Articles

Passion, Consistency Key At The Place For Ribs

OCEAN CITY – J/R’s Ribs is celebrating its 32nd year anniversary as well as the return of its creator, Jack Hubberman, to the restaurant’s uptown Ocean City location. In 1980, Hubberman opened J/R’s Ribs on 62nd Street and four years later opened its second location on 131st Street. “After a lot of research and a strong feeling that rib restaurants are needed in Ocean City, we decided to open,” Hubberman said. “We were the first. None of the restaurants...READ MORE

‘Buy Local’ Challenge Aims To Educate

BERLIN -- Members of the community from several walks of life will be coming together next month in an attempt to take on the “Buy Local” challenge. For the month of August, they encourage everyone to try to buy fresh food from local farmers and growers. “We’re very passionate about it,” said Bryan Brushmiller of Burley Oak Brewery, which is expected to be open within the next couple weeks. Brushmiller is partnering with many residents of Worcester County for the...READ MORE

Worcester Summer Academy Focuses On Rockets

BERLIN -- Students in Worcester County are being encouraged to aim for the stars this summer, both figuratively and literally. The county’s Board of Education is partnering with NASA once again this year to offer a month-long Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) summer academy focused on students, grades 6-8. The camp culminates with a large final project, which involves the designing, construction and testing of a scientific device. “They focused on rocketry this...READ MORE

New Worship Center Plans Move Forward

SNOW HILL -- Plans for a new Ocean City Worship Center received a favorable recommendation last Thursday from the Worcester County Planning Commission. Though unable to convince the commission that a place of worship shouldn’t have to meet commercial standards, representatives from the center did manage to get a number of restrictions waived. Attorney Mark Cropper appeared in front of the board to speak for the center. He argued that the new commercial regulations in place should not apply...READ MORE

Berlin Man Faces Life In Prison After Plea

SNOW HILL -- A Berlin man, shot by Ocean City police last December during a stabbing attack on his estranged wife, faces life in prison today after essentially admitting to attempted first-degree murder during a hearing last week. Marvin Jefferson Mitchell, 28, appeared in court last Friday for a motions hearing in advance of his trial on first-degree murder and other charges related to the Dec. 20 incident. During the motions hearing, Mitchell entered an Alford Plea to attempted first-degree...READ MORE

Amped Riders Camp Starts Sunday

BERLIN -- When Garry Moore lost half of his foot during a marine construction accident in 1997, he feared that he would never be able to skate again. After two years of trying to skate with a rolled up sneaker, Moore made a bold decision. He would undergo a trans-tibial (below the knee) amputation and wear a prosthetic leg for the rest of his life. "Part of the reason for going higher with the amputation was I knew I would be able to get a prosthesis that had a functioning ankle that...READ MORE

Del. Building Fraud Nets 4 Years

BERLIN- Following a conviction on fraud charges in June, a local man was sentenced last week to four years in jail and ordered to pay over $100,000 in restitution to a South Bethany family in connection with a project to renovate and expand their home. Theodore Barrett, Jr., 39, of Selbyville was sentenced in Delaware Superior Court last Friday to four years in jail for convictions on several charges after he first attracted a South Bethany couple by taking them on a phony tour of a lavish home...READ MORE

Fenwick Public Safety Building Approved

FENWICK -- Fenwick Island officials last week approved the construction of a new public safety building after months of debate about the size of the structure. The new 3,500-square foot facility will be built on a town-owned property adjacent to the public works garage. The town has contracted with Bunting Construction to build the facility, which came in with a price tag of just over $603,000. The building will include a reception area, office space and lockers for the town’s police...READ MORE

Tenants’ Rights Issue Still Murky

SALISBURY -- With several months of work already invested into the Tenants’ Rights Addendum, disagreement over details amongst the Salisbury City Council and scheduling issues could hold up publication of the ordinance for several weeks. “I’d like to get along as far as we can,” said Council President Terry Cohen at a work session last Thursday. Tenants’ rights have been a hot-button issue in Salisbury for more than a decade. The addendum is meant to provide...READ MORE

Salisbury Council Will Continue With Pledge

SALISBURY – The Salisbury City Council amended its own Regulations and Rules of Order this week regarding reciting the Lord’s Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance. The amendment scratches out the language “and the Lord’s Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance has been recited” following the meeting being called to order and prior to the adoption of the agenda. The council has compromised on the amendment through the suggestion of inviting ministries of different faiths to...READ MORE

Berlin Youth Program Off To Strong Start

BERLIN -- Representatives from Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services (WYFCS) gave the Berlin Mayor and Council an update on the town’s new summer camp initiative Monday night. According to WYFCS, the program started strong and is quickly gaining even more momentum. “We have been doing a lot,” said Stefanie Gordy, director of Development and Donor Relations at WYFCS. Gordy has taken the helm on the agency’s summer camp. The idea to have WYFCS, a 36-year-old agency...READ MORE

Countdown On In Ocean City For Dew Tour

OCEAN CITY – With the Dew Tour less than a week away, the town is in preparation mode for the event, while organizers announce the headliner for the free concert on the beach next Saturday night. The Pantech Open, the first stop of four stops of the 2011 Dew Tour, opens in Ocean City this Thursday with qualifying competitions. The event runs through Sunday, July 24. Hip Hop artist Kid Cudi will perform on the beach during the Dew Tour’s free concert on Saturday night. His first album...READ MORE

Boardwalk Bids Reveal Savings

OCEAN CITY – Bids to reconstruct phase one and supply the lumber for the reconstruction of the Boardwalk came in below estimates this week. “Preliminary results are bids were significantly less than the estimate,” City Engineer Terry McGean told the Mayor and Council Tuesday. According to McGean, the budget for the construction of the new project is $7 million. The budget for phase one, which includes demolition, carpentry on the north and south end and electrical, is $3.3...READ MORE

Major Shipwreck Survey Off Coast Underway

OCEAN CITY -- A major effort is underway to identify and catalogue thousands of vessels shipwrecked off the U.S. coastline decades ago, including a vast area off Maryland’s coast, to determine which pose significant threats of breaking apart. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) this summer is undertaking an ambitious project to identify and catalogue as many as 30,000 vessels shipwrecked off the nation’s coast, many of which were sunk by German U-boats during...READ MORE

New OP Polling Site On Table

OCEAN PINES -- The polling location in Ocean Pines for next year’s Presidential Election has likely found a new location, though not in a different district as some feared. The Worcester County Board of Elections confirmed this week that the agency is considering moving the polling location from the Ocean Pines Fire Station to the nearby country club. However, the club might go through renovations in the near future, so nothing is set in stone as of yet. “That [the move] is pending...READ MORE

County, Teacher Settle Civil Suit

BERLIN -- A civil suit filed in 2009 by a former Ocean City Elementary School teacher against the Board of Education, the principal and vice principal, alleging a pattern of discrimination and retaliation that ultimately led to her termination, was formally dismissed this week after the parties reached an undisclosed settlement in the case. In July 2009, former Ocean City Elementary School (OCES) teacher Lindsay Greenan filed suit in U.S. District Court against the Worcester County Board of...READ MORE

Salisbury Drops Proposed Towing Changes

SALISBURY -- The Salisbury City Council scraped proposed changes to police towing fees last Thursday after learning some of the alterations would technically be illegal. “This should be allowed to die and then start over again,” said Councilwoman Laura Mitchell of the towing ordinance. Richard Parsons, owner of 56th St. Towing, agreed. “It’s against free enterprise,” he said of the current plan. Parsons felt that the direction the council was headed with...READ MORE

Panel Rejects Sifrit’s Latest Appeal

OCEAN CITY -- Convicted killer Benjamin Sifrit, who, along with his wife Erika, brutally murdered and dismembered a Virginia couple vacationing in Ocean City in 2002, had his latest bid for a new trial rejected last week. After exhausting an initial appeal process based on the claim his defense counsel was ineffective during his 2003 trial, Benjamin Sifrit embarked on a different tack in an attempt to get his conviction reversed and gain a new trial when he filed a petition in the Maryland Court...READ MORE

Surf Angler Hooks Unique Find

FENWICK -- A surf angler enjoying a late afternoon on the beach just north of Fenwick Island last Friday made a grim discovery when he reeled in a large clump of hair, sunglasses and some jewelry. The surf fisherman was on the beach just north of Fenwick around 4 p.m. last Friday when his line became entangled with debris. The 67-year-old surf angler from Graysonville reeled in his tackle and inspected more closely the items that turned out to be a quantity of hair about the size of one’s...READ MORE

Offshore Wind Farm Area Cut In Half By Feds

OCEAN CITY -- A federal report released outlining the future of offshore wind farms off the mid-Atlantic slashed the original area off the coast by half, citing concerns about the impact on shipping traffic, but the jury is still out on what the reduction might mean for Maryland’s project. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), an arm of the Department of the Interior charged with identifying and leasing areas off the mid-Atlantic coast for the...READ MORE