The Morning News from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 3

The News Journal Wilmington, Del. Crackdown on drugs Fighting for a seat Saturday, Oct. 29, 1988 A3 First State fact In 1935, a U.S. Supreme Court decision declared that the entire Delaware River lay in Delaware. The boundary between Delaware and New Jersey had been the frequent subject of disputes.

A two-week undercover investi- Maryland Rep. Roy P. Dyson gation into drugs in New Castle faces a challenge from Wayne T. County produces 17 arrests, A4 Gilchrest for his House seat, A8 iii Christina reassignment plans present challenge Palmer in Southbridge will not be ready until January or February 1990 because of delays in purchasing extra land. The district plans to add seven classrooms at Pulaski and 10 at Charles R.

Drew Elementary to take the swelling enrollment moving into city schools. Riley and Riblett will meet next week with developer Louis Capano about buying 15 to 18 acres off Walther Road for a primary school. The committee and the public will hear about the first two of Harrison's suggested alternative plans in a meeting at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3 at Shue Middle School, 1500 Capitol Trail, Newark.

Harrison said he probably won't complete the plans until that afternoon, and he hasn't even started on a third and one of them hasn't opened. To get anything resembling "neighborhood" schools in the suburbs, attendance areas must reach "like grasping fingers" from north to south. Only students entering Joseph M. McVey Elementary stay together through high school. All others split up at some point.

Wilmer E. Shue Middle School sits in the Christiana High attendance area, but its students move on to Newark High. Newark High has no middle school in its assignment area. The committee might try moving boundary lines to, say, put George V. Kirk Middle in the Newark High area.

But that would fold in Jennie Smith Elementary adjacent to Kirk, and the Newark feeder doesn't need another ele By Sandy Dennison i Staff reporter i Statistician W. Stewart Harrison has helped draft school assignment changes for all four northern New Castle County districts, not to mention the massive alterations when desegregation began in ,1978. So it meant something when he told a Christina School District committee Thursday night: "I've tried to solve a lot of these problems over the last few years, and this is one of the more challenging." Harrison, manager of research and reporting for the four districts' Data Ser- vice Center, is drafting three districtwide reassignment possibilities for consider- ation next week by the committee, which held its first meeting Thursday. Christina officials wanted proposals for separate feeder patterns for Christina's three high schools, replacing the current hodgepodge. They want Brook-mont Farms split between two feeders.

And they asked Harrison to try to keep Wilmington students in their current middle and high school feeders. The opening of a new elementary school and the reopening of another next year prompted district officials to try to straighten out assignment patterns. Harrison described some of the difficulties to the committee: "The district's existing buildings were built a long time ago and they were built when the population was where it isn't now." For example, Christina has 1,877 kindergarten through third-graders living south of Old Baltimore Pike, but only two elementary schools there mentary school. The current assignment patterns minimize busing Wilmington students to city schools. "That's going to be much harder to do on quote, clean feeder pattern, unquote, kind of approach." Members of the committee which includes district administrators, teachers and parents wondered about arranging assignments by race.

One woman said Casimir Pulaski Elementary is high in minorities, and another pointed out that some suburban areas are no longer largely white. That was acknowledged by Harrison and Capes Riley, district director of planning and special projects. David A. Riblett Christina supervisor of capital improvements, said Henry M. Brader Elementary in Four Seasons will be finished by fall.

But Elbert- it Woman who stole fire company funds files for bankruptcy before trustee Michael B. Joseph, but a date has not yet been set. Bart Dalton, Hibbard's attorney in her criminal-court case, said she is scheduled to be sentenced next week. Deputy Attorney General Kathleen M. Jennings has said she will recommend that Hibbard receive a jail term.

According to the attorney general's office, Beverley Hibbard wrote about 40 checks to herself, or had them deposited into her account, between October 1987 and April. Hibbard spent the money on three vehicles, television sets and landscaping services, records show. Although the vehicles were registered under both Albert and Beverley Hibbards' names, Albert Hibbard was never implicated in the thefts. The thefts came to light in May when Mellon Bank officials notified fire company officials that nine of their checks had bounced. The fire company president reported the problem to police.

The fire company filed a civil suit against the Hibbards in May. The portion of that suit that pertained to Beverley Hibbard was dropped when the $76,000 agreement was reached. But the suit against Albert Hibbard is still open. Although it is believed that Albert Hibbard was unaware of his wife's fraudulent activities, the fire company may seek damages from him because he did benefit from his wife's fraudulent acts. By Michael Jackson Staff reporter The former financial secretary of Holloway Terrace Fire Company, who embezzled about $76,000 of the company's money, has filed for bankruptcy.

Beverley H. Hibbard, who pleaded guilty to theft and forgery in Superior Court last month, and her husband, former Fire Chief Albert L. Hibbard jointly filed under Chapter 7 to wipe out about $100,000 in other debts. Paulette Sullivan Moore, the Hibbards' bankruptcy attorney, said Beverley Hibbard isn't trying to evade returning the more than $76,000 she agreed to repay to the fire company. Hibbard just wants to pay it back faster.

"Her sole purpose for filing is to put herself in such a financial situation that she can reimburse the fire company as soon as she possibly can," Moore said. "That's the purpose of this bankruptcy, not to escape the indebtedness." A bankruptcy under Chapter 7 means that all debts against a person are wiped out and he or she is left to start over with a few exceptions. One of those exceptions is that debts that are the result of fraud or embezzlement are not wiped out and must be repaid. Secured loans such as mortgages and automobile loans may be reorganized by the bank or lending company. Moore said the bankruptcy application is subject to a hearing Staff photo by Jim Graham, Construction crash Workers ponder their next move Friday morning after a construction vehicle rolled onto a parked car near Franklin Street and Shallcross Avenue.

No one was injured Jn the accident. In the region Some Ferris workers win back hazard pay By Ann Stewart personnel, we won't take it for granted." Delaware short 800 doses of flu vaccine Hackett said the union and its members are happy that the matter has apparently been settled in their favor. But he said the delay in reaching a decision was hard on morale. "It's been more than 15 months," he said. "So it's taken them a lot longer than it should have." Personnel officials originally said kitchen and maintenance workers didn't qualify for the hazardous-duty supplement because their work did not involve "frequent, continuous contact with the incarcerated youths." Employees disputed that claim, saying every worker has that kind of contact.

Only about 11 workers were directly affected by the ruling, but on Oct. 12 many others called in sick or otherwise failed to report to work. Several of those on vacation set up picket lines outside the Ferris gates that day. State officials are investigating to decide whether to take disciplinary action against those who failed to report that day or their union. Hackett and other union officials said they believe most of their members who called in sick saw a doctor that day and could supply proof of that visit.

Staff reporter Kitchen and maintenance workers at Ferris School will again receive hazardous-duty pay, under a state decision that apparently resolves a 15-month-old dispute. The dispute began when state personnel officials decided the workers were not entitled to the $50-a-month wage supplement they had been receiving. Workers' frustration over the issue led to an apparent job action earlier this month, when more than half the staff of the juvenile corrections center called in sick one day. But state personnel officials, who began reviewing the matter after workers appealed the original decision, have now reversed themselves. The hazardous-duty supplement will be paid to kitchen and maintenance workers and will be retroactive to July 1987, when it was originally terminated, said Sharon Rothwell of the personnel office.

"We've been told that it's approved," said Vernon Hackett, president of the union that represents about 110 workers at Ferris and at the Bridge House and Stevenson House juvenile detention centers. "But until we see something in writing from The state Division of Public Health is about 800 doses short of the influenza vaccine it needs to immunize patients in homes. Nationwide, manufacturers have fallen one to two months behind schedule because the U.S. Centers for Disease Control were late in identifying some strains of the influenza virus that will be making the rounds this year. Also, some of those strains require a vaccine that is slower to Hearing on major Sussex development draws few opponents 7 1 1 Proposed residential '-o PM development on I 775-acre site I i a kSt LONG NECKj I Inmate still missing from women's prison An inmate who escaped Thurs-day from the Women's Correc-' tional Institution near Claymont i remained at large late Friday.

Sylvia E. Butler, 31, was serving a 15-month sentence for shoplifting and minor assault when she fled, the Department of Correction reported. Butler escaped when she was permitted to walk unescorted 1 between unfenced buildings at the i prison. A minimum security inmate, she was scheduled for re- lease as early as Feb. 2, 1989.

Corrections Commissioner Robert Watson said Friday that Butler had escaped once before while serving her sentence as a work-' release inmate. Lesley College picks evelopment chief DOVER Prudence S. Pre- court will become executive director of development at Wesley ftollege on Tuesday. She will be responsible for all fund-raising ac- tjvities. A doctor of anthropology, I Precourt previously served as di- rector of development at the Sam- hel P.

Ham Museum at the I University of Florida in Gainesville. She replaces H. Thomas Welch, who was appointed executive assistant to the president. ''Issues and Answers' features Sen. Roth Sen.

William V. Roth will appear on Sunday's "Issues and Answers" show on Channel 6 at 10:30 a.m. The program "was taped Friday. Halloween 'pupils allegedly told WOODSTOWN, N. J.

A teacher who allegedly 'told students that Halloween is satanic is being investigated by the school board, officials said Friday. The teacher's name has been withheld by school officials, i A parent's letter to the school board said students "were told that Halloween is Satan's work land they would be bad children if they participated manufacture. James Giandelia, manager of Delaware's immunization program, says his office is now contacting other states, in hope of finding one with a vaccine surplus that could help until later shipments are made. Influenza usually hits Delaware in December, and a vaccine is best when recipients have at least two weeks to build up immunity. Amtrak back to normal after outage Amtrak reported business as usual Friday, following a power outage Thursday that stranded trains, delayed passengers and threw off schedules throughout the day.

"We're maintaining a normal operation today," said John Ja-cobsen, Amtrak's director of public relations. "We got the last of our tracks ready for normal speed before rush hour" Friday morning. A catenary wire that supplies electric current to power the trains broke about 8:15 a.m. Thursday about six miles north of the Wilmington station. Service between New York and Washington was stalled until 11:39 a.m.

when one of four tracks affected was restored. Delays continued throughout the day. As many as 14,000 people were displaced, and many of them were shuttled to the Wilmington station to wait out the delay. Jacobsen said an investigation is continuing. "There's no indication it was anything other than an accident," he said.

Qy (si Indian '1 News-JournakDan Gar row plex it would call Bay Farm. The property is on Sussex 299. Plans call for 565 town houses, 506 single-family dwellings, 72 apartments, a par-72 golf course, tennis courts, swimming pools, a 360-slip marina, a small shopping center, a conference center and bicycle paths. Changes in the plans remain possible while state and county approval is sought. From the county, Townsend's must receive a reclassification of its property to "planned residential community" to create the mix of housing types, businesses and recreational facilities it proposes.

The commission tabled the matter. It has until Dec. 11 to recommend to the County Council whether the reclassification should be granted. The council plans a public hearing on the project Nov. 15.

Townsend's is a Millsboro firm active in poultry and vegetable processing. This is its first attempt at housing development. The company must pay for improvements at two intersections By Bruce Pringle Sussex Bureau reporter GEORGETOWN One of the biggest housing projects in Delaware history has drawn one of the smallest protests. At a public hearing Thursday night, only one person urged the Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission to reject plans by Townsend's Inc. to develop 1,143 homes along Indian River Bay.

The lack of opposition contrasted sharply with the large turnouts of dismayed property owners that have greeted other major development proposals in Sussex. On July 14, for instance, a public hearing on a proposed 628-unit mobile home park near Sea-ford attracted 65 opponents. The Townsend's project site, however, is more than five miles from the nearest municipality Millsboro and about a mile from any existing home except a company-owned house on the site. The company grows corn, soybeans and chickens on the 775 acres intended to house the com case, seven people asked the commission to recommend disapproval of a proposal by Webb's Landing Inc. to create 66 half-acre lots on Sussex 277B near Love Creek.

The development site is in the "coastal conservation zone" where the Coastal Sussex Land Use Plan calls for lots of at least an acre unless central sewerage is provided. The commission tabled the matter. Although the land-use plan has been adopted by the council, the lot-size requirement has not been made into an ordinance. The council set a precedent for ignoring the requirement last week when it approved a development of lots smaller than an acre along Dirickson Creek. on Delaware 24, at Sussex 299 and Delaware 5, to accommodate additional traffic generated by Bay Farm if the council approves the project, said A.

Temple Carter of the state Division of Highways. Bay Farm would be constructed over 10 to 15 years. The lone opponent, Mathilda H. Purnell, said Bay Farm would jeopardize water quality in the bay. She said the development would be a "damaging playground for the rich," attracting mainly out-of-staters who would be present only during the summer.

She said the development would worsen a problem of far too many boats on the bay, risking more fish kills. In a more heavily protested.