"Pages of history" features excerpts from The News Journal archives including The Morning News and the Evening Journal.
NCCo passes budget without tax increase for ninth straight year
New Castle County residents will not pay more in property taxes or sewer service fees next year, even though the government will spend about 6.2% more to provide services such as policing, emergency dispatching and sewage treatment.
County Council voted 7-0 Tuesday to approve a nearly $207.4 million operating budget for the year starting July 1. The budget approved for the current year was $195.2 million.
The proposal was amended prior to the vote to include about $1.4 million more than County Executive Tom Gordon proposed in March. The additional money will cover anticipated increases in employee health care costs and pension contributions, and the addition of four emergency dispatch operators and one clerk….
The average property tax bill and sewer bill for a home in an unincorporated area is expected to stand, respectively, at $325.32 and $171.
County Chief Financial Officer Ron Morris said this is the ninth consecutive year with no property tax increase and the 12th consecutive year with no sewer rate increase….
Recent county news:Overtime payouts make first responders among the highest-paid New Castle County employees
May 28, 1973, The Morning News
Delaware resorts full despite drip
Wind, rain and cold don’t keep the mailmen from their appointed rounds, and they don’t stop the tourists from coming to Delaware’s seashore on a Memorial Day weekend.
Like lemmings who hear a mysterious call of nature, they began the trek Friday as drizzle and 30-to-35-mph winds swept across the beaches in 50-degree temperatures.
Earlier speculations that a gasoline shortage might be felt in the resort area were proved groundless.
Most rooms were taken. State park camping facilities reported a good crowd. The Seashore State Park was full by early Friday, but Cape Henlopen State Park was never quite full and on Sunday afternoon had only 110 of 160 spaces filled…
The boardwalk was mostly for the young people who walked up and down and stood around in groups….
May 30, 1972, The Morning News
Gunman kills 3, self, at N.C. political rally
A calm gunman “shooting at everything that moved” killed three persons, wounded eight others and then killed himself outside a shopping mall where Sen. B. Everett Jordan was campaigning yesterday in Raleigh, N.C.
Police discounted theories that it was an assassination attempt on the North Carolina Democratic senator who was shaking hands just inside the North Hills Shopping Center.
Two of the wounded were little girls.
Witnesses said the gunman, a neatly-dressed man identified as Harvey Glenn McLeod, 23, opened fire just as Jordan stepped through the plate glass doors. Jordan had been chatting with two women. One was killed and the other critically wounded. The doors were shattered.
Witnesses said the gunfire went on for about two minutes….
Police Chief Robert E. Goodwin said, “When the first siren was heard, witnesses said he turned the gun on himself.” The chief said the man was armed with a .22-caliber rifle which he had purchased a few hours earlier, and a revolver….
June 1, 1889, Evening Journal
An awful flood; Pennsylvania city entirely submerged
A telegraph operator in the Pennsylvania railroad signal tower at Sang Hollow, 12 miles below Johnstown, says that 75 dead bodies have floated past him down the river from Johnstown.
It is stated that the reservoir above Johnstown broke and the water deluged the town, sweeping away houses by scores and drowning probably hundreds of people.
Wires are down, and no communication can be had with Johnstown….
Pennsylvania railroad officials in Pittsburgh state that they have advices that over 200 dead bodies have been counted floating downstream at Johnstown….
Johnstown is described as wholly submerged, only two houses being entirely above the water line….
June 1, 2003, Sunday News Journal
Neighbors criticize Cherry Island landfill expansion
From busy I-495, few east Wilmington landmarks can compete with the massive Cherry Island Landfill, a hulking complex that buries 525,000 tons of waste yearly on a flank of the Delaware River.
In coming months, the state’s busiest landfill will loom large on the political landscape as well. Opponents of a proposed expansion are stepping up public objections, saying the state buries too much waste and should recycle more…
Delaware Solid Waste Authority managers say the $60 million project will reduce the risk of a waste-pile collapse and increase the landfill’s capacity by adding nearly 120 feet to its height limit….
Critics in nearby communities have called the site an eyesore and claimed dust, odors and constant truck traffic pose a threat to public health….
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
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