The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 3

KENT SUSSEX uuoocA The News Journal, Wilmington, Del. www.delawareonline.com I -1 I Thursday, Aug. 24, 2000 Section Police report Obituaries D3 B4 FOCUS: Schooner reborn as floating classroom on Delaware Bay B3 News tips for Local: 324-2774 or njnewsnewsjournal.com CityState editor Jean Buchanan, 324-2882 SIP (gaifei (giliii "Jf ,0 1 is to mm DELAWARE DECISION Goal is to defeat Minner, both concur at debate LS2000 the enforcement of environmental regulations. Both Burris and Lee cited a lack of accountability within the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and called for public disclosure of all violations. But when Burris said what was most needed was a consistent policy that companies can follow, Lee retorted: "John, don't you think businesses know what the rules are?" Burris acknowledged that they do.

"Then doggone it," Lee said, "why don't they enforce them?" See DEBATE B5 he has throughout his campaign, that he is free from political or special interest obligations. Burris, former president of the state Chamber of Commerce, did not apologize for his heavy-hitting business connections, but pledged to use them to improve the state and "leave no child behind. "To make this state work requires public-private partnerships," Burris said. He said that his family's business ensures "I have no need of any company for my own comfort." The question of Burris' business connections was also raised in relation to talization of Delaware's small towns. But despite their similarities on some issues, both candidates clearly outlined the differences in their positions for voters who go to the polls Sept.

9 to choose a GOP candidate for governor. "I think my candidacy presents a unique opportunity to change the way we do business in the state of Delaware," said Lee, a retired judge. He stressed, as WTLM1450AM at Ingleside Retirement Apartments, Burris and Lee agreed that state government must be more accountable, that the educational system needs improvement and that development must be controlled. They also saw eye-to-eye on the need for better drug treatment for those in the criminal justice system, consensus building in state government and the revi- By JENNIFER PORTMAN Stall reporter Pledging to stand united against Lt. Gov.

Ruth Ann Minner in November, Republican gubernatorial candidates John Burris and William Swain Lee exchanged a few barbs but largely found common ground on issues at a debate Wednesday night. At the event sponsored by radio station The News JoumalFRED COMEGYS Gubernatorial candidates John Burris (left) and Bill Lee share a laugh Wednesday after the debate in Wilmington. Laying the foundations for a new year Abandonment bill on hold until 2001 Baby drop-off sites were proposed Schools finish their makeovers; teachers administrators study new standards By PATRICK JACKSON Dover Bureau reporter The Senate will not consider legislation this year that would have allowed parents to abandon newborns at designated safe places. Senate President Pro Tern Thomas Sharp, D-Pinecrest, had said he would consider a special legislative session to deal with the issue if public hearings were held. Public hearings have not been held and Sharp said Tuesday that no action would be taken on the bill.

"We talked about it in the caucus," Sharp said. "There's not a lot of interest in dealing with this until we come back in January." Under the House-approved legislation, parents would have been able to leave newborns up to 14 days old anonymously at hospitals or other health care facilities without fear of prosecution. Parents would have been given forms they could return later to document medical histories. The state would have been required to print legal ads notifying the community where and when a child was dropped off. The ads also would include information about the child's sex, approximate age and any identifying marks.

New Jersey passed a similar law in July. See SENATE B5 By KATE BAILEY and J.L. MILLER Stall reporters Delmar high school students will start this school year with a new $19 million building. "There's a lot of excitement, a lot of pride," said Jay Green, principal of the new Delmar Middle and Senior High School. Workers are paving the school's parking lot and putting finishing touches on the new facility That type of last-minute work is happening across the state as schools prepare to open.

Classes will be back in session next week for many state districts, some of which open their doors Monday Those districts include Caesar Rodney Polytech and New Castle County Vo-Tech, along with Campus Community Charter School in Dover. Several other districts start later next week and the rest open their doors to students after Labor Day. The Delmar Junior-Senior High School was demolished to Lieberman to talk taxes in Claymont -J i i I II II Will I HBIi iBi Ml mam MUlt i 333 AMD A If? II make way for the new building. Part of the facility opened to middle-school students in Janu- MM vary. But high school students n.i 1 i 2000 iioiu Delaware aim maiyianu start Aug.

30. The new building increased the school's size by 50,000 square By PATRICK JACKSON Dover Bureau reporter Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman will talk taxes Friday at the Claymont Community Center. Campaign spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said Lieberman is scheduled to stop at the center at 3301 Green St. at noon Friday The event is open to the public. Pfeiffer said Lieberman would talk about a $500 billion targeted tax cut proposed by the Democratic ticket of Al Gore and Lieberman.

"We think it is a better deal for working families than George W. Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut which benefits the richest Americans most," said Pfeiffer. Lieberman would be joined at the event by local Democrats, including U.S. Senate candidate Gov. Tom Carper, gubernatorial candidate Lt.

Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, lieutenant governor candidate Finance Secretary John Carney and State Treasurer Jack Markell, Pfeiffer said. This is the first time this Lieberman gets hero's welcome at retirement community A10 year either member of the Democratic ticket has visited Delaware. Gore skipped the state's February primary because of a feud between Delaware and New Hampshire over the scheduling of their primaries. Gore and Lieberman made a stop in Philadelphia just before the Democratic National Convention.

"We're excited to get a stop this soon after the convention I think it bodes well for future stops," said Delaware Democratic Chairman Rick Bayard. "We have definite differences with the other party on issues that are important to working Americans and I think this visit will help draw those distinctions." Reach Patrick Jackson at 678-4274 or jacksons)elawareon line, com leet to 143,000 square teet and added sixth-graders who previously had gone to school in Wicomico County, Md. Appoquinimink School District's biggest renovation project this year was at Silver Lake Elementary, where workers gutted the building to put in a new mechanical system, flooring and installed windows, which the school did not have before. "The big challenge for us has been getting our schools ready for opening day," Appoquinimink Superintendent Tony Marchio said. This year, as the teachers were going out the door, the workmen were coming in, he said While construction workers have been racing against the clock, many teachers have been eyeing another clock the one ticking towards the deadline for meeting new academic standards in reading, writing and mathematics.

See SCHOOLS BS Special to The News JoumalC ARLA VARISCO Dennis Edge of Mast Landscaping assembles braces for the bleachers at Milford High School last week as workers ready the school for returning students. Something's still rotten on Brandywine board wrmt ii mm mmm move the board had authorized back in February. But there were other changes in the document that the board hadn't approved. The old contract listed DeJohn as an administrator; the new one specified his job as superintendent. This small change made a big difference.

Some on the board had hoped to avoid firing DeJohn by moving him aside. The new contract made that impossible. That's not all. The new contract also contains an indemnification clause, meaning that should the board try to sue De-John, the district would have had to pay not only its own legal bills but DeJohn's as well. What was Ackerman think ing? He surely knew what his fellow board members hoped to do, yet he signed off on changes that benefited DeJohn at the expense of the district and the taxpayers he supposedly serves.

He might have acted legally. But ethically, the move is inexplicable and inexcusable. We don't know Ackerman's story because he chose not to attend Monday's meeting and would not interrupt a vacation at the Jersey shore. If he won't show his face to justify his craven behavior, he ought to make his absence permanent by resigning his seat on the school board. Some district residents, including taxpayers' advocate Allen Kemp, think the board Al Mascitti should have kept DeJohn on the payroll but suspended him while it conducted an investigation.

It's too late for that where DeJohn is concerned, but the investigation is sorely needed. It might be the only way to restore public confidence in the district's leaders. Clearly, Ackerman should no longer be among them. De-John's sins, if he committed any, pale beside Ackerman's willingness to cover for him. DeJohn destroyed the district's credibility.

Ackerman has ruined its honor. Al Mascittl't opinion column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach at 324-2866 or amaKmiddelawareonline.com 1 The Brandywine school board Monday started treating the district like a foul-smelling 'refrigerator, heaving Superin-; tendent Joseph P. De John into the trash bin like a month-old container of moldy potato salad. Of course, $300,000 Is a lot to pay for potato salad.

But that's what it will cost Brandywine taxpayers to put DeJohn out with the trash. For a district desperate to win public approval for a tax in-- Crease, the buyout is a bitter I public-relations pill, especially because there were more palat-I able alternatives. But the possi-; bility of a better solution was destroyed by a traitor in the I board's midst. 'T-ISvents in the disfrict have case because one of the piu--chases was a refrigerator for his new home. DeJohn maintains he thought it was a gift and paid for the appliance when he learned where the money came from.

But his close relationship with Nicholson isn't a refrigerator an overly extravagant house-warming gift? left many district taxpayers unconvinced. As it turns out, Nicholson wasn't DeJohn's only benefactor on the school board. Ralph G. Ackerman gave him a present worth far more than a refrigerator. In July, two days before stepping down as board president, Ackerman signed a new contract with DeJohn, ostensibly to shorten the ternrby a year, a been building toward DeJohn's departure for months, ever since a state audit found misappropriation of public money by one of DeJohn's friends on the school board.

The board member, Larry Nicholson, later pleaded guilty to felony charges. DeJohn was pulled into the.