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

A final proposal for resolving county government's ethics dilemma will be ready "sooner rather than later" according to Emily Knearl, County Council policy director.

Neither she nor Council president Christopher Coons set a date for completion of consultations with the Gordon administration and employee unions which are now underway. But Coons invited members of Council to submit nominations for possible appointment to the now memberless County Ethics Commission and said that County Executive Tom Gordon also is gathering names from which to make his selections. Council appoints four commissioners; the executive three. Coons said he was not dissatisfied with the recommendations Knearl made earlier this month {see previous Delaforum articles Sept. 11 and Sept. 9 ), but is now looking for "a report to which all [affected parties] have contributed."

Richard Abbott, the only Council member to speak during a brief 'status report' on the situation at a meeting of Council's executive committee on Sept. 17, criticized further delay. "It has been two months since [all] members of the commission resigned. I don't know why we must wait longer. ... Get their input and be done with it," he said. Coons replied that he is "not intending to wait two, three or four months" to do that. Knearl's principal recommendation was that ethics matters involving rank-and-file county employees continue to be handled by a county commission while top officials in positions to influence the local commission be placed under the jurisdiction of the State Integrity Commission.

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ROAD TO BE SLIMMED DOWN: Delaware Department of Transportation will present options for reducing four-lane Murphy Road between Concord Pike and Foulk Road to two and restoring recently eliminated parking space along both sides of the highway at a workshop-style public hearing on Sept. 24. It will run between 4 and 7 p.m. in Brandywine High. That kind of session allows attenders to make comments to DelDOT representatives, but does not include open public discussion. The proposal already has drawn fire from County Councilman Robert Weiner, who claimed that traffic volume far exceeds the DelDOT maximum for a two-lane road.

DelDOT spokesman Michael Williams said that "the whole idea to re-design came from citizen requests." It has been discussed with state Representative Greg Lavelle and state Senator Dallas Winslow and local civic leaders. The department, he said, intends to accomplish the narrowing entirely by marking lanes, with a "good chance" there will be some repaving in the process. However, he said, "no widening or other changes to the current footprint are being considered." Residents of adjacent Deerhurst and Fairfax has long complained that drivers in the less-than-a-mile stretch all but totally ignore the posted 35 m.p.h. speed limit.

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They're having a blast over at Blue Ball -- several of them, as a matter of fact, as workers dig out rock to make way for a temporary six-lane road to bypass Concord Pike construction.

By the time it's finished, engineers estimate that 65,000 to 70,000 cubic yards of gneiss -- popularly known around here as Brandywine granite, the famed 'blue rock' from which the baseball team takes

its name -- will have been mined. Figure that volume at about 2,700 lbs, or about 1-1/3 tons per a cubic yard. The beginnings of this crop are more or less neatly stacked in piles. All of it is destined for new life, according to William Stewart, Delaware Department of Transpiration's resident engineer. Most of it will end up as rip-rap in this and other DelDOT projects. While passing commuters watch the small regiment of road-building machines at work a few feet away, they are isolated from what is happening.. Stewart said Brubacker Excavating, a sub-contractor to Mumfort & Miller, is taking out the rock in chunks with controlled explosions about

Neatly sorted into small, medium and large, these blue rocks from Blue Ball are destined for use in DelDOT  projects.

three times a week. But there is no dramatic plunger-pushing -- they called those devices 'hell boxes' -- or special effects with red clouds and flying debris. "We don't even use dynamite any more," he said. The explosive is a mixture of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer, with diesel fuel. It's planted down by the rock under a deep layer of top soil, which acts as a blanket. Unless you're paying close attention, you can't even hear the pop. Seismographs at Porter Reservoir, the Blue Ball barn and the edge of Alapocas monitor shocks. So far, he said, plenty of rock; no complaints about getting to it.

Interestingly, the explosive is trucked in under escort as needed form a depot in Pennsylvania. That mine-rich state allows overnight storage, he explained, while Delaware, whose quarries have long since been played out, doesn't.

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REPORTED TIMETABLE OVEROPTIMISTIC: It will take considerably longer than two years for Sunoco to build a sulfur-recovery unit at its Marcus Hook, Pa., refinery. Company spokesman Gerald Davis confirmed that the clock does not begin ticking until federal and state permits from both Delaware and Pennsylvania authorities are granted. That is expected to take at least a year, although he said the company hopes to have its applications considered on an expedited schedule. He also said that a published $25 million cost estimate is incorrect. Until engineering work is finished, no accurate estimate can be given, he maintained. The new unit is expected to eliminate the need to use the refinery flare to burn off acid gas, which has been the cause of a series of air-pollution incidents involving release of sulfur trioxide

Area lawmakers responded favorable to a published press report on Sept. 14  that the project is proceeding as promised at a community meeting a month earlier. State Representative Greg Lavelle said Sunoco's moving quickly to complete preliminary engineering studies shows that the company is "willing to listen to the community." Representative David Brady said it is "great for the community" that full control of, and responsibility for, handling the gas will remain with the refinery instead of being shared with neighboring General Chemical, to which it is presently being sold. Representative Wayne Smith said the Sunoco refinery  is "a better operation" than the plant and therefore less likely to cause problems. All three lawmakers expressed hopes that the expected loss of the feedstock would not have a significant adverse impact on General Chemical.

[See previous Delaforum article for details about the project.]

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YOU CAN READ IT IN THE PAPER: If you've been paying attention to the local press recently, you would be aware h that the county ethics code "forbids public officials and employees from personally benefiting from their jobs" (or probably even enjoying them); h that "as soon as he walked across the pool" Delaware Swim Team owner Mike Ramone was sure "Bob White was the right man for the job" as coach (which is what a fisherman named Peter once said); and h that a professor who studies probability at the University of Buffalo found that "there was a one in 1,000 chance" of any given three-digit number coming up in the state lottery, even if the number is 9-1-1 (which shows there is nothing like going to an expert if in doubt).

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STAYING PUT: A reality sign on the original Talleyville branch post office does not signal any intention on the part of the U.S. Postal Service to move out. Spokesman Greg Vandever explained that the building has been sold to a new owner and the sign refers to that transaction. The postal service leases the building to house the carriers who deliver mail in the 19803 postal zip code area in Brandywine Hundred. Customer service was moved from there to a new facility a half mile north on Concord Pike. He said the postal service expects to sign a lease with the new owner, but is "looking at other options" in the event it is not able to cut an acceptable deal.

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BRIDGE PROJECT NOT IN DANGER: Federal regulations protecting the historic Hagley mills do not jeopardize plans to build an expanded Tyler McConnell crossing of the Brandywine nor will they significantly delay it, consultant Bill Hellmann told the project's advisory committee on Sept. 9. He said it may be necessary, after further evaluation, to tear down the existing two-lane bridge and replace it with a new four-lane span instead of eventually proceeding with state-approved plans to build a parallel two-lane bridge. The ultimate decision, he said, hinges primarily on how many supporting piers are considered acceptable in the designated historic district protecting the original Du Pont powder mills.

The group was told by Richard Meyer, an historic review consultant, that the right-of-way of the present span, built in 1952, was gerrymandered out of the district -- evidently, he said, as a matter of convenience. He recommended that the district boundary be redrawn to provide a more accurate definition of the area. The only way that would preclude improving the flow of traffic along the Route 141 corridor would be if there were a feasible alternative to the present crossing site, Hellmann said. Considering the historic and cultural assets of the entire Brandywine Valley between Wilmington and the Pennsylvania line, there are none. Additional cost of building a new four-lane bridge will not be a factor in the decision, he said.

Meanwhile, improvement work on the Barley Mill Road approach to the bridge and its intersection with Montchanin Road will proceed according to schedule, with bids likely to be sought by the end of the year and construction beginning in the spring of 2003.