Did you see the story in the News Journal about the lack of public interest in a new Governor?  What amazes me is there are, for the time being, four candidates listed and a pair of them have 50 or more percent unknown status and these people have prior experience campaigning for statewide office.  This in a state no wider in most places east to west than Manhattan is long from north to south.  And with a much smaller population base than the big city up north.  You can easily dismiss all of this by arguing the real campaign is months away.  Or so you could but as mentioned some of these folks have campaigned before and campaigned statewide.

I’m a talk show host.  It’s my judgment to withhold on the campaigners until after the new-year and election season really gets to rolling.  Now I’m having some second thoughts.  Delaware doesn’t have a large concentration of news media.  Daily newspapers are few and one of the benefits of a newspaper versus the web, and this is anecdotal, is that people more thoroughly read a paper than its companion website.  You needn’t point and click because another story to the right catches the eyes as you flip a page.  Television coverage has its own limitations.  While not getting ink all over your fingers it’s also easier to set back and occasionally click a remote than to lean forward and constantly click a mouse.  Yet is it a surprise to any of you that TV stations don’t have massive teams of beat reporters chasing politicians across the 2 to 3 states the local affiliates are serving? 

Last night I watched the late newscasts and made a few observations.  TV news is pretty much the same in Baltimore as in Salisbury as in Philadelphia.  Pictures of crime and accident scenes and sound bites with police officers and pretty young ladies tying it all together before the weather are the staples of television.  Honestly, there isn’t room in 30 to 35 minutes to adequately cover campaign issues.

I don’t have all the answers but I’ve got some proposals.  A few crossed my mind Sunday morning as I listened to an interview one of my coworkers did with a newsmaker.  First, and there must be a groundswell of interest from the public in advance, I propose radio debates.  Not ordinary radio debates.  What I’m conjuring is a two hour give and take between candidates with no moderator.  First between primary candidates and then between party nominees and borrowing from a proposal Newt Gingrich has made for national debates it’s my desire that each candidate be required to say something nice about the opposition.  Not a comment about the selection of a tie or hairdresser but to say there may be some merit to at least one idea the other side offers. 

This initial conversation will be criticized if one strong personality dominates.  So be it.  Sometimes as citizens it’s what we’re looking for.  It’s also only a start.  There would be another series of one hour discussions.  There would be a moderator but each discussion covers but one topic.  At the moment I’m considering 4 debates in this format.  One would consider power generation and energy issues while another can ponder healthcare solutions.  Housing and development could well be number three and there are numerous topics vying for chat number four.  You get the idea.  Moderators would be selected from a panel nominated by the state’s media outlets.  Candidates won’t be granted veto power when it comes to selection of moderators.  You agree to the terms or 53 percent of folks polled can go on not knowing your name.  It’s the candidate’s choice to bow out but this will be very much noted by the hosts.

These ideas are for circulation.  If there is a great interest I’ll present a more detailed plan to my handlers.  As well as to Delaware’s combined media for a consensus and possible modifications and with a specific set of requests for my peers.  No debate coverage will reference frontrunners and no winners or losers will be declared.  After all, how can you even measure a subjective judgment?  Leave it to the voters. 

From my Sunday reading:

 

Washington Times Commentary

Washington Post Op Ed.

The Columbine Massacre (from the Boston Globe):

The two killers had allegedly been repeatedly bullied before they shot 10 students to death and killed themselves.

Virginia Tech Massacre (from CBS news)

“Long before he snapped, Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui was picked on, pushed around and laughed at over his shyness and the strange way he talked when he was a schoolboy in the Washington suburbs, former classmates say.

Wisconsin Deputy’s Shooting Rampage (from BayouBuzz.com–Louisiana Daily News)

CRANDON, Wis. (AP) - A young sheriff’s deputy who opened fire on a pizza party and killed six people flew into a rage when he was rebuffed by his old girlfriend - and others called him a “worthless pig.”

One local teenager who knew the entire group of close-knit friends also said that Tyler Peterson had a history of being bullied by other students in high school.

Tragedy at a Cleveland High School (From the Associated Press)

CLEVELAND —  Despite 26 security cameras, officials couldn’t say Thursday how an armed, suspended 14-year-old student was able to get into his downtown school a day earlier and shoot two students and two teachers before killing himself.

Christina Burns, who volunteered at one of the schools Asa Coon attended, said Coon both received and delivered abuse. She said that in seventh grade, he did nothing after a classmate dropped a book on Coon’s head while the teacher wasn’t looking. “That child was tormented from his classmates every single day,” she said. “Everybody’s making him out to be a devil, a demon, but nobody knows what was going on with this kid.”

Pennsylvania High School Plot (From Fox News)

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. —  A home-schooled teenager who amassed a cache of weapons, including a hand grenade, and tried to recruit another boy for a possible school attack in Pennsylvania was charged with solicitation to commit terror, authorities said Thursday. The 14-year-old, who authorities said had felt bullied, was taken into custody after police raided his home in the Philadelphia suburbs on Wednesday evening. He had talked about mounting an attack on Plymouth Whitemarsh High School similar to the 1999 massacre at Colorado’s Columbine High School, authorities said. In that incident, two disgruntled teens killed 12 classmates and a teacher before killing themselves.

“I heard they called him strange, they called him fat,” said Whitemarsh student Samir Panah, 15. “I think he just couldn’t take the pressure. A lot of kids get bullied and they try to seek revenge, kind of like the Columbine situation. If he was at school, God knows what would have happened.”

Obviously there is a pattern here. Do kids go on a rampage like this because they’re just mentally ill? It’s clear to me that how they are treated influences them to the point of setting them off. Of course there is always the other side as well. How do the bullied students act that might lead to the bullying? Still on many occasions, the bullied students can’t help the way they are. So what are schools and the government doing about this? Is enough being done? What is being done here in Delaware to prevent this kind of thing from happening here? The YMCA Resource Center and Office of Early Prevention have started a bullying prevention program. Their number is 302-571-6975. Also the Prevention of Child Abuse for Delaware has a bullying program, and that number is 1-866-925-7223. Also under House Bill 7, schools need to establish a bullying program with methods to report and prevent bullying.

I don’t know why, but, I always read the stories from urbandictionary.com about new slang words. Here’s a news article from The Globe that lists the most popular.

The bunk (disgust): busted, ama weak, bogus, dirt, janky, vile, grody, rank, vomit.

The gnar (amazement): sick, ill, tight, nasty, beastly, dank, buttah, pimp, fierce, fresh, all gravity, gravy, all raw, sizzlin’, crackin’, off the heezy, out the frame, savage.

Money: cabbage, chalupas, cheddar, Gouda, paper, Kraft singles (for dollar bills).

100m hottie: Someone who looks good from afar, but fuzzy up close.

Agnorant: Someone both arrogant and ignorant.

Anchor: To wait.

Bluetool: Someone always wearing a Bluetooth, even when they’re not on the phone.

Break your crayons: To upset someone.

Buster: A fake or phony person.

Check your vitals: To do a sweep of e-mail and other essential websites.

Butterfaith: A girl who is attractive by all accounts, except for her devout religiousness.

Dandruff: One who makes plans but often ditches them.

Earjacking: Eavesdropping.

Errorist: Someone who always makes mistakes.

Flossin’: Showing off.

Going federal: Making it, usually in reference to rap stardom.

Marinating: Hanging out.

Multislacking: Slacking at a series of things all at once.

Nonpology: An insincere apology.

Noob: An unintelligent person.

Pay out: To dis someone.

Presidential tint: Cars with exceedingly tinted windows.

Remail: Following up on e-mails that have gone unanswered.

Subwoofing: Sitting in your car and blasting your stereo system to show off.

Swiffin: Making up stories.

Work hot: A person who may or may not be attractive, but is the best-looking person at your workplace.

Can you imagine trying to have a conversation with someone who is speaking like that: So, the other day, on the real real real, I was marinating, flossin’ my chalupas while checkin’ my vitals… No I’m not swiffin, and I was earjacking this 100m hottie, I’m saying real hot, not work hot. So, I went up to her and she was a total Butterfaith. She gave me a flier for a church picnic. Yeah, so I had to pay out. I was like, “Buster, I don’t mean to be agnorant, but don’t you know I’m going federal. For Real. Sorry to break your crayons.” And you guys are upset about the use of Spanish instead of English.

“We interrupt this broadcast of the Michael Savage Show” I could’ve said, “to warn Jimmy Joe.  You leave Tammy Sue alone now, you hear?”  It was an option not realistically available late Monday night. 

 

Attempting to be a dutiful employee I stayed after my show Monday evening to wrap up some commercial production.  It’s on my plate for later this month and I just wanted to get some work done in advance.  It’s a holdover from my college days, which I can admit were probably the most successful days of my life.  Back then I was always prepared in advance and never needed an all nighter to produce a paper or study for an exam.

 

About 8:30 P.M. it was finally time to leave for home.  I stayed a few more minutes to send some business related emails to coworkers.  Then the telephone started wringing and I picked up the receiver.  It was a friend.  He shared some welcome news about a client of the radio station and then we chatted for a few minutes about football.

 

It must have been 8:50 P.M. when I heard a woman’s voice.  First I thought from outside the building.  Then it was inside the building.  I bid farewell to my friend thinking someone else was here to finish some commercial production.  Instead a distraught stranger walked into the control room and pleaded that she needed help.  You understand my first instinct was that she had a flat tire and she came to some of the brightest lights in the neighborhood.  No metaphor there just some common sense.  I’ve changed many a tire for folks and was prepared to do it once more.

 

Then she announced Jimmy Joe was trying to kill her.  The names are changed to protect the innocent and potentially guilty.  She explained calls to police didn’t offer a solution.  Then she pleaded the radio station could offer some help.  There isn’t really the time to consider all the ramifications of allowing the woman to use the control room as an emergency shelter.  I’m sure it would’ve surprised Dan in the morning. 

 

Attempts to calm the woman failed.  She lives near here.  Jimmy Joe is using cocaine.  He’s crazy.  His mother can’t control him.  When I explained to the wailing woman there wasn’t much I could do, after offering there must be some neighbors who could offer shelter from the night, she repeated the police wouldn’t come.  “You can help”, she cried.  “This is a radio station”.  I didn’t say it but if Jimmy Joe isn’t worried about police officers with guns he sure isn’t worried about deep voices with microphones.

 

Then the woman hurled one more.  “If I end up dead it’ll be on your head as well as the police”, she told me.  Then she was gone.  I went outside and in the distance I could hear crying but with no sense of the direction it was coming from.  She was making good time wherever she was going.  This morning her story wasn’t in the news.  Disaster averted for at least one more day. 

 

I’ve a friend who works for the Roman church in a tiny office where he reviews divorce cases.  One night long ago and after work we stopped for a sandwich at a restaurant near the neighborhood he called home when he was a kid.  As I parked my car and got out into the street I could hear a vicious domestic dispute one block away.  Inside Father Bob shook his head and explained as a priest he forgives but as a human being he has a sense of wonder.  “Why do these women marry these guys in the first place?” he offered.  There is the 64 thousand dollar question. 

 

When I was a TV reporter back in the middle ‘90s I went to a story at a county jail.  An FBI Agent, a man who’d grown up on some mean streets, was speaking to inmates.  He mentioned Jerry Springer and Springer’s daily circus.  These woman, the Agent explained, get involved with these awful men because it’s all they know.  Many of the inmates knew what he was talking about.  They were often involved with those disputes but from another side.  It’s all they know. 

 

I’m no bleeding heart.  I’m not recommending another government program. I would like to suggest that at some point people find that other way.  Through guidance or hard experience because you understand domestic violence isn’t much of an issue until you get caught in the middle.  Can I make a suggestion?  If this problem besets a friend stop being the shoulder they can cry on.  O.K. to a degree but what they need is someone to grab them by the hands and lead them away from the abyss.  If you know Tammy Sue it’s time for tough love but don’t use Jimmy Joe’s methods.

 

 

 

 

Man-made or space aliens?  While some of the very elaborate crop circles that have been found in England and other places have been attributed to humans – not all have. 

Sussex County, Delaware has its own version of crop circles as I discovered one day while playing with the hybrid version of Google maps.  But what is making these?  While some are indeed circles – others are more reminiscent of Pac Man running rampant across our corn or soybean fields. 

As I scrolled around through Eastern Sussex County – I decided to see if these circles were found all over the county – and yes – they are – around Coverdale Crossroads and Seaford just to name a couple. 

I had an idea that the cause of the Sussex County’s crop circles is spray irrigation or wastewater irrigation.  Just to be sure, I asked Mike McGrath – with the Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation what might be the cause.  He agreed that it was spray irrigation… ” I’m not sure whether or not they are wastewater spray…”

Next I went to a source closer to home – County Engineer, Mike Izzo who told me…

“You are correct, the circles are the result of irrigated fields, however they may not necessarily be wastewater irrigated. Standard “groundwater only” irrigation systems will likewise produce the circle effect. The specific locations you reference in your e-mail, i.e. Wolfe Neck, near Mountaire in Millsboro are wastewater -related. I’m not sure why the wastewater standout as much, but it may be related to the time of year that the photo was taken. Often, such photo’s are taken in the winter as you can see more with the leaves off the trees. Standard water only systems don’t pump in the winter because there is generally not a crop or it doesn’t need irrigation. But with wastewater, if it’s not freezing, we’re spraying.”

And looking at the area near Lewes, where the Wolfneck Rd Wastewater Treatment facility is – I saw more circles that along with the ones I saw near Mountaire tell me they really are spray irrigation – of one sort or another. 

These ‘circles’ are nothing that you will see from ground level, but I’m sure planes flying overhead as well as the satellite that snapped the Google images, have no trouble seeing the less-adorned Sussex County crop circles.  Mystery solved.

You sometimes get similar dreams I imagine.  The ones you remember with vivid detail as they may not frighten you but make you aware of your human failings.  For me it was early Sunday morning.  It’s a vague sense that the right/wrong meter buried deep in the mind is still working.  It creates dreams not only vivid in images but in sound.  This one opens with the sound as if a voice was speaking to me from outside the bedroom door.  Not a hostile voice but it still caught my attention as I’m not aware of any strangers staying in my home.  You get a feeling of being awake but you aren’t.  Then you find yourself in a room with 2 well dressed strangers.  A man and a woman in dark business dress and while they weren’t at all hostile dream images I can assure you they didn’t represent the angelic.  
 

The man asked me why I made a habit of “calling out” so many people on the radio show.  This isn’t a new question.  When I last hosted a radio talk program friends told me they were concerned about my penchant for calling the powerful some very, very awful names.  And I wasn’t afraid to chastise people disagreeing with me if it helped me make my point.  It’s a question that must haunt most talk show hosts, comedians, newspaper columnists, theater critics and teachers. 
 

As the dream progressed my inquisitors, first dressed in formal business attire, morphed into several different characters.  As I suppose they could represent a great many questions we all have about the righteousness of our work and our causes.  Then in a silly dream sort of way I found myself texting my answers on a cell phone.  Then some real sounds from outside startled me awake. 
 

I’m not involved with any group ascribing that dreams are prophetic but I do believe we can draw some conclusions and become better people by looking for meaning.
 

My dream text message attempted to explain satire and sarcasm as tools of my trade.  A text which underscores my belief that verbally skewering those in public life can sometimes serve a public good.  It can also, you would hope, allow the pompous to sometimes see the error of their own ways but then it’s fair to say I rarely see any such result.  May I also note that there have been “average Joes” who’ve felt the steam of a comment I’ve made?  Let me cite the case of a caller to the radio show.  His on-air handle is Williamsville.  Sometimes he telephones and offers a thoughtful comment.  Other days he displays a grating personality.  In fact he can open a conversation and be down right surly.  Short of asking him if he’s got a personality flaw I try and move him off the stage quickly.  I really don’t want to hurt his feelings but there are days when it strikes me he hasn’t much to offer.  On those days I’m a bit like a patrolman trying to move gawkers away from a crime scene. 
 

Then there are the callers claiming I’m afraid to debate them.  What debate, it’s a radio talk show?  We aren’t feeding the poor or curing cancer and I certainly don’t know the answer about world peace.  Any host telling you otherwise is just in the marketing business.  All style and no substance.  Secondly I should remind you that with 3 other incoming callers I’d like to hear from many voices.  It’s a radio show.  If you believe you’ve been shortchanged then get a soapbox and go down to the town center. 
 

These are some of the thoughts my dream spurred.  One I’ve not mentioned.  Someday I will be called to account for all the things I’ve said and done.  The things I’ve said not only on radio but in school, work and with family and friends.  A corner of my consciousness always reminds me that even the people I criticize have feelings.  Even the pompous and I admit I don’t have an answer ready for St. Peter.  Text messages probably won’t be of much help.   

I sleep late.  As late as 8 o’clock in the morning but it hasn’t always been this way.  I was sleeping during days before taking this job because I was working overnights sorting mail.  Prior to that I rose at 2 o’clock each weekday morning to host a radio program, a routine lasting some 30 months. 
 

Before those jobs I just happened to be an early riser, the product of country living and parents up well before the sun.  Now I work afternoons and go to sleep much later at night.  So this isn’t really an issue as I live at the end of a dead end road.  With a golf course right next door I’m not expecting a lot of noise.  The occasional animal attacking and eating another animal will briefly wake me during the night.  Then I quickly go back to sleep but the guy firing up the chainsaw before 8 ‘clock one morning this past week was another matter.
 

It woke me, alright.  Startled awake in an almost terror before I placed the sound.  The thing is I appear to sleep better than most of my neighbors.  None of them report using a chainsaw or hearing one being used.  A chainsaw that was used that morning for several minutes. 
 

Should I be concerned?  Have I encountered a cult which practices terrible tortures modeled from cheap 30 year old horror films?  You see, this would be just the place for these folks to set up a secret encampment.  I mean this is Delaware.  It isn’t New York City or even akin to the evils of some meth-lab in rural Nebraska. 
 

The typical view, I dare say, of life here is that the place is filled with industrious people trying not to offend anyone.  Unless calling a radio talk show, which seems the only place people around these parts vent. 
 

Trust me as an outsider.  This is a view greatly embraced about Delaware.  Quiet, low crime rate, good place for business.  It competes with another view that it’s a bedroom community for Norristown.  O.K., O.K., for Philadelphia.  To some degree I’m told it’s true beyond the Indian River Bridge.  And I can see folks from Philadelphia engaging in barbarism.  Yeah, it was practiced at the old Vet.  It’s why Bill Bergey was such a hit in the city.  The savagery of the football field is just an extension. 
 

Your comments are encouraged.

Today is the day of the Stephen Fund Garage/Yard Sale, at the Sleep Inn in Lewes. More information below.

from talkofdelmarva.com (September 2007)

Yesterday on my program, We featured guest Estelle Nuebling to talk about a 24-year0old struggling with cancer and increased medical bills. They are holding a fundraiser/Garage Sale to help with his medical bills, and I promised that I would post the information here…

from stephenjkunitskyfund.org:In November of 2006, three weeks before graduating from the Delaware County Municipal Police Academy, Steve was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of cancer known as neuronendocrine cancer.  He underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments and had a large tumor surgically removed from his neck.  After countless scans, dozens of pain killers and a few too many trips to the doctor, Steve completely conquered the cancer. His only worry was repaying his astronomical medical fees which he learned would not be covered by his new insurance policy. He then discovered that the advice he’d gotten from the public assistance office was incorrect. Much of the financial aid received while undergoing his treatments now needs to be paid back.

Less than two months passed before the cancer returned, and as is so often the case was stronger than ever.  A new scan revealed tumors and traces of the disease in his spine, chest and neck. In response, he was given three new forms of chemotherapy.  The doctors are confident in the treatment they have administered but are concerned with the speed and aggressive nature of the cancer’s return. Steve left the hospital with an oxygen tank due to a large tumor in his chest which makes it hard to breathe. He must return to the hospital every three weeks for treatment, and has been told that going to work is out of the question. The day-to-day for Steve is very stressful, but generally, he keeps himself very positive. He hasn’t lost his sense of humor at all.  Those who know Steve will not be surprised by this information.

Estelle is looking for items for the garage sale… more informaiton to follow. Drop off points for merchandise include Kupchicks in Lewes, Bethel United Methodist Church, Antiques - Rt 9 in Harbeson and the radio station. For more information contact Estelle @ 302-875-8961 or her son Chris @ 302-745-4787

Delaware Congressman Mike Castle and Beach Manager for the State of Delaware Tony Pratt were in Bethany Beach today to get an update on the progress of the beach replenishment project. Everything is on target, and rapid progress is being made. It looks like by next summer, beachgoers will enjoy a much wider beach, and the kids will have more than enough sand to play with. However, here is something that people might be somewhat upset about— the height of the sand, which blocks their view. Mr. Pratt mentioned a similar controversy out of Ocean City and said there needs to a level of protection because the town has been so badly beaten by storms. I would think that for the people who live on the coast, they wouldn’t mind how high the sand is because of the protection, but maybe you are a beachgoer who would be mad because there is no open view of the shoreline. I would think safety and protection of the coastal areas is most important.