Articles

Tour Bus Accident Sends 14 To Hospital

WHALEYVILLE -- A late afternoon crash involving a tour bus and a passenger vehicle near Whaleyville sent 14 people to Atlantic General Hospital with injuries varying in severity. Around 4:05 p.m. on Tuesday, Maryland State Police troopers responded to a reported motor vehicle collision with multiple injuries on Route 610 just east of Peerless Rd. in Whaleyville. The investigation revealed the two vehicles involved, a 2004 Honda Civic and a 1998 Blue Bird tour bus, were both traveling eastbound...READ MORE

Salisbury Rental Changes On Life Support

SALISBURY -- Everyone on the Salisbury City Council agreed Tuesday that a new angle is needed to energize the lagging discussion over rental inspections, but the jury was out on what that spark should be. “We’re having the same discussion, as people have noted, we’ve had before,” said Mayor Jim Ireton. In an uncharacteristic moment of agreement, the often at odds council majority and minority both echoed Ireton’s thoughts. “It defies logic that we can’t...READ MORE

OP Sewer Plant Expansion Study OK’d

SNOW HILL -- Budget season may be months away, but the Worcester County Commissioners started their new year by immediately looking for ways to trim costs for a study reviewing possible changes to the Ocean Pines Operations Facility. One commissioner, however, felt her colleagues were going overboard. “It’s not a zillion dollars … we’re not going into debt for it,” said Commissioner Judy Boggs, who represents the Ocean Pines district. The proposed $6,000 study would...READ MORE

OCPD’s Three-Captain Structure Approved

OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) named this week a new captain following a change in the department’s structure, despite two councilmen’s concerns on how it will affect the department’s budget in the future. The OCPD announced that Lt. Gregory Guiton will be filling the new captain’s position. “He has been instrumental in working with the chief of police and hoping to update and promote professional standards throughout the organization...READ MORE

Three-Choice School Board Referendum Supported

SALISBURY -- It’s likely that the voters in Wicomico County will play a big part in determining what changes, if any, will impact the Board of Education  in the future. The Wicomico County Council voted Tuesday to send a letter to state delegates asking to have a three-choice, non-binding referendum placed on next year’s ballot. “We had delegates that said they would introduce it,” said Council President Joe Holloway. The choices would be to either convert the school...READ MORE

No Sanctions Against Hudson Farm For Information Leak

BERLIN -- The ongoing legal battle between a Berlin farm family and an environmental watchdog group over alleged pollution violations continued this week with a federal judge ruling the defendant’s leak of confidential information regarding settlement negotiations did not warrant sanctions. In March 2010, the Waterkeeper Alliance, along with the Assateague Coastkeeper and the Assateague Coastal Trust, filed suit in U.S. District Court against Perdue and Berlin’s Hudson Farm, a...READ MORE

Beach Assault Plea Nets 6-Year Sentence

SNOW HILL -- A West Virginia man arrested on attempted first-degree rape and other serious charges in June after attacking a woman on a north-end Ocean City beach early in the morning pleaded guilty this week in Worcester County Circuit Court to first-degree assault and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, all but six of which were suspended. Chance Daniel Bucy, 21, of Falling Waters, W.Va., appeared in Worcester County Circuit Court on Wednesday to face trial on numerous charges including...READ MORE

Worcester Eyes Nuisance Properties

SNOW HILL -- A crackdown on “nuisance” properties in Worcester County got off to an agreeable start Tuesday. Resident Michael Ward appeared before the Worcester County Commissioners for a hearing regarding a property located in Snow Hill recently served with a nuisance abatement order. The order set Ward on a tight timetable for addressing “three ramshackled and/or decaying structures which have been determined to be prejudicial to property values in the county.” The...READ MORE

Salisbury City Clerk To Retire After 17 Years In Position

SALISBURY -- After almost two decades of service, Salisbury City Clerk Brenda Colegrove has decided to retire. The announcement, delivered Tuesday, came as a shock to the Salisbury City Council. “We were floored last night,” said Councilwoman Laura Mitchell the day after the announcement. While it may have been a surprise, Colegrove noted that the retirement has been a long time coming and is not motivated by anything other than a desire to relax. “My original intent was to...READ MORE

Lawsuit Filed To Protect Tuna

OCEAN CITY -- Nearly one year to the day after threatening to sue federal fisheries officials over a failed threatened or endangered listing for Atlantic Bluefin tuna, an environmental watchdog agency last week filed suit in U.S. District Court in an attempt to reverse a rule change expanding the fishery. In late December 2010, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced an endangered or threatened listing for Atlantic Bluefin tuna was not warranted based on the best available...READ MORE

Legislators Blast DNR For Rockfish Decision

BERLIN -- A delegation of Eastern Shore lawmakers last month lashed out at state fisheries officials over a new regulation to hold back 5 percent of the Maryland’s annual striped bass quota in the wake of last year’s illegal taking of tons of rockfish around the state. Last February, Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) confiscated 10 tons, or 26,000 pounds, of striped rockfish snagged in illegal gill nets in Maryland waters, prompting Department of Natural Resources (DNR)...READ MORE

OC’s Cigarette Initiative Looking To Grow

OCEAN CITY – A positive review of the town’s Cigarette Butt Beach Container initiative was presented this week. As Ocean City Surfrider Foundaion member Terry Steimer prepared for his report on the Cigarette Butt Beach Container initiative, he wheeled in a grocery cart of bags full of cigarette butts and placed it directly in front of the Mayor and City Council. Steimer’s report followed a discussion held last winter concerning smokers on the Boardwalk and the beach. The...READ MORE

Kratovil Now A District Court Judge

BERLIN -- Former U.S. Congressman Frank Kratovil, who served a single term representing Maryland’s First District, which includes the entire Eastern Shore, was appointed last week to a District Court judgeship in Queen Anne’s County. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley announced the appointment of Kratovil to fill the Queen Anne’s County District Court bench, a vacancy created by the retirement of the Honorable John T. Clark III. “I am honored to appoint Frank Kratovil to...READ MORE

How Does OC Police Handle Drug Money?

OCEAN CITY – Police Chief Bernadette DiPino summarized this week how the police department spends the “bad guys” money as she explained forfeiture fund accounts. “Basically, I have two accounts for the Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) that has money that were either seized from drug operations or were amounts of money that were abandoned or turned over to the police department by court order,” DiPino said. According to DiPino’s report, OCPDs Asset...READ MORE

Council Approves New Golf Marketing Partnership

OCEAN CITY – A golf marketing opportunity couldn’t be passed up this week as a new advertising method was approved and Pam’s Ocean City Golf Getaway is back in partnership with Ocean City. Tourism Director Deb Turk explained that Ocean City has a history of golf destination advertising with Bobby Vermillion’s Golfing the Mid-Atlantic cable show. Due to the town’s marketing strategies for golf transitioning over the years, a decision was made not to renew the annual...READ MORE

Convention Center Expansion Project Called ‘Smooth’

OCEAN CITY – The Dispatch stopped in at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center to catch up with officials on the building’s expansion project that is now well underway. Phase one of the project began last summer and is expected to be completed by October 2012. The phase will bring 32,000 square feet of new space, including a new lower exhibit hall of 14,218 square feet, a new bayfront ballroom addition of 12,663 square feet and the remainder of the renovation includes hallways,...READ MORE

Whale Protection Rules In Effect

OCEAN CITY -- With the appearance of whales feeding and frolicking off the coast of the resort last week, the Coast Guard this week is reminding large vessel operators that the Right Whale Ship Strike Reduction Rule is in effect from November to April, to protect endangered right whales in mid-Atlantic waters where they are known to migrate. Collisions with ships and interaction with fishing gear are a major cause of mortality and injury to the North Atlantic right whale. As the federal...READ MORE

Wicomico Undecided On Bennett Middle Support

SALISBURY -- With the need to weigh a potential property tax increase, debt increase and whether heavy renovations would accomplish the same goal as replacement, the Wicomico County Council chose to continue discussion on Bennett Middle School (BMS) at a work session later this month before making a final decision on a new school building. The council began its meeting by hearing a strategy on how it could fund replacing BMS if it so chose. During County Executive Rick Pollitt’s Capital...READ MORE

Salisbury University Named “Best Value”

SALISBURY -- For the fourth consecutive year, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine has named Salisbury University one of its Top 100 “Best Values in Public Colleges.” Featured in the February  edition, SU and the other campuses listed “deliver quality education at an affordable price,” according to the publication. Each institution is ranked based on several factors, including in-state and out-of-state costs. SU is number 71. More than 500 traditional...READ MORE

Bakery Enjoying ‘Cupcake Craze’

BERLIN -- Cupcakes aren’t the only thing blooming at Berlin’s newest bakery. Less than six months after opening, Cupcakes in Bloom has a growing fan base, eyes toward the future and has already been in the national spotlight on the popular Food Network show Cupcake Wars. Owner Shawnee Berzonski opened in July with a unique strategy for dealing with those first few crucial weeks for a new business -- she didn’t tell anyone she was open. “I didn’t tell anybody,”...READ MORE