THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2006
VOL. 11 NO. 4
50 cents
NEWS HEADLINES RELAY FOR LIFE - Annual event’s aim is to “Strike Out Cancer.” The Western Sussex Relay takes place May 19 and 20 at the Nanticoke Cancer Care Center. Page 12 POWER PLANT - City officials decide to place the Seaford power plant in mothballs for the second time in its history. Page 4 MEMORIES OF CORY - Friends recall a young man who always put his buddies first. The funeral service for Cpl. Palmer is Sunday, May 21, at 3 p.m. at St. John’s U.M. Church. Page 5 AFFORDABLE HOUSING - Local companies are combining forces to look at ways to provide housing for employees. Page 38 CONFERENCE CHAMPS - Seaford High’s Laura Riddle (tennis) and Keosha Gibbs (track and field) bring home conference titles. Inside sports
Open Houses PAGES 14-15
Honor Roll PAGES 16-19
BACK TO THE 50S - Members of the Seaford High School Drama Club are on stage during a performance of “Grease” at the high school this past weekend. Students offered five performances of the musical. In the photo are, from the left, Claire Rekitzke, Danielle McTeer, Charles Larrimore, Clay Lester and Jessica Reuhr. See more photographs on page 20. Photo by Ronald MacArthur
Area mourns loss of another young Marine killed in Iraq Lance Cpl. Rick James was 2004 graduate of Seaford Christian Academy
TOWNE FAIR
By Lynn R. Parks
Save the program in this week’s Star for the annual Towne & Country Fair
INSIDE THE STAR BEHIND PAGE ONE BUSINESS
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LYNN PARKS MOVIES OBITUARIES OPINION POLICE JOURNAL SNAPSHOTS SPORTS TIDES/WEATHER TODD CROFFORD TONY WINDSOR
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Seaford has lost another young man to the war in Iraq. Just one week after Cory Palmer died from injuries he received May 1, Lance Cpl. Richard “Rick” James, 20, was killed. He was the son of Kenny “Jake” and Carol James of Seaford. This was his second tour in Iraq. Jake James said that his son, a lance corporal, was killed Saturday in Ramadi. “They said his unit was fighting an enemy ambush and he was hit by small arms fire,” James said. The James family learned of their son’s death at about 5 p.m. Saturday. His mother had talked with him by phone just two days before. James is the third Seaford man to be killed in Iraq. In addition to Palmer, Ryan Long, 21, a 1999 graduate of Seaford High School, was killed near Baghdad April 3, 2003, in a suicide bombing. Rick James was a 2004 graduate of
Rick James in his graduation photo at the Seaford Christian Academy.
the Seaford Christian Academy, where he played on the soccer, basketball and baseball teams. He joined the Marine Corps before graduation and left for
boot camp on Father’s Day 2004, his dad said. He was in Iraq from January to August 2005 and started this second tour the first week of March. “My heart’s broken right now,” said Chad Kreczmer, 19, who graduated with James and who now lives in Baltimore. “We were best friends since the sixth grade. We played soccer and basketball together and always hung out together. He was hilarious and would do anything for you.” Gary Leach coaches soccer at the Seaford Christian Academy and attends the First Baptist Church, Seaford, where the James family goes. He said that he last saw James when he attended church before shipping out in March. “He was very sober,” Leach said. “Much more sober than I had ever seen him.” Leach said that on the soccer field, James, who played mid-field, was a Continued to page 10