This week: Big expansion in Bridgeville, growth concerns in Laurel and other news
By Andrew Sharp
A new development of more than 400 homes coming to Laurel has some residents concerned about how so many new homeowners, their families and their cars will fit into a community that already struggles to spur economic development, Tony Russo reported on Monday. His story looks at the big picture in Laurel as the development boom continues in Sussex County.
Going a little further north: Can Bridgeville support a 100-room hotel? If plans come through for the developers, we're about to find out. Their vision also includes a number of new retail businesses and an apartment complex on a property just south of Food Lion on the south end of town. As far as whether the area would support a hotel, Town Manager Bethany DeBussy pointed to beach traffic, plus visitors to nearby Heritage Shores development and events like the NASCAR race in Dover. You can read more about the project in our story from Wednesday.
And after a stormy season of school board meetings in Delaware, Woodbridge braced itself for last week's meeting, which was held in the spacious high school auditorium. A number of parents and community members did show up and had very pointed remarks about the statewide mask mandate, calling on the board to send an anti-mandate message to Gov. John Carney. However, while other school board meetings around the state had gotten tense, with shouts and chants from the crowd, the tone was very different at Woodbridge.
As we keep digging up local stories like these, many thanks to all of you who have signed up for a paid subscription. You're playing a crucial part in building this news operation.
Locally, I subscribe to @ChathamNR and donate to @dailytarheel.
For news back home, I subscribe to @ChesBayJournal@MyDelmarvaNow@independent_del. https://t.co/6BhYmWbhQD
— Mitchell Northam (@primetimeMitch) September 1, 2021
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
In other news:
Only a couple of months after tornadoes hit near Harrington and Milford, another tornado spawned from the remnants of Hurricane Ida touched down near Hurlock, Maryland, to the west of Seaford, the Easton Star Democrat reported. The paper reported one family's close call and some relatively minor damage from the storm. A tornado warning was in effect in various parts of Delaware on Wednesday evening.
The latest iteration of the southern rock icons Lynyrd Skynyrd will be in Delaware Friday, Sept. 17 at the Freeman Arts Pavilion in Selbyville. The group is noteworthy for cramming more Ys into less space than any rock group in history. It will perhaps be best remembered by posterity for the 1970s hit “Free Bird,” which will likely be requested at concerts until the end of human civilization. They also did “Sweet Home Alabama” and some other stuff. For those keeping score at home, they are no longer on the farewell tour; that was put on hold and this is a regular tour. You can buy tickets for the 7 p.m. concert and find out more here.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxIWDmmqZzY?feature=oembed&w=200&h=113]
Next week sees not one but two Hispanic festivals in southern Delaware. The inaugural Hispanic-American Carnival is coming to Williams Pond Park in Seaford on Saturday, Sept. 11 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Per a Facebook post, it will include a parade with a marching band, floats and dancing horses, along with live music, dance and food from different Latin American countries. There will also be a COVID vaccine clinic at the event. On Sunday, Sept. 12, the long-running Maxima Hispanic Fest will take place in downtown Georgetown on North Race Street from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. According to festival organizers, 20,000 people attended in 2019. The event will feature music and dance by local, national and international groups, arts and crafts and traditional food.
This Saturday, Sept. 4, there will be fast-result, walk-up vaccine testing in Greenwood at Agape Temple International Ministries on 40 Schultz Road (across from Shore Stop). You don’t have to have symptoms to be tested; results are available in 24 to 48 hours. Registration is encouraged — call 211 or visit delaware.curativeinc.com.
The Nanticoke chapter of Ducks Unlimited is holding what they're calling an indoor fishing tournament for marlin, tuna, mahi mahi and striped bass this month, although you shouldn't show up with fishing tackle. Organizer Lyle Davis said in an email that contestants will play games to win tickets to draw fish cards from a tank. The person with the biggest fish in each category wins a gun (not for fishing purposes, presumably), and there are also second and third place prizes. Everyone who attends will also get a year’s membership to Ducks Unlimited. The event is Friday, Sept. 10, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Moose Lodge in Seaford. Tickets to attend are $40.
The long-lost remains of a World War II bomber pilot who died in 1944 when his plane crashed are returning to Seaford. Air Force 2nd Lt. George M. Johnson will be reinterred in Odd Fellows Cemetery in Seaford in a ceremony tentatively slated for early October. It’s quite the story: Johnson had been buried all this time in New York under the name Sgt. John Roland “Jack” Busch. But recently, Busch’s remains were discovered at a cemetery in the Pacific and DNA testing determined the remains buried in New York were Johnson’s, as reported by Glenn Rolfe in the Delaware State News. You can read the full story here.
Fenwick Island has had quite the drama lately. The town council recently swore in four new council members at a packed meeting — but also dealt with mass resignations from town officials unhappy with the results of the recent election and the direction they see the town as taking, as reported by Emily Lytle of Delaware Online. Resignations included the "town manager, town solicitor, two council members and more than a dozen committee members." That leaves the town scrambling to fill the positions so it can take care of basic business. You can read the full story here.
A small clarification: Last week we noted there will be a health and safety day at Greenwood Library in conjunction with a townwide yard sale. Unhelpfully, we did not actually note the day. It is Saturday, Sept. 18.