dewey beach

For the nation's big retailers, July wasn't exactly filled with fireworks and celebrations. For Delaware businesses, the month seemed a bit more festive -- depending on what was being sold, and where it was being bought.

At the state's beach resorts, it's been a generally lackluster season, retailers said, partly because of the occasional uncooperative meteorological gods, partly due to an early summer spike in gasoline prices. Elsewhere in the state, July's fortunes were brighter, retailers report.

Attorney Rob Witsil rides his bike nearly everyday from Rehoboth to Georgetown and has learned the dangers of the road first-hand.

"I go 22 miles from my house to my office, round trip, and nearly get hit everyday," he said. "Two of my friends have been hit seriously. One has been removed from the road by helicopter."

In 2005, the most recent statistics available, 86 cyclists were injured and two were killed statewide -- a decrease from 2004 when 101 cyclists were injured and three were killed. And while most of those injuries occurred in New Castle County, Sussex isn't too far behind, said Andrea Summers, public information officer for the Office of Highway Safety.

Between 6-7 million visitors come to the greater Rehoboth area each summer and that means a lot of cash for area businesses. But this year more people are driving down and staying longer.

Hotel occupancy is up 10-20 percent so far over last year and park and ride services are also up 10 percent.

The reason for the boom rests with the big three- and sometimes unpredictable- elements: sun, gas and a lack of road construction.

A new report is showing that home sales have dipped to the slowest pace in four years.

According to the National Association of Realtors, this is the 10th month in a row where there has been a drop in people buying homes. This has resulted in the highest surplus of existing homes in 16 years.

The statistics do not necessarily hold true for the whole country though. Sussex County is actually seeing a boom. What is the attraction? Taxes, or the lack thereof.

OCEAN CITY, Md. — In some ways, Rob Jacaruso is no different from a summer intern, except that he wears a badge and carries a .38-caliber revolver.

With one semester to go at Virginia Military Institute, Jacaruso is happy to have a position in his chosen field, and the $12.93 per hour he's earning helps pay the bills.

Jacaruso, who received three weeks training for the job, is one of 110 seasonal police officers hired each year in this beach town (pop. 7,049) to help the full-time force of 107 keep the peace as the summer season swells the population to more than 250,000.

Delaware officials delayed making a decision Tuesday about a proposal to build 200 large windmills offshore of Atlantic beach resorts, saying they needed more time to study this and other competing power-plant bids.

Four state agencies are considering plans to build either a coal-fired power plant, a natural-gas plant, or an offshore wind farm. But after a day of testimony here in the capital city, officials of three of the agencies said they were not ready to vote.

The Delaware Department of Transportation announced that work on roads throughout coastal Sussex County, including the Lewes, Angola, Long Neck, Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach vicinities, will take place from dusk to dawn, starting Monday through June 30.

Roads will be resurfaced and guardrails will replaced. There will be intermittent lane restrictions during these times, officials said.

Areas include:

During these cold days, summer may seem a long way off, but it’s all too imminent for the members of the International Student Outreach Program’s (ISOP) meal subcommittee.

These are the folks in charge of feeding the hundreds of foreign student workers who flock to summer jobs in the Cape Region each year.

The students’ enthusiastic response to last year’s inaugural meal program, which offered free breakfasts and dinners at several area churches, led the committee to meet Feb. 5 to begin laying plans for this year.

Drivers at the beach in southern Sussex County no longer have to go out of their way to get the best deals on gasoline.

While the lowest costs at the pump can usually be found upstate or in the western part of the county, now towns like Rehoboth Beach and Fenwick Island are offering some of the best values in Delaware as prices begin to dip below $2.

"It's a few pennies" saved, said Mickey Boris last week as he fueled up for $2.09 a gallon at a Fenwick Citgo station. "It's never going to be where it was, but it's better than paying $3 a gallon."

The state and federal governments have spent millions in recent years, with plans to spend more, to build up Delaware’s beaches along the Atlantic Ocean.

Now the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has turned its attention to Delaware Bay beaches, which pleases residents along the dwindling coastline.

“We absolutely need it,” said Carol Costello, who lives in Kitts Hummock with her husband, Mike.