Big second half lifts Cavaliers
Nick Alessandrini November 27, 2021 Headlines, Sports
Photo courtesy of MIddletown Football
It was a chilly night for playoff football in the first state on Friday as there were quarter final games up and down Delaware. One of the best of the night was a rematch down in Middletown between teams that know each other pretty well, Middletown and Appoquinimink.
It was all defense early in this one as the Jaguars came to play. Appo stopped Middletown on the first drive of the game on 4th down and kept that momentum defensively throughout the half. Both defenses would shutout opposing offenses as we had a 0-0 score at the break.
Middletown, though, would wake up in the second half. With a 0-0 game Middletown head coach Zach Blum chose to try an onside kick to begin the half and it worked to perfection. Middletown would recover and find their stride. Josh Roberson would take a carry 19 yds to open up the scoring for the Cavaliers. A little later on after a forced turnover from the Middletown Defense, Braden Davis would find Zach Caldwell for a 16 yd TD connection, Middletown takes a 13-0 lead.
Then the Defense would strike again as Zyaire Tart would intercept a pass and take it back 33 yds for a touchdown. Middletown would add one more as Darren Pope made a spectacular play on a punt return. Ball took a hop and Pope saw an opportunity as he sped up and snatched the ball out of the air in stride on his way to a 40 yd return touchdown. Middletown rolls with a tough 27-0 win over Appo. Middletown will now wait and see who wins between Sallies and Sussex Central to see who they will get next. Davis went 11-18 for 102 yds 1 TD and WR Zach Caldwell finished with 6 catches on 8 targets for 61 yds and a score.
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Nick Alessandrini
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You're not the only one who thinks traffic to, around beaches is worse
Dr. Beth Duncan says there are increasing numbers of accidents in front of her Lewes office. Delaware's beaches have seen traffic return to pre-pandemic levels — and then some, according to people driving the roads. With the resurgence of tourism and rapid development of the coastal region, some locals say the summer of 2021 traffic has become worse than ever. According to recently released census data, Sussex County grew by 40,233 residents to 237,378 — up 20.4% since the 2010 census. Tourism is the fourth largest industry in Delaware, having attracted over 9.2 million visitors in the year of 2018 alone. That all changed when the pandemic forced restaurants, hotels and attractions to close; a blow to the industry that serves as the lifeblood of the coastal region. With all the harm caused by the pandemic, some Sussex County residents were able to appreciate that for the first time accessing local amenities with ease during the summer, knowing that the traffic would return. And it did. Rehoboth Beach, for example, already has virtually matched its 2019 parking meter revenue, according to a city spokeswoman. That's significant, considering the beach town has begun offering "meterless Mondays," which allow visitors to park free of charge on city streets. She declined to say what that total is. Repeated efforts were unsuccessful to get comments from the Delaware Department of Transportation about the traffic, or the number of vehicles passing through Route 1 toll booths this summer, compared to 2020 and 2019. DelDOT also has not yet responded to a recently filed Freedom of Information request about that. However, people who frequently drive to the beaches say there's no doubt traffic is heavier. Andrew Garchinsky, better known to beachgoers as DJ Andrew Hugh, is the resident disk jockey at Northbeach, a popular live music and dance venue in Dewey Beach. Garchinsky travels from Wilmington to Dewey Beach frequently for his gigs, and has become all-too-familiar with the problem of traffic in the beach region. "Compared to recent years, I'd definitely say that there's more traffic volume, for sure," Garchinsky said. "Especially along Coastal Highway once you get from Lewes to down south of Dewey." He said he faces the most congestion during the weekends, but traffic has become worse during weekdays as well. Garchinsky credits the resurgence in tourism to post-COVID fatigue. "After having a year of not being able to do what they want freely, people are taking the opportunity this summer to enjoy the beaches and the towns and the nightlife," he said. Traffic isn't limited to the roadways, according to Garchinsky. "The nightclubs and everything are busier, and also, people seem to be having a lot more fun than in the past." It's not all fun and games, if you ask Dr. Beth Duncan, owner of Delaware Otolaryngology Consultants in Lewes. She commutes from Wilmington about three days per week. "It's a nightmare everywhere," Duncan said. "People just are driving faster and faster and I think right now with the fallout from the virus and the lockdowns, the accidents are just incredible, and they're everywhere." Duncan believes traffic is worse now than before the pandemic. She credits the increase to the rapid development of the coastal region. "A lot of people retire here or just move here from high-tax states like New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia," Duncan said. "They've been vacationing here for however many years and they think, 'Wow, this is such a beautiful place. I'm going to retire here.'" Duncan believes that development near the beach area has come without sufficient planning, congesting roads and leading to a higher risk of car accidents. "I'm literally becoming reluctant to drive down here," Duncan said. "I just think it's awful. The traffic is just awful." Duncan also has noticed an increase in aggressive driving. "Summertime is when you realize how bad it is," Duncan said. "But people are also becoming more aggressive and angry and frustrated on the roads. We've had some spectacular crashes at the entrance to my parking lot, and it's getting worse all the time." Carla Briccotto of Middletown travels to the beach area nearly every weekend during the summer. "It is absolutely the worst that we have ever seen," Briccotto said. "We've been traveling down for 11 years, every week, and it's amazing this year, the amount of traffic that we are encountering." Briccotto attributes that to numerous factors, including an influx of new residents, as well as tourists visiting after having to cancel their vacation plans during the pandemic. "It is wonderful for the beach towns." Briccotto said. "It's amazing for that and for getting people back to work, but getting there — that's the trick. The time of day is absolutely critical." Briccotto tries to leave Middletown for the beaches by 8 a.m. in order to avoid getting caught in traffic jams. She believes it will become critical for the state to begin investing heavily in infrastructure improvements. "We're just not keeping up with the influx of new residents. The roads just weren't originally designed for the volume that they're handling right now," Briccotto said. Despite the traffic, Briccotto said she understands why people would want to move to Delaware. "We just have so much to offer between the beaches, all the way up north to Wilmington, and in the city, of course," Briccotto said. "It's wonderful to have the development but perhaps we should try to slow that down, or implement a moratorium for however many years until we can catch up." In the meantime, Briccotto said, drivers and visitors need to try to exercise patience. "The important thing is when you get into Sussex County, you have to respect that the restaurants may have a wait and that the traffic will be there and you won't always be able to get around it," Briccotto said. "You just have to relax and have patience and focus on the end result: getting your feet in the sand."
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Case backlog, hope for rent assistance keep Delaware eviction filings low
Landlords may be waiting to see how rental assistance programs can help before filing for eviction. Two weeks after the federal eviction moratorium ended on Aug. 26, Delaware has not yet seen a significant spike in eviction filings. Some experts say that could be yet to come. A backlog of eviction cases and the availability of hundreds of millions in federal rental assistance funds may be encouraging landlords to seek alternative remedies to eviction — or wait to see how things pan out, officials say. Although the CDC's moratorium prevented courts from removing tenants from their rental properties, it did not prevent landlords from filing for eviction. In the year and a half since March 15, 2020, there have been 9,275 eviction filings, according to Eviction Lab, which tracks filings in Delaware and compares the data to pre-pandemic figures. This compared to more than 18,000 evictions in 2019 alone, said John Whitelaw, advocacy director for the Community Legal Aid Society of Delaware. Almost no filings during the pandemic have resulted in actual evictions. Now that the moratorium has been lifted, existing and new eviction filings may continue to be held up by backlogs in the court system, authorities said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Aug. 3 that it would extend the eviction moratorium in areas with substantial or high transmission of COVID-19. Then the Supreme Court ruled on Aug. 26 that the CDC had exceeded its authority, effectively ending the moratorium. Following the Supreme Court's decision, many experts and advocates expected that Delaware would see an immediate increase in eviction filings, but filings have remained significantly below pre-pandemic levels, according to Sean O'Sullivan, chief of community relations for Delaware's courts. In some cases, tenants have moved out of their rental properties before further court action. Landlords and tenants have also availed themselves to mediation options instead of going through the eviction filing process. Because courts are scheduling many hearings via Zoom, they are no longer able to do "calendar calls," wherein numerous cases are handled in rapid succession. This means that the already overwhelmed Justice of the Peace courts could take even longer to adjudicate individual cases, further complicating the problem, Whitelaw said. The slow process may be a factor in landlords' decision to seek alternative remedies to eviction. Whitelaw said the decrease in filings during the pandemic was, in part, an indirect effect of the moratorium. "Even though, except for the first few months, the moratorium doesn't stop landlords from filing cases, we believe a lot of landlords simply didn't file while the moratorium was on because they were concerned that they would not be able to evict at the end of the process, so why bother filing," he said. Eviction filings may also be lower than expected because some landlords are waiting to see if their tenants are able to access federal rental assistance funds. The Delaware Housing Assistance Program, or DEHAP, provides emergency housing assistance to renters affected by shutdowns, closures, layoffs, reduced work hours, unpaid leave or financial hardship related to the COVID-19 health crisis. "One of the other reasons why we think evictions are low is because a lot of federal money was made available to aid tenants and landlords to resolve their disputes so that they could get this money that would basically make the landlord whole and keep the tenant in their place," O'Sullivan said. Out of the $46.6 billion dedicated nationally through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, the State of Delaware was awarded approximately $200 million in emergency rent relief funds. Additional funds have been allocated by the federal government since, bringing the total amount of assistance available closer to $300 million. The program can assist with rental arrears and as much as three months of future rent payments, up to a maximum of $2,000 per month for 15 months. Despite the abundance of funds, strenuous eligibility requirements and verification processes have made it difficult for many renters to take advantage of the program. Even though the program has the financial resources to help alleviate the problem of evictions, the Housing Authority has struggled to get the money out the door, Whitelaw said. The problem isn't unique to Delaware. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, just $4.7 billion of almost $47 billion appropriated by Congress for rental assistance had actually reached tenants and landlords by July. The slow pace has not changed significantly since. Whitelaw believes that the Housing Authority may not have enough staff to handle a program of such large scale. "It's not a smooth, efficient process," he said. "I don't think that's due to lack of goodwill, I don't think it's that they don't want to do it, I think it's hard to get a $200 million to $300 million program up and running quickly." Nevertheless, many landlords are waiting to see if their tenants will qualify for housing assistance before filing for eviction, another factor which could lend itself to lower filing statistics, Whitelaw said. "Many landlords just want to get paid," Whitelaw said. "So to the extent that that money is still available, that's going to have an informal way of reducing the number of people who actually get evicted because a significant number of landlords are willing to let that play out before they make a final decision on what to do." He said if the housing assistance program is able to get more rental assistance out the door, they could significantly address the COVID-caused eviction problem. Whitelaw noted that still wouldn't address the underlying problem which caused 18,000 pre-pandemic evictions in 2019: the lack of affordable housing options. "One of the things that COVID has done is shine a spotlight on a huge shortage of affordable housing," Whitelaw said. "That's why there are so many evictions and why there were so many evictions before COVID. "Many tenants can't afford their rent when they're paying 40% to 70% of their income in a rent payment. Obviously that […]