that CHAC has planned three cultural events through spring, returning to a practice that had skipped a couple of years. She said the committee plans to bring in Civil War expert Tom Ryan in November, to discuss “Women Spies During the Civil War,” with a presentation on indigenous plantings expected in March or April, and a showing of the committee’s completed 90-minute oral history project, “Bethany Beach Memoir,” also to be scheduled.

She said the committee had decided to recommend that the Town not purchase copies of the “Walk Through History” book produced by the Bethany Beach Landowners’ Association, for re-sale at town hall, partly due to the cost ($5 each) — when the book has been widely distributed to many in the area free of charge by Realtors and local banks — and partly due to the fact that it would place the Town in competition with local retailers.

Olmstead said the committee was also continuing to contact owners of homes built in the town before 1940, to assess their interest in having historical markers placed at the properties.

• Killmer reported that the Planning Commission had approved in September the partitioning of a large lot on 2nd Street into two 5,000-square-foot lots, with the house that had been on the joined lots now removed.

• Finally, the council voted to change the date of its November meeting from Nov. 21 to Nov. 14, also at 2 p.m., due to a conflict in the mayor’s schedule.

“Last night, it was freezing,” said Eric Snyder, who several years ago helped create Serving Others Under the Lord (SOUL) Ministries, an outreach ministry for those who are homeless or in need, on a recent morning when temperatures dipped into the 30s — reminiscent of last year’s bitter winter.

Coastal Point • R. Chris Clark : Eric Snyder stands outside his tent at Bethel Tabernacle Church. Snyder and Matt Coffin have been camping outside since Oct. 8 to help raise awareness for the growing homeless population in the area.Snyder’s normally well-trimmed beard has grown scruffy and his clothes wrinkled, because he has been sleeping in a tent outside of the Bethel Tabernacle Church in Clarksville since Oct. 8, along with fellow ministry volunteer Matt Coffin, to raise awareness of the area’s growing homeless population.

“God said, ‘You need to walk in this now,’” recalled Snyder, saying he was called to take the drastic step while SOUL was brainstorming on its Rap Up Homelessness event, which will be held at the church on Friday, Oct. 31, beginning at 5 p.m.

“God had called me, and as we brainstormed, Matt said he wanted to come with me, because God had been telling him for the past few weeks that he had to give up everything.”

Snyder said he and Coffin will be camping out in their tent in front of the church at least through Oct. 31 but may continue even after the event is over.

“From there, if God still has me doing it, I’ll continue doing it here, if the church still allows me. If not, I’ll head to Rehoboth, Seaford, where I know there are [homeless] populations and live with them.”

The public is being invited to attend the SOUL Ministries Trunk-or-Treat event, offering a free concert performed by B-Shock and Tru-Christian, along with free candy and food. Those who attend are being asked to bring camping supplies or give a monetary donation to the ministry, which is raising funds to open a year-round shelter in Sussex County.

“They have become homeless for the homeless, shelterless for the shelterless,” said Cherith, Snyder’s wife, who also helped start the ministry.

The ministry is hoping to raise $250,000 to purchase a building and property to open a shelter in Sussex County that offers everything from showers and laundry facilities to computer access and job-search skills, and more.

“The goal of the shelter is to have a place where, if you want to try and get back on your feet, you have that ability,” said Cherith Snyder, adding that they hope the shelter will also be able to offer a food pantry and clothing closet. “We’re now thinking at a larger scale,” she said of the ministry that started with the simple mission of collecting coats for those in need. “There are so many people who are just a few steps from being homeless themselves. That’s what we’re trying to avoid.”

She said that the ministry is not seeking federal funding because they don’t want bureaucratic red tape to keep them from helping as many people as possible.

“We at the shelter want to offer everything. They would tell us exactly who, what, when, where and how. We would be in a pigeon hole, and we’re not going to meet everyone’s needs,” she said.

“Our goal is to help as many people as we can — whether that’s they just want a warm place to sleep tonight or they want to get back on the track of their lives, whether they just need a few nights to clear their head, or a month or two months.”

Unlike other transitional housing options in the area, Cherith Snyder said SOUL Ministry’s shelter would offer those in need the chance to stay in the shelter for two months, with the option to extend their stay if they need extra time.

“However, if it is just a cold night, you like where you are, you want to live the way you’re living — because there are people like that — that’s fine, too.”

They are also looking into allowing shelter residents to stay an extra month, in a private room, for a small fee. They’re also considering a program that has the shelter holding 70 percent of the residents’ paychecks during their stay, so they have some savings for when they leave.

“It would be a way of helping the residents create savings,” said Cherith Snyder. “I think it’s a wonderful concept.”

With little public attention yet received and halfway into their campaign, the ministry, through online fundraising site YouCaring, has raised $265 toward their overall goal of $250,000. (A Sacramento, Calif., minister recently spent two weeks living on the streets as part of his effort to raise $100,000 for a winter shelter there. He succeeded in reaching that goal after just a week and garnered national media attention.)

Snyder said that, along with monetary donations, the ministry is always looking for volunteers and supplies to take out to homeless communities across Delmarva — from canned goods and toiletries to socks and batteries. Every little bit helps, he said.

“This drive is asking for camping supplies — the hardest to get and most expensive,” said Eric Snyder, “but anything you would need, they need.”

In starting his journey to raise awareness, Eric Snyder said, he wanted to go about being as authentic as possible, with the exception of using the restroom in the church.

“Other than that, they are completely authentic. They have some snacks in the tent, but they have no means of refrigeration,” said Cherith Snyder of their living conditions outside. “Ladies from the church have been bringing them muffins… Your warm meals come from the kindness of strangers. Your showers come from the kindness of strangers. Your clean clothes come from the kindness of strangers.”

Snyder said he wasn’t walking into his calling blindly, having worked with the homeless for nearly a year.

“We know homeless. Most of our friends are homeless or were homeless. We’ve heard the stories. We’ve heard the horrors. We weren’t expecting it to be fun. They taught us how to pad up our tent.

“We’ve known enough homeless people to understand what we were getting into, but once you’re in there for at least a week — until you really grasp what they’re going through… I’ll never claim that I understand what they’re enduring. I have no idea.

“Even if we grasp what they’re going through now, we didn’t have to go through what they had to go through to get there,” he added. “We’re not living with the divorces, the problems, the joblessness. I understand that feeling because I went from six figures to no figures in two weeks,” he said of being laid off from his job a number of years ago.

Not only does one have to think about where to get a shower, but how to get there, and if there will be a warm place to dry off before returning to the elements.

“You’re living on the kindness of strangers,” he said.

The Snyders said people may be tired of hearing their message, but they will continue to speak up for those who don’t have a voice in the community. Despite their having campaigned vigorously since November of last year, there still has been little done for the homeless community in Sussex County.

“It’s real. It’s here,” said Cherith Snyder. “Nothing has actually been done about it yet. We’re still in that limbo place, where all we need is a shelter and we’d be done.

“What we’re hoping for is the community to band together and say, ‘Let’s fix this problem.’”

Whether one may admit to it or not, “homelessness” has a stigma attached to it that many can’t seem to get past, said the Snyders.

“It’s because of the stigma ‘homeless’ has. Our great point is to help them, feed them, put the Band-Aid on now, and then build the shelter and build them up,” said Eric Snyder. “But our greater point is to educate, because [people think] all homeless people are ‘rapists and alcoholics’ — and they’re not. But society is afraid of them.”

“That’s what’s so unfortunate,” said Cherith Snyder. “The majority of these guys I would trust more than some of the people I go to church with, honestly and truly. I’ve had some of them in my home.

“If, by the grace of God, we did not have this house, we would be homeless. I’m a good person. I don’t steal. I don’t have an addiction. But you stick me outside — I can’t tell you I wouldn’t need something to take the edge off.”

According to Cherith Snyder, many of those who are now homeless ended up in that situation due to bad circumstances, and not by choice.

“One man, he was a banker at MBNA for 20-some years. He lived in a very nice home. He had very nice cars. This was the lifestyle that he had made. Then he lost his job… they gave him an early retirement. That caused issues with his marriage, so his wife divorced him, took the kid, the house, the cars, the retirement. Now he’s struggling more and more and more,” she said of one homeless man she knows through the ministry.

“They don’t want to be homeless,” added Eric Snyder. “They’re not lazy people. They’re just lost and broken. Now, we’re trying to find them and fix them. If we can house them we can give them the hope to get back out and become productive again, because a lot of them have forgotten what that means.”

Cherith Snyder said that the drug and alcohol use often associated with those who are homeless is not the cause of the homelessness, but rather a coping mechanism.

“We’ve found that that’s not what put them on the street — that’s how they cope being on the streets,” she said. “What we’ve found is that a lot of homeless suffer from addiction or mental illness because they are stuck in this same cycle and they don’t realize they need to change something.”

“You can buy a beer for 89 cents. You can buy a bottle of water for a buck and a quarter. Which would you pick?” added Eric Snyder.

Once the shelter is open, the Snyders said they will continue to go out into the community and serve the homeless by offering them supplies and food, and help in any way they can.

“The bulk of this ministry is not about taking them food. It’s about getting to know them,” said Eric Snyder. “They have to get to know us, so that when we start the shelter we’re ‘cool.’ Because so many people go, ‘Oh, I’m not going to your shelter,’ ‘Oh, I’ll come to your shelter.’

“We won’t just be going out there with a Band-Aid,” he said of what they hope to accomplish with a shelter to offer those people. “We’ll be going out there and saying, ‘Hey, come home with us.’”

Following the disbandment of “tent city” across the street from the Rehoboth Wal-Mart earlier this year, the Snyders invited those who were living in the woods back to their home in Clarksville to stay.

“They came here,” said Eric Snyder. “We told them they could either be sober or back on the streets. All but one chose to go back. The one who stayed now has a job, an apartment — he’s doing fine.”

“We still have the clock that was hanging on a tree in tent city,” he added. “When they closed it down, one guy brought it back here. It’s hanging in my kitchen right now,” he said. “We want to put it in the shelter — just a piece of home.”

Eric Snyder said that, through opening their own shelter, they hope to have a more permanent impact. He encouraged area resource centers and churches to take the money they spend on putting those who are homeless up for a night or two in area motels and instead give it to the shelter’s fund drive.

“If they just put that money toward the shelter, they’d be free. We’d be able to house them all in one place, and we’d be sure they weren’t drinking; they’d be focused on the future instead of today,” he said.

As for the Halloween-night event, the Snyders said they hope many people from the community will stop by and learn more about the ministry and its goal for a shelter. Those who can’t attend but want to help raise awareness of the homeless population, they suggested: Why not camp out in your front yard?

“If you can’t make it to the event, camp out in your front yard,” he said — “Tents across America.

“We will set up the tents donated, even if people don’t want to camp out with us. I want to see as many tents out front as possible. We are the voice for the silent. We are the face for the invisible. So let’s get loud.”

Bethel Tabernacle is located at 43180 Omar Road (Frankford) in Clarksville, just west of the Route 26 intersection. For more information, call (302) 632-4289. SOUL Ministries may also be found on Facebook, at www.facebook.com/soulministriesde. To donate to the shelter fund, visit http://www.youcaring.com/nonprofits/sussex-county-homeless-shelter/23968....

Christian authors from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey are heading to Georgetown for Delaware’s largest Christian book sale, The Book Event, on Saturday, Nov. 8, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Delmarva Christian Writers’ Fellowship (DCWF) will host event — now in its second year — at Crossroad Community Church, 20684 State Forest Road. More than 20 authors will attend, including regional writers such as Karen Whiting and Terri Gillespie, and local authors including Candy Abbott, David Michael Smith, Eva Maddox, Betty Kasperski and Wilma Caraway, winner of the CSPA 2014 Book of the Year Award (gift book category).

Abbott, DCWF’s founder and an award-winning publisher, said she originally saw the event as an opportunity for people to meet the authors who had contributed to the 2013 Christmas anthology.

“But the more we talked about it,” she said, “the clearer it became that we shouldn’t limit the event to our own group but open it up to other Christian authors.”

After that, the floodgates opened and a variety of authors signed up, she said.

“The books are from all genres, for all age groups: fiction, non-fiction, children’s picture books, devotionals, poetry, as well as the Christmas and Advent books,” Abbott said.

Book Event Coordinator Judi Folmsbee said she had a hard time managing all the details of such a large event, but when she saw all the authors chatting with curious readers, she knew she would chair it again. Members of the Book Event team worked well together and were unanimous that this should be an annual event, she explained.

“This was no ordinary book signing or shopping experience,” Folmsbee said. “It was more like a bonding between authors called by God to write and customers nudged by God to pick out just the right books.”

In keeping with the event’s Christmas theme, shoppers will be given a Tic-Tac-Toe Game Board. Those who complete the game board with author signatures can get $2 off one of DCWF’s Christmas anthologies, including “Christmas Faith & Fun,” which will be available for the first time.

Book Event shoppers can also participate in a charity project DCWF is calling “The Timothy Tree.” Gift tags, with the first name and last initial of a needy child, man or woman, will be placed on the tree for customers to choose. They will buy an age-appropriate book from one of the authors, write an encouraging note on the gift card, place the card in the book and leave it in a basket for the Book Event team to distribute.

An activity table with art supplies will be available to entertain children while parents shop. Refreshments will be prepared and served by the Crossroad Community Church kitchen crew.

For more information, contact Judi Folmsbee, Book Event coordinator, at (302) 684-3603 or judisjems@wildblue.net.

Coastal Point • Shaun M. Lambert: The Antares rocket exploded seconds into its planned launch at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Tuesday, Oct. 28. Thankfully, there were no reported casualties at the scene.The horror of watching a massive rocket explode over the Eastern Shore on Oct. 28 was only mitigated by the fact that no one was reported to have been injured at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Wallops Flight Facility on the nearby Eastern Shore of Virginia.

Only seconds into the 6:22 p.m. launch, the unmanned Antares rocket — carrying 5,000 pounds of equipment, supplies and experiments to the International Space Station (ISS) — appeared to have successfully lifted off, but within seconds faltered and exploded back to earth in an enormous fireball.

“What we know so far is pretty much what everybody saw in the video. It looked like some disassembly on the first stage, and then it fell to earth,” said Frank Culbertson, executive vice president and general manager of Orbital Science’s Advanced Programs Group. “Most of this happened in the first 20 seconds of flight, and it was pretty quick.”

The explosion was part failure, but part mission control.

“We observed the failure in telemetry [data readings] and visually,” Culbertson said. “Then the range safety officer sent the destruct command.”

The official timeline was still being reconstructed mid-week, so officials couldn’t say how much time passed between the anomaly and the destruction order.

Fire crews initially set up a perimeter around the launch pad, letting the contained fires burn out.

“We plan for the possibility of a failed launch attempt,” said Bill Wrobel, director of the Wallops Flight Facility. “Our job, first and foremost, is to guarantee safety.”

The public not only witnessed the explosion from television and computer monitors, but also many public locations along the Eastern Shore. At the Visitors Center on Wallops Island, guests were immediately evacuated.

Traffic exiting the island after the incident was heavy, as hundreds, if not thousands, of vehicles crawled out of town on a two-lane highway. Dusk fell over a massive, 11,000-plus-foot plume of smoke, which was picked up by National Weather Service radar and could be seen easily in Ocean City, Md.

The payload

With no humans injured in the incident, officials turned their attention to the Antares ship, designed by Orbital to carry the Cygnus spacecraft.

“It’s a tough time to lose a launch vehicle and a payload, but … the safeguards on the ground worked as they should, and all we lost was hardware,” Culbertson said. “That hardware, however, is very important and is very valuable to our team and our customers.”

Physically, most of the damage was confined to the launch pad area. As it is the only pad certified for launching the Antares rocket, repairing it is a top priority.

The rocket and craft itself were worth more than $200 million.

Orbital’s contract with NASA includes compensation in case the mission doesn’t succeed.

“All of these things can be replaced and will be over time,” said Michael Suffredini, manager of NASA’s ISS program.

This was Orbital Sciences’ third contracted resupply mission, carrying 5,000 pounds of science equipment and food to the International Space Station.

Meanwhile the ISS crew won’t starve. Even if no more launches occurred this year, their food, water and supplies could carry them “well into next year,” possibly into March.

Meanwhile, two launches were already scheduled from other locations elsewhere in the world, including the launch of a Russian rocket that was scheduled for Oct. 29 and successfully brought its cargo to the ISS that morning.

The manifests of future launches may be slightly rearranged after this loss of equipment, officials noted, such as a nitrogen tank taking the place of an oxygen tank on the next flight.

More than 200 miles above earth, the ISS crew witnessed the launch electronically.

“We will continue to do the research,” Suffredini said. “We’ve got plenty of work for them to do on orbit and plenty of supplies for them on orbit.”

The Tuesday launch would have placed the Cygnus spacecraft at the space station on Sunday, Nov. 2. The original launch time on Monday evening had been rescheduled when a boat couldn’t exit the safety range in time.

Investigation scene: Don’t touch

Orbital will lead the investigation with a three-pronged approach: locate and tag debris from the accident site; study the data sent from points within the rocket (telemetry); and re-watch dozens of video feeds. But the need to collect the debris is about more than figuring out what happened.

“This is an accident site, and it is a rocket. It has a lot of hazardous materials on board that people should not be looking for or wanting to collect souvenirs,” Culbertson said. “If you find anything washed ashore … or in your farm or in your yard, contact local authorities and do not touch it, and keep people away from it.”

As fuel spilled in the first stage of the rocket launch, the kerosene burned, and liquid oxygen will eventually dissipate. But the hypergolic rocket fuel must be handled properly, which is why the public must not touch the debris, he said.

Although cause of the failure had not been determined as of Wednesday, officials defended the older engine design of the rocket, which had originally been designed to carry cosmonauts to the moon. It was refurbished for the American space industry and underwent extensive tests before launch.

“It’s a big disappointment to not be able to successfully deliver that cargo, but we will do that in the future,” said Culbertson, thanking other agencies for their assistance.

“Launching rockets is an incredibly difficult undertaking, and we learn from each success and each setback. Today’s launch attempt will not deter us,” wrote William “Bill” Gerstenmaier, associate administrator of NASA’s Human Exploration & Operations Directorate. He praised Orbital’s earlier successful missions, “and we know they can replicate that success.”

“Something went wrong, and we will determine what that is,” Culbertson said. “We will correct that, and we will fly here at Wallops again.”

Ongoing updates on the incident will be provided to the public through social media and www.nasa.gov.

“If people do find any debris or anything that might be suspect, anything that does not look familiar,” Wrobel said, they should stay away, and call the incident response team at (757) 824-1295.

Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach will host a party Sunday, Nov. 2, at 2 p.m. to celebrate the launch of “The Boardwalk,” a collection of short stories set in Rehoboth that was recently published by Cat & Mouse Press. The book contains winning entries from the 2014 Rehoboth Beach Reads Short Story Contest.

The book containing last year’s winners, “The Beach House,” was the top-selling book at Browseabout this summer. The launch party is open to the public and will include cake and other refreshments, giveaways and prizes and authors on hand to sign books.

“Launch parties for Rehoboth Beach Reads books are a blast,” said Susan McAnelly, manager of Browseabout Books. “We have prizes, special offers and treats to eat and drink. Last year we even had ‘Beach House’ wine to match the book’s title. We hope fans of the series, as well as people who have just heard about it, will all come out to share in the fun.”

Delmarva Public Radio will also attend the launch party.

“We will be there with information and prizes,” says Cathy Deighan, marketing/underwriting manager for Delmarva Public Radio (WSDL 90.7 and WSCL 89.5), “so come out and join us for fun, food, and gift-giving ideas.” Deighan is also a fan of “The Boardwalk.”

“It’s the perfect present for gift giving because it contains creative, fun stories that make Rehoboth Beach come alive.”

Nearly all of the authors featured in “The Boardwalk” will be on hand. Robin Hill-Page Glanden said she was thrilled to learn that her story “Elaynea and the Walk of Boards” had won a place in the book and can’t wait to attend the launch party.

“I’ve been spending time in Rehoboth Beach ever since I was a little girl, and it’s one of my favorite places on Earth,” she said. “When people read my story, they’ll find out why Rehoboth is Elaynea’s favorite place on Earth.”

Renay Regardie had a story in “The Beach House” and said she was excited to win again this year. “I’m thrilled to be a repeater,” she said. “These books are such a delight. My friends are already pestering me for their copies.”

“The Boardwalk” contains 25 never-been-published stories (each by a different author) that are all set in Rehoboth and fit the theme “The Boardwalk.” The stories mention many local streets, restaurants, hotels and activities.

“People love to read about places they are familiar with,” said Cat & Mouse Press Publisher Nancy Sakaduski. “These stories, which are entertaining, well-written, and amazingly diverse, are perfect for beach reading, but just as enjoyable for fireside reading during the winter.”

Alex Colevas, assistant manager at Browseabout, was one of this year’s contest judges.

“Readers are in for a real treat,” she said. “The stories in ‘The Boardwalk’ are amazing. It was tough to choose the prize winners.”

“These are more than just ‘they went down to the beach and had a picnic’ stories,” said Sakaduski. The stories deal with such wide-ranging premises as a romantic boardwalk scavenger hunt, a ghost creating havoc in a boardwalk hotel, a seagull’s view of Rehoboth and a famous rock star visiting a local restaurant. There is even a Sherlock Holmes story in this year’s collection: “The Case of the Artist’s Stain,” a tale that earned author Joseph Crossen the $500 cash first-place prize provided by Browseabout Books.

“The Boardwalk” is priced at $15.95 and is one of the titles in the “Read Local” campaign. For more information or to order (Browseabout will ship), go to http://www.browseaboutbooks.com/product/boardwalk. There is also information on the Cat & Mouse Press website at http://www.catandmousepress.com/the-boardwalk.html.

For more information on the Rehoboth Beach Reads contest and on books published by Cat & Mouse Press, visit the company’s website at www.catandmousepress.com and follow its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/catandmousepress or Twitter feed @CatMousePress.

Submitted • George M. Ward : Workers from Lockwood Brothers Inc. and Geo. W. Plummer & Sons Inc. Crane Rental of Lewes move the big gun’s girder, or base, at Fort Miles.Four mega-ton gun parts for a 16-inch barrel from the U.S.S. Missouri were unloaded at Cape Henlopen State Park on Thursday, Oct. 23, after a 250-mile truck trip to Fort Miles from an outdoor naval boneyard in Virginia, the next step toward creating a permanent display of the big gun.

Lockwood Brothers Inc. of Hampton, Va., hauled the 90,000-pound girder, or base; a 70,000-pound slide; a 38,500-pound yoke and other parts from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, in Virginia, via Interstate 95, the Baltimore Beltway and Route 1 in Delaware to the fort in Cape Henlopen State Park.

At the fort, employees of Lockwood and Geo. W. Plummer & Sons Inc. Crane Rental of Lewes placed the huge parts near the Missouri barrel, which was brought to the fort by barge and rail in April 2012 from St. Julien’s Creek Annex of Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia.

The operation on Oct. 23 took four hours in rain and wind as the Plummer and Lockwood workers carefully lowered the weather-beaten, rusty parts onto railroad-tie bases, where they will be refurbished by Fort Miles volunteers.

Dr. Gary D. Wray, president of Fort Miles Historical Association, watched the parts’ placement and said his group’s hard work to relocate the barrel and parts has paid off.

“We saved the barrel from being cut into scrap, and now we have the parts to make a static display of a 16-inch gun,” he said. “We’re very grateful to everyone who donated money, time and effort to make this happen.”

Wray thanked the workers who helped bring the barrel and the parts to the fort.

“Lockwood Brothers are terrific. We appreciate all their hard work. They brought the Missouri barrel here,” he said. “We’re also grateful to Plummer & Sons. We’re glad a local company could share this historic moment.”

The 16-inch gun barrel was on board the battleship Missouri when the Japanese surrendered to end World War II on Sept. 2, 1945. The barrel was days from being scrapped when FMHA saved it and bears the orange paint stripes that marked where welders were to cut.

The parts that arrived at the fort on Oct. 23 include a 17.5-inch-thick piece of armor plate that was penetrated by a 2,700-pound armor-piercing shell fired from a 16-inch gun, which will be put on display to show fort visitors the power of the 16-inch gun, Wray said.

Fort Miles itself housed two 16-inch guns, two 12-inch guns and smaller weapons to defend Delaware’s coast and essential industry in Philadelphia from enemy surface ships during World War II. The Army destroyed the fort’s guns after the war.

FMHA has acquired replacement weapons, borrowing from the Navy.

Wray said association volunteers will clean and paint the parts, then assemble them and the barrel into a static display facing New Jersey, near the entrance to a planned World War II museum at Fort Miles.

“We can always use more volunteers,” he said. “Anyone who wants to help restore these gun parts is welcome.”

Donations toward the restoration are also needed and can be made by becoming a member of FMHA, purchasing a memorial paver or making a tax-deductible contribution. For more information, visit the website at www.fortmilesha.org.

Coastal Point • R. Chris Clark : Grout Fix Services owner Wayne Kratzer poses with patner Scott Ireland.For more than two decades, Grout Fix Services has been providing customers from Lewes to Ocean City, Md., and the surrounding area with solutions to their tile and grout needs.

“We’re on time all the time, and we take a proactive approach to what we do and pay attention to detail,” said owner Wayne Kratzer of the business’ success. “That kind of sticks out with people, that we follow through. It’s the little touches that make the difference.”

After moving to the area around more than 20 years ago from Pennsylvania, it was by coincidence that Kratzer got into the business.

“I moved to the area 22 years ago and wanted a change and decided to come down here,” he explained. “I actually got involved with this by accident, by working with chemicals, and came up with this process of grout sealing.”

The product he created is unique.

“I developed it 20 years ago. It’s a color stain sealer,” he explained. “You take your old tile floor and return it to new.”

With the new product, Kratzer began to cater to all things tile and grout, no matter how major or minor, from making grout look new again to total and permanent grout sealing.

“I look at it as a specialty instead of doing a multitude of things,” said Kratzer.

After the job is done, Kratzer said, customers are surprised at the results.

“People don’t even understand until I’m done,” he said. “They’re really surprised by the workmanship and the quality.”

He said he even had one customer who claimed that the process had made his tile look better than it did the day he moved in.

“He said, “It looks better than when I moved in here, brand new,” said Kratzer.

For more information on having tile or grout cleaned and sealed, call Grout Fix Services at (302) 236-5585.

For seven years, Lighthouse Christian School has been doing their part to honor the nation’s veterans. Each year, around Veterans Day, the school holds a program to honor veterans in the community.

“I always loved my military and our veterans,” explained Pat Viguie who works at the school and coordinates the event. “My husband was is veteran. His father was a veteran. I went to college with Vietnam vets, so I was always very sympathetic to them.”

Viguie said it was because of that love for veterans that she began the Veterans Day program. This year, the program will be held on Friday, Nov. 7, from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

“Our children do such a fantastic job,” she said. “Some of them may write a poem, some will write a letter of thank-you to our veterans. We have a moment of silence after our white table ceremony.”

Viguie said the white table is a remembrance table, set for those who were unable to come back.

“Those who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty,” she explained. “It’s a memorial time of the program to let people remember those men and women lost fighting for our freedom.”

During the program, the colors will be presented by the Indian River High School JROTC. The anthem for each branch of the military will be played, with the request that those who served in that branch stand to be honored during each of the anthems.

“The highlight of the whole program is the last five minutes,” she said. “Our director will pull all the veterans to the front of the church. They’ll line up, and then, starting with our 3- and 4-year-olds, all the children will get out of their seats and shake hands with all the veterans.

“It’s so poignant. It’s a tearjerker. It’s just so great to see.”

Viguie’s husband, Randy, served in the Air Force during the Korean War and said the program is always a moving experience — especially when the students thank the veterans.

“That one moment when the kindergartener goes up — he’s looking up as far as he can go, looking right at that veteran. … I just watch those kids. That’s the big event for me — the little kids.

“It’s incredible. Not just me, but in that line, there are some people — you don’t know who they are, but they have seen some horrible things. For them, it’s healing. That’s what I look forward to. Somebody is going to get a healing today.”

This year, there will be a special focus on honoring wounded warriors, with a speaker from Bethany Beach’s Operation SEAs the Day, which organizes and facilitate a beach week event for wounded soldiers and their families as a means of showing appreciation for their service and sacrifice.

“I want to get our school and students involved with Operation SEAs the Day,” she said.

Pat Viguie said she hopes it will spur more members of the community to get involved with the organization.

Immediately following the program, she said, the attending veterans and their families will be treated to a luncheon.

“All the veterans, along with their families, are invited to enjoy a meal.”

Pat Viguie said she goes every year to local military clubs and organizations to let veterans know about the program. She also contacts the Delaware National Guard and the Dover Air Force Base to invite those currently serving to attend.

“We’ve made friends because so many of the men and women keep coming every year,” she said. “They look forward to it. They’ve become extended family to Lighthouse Christian School.”

She said more than 30 veterans attend each year, and that number continues to grow. This year, she hopes more members from the community attend and rally around the local veterans.

“The hope this year is to get more community support. My goal this year is to get our families and students involved… We’re rallying the community to support them.”

Dagsboro Church of God is located on Route 113 in Dagsboro, just south of the intersection with Route 26. To RSVP to the event, contact Viguie at (302) 537-5017.

The Town of Dagsboro is considering their options for a new town hall building — a move that, according to Town Administrator Stacey Long, would not increase property taxes for residents.

“This would be solely on what we have now and grant funding,” explained Long. “That’s one of the things we would like [residents] to know: If the Town moves forward with a new town hall, we would make sure that it’s completely funded without having any additional burden on any of the town residents.”

Some of the concerns with the current town hall building include parking issues and the lack of a proper meeting place for the mayor and town employees.

“Some of the issues that we’re facing is there’s just not a place for meetings to occur,” said Long. “There’s not a big enough place for three or four people to meet. Also, the location of the town hall. Entering and exiting is a safety concern.”

A new building would not only potentially solve the issues, but according to Long, would also mean the facility could also be used for regular town council meetings each month, which are currently held off-site.

The council is discussing three options. The Town owns property off of Vines Creek Road where a new building could be constructed. Purchasing another piece of land closer to the center of town for a new building is another option. And lastly, purchasing a vacant building that already stands is a third possibility.

“We’ve been discussing existing structures that are vacant in town. We’ve talked about buying an already-built structure,” Long said. “We’re just looking at different options.”

While discussions have been ongoing, Long said this week that no decision has been made yet and that she doesn’t expect one to be made in the near future.

“For the last several months, it’s just discussions. There’s nothing that we’ve made an offer on,” she said. “I think we’re going to be discussing it for several months. We do want to hear what the town residents have to say.”

To get the opinion of residents, the Town is considering sending out newsletters and surveys, and will also look for feedback at monthly town council meetings.

Dagsboro town taxes were raised during the 2013-2014 fiscal year, for the first time in 20 years, but Long assured property owners that the current council had no plans of increasing taxes again.

Coastal Point • Laura Walter : Cole Haden was one of many Sussex Central High School students who encouraged the school district to teach about homosexuality and offer comprehensive sex education.On Oct. 27, for the first time in many years, students flooded the Indian River School District’s school board meeting, to denounce a board member’s recent comments about the place of homosexuality and abstinence in health education.

This is just another civil rights movement, said Sussex Central High School senior Matt Price.

Board Member Shaun Fink has made no secret of his desire to eliminate the discussion of homosexuality from the new health curriculum, based on his own religious beliefs. He prefers an abstinence-only course that excludes even the definitions of homosexuality and transgender and related terms.

Price told the Coastal Point that he was surprised to read Fink’s recently published comments.

“It was kind of a revelation, and it was infuriating,” said Price. “I think the fact that someone has these opinions … in an elected position [is scary].”

Of 23 people who signed up to speak at the Oct. 27 board meeting, only 11 had time to do so. A pastor was moved to the front of the list, to offer prayer beforehand. Everyone else who spoke criticized Fink’s remarks and encouraged inclusion.

“I came in very guns-blazing, but it was such an open platform of acceptance and love,” said Sussex Central senior Melissa Schoonfield, comparing the board meeting to a pride event.

“I didn’t want someone to censor my education on the basis of their hate,” Schoonfield said. “It’s also the abstinence — I want to know how to practice safe sex. I think students need to be prepared and be accepted as human beings.”

Students, parents, and teachers represented SCHS, as well as Cape Henlopen High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA).

“By not educating people about LGBTQA [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, asexual] issues, you only perpetuate a cycle of intolerance and bigotry,” said Sussex Central senior Cole Haden, reading an open letter to Fink.

Fink said he doesn’t believe such issues fall under the auspices of education.

“I don’t believe that any of those types of conversations should be had in the school because those … types of issues are lifestyle issues,” ones that Fink said are meant to be discussed at home or in church. “The pursuit of education ought to be the transfer of academic knowledge from one generation to the next … so the next generation can stand on the shoulders of the [last].”

“You have done the community and the school environment a disservice by allowing your personal faith to interfere with your professional work,” Haden wrote. “You are advocating the alienation of LGBTQA youth in the Indian River School District.”

“I am appalled to hear that you want to take away this environment of inclusivity away and mis-educate the students that are enrolled in health courses in the Indian River School District,” Haden wrote. “It is a school’s job to provide a supportive environment that focuses on the wellbeing and success of all of its students, which is a bandwagon I wish you would jump on.”

When learning sex-ed at Sussex Central, all material “about gay sex was prohibited,” including “anal sex, which to my understanding isn’t just a gay thing,” Haden quipped.

The academics and religion of health

For years, Indian River School District lacked a cohesive health program. Middle and high school health classes followed no regular curriculum. So teachers created their own plans and age-appropriate materials.

In July, the board approved new books and formed a committee to write the district’s new health curriculum, aligning with state and national requirements.

Sexuality is only a small percentage of overall class time, but has dominated ensuing discussion.

The Delaware Department of Education created Title 14, outlining a K-to-12 comprehensive health education program. That includes tobacco, alcohol, mental health and more, including “nutrition and family life and sexuality.”

The topic of sexuality is vague.

Schools include “a comprehensive sexuality education and an HIV prevention program that stresses the benefits of abstinence from high-risk behavior.”

The State neither calls for specific sexual abstinence, nor goes into much detail.

“I think there’s a reason they don’t do that,” said IRSD Director of Curriculum LouAnn Hudson. “As difficult as these conversations are to have, I think it’s important we have them as a community. As a local school entity, we get to make the decision what’s best for our community and our schools.”

Fink compared the phrase “high-risk behavior” to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control.

“In 2010, young gay and bisexual men accounted for 72 percent of new HIV infections among all persons aged 13 to 24,” he read from a 2014 CDC publication.

“If you want to teach your child to lead a healthy lifestyle, don’t teach them to be gay,” Fink said. “This is where I get that.”

The CDC estimated that, in 2010, an estimated 56 percent of HIV patients were gay or bisexual men — a staggering number, Fink said, if only 2 percent of the population is gay.

“You’re insulting to me, and you don’t have your facts right,” Al Snyder of Lewes said on Monday. “You say only 2 percent is gay. First of all, nobody knows how many people are [gay]. I’ve been tried to be picked up by more married men than gay men!”

“They were saying last night I was wrong on that. But that wasn’t my number. That was the government number,” Fink said.

So why not teach those statistics in school?

“I don’t want any of it in the curriculum,” Fink answered.

Argument of inclusion

As a pastor who preaches in Long Neck, Fink said he believes that teaching about homosexuality is unhealthy, high-risk and against the word of God.

“I believe that the Bible is the word of God … homosexuality is a sin, and all sin is worthy of death. We’re all born sinners. They just said last night — they’re born gay. I don’t know, but I know we’re all born sinners.”

Fink said he shares his opinion as an individual and he won’t speak that way from “the bully pulpit” of the school board dais.

But public education cannot be designed to favor particular religious beliefs, said Don Peterson of the Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware.

“LGBT students that are not supported in the learning process are more likely to engage in health risk behaviors [like drugs or alcohol] and have greater risk to isolation and depression,” said Janet Ray, retired DOE employee.

“To omit any reference to them in the curriculum is to deliberately diminish them as human beings. Surely, that is not the role … or intent of the school board,” Peterson said.

“I know I wouldn’t want anyone to endure what I endured in high school,” Cape student Bruce Shelton said.

One Cape Henlopen student brought a real-world statistic about the increased rate of LGBT suicides.

“I am the daughter of two beautiful women,” said Alli Payne, noting that one of her mothers committed suicide “because she cared about the judgment of people who had no right to judge.”

“Perhaps you … were raised to believe homosexuality is an abomination. It’s the 21st century sir,” Payne said to Fink.

Fink said he was getting burned for his quote, “It’s not my fault kids are more likely to commit suicide.”

He aimed to clarify that with the Coastal Point.

“It’s not my fault, and it’s not society’s fault that a child has internal feelings about being gay, because that is his conscious and spirit wrestling with his sin. The Bible says the Lord has placed in us knowledge of sin,” Fink said.

He compared it to depression in people with alcoholism or drug addictions.

“They’re living a lifestyle contrary to the way God created them. They’ve got to deal with the internal issues and turn to the Lord, and those issues will go away.”

It takes time, Fink said, but faith and salvation are key components of that healing.

“I am certainly not calling it a disorder,” he said, but Fink noted that about 2.6 percent of the population has bipolar disorder and 1.1 percent has schizophrenia. “My point is, why is being born gay normal if being born schizophrenic isn’t? … It’s not normal to be born bi-polar.”

Fink said he’d rather “even” the playing field by teaching schizophrenia as normal or homosexuality as abnormal.

“Students don’t choose to be gay any more than they choose to be left-handed,” Peterson said, noting that about 10 percent of the population is left-handed. “What is the right percentage level necessary before we respect them and care about them?” he asked.

As for abstinence-only education, Shelton said, “Abstinence is not sexual education. If you don’t teach students to use protection, they’ll never learn.”

Despite the many students who learn about condoms, pregnancy and STDs, Fink said, a number of them still don’t use condoms or other protection.

“As adults, parents and educators, we have a responsibility to teach children to think for themselves, then make decision for themselves,” Cape Henlopen’s Martha Pfeiffer said.

The big question

Despite the criticism he’s received, Fink said he hasn’t changed his mind.

“I appreciated their words. I appreciate the courage it takes to get up in public and speak,” Fink said, adding that he was proud to see students participating.

“If they want to direct their comments at me … I can take it. But at the same time, that doesn’t mean I have changed my mind or I’m going to lessen my position.”

Fink said he was, however, was struck by the severity of one comment comparing him to the late pastor Fred Phelps, who led the controversial Westboro Baptist Church in protesting homosexuality at military funerals.

“I didn’t anticipate being compared to him. I don’t think that warrants that,” Fink said.

“The big question is, do I hate gays? Absolutely not,” Fink said. “They would be treated with the same love [as anyone] under Jesus Christ. … I don’t hate anybody.”

Fink was originally appointed in 2012 to fill a vacancy on the school board and ran unopposed in the 2013 election. He represents District 2, which covers northern Millsboro and southern Georgetown.

Sussex Central Student Council President Charlie Megginson only spoke publically to give his update on the school and its athletics. But, afterward, as the school’s GSA president, he said, “We were so happy that all those Cape students came out.”

He said he was also happy Fink started this conversation, noting that he, too, has never seen such student involvement at board meetings.

“I believe people have to have their say. It was a special occasion. They came out in force, and I don’t think the process is fully vetted until both sides have fully aired their views,” said Fink, who was vocal about the health curriculum committee.

“I want the community to have their way on this. If the community disagrees with me, then [so be it], but I don’t want this to be a backroom decision.”

“If these kids are leaning that you can have gay sex, and it’s a normal thing, then they’re also gonna know what the risks are involved,” Fink said.

He said he just prefers that it’s not taught in school. And he discounted the value of the input from some of those who have objected to his views, telling the Coastal Point after the meeting, "I am not surprised by the reaction of those who were at the meeting on Monday night. As I made my way around the room and spoke to many of them, I discovered that the vast majority were from Lewes and Rehoboth, which has become Delaware’s Sodom and Gomorrah."

“There’s more to come. It’s not done here. Something will come out of it,” Matt Price said.

The Health Curriculum Committee meets next on Monday, Nov. 3, at 4:30 p.m. at the IRSD Educational Complex in Selbyville.

Big ghouls and little alike — Are you prepared for Halloween tonight?

With official times for trick-or-treating in the area being set for the evening of Friday, Oct. 31, more people are being afforded the opportunity to get out in their neighborhoods, visit friends and family, show off their costumes and collect a few (or many) goodies.

Selbyville Police Chief Scott Collins said that, although it’s a fun night, safety should be paramount.

“The children should have some sort of reflective material on their costumes if they’re going to be walking on the side of the road,” he said. “The parent should never leave the child unattended — they should be within eyesight at all times.”

Since trick-or-treating will be after twilight, Collins recommended parents provide their children with small flashlights, as well.

He said it’s also important for parents in inspect their children’s candy loot before allowing them to dig in.

“I would be leery, unfortunately, of anything homemade. If it’s a store-bought item, look to see if the wrapper appears to have been opened.”

For those who are interested in handing out candy to little spooks, Collins recommends leaving a porch light on.

“I recommend to leave the outside lights on or be outside if possible. Sit out on your porch to let the trick-or-treaters know which houses are participating in trick-or-treating.”

For more than seven years in Millsboro, the town’s police and fire company, along with the Greater Millsboro Chamber of Commerce, have been offering kids and their families the chance to trick-or-treat in a safe environment, with their Family Night Out.

“It’s during the main trick-or-treat time. It’s a stop where everyone is going to be safe. There’s nothing scary. It’s brightly lit, with our emergency personnel,” said Amy Simmons, the Chamber’s executive director.

Family Night Out will be situated on the lot next to the Dairy Queen in Millsboro and will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. — during the official hours of trick-or-treating in the town.

“The premise behind it was to get the police out into the public. Some other towns have a similar family night,” said Simmons, “so the public — especially the kids — can meet the police and not be so afraid of them when they see them at other times.”

Simmons said that, last year, more than 300 children attended, and they expect the same size of crowd, if not more, this year.

“We get donations of candy, and the police bag that candy up for us. The Chamber got involved with it on the candy side, with our membership donating candy. The Town also helps us.”

Simmons said the Millsboro Police Department has invited other agencies to attend the evening and sent a special invitation to crime dog McGruff, though he has yet to RSVP.

Kids attending the event will get the chance to do more than see emergency personnel, as each will go home with a glut of booty.

“It’s family-friendly and fun. The first year we were there, a company brought apples, and I thought, ‘These kids are not going to want apples.’ But they will ask, ‘Do you have apples?’” she said with a laugh. “They get an apple, a trinket toy, a bag of candy and a juice box. There are decorations up, nothing scary — everything is kid-friendly.”

Simmons said the Chamber hopes for good weather on Friday night, as well as a wonderful turnout for the event.

“And lots of fun — for everyone to have a good time,” she added.

As time-honored Delaware traditions go, Return Day may be the most unique of them all.

“The reason why it’s called ‘Return Day’ is, back in the older days, they didn’t have the miracles of radio, TV and all this modern technology,” explained Rosalie Walls, president of the event’s organizing committee. “People had to come to the county seat by ox cart and horse-drawn carriage,” she said of the effort needed to hear the election results in those days.

The date of the first Return Day held in Georgetown is unknown; however, Walls said it may have been as early as 1792.

According to the Return Day website, “The state law in 1791 removing the county seat from Lewes along the coast to the a more geographically centered site, later named Georgetown, required all votes to be cast in the new county seat on Election Day.

“The same voters would ‘return’ two days later to hear the results — hence the name Return Day. In 1811, voting districts in the individual hundreds were established, but the Board of Canvassers, presided over by the Sheriff, would still meet two days later in Georgetown to announce the final tally.”

This year, Return Day will be held on Thursday, Nov. 6, in downtown Georgetown beginning at 9 a.m. That day, there will be numerous festivities throughout the morning and afternoon, including a parade and the ceremonial but entirely literal “burying of the hatchet” — a long-running Return Day tradition symbolizing the resolution of the election’s political rivalry.

The Wednesday evening prior to the event, from 5 to 11 p.m. on The Circle, there will be entertainment, kicking off with the Skinny Leg Pete Band, followed by Big Hat No Cattle and closing with The Funsters. During that time, officials will be roasting an ox, to prepare for Thursday’s free ox sandwiches.

Along with the entertainment provided on both days, there will be a cupcake contest, cornhole tournament and more.

“There are so many aspects to Return Day. It’s not just an ox roast. It’s not just burying the hatchet, and it’s not just a parade. We try to do something that appeals to all age groups.”

This year, Walls said, members of the military will be honored for their service to the country.

“This year, I have really tried to focus on the military. I think we owe them so much — both men and women — for laying their lives on the line every day so we can have the freedom to celebrate such a unique tradition,” she said.

During her decades of involvement with Return Day, Walls has enlisted the help of her family and many friends. Currently, all three of her sons help her manage different aspects of the event.

“All of my sons have been working on Return Day ever since they were teenagers. I’m trying to get my whole family involved,” she said with a laugh. “We’re all volunteers — no one gets paid. We couldn’t do it without everybody pulling as a team.”

Walls said she hopes for beautiful weather for Wednesday and Thursday, and that many people in Sussex County return to Georgetown to hear the returns.

“We’re the only people in the country that have something like this, as far as we know. I just hope we can keep this beautiful weather we’re having. I want it to keep going on so much. I don’t want this unique tradition to end,” she said.

The complete Thursday schedule will be posted online, along with a complete list of the ceremonies, which will happen on the Circle. For more information on Return Day, visit www.returnday.com or www.facebook.com/screturnday.

Voters will certainly have plenty to think about during this year’s mid-term elections, taking place next Tuesday, Nov. 4. As is our tradition, we have sent off a few questions to the candidates in our local elections, and here are the responses we received back before we went to press. Each candidate is listed in alphabetical order for each office.

County Council

District 5

Rob Arlett (R)

Q. What qualifies you for the position of county councilman?

A. Almost everything in my life to this point qualifies me for this leadership job. I have served my country; I have studied and learned in university and in life what works and my wife, Lorna, and I have raised two healthy and successful boys. I own my own business, am involved with my community and have taken leadership positions in our political process, Realtors associations, my community and my state. I am a principled person, have a strong sense of what is ethical and I am not afraid to think out of the box. I believe we can do so much more with Sussex County and I know I have the energy and ideas to deliver.

Q. What do you see as the most important thing to accomplish in the next two years?

A. We have to immediately get the ball rolling on economic development. This includes working with organizations at all levels, the business community, our state leaders, our environmental leaders and the general community.

Increasing development and maintaining the environment is not an either/or proposition. We can attract new business to Sussex if we offer initiatives, tax breaks and work closely with state agencies to ease up on the mountain of regulations.

Q. What makes you the right selection for this seat?

A. I strongly believe that Sussex County needs new energy and ideas. I honor the people who have lived here all of their lives, but sometimes the old ways get stuck in the past. I have the qualifications, knowledge, principles and energy to bring creativity to the process.

Sussex County is a gem and it has been languishing too long, especially in mid- and western Sussex, while waiting for another DuPont to come along. Members of the council should be thinking about bringing prosperity to their citizens — all of them, not just to their own businesses. We need to engage all of the leaders in the larger community, including business leaders, education leaders and state agencies. I can bring people together and network for a more prosperous county. We can do better!

Bob Wheatley (D)

Q. What qualifies you for the position of county councilman?

A. I graduated with honors from Salisbury University with a bachelor of science degree in business administration. With 20 years’ County-level experience on the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission, the last nine as chairman, I’m uniquely qualified to serve on County Council.

My business experiences have provided me with the sound fiscal and management skills needed to do the job. With 30 years’ experience in economic development, I know what is needed to attract new companies and expand existing ones. My 35 years as a community advocate testifies to my abiding concern for all Sussex Countians. I am a proven leader in county government, in business and in the community, with the ability to think creatively to develop solutions that make life better for the people of Sussex County.

Q. What you see as the most important thing to accomplish in the next two years?

A. The two most pressing issues are jobs and land use. The total budget for the County’s economic development effort is $123,000, 75 percent of which is consumed by the new director’s salary and fringe benefits.

County Council really has no discernible vision for economic development, so let’s reinvent economic development in Sussex, making it a function of the whole community. Let’s invest what is left in the budget in a public-private partnership initiative including the County, towns, educational institutions and existing businesses.

With the County and each member contributing financially, there will be funds for programs to address broadband access, utilities and other essentials to attract new manufacturing jobs and expand existing companies, and to promote Sussex County. Let’s leverage our financial and creative resources to get more bang for our job-creation buck.

Land use is a broad issue with many components, including drainage, access to water ways, environmental protection, planning and property rights. Let’s establish a framework for addressing them. Land-use issues have multiple stakeholders — landowners, developers, neighbors and so on. Everyone’s property rights must be considered; the right to use one’s property within the rules and the right to quiet enjoyment of one’s property free of undue hindrance by others.

With that in mind, County Council should explore these issues by assessing the extent and severity of the problem, determine the cause and possible cures, assess the cost/benefit to those affected, look for any unintended consequences that could result, decide what to do, if anything, then do it.

Q. What makes you the right selection for this seat?

A. The issues facing Sussex County are too important to be left to partisan politics. I have been reappointed to the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission six times by Republicans and Democrats alike because they know that I am a Sussex Countian first. Adding to that 30 years of business and job-creation experience and 35 years as a community advocate, I know the history and the people that I have been serving in one capacity or another all of my adult life.

I will bring an unmatched combination of experience and fresh ideas to County Council as, in the words of President John F. Kennedy, “We seek not the Democrat solutions nor the Republican solutions, but the right solutions” for the issues facing Sussex County.

District 4

George Cole (R)

Q. What qualifies you for the position of county councilman?

A. I am currently the incumbent. I have served in that position for over 20 years. I have been involved in formulating county land-use plans, the creation of the paramedic service, and the 911 system at the County level. I have worked with all the State agencies that provide recommendations to the County on land-use decision. I have represented the State of Delaware on Board of Directors of the National Association of Counties for over 12 years, dealing with county issues on a national level.

Q. What do you see as the most important thing to accomplish in the next two years?

A. I want to get the County to partner with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control’s [DNREC’s] Sussex Conservation District. There are many areas that are experiencing flooding problems. I do not want the County to start a drainage department, which would need staffing. The State already has a drainage department and currently lacks the funding to add additional staff to be able to address the flooding issue. The County could subsidize DNREC’s program so they could hire the additional staff and equipment to help with drainage and flooding. That is most cost-effective way to address the problem.

The second issue is the need for a “carrying capacity study,” for the congested areas throughout the county. Due to the recent growth in the coastal area and elsewhere, the county is experiencing traffic gridlock and other infrastructure deficiencies. The study would identify the problems and possible solutions. This study would be very important for future rezoning and sewer expansion projects. It would be a great tool for the future land-use planner and help with updating the county land-use plan.

Q. What makes you the right selection for this seat?

A. My opponent thinks experience is important. I agree. She points to her six years in the state legislature. Trying to regain her old position, she has been rejected by the voters three times. I have had 28 years’ experience and have not been rejected by the voters. This is not by accident. On the issues of development, she is for planned growth. She wants to protect the waterways. She likes low taxes… Who doesn’t? The voters are smart enough to realize those statements are easy to make.

My record is current and hers is 12 years old. I have been in the forefront on those issues. I have a clear record fighting for lower densities, wetland setbacks and more. Yes, experience counts. I am clearly the most qualified, the most experienced and will not require a “learning curve” for the job.

Shirley Price (D)

Q. What qualifies you for the position of county councilwoman?

A. My three terms in the state legislature and my proven track record of helping people in all segments of our communities make me well-qualified for service on the County Council. Having lived here all my life, my leadership roles have included the Cheer Services Board of Directors since 1997, South Coastal DE AARP—Co-Chair Scholarship Committee, Delaware Seashore Preservation Foundation and the Citizen’s Advisory Committee—Center for the Inland Bays.

I know the importance of being visible in the area and hearing from all groups. My work with the Bethany-Fenwick Chamber of Commerce Board and many other advisory boards has given me a unique opportunity to understand the landscape of commerce in the county and the needs of small business. I got my feet wet in small business in our family’s Murray’s Bait & Tackle. My service in state government will help me succeed in bringing bring more state resources to Sussex County to help solve our problems.

Q. What do you see as the most important thing to accomplish in the next two years?

A. The most important issue is the overwhelming growth that is poised to overtake us without the necessary infrastructure, provision for transportation or even drainage requirements. The residents of Sussex deserve a certified land use planner on staff, and we must give this person the authority to do their job… to provide County Council with information on best management practices. We need to work with our towns and the State to better coordinate and grow smartly. This must be a priority.

Q. What makes you the right selection for this seat?

A. A vote for me is a vote to change Sussex County Council. It is a vote for a commonsense approach to government. It is a vote for planned development that accounts for traffic, impact on our bays and waterways, and infrastructure needs. It is a vote for someone who understands the needs of our senior population and their need for transportation and the ability to stay in their own homes as they age. It is a vote for transparency in county government, and that means a strong code of ethics, which has a written disclosure of personal holdings that might pose a conflict of interest.

My opponent has been on County Council for 28 years. During that time we have not seen much progress in planning for growth. We need a change from business as usual. I have the passion and determination to follow my goals until we see progress. A vote for me will mean something.

State Representative

37th District

Ruth Briggs King (R)

Q. What qualifies you for this position?

A. My diverse background in business, education and executive leadership for trade associations has provided me with a solid foundation and experience in several different areas, including medical, education, banking and housing. I have worked throughout Delaware, as well as volunteer in our community. I have been in positions of leadership and learned to listen, to ask questions, to make decisions based on good information and to comprise.

These skills are essential for an effective representative. I genuinely care about our community and our people which are central to being a responsible and responsive representative. Simply put: experience and knowledge of Delaware and our district matters in the legislature when representing local concerns.

Q. What do you see as the most important thing to accomplish in the next two years?

A. The sluggish economy and lack of job opportunities remains a major challenge to Delaware’s workforce. The business climate in Delaware, including rampant regulations, increasing tax obligations, fees and cost of business are hurting business and workers. I will continue efforts to create a more business friendly state so Delaware can recover like other states that have rebounded more quickly. Delaware works best when Delawareans work.

Second, public safety, which includes infrastructure improvements for roads and waterways, are priority items for our district. Improving intersections, addressing congestion on John J. Williams Highway and drainage projects need to move forward. These issues are work in progress, and I want to continue the momentum that makes a big difference.

Q. What should voters know before making this important decision?

A. Voters make a decision based on likeability and confidence in a candidate. They place their faith and their vote in the person who demonstrates leadership, integrity, knowledge and experience in representing their concerns. I am committed to watching the bottom line and the hidden costs that impact taxpayers and voters in the 37th District. I am vigilant and seek to protect voters from proposed taxes and fees which impact their home, business and finances.

I promise to continue my work to provide for a better business climate, a safer community and maintain our quality of life. I promise to continue my commitment to read all legislation, to maintain close contacts in the community with frequent meetings and to survey the district on key issues. I am reminded of a quote: “When you keep your promises, you set a pattern of behavior that assures others they can do business with you.” I promise to work with and for the district in Dover. I have and will continue to keep my promises.

Paulette Rappa (D)

Q. What qualifies you for this position?

A. As an educator, I am trained to problem-solve and collaborate with a team to meet the needs of others. That is the primary role of a legislator — to feel the pulse of the community and respond with measures or resources that improve the quality of life. Furthermore, as a mother of eight, I have become quite adept at conflict management, time management, listening and networking — skills that will transfer to legislative hall.

Q. What do you see as the most important thing to accomplish in the next two years?

A. I would like to have manufactured homes deeded instead of titled, to help manufactured-home owners capitalize on the investment they have made in their homes. Because Sussex County is rapidly increasing in population particularly in the 65-and-older age category, I would like to increase resources or expand existing programming that would address the needs of an aging population. And lastly, I would like to research and network to the various stakeholders that would be involved in developing and building a four-year college in Sussex County.

Q. What should voters know before making this important decision?

A. Voters should be angry with the bickering and games that both parties play in Washington, and they should expect their representatives to be individuals that can address issues and work in a collaborative effort to achieve progress on their constituents’ behalf. Voters should examine the qualifications and interest of a prospective candidate and not consider party. A legislator that can feel the pulse of her community and has the ability to work with others across the aisle is a legislator that can exact real change in Sussex County.

Who best to represent manufactured housing than a person who lives in one with a lease? Who better to represent seniors, than a wife of a senior? Who better to understand education, than an educator and a mother of a child in the system. And who better to build relationships with both parties in Dover than the candidate that is endorsed by both the current Speaker of the House, Pete Schwarztkoph (D), and former speaker of the House Terry Spence, a Republican. I am a candidate that will address the issues and be a strong voice in Dover for middle-class values.

41st District

John Atkins (D)

Q. What qualifies you for this position?

A. As a born-and-raised Sussex Countian and a small-businessman, it’s been my mission to do right by my neighbors and help make our community better for my three sons and all the families we share it with. I’ve found the best way to do that is to make it as easy as possible for people to talk to me, listen to what they have to say, and always follow through when you’re asked to help someone.

In the most recent legislative session, I supported efforts to make our government more transparent and accountable to the people, helped drive down worker’s compensation costs for our small businesses and voted to toughen penalties for child predators. I’m also proud of legislation I sponsored that protects our right to fly the American flag at our homes, anywhere and anytime, as well as a bill to protect patients undergoing kidney dialysis by raising standards for facilities that provide this care.

At the district level, I’ve always made it a priority to ensure our local roads are consistently maintained and improved, and that the organizations that serve our seniors get the state funding they need to do the great work we rely on them for.

Q. What do you see as the most important thing to accomplish in the next two years?

A. Our biggest challenge continues to be job creation and the need to spur investment and economic development statewide, but particularly in Sussex County.

In my community, I’ve advocated in favor of proposed poultry plant in Millsboro that would bring $100 million worth of private investment funding and hundreds of jobs to the area. The economic impact of this facility would extend far beyond the workers at the site and their families, creating new demand for services and support from a variety of locally owned and operated businesses, such as Bunting’s Garage in Dagsboro, Mumford’s Sheet Metal in Selbyville, Marvel’s Portable Welding in Frankford and, of course, Intervet/Merck in Millsboro. When opportunities like this come along, we can’t let them pass by.

Q. What should voters know before making this important decision?

A. I know this community, its history and its values. I understand what’s important to the families who live and work here, and I have the experience to know how to get answers from state government when we need them and push for changes when necessary.

Rich Collins (R)

Q. What qualifies you for the position of State Representative?

A. For years, I have been researching critical issues in Delaware government and reporting them to the public. Just today, Monday, Oct. 27, I reported that actual state revenues declined over 4 percent for the last fiscal year, and are down another 14 percent for the first two months of this fiscal year. Although these numbers were contained in a report given monthly to sitting legislators by the state finance department, my opponent didn’t know what I was talking about. He obviously has never studied these important reports and thus can’t make informed votes on issues concerning state finances.

Q. What do you see as the most important thing to accomplish in the next two years?

A. To get the economy moving and bring some good jobs to the 41st District. The easiest way to accomplish that is by reforming the regulatory system.

For years, elected officials have had no say in how regulations are created or enforced. Thus, citizens can’t vote out of office those who are doing the most harm to the economy. As one of the people’s representatives, I am ready and willing to take on this responsibility. I will work to reform the laws that give regulators their power so that citizens know who to blame when damaging regulations are imposed. This is how we can restore power to the people.

Q. What makes you the right selection for this seat?

A. As a retired farmer, a former teacher and a small-business owner, I have had a wide variety of experiences that equip me for government service during difficult financial times. I am willing to put in 10- to 12-hour days, and I am passionate about protecting the liberties and improving the lives of the citizens of the 41st District.

I am a loving husband, father, grandfather, and family man. I also believe I have the personal integrity to restore faith in the Delaware government. Our nation was founded as a Judeo/Christian nation, and since we have excluded God from our government, there has been a notable decline in our moral standards and our culture.

Recorder of Deeds

Scott Dailey (R)

Q. What qualifies you for this position?

A. The primary role of the Recorder of Deeds is to oversee a staff of 14 with an annual operating budget of over $1 million. My experience in small-business management allows me to manage personnel and resources in an efficient manner. I have the experience as a business manager to keep the office running smoothly and effectively. The staff I have in place has hundreds of years of combined experience in land records management.

Q. What do you see as the most important thing to accomplish in the next four years?

A. I would like to continue to modernize the office and maximize the revenue generated by the office.

Q. What should voters know before making this important decision?

A. First, good management is essential to keep the office running effectively and efficiently. In the last four years, my staff and I have saved my Sussex County neighbors over $375,000 by running the office under budget. I will use my business experience to continue to run the office in a fiscally conservative way.

Second, modernization is a big task for the Recorder’s office. When I took office in 2011, the office had electronic images for deeds back to 2002. At the end of my first term, we will have electronic images for deeds back to 1952. We now accept electronic filings at the office. I want to continue to preserve our records and make them available on line.

Third, protecting the office is a constant struggle. The Recorder’s office generates millions in fees each year for Sussex County. Big government legislators in Dover have repeatedly tried to eliminate this office so that the money would go to the State and not the County. As a Republican, I don’t answer to the party politics that control Dover, and I will fight to keep the revenue in Sussex County, where it belongs.

Alma Roach (D)

Q. What qualifies you for this position?

A. I have 30-plus years as a title searcher/paralegal for the law firm Fuqua, Yori & Willard, P.A. I would like to share the knowledge I have gathered over the past three decades and use it to help others. Sussex County, through land ownership, is steeped with history; I learn something new every day!

Q. What do you see as the most important thing to accomplish in the next four years?

A. Accountability: Public service is No. 1 priority! I will be in the office on a daily basis. Let me share my 30 years’ experience and be there for you to answer your questions or to assist the staff with efficient delivery of public service in a friendly, knowledgeable manner.

Outreach: As Recorder of Deeds, I’ll start a new public information program to familiarize you with “How to Retrieve Land Record Documents and Information,” and “How to read your Important Property Documents,” to make the Recorder of Deeds Office easier to understand and utilize.

Q. What should voters know before making this important decision?

A. I have a passion for the history of Sussex County. The history through land ownership resides in the Recorder of Deeds Office. I have worked in this office title-searching more than half of my life; I know what this office is all about before election day; vote for me, Alma C. Roach as your Recorder of Deeds and I will hit the ground running after election day!

Register of Wills

Greg Fuller (D)

Q. What qualifies you for this position?

A. I have run for office two other times, both times for row offices, and was appointed in 2008 to serve the last two years of the Register of Wills, who had been elected to the legislative body. In addition, I have over 30 years of supervisory, managerial and administrative experience with the State of Delaware & the U. S. military. I have an associate’s in Biblical studies, an associate of arts in general studies, a bachelor of science in criminal justice and master’s in administration of justice, with a concentration in homeland security.

Q. What do you see as the most important thing to accomplish in the next four years?

A. I believe that the electronic filing, which has been put off for a considerable amount of time and which has been being done in the other two counties of the state for almost two years, is the most important thing that should be accomplished. Thus, I would first get up to speed on the e-filing program and immediately initiate the implementation of the electronic filing in the office.

Q. What should voters know before making this important decision?

A. I believe voters should know that, in the past four years, there have been at least five employees who have left the office for reasons ranging from forced demotions, terminations and resignations. This demonstrates a considerable degree of instability. I would utilize my 30 years of leadership, managerial and administrative expertise to bring the appropriate level of leadership and cohesiveness to the team in that office. Finally, I believe that voters should know that I believe it is a privilege and an honor to serve in any capacity; but most importantly, we must do it with a spirit of humility. This is how I will serve the voters should they consider this candidate on Nov. 4.

Candice Green (R)

Q. What qualifies you for this position?

A. I have spent the last four years as the Register of Wills, and I have also spent over 20 years as a self-employed elderly care giver.

Q. What do you see as the most important thing to accomplish in the next four years?

A. We are currently making sure all wills and estate records are kept electronically on computers, allowing easy access to you, the people, and protecting them from fire, water and damage and aging. Sixty years of past wills and estate records are now being electronically copied to computers. We have brought all office policies and procedures up to current legal standards. Cindy Green’s Register of Wills Office is on its way to the cutting edge of technology in the 21st century! Stay Green in 2014 for your future.

Q. What should voters know before making this important decision?

A. I will work hard to serve the people of Sussex County. I support lower taxes and less fees. We must keep the Register of Wills office under local control, because government close to the people serves the people.

County Sheriff

Robert T. Lee (R)

Q. What qualifies you for the position of sheriff?

A. I prepared for my career with a bachelor’s in administration of justice from American University in Washington, D.C. I have served the citizens of Sussex County for 35 years as a public servant as a Seaford police officer or as the Sussex County State Detective for the Attorney General’s Office. I have served Governor’s warrants and Attorney General’s subpoenas.

During that time, I have worked cooperatively with local and state police agencies, and all branches of the court. I have also served my community singing in the praise band at church, and coaching sports at Seaford Christian Academy and Little League. I am a member of the NRA, and Ducks Unlimited and the DE Farm Bureau.

Q. What do you see as the most important thing to accomplish in the next two years?

A. The most important thing to accomplish in the next two years is restoring integrity to the office and a spirit of cooperation with local and state governments, as well as the local and state police. This can occur simply by understanding, accepting and performing the current defined job description of a Delaware sheriff, a court officer doing the duties of serving court documents and executing sheriff sales.

Eliminating the distractions of costly civil litigations against our county and state regarding arrest powers would allow this department to be a partner with other agencies and focus on community projects that benefit our county residents.

Q. What makes you the right selection for this seat?

A. I have no desire to sue the county council or state over what I think this job should be. I understand the job description and accept the ruling of five Delaware Supreme Court judges. My 10-year state detective tenure allowed me to build strong, trusting and collaborative relationships with state and local police and courts all over this county. I can use this partnership to mend the broken relationship that exists with the above entities and the current Sheriff.

The Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce hosted the 36th Annual Bethany Beach Boardwalk Arts Festival on Sept. 6, presented by ResortQuest. The one-day show is the area’s premier juried fine-arts festival, featuring more than 100 artists and attracting thousands of people from all over the Mid-Atlantic region to the streets and businesses in downtown Bethany Beach.

Many artists from the show generously donate a piece of their work to be awarded to the highest bidder at the silent auction, sponsored by Mediacom Residential Services, the day of the event. Each year, 100 percent of the profits from the silent auction benefit the local art programs at the four elementary schools in the Indian River School District. The checks were presented to Lord Baltimore with Principal Ann Marie Logullo and Art Teacher Melissa Kelly; Phillip C. Showell with Principal Heather Bethurum and Art Teacher Laurie Hall; John M. Clayton with Principal Dr. Charlene Hopkins and Art Teacher Marci Ginsberg; and Southern Delaware School of the Arts with Principal Neil Beahan and Art Teacher Jamie Moore.

On the bandstand, the Children’s Gallery added to the artistic spirit with John Donato, the interactive artist extraordinaire, providing endless energy and giving patrons the opportunity to be artists themselves. Each of the five panels turned into beautiful paintings to be displayed at the four local elementary schools and the Chamber, and will be part of the Silent Auction at the 37th Annual Boardwalk Arts Festival on Sept. 12, 2015.

The total raised this year was $2,600 with each school’s art programs receiving a check for $650 dollars to purchase supplies for these up and coming artists. The Chamber appreciates the generosity of all the artists who donated and those that supported the silent auction to make the contribution to art education possible.

This year’s DNREC-sponsored 28th annual Delaware Coastal Cleanup, held on Sept. 20, drew 1,805 volunteers, who collected 3.2 tons of trash from 46 sites along more than 80 miles of Delaware’s waterways and coastline stretching from Wilmington to Fenwick Island. About one-third of that trash — aluminum cans and glass and plastic bottles — was recycled this year.

DNREC organizes the annual cleanup with co-sponsors including the Ocean Conservancy, Delmarva Power, which donates T-shirts, Playtex’s Energizer Personal Care, which donates gloves for the volunteers, and Waste Management, which hauls away the trash and recyclables collected by volunteers.

“We think it’s fantastic that each year this event attracts a huge number of people who want to do something positive for the environment,” said Matt Likovich, spokesman for Delmarva Power, which has sponsored the Coastal Cleanup for 24 consecutive years. “We appreciate the volunteers’ time and energy in helping to clean up our beaches and riverbanks.”

“In addition to marring the natural beauty of our beaches and waterways, trash can be dangerous to marine life and unhealthy for water quality,” said Delaware Coastal Cleanup Coordinator Joanna Wilson. “Each year, the Coastal Cleanup helps make a difference for marine life and water quality — and it’s the hundreds of dedicated volunteers, many of whom come back year after year, who make the Cleanup possible.”

Some of the more unusual items found during this year’s cleanup were chopsticks, a laundry basket, runner’s race number tag, electric saber saw, windshield wiper, basketball, baseball, bowling ball, tennis balls, paint brush, tweezers, tiki torches, Barbie doll, glow stick, swim fin, auto fender, plastic trellis, shingle, flashlight, toilet seat, Christmas lights, telephone box, crab traps, TV, car fender, coat, engine, an unopened 12-pack of razors, hubcap and the proverbial message in a bottle.

Some items were notable in their numbers. Statewide, volunteers picked up 18,877 cigarette and cigar butts — a reduction of 3,902 from last year’s total of 22,779. The number of fishing-related items also dropped, from 1,385 last year to 989 this year. Other items included 64 old tires, 1,214 balloons, 2,777 plastic bags, and nearly 28,000 pieces of food/beverage-related trash — compared to more than 26,000 last year.

The Delaware Coastal Cleanup is part of the International Coastal Cleanup, the Ocean Conservancy’s flagship program dealing with marine debris and data collection. The types and quantities of trash collected are recorded on data cards and forwarded to the Center for Marine Conservation, which compiles the information to help identify the source of the debris and focus efforts on eliminating or reducing it.

Delaware’s next Coastal Cleanup is set for Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015. Volunteers are being encouraged to pre-register to ensure sites receive enough supplies. Interested volunteers can check out DNREC’s website at www.delaware.dnrec.gov next July for registration information.

For more information on the Ocean Conservancy or the International Coastal Cleanup, visit the Conservancy’s website at www.oceanconservancy.org.

Actors at the Clear Space Theatre Company of Rehoboth Beach are currently in rehearsal for their upcoming holiday musical “She Loves Me.”

“I fell in love with ‘She Loves Me’ 40 years ago and have wanted to present at Clear Space for a decade, but I had to wait until I knew we had the perfect cast — and this was the season when that opportunity was right!” said Clear Space Artistic Director Doug Yetter.

“Every song is a little jewel, and the show is the ideal display case for each of those jewels. With the holiday shopping season quickly approaching, the show offers a glimpse into the lives of the shop workers, the holiday shoppers and the inevitable Christmas romance between Georg and Amalia. What better time of year to fall in love with someone or to be reminded that romance can still bloom in the midst of winter?”

“She Loves Me” revolves around shop employees Georg and Amalia who, despite being at odds throughout their work day, are unaware that each is the other’s secret pen-pal through a lonely-hearts ad. The 1963 musical was the third adaptation of the play “Parfumerie” by Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo, the first being the 1940 James Stewart/Margaret Sullivan film “The Shop Around the Corner” and the 1949 MGM musical “In the Good Old Summertime,” starring Judy Garland and Van Johnson. The plot of the show was used again in 1998 in the film “You’ve Got Mail” featuring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

The original Broadway production featured Barbara Cook, Daniel Massey and Jack Cassidy, and had a score by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, who would go on to create “Fiddler on the Roof” the next season. The 1963 production was up against competition from shows including “Oliver!,” “Funny Girl” and “Hello, Dolly!” and closed after only 302 performances, though it remains one of the most popular and frequently-revived shows in regional theaters, due to the caliber of the writing and the intimate nature of the piece, Yetter said.

The Clear Space production features Peter Kane as “Georg” and Laura Whittenberger as “Amalia” supported by a cast of local performers including Max Dick, Sarah Joy Kane, Dan Carney, Matt Lewis, Peyton Lynch, Abby Chesney, Marian Sunnergren, Mitchel Troescher, Devon Lynch, Kyle Atkinson-Steele, Meghan Hayward, Kimberly Herrera, Carolyn Robinson and Dara Parsons. The show is directed by Clear Space Company Manager David Button, with choreography by Shondelle Graulich and music direction by Melanie Bradley.

“She Loves Me” opens Friday, Nov. 28, with a special curtain time of 7:30 p.m. to allow patrons to attend the lighting of the Rehoboth Beach Christmas Tree and continue the start of the season with the holiday musical. The production continues through Sunday, Dec. 14, with shows on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 3 p.m., with an extra weekday matinee on Thursday, Dec. 4, at 11a.m. To purchase tickets, call Melody in the box office at (302) 227.2270 or buy them online at www.ClearSpaceTheatre.org.