GROUP INTERVIEWS - Last Wednesday afternoon I took my “doggied up” 4-Runner with 175,000 miles to Ingram Pond to do my photojournalism, one-man show at a double dual cross country meet featuring host Sussex Central and guests Cape Henlopen and Caesar Rodney. The Outdoor Education Center of the Indian River school district had that Mennonite meeting house look, but when education director Doug McIlvaine stepped into my world I started to accumulate background data because a foot race only generates so much color for creative writing. The site invites students from grades K-12 with more emphasis on the little people because older kids tend to get lost on purpose.
”This is all linked to the state curriculum,” said McIlvaine, a veteran teacher of 40 years, 30 at Thomas Stone High School in Maryland and 10 with Indian River.
Mike Morris, Beacon Middle physical education teacher with children Brett and Brittany running on the Cape team, then entered the interview with a question for McIlvaine. “How much are they asking for that house across the street?”
The number was over 800K and there followed the predictable wows and you’re kidding me until McIlvaine talked of acreage and the place being good for a person who owned horses and livestock.
“Livestock, like cattle,” I queried. “And a horse to drive cattle?”
On the way home I was listening to the sound track from “Brokeback Mountain” because Teddy Thompson is my favorite singer. McIlvaine also mentioned that he earned 10 grand a year for the site by selling animals. I looked around but saw no petting zoo.
“What kind of animals?” I asked.
He went science guy on me and listed red blooded worms or something like that as animals for sale. I guess a worm is an animal, but to me it never rises above the status of worm. Get me out of this!
NEW CENTRAL AD - New Sussex Central athletic director Steve Bastianelli was at Ingram Pond to watch the race and was one of 10 adults with digital cameras. I just hope some of these people are better than me because all I do is adjust settings - not too dark or light and not blurry - and I become an instant professional.
Bastianelli comes home to Georgetown where his father, Herm, is a legend after coaching Cental teams for years. Bastianelli reluctantly consented to be a photo subject, but he kept looking at my shoes wanting to drop me with an ankle pick then lock me up in a ball and chain. I know how those grapplers think.
CAPE CAPERS - Cape is on schedule to have a new athletic director by the end of September when George Glenn climbs the ladder of retirement into his Christmas decor business. There are lots of disconnected rumors circulating around the back roads of the school district where I mine data with a metal detector. A large committee was formed, which includes a parent or two and some administrators and the unsubstantiated rumors of a school board member or two, but as Allan Redden told me at the cross country meet, “All I can tell you for sure is that I’m not on any committee and generally the school board doesn’t get involved with interviews at the teacher level which is where this job is slotted.”
There is a deep pile of applications and some of the people are even qualified. The pile must be pared down because to interview 20 people would be just plain stupid. So, who should have the right to take an individual’s resumé printed on expensive paper and edited by an English language expert and cast it aside.
”Get this weak junk outta here!”
I’d say the interview committee, and not any elements of the school board; it would be like me eliminating applicants to teach Chinese. What do I know about it?
BASKETBALL APPEAL DATE - I am told the date is Monday, Oct. 15, when the deputy attorney general - there are lots of them assigned to review DIAA board decisions and to rule on appeals - will listen to some input from concerned parties then make a decision whether to uphold the previous ruling of forfeiting basketball games in which Cape used an ineligible player.
Lawyer Craig Karsnitz, a long-time supporter of Cape sports, wrote the appeal letter on behalf of the district. I’m guessing, as I cannot be pinned down to accuracy, that the deputy AG can rule that the rules for legal guardianship were satisfied in the Cape case, or that the punishment for this convoluted mess of good intentions was too severe.
SNIPPETS - The local Determinators team - spell check prefers Exterminators - competed in cycling races last Saturday at Lums Pond. Coach Nancy Berg had two cyclists in the event. Mark Kelly (12 years old, Consortium student at Mariner) won the gold in the 5K. Dan Berg (17, Cape High) won the silver in the 10K and the gold in the 15K. Great stuff! Rock on Sprocket Rockets!
The junior varsity volleyball team beat Lake Forest last week 25-14 and 25-15 for an overall record of 2-2 and 2-0 in the Henlopen Conference. Highlights included: sophomores - Alicia Vickers, 5 aces; Andrea Wells, 1 ace, 2 kills; Michelle Norton, 1 ace, 1 kill; and Tricia Conlon, 1 assist. Freshmen - Johnesha Warren, 1 ace, 3 assists, 3 kills; Danielle Marsico, 4 aces, 1 kill; Kearstin Chapman, 1 kill; Jaclyn Warner, 1 block.
The Cape Gazette is back on the credential list for the Philadelphia Eagles, so we will be in the house for Sunday’s must-win - aren’t they all - against the undefeated Detroit Lions. The Eagles are dinged up in the secondary, so you would think against a Detroit team that throws the ball much better than the Redskins that the Birds would be underdogs - is that a mixed metaphor? Las Vegas line has the Eagles as six and a half point favorites which means a ton of money is heading for the Detroit side which will drop the spread by game time. I actually fell asleep in a plastic lawn chair out in my garage when the Eagles failed to convert on their last drve against the Redskins in the final minute. I woke up to Andy Reid’s head in high definition on my 34-inch screen and he looked like the poster head for Anxiety Eaters Anonymous. He began his next press conference with “I love Donovan,” but no one pursued that statement. Andy and Donovan are action figures, good men in trying situations. To bash either of them is just wrong.
