History from New Journal archives: Coons as NCCo executive, rescue of last covered bridges
"Pages of history" features excerpts from The News Journal archives including The Morning News and The Evening Journal. See the archives at delawareonline.com.
June 22, 2005, The News Journal
As new county executive, Coons fights Gordon, Freebery legacy
The small green-and-white signs outside the New Castle County Government Center beckon visitors and employees to “please play on the grass.”
It’s more than a friendly sentiment from County Executive Chris A. Coons, who commissioned the signs shortly after he took office in January. The message is symbolic of his leadership and what he hopes is a sea change from the previous administration, when the signs in front of the glass-front building read “please stay off the grass.”
Former county executive Tom Gordon and his chief administrative officer Sherry Freebery are under federal indictment for alleged corruption. Since Coons took the helm, he has been working to establish a different tenor inside the halls of county government.
He has tackled some of the big things: getting County Council approval of a $214 million budget; examining the operations of major county departments, including police; starting programs to address rentals, neglected and abandoned property; and coming up with nontraditional employee incentives.
He's also pounced on some little things, such as the new “please play on the grass” signs, to set himself apart from his predecessor.
In fact, there is a growing list of actions Coons has taken to dismantle what Gordon and Freebery left behind.
Gordon renamed the Newark Free Library when it became part of the county system. Coons gave it back the old name.
Gordon removed the nonprofit Friends of Rockwood volunteers from the historic Rockwood Mansion after disagreements over the mansion’s contents and operation. Coons invited the group back into the house. ...
Gordon has openly criticized Coons, saying the new executive is trying to steal his legacy instead of creating one of his own. But Coons says it’s not about Gordon.
“If you look at how I conducted my campaign, it wasn’t about any of my opponents,” Coons said. “Some things were done right. Some things were done wrong. You take the right and build on it, and leave the wrong and move on.”
As president of County Council during Gordon’s tenure, Coons often found himself at odds with the two top leaders.
But now that he’s in the executive’s chair, he’s forging ahead with some initiatives once blocked by Gordon. For example, the council is poised to approve a new code to regulate rental properties. Coons failed to get the measure through council when he was president because, he said, Gordon lined up support against him. ...
Gordon says Coons has done nothing of substance yet and is still enjoying the honeymoon that comes with being newly elected. ...
“He didn’t set the world on fire as president of council,” Gordon said. “We changed the course of county government. We’re the reason the Newark Library is there. We built Rockwood Park. We changed land use procedures. I upgraded the salaries of women who were not being paid commensurate with the men. He’ll never accomplish half of our accomplishments.”
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June 24, 1925, The Evening Journal
Cowboy life lures youth to the West
Somewhere in the West, a Wilmington boy in whose veins there lurks a drop of Nomadic blood, is learning the ways of the men who have become the most romantic figures of American song and story – the western cowboy.
The boy is Charles A. Wilson, 17, of Concord Street, who has been missing from his home since May 20. His mother has heard indirectly that the youth is in Oklahoma and that he intends to become a cattleman like the heroes of the screen and stories of the plains which he has seen and read since childhood.
Charles’ father died six days after the boy left home, presumably with Ringling Brothers’ Circus. His uncle sent out word of the missing youth, and the news of his father’s death was radioed from stations in Philadelphia and the West.
The boy learned in this manner of the death of his father, but wrote to one of his companions in Wilmington that he couldn’t get home as he had only 70 cents. He is said to have expressed regret at the death of his father but wrote that it was impossible to get home.
Mrs. Wilson said today she would not try to induce her son to return as he would be of little use to her when under restraint and that since early childhood he had always wanted to become a cowboy. The family paid little attention to the boy’s threats to run away until the day he failed to come home.
Mrs. Wilson said he was a reader of western stories and loved to go see western pictures at the movies. ...
She said he was always a dutiful son.
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June 26, 1975, The Morning News
Delaware’s last covered bridges to be renovated
The only two covered bridges left in the state, long-time victims of neglect and vandalism, soon should be rescued.
The bridges over Red Clay Creek near Ashland and Wooddale were probably built before 1850, according to Edward F. Heite, historic registrar in the state division of historical and cultural affairs.
Vandals have hacked their initials into both bridges, and in March, someone set fire to the Wooddale bridge. ...
Heite and Robert McDowell, the state’s bridge engineer, explained what is being done to keep the last two covered bridges in the state from following 34 others into history books and old photographs.
At Ashland, the state plans to build a new bridge alongside the old one, to detour heavy traffic from it. Then the state will renovate the covered bridge for pedestrians. Money for the 1976 project is in the state’s bond bill.
At Wooddale, repairs would come under the federally funded National Register of Historic Places program. The project will include repairs, paint and installation of a fire alarm. A separate, modern bridge would not be built because the Wooddale bridge is only used for access to a few private homes and does not carry as heavy a traffic load as the Ashland bridge does.
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: History from New Journal: Coons as NCCo executive, last covered bridges
