Bayard Avenue, Dewey Beach  has a flooding problem. With a drainage system described as “essentially ineffective” by a local engineering firm, a heavy rainfall will put pools of standing water on the street for days. Residents are understandably upset, and crowded into a hotel conference room at the Saturday, Aug. 23 roads committee meeting to air their greivances. This was brass-tacks municipal politics – residents, not constituents, speaking out.

…punctuated, here and there, with shouts from the twenty-somethings partying in the pool adjacent to the conference room. Through the blinds, I saw a few bellies cannonball into the chlorine. Once, a chant of “Ole, ole ole ole” punched through the wall, almost triggering flashbacks of Running of the Bull.

I saw only a few attendees turn their heads to glance out the window. Did they even hear? Or were they immune by now, the party-clamor just background noise?