WEEKEND #5, 2008

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

FIRE ENGINE GETS SPEEDING TICKET!

The Maryland State Firemen's Association's annual convention held this past week in Ocean City attracted firefighters with their apparatus from across the state. PFC Barry Neeb, OCPD spokesman, confirms that the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department's new 2008 Seagrave pumper was stopped by police for speeding.

"We received several citizen complaints about the truck," PFC Neeb wrote in an e-mail, "and one of our traffic officers caught him on radar." The engine was stopped around 1:30 a.m. on Monday in the area of 37th Street and the driver was issued a speeding ticket for 60+ in a 40 m.p.h. zone.

SWAMP-FIRE HAZE RETURNS FOR SECOND WEEKEND

The smoke haze and odor returned late Saturday afternoon and lingered through Sunday. Officials said last weekend that the source of the smoke was supposedly a fire in the Great Dismal Swamp along the North Carolina-Virginia border which has been burning since June 9. That's about 170 miles from Rehoboth Beach.

SUNKEN BOAT AT RUDDER PIER CAUSES CONCERN

DNREC has been dealing with a sunken boat at the Rusty Rudder fishing pier which was reported around 9 p.m. Saturday. The boat supposedly had an engine and gas can on board which increased the reason for concern.

Rusty Rudder management called DNREC on Sunday asking for assistance. A DNREC official returned and later said the owner had been located Sunday evening and he was working on recovering the boat.

PICK-UP TRUCK GETS TOWED FOR BLOCKING ADJACENT SPACE

Rehoboth Beach police grappled with what to do with this bright orange pick-up truck parked across two spaces in the first block of Baltimore Avenue Thursday night. The pick-up parked at an angle so close to the white SUV to the right, the couple was unable to get it out. About an inch separated the vehicles. The couple contacted police around 10:30 p.m.

Police issued the truck a ticket, and had it removed to the impound lot by Coastal Towing. The truck, which had a Delaware license plate, had time remaining in the parking meter to about 11 p.m.

TICKET ONLY, NO TOW, FROM QUEEN STREET LIFEGUARD PARKING

A lifeguard reported the blue Chevrolet HHR parked in the reserved lifeguard parking area on Queen Street just before 1 p.m. Thursday. The lifeguard only wanted it ticketed, not towed.

Last year one visitor who also got caught here said it was confusing because the sign points down with arrows over the first space (where the truck is parked) and no lines are painted on the pavement.

REFUELING TANKER FLIES LOW PAST REHOBOTH

This KC-135 Stratotanker flew north along the beach in Rehoboth Thursday afternoon. The aircraft provides aerial refueling. It has a distinctive pair of fins attached to the refueling boom on the rear.

GRAY CATBIRD IN NORTH REHOBOTH

A Gray Catbird parent and fledgling sit on a deck stairway in north Rehoboth last week. The Catbird shows little fear of humans and is a common sight in town. They get their name from the cat-like sound they make (click the link above to hear what they sound like).