WEEKEND #12, 2008

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware


BETHESDA MAN SERIOUSLY ASSAULTED AT RUSTY RUDDER

Dewey Beach police are asking for help locating the man who assaulted a 26-year-old Bethesda man at the Rusty Rudder around 12:45 a.m. Saturday.

DBPD Sgt. Dempsey Clifford said the first officer arriving at the Rudder found the victim leaning against the wall bleeding profusely from his head. The victim was also described by EMS personnel as combative and uncooperative. Combative behavior often suggests an internal head injury. Paramedics, concerned the victim suffered such an injury, requested a medevac helicopter to fly the man to Christiana Hospital from the Rehoboth Elementary School.

After interviewing several witnesses, Sgt. Clifford said they described the suspect as a light-skinned black man about six-feet tall wearing a maroon T-shirt with a black emblem and black shorts. They told police the suspect struck the victim in the head with a beer bottle. He added that it was also reported that the assault was unprovoked by the victim.

Sgt. Clifford asks anybody who has information regarding this assault to please call the Dewey Beach Police Department or Crime Stoppers. He said he spoke to Christiana Hospital on Saturday and was told the victim is doing well. He suffered minor head trauma and should be released soon.


FORMER REHOBOTH BUILDING INSPECTOR HOLDS TOWN RECORD

No other address in Rehoboth Beach has had more complaints for vehicles blocking a driveway than 101 New Castle Street. That's the home of James Addison. He served as a building inspector for Susan Frederick, who was known for her strict adherence to building codes. Addison was also a code enforcer for the Town of Milton.

This past summer he's called more than 10 times to report vehicles impinging on his driveway. He says it's been a chronic problem.

He called around 2:35 p.m. Thursday to report this silver SUV blocking his driveway access. It received a ticket because Rehoboth Beach driveways have an 18-inch buffer on either side where vehicles are prohibited from parking. Police will only tow if the driveway is blocked.

Addison called four more times on Friday reporting vehicles impinging on his driveway. This tied his previous record set on July 4th.

One of Friday's calls resulted in police issuing two parking citations to this black sports car and having it towed. It was parked into the driveway and more than a foot from the curb. The young woman claimed the car just as Blue Hen Towing was removing it. It was taken to the city's impound lot.

Addison says he does not know why the city has not painted a yellow line on the roadway or curb in recent years. He said he has not requested one. Commissioner Stan Mills said Addison has a narrow driveway, and with a narrow street finds it hard to get in and out with cars parked tight to his driveway. Commissioner Mills added that the city used to paint parking lines and now only does so in certain circumstances, such as when a road is resurfaced. The second block of New Castle Street has not been resurfaced for several years.


RADIOSONDE RECOVERED IN REHOBOTH SURF

Rehoboth Beach lifeguards were scratching their heads wondering what this device was they pulled to shore after finding it floating in the surf in front of the Henlopen Hotel around 3:15 p.m. Sunday.

It included some electronics embedded in a Styrofoam container with a battery pack attached to a balloon or parachute.

The box has a label (below) dated June 11, 2008 which makes reference to radiosonde, which is a weather balloon!

 


NO SERIOUS INJURIES IN DODD AVENUE ACCIDENT

A white Oldsmobile Bravada was involved in a collision with a black Toyota Land Cruiser on Dodd Avenue at Route 1 around 2:15 p.m. Saturday. The Toyota flipped on its side.

A total of five occupants were in the vehicles. All were out and walking around when firefighters arrived. None took an ambulance to the hospital.

 

 

 


DEWEY BEACH CAR FIRE

Rehoboth Beach firefighters responded to a car on fire in the Sandy Bluff condo at 9 Read Avenue on Sunday evening. The call came in around 6:35 p.m. reporting that the fire was threatening the building.

 

The car was parked under a balcony when firefighters arrived, but was supposedly moving when the fire started. That being the case, Dewey Beach PD was left to investigate the cause.

 


ANOTHER REHOBOTH'S MOST-WANTED VEHICLE CAPTURED

It's that time of the season when unpaid parking fines have accumulated to the $150 tow threshold. This white Audi with Virginia tags was discovered parked at an expired meter in the first block of Wilmington Avenue around 1:45 p.m. Thursday. It received another ticket and owed the city $245. That does not include Coastal Towing's fees. It was removed to the Rehoboth Beach city impound.

 


LUNCH-TIME TOWS FROM RESERVED LIFEGUARD PARKING SPACES BACK WITH VENGEANCE!

Rehoboth Beach has towed more than 20 vehicles a summer for the past two years that were illegally parked in lifeguard parking spaces while guards were on their lunch breaks.

Some of the people towed claim the parking was confusing, particularly on Stockley Street which claimed the majority of the tows. Visitors are often unaware that Rehoboth Beach lifeguard parking spaces are reserved in pairs, with a single sign reserving both spaces. Sometimes the sign post remains fixed when street lines are repainted.

But lunch-time tows are down this summer, currently holding at four -- three of which were towed this past week. New signs with arrows, and a better marked parking area on Stockley Street may have decreased the number of tow requests this summer. Also, Capt. Kent Buckson let a handful of illegally parked vehicles go if guards found alternate parking.

Here are the three towed this past week...

This maroon Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder with Pennsylvania tags (on the left, above/below) was reported by lifeguards illegally parked in one of their parking spaces on Hickman Street around 1:35 p.m. on Friday. It was removed by Coastal Towing. The car had more than two hours paid in the parking meter.

This particular space is unique in that it's the nearest to the ocean on the south side of the street, requiring the driver to back into it. The sign on the parking meter pole applies to both spaces but is sometimes obscured by the lifeguard vehicle parked in the adjacent space.

The lifeguard parked to the right of the parking meter removed his car so the tow truck could tow the Mitsubishi (below).

Also on Friday, around 1:40 p.m. this blue Honda Accord with Pennsylvania tags (below) was reported illegally parked on Saint Lawrence Street. It had a valid 2008 Rehoboth Beach parking permit in the windshield. But was parked in a lifeguard spot.

On Thursday, Coastal Towing removed the below white Toyota Corolla DX with a Delaware license plate. Lifeguards reported it parked in the reserved lifeguard space on Brooklyn Avenue around 1:30 p.m. It had more than an hour of time paid in the parking meter.

 


REHOBOTH ELECTION ENDS IN MANDATORY RECOUNT

Wayne Steele, election judge, reads the preliminary results almost 30 minutes after voting ended. Three commissioner candidates were competing for two seats. The second and third place finishers were separated by only nine votes, which Steele said required a state-mandated recount.

Below: Election officials and observers count the votes inside Convention Hall.

 


DON'T PARK IN SCARBOROUGH AVENUE MEDIAN!

Rehoboth Beach police receive this complaint on a regular basis during the summer -- vehicles parked in the median on Scarborough Avenue. It typically happens on Saturdays when tenants wait at Jack Lingo Realtor's office to check-in to their weekly rentals. After receiving a complaint on Saturday, police issued a couple parking citations.


BEACH PATROL REMOVES FRESH-WATER TURTLE FROM SURF

Shortly after reopening the beach after Sunday's thunderstorms, Rehoboth Beach lifeguards found this Red-Eared Slider tumbling in the surf at Deauville beach. One guard speculated it had washed out the drain pipe from Lake Gerar, which is about four blocks south.

What to do with it? One guard, who took an interest in the turtle, made it a nest in a box and was contemplating taking it to a vet. The Red-Eared Slider, or "RES" as they are called, are popular pets and have a loyal following on the Internet.

 


REHOBOTH POLICE TAKE AWAY INJURED GULL

This is a sad and common occurrence on the beach in Rehoboth... a seagull gets injured and there is often no person or agency willing to take responsibility.

What happened Thursday was unique in that Karen Hawver, a former Kensington, Md. resident who now lives in New Hampshire, actually saw a seagull get struck by an ocean wave and break its wing. She said it happened just before 5 p.m.

That's when she reported the injured bird to the lifeguards who were just about to get off work. Hawver said the guards said they didn't know what to do and asked if she "wanted a pet?"

They went off-duty, and she spent more than 90 minutes watching the bird and trying to find it aid, along with two other women, Morgan Lucas, another former Kensington resident, and Janice Kransnow from Annapolis. The bleeding gull eventually took refuge behind the snow fence in the dunes in front of Funland.

They called information looking for a number for animal control, and ended up speaking with the SPCA, which referred her to DNREC, which did not answer. She found a number for Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research in Newark, which said it would accept the bird, but had no volunteer to pick it up.

"A lot of people were caring" Hawver said, adding that "tourists would like not to see this... [they] want to see something done."

Around 6:30 p.m., one of the women flagged down a police officer. A second officer brought a box, and they removed the bird.

Karen Hawver (on the left), a Rehoboth Beach officer and Morgan Lucas keep watch on the injured bird while waiting for a second officer to bring a box.

 


BEACH GOERS FACE LIGHTNING AND FLASH FLOODS

Beach patrols between Ocean City and Rehoboth Beach almost simultaneously cleared the beaches Sunday as thunderstorms arrived around 11:20 a.m. The beaches remained closed in Rehoboth until around 2 p.m.

During the height of the thunderstorm, around 3:05 p.m., Ocean City officials were summoned to Dorchester Street for a boat fire with people reported in the water about 50 yards from the beach. They found no boat fire nor people in the ocean, but were redirected minutes later two blocks away to Caroline Street near Fun City for a half dozen people injured during a lightning strike. None were seriously injured, but it was dangerously close!

The downpour flooded some streets and made driving challenging. WUSA-TV photojournalist Greg Guise provided these images which were captured from his high-definition video camera. They were taken in the area of 123rd and 128th Streets.

 


HAIL IN REHOBOTH

Portraits In The Sand's photographer David Koster captured these photos of hail that struck his home in Rehoboth along with the 2.5 inches of rain during the midday storm on Sunday.

Koster is a nationally award-winning photographer. He specializes in beach portrait photography and has become a familiar fixture on the beach, especially in the Deauville area of Rehoboth. Visit his Website for details.

 

 


ST. LAWRENCE ST LEMONADE: BEST DEAL IN REHOBOTH!


HICKMAN STREET SUNRISE

Photo by Kevin Brennan