Port Penn News

The First Presbyterian Church of Port Penn has been keeping itself afloat in recent years by making homemade Easter eggs. For the third year, the church will try to fill its treasury by selling a quarter pound eggs for $5. They come in butter cream, coconut and peanut butter. People, who are interested, should call Mary Lou Reynolds at (302) 834-2272 or e-mail Pat Schaffer at sally4715@verizon.net.

The Reedy Point Bridge along Del. 9 is scheduled to close in April for six months of repairs -- just in time to ruin Kathy Wisowaty's summer, she said. Each spring, Wisowaty opens her restaurant, Kathy's Crab House, in Delaware City. She caters to hungry beachgoers and Fort Delaware tourists traveling the scenic coastal route through October. But last month, as business owners began preparing for high season, they learned the bridge carrying their patrons over the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal would close during their peak months, April through September. 'It will be my entire season,' said Wisowaty, who expects to lose NASCAR race-weekend traffic from Dover as well. 'Everything I have is on the line. I'm worried I won't even be able to pay the electric bill.' She and others plan to plead their case to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials today during a 7 p.m. public meeting at Delaware City Public Library. 'We're a seasonal town that had no notification of this,' said Mayor John P. Buchheit, owner of Crabby Dick's Restaurant in the former Delaware City Hotel. 'With gas at $4 a gallon, the idea's insane that anyone will come back through a 13-mile detour.' The 190-foot-high cantilever truss bridge last underwent major construction in 1999. Engineers say the 43-year-old span needs a coat of paint and repairs to welds and deteriorated steel beams. Locals asked why crews didn't work during the winter, when many businesses in Delaware City and neighboring Port Penn are closed. 'Everybody's hollerin' about it,' said Barbara McCarter, a longtime bartender at Kelly's Tavern in Port Penn. 'They did this in the past, and it about killed us.' The Army Corps closed the bridge for four months in 1984 during a $1.5-million redecking job, leaving residents and businesses with a near-deserted highway, according to reports at the time. Prompted in part by a 900-signature petition, then-Gov. Mike Castle intervened and convinced the Corps to add a second shift of workers to complete the work a month ahead of schedule. Last year, the average daily traffic crossing Reedy Point Bridge was 1,500-2,000 vehicles a day, according to estimates by the Delaware Department of Transportation. Summer counts are higher when Del. 9 becomes a popular relief route for beach traffic. The Army Corps, which maintains the bridge, says summer temperatures and weather provide the best environment for repairs. Officials also say that safeguarding workers and motorists necessitates closing both lanes of the narrow span. The bridge has no shoulders, leaving little room for vehicles to safely pass when work is under way. Full closure also expedites construction, which could take more than a year if workers close only one lane at a time, said Richard Pearsall, a spokesman for the Corps' Philadelphia District. Signs along the detour route will indicate businesses in Delaware City are open, the agency says. Residents hope the Corps will compromise. Options include night work, weekday closures and leaving one of the bridge's two lanes open. 'Hopefully, they'll pick one of those and help our businesses already struggling during an economic downturn,' said Richard Cathcart, city manager of Delaware City. 'It's just wait and see now.' Cathcart contacted Delaware's congressional delegation to help organize today's meeting, he said. He wanted Army Corps leaders to hear firsthand accounts of the anticipated impact, he said. Tonight, C&D Canal Project Manager Timothy Kelly of the Army Corps will answer citizens' questions and explain the $8 million project. Cathcart will moderate. A final decision on the bridge closure has not been made, Pearsall said. 'We're sincere when we say we're going to listen,' Pearsall said. 'But we have to balance all these factors. If we had more money, it's possible we could stretch it out to some extent.' Pearsall cautioned that there would be traffic delays at the Reedy Point Bridge even if one lane remains open -- potentially as long as the 20-minute detour to cross the canal at the Roth Bridge on Del. 1. The Reedy Point Bridge is a mile and a half long, and motorists would sit in long queues waiting for a flagger's signal. The fire companies in Port Penn and Delaware City have tentative arrangements with the Army Corps and DelDOT for emergency vehicles to cross the span. The companies cover each other's fire and EMS calls when the other is out at a scene, said Dave Carpenter Jr., an officer with the Delaware City Fire Company No. 1. 'They did say they would keep a lane open for emergency vehicles,' Buchheit said, 'which makes you wonder, if they can open it for them, why not the rest of us?' Planned detour: » Southbound traffic will be directed to Del. 1 South; to U.S. 13 South via Exit 148; left at Pole Bridge Road; which becomes Port Penn Road and intersects with Del. 9 (Liberty Street). » Northbound traffic will be directed to U.S. 13 via Port Penn Road; to Del. 1 North; to Exit 152 for Del. 72; then right at the end of the ramp to proceed east on Del. 72 (Wrangle Hill Road) to its intersection with Del. 9.

When Master Cpl. Kyle Webb pulled up to a Port Penn house recently, he got a pleasant surprise. The stray beagle that Donna Price had seen roaming around her rural home for two weeks was now on a leash, wagging his tail and sniffing everything. The dog appeared old but healthy. 'We took him to get a bath because he stunk so bad,' Price said when Webb got out of his Delaware Animal Control truck. Webb scratched the beagle under the chin before scanning the dog to see if he had an identification microchip -- he didn't -- and then carrying him to a blanket-lined crate in the back of his truck. If someone doesn't claim him within a week, the dog will be available for adoption at the Kent County SPCA's shelter near Camden. Beagles are a popular breed, Webb said, and he expects this one will find a home soon. 'There's no obvious reason he should be euthanized,' Webb said. The Kent County SPCA, which handles animal control for all three counties in Delaware, is the only animal-welfare group in the state that will euthanize a healthy but unadopted animal to make space in its shelter. In 2010, it did so with 25 dogs and 310 cats; 753 animals with treatable illnesses, injuries or behavior problems also were euthanized. Acknowledging the policy's critics, Kent County SPCA Executive Director Kevin Usilton said with resignation, 'We're the bad guys.' Usilton said euthanasia is a sad necessity in the face of an animal overpopulation problem in Delaware. The unpleasant task falls on the group because it must take in every animal, including those that are sick, injured or aggressive, he said. But other animal advocates say animal-control programs can keep their focus on public safety while still embracing the 'no kill' philosophy that's become a nationwide trend in recent years. 'All shelters in the country should be 'no kill,' ' said Jane Pierantozzi, executive director of Faithful Friends, a nonprofit shelter in Wilmington. It's a question facing Wilmington as the city begins looking for a new animal-control contractor for the first time in 120 years. The Delaware SPCA, which moved to a 'no kill' model a few years ago, told the city last month it would drop its contract June 30 to focus its resources on animal adoption and cruelty prevention. Wilmington is seeking another company or group interested in running the program, said John Rago, the city's director of communications and policy development. 'Beyond that, a municipal animal-control program is certainly an option,' Rago said. 'If the city were to be forced into the animal-shelter business, our goal would be 'no kill' also.' Many animal-welfare groups nationwide also are dropping their municipal contracts and the stigma that can come with them, said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States. 'You can save money and shed this albatross of euthanasia,' Pacelle said. An estimated 3 million to 4 million healthy or treatable animals are euthanized nationwide annually because of a lack of shelter space, Pacelle said. That's down significantly from 12 million to 20 million in the 1970s, he said, and the figure will continue coming down because of the popularity of the 'no kill' movement. 'In the last four or five years, the movement has really taken off,' said Nathan Winograd, director of the nonprofit No Kill Advocacy Center in Oakland, Calif. 'As more and more communities are ending the killing, the SPCA is looking at what its true mission is,' Winograd said. 'It was never the role of a private SPCA to kill animals on behalf of government.' Winograd said there are now about 30 communities that have reached what he and many other advocates consider to be 'no kill' status, which is to euthanize fewer than 10 percent of the animals that come into a shelter and only those with untreatable illness, injury or behavior problems. In 2010, Kent County SPCA euthanized 35 percent of the animals it took in, most of which were considered unhealthy and untreatable. The city of Austin, Texas, reached no-kill status a few years ago through widespread community support and cooperation among the city and more than 90 rescue groups, said Lisa Starr, spokeswoman for the Austin Humane Society. 'Any one shelter can be no-kill, but you have to look at the whole community,' Starr said. 'It's about what everybody is doing.' Austin organizations also got about $1 million in grants from national animal advocacy groups for spay/neuter programs, shelter care, behavior training, advice for new pet owners and other services, she said. The city of 790,000 people also is increasing its animal-control budget by about $2 million over three years to add officers, veterinarians, medical care and a larger shelter, said Abigail Smith, chief animal services officer. 'You can't increase your live outcomes by 30 to 40 percent and not spend some money,' Smith said. 'It was definitely, absolutely, unequivocally a community effort.' Usilton said he, too, would love to see Delaware become a no-kill state, but that requires more money for larger shelters and low-cost spay/neuter programs. 'There has to be some kind of plan put into place to make that happen,' Usilton said.

Salem Nuclear Plant cooling tower steam rises into the sky in stark contrast to parched trees in foreground in marsh across the Delaware River near Port Penn.

A 24-year-old Port Penn man was sentenced to 35 years in prison Friday for raping a 7-year-old and a 1-year-old. The crimes of Joshua Jones were uncovered in February 2010, when the mother of one victim discovered a laptop-computer video file of Jones engaging in sex acts with her daughter and reported it to police.