There must be some good way out of the situation that has developed concerning the location of a new public library in Dover.

Common sense, as well as the extensive planning and study with which a new library in Dover has been considered, indicate clearly that the building should be built in Dover.

Kent County’s government, the Levy Court, had agreed to support the Dover location but then changed its mind, on a 5-2 vote, to put its own public library some three miles south of the planned Dover location.

Naturally there is speculation about the reasons why this change of heart, and funding, came about.

Could this be a solution, and it is an idea I have not mentioned to anyone except my wife.

Begin with the reasonable agreement that the citizens of the Capital City and Kent County at large deserve and need the best possible public library, one which will not only give patrons pleasure but will be an asset to students and to the economy of central Delaware.

To bring this about it is certainly true that the city and the county combining their resources should make it much easier financially to produce this superior library.

Consider as well that the citizens of Dover are residents of Kent County, and pay real estate taxes as other country residents do.

The Dover people also pay city real estate taxes.

More than half of the current patrons of the vastly overcrowded Dover library come from outside the city limits.

Perhaps there is pride of place involved in the present situation. Dover would like to have its library. Kent County, in the current opinion of a majority of Kent County Levy Court members, also wants a library to call its own.

Why not recognize the obvious — that a new library in Dover’s central location, in terms of population as well as geography — would cater to all county residents including city residents.

Therefore, why not call the new library the Dover/Kent County Library?

Wouldn’t that assure the best possible use of public and private funds, with the result being a better and more useful library for all Kent Countians?

Why not?

*****

Perhaps you saw the long news story in the Washington Post about Beau Biden and the speculation that he would run for his father’s old Senate seat when that election comes up next year.

While the story made clear that Beau Biden, now Delaware’s attorney general, has not publicly tipped his hand about his intentions, there is the strong likelihood that it is just a matter of time before he announces that he would indeed like to follow in his father’s footsteps.

It seems to me that Beau is taking the right course in protecting his political options. There is really nothing for him to gain, and perhaps there is something to lose, by declaring his intentions too early.

In the meantime his father is becoming more and more of a world figure as the vice president. He and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts appear to be making some of the diplomatic policy moves that would seem to be within the scope of the secretary of state. And whether or not you agree with VP Biden’s policies and actions, it is reasonable to conclude that his political stature is growing.

All of this is no doubt being noticed and studied by U.S. Rep. Mike Castle, who has announced that he would like to become a senator for the four years that will be remaining in Joe Biden’s term.

Little Delaware will be looming large in national political coverage next year.

*****

There was a time, many years ago, when newspaper reporters and columnists wrote their copy with typewriters and on pieces of newsprint. This copy then went to a copy desk for editing and possible improvement. Then it went to a typesetter at a Linotype machine. The Linotype machine operator used a keyboard to produce the lines of type in lead. When a proof was made of whatever was written the words again were scrutinized before being put into place on a metal composition table.

All of the above is mentioned in the interest of making it clear that in today’s world, where the writer himself or herself uses a computer to set the copy to be printed, the responsibility for mistakes is much more difficult for the writer to dodge. While an editor checks self-set copy, the scrutiny is much less intense, and some mistakes do happen.

Readers of my scribbling last week, for example, probably wondered about my mention that my sister Florrie and her husband Jerry lived in New York, not far from Sarasota. Ah, but that was very wrong. They live in a small community called Charlton, which is not far from Saratoga, a much larger New York community. Somehow I got as far as the “sara” all right but then slipped.
Saratoga, by the way, has some 220,000 residents, about three times the population of Wilmington. And Sarasota, in Florida, has even more people — about 375,000.

*****

Seeing so many leaves falling reminds me of a pleasure that is missed today by those old enough to remember what things were like “way back then.”

It used to be that leaves were raked into piles along streets and then burned. The smoke was fragrant. It lingered for a while. People enjoyed it. And then the leaves were gone.

In today’s more closely populated cities it is understandable why burning leaves has been ruled out. Perhaps it does still occur in small towns. It does seem, though, that producing smoke of any kind is much further out of favor today than it was many years ago.

*****

We were in a restaurant the other day when a man at the next table answered a cell phone call.

He then talked loud enough for several tables to hear what he said, something “important” about checking with “his lawyer.”

Then he proceeded to make a couple of cell phone calls himself, while the bored lady with him just sat there.

He may have thought he was important. We thought he was a jerk.

*****

Waiter: “Ma’am, I think your husband has had enough to drink. He just slid under the table.”

Lady: “No, that’s not it. My husband just walked in the door!”