The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 1

yfPyyffi 1 9 The News Journal, Wilmington, Del. KENT SUSSEX Thursday, June 1 1 1 998 B3 Dover) KENT I C0UNTY SUSSEX COUNTY I Genrgetowi A Upscale town houses proposed for Sussex Anyone with information about a Delaware crime can make an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers. If the information leads to an arrest, the caller could receive up to $1 ,000. If information about the Crime Stoppers homicide of the month leads to an arrest, the caller could receive up to $2,000. In Delaware, call (800) TIP-3333 (847-3333) or from a cell phone, call TIPS.

From other states call (302) 739-5927. plex of multifamily housing. Along with the zoning change, the developers also need a special-use exception to allow construction of the town houses. The requests will be handled in two hearings before the commission. The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m.

in the Sussex County Administrative Building. Jack Daggett, a local real estate agent involved in the project, said the developers are responding to demand from people who have come to look at the Kings Creek development of single-family houses. Some potential customers, he said, were put off by the prospect of maintaining a large single-family house. The minimum building size in Kings Creek is 1,800 square feet, but most of the houses are larger. The proposal faces a hurdle: waste water treatment.

In a memo to Sussex County planners, Assistant County Engineer Russell W. Archut pointed out that the waste water treatment system in the area was designed on the current zoning of two units per acre. "This is not sufficient to serve the project," he said. Archut also said the sewer lines installed to provide service to the 1 Planners review request tonight By MOLLY MURRAY Sussex Bureau reporter Residents of Kings Creek may be getting new neighbors in their upscale golf course development in the form of posh town houses. At its meeting tonight, Sussex County planners will consider the request by Kings Creek Associates Inc.

to rezone 1.98 acres off Del. 1 and Sussex 273 for a 16-house com 'J Kings Creek 16 town houses proposed The News Journal Smaller a big help Kindergartners show significant progress By ALLISON TAYLOR Staff reporter Teachers at Silver Lake Elementary knew the school had children needing extra attention when they put 21 kindergartners in a special program to cut class sizes by one-half or more. Only 10 could count beyond the number nine, and none could count above 45 when the school APPOQUINIMINK SCHOOLS made the switch in January. When the group was tested again in March, all but two children could count to 20 and two could count to 100. Appoquinimink School District Superintendent Tony Mar-chio thinks the results should serve as a model for Delaware as the state weighs the importance of reducing class sizes.

"People have been wondering, does it work? Is it worth our money? Yes, it is," Marchio said. "I think we've seen what we want more than anything, and that's an improvement in student achievement. They've shown tremendous gains from the extra time and extra attention." The district identified a total of 36 children at Townsend and Silver Lake elementary schools who needed help in recognizing colors, shapes and numbers, abilities they would must have to keep pace with their peers. The children were already at- .1 PJ A fa I 3,000 FEET classes Police Report By staff reporters Terri Sanginiti and Esteban Parra Kent County GIRL SHOT WITH BB-GUN: A 14-year-old Milford boy was arrested Tuesday afternoon on charges he shot a 14-year-old girl in the leg with a BB-gun after threatening to shoot her in the foot. Mil-ford police charged the youth with second-degree assault and reckless endangering.

He was released to the custody of his parents pending a hearing in Family Court. Police said the suspect was involved in an altercation with the victim in the 100 block of S.E. Front St. about 1 p.m. The boy threatened the girl with the BB-gun before raising the weapon and firing a shot into her leg, police said.

The girl was taken to Milford Memorial Hospital and treated for a puncture wound. Maryland CAR FALLS FROM 3rd FLOOR: Four people escaped serious injury early Wednesday when a car plunged 25 feet from the third floor of a downtown parking garage in Ocean City. Police said the driver, Jennifer M. Allen, 18, of Pasadena, was backing her Oldsmobile from its parking space about 12:20 a.m. when she struck a concrete support pillar at the Howard Johnson Hotel's garage, on 12th Street.

Police said when Allen put the car into drive and accelerated, she ran over a parking bumper, up a 1-foot wall and through a steel railing reinforced with half-inch steel cable. The car plunged 25 feet, landed on its front bumper and came to rest on its roof, police said. Allen and a front-seat passenger Jermain Smith, 20, of Baltimore, were treated and released at Peninsula Regional Medical Center. The two passengers in the back seat were not injured, police said. No charges have been filed against Allen pending the outcome of the investigation.

MAN FACES DRUG CHARGES: A 37-year-old Easton man remained in custody Wednesday night after police in Salisbury said they found him with drugs and weapons in his possession. Andrew Lee Harris was being held at Wicomico County Detention Center in lieu of $2,500 bond. He is charged with possessing a short-barreled shotgun, drugs and drug paraphernalia. Salisbury police were called to the 1100 block of Parsons Road for a disturbance Tuesday. Police found sawed-off shotgun, 18 shotgun shells and a smoking device with suspected drug residue.

Police were told the items belonged to Hams. The News JoumalJENNIFER CORBETT Mollie Goss, a kindergarten teacher at Townsend Elementary School, helps Heather Yealey stir her egg, part of a project with classmates (from left) Allan Thompson, Melvin Watson and Kristofer Collins. tending half-day kindergarten in classes averaging 22 to 25 students. Under the new program, the children were sent to an additional half-day class with only seven to 10 students for more intense, individualized attention. Between September and January, the four months when the children participated only in half-day kindergarten, the 21 Silver Lake students showed a 25 percent gain in recognizing letters of the alphabet.

In the three months they spent in the extra small-group class, the children showed an additional 37 percent gain in letter recognition. Most of the children recognized only 10 percent of the alphabet in January; they knew between 50 percent and 90 percent in March. "The message here is small groups and quality time," said Silver Lake Principal Gail Ulp. parcel are not large enough for a 16-house project. The developer.

he suggested, could upgrade the lines at his own expense. Under the Kings Creek proposal, 16 units would be built on less than two acres. The plans show four buildings of four units each. Daggett said it is likely each unit will be three stories and include an elevator and a two-car garage. "Everything else is subject to market conditions," he said.

Daggett said the town houses would probably be in the range-of $250,000 to $325,000. Uniform discussion spreads Appoquinimink board considers it By ALLISON TAYLOR Staff reporter School uniforms are a hit in the Christina School District, and the Appoquinimink School District may be next to consider uniforms. Schools in various districts around New Castle County in: eluding Christina and the Red Clay Consolidated School District have experimentally adopted schoof uniforms in the past few years. Still, fewer than 20 public schools'iri Delaware ask students to wear matching uniforms. Several other have less stringent dress codes.

Three schools in the Christina district Shue-Medill Middl School, the Early Childhood Gen-" ter and Drew-Pyle Elementary -r--will continue with their uniform, and dress codes next year, after school officials reported positive statistics and survey results at the' board's meeting Tuesday night. At Shue-Medill Middle, suspeni sions dropped 13 percent this year, and 11 percent last year, since the time the school instituted a strict dress code. Attendance increased; 1.3 percent. Results of a parent survey are not yet available. At Christina's Early Educatkin Center, 60.2 percent of parents said wearing a school uniform was more convenient and less costly than wearing street clothes, 65 percent of teachers said uniforms were good for the classroom, and 52 percent of children said they liked wearing uniforms.

"For the younger students, from what I hear from parents, it just simplifies matters so much," district spokesman John Holton sajd "Parents have enough on their plates that the daily dress debate doesn't have to be there." I All teachers surveyed at Drew-Pyle Elementary School wanted to' continue the dress code, saying uniforms seem to improve pupils' self-esteem. Among parents, 76 percent said uniforms make it easier! to dress children, and 65 percent; said they are less expensive. Slightly more than half of pupils: want to get rid of uniforms. "It's not surprising that individ-' ual students would say they'd like to dress individually. Students don't necessarily like all of the rules in a school, but they comply with them universally.

It makes for a better cli- mate in the school," Holton said. "The biggest factor is it removes a -distraction. Focusing kids on the task is a real challenge in The Christina district's statis-' tics are encouraging, Appoquinimink Superintendent Tony Mar-' chio said. "We've talked to the' people up there at Marchio said. "We know they did a lot of extensive research so' we're going to be anxious to work with those fellows and learn from their work." Appoquinimink has been con-: sidering school uniforms at two', schools Ixuis J.

Redding Inter-; mediate School and Middletown Middle School for several Marchio said, and officials started talking seriously about it at; a-school board meeting Tuesday. Redding Principal R. Parker McMullen Jr. and Middletown' Middle Assistant Principal Robert Lewis made a presentation on-school uniforms at Tuesday's' board meeting. "Certainly the research sup- ports a movement toward a uni- form.

It lowers the number of-fights, suspensions, it produces! good public relations in that the" kids look good when they go out in public," McMullen said. The uniform policy would not-' start in the fall because district of- ficials want more time to talk to aommunity members about Marchio said. I I i f- 4 need no additional support. There are one or two we'll keep our eye on, but most of them are ready to go." If the students who participated in the kindergarten program need additional help in the future, they will be eligible for other programs such as Title Ulp said. Salaries for the small-group teachers came from Middletown High School, which had money for extra teachers this year.

The programs also benefited from the state's Extra Time grant and a state-funded program called Parents as Teachers. Both schools plan to continue the kindergarten program next year. "We're not funded for all-day programs, and we're going to have to be very creative in our funding," Ulp said. "We are really trying to make this a go." submissions dees are encouraged to bring a low sodium covered dish and to provide its recipe. Cardiac Rehab is planning to publish a healthy heart cookbook.

The pavilion is located behind the hospital. Call 645-3514. Art auction dinner Saturday in Lewes LEWES The ninth annual "Best of the Beach" Art Auction and Dinner to benefit the Beebe Medical Foundation and the Rehoboth Art League will be held Saturday on the grounds of Beebe Medical Center on Savannah Road. The event begins at 6 p.m. with a cocktail reception and hors d'oeuvres and the placing of silent-auction bids.

Raffle tickets will be on sale for a video camera and a day aboard the Lewestown Lady for a cruise or fishing, donated by the physicians at Beebe. Tickets are $85 per person and may be purchased by calling 644-29(K). 38th District GOP to gather in Long Neck LONG NECK The 38th District Republican Club will meet Monday at the Crab Barn on Ixing Neck Road. Social hour will be at 6 p.m. with dinner served at 6:30 p.m.

Bruce Mears will give a report about the state GOP convention, and Bill Murray, a candidate for the district's House seat, and his campaign staff will be available for questions. Cost is $12, which includes gratuity. Reservations are necessary; call Miqui Beaston at 5119-3452 or Rick Spencer at 539-1304. 'y "We're very, very pleased with the progress that all the children have made. Even just their approach they're seeing themselves as readers.

Their writing is coming along." The 15 children who participated at Townsend Elementary showed similar improvements when they were tested June 2. Statistics were unavailable for those children, Townsend Principal Sandra Cohee said. Ulp would not say how many children in Silver Lake's program would go on to first grade in the fall. All children in Townsend's program will advance, Cohee said. Now that they're caught up, Cohee said, most of the children should be able to keep up with their peers.

"They'll just go on into a first-grade classroom," Cohee said. "With very few exceptions, they'll Compiled from staff reports and Sussex County No candidates, no election in Rehoboth REHOBOTH BEACH The Aug. 8 municipal election has been canceled because there are no contested races. Incumbent Commissioner Richard Sargent and longtime planning commission member Patti Shreeve will automatically fill two municipal board seats during Rehoboth Beach's organizational meeting following the election. In the meantime, incumbent Commissioner Kenneth Vincent will step down from his board seat Monday.

Vincent is selling his property in the city and would no longer be eligible to serve. Cookout is planned at Beebe pavilion LEWES Beebe Medical Center's Cardiac Rehab Department will hold a cookout at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Blackhouse Pond Pavilion. The cookout will begin with a session on cardiac diet basics and substitutions, such as herbs and spices, that may be made to lighten menus and reduce calories, fat and sodium. The menu includes tuna steak, vegetablescn skewers, pasta salad, and strawberry shortcake.

Atten Around Kent Sussex Contacts POLICE CONTACTS DELAWARE For emergencies 911 For routine matters: Delaware State Police Penny Hill 761-6677 State Road 323-4411 Camden 687-4454 Georgetown 856-5850 Bridgeville 337-8251 Prices Comer 633-5000 Dewey Beach 856-5480 Odessa 577-3075 mnnK Do you have news about your community? In Kent County, mail it to P.O. Box 518, Dover, DE 19903-0518; call 734-7577 or fax it to 734-2587. In Sussex County, mail it to P.O. Box 550, Georgetown, Del. 19947, fax it to 856-3919 or send e-mail to: njnewsnewsjournal.com.

For more information call 856-7371. Kent County Traffic circle gets backing of residents DOVER Mifflin Road-area residents expressed strong support for DelDOT's traffic-slowing roundabout during a weekend door-to-door survey. But an application for state funding to make the experimental traffic circle permanent and add a second roundabout was withdrawn Tuesday because of technical problems. A total of 29 residents backed the traffic circle at Mifflin Road and Woodmill Drive, while 13 were against it, according to Richard L. Ornauer, a Mifflin Road resident.

Ornauer, who helped conduct the survey and wrote the funding proposal, said 28 residents favored adding a second roundabout at Fawn Drive and 12 opposed it. There also was overwhelming support, 35-1, for making the existing roundabout a permanent, well-landscaped fixture. Ornauer withdrew the application for state funds Tuesday after an advisory committee of the DoverKent County Metropolitan Planning Organization criticized its lack of cost estimates. Construction of the roundabouts would be funded by impact fees levied on four West Dover developers with projects in the vicinity. DelDOT's only cost would be for design work.

Ornauer expressed hope the project could proceed through DelDOT's normal design process. Delaware Department of National Resources Environmental Control (for environmental emer gencies 800 662-6602 Dover (302) 739-5072 Delaware Fish and Wildlife Enforcement agents (800) 523-3336 or 739-4580 New Castle County Operations 571-7930 Detectives 571-7924 Traffic 994-1911 Middlelown 378-8399 Greenville 656-5816 Wilmington Operations 654-5151 Defectives 571-4460 Elsmere 998-1173 Newark 366-7111 New Castle City 322-9800 Newport 995-1411 Dewev Beach 227-1110 Dover 736-7111 Smyrna 653-9217 Rehoboth 227-2577 MARYLAND For emergencies, or call local agencies 911 Maryland State Police North East (410)398-8101 Penyville (410)378-3186 Salisbury (410)749-3101 Cecil County Sheriff (410) 996-5500 Elkton (410)398-4200 Lotteries DELAWARE Play 3 Day 0-4-1 Play 3 Night 7-0-5 Play 4 Day, 3-9-9-7 Poweroall 04-12-19- Cash 5 17-18-24-33-34 PENNSYLVANIA Daily Number 3-6-7 Big 4 0-2-0-9 Cash 5 12-16-25-27-37 For a recording of numbers drawn, call: Delaware (800) 338-6200 (302) 736-1436 (out of stale) Maryland (900) 680-5555. (Calls cost 45 cents per minute) New Jersey 976-2020 (N.J.only) Pennsylvania (900) I 903-9999 (Calls cost 50 cents per minute) 36-38 Power MARYLAND Pick 3 Day Pick 3 Night Pick 4 Day Pick 4 Nighf Cash in Hand 06 9-0-4 1-3-9 0-9-0-2 3-0-6-0 04-07- 19-22-25-27-28 The Big Game (drawn June 9) 04-09-13-24- 27 Big Money Ball NEW JERSEY 24 Pick 3 1-9-3 Pick 4 2-0-5-8 DelState course on violence alternatives DOVER Beginning June 19, Delaware State University's Center for Continuing Education will present a three-night workshop on alternatives to violence. The sessions will be 6 to 9 each night in the Continuing Education Conference Room. Topics to be covered include communication, problem-solving, listening and conflict resolution.

The cost is $50. For registration information call the Center for Continuing Education at 739-5164 or the school public relations office at 739-4964. Behavior, discipline for children is topic Yvonne Nass of Child Inc. will discuss behavior and discipline from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center, Dover.

Family Forum provides the opportunity for family members of children with special need, newborns through kindergarten, to meet, share information, and support each other. The center is at 630 W. Division Suite E. Baby sitting will be available. Forinore information, call 422-1335 or 678-3353..