WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump repeatedly prodded Ukraine’s new leader to work with the U.S. attorney general and lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden, according to a rough transcript summarizing the call released Wednesday.

In the call, Trump raised allegations, without citing any evidence, that the former vice president sought to interfere with a Ukrainian prosecutor’s investigation of his son Hunter.

“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that,” Trump said to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The conversation between the two leaders is one piece of a whistleblower’s complaint, which followed the July 25 call. The complaint is central to the formal impeachment inquiry launched Tuesday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The White House account of the call reveals that Trump was willing to engage a foreign leader to dig up dirt on a political foe and he goes so far as to volunteer his attorney general to help. But Trump appears to stop short in the call of any explicit quid pro quo, such as linking Ukraine’s help to American military aid or other assistance.

Days before the call, Trump froze nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine. It was not clear from the summary whether Zelenskiy was aware of that. The president has insisted he did nothing wrong and has denied that any request for help was tied to the aid freeze.

It’s illegal under federal law to seek foreign government assistance for U.S. elections.

The release of the rough transcript sets the parameters of the political debate to come. Trump, at the U.N. on Wednesday, dismissed it and said as he often does that’s he’s the victim of “the single greatest witch hunt in American history.” Democrats say it lays the groundwork for the congressional impeachment inquiry.

Trump aides believed that his oblique, message-by-suggestion style of speaking would not lend itself to the discovery of a “smoking gun” in Wednesday’s summary. His previous messages to his staff were at the center of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into obstruction of justice in the Trump-Russia case.

One example in the summary: Trump says to Zelenskiy, “I would like for you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.”

In the conversation, Trump doesn’t distinguish between the roles of Giuliani, his personal attorney and political ally, and Barr, who as the nation’s top law enforcement officer is supposed to be above the political fray. Barr has been a staunch defender of Trump, most notably during the Mueller investigation.

“Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man, he was the mayor of New York City, a great mayor, and I would like him to call you,” Trump said, according to the call summary. “I will ask him to call you along with the attorney general.”

Immediately after saying Giuliani and Barr would be in touch, Trump references Ukraine’s economy, saying: “Your economy is going to get better and better I predict. You have a lot of assets. It’s a great country.”

It’s not the first time Trump has sought foreign assistance to undermine a political rival. He publicly asked Russia to find missing Hillary Clinton emails in 2016, but this is his first documented time doing so while president with the weight of the U.S. government at his disposal.

The president took the 30-minute call from the White House residence, while officials in the Situation Room listened in and worked to keep a record of the conversation, as is standard practice. They used voice recognition software, but the call was not recorded. Trump ordered the document declassified Tuesday.

The release came against the backdrop of the president presiding over a meeting of world leaders at the United Nations, a remarkable split screen even for the turbulence of the Trump era.

The inspector general for the intelligence community wrote to the acting Director of National Intelligence in August that he believed the conversation between Trump and Ukraine’s leader could have been a federal campaign finance violation because the president could have been soliciting a campaign contribution from a foreign government, a Justice Department official said.

The whistleblower — a member of the intelligence community — said in their complaint that they had heard the information from “White House officials,” but did not have firsthand knowledge of the call, the Justice Department official said.

Prosecutors from the department reviewed a transcript of the call and determined the president did not violate campaign finance law. The determination was made based on the elements of the allegation, and there was no consideration of the department’s policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted, the official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal investigative deliberations.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the attorney general was first notified of Trump’s conversation with the Ukrainian president “several weeks after the call took place,” when the department received the referral about potential criminal conduct.

“The president has not spoken with the attorney general about having Ukraine investigate anything relating to former Vice President Biden or his son. The president has not asked the attorney general to contact Ukraine — on this or any other matter,” the spokeswoman said.

Trump has sought to implicate Biden and his son in the kind of corruption that has long plagued Ukraine. Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company at the same time his father was leading the Obama administration’s diplomatic dealings with Kyiv. Though the timing raised concerns among anti-corruption advocates, there has been no evidence of wrongdoing by either the former vice president or his son.

Lawmakers have been demanding details of the whistleblower’s complaint, but the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, has refused to share that information, citing presidential privilege. He is to testify Thursday before the House, and lawmakers are expected to have access to details of the complaint beforehand in a classified setting.

The complaint has set off a stunning turn of American political events, leading Pelosi to yield to mounting pressure from fellow Democrats on the impeachment inquiry.

Trump, who thrives on combat, has all but dared Democrats to take this step, confident that the specter of impeachment led by the opposition party will bolster rather than diminish his political support.

MESSINA, Sicily — As the weary passengers aboard a rescue ship approached Sicily at the end of an agonizing journey from North Africa, 30-year-old Seke Awa called a friend back in Libya the moment she got cellphone reception.

“I told her we are on the big boat and sent her courage, that she needs to have hope. One day her suffering may end,” said Awa, a native of Cameroon. “She was crying.”

A total of 182 people, rescued a week ago from fragile boats off Libya’s coast, arrived in Italy on Tuesday, filled with excitement and hope, but also myriad questions about what comes next.

Will they be allowed to stay in Europe? If so, in which country? And will they have a choice? Can they go to school even if they are adults? How much does a SIM card cost?

Nelson Oyedele, 37, said he fled violence and poverty in Nigeria with his wife and four small children.

“I don’t know where I’m going to end up, I’m just going,” he told an Associated Press reporter on the Ocean Viking, a Norwegian-flagged rescue ship run by the humanitarian organizations Doctors Without Borders and SOS Mediterranee. “My daughter says she wants to become a doctor. She could never become a doctor back in our country. Maybe here she will.”

Oyedele was the only man on the ship traveling as part of a complete family. The rest had left behind wives, husbands, children and parents in their home countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Abdul Kerim, 20, said he fled persecution in Togo and wants to reunite with brothers and aunts living in Germany. He hopes to be granted asylum and is open to any kind of work, though he dreams of having his own construction company.

“I will work for Europe and give all I have,” he said. “If possible I would like my family to join me.” His wife and 2-year-old son are still in Togo.

However, Kerim and others disembarking in Messina will have no control over where they end up. Their fate will be decided in negotiations among a few European countries that agreed to take them in.

Asylum is typically reserved for people fleeing war and persecution. People escaping poverty in West Africa rarely qualify. In Germany, only 6.5% of Nigerians whose asylum cases have been decided this year received some sort of protection. For Syrians, it was nearly 84%.

The migrants on the Ocean Viking came from a number of countries, including Sudan, Cameroon, Guinea, Mali, Egypt, Morocco and Bangladesh. As they arrived in Messina, their immediate worry was contacting loved ones for the first time since they left Libya, where rape, torture and abuse are widespread at the hands of smugglers demanding ransom payments from the migrants’ families.

The Ocean Viking docked in Messina after receiving permission to enter Italy, a country that until a change of governments this month had closed its ports to humanitarian rescue ships, saying their activities encouraged human smuggling. Police and Red Cross workers waited for the migrants on shore.

As they approached Sicily, the passengers marveled at a gargantuan cruise ship docked on the Italian mainland across the Strait of Messina.

“Is there a hotel inside?” asked one of the men watching the floating behemoth from the deck of the much smaller rescue ship. “It’s so amazing,” said another. The children waved incessantly.

Halfway across the world, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, members of the Italian government said most of the migrants on the Ocean Viking would be sent to other European countries.

They called for a permanent European solution to migrant arrivals, instead of the current practice of dealing with the issue ship by ship. They said they also intend to make it easier to return migrants who don’t qualify for protection in Europe.

Premier Giuseppe Conte said Italy will soon deliver “good news about a much more effective repatriation system at a European level. Italy is preparing for a decisive turning point.”

NEW YORK – Earth is in more hot water than ever before, and so are we, an expert United Nations climate panel warned in a grim new report Wednesday.

Sea levels are rising at an ever-faster rate as ice and snow shrink, and oceans are getting more acidic and losing oxygen, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in a report issued as world leaders met at the United Nations.

It warned that if steps aren’t taken to reduce emissions and slow global warming, seas will rise 3 feet by the end of the century, with many fewer fish, less snow and ice, stronger and wetter hurricanes and other, nastier weather systems.

“The oceans and the icy parts of the world are in big trouble, and that means we’re all in big trouble, too,” said one of the report’s lead authors, Michael Oppenheimer, professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton University. “The changes are accelerating.”

The dire effects will be felt on both land and sea, harming people, plants, animals, food, societies, infrastructure and the global economy. In fact, the international team of scientists projected for the first time that some island nations will probably become uninhabitable.

The oceans absorb more than 90% of the excess heat from carbon pollution in the air, as well as much of the carbon dioxide itself. Earth’s snow and ice, called the cryosphere, are also being eroded.

“The world’s oceans and cryosphere have been taking the heat for climate change for decades. The consequences for nature and humanity are sweeping and severe,” said Ko Barrett, vice chair of the IPCC and a deputy assistant administrator for research at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The report found:

— Seas are now rising at one-seventh of an inch (3.66 millimeters) a year, which is 2.5 times faster than the rate from 1900 to 1990.

— The world’s oceans have already lost 1% to 3% of the oxygen in their upper levels since 1970 and will lose more as warming continues.

—From 2006 to 2015, the ice melting from Greenland, Antarctica and the world’s mountain glaciers has accelerated. They are now losing 720 billion tons (653 billion metric tons) of ice a year.

—Arctic June snow cover has shrunk more than half since 1967, down nearly 1 million square miles (2.5 million square kilometers).

—Arctic sea ice in September, the annual low point, is down almost 13% per decade since 1979. This year’s low, reported Monday, tied for the second-lowest on record.

—Marine animals are likely to decrease 15%, and catches by fisheries in general are expected to decline 21% to 24%, by the end of century because of climate change.

“Climate change is already irreversible,” French climate scientist Valérie Masson-Delmotte, a report lead author, said at a news conference in Monaco, where the document was released. “Due to the heat uptake in the ocean, we can’t go back.”

But many of the worst-case projections in the report can still be avoided, depending on how the world handles the emissions of heat-trapping gases, the report’s authors said.

The IPCC increased its projected end-of-century sea level rise in the worst-case scenario by nearly 4 inches (10 centimeters) from its 2013 projections because of the increased recent melting of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica.

The new report projects that, under the business-as-usual scenario for carbon emissions, seas by the end of the century will rise between 2 feet (61 centimeters) and 43 inches (110 centimeters), with a most likely rise of 33 inches (84 centimeters). This is slightly less than the traditional 1 meter (39 inches) that scientists often use.

And sea level will rise two to three times as much over the centuries to come if warming continues, so the world is looking at a “future that certainly looks completely different than what we currently have,” said report co-author Hans-Otto Portner, a German climate scientist.

The Nobel Prize-winning IPCC requires that its reports be unanimously approved. Because of that, its reports tend to show less sea level rise and smaller harm than other scientific studies, outside experts said.

“Like many of the past reports, this one is conservative in the projections, especially in how much ice can be lost in Greenland and Antarctica,” said NASA oceanographer Josh Willis, who studies Greenland ice melt and wasn’t part of the report.

Willis said people should be prepared for a rise in sea levels to be twice these IPCC projections.

The world’s warm water coral reefs will go extinct in some places and be dramatically different in others, the report said.

“We are already seeing the demise of the warm water coral reefs,” Portner said. “That is one of the strongest warning signals that we have available.”

Outside scientists praised the work but were disturbed by it.

“It is alarming to read such a thorough cataloging of all of the serious changes in the planet that we’re driving,” said Texas A&M University climate scientist Andrew Dessler. “What’s particularly disturbing as a scientist is that virtually all of these changes were predicted years or decades ago.”

The report’s authors emphasized that it doesn’t doom Earth to this gloomy future.

“We indicate we have a choice. Whether we go into a grim future depends on the decisions that are being made,” Portner said.

DOVER – Three people were shot outside Allure Nightclub by an unknown suspect early Wednesday morning, Dover Police said.

A 32-year-old Seaford man was wounded in the left bicep and will require surgery following the incident at approximately 1:24 a.m., spokesman Master Cpl. Mark Hoffman said. He and two other victims were being driven to Bayhealth-Kent General Hospital via private vehicles when officers arrived at 865 N. DuPont Highway.

Additionally, a 26-year-old Dover woman was grazed in the left side of her head, then treated and released. A 32-year-old woman was grazed in the left hand, but suffered no visible wound and declined medical treatment, police said.

According to Cpl. Hoffman in a news release, “The incident is believed to have occurred on property immediately next to Allure Nightclub’s parking lot as the club was closing for the night, when a group of subjects were involved in an altercation and an unknown suspect began firing.”

Police on Wednesday said it was still unknown if the incident was captured on surveillance video. Patrons were in the area when officers arrived and authorities were told of victims heading to the hospital.

There was no property damage immediately reported, police said. It was unknown who made the initial call to police.

As investigation continued, police asked anyone with information to call 736-7130. Callers may remain anonymous. Tips may also be submitted to law enforcement through Delaware Crime Stoppers at 800-TIP-3333 or online at delawarecrimestoppers.com; a cash reward of up to $1,000 is possible for information leading to an arrest.

The shooting was the third violent incident in the area in just over five months, including:

• On June 2, a 38-year-old man suffered non-life threatening injuries when shot in the upper torso while leaving the nightclub at approximately 1:57 a.m. Police said a group of people were seen arguing before he was wounded by gunfire. An arrest was made within four days, police said.

• On April 17, three men were stabbed or cut during a fight as the nightclub was closing. Police said the incident occurred between 1 a.m. and 1:40 a.m. and approximately 100 people were seen in the area, many acting disorderly, upon arrival.
The men suffered non-life threatening injuries, were treated and released.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump on Tuesday, acquiescing to mounting pressure from fellow Democrats and plunging a deeply divided nation into an election year clash between Congress and the commander in chief.

The probe centers on whether Trump abused his presidential powers and sought help from a foreign government to undermine Democratic foe Joe Biden and help his own reelection. Pelosi said such actions would mark a “betrayal of his oath of office” and declared: “No one is above the law.”

Pelosi’s brief statement, historic yet presented without dramatic flourish, capped a frenetic stretch on Capitol Hill as details of a classified whistleblower complaint about Trump have burst into the open and momentum has shifted swiftly toward an impeachment probe. The charge was led by several moderate Democratic lawmakers from political swing districts , many of them with national security backgrounds and serving in Congress for the first time.

•Pelosi trying for nothing but fluff in a desperate move. The Dems will never ever impeach Trump. They already know they lost the White House bid. — Jon Walczak

If Trump gets a second term he will be able to appoint 300 federal judges including flipping the Ninth Circuit to conservative. He already has 150 and 10 out of the 29 on the Ninth Circuit where the left runs for power after losing elections. They are desperate! — Sherry Long

• Where is the proof? Let us hear and see it. There is enough dirt on just about every politician in our government to have them all kicked out. Hold all paychecks for Congress and Senate till we hear the truth. God, help this country. We are slipping into total anarchy. Pelosi, what are you hiding? — Muriel Lynn Davis

• Let’s all remember that Attorney General Barr and his team of legal minds is investigating Obama’s Department of Justice and the spying on the Trump campaign and also wants to go after Hillary for her 33,000 deleted emails that were subpoenaed by a court and the destruction of computer hard drives in phones. So believe me, the Democrats will have everything that’s coming to them. — Christopher Dunion

• Like two years late and for something far less egregious than his other actions but whatever, gets the job done. — Danielle Levredge

• She “ordered” no such thing. She made a “formal announcement “ that they were going to do an impeachment inquiry, which is exactly what the left has been doing since election night 2016. She made it “official.” But there was no procedural vote in the House. This is not impeachment proceedings. This is a continuation of the witch hunt that the left has been doing since election night. Nadler said almost two weeks ago that he was indeed conducting his own impeachment inquiry. Nancy’s presser meant nothing. — Maureen McCartan Harris

• Not gonna happen Nancy, he will still be our president come 2024! — Louis B Gardner

• What has changed? Nadler has been laying the foundation for impeachment for several months. There are already six committees investigating Trump’s activities. There wasn’t even a House vote to begin a formal impeachment inquiry. This is just Pelosi losing control of the House and submitting to the desires of AOC and friends. Symbolism. If it blows up, they have handed the 2020 election to Trump. — Jim Price

• We must impeach Trump to find out if he did something wrong. — Allen Cramer

• The Dems have six committees investigating the president, No wonder nothing gets done. — Richard Cutchin

• The only reason they want him impeached is because he is blowing their cover, showing the world how corrupt and thieving career politicians are. — Salli Fulkerson Saunders

• Another ploy by the Dems that will be proven wrong. It is time they focused on the needs of the people. They are sending their party to the grave. I am an independent and vote for both Dems and Reps. It is time to move on. — Debbie Adams

• Our President is a lawbreaker. He thinks he’s the boss of the world. He doesn’t know that he was elected to serve us, the American people. He is our leader — not the boss of anyone except in his gangster mentality taught to him by the attorney to gangsters Roy Cohn. — N. Taylor Collins

• You are wasting your time. He could shoot someone in the middle of the street in broad daylight and his base will still vote for him. Remember? Vote him out in 2020 and close out this experiment. — Brendan Warner

• Thirty-four guilty pleas, convictions and indictments, so far. Sounds pretty swampy to me. — Pete McQuaide

• How could it be illegal for the president to ask a foreign leader to help his campaign? Not like there would be collusion in that. Especially if he held back funds Congress already appropriate. — William Mazzariello

• Dems will never convince the American people that their current course of action to impeach our president is an honest and sincere fight to better our great country. Hatred is reactive and not a proactive way. The heart of America cares that DJT speaks directly to the American and fights for our interests first and foremost. You better understand that is why he’ll be reelected. He is making a huge difference in our economy. The hatred will continue, we get it! Keep hating people and wasting our tax dollars. How much money over the three years have we paid our left radical Dems to continually go after our president? We want our Dems to run on substance of realistic issues not the hatred of our president. Shame on all of you not supporting what puts America first! — Frank L Makray

This is your public forum.We welcome your opinions, which can be emailed to newsroom@newszap.com or posted online under the stories at www.DelawareStateNews.net.

A major drainage improvement project that Sen. Gerald Hocker and I have advocated for over the past six years has achieved another milestone for citizens residing in the Oak Orchard area of Millsboro.

I am pleased to report that the project to fix improper drainage — often the result of tidal and storm-related flooding — continues to move forward. According to DNREC, the department is actively working on preparing the environmental permits necessary for this project, partly the result of an additional $500,000 that Sen. Gerald Hocker and I this year secured for the project through the legislature’s Bond Bill, which funds capital improvements throughout the state.

Assuming that there are no issues with the permitting process, DNREC expects to start construction on the improvements in the winter.

In 2013, following Hurricane Sandy, Sen. Hocker and I secured our first installment of state funding for the project. The $100,000 state appropriation that year was for DNREC to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the problems related to improper drainage.

The purpose of the study was to review the history of drainage/flooding in the area, seek public input, identify solutions, prioritize them and develop conceptual designs with cost estimates for the five highest-priority locations. Much of these tasks have been completed over the course of the six-year time frame.

The five priority projects are for the following locations: Mercer Avenue, Captains Grant, River Road near Chief Road, River Road near Cerise Lane and Oak Meadows.

The $500,000 that was appropriated during this current funding cycle will be used for the design work of the improvements in the five priority areas.

According to DNREC, the process for obtaining permit applications and temporary landowner agreements for two of the designated locations has already begun. Actual construction of the improvements is projected to begin next year.

To discuss the drainage project, as well as other important road work in the Oak Orchard area, I am hosting an Oak Orchard Community Meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at the Indian River Volunteer Fire Company between 6:30 and 8 p.m.

Your attendance is welcome to learn more about the timeline for the drainage construction and related activities throughout the Oak Orchard area. Hope to see you there!

State Rep., Ruth Briggs King, a Republican, represents the 37th District in the Delaware House of Representatives.

LONDON — An unrepentant Prime Minister Boris Johnson brushed off cries of “Resign!” and dared his foes to try to topple him Wednesday at a raucous session of Parliament, a day after Britain’s highest court ruled he acted illegally in suspending the body ahead of the Brexit deadline.

Amid shouts, angry gestures and repeated cries of “Order!” in the House of Commons, Johnson emphatically defended his intention to withdraw Britain from the European Union on Oct. 31, with or without a separation agreement with the EU.

“I say it is time to get Brexit done,” he declared, accusing his opponents of trying to frustrate the will of the people, who in 2016 voted 52% to 48% to leave the 28-nation bloc.

Johnson was greeted with applause from his own Conservative lawmakers and jeers from the opposition side as he arrived in the Commons, hours after cutting short a trip to the United Nations in New York.

He flew home early after Britain’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday that his attempt to suspend Parliament for five weeks had the effect of stymieing its scrutiny of the government over Brexit. The court declared the suspension void.

The leader of the main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said the prime minister is not fit to govern and “should have done the honorable thing and resigned” after the ruling. He said Johnson “thinks he is above the law” and has shown “no shred of remorse or humility.”

“Have you no shame, prime minister?” said Ian Blackford, the Scottish National Party’s leader in Parliament. Labour lawmaker Jess Phillips urged Johnson “to act with some humility and contrition.”

Members of Parliament accused him of showing disrespect for the rule of law and deceiving Queen Elizabeth II when he asked for her permission to prorogue, or suspend, Parliament. Over and over, they called on him to say he was sorry.

But Johnson ignored calls to step down or apologize, showing no sign of contrition during the more than three-hour question-and-answer session. He said he disagreed with the Supreme Court’s 11-0 ruling, and he repeatedly refused to rule out the possibility of suspending Parliament again.

The prime minister said a new election is the only way to unblock Britain’s “paralyzed Parliament.”

“I think the people of this country have had enough of it. This Parliament must either stand aside and let this government get Brexit done or bring a vote of confidence and finally face the day of reckoning with the voters,” he said.

A no-confidence vote could bring down his government just two months after he took office and lead to a new election.

Opposition lawmakers and some Conservative rebels have said they will back an election only if a no-deal Brexit is ruled out.

Economists have warned that leaving the EU without a deal could disrupt Britain’s trade with the Continent, plunge the country into a recession and cause shortages of food and medicine.

But Britain has been unable to negotiate a separation agreement with the EU that is acceptable to Parliament. Johnson said Wednesday he still hopes to work out a deal but will pull the country out of the EU without an agreement if one isn’t reached by the deadline.

Parliament has passed a law requiring Johnson to seek a Brexit extension if there is no deal, but he has said he won’t do that under any circumstances. He branded the law the “Surrender Act” and the “Humiliation Bill.”

Ultimately, the prime minister hopes to contest an election in which he would paint himself as the champion of the people against a recalcitrant establishment bent on disregarding the 2016 vote to leave the EU.

As Wednesday’s session grew more noisy and bitter, several lawmakers urged Johnson to temper his language, saying Britain’s political climate is becoming dangerously overheated. Pro-EU lawmakers have been branded “traitors” by some Brexit supporters, and police have investigated threats against several members of Parliament.

“The tone of the prime minister’s speech was truly shocking,” said Green Party legislator Caroline Lucas. “This populist rhetoric is not only unfitting for a prime minister, but it is genuinely, seriously dangerous.”

Labour lawmaker Paula Sherriff implored the prime minister to stop using “pejorative language.” She brought up the killing of Jo Cox, a legislator who was slain a week before the 2016 EU referendum by an attacker shouting, “Death to traitors!”

Sharriff said many lawmakers were “subject to death threats and abuse every single day.”

“And let me tell the prime minister that they often quote his words — ‘Surrender Act,’ ‘betrayal,’ ‘traitor’ — and I for one am sick of it,” she said. “We must moderate our language, and it has to come from the prime minister first.”

The prime minister was unimpressed.

“I have to say, Mr. Speaker, I’ve never heard such humbug in all my life,” he said.

Welcome to fall, loving those 90-degree days! It is much cooler now, beautiful at night, and dropping water temperatures. Anglers reminisce of days gone by of fall striped bass runs. The back-in-the-day stories get better every year. Some think this will be the year … “this will be the year they come in close to the beach.” We all hope that every year. Depending where you are fishing you can still find a lot of fun action, in short striped bass. It is always possible for the fish to come in and this year looks better than the last few. There are a lot of fish in the surf and along the coast. One can only hope, and wait to see what happens. Meanwhile there are plenty of summer fish to catch and eat.

Pompano action has been the best we have ever seen. Really weird to say that this far up the East Coast. The pompano fishing in the surf is good. Even head boats are licking them out fishing some of the Delaware Bay structure. Pompano are a very tasty fish, and easy to cook.

“I salt shrimp and use that for bait with a small piece of fishbites to target pompano” … Michele Trotter. “I learned that from an old salt in the Outer Banks.” She won the DSF’s Summer Surf Fishing Slam Series with 477 points. She caught a lot of pompano, and spot.

Kingfish and spot fishing is good in the surf. Both make for great tacos. Fried, pan seared, whatever way you like your fish, both are good for any style dish.

Offshore anglers are doing well with mahi and sea bass. Yellowfin, swordfish, marlin are all being caught. Get on a charter and hit the ocean.

Bluefish are everywhere in the perfect 3-pound eating range. The surf has the small cocktails to the small snappers up to 18 inches for the bigger fish. Mullet rigs for the win, or spoons. They are bluefish, anything shiny.

The flounder action is dicey at best offshore. Inland bays and Delaware Bay has been as well. Lots of throwbacks to get a keeper, but you won’t catch if you don’t fish. Get out and try you never know.

The surf is producing flounder in the cuts. They will hit mullet rigs on the retrieve in the wash of the surf. The mullet are running the beaches, and the flounder are feeding on them heavily. So is everything else. Anglers can fill a 5-gallon bucket with mullet after a few throws.

Triggers have been the catch of the day for many on the wrecks and reefs. Big grey triggers, another great fish to eat. Cleaning them is tough. Anglers will use a box knife to cut the skin ahead of a filet knife to keep from dulling the knife. Just cut the skin in the line you intend to filet the fish.

Now that the point is open everyone is back fishing their favorite spot. Some days we wish someone would tell the fish we’re there, it is either good fishing or horrible. You are either catching all day or waiting all day for a bite. There is a lot of bait in the water and the fish are busy feeding. Hard to compete with that even if you match the bait.

We don’t just fish the point for the catching, the view is exceptional. One never knows what they will see on the water. Lot of boat traffic to entertain anyone. The sunsets are spectacular. Some days you don’t care you aren’t catching and that is true no matter where you fish. Just being outside makes it all better.

Unless you are hunting amidst a lot of chiggers. Lot of posts online with people getting chiggers, some for the first time. I do not wish that on anyone, well maybe a few. I live in the woods, and am surrounded by tall grasses. You walk into a batch of chiggers, you will regret it. Deet by the gallon is your friend to keep them away. Spray your shocks in your shoes, yes, in your shoes. Everyone forgets that area, and chiggers love your tender foot skin. No bug juice on your feet and they will crawl in your shoes. I don’t know if that agony is worth filling the freezer.

Rich King’s outdoors column runs Thursdays in the Delaware State News.

ROXANA — Indian summer is right on track here on Delmarva.

So is the Delaware SeaSide Railroad Club, a local nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and promote the history and hobby of model railroading.

The club, which has a clubhouse base in the Savannah Square Shopping Center in Dagsboro, will hold the second of the its two major annual shows: Indian Summer Train & Toy Show Saturday at Roxana Volunteer Fire Company Station 90 on Zion Church Road (Sussex 20).

The show will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Admission is $5 and children 10 and under are admitted free.

More than 70 vendors are expected to sell their model train, accessories and toys. In addition, there will be operating layouts, an auction, door prizes and refreshments.

Once a popular passion among younger generations, model railroading in some ways has switched to a similar track that volunteer fire service is experiencing: a need for young blood.

“The reality is we are an aging population,” said Delaware SeaSide Railroad Club spokesman Mark Fisher. “It seems that the attitude is so different with young kids. I remember when I came to Delaware and started teaching, it was not uncommon for when the fire alarm went off that I’d lose two or three kids out of my classroom because they were running to their cars to get to the fire. They were never punished for that. You took pride that you had a kid like that in your classroom.”

The DSRC is hoping to stimulate and resurrect interest in model railroading, which encompasses creativity.

“We are trying to do our best to get out there and have the community understand the value of pulling a child away from a video game because he can make a train layout anyway he wants, unlike the video game that they are stuck to playing the way they designed it,” Mr. Fisher said.

The club does have a “farm system” of sorts through a junior membership program.

“We have like four or five members in high school or middle school that participate in lot of events we do,” said Mr. Fisher, adding the club aims to widen its potential membership in the region.

That may include billboard advertising and making contacts as far north as Philadelphia.

“Our goal is to widen our influence within the community,” Ms. Fisher said. “Our goal is to make our presence a lot stronger and positive in the community.”

Mr. Fisher said model train manufacturers are coming out with some incredible stuff.

“Right now, they are coming out with some amazing trains that are extremely realistic,” he said.

In addition to its major shows at Roxana Station 90 in May and September, DSRC activities include:

• School projects; teaching school children how to design and build a model railroad;

• Monthly meetings and monthly newsletters;

• Operating modular trains in O-gauge, S-gauge, G-gauge and H.O.-gauge at various venues around the area;

• Community workshops; and

• Community displays

Delaware SeaSide Railroad Club offers free admission to its clubhouse in Savannah Square Shopping Center, off U.S. 113 (and Clayton Street) at 32442 Royal Blvd.

Clubhouse hours are Wednesday evenings from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Club members are on hand to offer information on the layouts and club activities.

For additional information, visit the DSRC website at www.delawareseasiderailroadclub.com/ – or contact Bill Ziegler at 537-0964 or Mark Fisher at (410) 430-3437 and leave a message.

DOVER — As a Dover murder trial began this week, the defense questioned finding just one of at least two firearms supposedly at the scene last year in the case against 20-year-old Lincoln resident Ahmir Bailey.

Jameir Vann-Robinson, 20, of Smyrna, died from wounds after being shot following an initial verbal confrontation on May 13, 2018 in the unit block of Mitscher Drive, Dover Police said at the time.

While a .40 caliber weapon was supposedly located with co-defendant Eugene Riley’s DNA on it, according to the defense, different shell casings were found at the scene and indicated at least one other weapon was present. Mr. Riley is facing a separate case in the matter.

The defense also planned to reference Mr. Vann-Robinson’s alleged aggressive behavior towards the defendants as a party broke up. Mr. Bailey, Mr. Riley and two females were in a vehicle when approached at around 2 a.m., according to attorneys Zachary A. George and Andre’ Beauregard.

Deputy Attorneys General Gregory R. Babowal and Kevin Smith plan to introduce evidence they say shows that Mr. Vann-Robinson was killed by a stolen 9-millimeter handgun in Mr. Bailey’s possession. Prosecutors have alleged that the supposed murder weapon was sold soon after the incident.

The prosecution’s first witness was a Lincoln man who testified that two Smith and Wesson 9-millimeter handguns and a .40 caliber firearm were stolen from his home on May 10, 2018, along with the safe that held them and multiple magazines/clips. There was no sign of a break-in or point of entry, according to a responding Delaware State Police trooper who also testified that no fingerprints or witnesses were located.

Mr. Bailey was arrested on May 14, 2018 and indicted on Nov. 5, 2018.

Charges include first-degree murder and attempted murder, along with multiple counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, shoplifting, conspiracy, burglary, possession of firearm/ammunition by person prohibited and theft.

The trial is expected to continue into next week.

DOVER — Despite a 5-2 recommendation from the Kent County Regional Planning Commission (RPC) to deny the proposal, Levy Court commissioners voted 6-1 Tuesday night to pass two ordinances that broaden the county administrator’s “decision-making authority” over the planning department and creates an extra layer of appeals.

Earlier this month, the RPC’s motion stated “based on the findings, an additional method of appeal is not beneficial to county residents and businesses.”

Currently, planning department director Sarah Keifer reviews all applications submitted to the county and denies or approves them based on interpretation of Kent County Code.

From there, applications pass on to the Regional Planning Commission and Levy Court for consideration.

The two amendments (LC19-18, LC19-19) give more oversight of the planning process to the county administrator’s office — namely in granting it appeal authority over planning department decisions. Applicants aggrieved of the planning department’s decision would be able to appeal to the county administrator first, before approaching the RPC — which is the current appeals process.

The change also adds a section that clearly states: “The county administrator shall have direct management and decision making authority over the department of planning services.”

Addressing the break from the RPC recommendation, 4th District Commissioner Eric Buckson — who introduced the proposals originally in July — says he believes the change benefits all parties.

“I believe this is customer-friendly and county friendly,” he said. “I want to be clear that this is not a titanic shift. There are hundreds of transactions that go on that are seamless and will require no action at all. It is those occasions where an appeal of this level is warranted that I wholeheartedly support this and believe, again, it will be a benefit both to the county and customer. I value the RPC’s decisions, I listen to what they say. I agree with them 95 percent of the time, but in this instance I just simply disagree.”

Both Ms. Keifer and Kent County Administrator Michael Petit de Mange declined to comment about the amendments.

Five people turned up to the public forum on Tuesday to speak in favor of the proposals, with none speaking against them.

“I think this is needed to help more businesses come to Kent County,” said Albert “Bill” Holmes Jr. — formerly an RPC member for 24 years. “It’ll help to get approved faster and make this county a friendlier place to do business and also to help the current business community grow their businesses and be profitable.”

In his capacity as a board member on the Kent Economic Partnership, Denis McGlynn also spoke publicly about the need for the change.

“I’m sure you’re all aware of the effort across the state to make Delaware the most business-friendly state it can possibly be, all in an effort to foster economic development,” he told commissioners. “From our understanding at the partnership, these two amendments are in line with those initiatives insofar as they can, in certain cases, streamline the development process and other cases, perhaps, save some expense and time on behalf of the applicants. So, these are positive outcomes in our view.”

Representing the executive committee of the Greater Kent Committee, Shelly Cecchett supported the measures for the same reason.
“We support these ordinances and anything we can do to continue to streamline economic development that is critical to Kent County,” she said.

The lone dissenting voter, 2nd District Levy Court Commissioner Jeffery Hall, pushed back on the amendments. Since their introduction in July, Mr. Hall has repeatedly said that the need for the changes has never been clearly explained.

“To the issue of streamlining the approval process, no one has explained why we cannot just change code that may be constraining the staff to issue decisions that they arrive at,” he said. “I believe that the staff is business-friendly, they’ve approved 100 waivers since 2013 and 21 variances since 2017.”

Calling the changes “unprecedented,” Mr. Hall feels that making the administrator an appeals authority is a policy that may produce inconsistent, and thus “inequitable,” results for residents dealing with the planning department.

“One of my concerns if we have the same information being reviewed by two different people but coming to two different conclusions — one being the director of planning services and the other being the county administrator — then we could get in a situation where we’re producing decisions that are in conflict within the county staff itself,” he said. “On top of that, it’s a workload issue. Anything that’s free that produces good results will become very popular, so the I believe the default process will become: bring and application forward and if it gets denied, just take it up to the next level.

“So what seems to be, at first, a very small time footprint will become a big one for the county administrator to process all the appeals coming to him for the determination commissioners may want rather than ones consistent and uniform across all of the residents.”

Mr. Hall even expressed concern that the changes will eventually be used to grown Kent County bureaucracy.

“I guarantee that this additional workload will be the justification for a deputy county commissioner position in the FY21 budget,” he said. “The level of responsibility and likely planning credentials will mean such a position will be costly in terms of salary and benefits.”

DOVER — Recent disturbing incidents have created a general feeling of insecurity at the Dover Public Library and led the city manager’s office to look at hiring a security firm to watch over the library for 66 hours a week — essentially all hours that the entity is open.

Members of the Safety Advisory and Transportation Committee voted unanimously on Tuesday night to allow Dover City Manager Donna Mitchell and Assistant City Manager Matt Harline to interview Gettier Security and Sunstates Security LLC and choose which one will become the security provider for the library for an amount not to exceed $56,000.

Members of the committee applauded the city manager’s office for looking to increase security at the library.

“I do applaud this pivot toward becoming a more secure, more consistent security presence at the library,” City Councilman Tim Slavin said. “The issue that I hear the most from my constituents is, ‘What happened to the library? Can we get it back?’ And this is what they want.

“At the end of the day what we’re concerned about is not who wears a gun or who doesn’t wear a gun or what color shirt they have for security, we want the library to be a safe place that everyone can go to. I think if we can keep focused on that we’ll be fine, and this is one step in that direction.”

Mr. Harline said the library has had a history of having security on the premises. However, city staff believes it needs to have a stronger presence moving forward.

“The provision of security at the library has been a topic recently, but we have had security at the library since before (Dover Public Library Director) Margie (Cyr) was there in 2008,” Mr. Harline said. “We tried a kind of contracted service and since 2015 (security has) been provided by the Dover Police Cadet Program, which has been successful to a point, but there was a desire to make sure that there was full 66-hour per week coverage.

“For that reason, and after consulting with the library and with acting (Police) Chief (Tim) Stump — and after consulting with (Kent) County, who is already using the (security) service — we have come to the conclusion that the best way to provide that service and to assure the public that we have somebody on duty at all times is to work through the state contract for a security firm.”

The State of Delaware issued Request for Proposal #GSS19363 in December 2018 for security officer services. Last April, the state selected two of the four applicants to enter into contracts for security and subsequently entered into agreements with Gettier Security and Sunstates Security LLC. The state’s agreements with both firms began on July 1.

Through a cooperative purchasing agreement, the city of Dover is eligible to “piggyback” off the state’s contract.

Kent County Levy Court has already hired Gettier for security service at their Administrative Complex and at the Kent County Recreation Center at 1683 New Burton Road. Because the state conducted an open, advertised, competitive, public bidding process, the city can use the bid prices without going through an additional selection process.

However, the city said it will conduct informal interviews of the two approved contractors to determine which is a better fit for the library.

The negotiated rates in the state contract for guards on a regular schedule are: Gettier Security $23.75 per hour and Sunstates Security LLC $25.81 per hour. If the city secured the rates stated in the state contract the cost would be $49,898.75 for Gettier and $54,226.82 for Sunstates.

The city would be able to negotiate its own rates, but officials said the actual rate is likely to be very close to the state’s rates. If the company is given 30 days’ notice to hire the necessary staff the city would be eligible for the standard rate.

Based on the availability of the two licensed and approved security firms, city staff has recommended that city council authorize Mrs. Mitchell to interview both firms approved under State Contract No. GSS19363 and negotiate an agreement with the preferred firm for security officer services for the Dover Public Library and possibly other sites.

Looking for a secure fit

Mrs. Mitchell and Mr. Harline said it would come down to which firm fits in best with what the city is looking for.

“Working with Margie (Cyr) and with Chief Stump, the duties for security service, we worked those through to come up with a more detailed standard operations (for security personnel) and for removing somebody (from the library) who is not following the rules,” said Mr. Harline. “I believe that by moving forward this way that we will be able to provide the best security option for the library.

“What we’d actually like to do to start with is to try unarmed security and review it after a few months to see if we wanted to change it to armed security.”

Mrs. Mitchell said with the Dover Police Cadet Program needing to focus its resources elsewhere in the city that time is of the essence for hiring a security firm.

“We’re looking at unarmed security,” she said. “We’re going to be screening them to make sure they fit. The other issue is I’ve talked to acting Police Chief Stump to provide radios to whoever gets the contract. That will be important.”

Councilman Roy Sudler Jr. asked Mr. Harline if people were still using the library as a place to sleep or to get out of the heat or the cold outside, taking aim at Dover’s homeless population that commonly frequents the facility.

“As long as they give the appearance of using the library appropriately, we will leave them be,” Mr. Harline said.

Troubling times in the library

City officials admitted that several incidents at the library so far this year have heightened awareness of actual and perceived security problems, including:

March 19 — at 3:30 p.m. a man went into the women’s restroom and took a photo of a 65-year-old woman who was seated in a stall.

June 22 — at 1 p.m. a young man allegedly exposed himself to a female teen in the library’s teen loft. The man allegedly later went to a separate library and did essentially the same thing, and from footage at both libraries he was identified and is part of an ongoing investigation.

Aug. 20 — at 10:30 a.m. a man allegedly exposed himself to one of the homeless women who frequent the library.

Sept. 4 — at 3:30 p.m. an altercation began on library grounds in which one man struck another man in the head. Police cadets and Dover police responded and after a brief pursuit apprehended the offender behind City Hall. Library staff have no incident report and cannot corroborate the news report that the fight started in the library. The victim in the incident has indicated he will not assist prosecution of the case.

“Originally, we were pursuing this as armed security, but (changed) for a variety of reasons, including consideration of what we’re trying to say about the library,” Mr. Harline said. “We have not had violent events inside the library. We have had a lot of annoying events that need to be addressed by well-trained professionals, but we are certainly willing to review that after a couple of months.”
Mayor Robin Christiansen said he hopes the city manager’s office lives up to its promise of revisiting the armed security issue after a couple of months.

“I commend you for your efforts for holding up on armed security guards at this point in time, but I hope that you will follow through and do an assessment of if it is necessary, because I — and I’m sure everybody and all the members of council in this room — hear complaints weekly, if not daily, about the security at the library and people who would like to use the library who don’t.
“We need to find a happy balance and we need to find somebody who’s going to enforce the rules across the board for everybody.”

Dover Police Cadets had provided security at the library since the program was initiated in 2015.

But over the past four years, the demands for more cadet presence in the downtown area, the full-day schedule of the library and turnover with the cadets appeared to make the cadet service a bad fit for the library security detail.

Changes on the way

The library staff has said it is committed to making its space available to public who want to use the facility for its intended purpose.

Those Dover residents who can use the facility for its intended purpose in a non-disruptive way, which includes providing access to the internet for legitimate information searches and access to email, are welcome regardless of income level or housing status. The library staff is committed to providing service to those individuals.

However, Mr. Harline does expect a couple of changes to be coming when dealing with the less fortunate with the new security detail.

“One thing we do need to address is winter’s coming up and we need to address the idea of the library being a depot for certain social services that have used that as a place to collect and pick up people for lodging and meals for those people who need those services,” he said. “That was a problem last fall and we need to make sure that it’s addressed, and we come up with a better solution for people in our community that need assistance.

“Asking them to wait at the library causes problems because they were being asked to go to the library when they don’t necessarily want to be there.”

WASHINGTON — The secret whistleblower complaint at the center of Congress’ impeachment inquiry alleges that President Donald Trump abused the power of his office to “solicit interference from a foreign country” in next year’s U.S. election. The White House then tried to “lock down” the information to cover it up, the complaint says.

The 9-page document was released Thursday ahead of testimony to House investigators from Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, who acknowledged that the complaint alleged serious wrongdoing by the president but insisted that it was not his role to judge whether the allegations were credible or not.

Maguire said he was unfamiliar with any other whistleblower complaint in American history that “touched on such complicated and sensitive issues.”

“I believe that this matter is unprecedented,” he said.

The document, with its precise detail and clear narrative, will likely accelerate the impeachment process and put more pressure on Trump to rebut its core contentions and on his fellow Republicans to defend him. The complaint provides a road map for corroborating witnesses and evidence, which will complicate the president’s effort to characterize the findings as those of a lone partisan out to undermine him.

Trump insisted anew that it is all political. After the complaint was released, he immediately tweeted, “The Democrats are trying to destroy the Republican Party and all that it stands for. Stick together, play their game and fight hard Republicans. Our country is at stake.” The tweet was in all capital letters.

The whistleblower complaint centers in part on a July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which Trump prodded Zelenskiy to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden. The White House released a rough transcript of that call on Wednesday.

“In the days following the phone call, I learned from multiple U.S. officials that senior White House officials had intervened to ‘lock down’ all the records of the phone call, especially the official word-for-word transcript of the call that was produced as is customary by the White House situation room,” the complaint says.

The anonymous whistleblower says that despite his or her not being present for the call, multiple White House officials shared consistent details about it.

Those officials told the whistleblower that “this was ‘not the first time’ under this administration that a presidential transcript was placed into this codeword-level system solely for the purpose of protecting politically sensitive — rather than national security sensitive — information,” the complaint said.

The whistleblower said that White House officials had tried to suppress the exact transcript of the call that was produced – as is customary – by the White House Situation Room, according to the complaint.

The officials told the whistleblower they were “directed” by White House lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored for coordination, finalization and distribution to Cabinet-level officials.

“This set of actions underscored to me that White House officials understood the gravity of what had transpired in the call,” the report said.

The whistleblower said that White House officials had raised concerns that the rough transcript was moved to a separate computer system that is “reserved for codeword-level intelligence information.”

The complaint also focuses on Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer. It says that multiple U.S. officials reported that Giuliani traveled to Madrid one week after the call to meet with one of Zelenskiy’s advisers, and that the meeting was characterized as a follow-up to the telephone conversation between the two leaders

House Democrats who are now mulling Trump’s impeachment pressed Maguire to explain why he withheld the intelligence community whistleblower’s complaint from Congress for weeks. He insisted he followed the law.

Later in the day, Maguire was to go behind closed doors to speak to the Senate intelligence panel.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday endorsed an impeachment investigation in light of the Ukraine revelations.

In a statement Thursday, the White House said “nothing has changed with the release of this complaint, which is nothing more than a collection of third-hand accounts of events and cobbled-together press clippings_all of which shows nothing improper.”

Late Wednesday, most Republicans who got an advance look at the complaint were quiet or defended the president as they left secure rooms. But at least one Republican said he was concerned by what he had read.

“Republicans ought not to be rushing to circle the wagons and say there’s no ‘there there’ when there’s obviously a lot that’s very troubling there,” said Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, a GOP member of the Senate intelligence panel who has been an occasional critic of Trump. He added that “Democrats ought not be using words like ‘impeach’ before they knew anything about the actual substance.”

Trump, whose administration had earlier balked at turning over the complaint, said Wednesday afternoon that “I fully support transparency on the so-called whistleblower information” and that he had communicated that position to House Republican leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California.

The House and Senate intelligence committees have also invited the whistleblower to testify, but it is uncertain whether the person will appear and whether his or her identity could be adequately protected without Maguire’s blessing.

The unidentified whistleblower submitted a complaint to Michael Atkinson, the U.S. government’s intelligence inspector general, in August. Maguire then blocked release of the complaint to Congress, citing issues of presidential privilege and saying the complaint did not deal with an “urgent concern.” Atkinson disagreed, but said his hands were tied.

PARIS — Jacques Chirac, a two-term French president who was the first leader to acknowledge France’s role in the Holocaust and defiantly opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, died Thursday at age 86.

His son-in-law Frederic Salat-Baroux told The Associated Press that Chirac died “peacefully, among his loved ones.” He did not give a cause of death, though Chirac had had repeated health problems since leaving office in 2007.

His death was announced to lawmakers sitting in France’s National Assembly, and members held a minute of silence. Mourners brought flowers and police set up barricades around his Paris residence, as French people, and politicians of all stripes, looked past Chirac’s flaws to share grief and fond memories of his 12-year presidency and decades in politics.

In a rare homage to Chirac, President Emmanuel Macron, a centrist, planned a nationally televised speech Wednesday evening in his honor.

Chirac was long the standard-bearer of France’s conservative right, and mayor of Paris for nearly two decades. He was nicknamed “Le Bulldozer” early in his career for his determination and ambition. As president from 1995-2007 he was a consummate global diplomat but failed to reform the economy or defuse tensions between police and minority youths that exploded into riots across France in 2005.

Yet Chirac showed courage and statesmanship during his presidency.

In what may have been his finest hour, France’s last leader with memories of World War II crushed the myth of his nation’s innocence in the persecution of Jews and their deportation during the Holocaust when he acknowledged France’s part.

“Yes, the criminal folly of the occupiers was seconded by the French, by the French state,” he said on July 16, 1995. “France, the land of the Enlightenment and human rights … delivered those it protects to their executioners.”

With words less grand, the man who embraced European unity — once calling it an “art” — raged at the French ahead of their “no” vote in a 2005 referendum on the European constitution meant to fortify the EU. “If you want to shoot yourself in the foot, do it, but after don’t complain,” he said. “It’s stupid, I’m telling you.” He was personally and politically humiliated by the defeat.

His popularity didn’t fully recover until after he left office in 2007, handing power to protege-turned-rival Nicolas Sarkozy, who praised his predecessor Thursday in a tweeted statement. Chirac, he said, “defended with panache the very particular place of France in the great international disorder” of the post-Cold War era.

Chirac ultimately became one of the French’s favorite political figures, often praised for his down-to-earth human touch rather than his political achievements.

Condolences poured in from French citizens, including political rivals, and international leaders.

Former Socialist President Francois Hollande called him a “humanist,” a “man of culture” who knew France to the core. “The French, regardless of their convictions, are losing today a statesman, but also a friend,” he tweeted.

In his 40 years in public life, Chirac was derided by critics as opportunistic and impulsive. But as president, he embodied the fierce independence so treasured in France: He championed the United Nations and multipolarism as a counterweight to U.S. global dominance, and defended agricultural subsidies over protests by the European Union.

In 2002, he presciently made a dramatic call for action against climate change, raising awareness at a time when the world did not seem to notice, or care.

“Our house is burning down and we’re blind to it. Nature, mutilated and overexploited, can no longer regenerate and we refuse to admit it,” he said at the Johannesburg World Summit, adding that the 21st century must not become “the century of humanity’s crime against life itself.”

Chirac was also remembered for another trait valued by the French: style.

Tall, dapper and charming, Chirac was a well-bred bon vivant who openly enjoyed the trappings of power: luxury trips abroad and life in a government-owned palace. His slicked-back hair and ski-slope nose were favorites of political cartoonists.

Yet he retained a common touch that worked wonders on the campaign trail, exuding warmth when kissing babies and enthusiasm when farmers — a key constituency — displayed their tractors. His preferences were for western movies and beer — and “tete de veau,” calf’s head.

After two failed attempts, Chirac won the presidency in 1995, ending 14 years of Socialist rule. But his government quickly fell out of favor and parliamentary elections in 1997 forced him to share power with Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.

The pendulum swung the other way during Chirac’s re-election bid in 2002, when then-far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen took a surprise second place behind Chirac in first-round voting. In a rare show of unity, the moderate right and the left united behind Chirac, and he crushed le Pen with 82 percent of the vote in the runoff.

“By thwarting extremism, the French have just confirmed, reaffirmed with force, their attachment to a democratic tradition, liberty and engagement in Europe,” Chirac enthused at his second inauguration.

Later that year, an extreme right militant shot at Chirac — and missed — during a Bastille Day parade in 2002. Inspecting troops, the president was unaware of the drama.

While he had won a convincing mandate for his anti-crime, pro-Europe agenda at home, Chirac’s outspoken opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 rocked relations with France’s top ally, and the clash weakened the Atlantic alliance.

Angry Americans poured Bordeaux wine into the gutter and restaurants renamed French fries “freedom fries” in retaliation.

The United States invaded anyway, yet Chirac gained international support from other war critics.

Troubles over Iraq aside, Chirac was often seen as the consummate diplomat. He cultivated ties with leaders across the Middle East and Africa. He was the first head of state to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Chirac was greeted by adulating crowds on a 2003 trip to Algeria, where he once battled Algerians fighting for independence from France.

At home, myriad scandals dogged Chirac, including allegations of misuse of funds and kickbacks during his time as Paris mayor.

He was formally charged in 2007 after he left office as president, losing immunity from prosecution. In 2011, he was found guilty of misuse of public money, breach of trust and illegal conflict of interest and given a two-year suspended jail sentence.

He did not attend the trial. His lawyers explained he was suffering severe memory lapses, possibly related to a stroke. While still president in 2005, Chirac suffered a stroke that put him in the hospital for a week. He had a pacemaker inserted in 2008.

Jacques Chirac was born in Paris on Nov. 29, 1932, the only child of a well-to-do businessman. A lively youth, he was expelled from school for shooting paper wads at a teacher. He sold the Communist daily “L’Humanite” on the streets for a brief time.

Chirac traveled to the United States as a young man, and as president he fondly remembered hitchhiking across the country. He worked as a fork-lift operator in St. Louis and a soda jerk at a Howard Johnson’s restaurant while attending summer school at Harvard University.

Chirac served in Algeria during the independence war, which France lost, and enrolled at France’s Ecole Nationale d’Administration, the elite training ground for the French political class.

In 1956, just before heading to Algeria, Chirac married Bernadette Chodron de Courcel, the niece of a former de Gaulle aide and herself involved in local politics in the central farming region of Correze, where Chirac spent much of his youth. They had two daughters, Laurence and Claude, who became his presidential spokeswoman.

He worked his way up the political ladder and was named premier in 1974 by President Valery Giscard d’Estaing at the age of 41.

A personality clash with Giscard d’Estaing led Chirac to resign, but he quickly assumed the presidency of the conservative political party he refounded as the Rally for the Republic. He became mayor of Paris in 1977 and used the highly visible office as a power base for the next 18 years.

Chirac lost the 1981 presidential election to Socialist Francois Mitterrand, a scenario repeated in 1988. He became president at last in 1995.

Two painful setbacks in his career involved student protests: In 1986, a student was killed during protests over university reforms while Chirac was prime minister, prompting him to abandon the measure. In 2006, Chirac withdrew a measure that would have made hiring and firing young people easier after weeks of nationwide student action. He failed repeatedly in efforts to reform France’s labor rules and economy.

In recent years, Chirac was very rarely seen in public. He was visibly weak and walked with a cane at a November 2014 award ceremony of his foundation, which supports peace projects.

Chirac is survived by his wife and younger daughter, Claude. His daughter, Laurence, died in 2016 after a long illness that Chirac once said was “the drama of my life.”

This photo, titled “The last of the summer flowers,” was taken by Denise Lowman of Smyrna on Glenwood Avenue in Smyrna on Sept. 20.

To contribute your scenic photos of our area, email newsroom@newszap.com. Photos must be at least 200 dpi and include your name, where and when your photo was taken, where you live and your phone number. To see more Scenic Delaware photos, visit the Scenic Delaware section at DelawareStateNews.net.

FRANKFORD – A 37-year-old Frankford man died Thursday morning in a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Daisey Street and DuPont Boulevard, Delaware State Police report.

 The crash occurred at approximately 8:09 a.m. Sept. 26 involving a Mercury Milan driven by the Frankford man and a Ford F-250 driven by 31-year-old Delmar, Delaware man, state police spokeswoman Master Cpl. Melissa Jaffe said.

Investigation revealed the driver of the Milan pulled out from Daisey Road, which is controlled by a posted stop sign, into the path of the F-250, which was northbound on DuPont Boulevard (US 113).

The F-250 struck the left side of the Milan in the intersection, Cpl. Jaffe said. 

The Frankford man was pronounced dead at the scene, Cpl. Jaffe said.  His name is being withheld pending the notification of next of kin.

The driver of the F-250 was taken to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital with minor injuries. A front-seat passenger was also taken to the Nanticoke and was treated for non-life threatening injuries and released.

The intersection at DuPont Boulevard northbound was closed for approximately 2 1/2 hours while the crash was investigated and cleared.

The crash remains under investigation by the Delaware State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit.

President Donald Trump repeatedly prodded Ukraine’s new leader to work with the U.S. attorney general and lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden, according to a rough transcript summarizing the call released Wednesday.

In the call, Trump raised allegations, without citing any evidence, that the former vice president sought to interfere with a Ukrainian prosecutor’s investigation of his son Hunter.

“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that,” Trump said to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

• There doesn’t have to be any GOP spin. The transcript speaks for itself. No crime committed. If Democrats wish to pursue impeachment since they have been talking about it since before Trump was President then go right ahead but Democrats would basically be shooting themselves in the foot by doing so. — Shawn Knox

• Bottom line is hatred spewed every day by the left is reactive in its substance. The opposite is being proactive in substance. The latter is the “Heart of America’s” mindset. We do not react based on emotion, we react first by weighing all the pros and cons. In the end, we want what’s best for America first. Our president is speaking directly to the American people how he prioritizes and fights for us first and foremost! We don’t react because we’re continually mad or upset DJT is their President! — Frank L Makray

• The Democratic Party establishment is trying to torpedo Biden’s candidacy — which they know can’t win against Trump — and get him to withdraw from the race. That’s who is behind all of this, and that will be the only meaningful consequence of all of this. Terribly conspiratorial, I know, but all of the evidence points to that conclusion. All of it. — John Daliani

• “I would like you to do us a favor…” I’m sure all truthful and honest people start a conversation that way. — Merv Sparks

• Is it not the president’s sworn responsibility to investigate crime? If Don Jr. had come home with his father from an overseas trip with a serious monetary gain for a skill he had zero experience in, would the media and the House have blood issuing from their eyes in indignation? — Chris Wolfe

• Nothing wrong with what he did. He wouldn’t be releasing the conversation voluntarily if he had anything to hide. That’s what honest people do, freely give up info.— Christopher Dunion

• Talk about white privilege. The Biden family are members of Delaware’s wealthy, entitled class. None of them can do any wrong in the eyes of the local electorate or the local newspapers. And I’m sure that Hunter Biden’s resume qualifies him for board membership in many foreign countries — Venezuela, Somalia and Albania come to mind. — Bob D. Hartman

• My take away was the amount of praise for the help Trump gave this president for their similar elections. I wonder who took Cambridge Analytica’s place in that market? The promise to purchase more Javilen missiles specifically. Trump owns stock in Raytheon, the missile manufacturers. The inference is that the previous ambassador to the United States from the Ukraine is going to have difficult times. And why would the president of the United States need to have a foreign country investigate something when the United States has the best intelligence agencies in the world? Seems like someone is trying to manufacture something. — Dennis Norwood

• You all keep taking the same page from this president’s playbook. Play the victim, and shout it from the top of your lungs that he did nothing wrong. It seems like you all try to convince yourselves he does nothing wrong. If it makes you feel better, go for it. — Brendan Warner

• All I see is Trump asking about corruption. As the president I feel he has this right. If the Democrats suspected him of doing what Biden and his son did, everyone from Pelosi to the copy boy would have been making calls. This is more overblown, corrupt BS from the Democrats. More waste of taxpayer money that could be being used to solves internal issues in this country. — Lisa Garber

Delaware housing is at a crisis level due to the lack of affordable housing. The cost of housing is a factor in the yin and yang of minimum wage. According to Tom Koprowski, of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, who presented at the Housing Alliance Delaware meeting this year, stable housing is linked to better health and student education outcomes.

Those concepts are easy to understand. On May 9, Delaware legislators passed a House Concurrent Resolution No, 41, and then they promptly forgot that not all housing needs are taxpayer-subsidized. Leased land homeowners do need more equitable laws.

Leased land housing is the hottest recession-proof industry with the affordable label being less so. Some legislators lament the good old days, when school teachers, with their summers off, would bring mobile homes to Sussex County. They could tow them away if the lot rents got too high or the landlord maintenance was lousy.

Manufactured homes have become permanent housing primarily for the low income and seniors on fixed income. Some out-of-state residents, charmed by Sussex County beaches, buy vacation homes. While these part-time residents pay taxes and spend money in the Delaware economy, some legislators want to hang them out to dry to protect community owners who take money out of the economy.

These corporations don’t pay taxes to the state as the burden of tax increases can be shifted to home owners per Title 25, Chapter 70. The vast majority of their investors don’t pay personal income tax to Delaware.

There are those state legislators who have compassion for the homeless, and are willing to provide oversight when taxpayers’ money is used for subsidized housing. There is no compassion or oversight for those of us who pay for our homes and do not require taxpayer help. We are fodder for obsessive profit-taking rent increases removing money from the hands of tenants who no longer can spend it with state retailers, services and restaurants.

A 19-page annotated document “Private Equity Giants Converge on Manufactured Homes” sent to legislators demonstrates the full effect of the Leased Land Industry and the gigantic profits zooming out of the state with no returns. It contains verifiable proof and is the best independent document on the subject I have ever seen as an elected official.

Some of the domestic lease land community owners do reinvest in Delaware and pay personal income tax, but the out-of-state corporations don’t. You can’t discriminate between local and out-of-state businesses, but the state legislature can remove the inequities in the law, making it more difficult to raise unwarranted increases. No matter how lenient our laws are, when a domestic community owner wants to grab gold and sell out, the legislature can’t stop them.

The more unenforceable the law is, the higher the prices out-of-state corporations will pay for what once was affordable housing.

Currently, the law requires home owners to pay for capital improvements on land we do not own. The value of our homes decrease with the added rent increases. Not only do we pay the expense once, the landlord benefits from the depreciation of the improvement they did not pay for, but we never stop paying the increase?

How about a market rent that permits an increase if a person buys a $50,000 home for $25,000 and the rent is increased by 20%. The increase now applies to every home owner who paid $50,000 or more for their homes!

How about if the landlord is paying increases for utilities, insurance and taxes and the rents are raised, but if these expenses drop, shouldn’t the rents drop? They don’t! Home owners could be forced to pay for $200,000 in pay raises for the community owner’s employees under the law.

One thing I’ve learned in my 85 years, nothing stays the same. To live in the past is to court disaster. While some legislators lament the good old days before laws were passed to protect the vulnerable, the Delaware economy is being robbed. If our homes were in the free market and we could move our houses easily, we would not need 99% of the laws.

You can urge legislators to vote to remove the inequities in the law, and allow us to spend our money in the Delaware economy.

Fred Neil represents the 3rd District in Dover City Council.

HARTLY — Delaware Friends of Folk will hold their 28th annual Delmarva Folk Festival Friday and Saturday on the festival grounds, Downs Chapel Road near Hartly.

Friday will feature the finals of the 13th annual Delmarva Folk Heroes contest and Saturday provides a lineup of folk, blues, old-time, and Celtic, along with workshops, special kids activities, and craft and food vendors featuring beer from local brewers. Weekend tent and RV sites will be available too.

A number of Delmarva artists and several from southeastern Pennsylvania will take the stage during the weekend.

Current Delmarva Folk Heroes, the Last Chance duo of Jack Scott and Ingrid Rosenback begin the festival as they host the finals of the 13th annual Folk Heroes contest beginning at 7 p.m. Friday. Six acts selected by audience vote at the summer Friends of Folk open mic preliminaries will perform, and the audience that evening will select the new Delmarva Folk Hero. Those six artists include Bob Barto, Rick Hudson, Logan Humphrey, Shelly Kelly, Jackie Kinney and The Luscious’s.

The music resumes Saturday at noon with a set from the Delmarva Folk Hero winner from the night before. Sean Cheezum, a finalist in the first Delmarva Folk Heroes contest in 2007, will take the stage at 1 p.m. Jani Duerr won the 2009 Folk Heroes contest as a solo artist, and he’s back with his band, Earth Radio, for a 2 p.m. set of their modern folk style. The afternoon portion concludes with a 3 p.m. set of folk, blues and Americana from festival favorites Sand Creek.

The festival’s evening segment begins at 5 p.m. with the return of Dover’s own Celtic Harvest. At 6 p.m. they will welcome Nashville singer-songwriter Mark Stuart for his first festival appearance. Mr. Stuart brings his decades of national and international touring, captivating audiences with his songs, singing and musicianship.

Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania artist Phyllis Chapell will take the stage at 7 p.m. Ms. Chapell has spent her life developing a universal musical style singing “world songs.” Her repertoire includes songs in 13 languages from Brazil, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as American folk, jazz, and popular music.

The 8 p.m. set belongs to the guitar/cello duo of Aaron Nathans and Michael Ronstadt. Mr. Nathans lives with his family near Philadelphia and Mr. Ronstandt lives in Cincinnati.

New to the Delmarva Folk Festival, Nathans & Ronstadt were named Best of Philly Folk Fest by Philly CityPaper in 2015. Their combination of guitar, cello, and vocals brings a fresh sound to their music.

Closing the 2019 festival at 9 pm will be local blues band Nothin’ But Trouble performing a special acoustic set. With Joey Fulkerson and Chris McAfee on lead guitars, Steve Taylor on bass and Bruce Benson on drums, NBT play a mix of original songs and classic blues.

Advance tickets can be purchased in person at Parke Green Galeries in Dover or online at www.delfolk.org. Before Saturday, tickets are $15 for members of Delaware Friends of Folk and $20 for nonmembers. Tickets at the gate on Saturday will be $30 for everyone and admission for tonight’s Folk Heroes contest will be $7 for all.

The Delmarva Folk Festival is partially supported by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

DOVER — Whether it’s the start of a little rivalry, Destination Downtown Dover (DDD) knew it had to come up big for Saturday’s OktDoverFest if it wanted to compete with Smyrna, which has attracted national acts for some of its recent events.

So DDD went out and signed legendary reggae artists The Wailers, Bob Marley’s original backing band, to headline OktDoverFest in downtown Dover at 7 p.m. They will be preceded on stage by Nashville recording artist Kayley Hill (5 p.m.) and local favorite The Brothers Stonesifer (3 p.m.) as they supply the music at Saturday’s event, which will take place from 3 until 9 p.m. on Loockerman Street.

It will be just the kind of vision that Todd Stonesifer – a musician, realtor at The Moving Experience and one of the founders and current president of DDD – had when he moved back to his hometown of Dover in 1999.

“Frankly, with our neighbors to the north (Smyrna) bringing in a national act, we decided we had better step up our game,” Mr. Stonesifer said of Smyrna at Night, which featured headliner Robert Randolph and The Family Band this year.

“With the diversity in our community, we specifically sought after The Wailers as they are the entertainment choice. Our connections within the entertainment industry knew just what to do and made this happen.

“Destination Downtown Dover cannot even begin to describe the level of excitement we have for Saturday. The weather is going to be perfect, the city of Dover, Dover Police Department, DelDOT and the Downtown Dover Partnership have all been so cooperative and we are just ecstatic with the responses we are getting from those anticipating the festivities. Dover is a really great place and we are excited to show it off.”

OktDoverFest is Dover’s spin on the traditional German rite of passage and features activities for all ages. Loockerman Street will be closed throughout the event between State Street and Governors Avenue to allow the guests to roam the retail district of downtown Dover.

Those interested in attending Saturday’s OktDoverFest have a couple of options. They can just head out to Loockerman Street and watch the three bands performing for free, or guests at least 21 years old can purchase a $37 wristband that is good for unlimited, full pours of all alcohol sold at the event and an official OktDoverFest T-shirt.

Unlimited pour wristbands will be available on Saturday for $47 but do not include a T-shirt. Although, if there are any extras, those interested may buy one separately.

Mr. Stonesifer said Delaware’s vast craft beverage industry will be well represented with vendors offering up their spirits, brews, mead, ciders teas and wines. Dover’s restaurants and pubs will be offering street food, while food trucks will line Loockerman Street and serve up their specialties and local artisans will feature crafts for sale.

Attendees are also asked to look for early holiday shopping vouchers, sidewalk sales and giveaways from downtown merchants.

Mr. Stonesifer said OktDoverFest is an event on the rise due to its ability to attract a wide variety of people.

“This event has definitely grown over the years,” he said. “We are expecting somewhere between 8,000 to 10,000 people throughout the day, but with The Wailers – a national act – headlining the event, we really do not know what might happen.

“There is definitely something for everyone with such an eclectic mix of music, craft beverages, food, crafts and even activities for the kids. The entire community will be able to find something that tickles their fancy.”

For a quick reggae refresher, The Jamaican-based Wailers are known throughout the world for their many hits including “I Shot The Sheriff,” “One Love” and “Buffalo Soldier.”

Led by renowned bassist and founder Aston “Familyman” Barrett and joined by original Wailers guitarist Donald Kinsey, The Wailers will be coming straight from their homes in Jamaica following a break from touring the United Kingdom.

“We are extremely grateful that we are able to welcome The Wailers here in Dover, Delaware, and are looking forward to delivering the world of music right here in our hometown,” said Mr. Stonesifer.

DDD said it is also looking forward to introducing musical artist Kayley Hill to downtown Dover. She is currently touring the country after a successful appearance on “The Voice” last year. Ms. Hill has been singing ever since she could speak and said she feels as if music chose her and not the other way around.

Ms. Hill has found herself in all sorts of performance opportunities, getting to sing all over the world while setting foot on some pretty notable stages, including the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, the Lyric Oxford, the Beau Rivage, the Loveless Cafe, and more.

Hometown musicians The Brothers Stonesifer, with their variety of classic rock and country tunes, gets it all cranked up at 3 p.m.

It’s an opportunity that Mr. Stonesifer is looking forward to. It’s another chance to play with his brothers at his favorite location – downtown Dover.

“The Brothers Stonesifer are very much looking forward kicking off the entertainment for OktDoverFest,” he said. “We always love to perform on Loockerman Street for the community and OktDoverFest happens to be our favorite festival. We have a great friendship with Kayley Hill and are excited to introduce her to our friends, family and following and we know she will not disappoint.

“Neither will The Wailers.”