October 25, 2007_S

Page 1

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2007

VOL. 12 NO. 27

New ordinance will impact property owners, developers

NEWS HEADLINES ENERGY SURVEY - A survey reveals the way most Delaware residents feel about offshore wind power and what they’re willing to pay. Page 2

By Lynn R. Parks

VOLUNTEERS - At the age of 97, she is still an active member in all the functions of the Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Department Ladies’ Auxiliary. Page 8 DON'T FALL BACK YET - Don't turn your clocks back yet. Daylight Savings Time will be around longer this year. Page 9 TASERS - Blades Police officers have completed their taser training and are now carrying tasers with them while on patrol. Page 11 HOMICIDE CHARGE - A 24-year-old has been charged with vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, DUI and drug related charges. Page 14 BIOTECH - Delaware Tech has been awarded $499,973 by the National Science Foundation for Biotechnology Education. Page 16 BUSY LADY - Evelyn Wilson, director of the Coverdale Crossroads Community Center, is a busy woman. Find out why. Page 17 HOMECOMING WIN - The Woodbridge varsity football team picked up an 18-6 Homecoming win over Laurel last Saturday. Page 41 STARS OF THE WEEK - A Woodbridge football player and a Seaford field hockey player are this week’s Seaford Stars of the Week. Page 43 HISTORIC SITE - A Delaware Historical Marker dedication will commemorate the formal opening of the Delaware Railroad to Seaford. Page 50

INSIDE THE STAR AUTO ALLEY 49 6 BUSINESS BULLETIN BOARD 22 CHURCH 26 CLASSIFIEDS 32-38 EDUCATION 18 30 ENTERTAINMENT FRANK CALIO 53 GENE BLEILE 44 21 GOURMET GROWING UP HEALTHY 55 HEALTH 54 LETTERS 58

LYNN PARKS MOVIES OBITUARIES ON THE RECORD PAT MURPHY PEOPLE POLICE JOURNAL SNAPSHOTS SPORTS TIDES/WEATHER TODD CROFFORD TONY WINDSOR

12 7 28 38 40 15 14 56 41-48 59 27 53

50 cents

The Nellie G. Allen Curiosity Shop in Seaford, is getting ready for the holiday rush. Photo by Lynn Parks

Soroptimist Club hands out $100,000 a year from money raised in the Curiosity Shop By Lynn R. Parks Malls and stores across the nation are starting to prepare for Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that marks the start of the Christmas shopping season. Similarly, Lori Milton, manager of the Nellie G. Allen Curiosity Shop in Seaford, is getting ready, lining up volunteers to help out with the rush of shoppers she is expecting. “Last year, we had 100 people lined up outside on Friday morning, waiting for the store to open,” Milton said. But the thrift shop is not busy only at Christmas. According to Milton, the store makes about 2,000 sales a week, the proceeds from which go to the Soroptimist Club in Seaford. The club in turn gives the money back to the community, in scholarships and in donations to organizations including Nanticoke Memorial Hospital, area fire companies, the Western Sussex Boys and Girls Club, schools, the Seaford Mission and the Seaford District Library. Most recently, the club gave money to the Sussex County chapter of Habitat for Humanity and to Delaware Hospice, for a new Hospice center to be built in Milford.

In all, the club hands out about $100,000 a year. All of that money is generated in the Curiosity Shop, which sells clothes and other items that are donated by members of the community. “Your donations are what make all the wonderful things we do possible,” said Nancy Hickman, chairwoman of the Soroptimist Club’s ways and means committee, which oversees the shop. “We are so grateful for all the community’s donations.” (Note: The shop does not accept large items of furniture, appliances or mattresses. “We simply do not have the room to display them,” Hickman said.) Hickman said that the Curiosity Shop benefits the community in three ways. In addition to generating income for good causes, it provides 22 jobs. It also provides a place where people in western Sussex can buy good-quality used clothing at very low prices. Every other Thursday, shoppers can get whole bags of clothing for $2 each. For one day about every three weeks, all women’s pants in the store are just 50 cents. And once a week, the prices on all children’s items are reduced to 25 Continued on page four

According to state law, all counties and municipalities have to have laws in place by the end of the year to protect groundwater. The Seaford City Council is set to vote on the city’s wellhead protection ordinance at its next meeting, Nov. 12. If approved, the law would go into effect before Dec. 31. City manager Dolores Slatcher has said that the new set of laws will have significant impact on property owners and developers. The ordinance would limit construction and land use in areas that the state has designated as groundwater recharge areas — lands through which rainwater seeps into the ground to fill the aquifers from which we pull drinking water. Those areas include all of downtown and much of the rest of the city. Slatcher has said that there are hundreds of acres in the city’s development zones that will be affected. The ordinance would apply to all new construction and to renovations and expansions of current buildings. Existing construction would be allowed to remain, but during any renovation project would have to be upgraded to meet the law. At a public meeting held in March to discuss the ordinance, then director of operations Charles Anderson, who has since been named assistant city manager, told the council that the new law would apply to all zoning districts in the city. “The goal is to protect public safety by minimizing contamination of drinking water,” he said. Under the new ordinance, property that is in the groundwater recharge area could have no more than 35 percent coverage by impervious material. Impervious material like blacktop impedes rainwater from seeping into the ground. Some exceptions to the 35-percent coverage limit would be allowed, but only with an engineering study to prove that the development is not hindering recharge of the aquifer. “In our whole downtown, the lots will not be as buildable as they once were,” Anderson said. The ordinance would also prohibit certain land-use in the recharge areas. Underground storage tanks larger than 100 gallons, including tanks used to store home heating oil, would be banned. Storage of toxic and hazardous waste would be prohibited, as would gasoline stations and dry cleaning establishments. Golf courses would be allowed only if they were “green” — if they did not apply pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides. Any spills in the recharge areas would have to be reported immediately and cleaned up within 45 days.


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October 25, 2007_S by Morning Star Publications - Issuu