Small Town News

Now is the time to turn rhetoric into results

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GOTTA LOVE IT

"In recent years, our highway construction has not kept pace with the growth in traffic.... By any reasonable standard our highways are inadequate for today's demands. ...To build highways that will meet these needs will require continuous effort over a longperiod of time and on an extensive scale... we can and must continue to rebuild and modernize our highways where their present obsolescence results in excessive safety hazards and wasteful maintenance costs, and where present traffic capacity is most seriously inadequate."

- Harry S. Truman

Our Sussex County legislators, a bipartisan collection of representatives and senators, has reached consensus regarding the long-discussed Route 113 bypass project.

The bypass, which has seen several conceptual iterations in years past, may finally be on the path from concept to concrete now that the legislators have unified behind a plan which encompasses a Millsboro bypass to the north and discards an ill-advised proposal to parallel Route 113 south of Route 24 through parts of Millsboro, Dagsboro and Frankford.

To anyone who has suffered a summer afternoon enduring the unique aroma of a chicken truck in downtown Millsboro while trapped in traffic, this will come as welcome news. The proposal embraced by the Sussex delegation envisions a bypass running from near the Mountaire plant on Route 24 to Route 113 near the Stockley Center.

Improvements along the DuPont Highway corridor are also proposed to alleviate traffic and safety concerns.

While the delegation has reached consensus designed to overcome Gov. Jack Markell's threats to remove the improvements from consideration due to past indecisiveness and delay, the hard part lies ahead. Plans are nothing if not acted upon.

By virtue of his position as House Majority Leader, Re-hoboth's Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf has emerged as

the de facto leader of Sussex County's Dover delegation. This can be a big benefit in obtaining the priority status and funding allocation the bypass project deserves as Sussex representation at Legislative Hall has more elephants than donkeys.

Delaware stands unique in the region with a budget surplus, funds which lend themselves more appropriately to one-time expenditures. While advocacy by all of our senators and representatives will be required to prevent upstate provincials from forestalling the expedited approvals which are required, Schwartzkopf has the governor's ear and should be able to cut a deal to get the bypass completed as rapidly as possible.

The delegation's letter to Gov. Jack Markell, published in last week's Cape Gazette, touts its members' unanimity of purpose. Now is the time to turn rhetoric into results.

"You are remembered for the rules you break,"

Douglas Macarthur

Last week, Red Lion Christian Academy in Bear asked state officials to exempt it from rules that bar recruiting and awarding

athletic scholarships so that the school can field nationally competitive teams. What would Jesus do? Seriously. Nationally competitive athletic teams? I thought the whole point of a Christian education was to provide an alternative to the public schools where the theological can be taught in tandem with the secular, not to run semi-pro sports teams. Word has it that Red Lion Christian has scholarship students from Caribbean islands who apparently felt drawn to Red Lion's mission of faith-based education. The fact that they are talented basketball players is, of course, mere coincidence. Although the most brazen, Red Lion Christian, which was sanctioned by Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association, is not alone in its wink and a nod attitude toward DIAA standards. Public schools are not wholly blameless when it comes to enticing student athletes, but the private and parochial contingent, with scholarships and deep-pocketed parents and supporters, has long enjoyed athletic supremacy over the public counterparts as evidenced by the state tournament and individual sports titles awarded over the years. It's not a level playing field by

any stretch of the imagination.

The DIAA is a division of the Delaware Department of Education. Allowing the participation of parochial and private schools in contests under its jurisdiction means that taxpayer dollars are being used to benefit these religious and private institutions. This shortchanges the taxpaying public and those who send their students to our public high schools and middle schools.

In short, DIAA should serve only public education athletes. Only the public schools should be eligible for DIAA-sanctioned championships and individual honors. The private and parochial schools should compete apart and not be eligible for participation in statewide tournaments or for individual or team honors.

Games between public and private schools should be treated as non-conference games; the private institutions should develop their own championship criteria apart from the DIAA-sanctioned events. Pay for play has no business in state-supported scholastic athletics.

Bob Love has been a reporter for community newspapers and a campaign strategist for local, state and federal candidates. He is a former planning board member and charter school board president. Reach Love at ralove.cg.agmail.com.





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