general

Dozens of foreign students flowed steadily through the weekly International Coffee-house, but the crowd had very little to do with coffee.

"It's free food. That's the bottom line. Free food and fellowship. People like to talk to other people," said Larry Wanaselja, senior pastor of New Covenant Presbyterian Church, which sponsors the coffeehouse.

And most people like to socialize in their native tongue. Several European languages filled the downtown Avenue Inn's breakfast room as students working in the resort areas on temporary visas from countries throughout Europe, but primarily Russia, Romania, Ukraine and Bulgaria, popped into the late-night event.

It was a good summer for Rehoboth Beach's economy -- not a great one, but a good one nonetheless.

According to Carol Everhart, head of the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce, the summer went well for Rehoboth-area businesses.

Everhart said that overall visitation and traffic counts were strong.

She said that the owner of Funland has told her that the amusement park ended slightly up for the season -- which she uses as a jumping-off point to analyze the season.

Judging by Jeanne and Ed Fox of Rehoboth Beach and Jean and Tom Reale of Lewes, sharing your home with international students means that you expand your family. You aren't just taking in "boarders." And some of those students work here, all summer long, into the month of October.

You are there for them in good weather and bad. You get them to places such as doctor's offices, Social Security, banks and other places where they have to go, and you show them, despite their heavy work schedules, the fun side of the beach area. You even take them or get them in on local and distant sightseeing trips with the help of neighbors and other friends. And, when it's time for them to leave, you know that you will miss them. And hope that they come back.

Labor Day was first established to give the working man a day off to rest.

Now, most view the holiday as a symbol that summer is officially over and spend more time celebrating than resting.

“I don’t even want to think about Labor Day,” Sarah Tweddle, 14, of Rehoboth Beach, said while sunbathing on the beach Thursday afternoon.

“That means summer is really over, it feels like it goes by faster every year.”

Some people come to the beach every summer for more than a vacation.

There are dozens of places along the boardwalk and many of them rely on foreign workers. Rehoboth Beach sees close to 2,000 of them each year. They come to work, earn some cash and learn about America.

The Rehoboth-Dewey Chamber of Commerce hosted an event Tuesday that aimed to assist foreign workers with finding jobs, places to live and offering them general safety information.

The shallow water just miles from the Rehoboth Beach shoreline could be the site of the country's first offshore wind farm -- but it will not be the only one, as similar projects are racing forward in Massachusetts and New York, experts say.

With more Americans focused on green energy and concerned about dependence on foreign oil, it's just a matter of time before hundreds of turbines harnessing the wind could line the shore from Massachusetts to North Carolina.

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.

Two hundred towering windmills, each so tall that its blades would loom over the U.S. Capitol Dome, could be built in the Atlantic Ocean near one of Washingtonians' favorite beach retreats, under a plan being considered in Delaware.

The plan, which could create the first wind "farm" in waters along the East Coast, envisions a thicket of turbines offshore of either Rehoboth Beach or Bethany Beach, Del. As the blades are spun by ocean winds, designers say, the wind farm could provide enough power every year for 130,000 homes.

Since 1873, the Boardwalk has been one of the star attractions of Rehoboth Beach. With its mix of shops, eateries, hotels, cottages and ocean view, the Boardwalk, along with Rehoboth Avenue, is what helps make Rehoboth “The Nation’s Summer Capital.”

Maintenance of the Boardwalk is one of the city’s constant problems. Last year, the city replaced two blocks of decking on the north end, from Rehoboth Avenue to Maryland Avenue, as well as the block between New Castle and Stockley streets.

The Delaware Business Industry Education (BIE) Alliance Job Fair will be held on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center at Delaware State University in Dover, DE from 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.