WEEKEND #6, 2024
July 1, 2024
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
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AG: CITY VIOLATED FOIA IN CITY MANAGER HIRING PROCESS
In this Attorney General Opinion released last Wednesday, Dorey L. Cole, Deputy Attorney General, stated that "we conclude that the City violated FOIA by holding an executive session for an improper purpose and failing to discuss the employment contract and compensation package in open public session, by failing to properly notice two executive sessions, and by failing to notice a public comment period on the agendas of the above-referenced meetings."
Here is the city's response from Mayor Stan Mills:
To be clear, the City of Rehoboth Beach Board of Commissioners always believed that it was following Freedom of Information Act requirements and that discussion and approval of the city manager's employment agreement in executive session was permissible. We are disappointed with the attorney general's determination.
That said, the Board of Commissioners supports the attorney general's commitment to openness and transparency in government. Transparency in government is important, and the state's Freedom of Information Act is our guide. To have been found in violation of FOIA laws signals a failure in the city's transparency and is an injustice to our citizens. We are committed to adhering to FOIA principles. We can and will do better.
See Chris Flood's article for more info.
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DEWEY'S BULL RUN TRADITION CONTINUES
The "Sea of Red" filled Dewey Beach and the Starboard on Saturday for the town's rendition of Pamplona, Spain's Running of the Bull -- a silly, zany event now in its 27th year of revelry.
The Bull Run has become a staple in Dewey, not only for its fun, but for its fundraising. The Starboard has already raised $65,000 for the Rehoboth Beach VFC with approximately $8000 more this past Saturday from the Bull Run.
Two kids wearing a bull costume chased the hoards of people down the beach... all smiling, laughing, and enjoying the vibrant beach town so famous for people enjoying themselves.
The morning of The Starboard's Bull Run starts with a Bull Run for children! Some 300 kids piled onto Dewey's beach to run with the bull. The mascots were greeted with hoards of kids waiting for photos. Jonathan Ogden, Baltimore Ravens Hall of Fame and Super Bowl champion, was on hand to start the kids run, and pose for photos with so many youngsters, both in awe of his size and the size of his Super Bowl ring! Here he is with Brooklyn Montgomery (the kids' "matador") and her sister, Savannah Montgomery.
Brooklyn was 'victorious' over the Kids' Bull after several swipes using her volleyball spike to down the (costumed) bull!
Several team mascots -- including Slapshot of the Washington Capitals, the Baltimore Ravens' Poe, and the University of Delaware's YoUDee -- came to support and entertain!
Photo courtesy Lily Koster
Local music legend Kristen performed the National Anthem to start the festivities, complete with a WWII airplane flyover!
The "bullfight," a staged event to bring even more laughs was won by Dewey Beach resident Craig Lonecker. After several passes by the 'ferocious' bull costume, Lonecker was able to win the bullfight by hitting it over the head with his Spanish guitar!
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2 MEDEVACS LAND AT REHOBOTH
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MINUTES APART
One for possible stroke patient and another for
woman injured in Coastal Highway crash
As an odd coincidence last Monday, the impromptu helicopter landing zone at the Rehoboth Elementary School was used for the first time this season for two unrelated flyouts just minutes apart.
Around 1 p.m., a man was reportedly suffering a possible stroke on Olive Avenue. He was taken to the school so Trooper 2 could fly him to a stroke center.
Photo courtesy David Moskowitz
About a half an hour later, a 69-year-old woman was injured after she rolled her Chevrolet Equinox on Coastal Highway in Dewey creating a massive 2+ hour traffic jam.
LifeNet 64 flew her to a trauma center with serious but hopefully not life-threatening injuries.
Photo courtesy Dr. Thomas Evans
Two other cars were damaged in the crash but she was the only injury. More details are on the WGMD website. More photos are on the RB VFC website.
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ANOTHER CRASH ON COASTAL HIGHWAY AT CHURCH STREET
This is that troubled intersection where motor scooters on the shoulder speed past cars stalled in heavy traffic on the travel lanes of northbound Coastal Highway. Occasionally the scooter riders collide here with southbound cars crossing northbound Coastal Highway to Church Street. The drivers of the cars do not see the scooters because the traffic blocks the view of the shoulder.
But is that what happened to this motorcyclist last Thursday? As of Sunday, Cpl. Amina Ali, state police spokesperson, said they still did not have all the info, but the crash involved the 2006 Honda VT6 motorcycle driven by a 28-year-old man from Hockessin, Delaware. He collided with the white 2018 Ford F-250 driven by a 44-year-old man from Rehoboth Beach. The motorcyclist was cited for driving off the road/main traveled portion/lanes.
The motorcyclist appeared to have suffered a broken arm and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. It happened around 4:35 p.m. last Thursday.
BIKE CRASH IN PARKING LOT OFF COASTAL HIGHWAY
An 18-year-old girl suffered only minor injuries after her bicycle collided with this 2021 GMC Acadia in the parking lot near Chick-fil-A outside of Rehoboth this past Saturday morning.
Photo courtesy Dr. Michael Trahos
Cpl. Amina Ali, state police spokesperson, says the Acadia was driven by a 60-year-old woman from Harrington, Delaware. The bicyclist suffered some minor injuries but declined an ambulance to the hospital. No citations were issued.
IRREVERENT WARRIORS MARCH THROUGH REHOBOTH
Around 90 people joined the Irreverent Warriors march along the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk this past Saturday. The group came into town at the Rehoboth Elementary School and walked across town to the boardwalk.
Here's a YouTube video as they approached the Henlopen Hotel.
When asked why they were doing it, one participant said that the "Irreverent Warriors is an organization that brings veterans together using human camaraderie to increase mental health and prevent veteran suicide. So that's our cause for today and we get together peers and make sure everybody's on the right path of life."
The group travels to different cities to provide opportunities to people in other parts of the country to join the cause which is the prevention of veteran suicide.
ZELKY'S CONTINUES TO ENTERTAIN AND ADAPT
Zelky's and Funland are the entertainment destinations for kids on the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk. But like so many other downtown businesses, Zelky's has started a shift to Coastal Highway, moving one of its three arcades to the bayside of the Tanger Outlets this year.
"A lot of our customers have been telling us that they don't come downtown as much anymore in the season because of parking meters and traffic and things like that," says Matt Weiner, Zelky's general manager. "So the locals are really coming to the outlets more than coming downtown," he observed. For the new Tanger Outlet arcade they are trying something different. At the end of the day, the arcade lights are turned off to give the arcade that old-school nostalgic feel for the last two hours with just the machines lighting the arcade.
There you will find a newer version of Space Invaders, a Pac-Man machine and Galaga. But Galaga is now played on an eight-foot-tall screen. New this summer are Over-the-Edge and Whack-A-Clown which is a classic recreation of the old Whac-A-Mole.
All three of Zelky's arcades, including the boardwalk north and south locations, feature the same time-tested arcade games that customers have come to love. Virtual reality continues to be the new thing, but time-tested amusements such as the claw machines and Skee-Ball are still crowd-pleasers.
"Sunny the Seagull" is one of the hottest prizes of the year at Zelky's. The stuffed bird has quite a following along the east coast. "Last year we didn't anticipate how popular they would be," Weiner said. "We sold out of them in three weeks." But this year he ordered a gazillion of them and customers can purchase one with a new card. Here he is with the popular machine.
Each Zelky's arcade has a few different games with slightly different offerings but they still all have much in common. "We have different prizes in each store. And each store has a totally different feel," Weiner explains. "Down here at south, you're next to the amusement park. It's the busier section of the boardwalk. It's very high energy. Our north location is a little bit slower. We find that a lot more families with younger children like to go in there just for the lack of the crowd as much. And then, in our bayside location, we're hitting a whole new crowd as well. It's all the people who are shopping. We're getting a lot of dads while mom's busy shopping with the kids, we're getting the kids who have grown tired of walking store-to-store," he explains.
Among the three arcades, Weiner estimates that he hires 40 to 50 employees throughout the year.
REHOBOTH BEACH COMMISSIONER CANDIDATE NEWS
Mark Saunders says he has "had an interesting week meeting homeowners and business owners and getting their take on all the City Hall news. Most people are asking for good results with less drama. I'm hoping, if elected, to put a more open and transparent face on the board, and like all of us, I'm left wondering if we are getting good legal representation?"
Suzanne Goode was interviewed this past Friday by WBOC's Kirstyn Clark on her front lawn talking about spending decisions by the city's Board of Commissioners. The interview starts at 3:30 at this Facebook link. Goode is hoping to have another event in July. This past week she has been going door-to-door speaking with voters.
OTHER CANDIDATE NEWS...
According to the city, Joe Cardinale has withdrawn from the election. But he hasn't responded for comment via email.
Craig Thier says he will have an update for events in the next few days.
No new news from the Rachel Macha campaign this week.
The voter registration deadline is July 11. More election dates and info is on the city's website.
The Rehoboth Beach Homeowners' Association is hosting a candidate forum on Saturday, July 20, at 10 a.m. at the firehouse on Rehoboth Avenue.
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KEYSTONE FIREWORKS TENT AT TANGER OUTLETS!
Lowes and Giant are even selling fireworks now, but it's hard to beat the huge fireworks tent in the Tanger Outlets parking lot near Mission BBQ. That's where you will find entrepreneur Terron Hall whose company has a contract with Keystone Fireworks to sell fireworks! "It's actually pretty fun," he says. His company, F2H Media, provides sales and marketing services.
"The only way to really enjoy and celebrate the Fourth of July is with a hotdog and setting off a firework, my man," Hall adds.
He plans to sell through Thursday, July 4.
What got him into fireworks sales? It "Just made sense. Selling fireworks on the Fourth of July. It's got to be profitable, right?" he says.
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ANNUAL W4M BIKE EVENT, A BIG SUCCESS!
The Annual W4M bike event was a great success with more than 200 registrations. Riders braved the heat dome to raise funds for Meals on Wheels Lewes-Rehoboth. For their extraordinary efforts riders were rewarded with delicious barbecue or fried chicken and free Dewey Beer!
They raised about $15,000.
It's not too late to donate!
Photo courtesy Gil Hofheimer
Welcome to The Starboard!
GALLERY 50 OPENS MARCIA REED'S "EMBRACING NATURE"
Marcia Reed opened her "Embracing Nature" exhibition this past Friday at Gallery 50, the gallery's first opening of the season.
Reed's show features an eclectic assortment of mixed media, as well as pastel and acrylic, works that depict the seasonal shifts in nature along the 12-mile river that runs through her hometown of Milford, the Mispillion River.
These works have been inspired by her walks along the river banks, traveling it on a canoe and what she finds in her riverfront backyard, like the wild yellow irises that grow along the riverbank.
She enjoys capturing those plant forms that come from the Mispillion. "I don't even know the names of those plants," she adds, "but I love them. I just love their shapes and their curves and they're always reaching up to the sun."
The big mixed-media piece here, behind Reed, was done on birch board, a hard surface which is like working on Masonite but it has a clay-board surface, she explains.
This exhibition runs through July 17.
CHRYSSA WOLFE COMES TO ELEGANT SLUMMING
This past Saturday, Elegant Slumming also opened an exhibition of paintings inspired by an artist whose studio is along a river. Chryssa Wolfe lives in Southern Maryland on the Wicomico River. In this show, she has both oil-on-board but also acrylic-on-Plexiglas pieces.
Wolfe explains that capturing the wind is an important aspect of her work. It is something that could help one get through life, like if you catch a good wind, you're hopefully going in the right direction. Here she is with Philip Livingston of Elegant Slumming.
This is called "Still Standing." It's one of her favorites, she explains, "because it's after Covid, people in the Ukraine, everything that we've been through politically, everything that we're enduring today. We're all still standing!"
She paints sometimes on glass using special acrylic paints, a technique she calls "painting on ice." It's risky like walking on ice, she says, because if you make a mistake, there is no covering it up!
Wolfe paints from the back of the glass pane. This osprey is one of those works. The first stroke, she points out, would be the last stroke on an oil painting. Everything is in reverse when you paint on the opposite side of a pane of glass... "So you reverse your brain and you paint backwards," she explains.
She too captures the excitement of living along a river with her fascination of the osprey. "We have these poles and we have them along the Wicomico for the osprey and they come every year," she says. "They're really important, so we have to provide the poles and they come and build these incredible nests... They're a big part of our lives," she adds.
Her show runs through July 28.
PHOTOS OF THE WEEK
Rehoboth Seashell Sunrise by Tim Devine ...
Seasons Community on the Way to RBYCC by Susan Howard ...
Bunny Meets Squirrel on Park Avenue 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 investigated the deaths of two loggerhead sea turtles this past week. One was at Slaughter Beach and the other was found just north of Indian River Inlet bridge. Both were boat prop victims, she says.
