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Grapplers end season at States
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MARCH 6, 2026
THE LOCAL VOICE OF YOUR COMMUNITY.
YMCA summer camps coming to former Millsboro school
Volume 23, Issue 10
FREE
The aftermath
By Laura Walter Staff Reporter It could be a dream come true: an empty school building meets one of Delaware’s biggest childcare and camp nonprofits. The Sussex Family YMCA will be hosting up to 10 weeks of summer camps at the former Millsboro Middle School building this year. “Every day, thousands of parents rely on us for childcare, where their kids will be safe and have a great time too. … We just believe this partnership would expand high-quality summer camp opportunities for people in this area,” said LoriKay Paden, community vice president and executive director for the Sussex Family YMCA. “It’s our community. We just want to have that opportunity and serve this way,” Paden said. Based in Rehoboth Beach, the Sussex Family YMCA already hosts 1,400 See YMCA page A11
Millville election set for this Saturday
Coastal Point • Laura Walter
Snow plows, such as this one in Frankford, teamed up with first-responders, line crews and public works departments across Delmarva to dig out from the late-February blizzard that blanketed the area and caused thousands to lose power.
Taking a look back at the impact of the Blizzard of 2026 By Susan Canfora Staff Reporter
By Kerin Magill Staff Reporter Three candidates will vie for two seats on the Millville Town Council when voters go to the polls on Saturday, March 7. The Coastal Point asked candidates Ronald Belinko, Jean Hanley and Deborah Sosnoski three questions ahead of the election. Each candidate has also submitted a biography. The following are the candidates’ answers to the questions, which address issues the town council will likely face in the next two years — the council term successful candidates would serve.
Ronald Belinko Ronald Belinko and his wife, Donna, See ELECTION page A5
They say March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb. After the Blizzard of 2026 last week, Sussex County residents might not be so sure about that lamb reference, but nobody will argue the lion arrived, roaring into towns the afternoon of Sunday, Feb. 22, dropping wet snow too heavy for trees to bear and causing power, internet and telephone service outages. Nearly two weeks later, the blizzard remains the topic of local conversation, how it dropped 20 inches of snow on Ocean View and more in some nearby areas, how the wind howled all night, homes were cold and dark, residents scrambled to find flashlights and candles and perishables were transferred to chilly porches. The storm knocked down so many trees and hefty limbs that WBOC-TV Chief Meteorologist Mike Lichniak was shocked when he returned to his Ocean Pines, Md., home from working at the TV station in Salisbury. “I thought, ‘Did war happen in here?’ Trees were everywhere,” he told Coastal Point. “It was a blizzard, and it was a perfect storm,” Rich Wirdzek, WMDT-TV Chief Meteorologist, confirmed.
“At the airport in Salisbury we got 10 inches of snow but Long Neck got 21 inches. It wasn’t just about the snow. We had lightning and thunder and high winds with the snow and that is very unusual … in eastern Sussex County what made the storm worse for those areas was it was cold enough to snow all the way to the beach. In Delaware it was worse than in Worcester or Wicomico counties. The snow rates were higher for a longer period. Winds were 50 to 60 mph in eastern Sussex County so you had the highest snowfall totals plus the highest wind. The worst blizzard conditions were there,” he said. Lichniak called Sussex County “the bullseye of the storm.” To be classified as a blizzard, a storm has to last three hours or more with sustained winds or gusts of more than 35 mph and falling or blowing snow that reduces visibility to one-quarter mile or less. “It could happen again this decade but the likelihood of something this dramatic is probably low because it’s a onceevery-several-years thing. The storm in January 2022, there were not as many trees down or as many power outages. This one had blizzard conditions so there were extra components to this one and the snow was so wet it attached to the trees. The wind would not blow the snow off the trees,” Wirdzek said, adding an estimated 50,000 people were
See STORM page A3