Sports
Prom
Grise leads Indians to division title
Indian River celebrates prom
Page 65
Page 44
MAY 12, 2023
THE LOCAL VOICE OF YOUR COMMUNITY.
Volume 20, Issue 19
FREE
Neal wins District 2 seat on IRSD board By Mike Smith Staff Reporter Ivan D. Neal — a longtime Indian River School District educator and administrator who has served as principal for schools including Selbyville Middle School — won 52.5 percent of the votes cast on May 9, earning the IRSD Board of Education set representing District 2. He bested newcomer and professional education consultant Michael Bellerose, who Neal captured about 20 percent of the vote, and a former IRSD Board of Education member, Leo Darmstadter, who earned 27.5 percent of the vote. Neal said he ran for the seat to bring his more than 37 years of experience serving within the IRSD schools and administration to the board. “I graduated from UD in 1983, and my heart was to teach in our school district,” said Neal. “I started at Phillip C. Showell as a special-education teacher for one year. I was at Frankford Elementary, teaching fourth grade for 13 years. I did 14 years in the classroom Special to the Coastal Point • Butch Comegys
See NEAL page 2
It was a family affair for this goose and her goslings recently checking out a pretty day.
Ocean View VFW Post recognized for community service By Susan Canfora Staff Reporter Mason Dixon VFW Post 7234 in Ocean View has been honored as the Delaware VFW Post of the Year for Community Service. “It was with great pride that I was able to announce that we had been selected,” Post Commander John Gossart told the Coastal Point this week. “Our focus is always the care and concern and the well-being of our veterans and our families. That is always our mission. This prestigious award recognizes all
that our post does for its veterans, families and community.” “I have been the commander the last two years. We are changing the commander the latter part of June, and changing other officers, and I can tell you it has been an honor and privilege to be in the position to lead this post. They are wonderful people, and it’s wonderful to be part of. We do great things. “Our mission is the well-being of our veterans of this community, and we are very much committed to that,” he said, giving examples of ways the post pro-
vides community service. Through the Help a Veteran program during the past year, more than 600 veterans who live up to 20 miles from the post were contacted, greeted and asked if they need assistance. Gossart led an initiative to provide a homeless veteran and her son with housing and a car needed to get back and forth to work, and a young veteran with cancer received financial aid to help pay medical bills. For more than 10 years, post members have donated to the local food bank and, at Christmas, received a letter
thanking them and stating that 138 families were fed. Post members made multiple monetary donations, including $1,200 to Delaware by the Sea Women’s Aid for the annual Game Day fundraiser, $500 to Warriors Helping Warriors in Middletown, $100 for a memorial brick in honor of the VFW National Home, $250 to annual Kids Catch & Release for Lyme Disease, $100 to the Make a Wish Foundation, $1,000 to the Bless Our Children Foundation, $1,000 to See POST page 7