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News Briefs

September 3, 2013

Rehoboth city hall task force to meet Sept.

The Rehoboth Beach City Hall Master Plan Task Force will meet at 1:30 p.m., Monday, Sept. 9, in the city commissioners’ room to discuss sketches of a potential new City Hall complex. The sketches will show potential configurations of the site and department blocks. Discussion will also include how the City Hall complex will be perceived.

Rehoboth to consider setback changes

The Rehoboth Beach com­missioners will meet at 9 a.m., Monday, Sept. 9, in the city commissioners’ room to dis­cuss the recommendation of the planning commission to have proportional side-yard setbacks for residential lots larger than 50-by-100 feet. The board will discuss a draft ordinance that would clear up and possibly add further requirements to the city’s bicycle safety regulations. Other draft ordinances to be discussed include one that would remove the caveat that careless driving offenses only apply to public highways, and a second ordinance that would resolve a duplication in the city code re­lated to reckless driving.

Milton continues discussing budget

Milton Town Council met Thursday, Aug. 29, to continue its discussion of the fiscal year 2014 budget. Council tasked depart­ment heads with reducing their budgets by 10 percent. Mayor Marion Jones said the depart­ment heads attended the meeting to aid council in its analysis of the budget. “We ironed out some salary issues, but remained stumped on the police salaries,” said Jones. She said the person­nel committee will meet Friday, Sept. 6, to look at data offered by the police ad hoc commit­tee, and the group will make a recommendation to council at its Monday, Sept. 9 meeting. Jones said she does not expect to vote on the budget Sept. 9, but a meeting is scheduled for Mon­day, Sept. 16, for the purpose of a budget vote.

Milton Personnel Committee meets

The Milton Personnel Com­mittee will meet at 4:45 p.m., Friday, Sept. 6, at town hall. The group will discuss police depart­ment wages and physical fitness standards.

Public defender suspended from practicing law

A Georgetown attorney is being sanctioned for violating attorney-client privilege laws.

Delaware Supreme Court ap­proved a report from the Board on Professional Responsibil­ity, Aug. 23. The board’s report ordered Richard B. Lyle be publicly reprimanded and sus­pended from practicing law for six months. A public defender since 2007, Lyle represented Ron Roundtree of Ellendale, who was arrested for the attempted murder of a 25-year-old man in Bridgeville in March 2011. Police also arrested three other suspects in the crime, including Wilmer Milton of Felton.

Ac­cording to court records, Milton was interviewed by the Public Defender’s Office, and in a state­ment, he accused Roundtree of being the shooter. Lyle later showed Milton’s statement to Roundtree, which prompted the Office of Disciplinary Council to file a petition for discipline against Lyle for violating Milton’s attorney-client privilege.

Accord­ing to an Supreme Court order, “In a letter to the ODC, Lyle ad­mitted that he had reviewed the other co-defendants’ files, made copies of all available co-defen­dants’ statements and placed the statements in Roundtree’s file. He also admitted that in doing so he had erred.”

Delmar man pleads guilty to shooting

A resident of Delmar, Md., pleaded guilty to charges related to the attempted murder of a police officer. Orrin Joudrey and Laurel resident David Watson were arrested Jan. 2, after po­lice say they fired guns into the Laurel home of a Dewey Beach Police officer. At first, both men pleaded not guilty to the charges, which included attempted first­degree murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, reckless endangering, conspiracy and other charges. Joudrey, 21, pleaded guilty in June. He was sentenced Aug. 9, in Sussex County Superior Court in Georgetown. Judge T. Henley Graves sentenced Joudrey to a total of 20 years in prison for possession of a firearm during commission of a felony and reck­less endangering. Joudrey will then serve six years and three months on probation for reckless endangering, driving under the influence and conspiracy.

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