Quite a bit of resources were expended last Sunday unnecessarily after there was a happy ending to a concerning situation for many hours.
On Saturday afternoon, two couples on a 23-foot boat with twin outboards they had just purchased fueled up at the commercial harbor in West Ocean City and headed out to the Baltimore Canyon for an overnight trip against the best advice from the fuel dock attendants and other seasoned veterans in the area. The boaters did file a trip plan with an anticipated return time at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, but when 8:30 a.m. came and went, Coast Guard Station Ocean City was alerted and launched an extensive search of the area.
Coast Guard Station Ocean City launched its 47-foot rescue boat along with a C-130 search airplane and began canvassing the open ocean for the overdue 23-foot boat with twin outboards. The offshore airwaves lit up with reports of the search and many out on the rough ocean began to expect the worst.
Shortly before 3 p.m. on Sunday, it was reported the 23-footer had been found by the Coast Guard with the vessel undamaged and the occupants harried from a rough, nearly 24 hours at sea but otherwise unharmed. Coast Guard officials this week said they sent the 47-foot rescue boat out on a straight line search toward the Baltimore Canyon and located the missing 23-foot boat about eight miles out.
Coast Guard officials said the two couples reported their radio system had malfunctioned and they were out of cell phone range, which is why they could not report their position, or that they were unharmed. Coast Guard officials also said the occupants said the rough seas were responsible for the slow, arduous trip in from the Baltimore Canyon, which caused them to become overdue and miss their 8:30 a.m. return time according to their trip plan.
It’s unlikely any of the fuel and manpower expenses used on this search effort will ever be recouped, but it’s certainly hoped that a lesson was learned by these boaters.
On Thursday’s page one, a headline on The Baltimore Sun read, “School funding reform pledged.” That got my attention because it’s been a pet peeve issue of mine for the last 20 years.
Although expectations should probably be tempered for now, this is an issue that has been on the radar of many in Worcester County for years. Currently, the state uses an archaic formula to calculate wealth per pupil to determine how much funding it allocates to individual jurisdictions. The formula measures wealth by land values essentially versus student enrollment. The problem Worcester faces is the coastal geography of the area brings surging property values and the enrollment in the school system is among the lowest in the state. That results in Worcester County being deemed annually one of the top five wealthiest counties in Maryland, despite the fact that 44 percent of public school students come households at or below the poverty level (the state average is 38 percent), according to school system statistics.
There could be some good news on this front and Baltimore City and a wealth of tax breaks aimed at a new Port Covington development has a lot to do with it. In The Baltimore Sun, House Speaker Michael Busch expressed an interest in tweaking this formula away from a dependency on property values and instead focusing on poverty rates. He also said a state panel would be recommending a long-term solution to the state’s funding quagmire in the near future.
“To me, the poverty rate is the biggest thing. Of the 50 poorest schools in the state of Maryland, all bus six are in Baltimore City. We have to make sure the money gets into the classroom for the neediest kids,” Busch said.
That would be ideal, obviously. In Worcester, the major problem is too much of the funding onus is put on the county, as a result of the state viewing Worcester as incredibly wealthy. Those of us who live here knows that’s not the reality, but the key is getting that formula to accurately depict the status of the individual jurisdictions. The poverty rate certainly should be a major factor to level the playing field.
