Just because it rains on a piece of land does NOT make it a wetland! The Sussex county council deals with food carts, wetlands and questionable charitable activities. Tune in for much more.
I thought the discussion and commentary on the request for donations from individual councilmatic accounts to be quite interesting this month. Rob Arlett, a new fellow on the job, did vow during his campaign that he was going to take a long, hard look at this practice and so he did.
During the Sussex county council meeting on 4/14/15 money for the following events was requested:
1. Ducks Unlimited for the Annual Greenwing Event
2. Trap Pond Partners for the Healthy Kids Day Event
3. Lewes Historical Society for the Annual Chautauqua Tent Show Event
4. City of Seaford for the Nanticoke Riverfest Event
As for request number one, Arlett questioned why the council should contribute to an event that has already taken place? Now there are likely good answers to that….such as the event went on before the Sussex county council could meet….BUT…well hey, good question.
As for the second event Arlett questioned why the county should provide funding for an event at the state park. Not such a good question because what….does Arlett think the state will fund a “Healthy Kids Day Event”? Still and so, Rob’s watching the money….a good thing.
Sam Wilson, a crusty but lovable curmudgeon who often attends the Sussex GOP monthly meetings but sits up the front where they won’t let me sit, made a comment about “wetlands” that had me standing and cheering in my dining room as I listened to the session over my broadband.
“I’m tired of everybody saying the wetlands, the wetlands,” Sam said. “If you wanted to , ALL of Sussex county could be called a wetland”.
HE IS SO RIGHT!
Every time some group or another protests a possible new development somebody says it’s going to ruin the wetlands. And yeah, right now the entirety of my Sussex county lot could be considered a wetland.
Further, yon ladies and gems….come on…I lived on a beautiful small cove off of the Chesapeake Bay for almost 40 years of my life…THE WETLANDS WILL SURVIVE, GET A GRIP.
More on the wetland debate when I get to council comments.
The 4/14/15 meeting began with an information session about the Freeman Stage and this perked up my interest.
For I took my granddaughter to a play-Midsummers’ Night Dream by Shakespeare-at this most intriguing place and she absolutely loved it. The place is named after a young man who died young and in his memory, as I understand it. We were informed that there were 87 events and over 51,000 attendees in 2014. I am not sure why this was discussed at a Sussex county meeting except probably money to help out is coming out of county funds. Arlett mentioned that Freeman Stage was in his district. Heh.
Then we went on to declare April National Fair Housing month and Rep. Ruth Briggs-King, a realtor extraordinaire, spoke.
What the hell is fair housing? I know that discrimination as regards sale of a house is illegal and I think it was called the fair housing act or something. This was back in the 60’s but still we needs entire months devoted to this common sense tenet? But it sounds good I suppose. Who is in favor of “unfair housing”?
Then we are reminded that this is national service recognition week and say what?
The saga of the produce and hot dog stands continued. Like how can I set up a venue to sell my fine corn crop on the K-Mart parking lot in the summer without having to go through bureaucratic hell to do so. I’ve been covering this development in my last few posts and now understand it’s up for public hearing.
I’m on it.
There is now a time set aside for council commentary and I think this is new. Whatever the case, I do quite like it and now I shall appeal to mine own council rep, Joan Deaver. Deaver mentioned during her time of commentary that there is a development that has been in the works since 2007 and she expressed concern.
I believe Joan refers to a housing community up for development in the area behind mine own beloved church on Tulip Drive.
And goodness guess what reason they are using to stop the building?
IT WILL DESTROY WETLANDS!
People, people, take a deep breath, slow….in and out. If DNREC isn’t using wetlands as a reason not to touch a hair on an empty space’s head then DELDOT will too throw out the mantra.
Cause guys, saving the wetlands can never be a bad thing, right?
Please…….the wetlands are not going to die and come on, there’s no wetlands down that way. Just because it rains and dampens up the soil DOES NOT MAKE A LOT A WETLAND.
Okay…..more on this next column.
All in all it was a good session of the Sussex county council and I continued to be impressed by the job they do.
And Joan I will be calling you about this Tulip drive thing. No I don’t want a big development back there to all exit out of that pathetic light on Tulip and Rt. 1.
But calling it wetlands will fool no one.
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Just because you don’t know what a wetland is doesn’t mean the rest of us have to share your ignorance. You’re a moron, and switching blog sites didn’t fix it.
What is this obsession with talk radio republicans about council making 100 dollar donations to charitable groups? He’s watching the money lol. Is he watching the money when these giant real estate development companies come in and throw up 500 plastic ugly houses in a corn field without paying a cent for infrastructure which then falls on the taxpayers? Get real.