Articles

NEW FOR THURSDAY: Proposed Performing Arts Center’s Impact On Existing Conventions Weighed

OCEAN CITY -- The planned performing arts center addition to the Roland E. Powell Convention Center has some members of the business community concerned it could have an unfavorable impact if existing bookings decide to go elsewhere. Last weekend the first of two Reach The Beach cheerleading conventions was held at the convention center, and several hotel companies confirmed this week the future of the event in Ocean City is mired in uncertainty due to questions about the ultimate floor space...READ MORE

NEW FOR THURSDAY: Union Deals Reached Between Ocean City, Employees; Details Unclear Until Ratification

OCEAN CITY -- While all sides report tentative employee contract agreements are in place, union officials as well as Ocean City representatives were mum this week on the specifics. Negotiations over union contracts between the city and the Ocean City Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 10 and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Local 4269 have been ongoing and last week deals were reportedly reached. However, before any details can be shared, memberships of the respective...READ MORE

NEW FOR WEDNESDAY: Local Indicted On Manslaughter Charge In Friend’s Death

OCEAN CITY -- A West Ocean City man, arrested on manslaughter and assault charges in late January, was formally indicted this week and is on track for an early June trial. Around 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 26, Ocean City police and paramedics responded to the area of Somerset Street in reference to a male individual who was found unconscious on the street outside the Harbor Inn bar. Police and EMS arrived at the scene and located an unresponsive male. The male individual was taken to AGH where he was...READ MORE

NEW FOR WEDNESDAY: Air Show Will Go On Even Without Blue Angels, Military Teams, Promoter Reports

OCEAN CITY – The organizer of the OC Air Show assured the Mayor and Council this week the show will go on in June, despite the possible grounding of headlining military acts, such as the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, due to the looming possibility of sequestration. The Blue Angels are scheduled to make their inaugural appearance in Ocean City as they headline this year’s OC Air Show on June 8-9. This week Bryan Lilley of Ocean City Air Show LLC came before the Mayor and City Council to...READ MORE

NEW FOR TUESDAY: Berlin Approves New Site For Wind Turbine

BERLIN -- The historic town’s skyline is about to look a little eco-friendlier with the town’s first wind turbine approved for installation on Old Ocean City Boulevard. Until Monday, the fate of a proposed 85-foot, 50-killowatt turbine had been up in the air since creator and DDU Magnetics President Doug Richards offered to install his new design in Berlin for a severely reduced cost. The town would get the turbine for a fraction of its actual value because it would function as a...READ MORE

NEW FOR FRIDAY: Feds Back Off Drastic Rule Change For Sharks

OCEAN CITY -- The local fishing community breathed a collective sigh of relief this week when federal fisheries officials decided to drop a rather drastic rule change for sharks that could have effectively shut down a significant component of Ocean City’s multi-million dollar fishing industry. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in November published a rather dubious “Amendment 5” to the Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan that would, if adopted, create a...READ MORE

SU Recycling Program Surpasses 50% Milestone

SALISBURY -- When Salisbury University’s (SU) recycling program began in 1990, few could have predicted how much it would grow. Some 23 years ago, tin and aluminum cans from the campus’ dining hall were set aside from the rest of the University’s waste and transported to recycling centers instead of landfills. Today, SU recycles everything from computers to cooking grease. Recently, the University marked a milestone in its recycling program. Last year was the first that more...READ MORE

Ashley, Former Councilman Want Union Contract Talks In Public

OCEAN CITY -- With contract negotiations underway between the town of Ocean City and its police officers, firefighters and paramedics, a former councilman and his colleague still at the dais made a pitch this week for the salary talks to take place under the public’s eye, but it appears to be too late in the game to make the change at this point. Ocean City is currently negotiating a new contract with the police union, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 10, and the chapter of the...READ MORE

Wicomico Hears Pitch For Chesapeake Coalition

SALISBURY -- With counties across the lower shore including Worcester and Wicomico wrestling with state-mandated watershed improvement plans (WIP) and septic system regulations, Wicomico County officials this week heard from a coalition calling for a broader approach to cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay. On Tuesday, the Wicomico County Council heard a presentation from the Clean Chesapeake Coalition (CCC), a growing collection of Maryland counties whose goal is to switch the emphasis of saving the...READ MORE

Watershed Plan Costs Staggering

SALISBURY -- Costs for developing a Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) in Salisbury seem intimidating right now, admitted Wicomico County Transportation and Long Range Planner Keith Hall, but he told the City Council that the current estimated $225 million cost will likely be reduced substantially in the years before the WIP is required to meet final goals in 2025. “I understand the price tag is daunting,” he said. “It’s something that we hope through various creative...READ MORE

University Aims To Save Delmarva Public Radio

SALISBURY -- Salisbury University’s president sent a Valentine last week to Delmarva Public Radio (DPR) and its listeners -- a proposal which, if approved by the Salisbury University Foundation Board, will provide a new home and continued operations of its two stations, WSCL (89.5) and WSDL (90.7) FM. The university proposes to relocate DPR to space near the East Campus Complex, which houses other outreach facilities such as the Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture and the...READ MORE

Public Comment Changes Begin In Ocean City

OCEAN CITY -- After the first Ocean City Mayor and Council meeting with the new public comment and consent agenda policies in place, the “jury is still out” on the new format. The Ocean City Mayor and Council met on Tuesday night in the first meeting since the new public comment period and consent agenda format were approved by the elected officials. Earlier this month, the council approved a couple of measures adjusting the format for the bi-weekly regular meetings, including moving...READ MORE

OC Ice Cream Truck Rules Tweaked

OCEAN CITY -- Ocean City officials this week passed an ordinance limiting the areas of operation for vehicle vendors, such as ice cream trucks, in the interest of protecting established downtown businesses. On Tuesday, the Mayor and Council approved an amendment to an ordinance limiting the operation of vehicle vendors like ice cream trucks, for example, in the downtown area. The existing ordinance prohibited the operation of the ice cream truck franchisee to south of 18th Street, but the...READ MORE

OC, Cat Groups Plan Partnership

OCEAN CITY -- Ocean City officials this week agreed to provide support for a coalition of private sector groups in the interest of better controlling a growing stray or feral cat crisis in the resort. On Tuesday, the Ocean City Mayor and Council agreed to support the Community Cats Coalition and its partners, Delmarva Cat Connection and Town Cats, in an effort to get a handle on the growing stray or feral cat problem in the resort. Community Cats Coalition spokeswoman Susan Coleman told the...READ MORE

Critical Areas Ordinance Sent Back To Planners

SALISBURY -- The Salisbury City Council sent the city’s Critical Areas Ordinance back down to the Wicomico County Planning and Zoning Commission this week. While the commission had attached a favorable recommendation to the ordinance, members of the council pointed out that the commissioners never saw a final product on the document and had made their ruling based on the bullet points. The city’s Critical Areas Ordinance is updated every four to six years, according to County...READ MORE

OC Businesses Earn Nominations For Statewide Awards

OCEAN CITY -- The Restaurant Association of Maryland (RAM) last week announced the nominees for its annual awards, and the resort area is again well represented with a local establishment nominated in nearly every major category. RAM will hold its 59th Annual “Stars of the Industry” gala in April, showcasing some of the top restaurants in the state in several categories. Among those nominated were de Lazy Lizard owner Wayne Odachowski and Fish Tales owner Shawn Harman for...READ MORE

Mixed Outcomes For Local Operators Looking To Expand Liquor Businesses

SNOW HILL -- Applicants seeking expanded licenses from the Board of License Commissioners (BLC) Wednesday met with mixed results, with one application approved, one denied and a third compromised. The first applicant seeking a major change to a local business was Scott Heise, owner of Pizza Tugos in West Ocean City. His application asked the board for permission to install arcade games on the second floor of his restaurant. “What we’d like to do is take the second floor area and make...READ MORE

Mathias Seeks Task Force To Study Later School Start

OCEAN CITY -- Responding to a call to revisit the issue, Senator Jim Mathias (D-38) last week introduced legislation in the General Assembly that would create a task force to study the possibility of pushing the start date for public schools across Maryland back until after Labor Day. For decades, the public school year in Maryland always started after Labor Day, the symbolic end to the summer season, but in recent years, most jurisdictions have moved the start date earlier and earlier, into...READ MORE

School Board Proposes Pay Raises For All Employees

SNOW HILL -- The Worcester County Board of Education is proposing a FY2014 operating budget that would include salary increases for all employees, funding to replace grant money that supports After School Programs and additional funding for technology. The proposed budget includes a step increase for all eligible employees as well as a 1-percent Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for all employees to “begin restoring stagnant wages,” according to a memo from Superintendent of Schools...READ MORE

Snow Hill’s Opera House Renovation Eyed

SNOW HILL -- The town of Snow Hill is “coming back alive” in terms of economic and community development, according to Mayor Charlie Dorman. Meeting with the Worcester County Commission Tuesday, Dorman requested for fiscal year 2014 $700,000 in grant funding, an increase of $300,000 from last year with $200,000 of that earmarked for Old Opera House renovations. “I want to say the town of Snow Hill is coming back. It’s a wonderful place to live,” he said. “The...READ MORE

Suggestions For Beating Those Winter Blues

BERLIN -- For those feeling the “Winter Blues” this season, riding out the gloom until spring isn’t the only option, according to Dr. Jennifer Leggour, Clinical Director at Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services (WYFCS). Unlike the prolonged, clinical Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), winter blues is an umbrella term used to describe feelings of sadness, lethargy and fatigue commonly experienced in the period after the clocks fall back but before they spring...READ MORE

Indian Sculpture’s Future In Ocean City Unclear

OCEAN CITY -- With restoration funding uncertain, the future of the landmark Indian sculpture at the Inlet in Ocean City is in doubt this week as the weather has taken its toll on it over the last three decades. Artist Peter Toth presented the Indian sculpture perched near the entrance to the Inlet parking lot to the town of Ocean City and the people of Maryland in 1976 as part of his larger plan to create a similar piece for every state in the U.S. as part of the nation’s bicentennial...READ MORE

Zoo Announces Baby Monkey Born

SALISBURY -- On Sunday, Jan. 20, the Salisbury Zoo’s Titi monkey pair gave birth to their first baby. At this point, the sex of the baby is not known. The mother has had experience in raising offspring while the male who is 3 years old has never produced until now. The father has had experience with a family group of Titis, which has given him the tools to be a good father, zoo officials report. The baby is being well taken care of by mom and dad. Titi monkeys are from South America in the...READ MORE

Teachers Union Treasurer Sentenced In Theft Scheme

SNOW HILL -- An Ocean Pines woman was sentenced this week to five years in jail, all but two suspended, and ordered to pay restitution after absconding with well over $400,000 from the Worcester County’s Teachers Association (WCTA). In August, Denise Inez Owens, 58, was charged with two counts of theft over $500 and one count of theft scheme over $500 for alleging bilking the WCTA out of $433,784 while acting in the capacity of the association’s treasurer. In February 2012, Worcester...READ MORE

School Safety Plan Includes 13 Resource Officers

SNOW HILL -- A new Safety Action Plan for Worcester County’s public schools, including armed security officers in schools, was recommended by the Board of Education’s Safety Committee and officially accepted by the board this week. While the approval was swift, Board of Education officials stressed that this does not mean that School Resource Officers (SROs) will be patrolling schools immediately, only that the board agrees with the recommendations made by its Security Committee and...READ MORE

Komen Race For The Cure Eyes April Return To OC

OCEAN CITY -- The boards in Ocean City will once again be flooded with pink this April when the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure returns to the resort town for its second year. Despite dismal weather conditions, the debut Race for the Cure in Ocean City last year was a big win for both the town and the fight against breast cancer, according to Race and Development Coordinator Margo Mandes. “In total we raised just over $351,000,” she said during a pre-race press conference last...READ MORE

Habitat Rehabilitates Mobile Home For Local Family

BERLIN -- Habitat for Humanity Worcester County, Inc. (HFHWC) announced this week the recent completion of a rehabilitation project for a local family in need. In partnership with Habitat for Humanity International, HFHWC has embraced moving towards rehabilitation projects and neighborhood revitalization efforts in order to increase assistance to those in need in our local community. “With this project, we were able to facilitate a family’s dire situation, because of a donation...READ MORE

George’s Bloody Mary On Regional Growth Plan

BERLIN -- A brunch staple is the Bloody Mary, which is known to be a hangover cure and a preppy drink that gives people an excuse to drink during the day.  Many restaurants offer their own variations on the Bloody Mary theme, though most use some combination of the drink’s traditional ingredients: vodka, tomato juice, lemon or lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, horseradish, salt, pepper and a rib of celery for garnish. The tangy vodka cocktail is infinitely customizable...READ MORE

Four Arrested In Worcester Now Headed To Federal Court

BERLIN -- Four men arrested and charged initially with drug distribution and weapons charges in Worcester County last year, including a Berlin man, had their cases forwarded to U.S. District Court this month. The U.S. Attorney’s Office last Wednesday announced four suspects arrested on drug and gun charges in Worcester last year have had federal criminal charges filed against them, essentially moving their cases from Worcester County Circuit Court to U.S. District Court. The first criminal...READ MORE

Drainage Work Underway Near River Run Course

OCEAN PINES -- Worcester County officials this week broke ground on an ambitious drainage project along the Beauchamp Rd. corridor near the River Run Golf Course after a generous easement donation by the property owner. On Tuesday afternoon, a handful of Worcester County Commissioners and staff along with private-sector partners broke ground on a project aimed at relieving a chronic drainage project along the Beauchamp Rd. corridor. The project includes the installation of a 24-inch stormwater...READ MORE

Decatur Seniors Chosen For Unique Business Internship

BERLIN -- Stephen Decatur High School seniors Tyler Kalista and Kaitlyn Nibblett will be the first students to participate in a new internship opportunity with Delaware Business Systems (DBS), located in Bishopville. A business that supports the hospitality industry, DBS has many clients in Ocean City as well as in Delaware beach communities. The students were selected to participate in the internship through an application and interview process. Chad Hastings, DBS branch manager of the...READ MORE

D3Corp Aims To Help Get Well Gabby Foundation

OCEAN CITY – D3Corp, an Ocean City-based web development, e-marketing and print firm, will take part in the Get Well Gabby Foundation’s Crazy Hat Day on Friday, Feb. 22. Crazy Hat Day is an annual fundraiser that supports the Get Well Gabby Foundation, which was created locally to support children with cancer. D3Corp employees have been encouraged to create and wear a crazy hat to work on Friday. Only employees who donate $1 to the Get Well Gabby Foundation will be permitted to wear...READ MORE

County Approves New ‘Flagship’ Liquor Outlet On Route 50

SNOW HILL -- The county-run Department of Liquor Control (DLC) asked and received approval for three major changes to their operation including the closing of one or more stores in favor of a new “flagship” location, an increased discount on liquor sales to licensees and a new logo and name for all stores. All of the changes are aimed at making the DLC a better steward to the licensees it supplies and a more convenient option for private customers, according to County Chief Finance...READ MORE

Commissioners Vote 5-2 Against Subdivision Change

SNOW HILL -- In what some are calling smart environmental stewardship and others labeling an attack on the nation’s Constitution, the Worcester County Commissioners voted 5-2 not to change the county’s definition of a minor subdivision from five to seven lots. Proponents of the change in definition, which would be covered by County Bill 12-6, asserted that the state and Worcester are strangling landowners who want to subdivide their land, especially farmers. “How have we gotten...READ MORE

Beer, Bean Can Assault Suspect In Hot Water Again

OCEAN CITY -- An Ocean City woman, arrested twice within a few hours two weeks ago on assault charges after first hitting her fiancé with a can of beer and later attacking him with a can of beans, was up to her old tricks this week after repeatedly slapping the victim for taking the last can of cold beer before jumping off a second-floor balcony to elude police. On Feb. 5, Kathleen Theresa Machen, 47, was arrested on second-degree assault charges after allegedly attacking her fiancé by...READ MORE

Annual Sportsmanship Ceremony Honors Volunteers, Youth Athletes

OCEAN CITY – Among those honored at the Ocean City Recreation & Parks Department’s 2nd Annual Sportsmanship Ceremony at Northside Park last week was Carolee Humphreys, who was selected as the Ocean City Recreation Boosters’ Volunteer of the Year for 2012. Humphreys currently serves as vice president of the OC Recreation Boosters and has been a member for more than 10 years. During Humphreys’ time with the Boosters she has worked countless hours, in a variety of...READ MORE