July 9, 2010

A Week in Business

AGH Expands Online Wait Time Practice BERLIN - Just 18 months after launching online wait times for its emergency room, Atlantic General Hospital is introducing real-time waits for two other services: x-rays and outpatient lab work. The mechanism used to track and post the wait times for the emergency room translated very well to these other walk-in outpatient services because patients are in an even better position to time their visits. 'When a physician orders x-rays or blood work, a patient...READ MORE

We Remember Those We Have Lost

H. Isabelle Cropper SALISBURY - H. Isabelle Cropper, 84, of Showell died Sunday, July 4, 2010 at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury after a gallant battle with leukemia. Born on Nov. 4, 1925, in Showell, she was the daughter of the late Joseph and Mannie (Ennis) Brittingham. She was a lifelong member of Showell United Methodist Church. During her lifetime of serving God, she was a Lay Speaker, Sunday School teacher and served the church in many positions including the Staff Parish...READ MORE

Getting Ready For Auto IRA

OCEAN CITY - Inspired by research suggesting that automatic enrollment in a retirement savings plan boosts worker participation to as much as 95%, the Obama administration has proposed legislation that would create the "Automatic IRA." If enacted, it would require small and midsize businesses that do not offer a retirement plan to enroll their employees automatically in individual retirement accounts. But one plan type does not fit all needs, and employers may do well to consider other...READ MORE

Fish 'N OC

This past week we celebrated Independence Day in Ocean City. Every year the week surrounding the Fourth of July holiday is one of our busiest weeks here in town. Vacationers come from all over to soak up the sun, the sand and to celebrate our nation's independence. Oftentimes the beach and the Boardwalk are crowded the streets are lined with cars, and onlookers jostle for the best position to enjoy Ocean City's Fourth of July fireworks display. The weather is always a variable for our Fourth of...READ MORE

Who's Playing Where and When Musically Speaking

Sports Bar & Grille Old Bridge Road, West OC July 9: Lethal Dose Saturday: Karaoke With Hey Mick The , Talbot St. On the bay July 10 & Sunday, July 11: Tieff, 4 p.m. Sunday: Local's Social With DJ Rusty Griswald Salty Dog , 28th St. & Coastal Hwy. July 9: Bryan Russo Trio July 10: John LaMere Sunday: Local's Party with DJ JJ July 13: Adam Almony & Joey Harkum Acoustic Wednesday: DJ JJ July 15: DJ Wax bar & Grill off the boards on 2nd St. July 9: Dave Sherman, 1-5 p.m.; Pie,...READ MORE

CFES Gives Grant to AGH for new medical devices

The Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore (CFES) has awarded a $1,386 grant to Atlantic General Hospital to help support the installation of automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) in a physicians' office affiliated with the Atlantic General Health Systems. The hospital's goal is to outfit the entire 11-office system with the AEDs.  Pictured above are Erica Joseph, CFES Program Officer, and Amy Unger, Atlantic General Hospital Development Director  ...READ MORE

Pink Part Boat Bash Benefits Women Supporting Women

A Pink Party Boat Bash was held last month aboard the Judith M in memory of Sharon Christy Nethen. All proceeds benefit Women Supporting Women. Above during the check presentations are, from left, Shelly Dolan, Emily Karnbauer, Jennifer Wheeless and Tracey Adkins  ...READ MORE

Kiwanis Club Celebrates Fourth of July

During the Ocean Pines' Fourth of July celebration, the Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines-Ocean City was selling hot dogs and refreshments to raise funds for their scholarship fund.  Above, Kiwanian Mary Foelber supplies grill master and President-Elect Roy Foreman as Past President Corky Widerman assists him under the close watch of Kiwanian Barbara Peletier.  ...READ MORE

O'Malley supporters and O'Malley

Several Democratic supporters joined Governor Martin O'Malley and his daughters in a walk on the Ocean City Boardwalk on June 28. Pictured with O'Malley are Woody Gross, Chuck Herbert, Diana Gross, Gov. O'Malley, Dell Purrell and Marge Sebour.  ...READ MORE

Graduates of 64th Criminal Hour Class

Graduates from the Lower Shore who were part of the 64th entrance-level law enforcement class of the Eastern Shore Criminal Justice Academy operated by Wor-Wic Community College in Salisbury are, front row, from left, Brandon L. Caton, Jacob L. Chambers, Matthew D. Conner, Jason C. Lewis and Timothy C. Robinson of the Salisbury Police Department. In the back, from left, are Brendan R. Rogalski, Jason R. Sander and James J. Smith III of the Salisbury Police Department, James Kerr of the Fruitland...READ MORE

Faces in Places

A spotlight on the local and regional bar and restaurant scene ...READ MORE

LCB Profits Plunge Compared To Others

OCEAN CITY •€' The numbers continue to tell quite a story concerning the recent performance of the Liquor Control Board for Worcester County (LCB) as new reports surfaced this week on money given back to other counties. Both Somerset and Wicomico counties released their unofficial numbers this week on the amount of funds paid back to their respective counties by their liquor control boards for 2010, and local residents, licensees, and politicians were unanimously awestruck by the...READ MORE

Thoughts From the Publisher's Desk

The holiday weekend seemed to generally meet expectations around the Ocean City area. Some businesses were thrilled with bookings and sales, while others said it did not measure up to previous 4th of July weekends. From a crowd standpoint, the town's demoflush population estimates indicate it was slightly down from last year with an average of 318,368 reported on Saturday and Sunday. However, for Sunday alone, Communications Manager Donna Abbott said the Sunday crowds were measured at 332,547....READ MORE

Voices From the Readers

Public Safety Hurt By Parking Decision Editor: Recently the town council adopted a policy to control Inlet parking to suit one prominent business. Previously, the policy was to cone off Philadelphia Ave. and channel the traffic away from the Inlet lot, when filled, up Baltimore Ave, but this affected the aforementioned business. This method kept traffic moving and allowed cars to use the Inlet lot when spaces became open. It worked. Complaints from that business led to coning...READ MORE

Sizing Up The Ongoing LCB Issues

Sizing Up The Ongoing LCB Issues Money is at the heart of the debate over the future of the Liquor Control Board for Worcester County (LCB), and that's how it should be. This is not a complicated issue, but there are a lot of interesting aspects to it and how much in funds the organization returns to the county is at the heart of the matter. Here's a few viewpoints on the ongoing debate: -- The fiscal numbers are fascinating. With more than $14 million in sales, the local LCB's profit for its...READ MORE

Friday, July 9--County, Assateague Ban Burns

BERLIN - The intense heat and dry conditions that have persisted over the region for weeks caused county and Assateague Island officials to issue bans on outdoor burning until further notice. With temperatures consistently in the mid- to upper 90s for much of June and early July thus far, coupled with near drought conditions across much of the lower Eastern Shore, the Worcester County Fire Marshal's Office on Wednesday issued a ban on all outdoor burning. The outdoor burning ban was issued after...READ MORE

Friday, July 9--Improved Berlin Plant To Feature Green Initiatives

SNOW HILL - Berlin's improved and expanded wastewater treatment plant will be as environmentally friendly as the town can make it, in accordance with the town's recent commitment to be as green as possible. 'Once it's completed, it will be state-of-the-art enhanced nutrient removal, which is the most advanced technology there is,' said Berlin Water Resources Director Jane Kreiter. The town will also move entirely to spray irrigation to dispose of the highly treated sewage from the...READ MORE

Friday, July 9--Leads Sought In Alleged Rape

WEST OCEAN CITY - The suspect in an alleged rape case in a field near a West Ocean City motel early Monday morning remains at large this week with few leads coming forward. Maryland State Police troopers responded to the Francis Scott Key Motel in West Ocean City for a reported rape. According to police reports, the 26-year-old victim told police sometime in the early morning hours on Monday she was raped by an unknown white male in a field near the Francis Scott Key Motel. Worcester County...READ MORE

Friday, July 9--Officials OK Federal Bond Program For Plant

SNOW HILL - A federal bond program will reduce interest payments on the Mystic Harbor wastewater treatment plant funding by 35 percent, at least as long as the program continues. Enterprise fund controller Jennifer Savage told the Worcester County Commissioners Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which is supplying loan and grant funding for the Mystic Harbor sewage plant replacement, approached the county last month and offered a chance to issue Build America bonds to...READ MORE

18 Seek County Commissioner Seats

SNOW HILL - Eighteen candidates filed to compete for the seven Worcester County Commissioner seats by the July 6 deadline. The most competition has appeared in District 1, with five candidates emerging to contest for Commissioner Bobby Cowger's seat. Democrat Jimmy Schoolfield is ensured of competing in the general election, but the other four District 1 candidates must jockey with each other in the September primary for the Republican nomination. Republicans Jerre Clauss, Merill W. Lockfaw,...READ MORE

City Hall Parking To Cost At Certain Times

OCEAN CITY •€' The town of Ocean City didn't take long to find a new place to charge for parking, and it didn't have to look far either. A week after a failed attempt to put parking meters on 146th Street after residents cried foul, Councilwoman Mary Knight pulled an idea out of her proverbial purse that could perhaps make up for the $30,000 in projected revenue that was put into this year's budget, and essentially lost with the pulled uptown parking meter plan. 'I think that we...READ MORE

Councilman Wants OC To Discuss Partying

OCEAN CITY •€' Councilman Joe Hall thinks Ocean City has a drinking problem, and although he's not really quite sure what the solution is, he is sure that he believes it is time for the local government to address it. Hall brought up what could be called a philosophical or even sociological debate at Tuesday's meeting, but he said he was more interested in trying to determine the town's costs of dealing with drunk people in hopes of perhaps helping the town's struggling bottom line. 'Public...READ MORE

LCB Defends Promotion, Questioned For Overstating Figures

OCEAN CITY •€' The Liquor Control Board for Worcester County (LCB) defended the liquor promotion that has sparked a new array of investigations and accusations against it in hopes of proving no law was broken. Unfortunately for the LCB, the supplier who sold it the liquor shot a gaping hole in that defense when it said the numbers the LCB quoted were 'severely overstated.' As per Article 2B of Maryland State Law, the LCB must offer all licensees the same pricing for alcohol and they can't...READ MORE

Scooter Helmet Citations Soar In OC

OCEAN CITY •€' The City Council is considering harsher penalties for violations of the town's helmet law for rental scooter riders and passengers, after a huge spike in citations in the first few days of July. After more than 57 citations were written for helmet-less riders this past week, including 33 on July 3 and 4 alone, Councilman Doug Cymek once again pleaded with colleagues to consider further amendments to the town's helmet law, which requires helmets on all town-owned...READ MORE

Candidates File To Contest Posts

BERLIN - The deadline to file for elected office came and went this week with few surprises, although some offices that haven't been challenged for several years will see races in November. When the filing deadline expired Tuesday, nearly every elected office on the local ballot had at least two candidates, save for a couple of Board of Education seats and a rather conspicuous County Commissioner seat. With a groundswell of momentum for change, even the seemingly apolitical elected positions on...READ MORE

Cash Restraints Limit Septic Upgrades

SNOW HILL - Just 10 septic systems in the Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Area will be upgraded to protect water quality in the next six months because of funding limitations. Despite a request for $1.4 million in money from the Bay Restoration Fund collected from septic system users, which would have covered 116 upgrades for the next two years, Worcester County was awarded only $113,500 for the first half of fiscal year 2011. 'That will get us started for the year,'...READ MORE

Central Committees Still Have Chance To Nominate Candidates

BERLIN - The field of candidates for the 2010 Worcester County commissioner races is not necessarily complete, despite the filing deadline passing. A rule allows a party's central committee to nominate a candidate after the deadline if there is no candidate from that party in a race. 'If there's no one from their party represented, they can nominate a person,' said Elections Board Supervisor Patti Jackson. The rule was used in 2006, Jackson said, when Kathy Phillips was nominated by the...READ MORE

County, Web Companies Plan To Settle Lawsuit

BERLIN - The lawsuit filed last year in U.S. District Court by the Worcester County Commissioners against a bevy of Internet-based travel booking companies, seeking what could amount to millions of dollars in alleged unpaid hotel room taxes, was dismissed last week as the two parties near a formal settlement of the case. In January 2009, the Worcester County Commissioners filed suit in U.S. District Court naming 14 individual plaintiffs, all Internet-based travel booking companies under...READ MORE

Feds Approve $8M For Dune Repairs

OCEAN CITY - On the heels of a $4 million commitment to the long-term future of the Ocean City beach replenishment program last week, the resort got another dose of good news this week when the Army Corps of Engineers awarded an $8 million contract to repair the network of dunes along the beach ravaged by a severe Nor'easter last fall. Late last month, the federal Army Corps of Engineers-Baltimore District awarded a nearly $8 million contract to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company of Oak Brook,...READ MORE

Limiting Runoff A Must For Improved Bay Water Quality

SNOW HILL - With a slight improvement seen in the Maryland Coastal Bays on the second annual coastal bays report card, bay protectors say that there are ways to improve the bays and reach a better grade. While the coastal bays are holding on, Maryland Coastal Bays Program (MCBP) Director Dave Wilson said this week work needs to be done to reduce the flow of excess nutrients and toxins into the coastal bays. A change that could make a major difference to the coastal bays' health is the...READ MORE

Mathias, James Face Challengers In Senate Race

BERLIN - After Tuesday's official filing deadline, the field is set for the District 38 State Senate race with a pair of favorites and a couple of dark horses set to vie for the seat vacated by retiring long-time Senator Lowell Stoltzfus. There were few surprises in the District 38 Senate race when the filing deadline expired on Tuesday with the two heavyweights, Delegate James Mathias (D-38B) and Republican challenger Michael James leading the field. While he didn't formally file until late...READ MORE

Route 90 Bridge Pile-Up Injures Eight

OCEAN CITY - A four-car pile-up on the Route 90 bridge on Monday sent eight people to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries and snarled mid-day traffic along one of the main access points to the resort. Around 10:15 a.m. on Monday, a Toyota 4runner heading west failed to reduce its speed enough to avoid a collision with a Lexus RX300, which had stopped suddenly because of traffic conditions on the span. The resulting collision forced the Lexus across the centerline and into the...READ MORE

Seven Candidates Seek District Delegate Seats

BERLIN - The field for the District 38-B House of Delegates race got much more crowded as the filing deadline came and went this week with a total of seven candidates, including three Democrats and four Republicans, vying for two seats. The seven-candidate field features several familiar faces including a long-time incumbent, two current Worcester County mayors and the chairwoman of Worcester's Republican Central Committee, along with a couple of other challengers. The diverse field includes...READ MORE

Teen Reportedly Okay After PWC Accident

OCEAN CITY - A 17-year-old girl was seriously injured after getting struck by a personal watercraft in the Sinepuxent Bay on Wednesday evening. According to a Coast Guard press release, the victim had been riding on a personal watercraft (PWC) with two other individuals in the Sinepuxent Bay behind Ocean City when she reportedly fell off. The victim was then struck by another PWC following closely behind, causing neck and head injuries. U.S. Coast Guard Station Ocean City dispatched a 21-foot...READ MORE

Upholding Jonah's Tradition A Top Priority For Owners

T.K. Dickerson Staff Writer OCEAN CITY - Whether you are looking for a trip through maritime history, or simply a meal to please everyone's palettes, you need look no further than Jonah and The Whale, an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet on 26th Street in Ocean City. The interior of the restaurant, with its wooden tables, enormous whalebones and murals of stormy seas, is reminiscent of an '18th century whaling tavern,' says co-owner Chris Ruppert. He and his partner, Steve Osbourn, took over...READ MORE

Child Abuse Alleged

Child Abuse Alleged OCEAN PINES - A Bishopville woman was arrested on child abuse and assault charges last week after she allegedly abused a child in her care in an Ocean Pines residence. Last Friday, Ocean Pines Police charged Carleigh Renee Kufchak, 19, of Bishopville, with first- and second-degree child abuse, second-degree assault and reckless endangerment after an investigation revealed a child she had been caring for in an Ocean Pines residence had been abused. Kufchak was taken before a...READ MORE

Fatherhood Adventures

A new stage has rocked my house of late. My 2-year-old, Beckett, has developed an unfortunate aversion to going to bed. This is a big deal for us because this has never been an issue before. For about the last year, Beckett has let us know when he was ready for bed by often articulating it clearly. At an early age, he seemed to share his parents' love of and need for sleep. That was until last Sunday. For some reason, he wanted no part of his afternoon nap that day, despite a few minutes prior...READ MORE

What's Your Sign

ARIES (March 21 to April 19): A perplexing situation needs to be dealt with in order to avoid problems later on. Rely on both your own sense of what's right and the advice of someone you trust to help work it out. TAURUS (April 20 to May 20): Let your sharp Taurean business insight guide you when considering a "dream deal." Without all the facts, it could turn into a nightmare. Remember: Investigate before investing. GEMINI (May 21 to June 20): Sharing so much of your time and your...READ MORE

Things I Like

Conversations with my toddler A grill full of burgers, hot dogs People who make me laugh A soft towel fresh from the dryer Peaceful days with no drama St. Louis Avenue in Ocean City My lab's love of the pool When spare change comes in handy E-Z Pass on road trips New flip flops that feel old Checking into a hotel  ...READ MORE

People in Society

Snapshots of those lending a helping hand throughout the community ...READ MORE

Dining Guide

Ocean City- Berlin Pines Sports bar & grille Old Bridge Road (Route 707), Ocean City , 410-213-9507 may have changed hands, but we are still the same locally known Sports Bar in West Ocean City, and yes we are open everyday 11a.m.-2 a.m. Everything on our menu is made to order from our Homemade Soups, Salads,  new and improved Crab Dip, Mussels, the only place that serves the 'Full Wing' Quesadillas, 1/2 lb. Burgers, Crab cakes, Fresh cut Steaks, Fresh Seafood, you name it, you will...READ MORE