Fenwick Island News

Each and every day, members of local law enforcement agencies, fire departments and EMS services put their own lives on the line to ensure welfare of members of the community. Oftentimes their deeds go unnoticed except by those who experience their courageous and selfless acts firsthand. But once a year, the Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce takes time to recognize the outstanding individuals from local departments and companies who make local residents’ and visitors’ lives safer.

The Fenwick Island Town Council met last week to discuss whether or not the Town should apply for a match-grant that would help the Town pay for and install Mobi Mats to aid people crossing the dune to and from the beach.

After years of construction, delay and turbulent waters, the Indian River Inlet Bridge opened to traffic last Friday, with Gov. Jack Markell taking the maiden ride across its span.

In an effort to move the Route 54 Improvement Project toward completion, the Department of Transportation (DelDOT) announced Thursday, Jan. 5, that contractor Mumford & Miller, will be doing paving operations this weekend.  Unseasonably warm weather will allow a portion of the project to be paved now instead of in the spring, officials said. 
 

Delaware State Police and officers from the Ocean View Police Department this week arrested two Ocean View-area residents in connection with a string of armed robberies at businesses throughout the area.

The Bethany-Fenwick Chamber of Commerce has been printing a Quiet Resorts Visitors Guide since 1977, and currently the Chamber, which serves approximately 800 area businesses, is working on their 35th edition.

The lifeguards of Fenwick Island – some of the finest in the state and surrounding region – have for years been representing Sussex County at the national lifeguard championships. And, for nearly a decade, residents, homeowners, family members and friends have been coming together to support Fenwick’s finest each New Year’s Day with the Fenwick Freeze.

From music to the Christmas story, Bayside Chapel near Selbyville is offering modern holiday fun for the whole family this Sunday.

Selbyville police arrested Jeffrey Paddock, 49, of Ocean View on Wednesday, Nov. 23, for his alleged involvement in a string of local burglaries.

On Nov. 21, the Fenwick Island Lions Club celebrated its 25th anniversary of service to the community. During their celebratory luncheon, Past President Bruce Schoonover gave a presentation on the history of the Fenwick Island chapter.

Three shops in the Villages of Fenwick were burglarized on Nov. 21, and the object of the heist seems to have been pretty straightforward: cash registers. Janilyn Elias, owner of the Bookend Café and nearby Indulgence, said that, at Bookend Café, the burglars used “some kind of crowbar,” to get in one of their doors.

The Fenwick Island Town Council decided on Nov. 15 that the Town would not hold its annual Memorial Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony but would instead perform the tree-lighting in a lower-profile event.

Representatives from the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) spoke to members of the Bethany-Fenwick Chamber of Commerce on Nov. 3 about the progress of both the Indian River Inlet Bridge project and the Route 26 Mainline improvements project.

Thanksgiving Day is a time for friends, family and food, but organizations such as Seashore Striders, Sea Colony and hipAHA in Fenwick Island are also hoping to bring fun and fitness into the equation, once again.

The Delaware State Police are asking the public to be on the lookout for two suspicious male subjects who have reportedly followed several female juveniles in the Keenwick by the Bay development near Fenwick Island.

Stormwater management is coming to the forefront of environmental concerns and municipal affairs, and there may be no grandfather clause for Fenwick Island property owners.

Home-invasion. Burglary. Robbery. Just read the police beat in any newspaper to see that what used to be once-in-a-while crimes have seemingly become all-too-frequent as the area grows and the population grows with it. Julie Dugan and her family know that all too well. She said coming to the family’s vacation home outside Selbyville has been far from relaxing these past few months, since the house been burglarized four times in the past two years and three times in the past two months alone.

Dressed in hardhats, gloves and reflective vests, a group of 20 civilians crossed the new Indian River Inlet Bridge, from end to end, for the first time. They grinned as a DelDOT tour guide led them across the newly completed 10-foot closure pour, which connected the two halves of the new bridge. Motorists had become accustomed to seeing the incomplete north and south sections move closer together until Oct. 18, when the closure pour was completed.

On Wednesday, Nov. 9, Delaware will join all other states in conducting the first nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) test. At 2 p.m., radio, television and cable stations will broadcast the familiar alert warning sound. Following the alert sound, the recorded message on broadcast media will state, “This is a test.” The audio message will be the same for both radio and television.

Delaware’s Department of Transportation has announced that beginning this evening, Wednesday, Nov. 2, there will be a shift in traffic patterns on Route 1 just north of the Indian River Inlet Bridge. The shift will be implemented to ensure continued road safety due to dune erosion adjacent to the northbound lanes, they said.

Both the northbound and southbound lanes of Route 1, near the Indian River Inlet will close at approximately 9 p.m. tonight, due to high storm tides, report  officials from the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT).

For Keenwik Sound resident Robert Lowe, the retention pond northeast of the Harris Teeter on Route 54 is cause for concern. As a volunteer working on pond maintenance for his own development, he said, he knows it takes time and money to maintain them, but he says it is worth the effort.

It’s getting a lot harder for people driving across the Indian River Inlet Bridge to see through the gap between north and south sides of the new bridge as they drive past, with the time for the final concrete pour of the project nearing and just 10 feet of space remaining between the two cantilevered portions of the bridge deck.

On Saturday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Johnson’s Country Market will hold its annual Family Fun Day.

The first phase of Fenwick Island’s town manager search is almost complete.