A potpourri of miscellaneous news SCRIBBLED IN A REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK

ETHICS COMMISSION SOON TO BE WHOLE: New Castle County Council probably will fill the seventh and final vacancy on the Ethics Commission at its Jan. 28 meeting, according to Council President Christopher Coons. He told Council's Executive Committee that County Executive Tom Gordon has submitted the nomination of John Molitor. Pending a special meeting of the committee that afternoon, the nomination should be ready for confirmation that evening. Coons said that will clear the way for the reconstituted commission to meet with council and the Gordon administration to define new operating procedures and other matters.

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APPROPRIATE NAME?: Six Paupers is the tentative name for a 200 plus-seat restaurant and bar to be opened in May or early June in the former Shields Lumber warehouse in Hockessin. According to Michael Lucey, who will own and operate the establishment with his brother, Steve, the name has nothing to do with current trends on Wall Street.. Long before Hockessin acquired its image as a mecca for young professionals, a 1761 census found among its residents six severely economically challenged men, he said. The Luceys have a way with names. Their other establishment, on Union Street in the Little Italy section of Wilmington, honors Dead Presidents.

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THE WAY IT WAS:
Union National Bank stood at Eighth and Market Streets. This post card, published by MdIntire & Co., around the turn of the 20th Century, feature mostly the Eighth Street side of the building as does the current photo below.
This is another in a series of 'then and now' views of Wilmington. It draws on the extensive collection of local picture post cards accumulated by Terry Craig, owner and president of Print Marketing Solutions Inc., on West Eighth Street. Current views of the same scenes are Delaforum digital photos. See previous views in this series.

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REFINERY MAY BE PENALIZED: Only one of several sulfur dioxide releases from the Sunoco refinery during the past month could subject the company to a $10,000 civil penalty, according to the Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control environmental engineer who monitors the facility. Paul Foster told Delaforum that the other releases through the refinery flare were the result of cold weather during start-up and shut-down activities, which are allowed under the plant's air pollution permits. He said a determination of whether the penalty will be charged will be made after a full report of that incident is filed with the state agency.

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RELAXED POLLUTION RULES DISPUTED: State environmental officials are concerned that new federal clean-air standards governing expansion and upgrades at large industrial plants, power-generating facilities and refineries will have a deleterious effect. "Based on our initial review, we consider it to be a weakening of the existing program which will result in increased levels of air pollution and enforcement,: said Ali Mirzakhalili, program administrator in the air quality management section of the Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control. The new standards, which are said to be the first softening of the Clean Air Act since its passage in 1970, take effect on Mar. 3.

Mirzakhalili said that, where states can demonstrate their regulations are more stringent, those regulations apply. But they have to be more stringent in every respect, he said. "It's not a matter of mix and match." He said he has been involved for several years in the government-industry process to update new source emission standards, but that the rules promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency "go well beyond anything that industry ever asked for." Although Delaware is not one of nine states which have filed a court suit to block the standards from taking effect, Mirzakhalili said the possibility of joining that effort is under discussion with the attorney general's office. Maryland and New Jersey are among the filers.

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Wonder why it is that, three years into the new century, some folks are still referring to "the year Two thousand and three" when they didn't used to say "the year One thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine"?

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HO JO GOES PLASTIC: While attention was focused on implementation of the state smoking ban in eating and drinking establishments, a popular Brandywine Hundred eatery quietly ended its long holdout. Howard Johnson restaurant on Concord Pike at Fairfax now accepts payments by credit cards. Reluctantly acknowledging the break with the place's cash-only tradition, a waitress remarked, "Sure, that's fine for you people." The downside of the change is that travelers and others who like to eat now and pay later also tip that way and credit card receipts make it easy for Uncle Sam's tax collectors to keep track of that major portion of servers' incomes.

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