Beach Update
By Alan Henney

MANATEE, OCEAN SUNFISH SIGHTED IN INDIAN RIVER BAY

The Coast Guard warned boaters Thursday evening when guardsmen
observed a manatee entering the Indian River Inlet around 4:15 p.m.
Suzanne Thurman, Executive Director of the Marine Education, Research
& Rehabilitation Institute, said she had received three reported
sightings from reliable sources.

The manatee seems to be foraging in Indian River and Indian River Bay;
and Thurman expressed concern about the boat traffic during the past
weekend.  She said MERR is spreading the word in hopes that someone
can take a picture, and also alert boaters in that area to be as
careful as possible since propeller strikes are the most common cause
of death to these animals.

We get one of these mammals in our region every other year or so,
Thurman notes, and it is not normal because they are not migratory
creatures by nature, and should remain in Florida.

Just before 2 p.m. on Friday, guardsmen responded to a "whale
 sighting" from a pleasure boat in the Indian River Bay.  They took
pictures and described the 15-foot-long fish with what appeared to be
white material wrapped around the base of its tail.  They noted that
it appeared to be in no distress, was not entangled and later said the
white matter might be barnacles or discolored skin.  The sighting was
300 yards east of the Junction buoy, near South Shore Marina,
approximately a mile or two west of the Indian River Inlet bridge.

Thurman says the "whale" turned out to be an ocean sunfish.  She says
MERR receives a couple of these "whale" reports each year.  Because of
their size and manner of swimming, with the fin up like a dorsal fin,
people often mistake them for whales.

Ocean Sunfish vs. Whale, can you tell the difference?
http://www.oceanlight.com/html/mola_mola.html

http://www.merrinstitute.org/
http://www.oceanlight.com/html/man_and_manatee.html




UNDERCOVER MARKETING COMES TO REHOBOTH?
Several unopened packages of Legal-brand cigarettes appeared to have
been conspicuously placed along the sidewalks on Baltimore and
Maryland avenues this past week.
Perhaps it was just a coincidence that Freedom Tobacco, a company
based in New York City, was featured on 60 Minutes last summer for its
low-cost "undercover marketing" of its Legal-brand cigarettes.
The bright green or red packs have no tax stamp but do include the
surgeon general's warning on the side.
Rehoboth Tobacco & Gifts on First Street had several of the
Legal-brand packs which reportedly came from a North Carolina
supplier.  The packs were given away for free by the shop because they
too lacked a tax stamp.

Read more about it:
http://tinyurl.com/3zlqx/
http://tinyurl.com/5pjwj/
http://www.freedomtobacco.com/
http://henney.com/weekend14/




MILITARY ORDNANCE EMPTIES FENWICK BEACH

State park rangers called for the state police bomb team on Saturday
to remove a military-like device discovered on the beach.  It was
reported around 3:30 p.m. in the Fenwick Island State Park south of
the York Beach Crossing.  One ranger described it as a foot-long
rocket or cylinder with a cap on one end.  The beach reopened around 6
p.m.




POLICE INVESTIGATE TWO PHOTOGRAPHER COMPLAINTS
An Ocean City police officer gave a lookout Friday for a man taking
pictures of "young girls" around 7:10 p.m.  He was last seen
southbound from Second Street wearing khaki shorts.
Rangers in the Delaware Seashore State Park received a complaint on
Saturday of a photographer taking pictures of women around 2:15 p.m.
No word if they found him.




CHANGE MACHINE #2 AND CITY HALL PARKING MACHINE, OUT OF SERVICE

Rehoboth's Change Machine #2 was taken out of service at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday and remained out of service into Sunday evening.  It was the
same weekend (#14) last summer that this machine was placed out of
service.

The machine that issues parking slips for the city hall parking spaces
was also on the fritz on Sunday.  Those parking in the lot had to
purchase handwritten slips at the nearby Parking Meter Department
building.

Parking enforcers filed a report with Rehoboth Beach police Saturday
around 7:20 p.m. when a parking meter was found vandalized on
Philadelphia Street near Second Street.  The plastic lens was reported
broken out.

http://henney.com/weekend14/




REHOBOTH POLICE INVESTIGATE COUNTERFEIT 20'S

Police investigated a report of several counterfeit 20-dollar bills
discovered at Funland Amusements around 9:30 p.m. Sunday.  One officer
said he was going to take a couple of the bills and show them to
7-Eleven and Royal Farms so they could see an example.


MISSING MAN FOUND DEAD IN MISSING BOAT
The Coast Guard and marine police from New Jersey through Virginia
searched this past weekend for a 38-year-old man who disappeared alone
in a 25-foot wellcraft.  He departed Brigantine, NJ sometime late last
week.  A Coast Guard C-130 from Elizabeth City, NC searched
unsuccessfully for the blue boat with a white haul.
A passing commercial vessel discovered the man dead on his boat Sunday
morning.  The wellcraft was taken to the Cape May Coast Guard station
Sunday afternoon and was being examined by the New Jersey State Police
and the Coast Guard Investigative Service.
A lieutenant commander from Coast Guard District V was reluctant to
discuss the case Sunday morning.  However, one source suggests this is
a suspected suicide.



BAD WEEKEND FOR COASTAL SUSSEX CRASHES
One man trapped for nearly *four* hours in wreckage

It was a hectic weekend for rescuers who handled at least five
significant auto accidents in coastal Sussex County.

Probably the most notable was a single-car crash where a 55-year-old
Wilmington man was trapped for almost four hours.  It happened around
9 p.m. on Road 297 near Road 304 outside Millsboro.  Paramedic Tedd
Winneberger, Sussex County EMS spokesman, said the man was severely
entrapped by his legs.  Paramedics hooked the man to intravenous
fluids and a morphine drip to ease his pain during the extrication.

Firefighters requested a second rescue squad, and finally, another one
from Georgetown.  Paramedic Winneberger said firefighters specifically
asked for a pedal-cutter and Rodney Marvel, a Georgetown firefighter
and instructor known for his extrication expertise in the Delaware
State Fire School.  Marvel arrived with the pedal-cutter and freed the
man around 12:30 a.m. Sunday.  The state police helicopter flew him to
Beebe and he was last reported in stable condition.

The county had two "mass-casualty" accidents on Sunday.  The first
occurred around 2:40 p.m. at Carey's Camp Road and Route 24 west of
Millsboro.  Five people were injured, but not seriously.  That was
followed by another mass-casualty accident on U.S. Route 9 east of
Delaware Route 30, east of Georgetown around 8:15 p.m.  The fire chief
on the scene radioed Beebe Hospital and said he had approximately nine
people injured, none appeared to be serious, but the crash included at
least one vehicle with major front-end damage.  He also noted that the
accident scene stretched a half to three-quarters of a mile along
Route 9.

An 82-year-old Frankford man was critically injured in a crash around
10:15 a.m. on Friday.  That wreck happened at Roads 365 and 373, west
of Millville.  A state police press release says a 1988 Chevy pickup
driven by a 23-year-old Lewes man struck the driver's side of the Ford
Taurus driven by the elderly man.  The elderly man was flown to
P.R.M.C. in Salisbury in critical condition.  Two children and the
driver of the pickup were not seriously injured.  All passengers were
reportedly wearing seat belts.

A 50-year-old Baltimore man was killed in a two-vehicle accident that
closed Route 54 around 5 p.m. on Saturday west of Route 26, south of
Gumboro.  A state police news release says a 2000 Lincoln Town Car
driven by the Baltimore man crossed into the on-coming lanes and
collided head-on with a Ford F150 pickup driven by a 45-year-old
Bridgeville man.  Both drivers and the six-year-old son of the
Bridgeville man were taken to P.R.M.C. in Salisbury.  The driver and
boy in the pickup wore their seat belts and were not seriously
injured.  The Baltimore man was pronounced dead at P.R.M.C. and it was
unclear if he wore his seat belt.


Listen for the "Henney Report" on 92.7/WGMD-FM's Monday morning show
with Dan Gaffney!