We Do Welcome Guest Workers

I was proud this week of Lewes' Tom and Chris King, owners of King's Ice Cream and a prime example of what it means to have class.

There'’s an article in Friday'’s Cape Gazette about a recent incident at King'’s Ice Cream in which patrons were not willing to be served by young women from Russia who are in our area working at Kings.

We have a large number of young people from many countries in our area each summer. We depend on them to help fill the many service jobs our summer resort economy demands. They come to us from Russia, Poland, France, the United Kingdom, and other European nations.

In this case, a patron balked at being served by someone "not an American." I hope that this particular boob was a visitor, and not one of our own. It seems likely, since people who live here are well used to waiters and counter staff with accented though usually perfectly serviceable English.

It just seems wrong to object to guest-workers in an area such as this, where the demand for vacation homes and hotel rooms has driven housing costs so high that few working people can afford to live close enough to the beach to be able to fill the many jobs needed to feed, clothe and entertain all the vacationers.

We have to have student workers. If some proportion of those workers is from other counties, we should welcome them and take advantage of an opportunity to learn more about the nations from which many of our own forbears came to America.

Tom King showed his practical side when he posted a sign in his business saying that he is proud to employ young people from Russia and hopes his patrons will join him in welcoming them to our shores.

Tom and his wife Chris showed an extra level of class, though. According to the news story, they have welcomed their workers into their home as well, giving their temporary staffers room and board in their house while they are working here.

One of the problems we face in having so many summer workers, domestic and imported, is housing them fairly and safely. Man of these young people are treated badly and taken advantage of by unscrupulous landlords.

Good for Tom and Chris King. I'm proud to have them as leaders of the Lewes business community.

Update: The story that prompted this post is now available on the Cape Gazette web site (Some customers reject foreign servers at King's Ice Cream). Also, the Tuesday edition of the paper includes a great editorial cartoon and some letters to the editor about the issue, one rather strongly worded. (Note: The two last links here will not persist past Friday, 7/14.)

It Really is a Small World

The other day I stumbled across an AP story on the Chicago Sun-Times web site that represents one of those odd intersections of interest and personal history.

The story -- Tax breaks rolled out for hybrid-car buyers -- is from January 1 of this year. It is about the new tax breaks for hybrid cars, including the Prius, which I drive.

I found it when I was reviewing Performancing statistics on my blog. I like to see what web-searches have led people to my site.

In this case, I noted that someone had found me by searching Google for John Krivit. That's the name of one of the members of my rock band in high school. That search led someone to an entry I had written back in 2004 about Googling for my old friends from The Ramblin' Beach Guys (RBGs).

Just below that on the search results was a link to the AP story about the Prius tax break. John Krivit is quoted as a Prius owner, which is a fine coincidence. What really freaked me, though, was that the story is by John Heilprin, our old drummer.

Are We About to Become the Next Dover, PA?

I find myself wondering if Sussex County is about to become the next Dover, Pennsylvania.

The suit against the Indian River School Board over overtly Christian prayers at school functions had been percolating along in local media for the last year without attracting much national attention. This week, that has started to change.

Aspects of the lawsuit and local reaction to it have been picked up by several blogs around the US, including Jesus' General, Daily Kos, and Bartholomew's notes on religion. The story has also now come to the attention of several Delaware bloggers, including Delawareliberal (twice, thrice), first slate, and Karmically Speaking.

It is getting some interesting discussion.

Full disclosure: my wife Karen is an employee of the Indian River School District and my daughters have profited from attending one of the better schools in the District. Though we live in the neighboring Cape Henlopen District, we "choiced" both girls into the Southern Delaware School of the Arts in the Indian River District. Colleen has just graduated eighth grade and next fall will attend Sussex Vocational Technical High School, which has its own, county-wide district status.

I have taken notice of the School Prayer story here from time to time. Either in passing, while covering other issues in that District, or directly, as parts of the story have played out. Beyond that, I probably shouldn't go. Conflicts of interest.

Still, I am interested to see the reaction as this story spreads. I hope people around the world won't assume that all of Sussex County is intolerant of variety and other religions. They are not.

Unfortunately, some are. Further, there is a strong feeling in some quarters, mistaken, I think, that asking the school board to not officially proselytize is somehow to restrict their ability to practice their faith at all.

While I do not agree with this position, I will say that, faced with such deeply held beliefs -- right or wrong -- it will take patience and forbearance to work through to a more tolerant society.

I think the school board is in the wrong. But I know it will take time to move them. Patience, tolerance, and steady moral pressure will, eventually, solve the problem.

Filed in:

• IRSD
• School
• Board
• Prayer

Tending to the Blogroll

Here we are at the start of another month. Time to check the blogroll.

I had thought about replacing this with a collection of del.icio.us bookmark categories, but I think that would get me too wrapped up in categorizing. I've decided to stay with a blogroll of Delaware-related blogs and blogs I'm interested in and leave it at that.

As usual, I will remove any blogs that have lain fallow for a month or so.

Most active Delaware blog-readers are well aware that DelaThought has withdrawn from what was turning into rather a fray. I won't link to his or her site; it has been hi-jacked by some sort of icky real-estate spam site.

Willard has not updated DelaWhyte since June 9. He was down to only a post or two a month lately.

Mike R.'s Oblogation has been quiet for just over a month. He last took notice of an impressive thunderstorm. Remember back when they were rare? Was it only a month ago?

I'm pulling Philly Future. Not because it isn't active. It is. But I don't feel drawn to read it any more.

Ditto for The Hungarian Knight. It is active. And it is by someone in Delaware, but it is not about Delaware.

Other than these changes, I have to say that the Delaware Blog Community has been active and interesting lately. Things are heating up?!

Filed in:

• blogging
• blogroll
• delaware

At Bethany Beach for the Fourth of July

As is our tradition, we went to Bethany Beach for the Fourth of July Parade.

Each year, we join my parents and elements of the Mahaffie clan along the Parade route where I love to greet statewide and local politicians. This year we had a good selection, including Senator Tom Carper and Governor Ruth Ann Minner.

Many of the parade entrants were handing out American flags. Very patriotic. It was not one of the politicians that was distributing plastic US flags clearly marked as "Made in China." My sister-in-law Karen pointed this out to me, after the folks handing these out had passed.

After the parade, we spent the afternoon on the beach. It was such a hot day, the cold Atlantic water felt very good. We floated, and sat, and made sand castles, until almost 5. It's remarkable how burned you can get.

In the evening, we sat around my folks' house, drinking beer, chatting, snacking, and enjoying family and friends. We ate burgers and dogs, with pasta salad and macaroni and cheese, and veggies and hummus.

And there was dessert, while we waited for the sun to set and the Bethany fireworks to start. Unfortunately, a large thunderstorm rolled in and put paid to the fireworks show. So we sat and watched lightning from the living room.

It was a long, hot, tiring, but fun day. So much fun, in fact, that I found myself wide awake in the small hours of this morning, suffering from a righteous indigestion brought on by all that holiday enjoyment.

Filed in:

• holiday
• fourth
• bethanybeach

Sixth Golf Game of 2006

Andy Southmayd and I played Old Landing Golf Course outside of Rehoboth Beach yesterday morning.

It was a hot and buggy 18 holes. Andy broke 100. I didn't. In fact, my score was worse than I had hoped, based on some of my recent outings. But I see signs of hope.

Rather than my usual steady mediocrity, in which I score consistent double or triple bogeys on most holes, I was up and down yesterday. I managed par on three holes, but always followed those holes with disastrous blow-ups.

On one par three, I hit my tee shot to within about 4 feet. My birdie try came close, stopping an inch or so short of the hole. I thought about that putt too much and tried to be too careful.

I also brought my driver out of my bag more often on this round than I have in the past. I'm inconsistent with it, but I think it is a viable option at this point.

I'll try to fit in one or two more lunchtimes at the driving range before we head off to Vermont and its challenging mountainside golf courses.

Old Landing was in better shape than it has been in a while. We last played there two summers back, and we were not impressed. Last year, I understand, the course was horrible. They were re-doing the greens and for parts of the summer, there were no greens at all on much of the course. They were better this year, though many of the fairways still need work.

And it was hot. And buggy. The flies were in heated competition with the mosquitoes to see which could be more annoying. We like to walk our 18 holes, where we can, but by the 17th hole we were regretting it somewhat.

Still, we had fun. And when we were done, we headed to Bethany to meet our families, enjoy the parade, and float in the cool cool ocean.

More on that later. Just now, I better head out to work.

Filed in:

• golf
• 2006

Now It's Half Way

I rolled 50,000 miles in my Prius on my commute home the other day. I was just coming into Five Points and was able to take this photo while waiting in the left-turn lane to head towards Lewes.

I figure I'll keep this car until just before I hit 100,000 miles. It has taken me about 20 months to roll 50,000. Next Prius in 2008?

This mileage stone isn't as fun as when I hit 22,222 or 44,444, but worth noting anyway.

Update: Update

As you can see, I decided to go back to he clean, minimalist look. I have started rebuilding the sidebar, but I am now headed out to mow the grass. I'll play more with this later!

Filed in:

• blog
• maintenance

Wait. What's Going On Here?

I had a major blog publishing malfunction last night. I don't know the technical details, but my understanding is that Blogger fainted for a moment while adding last evening's post. The result was that my blog template was corrupted.

I believe that the easiest solution is to re-select a template and re-publish in toto. I thought it might be a good excuse to try a new look. Or two. What you see now may not be what you see tomorrow.

I will have to re-add various links and widgets to the sidebar after I make a final template choice.

I was momentarily annoyed. However, this is the first major problem I've had with Blogger in nearly two years of blogging. And Blooger is, after all, a free service.

Filed in:

• blog
• maintenance

Senior Delinquent?

We live in a wonderful small town that has been colonized by retirees the last few years. In fact, the whole Lewes/Rehoboth area has attracted a large number of retired and nearly retired folks. We're used to seeing more white hair than brown.

This morning though, an older gentleman surprised my eye.

I had an early dentist appointment and was heading out for work about an hour later than usual. I stopped by the new WaWa for a coffee treat (I'd been a brave little dental patient).

As I stepped out of my car, I noticed a man squatting against the side wall of the store. He wore dungarees and a tank-top tee shirt and a pair of those slip-on canvas sneakers. His hair was only a little long, but was lightly greased back in a modified DA.

He had a cigarette cupped in one hand and he stared off into space as he took a long, deep drag. Then he stood up, flicked the half-smoked butt out into the parking lot and slouched into the store.

I couldn't help thinking: "senior delinquent."

Filed in:

• Lewes
• people