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REHOBOTH LIBRARY EARNS ROLE IN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORY
When historians look back at presidential administrations, especially at
their beach retreats, the Rehoboth Beach Public Library will have played a
significant role in sharing that history.
The library's meeting room and balcony had been the go-to place for the news
crews whenever President Joe Biden would visit town. With his announcement
that he was not going to seek re-election, the number of news crews in town
multiplied, forcing some to resort to other creative locations such as handicapped
parking spots, city parks, hotel balconies and the bandstand!
Whenever the President comes to town, Lauren McCauley, library director,
says the library meeting room and balcony are used by all of the big networks
including NBC, CNN, Fox, CBS and ABC. The individual networks share the space
and determine who gets to use it and when, she added.
The news crews are permitted to use that room provided there are no previously
scheduled library events happening at that time, McCauley pointed out. Here's
more
on that from the Cape Gazette.
The library allows them to use the space provided the group as a whole pays
the standard hourly fee for the meeting room and the flat fee for the balcony.
The networks are each supposed to pay a share of that total fee to the library.
They are also charged an 'after hours' fee, she says, anytime the space is
used when the library would normally be closed since it requires an employee
to be present.
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$1000s STOLEN FROM TIDEMARK ATMs
Delaware troopers are investigating after multiple reports were received
from Tidemark Federal Credit Union customers after funds were withdrawn from
their accounts via numerous ATM transactions.
Police began receiving the reports the previous Sunday, July 21. That's when
investigators found the ATMs at multiple Tidemark branches in 'admin mode.'
Transaction receipts were discovered at some locations suggesting that the
bandits were stealing cash using different customers' account numbers and
PINs.
This note was later attached to one of those ATMs. This one is on Coastal
Highway near Lewes.
Not all attempts were successful, but the thieves got away with a large sum,
in the thousands of dollars, according to one source. Officials are not saying
how much and Tidemark has not responded to a request for comment.
"Detectives advised that every
Tidemark location in Sussex County was hit," says Cpl. Lewis Briggs,
Delaware State Police spokesman.
"Financial crimes detectives continue to investigate these incidents,"
he said. "The number of accounts affected is still being determined by
Tidemark FCU. Members who believe their accounts have been affected should
contact Tidemark directly," he added.
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THE REHOBOTH BEACH PATROL NEEDS YOUR HELP!
The Rehoboth Beach Patrol is proud to announce sponsorship opportunities
for the 2024 RBP USLA National Lifeguard Championship Team. The 2024 United
States Lifesaving Association National Lifeguard Championships are being held
in South Padre Island, Texas from August 6 to 9. The Rehoboth Beach Patrol
will be sending 13 guards to represent the City of Rehoboth Beach. Your generous
sponsorship will help offset the expenses of sending this team to the 2024
USLA National Lifeguard Championships.
The Rehoboth Beach Patrol competes at the USLA National Lifeguard Championships
with the Sussex County Lifesaving Association. The SCLA is made up of state,
municipal, and private beach communities along the Delaware coast. The SCLA
placed 2nd in 2021 (South Padre Island, Texas), 3rd in 2022 (Hermosa Beach,
California) and 2nd in 2023 (Virginia Beach, Virginia) at those USLA National
Lifeguard Championships.
Please use this GoFundMe to contribute.
Photos courtesy RBP
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AFTER RECORD-LOW 2023 STAFFING, O.C.B.P. BOUNCES
BACK THIS SUMMER
Last summer the Ocean City Beach Patrol had the fewest number of stands ever
on the beach in its history. OCBP Capt. Butch Arbin says the problem had been
that the town's pay was not competitive enough which led to a lifeguard shortage.
During "Labor Day weekend last year we had 34 stands on the beach,"
he pointed out. "We had over 400 rescues. There were drownings in Delaware,
in New York, in New Jersey, in Virginia, in North Carolina. We didn't have
any but [OC had] 400 rescues with only 34 stands on the beach. Two of our
people were taken away by ambulance for exhaustion. It was ridiculous,"
he added.
"We were lucky" and that's what he told town officials. "I
said we should be safe by design, not by luck. Last year, we were safe by
luck and that's not good." After he met last August with the city manager
and emergency services director, he says the mayor and city council came through
with more support for the OCBP.
Now that the town pays lifeguards $20 per hour and $30 an hour for overtime,
this season the staffing has improved significantly. He anticipates having
all 90 stands staffed through Labor Day. He had 173 employees in 2023 and
now has 215 this season.
The town now also offers a $500 signing bonus, and every guard who returns
as a surf rescue technician (SRT) gets $500. Other incentives include an additional
$140 toward travel plus $1 an hour extra after a certain date. Anybody who
works past Labor Day will receive a $250 bonus. Ocean City also offers a housing
stipend and sponsors a program where the city pays rent for some guards who
require a large initial deposit. Then that rent payment the city made is deducted
from the employee's pay throughout the summer.
"So right now," Capt. Arbin points out, "we have the best
pay and incentive package on all of Delmarva."
Part of the problem, he says, has been that fewer of the 18- to 22-year-olds
who most beach patrols hire are less physically fit these days with schools
cutting back on physical education programs. Kids are more interested in other
distractions such as social media rather than physical activities. So the
number of candidates who can pass the OCBP physical tests has decreased. "If
you're going to fish in a pond with everybody else [all the other beach patrols],
you get the best bait and now we have the best bait," Capt. Arbin says.
Ocean City guards who are not American college students are frequently teachers,
career firefighters and foreign students from Canada.
The reason he has hired so many Canadians is because they can drive to York,
Pennsylvania, where OCBP holds a test, take the test, and drive back to Canada.
He hopes to continue to recruit more foreign students noting that the Europeans
can try out for the patrol while in town this summer and the city will provide
all necessary training and certifications next season. The town even pays
$20 an hour during the eight-day training academy. They will be testing on
August 10. Details are on the OCBP
website.
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WATCH OUT FOR THE INVASIVE SPOTTED LANTERNFLY!
by David Koster, Portraits
in the Sand
The Spotted Lanternfly invasion has begun in Rehoboth. I spotted a few of
these jumping newly molted 4th instar nymph of the Spotted Lanternflies on
my property and contacted the Sussex County Master Gardener Garden Helpline
with the Delaware Co-op. I then went ahead and submitted a report as requested
to the link below. The one pictured was dead for two days. It was in the black-with-the-white-spots
stage. I have not seen any Tree
of Heaven in the area.
Please report the sighting and location of these using this
link. This helps the Delaware Department of Agriculture track the path
of their movement and plan for spraying and other action.
They do jump at this and the previous stage which makes them harder to treat
by spraying.
Important management info is
at this link.
Of key concern is to figure out if you have any Tree of Heaven on or near
your property as this is the favored host plant.
For more info see this Delmarva
Life video and the Delaware
Invasive Species Council website.
Photos courtesy David Koster, Portraits
in the Sand
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ROSENSTEIN'S BOOK LOOKS BACK ON HIS FASCINATING LIFE
Peter Rosenstein came to CAMP Rehoboth this past Thursday to discuss his
life which is captured in his biography, Born
This Gay: My Life of Activism, Politics, Travel, and Coming Out. He was
interviewed by Kevin Naff, editor of the Washington Blade.
Naff describes him as a prolific writer. In addition to this book and his
weekly column in the Washington Blade, Rosenstein writes for the Georgetown
Dish, among other outlets. "So he is tireless, prolific, and everybody
in D.C. knows him. He is a longtime D.C. insider and politico and in addition
to his many years in Washington, he's been a property owner here at Rehoboth
Beach for many years," Naff pointed out.
Rosenstein describes the book as a "fun story about someone who did
not grow up rich, but ended up living a very rich and diverse life."
He grew up in New York City but did not "come out" until he was
34 when he moved to Washington, D.C.
The book covers his extensive career, but also his coming out story. "I've
traveled the country, I've traveled the world, and I've lived an amazing life,"
Rosenstein explains. "I consider myself very fortunate to have done so."
He first came to Rehoboth Beach in 1984 and this was the first place he
came to where people didn't know him, other than being a gay man. "It
was the first city I came to where they knew I was gay," he points out.
"I was open when I got here, so no other place that I'd gone to had it
been like that. It was very exciting for me to come to a place where I no
longer had to hide or I could just be myself, who I was. And I've now had
a place here for 26 years," he added.
He is still a full-time D.C. resident but regularly escapes to Rehoboth.
He was one of those who worked with Murray Archibald and Steve Elkins when
they first thought of starting CAMP Rehoboth and he supported them once they
did.
Rosenstein recounts his experiences in New York City and Washington, D.C.,
sharing fascinating insights that still are not common knowledge. He taught
fourth and sixth graders in Harlem after he graduated college. Then he went
to work for Congresswoman
Bella Abzug in New York and eventually became coordinator of local government
for the City of New York under Mayor
Abraham Beame.
He moved to Washington to work for the Carter administration in 1978, and
never returned to New York! After he left the Carter administration, he ran
healthcare and education nonprofits for 35 years.
Rosenstein has had a life of working for people. He worked for civil rights
which is how he ended up talking to and meeting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
He worked for women's rights for Rep. Abzug and transitioned to disability
rights when working for the Carter administration. When he finally came out,
he became an LGBTQ rights activist. "That's sort of been my life as a
volunteer, and I found places I could work that sort of coordinated with that.
That helped us grow," he added.
Here is
Naff's discussion with Rosenstein at CAMP Rehoboth.
Rosenstein's book is available at Browseabout
Books, Amazon
and at Barnes
& Noble.
THE BOARDWALK BARONS COMING AUGUST 1
A lecture by Paul Lovett at the Rehoboth Beach
Museum
During the 1880s, wealthy industrialists from Wilmington, Washington, Baltimore
and Philadelphia built 'cottages' on Rehoboth's boardwalk. Find out who they
were and how they organized to take over management of Rehoboth in 1891. They
renamed it 'Cape Henlopen City' and brought order to what would otherwise
have been a Wild West railroad town.
Looking North
Looking South
To register for Thursday's lecture, visit the RBM's
website.
PHOTOS OF THE WEEK
"Untitled" by Richard
Tananis ...
Oscar Mayer
Weiner Mobile Comes to Lewes by David Koster (Portraitsinthesand.com)
6 Bucks in Rehoboth's Central Park by Alan Henney ...
Photography contests: Delaware
Beach Life, Rehoboth
Reflections, Ocean
Photo, Delaware
Farm Bureau
OTHER NEWS:
THE MERR REPORT--- Suzanne Thurman from the MERR
Institute says her organization had investigated the
dead dolphin that had floated in and out between Dewey and Rehoboth the
previous Sunday. MERR also had a young seal that was found resting at South
Bowers on Saturday. That was unusual for this time of year, but she says "I
suspect that some of these seals that are born here don't know to head north,
so they stick around all summer." The next MERR
fundraiser sunset dolphin tour is set for August 11.
BIDEN RETURNS VIA MOTORCADE TO D.C.--- For reasons unknown,
President Joe Biden left town last Tuesday via a motorcade despite weather
that was adequate for helicopters. Farmers' market customers got a good view
as the 20-vehicle
motorcade drove by Grove Park just before 1 p.m.
BICYCLISTS COLLIDE ON BREAKWATER TRAIL--- A 74-year-old
male bicyclist was injured when he collided with another bicyclist on the
Breakwater Trail near Holland Glade Road around 1 p.m. Sunday. He was described
as disoriented once he became responsive and was taken to the hospital.
POLICE INVESTIGATE MISSING/STOLEN WHEELCHAIR--- Rehoboth
Beach police received a report of a missing or stolen wheelchair taken from
Christian Street sometime on Sunday. No word yet from police on circumstances.
It was reported around 1 p.m.
FIREFIGHTERS CALLED TO RESCUE DOG--- Rehoboth Beach firefighters
were called to rescue a dog that had gotten wedged in a bulkhead of a canal-front
home on Bayview Road in Bay Vista. It was reported around 2:40 p.m. Saturday.
GIRL ALLEGEDLY GROPED ON DELAWARE AVENUE AT BOARDWALK---
A teen girl was allegedly groped by a man on Delaware Avenue at the boardwalk.
She reported it to Rehoboth Beach police around 9 p.m. this past Saturday.
He was last seen headed west on Delaware Avenue. No word yet from the police
on this case.
MAN CAUGHT STEALING PARTS OFF BIKES IN DOWNTOWN REHOBOTH---
Police caught a man wearing a Covid mask after receiving reports that he was
removing parts from bicycle wheels around 9:15 a.m. this past Wednesday. He
allegedly tampered with a bunch of bikes at various locations in downtown
Rehoboth that morning. Details are on the RBPD
Facebook page.
MAN FOUND DEAD IN O.C. POOL --- A man was found floating
face-down in a condo pool just before 11 a.m. this past Sunday on the ocean
side of 90th Street. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful and he
was pronounced dead at the scene. No word yet from the police on the circumstances.
