Delmar DustPan

From the Bi-State Weekly Feb 28, 1958

Jerry LeCompte, 10 year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Claude LeCompte of East Street was released from the Peninsular General Hospital Wednesday where he had been a patient since last Saturday after falling from a pickup truck on the highway.

The boy was with his father on a trip to the dump at Leonard's pond. After unloading and leaving, the door swung open as they made the turn onto the north bound lane of the dual highway. Jerry attempted to grab the door and landed on his face on the highway. He suffered a concussion but X-rays Monday did not show any fracture, his parents said.

"The King's good servant, but God's First."

Last Wednesday night I was reminded of those last words of Sir Thomas More before he was executed by Henry the VIII. Wednesday, the Town of Delmar held a budget workshop for the upcoming year. Since I am on the Utility Commission I was invited to attend. Those elected officials who were missing from the workshop were Glen "Woody" Payne, Michael Houlihan and Marlena Hodgins. Now I don't know why Woody Payne was not there but I am aware Mike Houlihan and Marlena Hodgins had previously said they had religious matters to attend to on Ash Wednesday and would not be there. All elected officials have a balancing act to do when it comes to doing the job they were elected to do and their personal life and I applaud those officials for their conviction in their faith.

Over the years I have encountered places where there was no electricity or limited electricity. In the military I was station on an island where the local town only had electricity for 12 hours a day and they were overjoyed because it had been increased from the six hours a day they had the year before. In the 1980’s, when I worked in Ocean Pines, the underground cables Choptank Electric had installed would short out frequently and we would be without power for a few hours or a few days. Everybody complained about not having power but no one talked about environmental impact during the power outage, they just wanted power. I am sure when power was restored to the gulf coast after Katrina no one complained about the visual ugliness of power towers crossing their county side. they were just glad to have power again.

Today we have MAPP – the Mid Atlantic power Pathway. It will go from Virginia, thru Maryland, under the Chesapeake Bay, across Dorchester County and Delaware and on to New Jersey. It will do so on really tall ass towers and submarine cable. Is there a need for a larger powerpath on Delmarva? I am not sure about that, but an east-west power line would be another safeguard for Delmarva instead of relying on the north south power grid we currently have. The main complaint I hear about it is not if it is needed, but the visual impact it will have and how it will encourage the existing coal and oil power plants to produce more resulting in more pollution. The distracters don’t seem to mention it will encourage wind power to hook into the power grid. More precisely those who are complaining seem to only be complaining because it is going thru their area (NIMBY -The Not In My BackYard Outlook). If it was put thru Baltimore or Philadelphia no one down here would be complaining. You notice you don’t hear complaints from the area south of Salisbury thru the Eastern shore of Virginia.

Everyone likes flipping a switch in their house and having the lights come on, no body wants to see the infrastructure that allows that power to arrive at your house. Everyone knows it is required so you can look at TV at night, but no one wants it in their backyard. If you use electric power it has to go in someone backyard so it might as well be yours. Dorchester County is fighting the power lines coming thru their marsh land, maybe we should just kill the power to Dorchester County and see how long it will take them to change their mind. Strangely no one has come forth to say we don’t want electricity anymore. Electric power is a good thing and the infrastructure for it has to be somewhere.

I am still convinced the Mid Atlantic Power Pathway is a done deal. The opponents may put up enough roadblocks too drag it out (maybe declare the nutria an endangered species so the towers can’t go thru the marsh) but it will only increase the cost of the project so we all pay more for it in our electric bill, but it will happen.

Besides is looking at 150 foot towers any worst than looking at the LeCates building in Delmar, Delaware?

You know it gives you a really dumb feeling when you cut your extension cord with the electric hedge trimmers

You know that Sesquicentennial word just isn't working for me. I can't pronounce it. Simply put this is some of the events and the calender that the committee has come up with for the Delmar's 150th Anniversary Heritage Celebration. All are tentative and subject to change and probably will change. There is still time to join or form your own committee for this event. The next meeting is at town hall on March 25 @ 7 PM

Sunday, September 20, 2009 starting at 10AM all churches and Fire department to ring bells or siren for 30 seconds, 2 PM Parade, 3 PM Antique cars, 5 PM Picnic in the park

Monday; 7 PM Dance at VFW

Tuesday; 7 PM Ice Cream social on state street with music from school band and a walking historic tour

Wednesday; 7 PM A Play at the Delmar high school, may be a dinner theater

Thursday; 7 Pm High School Play

Friday; 6 PM Block Party

Saturday; 7 AM yard sale at State Street Park, 10 AM Vendors, Train Museum open, games, sport competition 8:30 PM Fireworks

In February 1992 the Country Bakery opened. From left to right; Daniel Kropt, Lena Beachy, Jason Reed, Lori Horseman, Ruth Nisly, Robin Triplett, Mayor John McDonnell and Dr. Donna Jacobs, Chamber of Commerce President.

I was at the Laurel Library today researching some things and took a moment to wander thru some of the School year books they have there (back to 1929). I came across this pictures of Jerita, a cousin of mine, actually there were a lot of cousins of mine in the yearbook. Jerita married Jerome P. Hill a few years after graduating school. He recently passed away.

Concrete work continues and in front of the caboose is a new curb.

Warmer today but a little windy, a couple bulb plants are coming up giving you the hope that if you last a few more weeks at least you won't die in the wintertime.

I was driving thru Seaford today and saw the DelDot team out working on the street lights on RT13. Now today was a gusty day and the least place I would want to be is about 30' up in a cherry picker.

The only thing new I have seen at Bonanza is the sign. I think the asking price is $2,300,000 at 1.39 acres. I had heard that the bank bought it back when it went to auction a couple of months ago. I guess it was BNB Bank as they are the ones mentioned on the sign

Bill Hunter, Australian actor, was born today in 1940 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Bill Hunter is one of those actors who rarely is the lead star but you see him in a number of movies. Some of his movies are; Gallipoli (1981), Muriel's Wedding (1994) and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994). He also provided the voice of the dentist in Finding Nemo (2003). He has often played the strong, opinionated, stereotypically gruff Australian who ultimately betrays a softer heart.

My mother was showing me this class photo of my brother's fourth grade class in 1961. The class was taught by Mrs. Langrall (far left) and Mr. Willy (far right). My brother, Alan, is about center of the top row in his favorite red shirt. I think the Mrs. Langrall in the photo, was Betty Jane Brittingham Langrall who recently passed away. No doubt it was taken in the library. By today's standard they all look underfed. Altho limited to looking at the front row, you can see everyone had leather shoes on except one boy who had what looks like red sneakers. Mr. Willy is dressed in a coat and tie which was mandatory for male teachers and Mrs. Langrall is wearing a dress, which was expected. I can't quite figure out the young man in the front row far left, he is either wearing shorts (usually was not done in 1961) or someone has swiped his pants. Oh and the class is all white as integration had not happened.

In February of 1914 things had reached such a state with people skating on the streets and sidewalks in the Town of Delmar, Maryland that ordinance #51 was passed at a special meeting and that ordinance was duly published in the News Herald (Local Newspaper) on Feb 7, 1914. Ordinance #51, an ordinance to prevent skating on the streets, highways and sidewalks of the Town of Delmar, Maryland stated it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to skate upon the streets, highways or sidewalks of the Town of Delmar Maryland with roller or any other kind of skates. If arrested and found guilty a fine of not more than one dollar or shall be dismissed in the discretion of the Justice of the Peace. If caught a second time the fine increased to five dollars or thirty days in jail.

The Mid Atlantic Power Pathway wants to increase the support towers from the current 65 feet to 150 feet. In Delmar, on Memorial Drive, we have Metal support poles for the 68KV line that goes from the Nelson Substation on Old Race Track Road to North Salisbury. They are about 65 foot tall. To stand next to one of these and look up they really seem tall, to imagine the ones on the power pathway will be more than twice as tall is hard to imagine. This is the weatherised (rusty) look that will be one option on the Pathway power support poles the other is a galvanized finished.

As you can see the thickness of pole pretty much takes up the sidewalk. Let me say the power pathway is not looking at doing anything with the poles in Delmar it only effects the power line out on Old Race Track Line.

Back in August 2007 on thru March and April of 2008 there was much discussion on building a house at 204 Bynum Lane. The local residents were against it and the Planning and Zoning Commission and Council put up a number of obstacles. In May of 2008 they finally gave Bill Mervine of Prestige Homes the Ok to buid. Well the house is pretty much built now and I think it fits the small lot quite well and it looks nice.

This is the house on Bynum Lane and I think it fits in well with the street.

For some of my previous comments on the discussions on this house you can look here and here and here

From the Feb 12th 1954 Saturday edition of the Salisbury Times

BARN, CAR, MULE, LOST IN BLAZE

Delmar Has Series Of Unusual Fires

A series of mysterious fires is being investigated by Delaware authorities in this area.

A barn at the Lyndal Hayman home on Lincoln Ave. and Eighth St. which also served as a garage for the Hayman car, burst into blaze early yesterday.

Mr. Hayman has no idea how it started and when the firemen reached there about 3 a.m. the entire barn was ablaze with the wind sweeping it towards the Hayman house.

Asleep in the barn was a faithful old mule "Jack" who had served the residents of Delmar many years when spring came, plowing many gardens. Jack was caught in the midst of the fire and could not be saved.

Mr. Hayman was able to save his car and his hunting dogs, Lost in the fire, along with the mule were storage bins of his food, a tractor, several valuable guns and many things which Mr. Hayman said are not replaceable.

Firemen stayed throughout one of the coldest nights of the winter until 6 a.m. While they were fighting the Hayman fire, Mr. and Mrs. Harper LeCates who were watching the fire from their home just two blocks away, saw the barn and garage at the Vaughn Lockerman home on fire.

This is the second unusual fire at the Lockerman barn in about two weeks and since the barn is not wired, the causes of that second fire still remains a mystery. Little damage was done there but the Hayman fire was a complete loss.

Just one day before a vacant property on Jewell St. caught fire early in the afternoon from an undetermined cause.

Although the old house has been on fire several times over a period of years and there seems nothing to be lost in its complete collapse it adjoins the Old School Baptist Church and the Walter Hastings home, both valuable properties.

The last big fire in late December was on Jewell St. which seemed the work of a fire bug.

There will be a Delmar's Sesquicentennial (150 years) Celebration meeting tonight at Town hall at 7 PM. Stop by and listen to the events planned and maybe provide some input.

A Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway meeting will be held today, Thursday, February 26, 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at the E.A. Murphy Community Center, 104 Race St. in Vienna, MD

I found my thrill on blueberry hill
On blueberry hill when I found you
The moon stood still on blueberry hill
And lingered until my dreams came true


Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino was born today in 1928. At 81, he has gone beyond being a performer to being an icon of the 1950's. With great 1950's hits such as;
Blueberry Hill, Blue Monday, I'm Walkin, Walking to New Orleans, and Aint That a Shame. We had a similar topic regarding Fats Domino in Salisbury some time ago.

I'm walkin', yes indeed and I'm talkin'
About you and me, I'm hopin'
That you'll come back to me, yeah-yeah
I'm lonely as I can be, I'm waitin'
For your company, I'm hopin'
That you'll come back to me

Today work is continuing on the sidewalk that will be next to the park area.

I went over to the Sussex County Extension Office last night for their workshop entitled Railroad Gardening (you knew I would). It was given by Mary Noel (assisted by her husband, Hollis) from Bridgeville. She said they got into garden railroads because she was interested in gardening and he was interested in trains. They did not have a garden railroad set up but instead had a number of pieces of train equipment and magazines on display. They are members of the Shore Line Garden Railroad Club which is an interesting site with many pictures of garden railroads. They said members of the club have open house to their Garden railroads in June over Father's Day weekend.


Let me say I am not a great fan of trains, but I do find model train setup to be interesting and when combined with gardening, perks my interest even more. It is one of those things you can dump a lot of money into. Their garden cost them $784, which does not sound like that much until you hear them talk about how much train equipment he received as birthday presents etc. They suggested a good site to read, for budget information, is here. You can also regress back to the root page on trains at that site for even more information. They said like any garden it takes a couple of years to fill in, both with plants and equipment.

They said they help set up the Garden Railroad at the East Coast Garden Center in Millsboro.


Unlike model railroading where everything is to-scale the Noels use a practical approach to Garden Railroading. For the buildings next to the track they use the decorative birdhouses, which when on sale are quite reasonable ($10 vs $100 for a scale replica building). They stressed garden railroading should be enjoyable and not a complete obsession.


I was surprised how many people follow this hobby. They have their own magazines devoted to the hobby.


For those gardening type people who did not attend (there was about 30 people to the workshop) you missed a good opportunity to learn about another aspect to add to your garden.

In no way related to the subject and I think I have commented on them before are the chairs they have for the audience to sit on. As you progress up in attending government meetings the smaller town will usually have wood folding chairs (with the exception of Seaford) and at the Federal funded level such as the Sussex county Extension agency you get really comfortable chairs with spring controls backs. It no doubt cost all of us taxpayers a pretty penny for them. My butt says thank you America.

Master Gardeners are volunteers who enjoy gardening, want to learn more about the environment, and have a desire to help others in their community. An outreach effort of Cooperative Extension, the Master Gardeners program is 10 weeks of intensive training given by plant and soil sciences faculty and Extension educators in horticulture. In return, participants agree to give back 45 hours of volunteer service. Depending on their interests, Master Gardeners answer gardening and landscape questions called into the GardenLine; teach grade school children environmental sciences; offer how-to workshops open to the public; demonstrate methods of composting; and help to design, install and maintain county demonstration gardens. Should you be interested in becoming a Master Gardener you need to apply now as the first training classes starts the first week of March.

One of those random memories of the 1950’s and 60’s happened to have crossed my mind this past Sunday. Back in that time period, the last Sunday of the month would be “Heart Sunday.” I think today the American Heart Association still has a campaign in February for donations. In February on top of Heart Sunday there was also March of Dimes and the United Way, everywhere you went someone had their hand out. Heart Sunday was an involved campaign and the actual logistics of it was quite involved with pre-training sessions for the Heart Fund volunteers and a packet of instructions with donation sheet to each volunteer. In Delmar, Mrs. William Gordy was very active. It would start at the being of February with collection containers in the shape of red plastic hearts being put in stores and businesses everywhere in town for donations. On "Heart Sunday", women volunteers would have a street assigned to them and they would go house-to-house knocking on doors asking for donations. This was usually in the afternoon (after church) when they would take to the streets. Other towns and counties would use a different approach to the Heart Fund collections but as I recall Wicomico County always went with “Heart Sunday.”

In looking at a 1960 Bi-State Weekly some of the Delmar, Maryland people assigned on “Heart Sunday” were;
Spruce Street, Mrs. Lawrence Disharoon
S. Second Street, Mrs. Charles Holloway
Pine Street, Mrs. Darrell Stearns, Mrs. Evelyn Williams and Miss Sandra Perry
Chesnut Street, Mrs. J. William Gordy, Mrs. Otis Mitchell, Mrs. Smiley Hastings and Mrs. Eugene Ross
Elizabeth Street, Mrs. Clifford Sturgis, Miss Barbara Hudson, Mrs. Leslie Smith, Mrs. Vogel Moore and Mrs. James Banks
East Street, Mrs. Mary LeCates, Mrs. Walter Fisher, Mrs. Carlton Hastings, Mrs. Claude LeCompte and Mrs. Edward Shedaker
Maryland Avenue, Mrs. Louis Truitt,
West of Railroad, Mrs. Lamont Williams and Mrs. Joseph Triglia
State Street, Mrs. Allison Webster, Mrs. Howard Hastings, Miss Virginia Brittingham and Mrs.Woodrow Moore
Woodlawn, Mrs. Weslena Furr

Today some of the Maryland neighborhoods are so rough even Jehovah Witnesses don’t go into them. Perhaps that is the reason some streets had multiple people assigned to them instead of one – safer in numbers.

The Delmar Kiwanis Club was organized 7/6/50. The Delmar Kiwanis Club is proud to serve the Delmar community.

Some of their service projects are:
Delmar Little League
Delmar Youth Basketball
Student Projects
Delmar Library Reading Program
Senior Citizen Projects
Easter Egg Hunt
Easter Sunrise Service
Community Prayer Breakfast
Smoke Detector Program
Delmar High School Key Club
Community Aid Programs
Delmar Senior & Middle School
Delmar Elementary School

The Delmar Kiwanis Club
P.O. Box 371
Delmar, DE 19940-0371

Meetings held at All Saints Episcopal Church - 1st, 3rd and 4th Mondays 7:00 p.m. (dessert)
2nd Monday 6:30 p.m. (dinner)

The Delmar Kiwanis Club wants to thank the community for their support and we welcome all new members.

President - Keith Jones Phone 302-846-2128
President Elect - Al Bozman Phone 302-875-3896
Secretary - Jack Lynch Phone 410-896-9067

Delmar Kiwanis Club Spring Events:

Community Easter Egg Hunt - April 4, 2009 at 1:00 p.m.; Delmar Senior & Middle High School Football field
Rain Date - April 11, 2009

Easter Sunrise Service - Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009 7:00 a.m. All Saints Episcopal Church (corner of 10th& State Streets)

Kiwanis Community Prayer Breakfast - May 9, 2009 9:00 a.m. St. Stephens United Methodist Church Camelot Hall

Tonight at 7PM the Sussex County Master Gardeners will do a workshop called "Railroad Garden". You will learn how to create a model railroad in the garden and on a budget. It is at the Sussex County Extension Office, located on Rt 9, between Laurel and Georgetown. To register call Karen Adams at 302-856-2585.

The Delmar Delaware and Maryland joint council meeting for February was held tonight. Members of the "public" were few. Sara Bynum King, town manager, was not present. The meeting started at 7 PM and was overwith before 8 PM. My usual disclaimer is I am not part of the council and what I write is my personal views, not the minutes, of the meetings. It is also just the parts I want to comment on or write about. If you want to know the real story go to the meeting.

Actually there was not a great deal that went on tonight that was of interest to me.

Kara Adams, a ten year old at Delmar Elementary, has bone cancer. She has a fund set up at the Bank of Willards in her name should anyone want to contribute to help her fight this.

Councilman Woody Payne has been in discussion with the State of Delaware concerning the backup well that has a high iron level. Currently there is a possibility a shallow well can be drilled and the water mixed with the backup well to dilute the iron content. Possibly the State of Delaware will pickup the tab for the shallow well.

As in the Utility Commission Meeting, a summary of Tidewater Utilities presentation that was given at the Delaware Council Meeting, was talked about at the Joint Council meeting. Altho this effects both sides of town the only one interested in discussing this was Carl Anderton, the other council members on both side looked like the least thing they wanted to discuss was this item which is a mystery to me. It is a matter that agreements were made with Tidewater Utilities to provide a wastewater treatment facility for the East side of Delmar Delaware. They are asking, in the short term, to pump sewage to the current town wastewater treatment plant located in Maryland. This is to help a developer, on the East side of Delmar Delaware, sell his land so he can take his money and run, leaving Delmar with whatever future sewage problem. This land is, or was originally, to be developed by Carl Greensfield. He wanted to do commercial and residential development in front of, and around, the Racetrack on RT13 and on the opposite side of Rt13 across from the racetrack. At the time of the annexation he was aware the Wastewater treatment infrastructures would not be made available immediately.

The Delmar Utility Meeting For February was held tonight. There was no one from the "public" present. The Town Manager was absent. Lori Dewald, Utility Commission member, was not present. It was a short meeting lasting about 15 minutes. Let me again point out these are not officials minutes of the meeting but merely what I want to comment on.

The backup well 2B, which has much iron in the water was discussed. Davis, Bowen & Friedel (Town engineers) has estimated it would cost $938,000 to add equipment to the Water Treatment plant to clear up the iron problem.

A summary of the Tidewater Utility presentation given at the Delaware Council Meeting, was given to the Utility Commission. Again it said due to the economic downturn, housing will not be built as fast as originally estimated and they are reevaluating the size of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) they would need. Tidewater estimated a WWTP would be constructed in 2 years. In the short term he would like to pump 100 Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDU) of sewage from a possible commercial property to the town's current WWTP located in Maryland. This would be a bout 35,000 gallons a day of sewage. I spoke out against this ideal.

The BNR/ENR Project Bid Opening for improvements to the current Waste Water Treatment Plant was opened today. Our Town Engineers, Davis, Bowen & Friedel, will evaluate the bids and provide the town with a formal recommendation for the project award.

I requested the town provide the Utility Commission with a list of Utility bank accounts, the amount in the bank and the date of the last bank reconciliation.

Today between 1 to 6 the Old Mill Crab House is accepting applications for jobs there. I rode by about 12:50 and the parking lot had about 30 cars in it.

Another cold day and the flaggers were out. The surveyors are still working. The real workers seem to be cutting a slice out of Pennsylvania Ave for a side walk.

February 23, 1942 - The first attack on the U.S. mainland occurred as a lone Japanese submarine fired perhaps 25 shells at an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California, causing minor damage. The submarine, Navy's submarine I-17, under the command of Commander Nishino Kozogot got safely away. There is an interesting point of view that Kozogot picked this oil refinery because before the war he had command of an oil tanker and after docking at the Ellwood Oil Field had walked up a path where he slipped and fell on a prickly-pear cactus. As the quills were being removed from his rear end the oil drilling crew laughed at him, so he swore revenge.

The Boulevard

The New

The Ritz

The Wicomico Theater
Missing is an ad for the Ulmans

Today in 1945 the first counterfeit US Currency $100 bills came off the printing presses in the German Sachsenhausen Concentration prison camp. Operation Bernhard, named for the director of the operation, SS Major Bernhard Krüger, had been in operation for three years and had already printed over 8,965,080 counterfeit Bank Of England pound notes. The notes are considered among the most perfect counterfeits ever produced, being extremely difficult although not impossible to distinguish from the real thing. When Operation Bernhard was started the aim was to produce British pound notes and destroy the faith in the British Pound and wreck the British economy. This was at a time when money was backed by gold reserves. By printing counterfeit notes the German distributed them in other countries and when these notes were redeemed the British would be unable to have sufficient gold reserve to cover the redemption. The United States would have been faced with a similar problem had not the Counterfeit Operation at Sachsenhausen been shut down in April due to the advancing Americans and Russians armies.

As we may recall from school days this attempt at creating a lack of faith in the British pound is called Gresham's law, which is commonly stated as: "Bad money drives out good."

There has been numerous attempts at counterfeiting the United States banknotes many operations are quite successful. The North Korean Superdollar or supernote is one example of this. The supernote was an almost perfect counterfeit of a United States banknote, believed to have been made by an unknown organization or government. The identity of the group responsible remains a mystery, and international opinion on the origin of the notes varies; at one point, the government of the United States claimed to have proof that they were produced in North Korea. Many in the intelligence community blame Iran or criminal gangs operating out of China or Russia; some have even suggested the possibility of CIA involvement. Currently, it is estimated that 1 in every 10,000 bills is a supernote.

In a case of honest people dumbing down to the level of crooks, the United States itself has continued this policy of “Bad Money Drives Out Good.” It is now printing money with no relationship to its gold reserves and is diluting the money that had some value before. Yet our congress insists on keeping the printing presses rolling. Any stockholder can tell you if a Corporation issues more stock it will dilute the value of all the stock the shareholders had before the new stock issue issue, yet the supposedly smart people we put in office continue to do exactly that with the US currency.