general

With plans well under way to begin reconstruction of Rehoboth Beach's aging boardwalk, the city's boardwalk committee will reconvene Tuesday to discuss further measures to assure the future of the popular tourist destination.

Recent talk has centered on the potential decking materials that will be used to create the new boardwalk. According to Stan Mills, chairman of the committee, much of the boardwalk is almost half a century old.

The sagging U.S economy has sparked changes at businesses in Rehoboth Beach as business owners work to give customers more bang for the buck.

At the forefront of this is Fusion, at 50 Wilmington Ave. The restaurant has lowered the price of all its menu items to $20 or less.

Bill Karrow, executive chef and proprietor of Fusion said, “Let’s face it, it costs 75 or 80 bucks to fill your tank up. That hurts. So we’ve made a conscious decision to keep all our entrees under $20. And it’s been working very well.”

Rehoboth Beach business owners who have been running out of quarters for parking meters this summer are about to catch a break.

The city has partnered with Citizens Bank to offer businesses the opportunity to purchase up to $1,000 in quarters per day until supplies are exhausted, starting Thursday, July 3.

Businesses can purchase the quarters in $500 increments only, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at City Hall, Monday through Saturday. There is no charge to the businesses for the service and only cash or checks will be accepted.

Marie Kilpatrick found Fourth of July holiday business a tad less sweet this year at the sugary center of Delaware's vacation universe.

"In past years, it would be very hard to find a parking space in Rehoboth Beach. This year, you can," said Kilpatrick, a longtime manager at the landmark Dolle's Candyland shop at the boardwalk and Rehoboth Avenue.

"I think it's because of gasoline. People are staying closer to home. We still have lines in the store, but if people buy something, where they maybe would buy a pound of chocolate before, they're buying half a pound, or pieces. People are being very careful."

The first official heat wave of summer 2008 continues to sizzle the Mid-Atlantic region, where temperatures could top 100 degrees and lead to a variety of health and safety issues from heat exhaustion to power interruptions.

To help those in need of heat relief, Sussex County Administrator David B. Baker announced residents and visitors are invited to cooling stations during this week’s hot and humid weather. Temperatures are forecast in the upper 90s, with indexes predicted to exceed the 100-degree mark through Tuesday, June 10.

Summertime means a lot of things in Rehoboth Beach: sun, sand, tourists and traffic. It also marks the time when hundreds of international students, mostly from Russia but also from countries such as Turkey, Bulgaria, Poland and Ukraine, bid “do svidaniya” to their homeland and say “zdrastvui” to Rehoboth.

This year the influx of foreign students has been delayed. According to Gareth Tonnessen, assistant pastor in discipleship ministries for New Covenant Presbyterian Church and official greeter for the International Student Outreach Program, the buses carrying many of the students haven’t arrived as a result of a merger between Trailways and Greyhound.

Your Type A sister-in-law might argue that it's only 150 miles to Ocean City from the Washington area, a short enough trip to drive in three hours without even a bathroom break. You know better.

For one thing, traffic on Friday afternoons on Route 50 between this weekend and Labor Day will be maddening enough to make anyone long for an ejector seat or pull over for an ice cream cone. And besides, seasoned travelers say, the stops along the way are as much a part of tradition as the saltwater taffy and boardwalk rides at the beach.

As much as kids know that the 3 R's define the school year, they also know that summer is all about the 4 S's. That's right: Sun, surf, sea and sand are about all kids need for a memory-making family vacation.

Of course, a week at the beach along the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia shore also means arcades, thrill rides, water parks and Thrasher's fries. But if you find that, by day four or five, you're looking for something a little different, something a little special that might mean new memories, you're probably not alone. Here are a few favorite excursions. Some take a full day, others just a few hours, but regardless of where you're staying, they're worth the effort.

It's still the offseason here, with a few seagulls spotting the gray, drizzly skies. Some boardwalk shops are shuttered tight against the wind and rain.

The beaches will soon come alive with the sun as thousands of vacationers descend, spending freely and countering the gloom and doom, forgetting for a short time about high gas prices and food costs, layoffs and mortgage payments.

At least, that's the hope of beach business owners, who rely on the summer for the bulk of their income.