WEEKEND #12, 2006

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

REHOBOTH BEACH ELECTION RESULTS

The votes were carefully counted and witnessed after the glass doors closed in conventional hall at 6 p.m.

About 10 minutes later Rehoboth Beach's election judge (below) read the results to the public as follows:

Annual election August 12, 2006
Registered voters for 2006: 1539
Number of voters: 836
Number of absentee voters: 171
Total: 1007
Two seats for commissioner:
Patricia A. Coluzzi # of votes: 539
Paul G. Kuhns # of votes: 542
Kathleen K. McGuiness # of votes: 605

Earlier, a cross section of local politicians chatted with voters and each other (below). Some of these included (from left to right): Patricia Coluzzi, Diane Cooper, Steve McGuiness, Patti Shreeve, Patrick Gossett, Dennis Barbour, Richard Sargent, Peter Swartzkopf, Samuel Cooper.

MORE VEHICLES TICKETED AND/OR TOWED FROM LIFEGUARD PARKING

Rehoboth Beach police and tow trucks were requested at least three times this past week to remove unauthorized vehicles found parked in reserved lifeguard parking spaces during lunch breaks.

Blue Hen Towing removed this red Volkswagen Jetta with Pennsylvania tags. It was reported parked in the west-most lifeguard space on Saint Lawrence Street on Wednesday around 12:40 p.m. It was at least the fourth vehicle removed from this space since July 1.

One officer, assisted briefly by a second officer, remained with the Jetta for 35 minutes. The LIFEGUARD PARKING ONLY sign, which reserves this and the adjacent space, is 17 inches to the right of the center line dividing the two spaces. This space is second to the Stockley Street lifeguard parking space as far as vehicles towed this season.

This white Mercedes-Benz ML320 SUV (above) with Delaware tags was almost towed from the west-most lifeguard parking space on Brooklyn Avenue. It was reported on Friday around 1:05 p.m. The occupants (above left) returned and waited along with police for Coastal Towing, which charged the men a show-up fee. The officers departed around 1:40 p.m.

One of the two men stated that they did not see the LIFEGUARD PARKING ONLY sign which reserves this and the adjacent space. The sign is mounted on the post below the parking meter and faces only the street. The men had more than 30 minutes remaining in the meter.

Another man almost had his van towed from this same space on July 21. He said he found it confusing because the curb for the reserved space on the right is painted in yellow covered with black, but the curb to the left of the meter, was unpainted.

Coastal Towing removed this white Chevrolet Tahoe with Pennsylvania tags after it was reported parked in the lifeguard parking on Virginia Avenue around 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Like Brooklyn Avenue, both spaces are marked with a single street-facing sign mounted on the post under the parking meter. About 90 minutes remained in the parking meter when the Tahoe was removed just before 2 p.m. The post is almost on the center of the painted line dividing the two reserved parking spaces. An officer was here for about 25 minutes.

DEAD DOLPHIN WASHES ASHORE

The remains of what lifeguards described as a dolphin washed to shore just north of the Henlopen Hotel on Friday just before 1 p.m. The remains were pulled to the dune line, hidden with an umbrella, which discouraged on-lookers, until Suzanne Thurman from the Marine Education, Research & Rehabilitation Institute could arrive to examine it.

Ms. Thurman said the dolphin was a young bottlenose, almost five-feet long and very robust. The animal had been hit by a boat propeller, but this was probably post mortem based on the location of the wounds. It didn't show signs of drowning, she added, so she does not know the exact cause of death at this time.

Earlier in the week, Rehoboth Beach lifeguards found what appeared to be the remains of a dead sea turtle floating in the surf near Brooklyn Avenue. Ms. Thurman said the sea turtle kept washing in and out so she couldn't examine it on land. It made a brief appearance on St. Lawrence St., but washed back out as she arrived. From a distance, it appeared to be a severely decomposed sub-adult loggerhead. It was missing the head and three flippers.

FLIRTING WITH DANGER?

This man appears trusting of the railing on the third floor of the Henlopen Condo as he leans against it with his back Friday evening.

TWILIGHT IN REHOBOTH

Saturday evening in the Deauville area of Rehoboth Beach.