From a window overlooking the St. Jones

Nowhere in Dover is the Christmas season more evident than in the downtown area, starting from City Hall and then west along Loockerman Street to Queen Street.

As the many trees along this route grow larger with the years, so do the height and breadth of the colorful lights.

This past week was the first time I had been downtown after dark and this year the lights are more impressive than ever. Be sure to drive through the Capital City in the evening. It’s a treat.

You will also notice on such a drive that the new Dover Public Library near City Hall is far enough along to have its interior lighted at night. Completion is scheduled for September of next year. And please don’t miss the opportunity to contribute to the library fund drive, which is now close to its campaign goal.

I’ll admit to a biased attitude, but it really is going to be a terrific library, one that the city, county and state will be proud of.

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My main contribution in the way of getting ready for Christmas is to indulge myself in the pleasure of cutting down our own Christmas tree.

As has been the custom in past years, Mary and I drive to the Hickman’s Tree Farm north of Smyrna. I get a handsaw there and while Mary sits in the van I wander around looking for the best tree possible.

Having the liberty of making my unaided and personal choice of a tree is something new, though, and has been in practice for just two years. Before that it was a dual responsibility and took quite a bit longer, tree preferences being somewhat different between the two-person selection team.

With good luck, though, last year’s choice worked out well and so did my effort this year. A frictionless choice is always nice.

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If you look up at the branches of the trees around Dover, now that they have lost their leaves, you often see what looks like a tangle of dark leaves in small bunches. Chances are you are looking at mistletoe, a parasitic evergreen which issues a soft command for a kiss when a person of the female persuasion stops underneath a sprig of it, especially at this time of year.

In case you haven’t heard how this plant is harvested from its high perch, the explanation is that it is blasted from the tree by using a shotgun. At least that’s the story in Delaware, although I haven’t seen it done. A guy has to be pretty low on kisses to go to that much trouble.

And the small white and shiny mistletoe berries? Don’t pop one in your mouth. They’re poisonous.

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Being largely uninformed on the subject doesn’t prevent me from having the opinion that there would be no harm, and some good, in allowing the state’s sheriffs and their deputies to perform the duties of police officers along with their current roles of serving court documents and conducting foreclosure sales.           

What brings up the subject is the current squabble in Sussex County, where Sheriff Jeffrey S. Christopher wants his deputies to have police powers, as long ago was the case in Delaware and follows the practice of sheriffs in most other states.

The key proviso, of course, would be that the sheriff and his or her deputies would have to undergo training in full police work.

Mentioning training is easy enough to do. Working out a way to put it into practice is more complicated.

If training is mandated, wouldn’t the result be more law enforcement available? And wouldn’t the result also be more and better use of the time of the three sheriffs’ departments?

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With the world’s largest online retailing company about to build a $90 million regional fulfillment center in Middletown, the State of Delaware is getting the attention its middle East Coast location warrants. Not only is our location valuable in terms of distribution. We also have a lot of open land, more usable open land, I would estimate, than any other East Coast state.

And if Delaware is a good fit for Amazon, why wouldn’t it suit the purposes of other major companies?

If you haven’t been to Middletown for a while, a visit might surprise you. Or possibly astound you. The town is three times the size it was less than a generation ago.

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A Delawarean who died under mysterious circumstances in 1967 in the Far East is the subject of a new book by Joshua Kurlantzick. Jim Thompson, who became known as the “Silk King” of Thailand, went walking in the Cameron Highland in Malaysia and disappeared. The name of the book is “The Ideal Man.” Thompson had been a U.S. intelligence officer and then became an international textile trader.

All I know of the man and the book, which I have not yet read, is that long ago I learned he was a Delawarean and after an eventful life became a mystery. Almost anything with a Delaware connection is of interest to me.

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It was sad to hear of the death of Katie “Kitty” Cook, who died last Thursday at the age of 82. She was the wife of Horace Cook, a good friend of long standing, and I know he took good care of her during her long illness.

Mary and I extend our deepest sympathies to Horace and to the rest of the Cook family and their many friends.

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Three days after suffering through a bad virus attack which had wiped her out, Sally found a silver lining in the experience when she at last crawled out of bed.

Throwing on a pair of pants, Sally called out to her husband, “Look! These jeans fit – they finally fit!”

“Great!” said her husband. “But they’re mine!”