I watched young David Walter (NCCo. Teen) win the Jeopardy Teen Tournament this evening, rooting for him all the way. He didn’t win last night’s game but came through, magnificently, tonight, to take $75,000 home with him.

While I was watching it was difficult not to reflect upon the news of earlier today where the Cape and Central game last night caused such a disgusting ruckus. Causing a pregnant woman to be taken to hospital and police called out from all over. Maybe worse is the result of the poll results on this home page. Why in the name of all that’s holy are so many calling for additional police to be on duty and a children’s sporting event?? For some reason I suppose I hoped the majority would choose the last option…”Get rid of all HS sporting events” but only 16% of the voters did. Meanwhile, a shocking 32% called for “allowing the fans to watch but bring in more cops”. Have we, as a society, gone mad?? How many times has some disturbance…or worse…been reported as happening in or around our schools and their events? How many times has violence been the end result of such disruptions followed by ensuing arguments “this…or that…didn’t happen”. Strikes me that with the increasing frequency of such reports it’s as the old adage says…no smoke without fire. And it makes little difference that the four who were arrested were obviously not HS students. (At least I hope they weren’t, given their ages…!)

I’d like to know what is hoped to be accomplished by increasing police presence at something as inconsequential as a kid’s sporting event. And wouldn’t it be much more effective to ban sports events, at least for a year? In the grand scheme of things, how important does anyone deem sports to be, anyway? Yes, it’s healthy…but not when spectators or pregnant women get hurt or leave in fear. It’s not educational. It may be seen as a means by which some kid gets scouted for better but what about that if he/she doesn’t have the academic ability to graduate college with a real education and purpose for life instead of, at a minimum, a few years of pseudo-fame as the best player on a team and, at best, go on to play pro-sports…few and far between.

A referendum has just been approved to bring a middle-school campus and a new elementary school to the Milford district at an increase to the tax-payer. No…it’s not huge increase but as a tax-payer I’m absolutely fed-up hearing we need new schools, bigger and better, more modern buildings in order for kids to get a better education. Since when has an edifice dictated the quality of education? We need improvement, yes…in the quality of our educators, better compensation for excellence in that area; for parents to stop making excuses for their ill-behaved children and/or suing school boards when they take a stance against an unruly child. Perhaps we are more in need of schools where the unruly and undisciplined may be sent so that children who want to learn may do so. Maybe then we would have more kids like David Walters, who can be admired and emulated by his peers for his academic ability rather than by how well he plays or how good he looks in on the field. Where the investment his family made in his upbringing and education will benefit him throughout his life and not only for a few bragging rights at the Friday night post-games.

Congratulations, David!! On a day when there is some disgust at a few of your generation for their behavior, you did make some of us very proud for the manner in which you conducted yourself throughout…even though you had not won.

Dirk Moore, the man who allegedly ransacked the MADD offices on January 16, 2007, says he’s not guilty of the crime, and has never met Representative John Atkins, the man who apparently directed police towards Moore during the incident’s investigation. Moore makes his case in a well written document provided to multiple media outlets and others. Moore provides signed statements, receipts and letters to bolster his case.

I would like to address the charge which has been brought against me by MADD office in Georgetown and Rep. John Adkins, where I was accused of ransacking the Georgetown MADD office. I did not do it! I don’t even know where the office is located. At the exact time I was supposed to have been in the MADD office in Georgetown, I was in the Village of 5 Points’ Food Lion purchasing lightbulbs for a pumphouse and money orders $220.92.” -Dirk Moore

Contrary to other reports, the statement by the Food Lion employee was not signed, and when I spoke with that employee today by phone, he explained to me that he wasn’t authorized to sign a statement like that and I’d have to direct my inquiries to their legal department. Moore does, however, provide receipts from the Food Lion that would put him in Lewes around the time of the incident, and does provide other sworn and signed statements that back up his assertion.

The incident at the Georgetown MADD office apparently was a reaction to MADD’s response to the Ocean City Police Department’s handling of a traffic stop involving Delaware State Representative John Atkins, where Atkins registered a .14 on a PBT and was allowed to get a ride home.

Moore also makes a statement on the sunken boats in the canal in Rehoboth.

“Regarding the sunken boats in and around the Rehoboth Bay and Rehoboth Canal; I have not and never have abandoned any boat.

The boats that are sunk in the Rehoboth Canal were not abandoned. There is clear evidence that the two boats were a victim of Vandalism. All the windows were busted out, the ship’s wheel stolen, and all valuable hardware were stripped off from both boats.” - Dirk Moore

We’ll follow this story and provide updates as available.

The OCPD is launching an internal investigation into the handling of another DUI case with another high profile driver. This time it’s Kellie Meehan, the daughter of current Mayor, then Town Council President, Rick Meehan.

Meehan said he recalled that in summer 2005 his daughter was pulled over for speeding and given a citation. Police asked if she had had anything to drink. She told them she had had a few beers, Meehan said.

Police called him around 10:30 p.m. to pick up his daughter and take her back to his nearby home. They requested he pick her up, not because she was too intoxicated to drive, but because she admitted to having a few beers and they wanted to play it safe, Meehan said.

The investigation was sparked by an anonymous “document” sent to a local news organization. Chief Bernadette DiPino says she was unaware of the event at the time it occurred.

“I’m turning it over to Internal Affairs and they’re going to get to the bottom of it.” - OCPD Chief Bernadette DiPino

We’ll keep and eye on this story and provide updates when available.

While politics is business as usual, the “war” in Iraq continues unabated and problems with Iran loom on the horizon, other discussion points of the day.

Anna Nicole Smith. A young woman, who seemed to have been a lost soul most of her life, should be let go to rest in peace. The media blitz on her passing, her past, her looks needs to be put to bed. Instead, press and tv are crawling maggot-like over her body and every detail of her life when the only matter of importance is the welfare of her five-months old baby girl. Even then, do we need to intrude on this? I guess so, nobody seems to mind the media excess.

The astronaut. Hah! In a jealous state of mind she allegedly sets out to torment, torture, if not murder another woman. Supposed incriminating evidence is found in her possession, she is charged with attempted murder and…gets to go home to Texas? Not only…but also…throws the first ball at a baseball game and the media fetes her for this? I suppose…haven’t heard anyone complain.

But the Dixie Chicks. Boycotted, cursed, accused of treasonous behavior yet, because they are lauded at the Grammy’s, folk are outraged? They didn’t break the law, no scandal (other than that perceived a few years ago) behind their names, stand behind their belief and, well…might as well put them to the stocks and batter with stones. What is it about what they said…and believed…and stand by…makes them worse than ghoulish behavior toward a young woman, dead before her time. Or a revered astronaut out to hurt, maim or kill some other woman over a guy, living free for the moment in some demented celebrity.

The Dixie Chicks were honest then, remain honest now. You may not like what they said…and it doesn’t really matter that where they said it makes the difference. Why would it? The country in which Natalie Mains made her statement was also dragged into and through the hypocrisy she had no desire with which to be associated. Doesn’t matter that they are entertainers…they are also human, entitled to speak freely and believe how they believe. You can enjoy their music, their harmonies…or not. They are entitled to their political beliefs which, at a guess, I’d say they espouse both privately and publicly…pretty much as any of us do here or as any caller to our local morning or afternoon programming. And the difference is…..???

Senator Tom Carper was on WGMD today warning us about a future where Milton would be beach front property because of the global warming. (A lame line he used at Coast Day last October, too). I’ve got to wonder if Carper thinks his gubernatorial brainstorm of sinking millions of dollars into the failed plan of using disgusting Delaware River dredge spoil to replenish Delaware Beaches would have solved that hundreds-of-years-off catastrophe?

Douglas Feith, former Undersecretary of Defense currently under fire for doing nothing “illegal,” responded to the recent criticism of his pre Iraq war activities. According to Feith, his office was merely “questioning” the intelligence coming out of the CIA.

There should’ve been more questioning, not less. - Douglas Feith

What? Question the conclusions of the intelligence agency that told the President of the United States that weapons of mass destruction stockpiles in Iraq were a “slam dunk?” The nerve.

Michigan Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called a Pentagon report “very damning” after it labeled pre war activities by the Pentagon “inappropriate” but not “illegal.”

The investigation by acting inspector general Thomas F. Gimble found that prewar intelligence work at the Pentagon, including a contention that the CIA had underplayed the likelihood of an al-Qaida connection, was inappropriate but not illegal. The report was to be presented to Levin’s panel at a hearing Friday.

The report found that former Pentagon policy chief Douglas J. Feith had not engaged in illegal activities through the creation of special offices to review intelligence. Some Democrats also have contended that Feith misled Congress about the basis of the administration’s assertions on the threat posed by Iraq, but the Pentagon investigation did not support that.

So let’s recap. Douglas Feith did nothing illegal and he didn’t mislead Congress according to what we know about this Pentagon report and from testimony on the Hill today. The only “inappropriate” behavior we know of, is that Feith accused the CIA of “underplaying” links between Iraq and al Qaida.

Now, I’ve addressed links between Iraq and al Qaida before, here, and it still amazes me that we pretend there was never any intelligence connecting the two. Especially since we bombed the Sudan in 1998 over exactly intelligence pointing to operational ties between Iraq and al Qaida, not to mention the 1998 Justice Department indictment of Bin Laden that clearly connects Al Qaida to Iraq.

I love the Delaware Surfrider Foundation. They’re the organization that taught me about those little storm drains on the streets and in the alleys of Rehoboth Beach and other seaside towns, and about how they go directly into the ocean. (Ew, kind of makes you think about what you’re swimming in on July 5th after a rainy July 4th.) And regardless of where you may fall on the global warming and whether or not it’s man-made, I’m sure we can all agree that swimming in polluted water and being told to only eat rockfish 5 times a year just plain sucks.

So I asked Mark Carter, head of the Delaware Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, and Milford Quest Fitness trainer, to update me on what Surfrider has been up to lately and to give us some contact numbers in case people want to get involved:

Meeting Information:
First Mondays of the month (unless a holiday, then moves to the next week)
7 P.M.
At Dogfish Head Brewpub in Reho (typically we meet upstairs, but usually b/f the meeting, some of us are brewing over waves at the bar) (did you like that pun?)

Cleanup Challenge:
We started the year off with a beach cleanup at Fenwick Island on New Years Day. Weather was a bit rough, but about a dozen volunteers came out and we cleaned up the beach access walkways in the Fenwick area up to the state park. We collected about 20 bags of trash, a large tire, some type of metal object resembling a section of railroad tie, and other debris.

Other scheduled cleanups for the year:
April 21 / Earth Day / Herring Point / Cape Henlopen State Park

July 1 / Rehoboth Beach

August 11 / Indian River Inlet

For more info. or to volunteer - Call (302) 249-8834

Other projects/initiatives:
DE Chapter License Plates - we are currently working to create a DE Chapter, Surfrider Foundation license plate. We need to get 200 individuals willing to register and pay a small fee ($10, I think) to make this a reality.

Surf Etiquette Signage - We are currently looking at developing signs to be posted at surf spots that list guidelines for surfing. The idea is to promote safe surfing and promote cleaner beaches and oceans. We have to meet with DNREC and discuss the possibility of this, since most surf spots are within the parks.

Water Quality - I recently met with DNREC and the College of Marine Studies (UD) to discuss a surfer-volunteer water testing program. We are currently working out the details on this, but essentially, surfers would test designated areas (surf spots) on a bi-weekly basis and submit the tests to UD CMS for testing. DNREC would also conduct tests and submit to UD CMS. The idea is to create a larger cross section of samples to allow for a more accurate test. This project is in it’s infancy, but we’re getting it going.

Herring Point Groin Repair - On Jan. 11th, DNREC held a public hearing regarding a permit application to have the stone and lumber groynes at Herring Point ( “a.k.a. naval jetties”) repaired. The DE Chapter (supported by the OC Chapter, DC Chapter, and the Annapolis Surf Club) had over 50 surfers in attendance and over 295 signatures on a petition to support the permit application. The plan would be to have the two existing groynes repaired (i.e. Have them tie back all the way to the dunes, like they were in the 1980s). This would help to stabilize the beach at Herring Point and protect the historical and recreational resources, as well as allow a surf break to exist. There were other options presented, however this was the “compromise” that would favor the vast majority of interest groups. The permit was also supported by the DE Mobile Surf Fishermen and the Fort Miles Historical Association. THE CHAPTER WILL CONTINUE TO CLOSELY MONITOR THIS SITUATION.

Mark

Thanks, Mark, and of course I liked the pun.

UPDATE on the UPDATE:

I asked Mark to send me a biography, he’s a well rounded guy:

Name: Mark Carter, current Chair of the DE Chapter, Surfrider Foundation
Past Life: U.S. Marine Corps Officer
Day Job: Personal Trainer and Kayak Guide, QUEST Fitness and Kayak
Dream Job: Organic Sheep Farmer on an island (I’m serious)
What’s in my CD player: Greg Brown
The greatest film of all time (to date): The Empire Strikes Back, duh
If I could have a beer with a famous person (living or deceased), with whom would I imbibe? Jack Kerouac
What do I do when I get a day off: Run very far distances, read, sip coffee and write letters to far off friends
My reason to be: My family

Here we go again! A couple of weeks ago we had thousands on the Mall protesting a woman’s right to abortion…the bottom line of which is choice, letting people…specifically women…choose for themselves what they do with their bodies, and when. Now, several States…and the number is growing by the day…want to mandate a vaccination for, not women but little girls from the age of nine, for HPV, because they run the risk of cervical cancer later in their lives. The State of Va. wants to require that children who don’t have this vaccination not be admitted to school. This equates to removal of choice yet again. And, again, pertaining only to women.

Listen, those who are opposed and have no wish to have this vaccination foisted and forced on their daughters, may feel this way for many reasons and don’t they have every right to that choice ? How dare govt., the medical fraternity or anyone else require that our female children, from a very young age, be vaccinated in this manner and for the reason given? For one thing, this vaccination hasn’t been around nearly long enough for anyone to know what, if any, long term effects are. Like most vaccinations for a variety of health situations, it’s not a lifetime guarantee of eliminating the threat of cervical cancer. And why do most of the voices I heard this morning…in favor of said vaccine for our little girls, belong to men?

What about preventative treatment in our little boys? It’s long been said that circumcision of males appears to reduce the chances of cervical cancer in women, as seems to be evidenced in Jewish society. Why haven’t we mandated circumcision in every male birth? Heaven forfend!! And no, I certainly am not a proponent of this, either. It’s just incongruous to me that we, as a society, feel we can and should mandate perceived health concerns on our females. And just a thought…over the last few years we have discussed, debated, argued and chosen as our ‘defense’, the bringing of human rights for Muslim women with the threat that, if we don’t fight it now we all will be subject to Sharia Law, women relegated to second class citizenry ad infinitum. Just what do you think laws such as the Texas and VA proposal are offering?

Were I to be raising a daughter, now, you can be sure I would refuse this on her behalf.

Bob Bradley, new coach of the US national soccer team, has called the A-Team back from Europe to play in the “friendly” game between the US and Mexico tonight in Arizona.

Bradley called in four Europe-based players: Carlos Bocanegra and former Revolution midfielder Clint Dempsey from Fulham FC, Bobby Convey (Reading), and goalkeeper Tim Howard (Everton).

But Hugo Sanchez, Mexico’s new coach, won’t be outdone in this highly contentious meeting:

Sanchez also went to his foreign-based stars, led by Barcelona’s Rafa Marquez, and loaded up with strikers Adolfo Bautista and Omar Bravo (CD Guadalajara), Jared Borgetti and Kikin Fonseca (Cruz Azul), and Cuauhtemoc Blanco (America).

And when I said “contentious” earlier, I meant it’s a bitter, ugly, nasty rivalry.

Fans and players have helped fan the fire of this intense rivalry. In 2003, during a tournament in Mexico, fans greeted the U.S. team with chants of “Osama, Osama.”

A television crew filmed forward Landon Donovan, the marquee player for the U.S. squad today, urinate on a Guadalajara, Mexico, field after a practice.

See, it’s going to be nasty. Game time is 9:00 on ESPN2.

And the American Invasion continues in European soccer. Two American businessmen, George Gillette (owner, Montreal Canadiens) and Tom Hicks (owner, Texas Rangers), have just purchased the English Premier League team Liverpool.

“It really is about winning,” Gillett said at a news conference to introduce the pair, adding that Liverpool are “perhaps the greatest franchise in the history of the greatest sport in the world”.

Liverpool’s purchase price was just over $430 million dollars.

Other English Premier League teams owned by Americans are Aston Villa, purchased by Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner, and Manchester United, owned by Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer.

UPDATE: The US beat Mexico 2-0 with goals scored by Jimmy Conrad and Landon Dovovan in front of a sold out crowd of over 64,000 people. If you were looking for Brian McBride, American playing for Fulham, he was probably home watching the game on his couch, he retired from International play last year.