Archives

Boardwalk Display Compromise Reached

OCEAN CITY - Five percent may not seem like much, but for some Boardwalk merchants, it was enough to make them feel like the town was not trying to restrict the way they do business. The City Council unanimously moved the new outdoor display guidelines through the first reading on Monday, but increased the amount of outdoor space that the merchants could display their products from 15-20 percent, and for at least the moment, stopped the public outcries from merchants who have been calling the...READ MORE

Grim Fiscal Projections Face County

SNOW HILL - Approximately $6.2 million needs to be cut from Worcester County budget requests to stay in line with projected revenue for fiscal year 2010 (FY10). After months of estimations and uncertainties, it was revealed this week that the county's revenue for FY10 is estimated to be about $175.6 million, while budget requests of $181.8 million have already been fielded. 'What we budgeted for '09 is not going to match what's coming in,' said Commissioner Bobby Cowger. Consequently, as a...READ MORE

Ocean City Council Begins Budget Review

OCEAN CITY - Before taxpayers get up in arms over the possibility of the city raising the tax rate for the FY 2010 budget, the numbers seem to show that City Manager Dennis Dare's hands were essentially tied and he was virtually left with no other choice. Dare presented the proposed budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, at Monday night's City Council meeting, and though the numbers look about as grim as the rest of the economic picture in this country, Dare said that the raise in...READ MORE

Officials Spar Over County Spending

SNOW HILL - Disagreements over spending sprang up this week among the County Commissioners during their meeting Tuesday, as the full scope of the county's fiscal problems began to be outlined in hard numbers. The first potential expenditure to sustain some heat, a grant match for Rural Legacy conservation funding, drew fire despite the strong local support for the program. For fiscal year 2009, Worcester County was awarded $500,000 in Rural Legacy funds for the Coastal Bays Rural Legacy Area and...READ MORE

Students Outline Need For Increased Recycling Efforts

SNOW HILL - A government project by three Pocomoke High School (PHS) students could turn into a county and regional effort to improve recycling efforts in the schools. Pocomoke High freshman Trey Lynch, junior Taylor Morrison and senior Jennifer Weaver presented the results of a public policy project on waste reduction to the County Commissioners Tuesday, complete with power point presentation, and garnered an enthusiastic response from the commissioners. Government teacher Meme Wells Suznavick...READ MORE

541 Turn Out For Annual Race Day

OCEAN CITY - The Ocean City Half-Marathon and 5K races went off without a hitch last weekend as April's dreary weather broke just long enough to provide picture-perfect weather for the two annual events. The event began as a full marathon five years ago, but was shortened to a half-marathon for the first time last year because of logistical problems related to ongoing work on the Route 50 Bridge. Work on the bridge continued this year, adding a subtle wrinkle to the half-marathon course again,...READ MORE

Carvers Flock To Ocean City

OCEAN CITY - The Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, Salisbury University, will once again host the 39th Annual Ward World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition and Art Festival at the Roland E Powell Convention Center from April 24-26. For visitors, the event offers an experience like no other. In addition to exhibitors selling their paintings, photography, ceramics, bronze sculptures, folk-art, home decorating items and jewelry, there are more than 1,500 bird carvings, many of which are carved by...READ MORE

Convicted Killer Seeking New Trial

OCEAN CITY - Convicted killer Benjamin Sifrit, who along with his wife Erika, brutally murdered and dismembered a Virginia couple vacationing in Ocean City on Memorial Day weekend in 2002, this week renewed his bid for a new trial, alleging prosecutors used inconsistent theories of the crimes in the separate trials of he and his wife. After exhausting an appeal process based on the claim his defense counsel was ineffective during his 2003 trial, Benjamin Sifrit has embarked on a different tack...READ MORE

County Opts Against Mailing Rezoning Information To Non-Residents

SNOW HILL - Elected officials pushed for another delay in considering the draft comprehensive rezoning and revamped subdivision regulations on Tuesday, citing the need to notify out-of-county property owners of potential changes.  If the hearings and approval had been put off, the three-year delay in the new rezoning and subdivision regulations would have stretched to at least three and a half years. The Worcester County Comprehensive Plan was approved in March 2006, but the rezoning and...READ MORE

Jury Rules Against Chamber

SNOW HILL - A Worcester County jury took a little under two hours last Friday to return a verdict in favor of a former Ocean City Chamber of Commerce executive director against his previous employer, but chamber officials this week said the door is still open for an appeal in the case. At the close of a three-day trial last Friday, a Worcester County Circuit Court jury awarded former Executive Director Daniel Barufaldi $60,000 in damages in the suit that alleged breach of contract and other...READ MORE

Kite World Centered On OC

OCEAN CITY - The resort will kick off the season early by painting the sky with very color under the sun at the Maryland International Kite Exposition (M.I.K.E.), set for April 24-26. The festival will be showcasing a spectacular cast of kite flyers from all over the country. Thousands of spectators will watch giant kites, as big as a city bus, fly high above the Ocean City skyline. In addition, stunt teams will perform amazing acrobatic maneuvers all in sync to the delight of the crowds. One...READ MORE

Last Suspect In Pocomoke Murder Case Sentenced

SNOW HILL - The third of three men charged in the murder of a local woman in Pocomoke in January 2007 was sentenced this month to 10 years in jail with five years suspended after entering an Alford plea to voluntary manslaughter in December for his part in the beating death. David K. Justice, 21, of Pocomoke, appeared in Circuit Court last Friday for a sentencing hearing after entering an Alford plea to voluntary manslaughter for his role in the beating death of Judy L. Wojcik in a rural area...READ MORE

OC Council OKs Wind Turbine Law

OCEAN CITY - Small energy turbines can officially start blowing in the wind after council passed their conditional usage through second reading and into town law on Monday. After months of talking, tweaking, and testimony, which even saw Mayor Rick Meehan veto the first draft of the ordinance, the City Council voted unanimously to allow small wind turbines in Ocean City as a conditional use in all zoning districts, including residential (R-1). In essence, after all the cautionary deliberation...READ MORE

Ocean City News In Brief

OCEAN CITY - In the brief this week, the cops union finalizes its gracious agreement with the town, and a new advertising medium 'makes nice' with the Mayor and Council. FOP Signs Off On 'Partnership of Trust' Ocean City's Fraternal Order of Police made it official this week, signing an agreement to forgo three of the biggest ticket items in their collective bargaining agreement and in the process saved the town almost $335,000. At the request of the town's elected officials and City Manager...READ MORE

OCPD First In State To ID Suspect With Palm Print

OCEAN CITY - Ocean City Police recorded a milestone recently, becoming the first law enforcement agency in the state to use the new automated palm print database to identify a suspect in an unsolved burglary in the resort last October. On Oct. 16, 2008, Ocean City Police responded to the Coastal Inn on 26th Street for a reported commercial burglary. Once on the scene, OCPD detectives began to interview victims and determine what had been reported stolen. OCPD Forensic Services Unit Sgt. Mark...READ MORE

School Board Hears Potential Service Road Options

NEWARK - Worcester County Board of Education members this week got a first look at several options for the western terminus of the proposed Route 50 service road including two access points on Seahawk Rd. across from Stephen Decatur High School and Middle School and a new traffic signal along the highway. The proposed service road will eventually run along the south side of Route 50 with Holly Grove Rd. at its eastern end and Seahawk Rd., across from the two county schools, at its western...READ MORE

Showell Principal Retiring After 41 Years In Education

SHOWELL - After 41 years of service in Worcester County Schools, Showell Elementary School (SES) Principal Paula Jones will retire from her post in June. 'It was very tough to make the decision to retire because everything is going great,' said Jones. 'I'd rather leave when things are going great than when things are not good.' Jones was born and raised in Worcester County and is a product of the school system she has taught in for more than four decades. 'I went to Stephen Decatur High School...READ MORE

State Rejects Plea To Exclude Costs

SNOW HILL - The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) will not disallow certain costs from being factored into the Maintenance of Effort school funding figure. Worcester County had asked earlier this spring to have some capital costs, which staff and officials believe were improperly reported as operating costs, removed from the Maintenance of Effort figure, which governs how much money the county must allot to the schools each year to retain state funding. Repairs to sidewalks, curbs...READ MORE