Small Town News

New Dewey Beach Manager Diana Smith gets trial by ice

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Neighbors weather storm together

It was Diana Smith's first week as Dewey Beach town manager. She hardly had time to meet her staff before a winter nor'easter dumped more than a foot of snow on Dewey Saturday, Feb. 6, clogging streets and downing power lines.

It was a trial by fire. Or ice.

"I didn't expect to walk into a state of emergency," Smith said. As residents in the town's north end waited for their lights to flicker back on, police made door-to-door calls, and maintenance supervisor Alvin Huffman began the job of plowing Dewey's roads - alone. By Tuesday, Feb. 9, most Dewey streets were clear, just in time for the second storm.

"He's done a tremendous job," Smith said. "Our residents are very fortunate to have the roads in the condition they are."

Former interim Town Manager Ken Lodge was helping Smith ease into her new job. The storm brought a sudden shift of priorities.

"I had a nice, orderly list of things to do;" he said. "That was gone with the snow."

Lodge said police maintained a 24-hour dispatch to aid residents. Off-duty officers slept in the Best Western Gold Leaf across Route 1 rather than risk the journey home.

"We're asking them to be here. It's good they have somewhere to go," Smith said.

Lodge said several residents opened their homes to neighbors without power. Commissioner Diane Hanson offered her rental properties to off-duty town workers, while former Mayor Dell Tush sheltered north end residents Cornel and Shirley Grutkowski.

Tush's husband, Larry, teamed up with police Lt. Billy Hocker to shovel the Grutkowskis' sidewalk and evacuate the couple. They hunkered down in Tush's home with their dog, Otis.

Tush shrugged off the kindness. "It's nothing someone else wouldn't do," she said.

After the snow melts, Smith said she wants to upgrade Dewey's emergency response protocol. She wants to implement a system that would alert residents to impending emergencies and update them throughout the crisis. Until then, she's settling into her new home.

"You find out a lot about a character of a town," she said, "and what I've found I like a lot."





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