Articles

Council Hears Dare's Concerns, Unanimously Supports The Ordinance

OCEAN CITY - The ordinance outlining the plan recently presented by the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association (OCHMRA) to increase advertising funds has taken another step forward this week with the Mayor and Council unanimously approving the ordinance on second reading. Last month, the OCHMRA presented a plan it hopes will fuel the advertising fund that has remained stagnant over the past few years and revive tourism during the summer months. The proposal calls for a .5 percent increase...READ MORE

County Holds Off Commitment To Parking Garage

SNOW HILL - A hoped for $7.6 million county grant for the planned downtown Ocean City parking garage will be delayed with county elected officials choosing to wait until the local financial picture clears. The County Commissioners said this week that no decisions on the massive grant requested by the resort in lieu of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) can be made until the State of Maryland budget cuts are handed down and the county develops its own budget next spring. Ocean City submitted the grant...READ MORE

Legislators Pitch Ways To Address State Budget Proble

OCEAN CITY - While local legislators all agree the upcoming General Assembly session will be defined by the state's ability to reconcile its burgeoning $1.5 billion structural deficit, not all agree on how best to close the gap. The resort area's representatives in Annapolis came before Ocean City's Economic Development Committee (EDC) on Wednesday to brief business and community leaders on the issues most likely to affect them in the coming year. Depending on whose figures one believes, the gap...READ MORE

Local Restaurateur Named OC Spirit Award Winner

OCEAN CITY - Steve Pappas will be joining the ranks of some of the town's leading citizens this week as he becomes this year's recipient of the 10th Spirit of Ocean City Award. The Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce defines the honor as, 'Ocean City's most prestigious business award. The Spirit Award, honors the Ocean City businessperson who has simultaneously operated a reputable and successful business and actively promoted Ocean City, endeavoring to make the community a better one for...READ MORE

Resort Library On Target For Early 2008 Opening

OCEAN CITY - The Ocean City branch of the Worcester County Library has called 14th Street home for many years, but it won't be long before the library will be making the move to its new and improved building on 100th Street. According to assistant branch manager Joe Colantuoni, the new uptown library is moving along as planned, and if all continues to go smoothly, will be operating by the third week of January. 'They're doing such a great job of being on schedule,' Colantuoni said. For...READ MORE

Some Legislators Feel Slots Are Not The Answer

OCEAN CITY - While the area's representatives in Annapolis all agree resolving the state's projected $1.5 billion deficit will be the top issue in the upcoming General Assembly session, they clearly disagree with slots as part of the debt-busting equation. Local legislators, in Ocean City this week to brief resort business leaders on issues of local import in next year's General Assembly session, all agreed the biggest obstacle to overcome was the state's estimated $1.5 billion structural...READ MORE

Strong Labor Day Weekend Caps Off Summer Season

OCEAN CITY - The beautiful weather last weekend brought the largest crowds since 2003 to Ocean City and booming sales for most businesses. The demoflush numbers calculated for this past three-day weekend reflected what most saw in the town this past weekend, large crowds. The demoflush numbers come from a system that calculates the number of people in town based on wastewater flow from the resort and are used as estimates. The demoflush numbers from this past weekend estimated 277,581 people in...READ MORE

White Marlin Open Seeks Court Ruling On Payout Dispute

SNOW HILL - Amid confusion over alleged failed or untimely polygraph tests, the White Marlin Open organizers this week filed a complaint in Worcester County Circuit Court asking a judge to sort out who should be awarded the hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake in the 2007 tournament's blue marlin division. White Marlin Open Inc. this week filed a complaint of interpleader in Worcester County Circuit Court, which essentially asks a judge to intercede on its behalf and assess who among the...READ MORE

All Three Wal-Mart Robbers Eventually Arrested

BERLIN - Three Mardela Springs men are in custody this week after conspiring to rob a cashier at knifepoint at the Wal-Mart in Berlin late Monday night. Shortly after 11 p.m. on Monday, Maryland State Police from the Berlin barrack responded to a reported armed robbery at the Wal-Mart on Route 50. One of the suspects, Stacey Zalary Omar Brown, 20, of Mardela Springs was apprehended Monday night after a wild high-speed chase across northern Worcester County, while the other two suspects, Lorenzo...READ MORE

Bail Lowered For Wanted Man Extradited From Arizona

SNOW HILL - The former Worcester County resident accused of embezzling well over $100,000 from his now ex-wife before changing his name and starting a new life across the country was extradited this week and appeared yesterday in District Court in Snow Hill for a bond hearing, during which his initial $500,000 bond was reduced to $100,000. Former Ocean Pines resident Richard Brueckner, also known as Richard Thelander, in the late 1990s allegedly forged his now ex-wife's signature several times...READ MORE

Bike Week Merchandise Seized

OCEAN CITY - While investigating trademark and copyright violations associated with the upcoming bike week event, Ocean City detectives this week confiscated approximately $35,000 worth of items. The Ocean City Police Department was contacted by representatives from Delmarva Bike Week because of concerns about trademark violations at local businesses. The phrases 'Delmarva Bike Week' and 'Ocean City Bike Week' are copyrighted by B Line, Inc. and cannot be displayed on apparel, jewelry, or...READ MORE

EEE Discovered In County Swamp

BERLIN - A dangerous but scarce, mosquito-borne virus has turned up in a mosquito pool from northwest Worcester County, only a week after the first probable case of West Nile Virus (WNV) in 2007 was identified in Worcester County. A state lab found eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) in a mosquito pool from a swamp on the Worcester County side of the Pocomoke River, just west of Whaleyville. Luckily, these sinisterly named 'dark swamp mosquitoes' rarely leave the swamp and feed mostly on...READ MORE

Fire Destroys Developmental Center Building

NEWARK - As soon as the Worcester County Developmental Center (WCDC) building was lost to a devastating fire on Tuesday, WCDC staff began working on alternative facilities to serve 92 developmentally disabled clients Wednesday.  'The business community has been wonderful. We've been offered some space and we're working on that now in Snow Hill which is the best possible location,' said County Commissioner Judy Boggs, who serves on the WCDC Board. 'Our first priority is providing the...READ MORE

New Bayside Development Rules Passed In Ocean City

OCEAN CITY - After several months of review before both the Mayor and Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission, the ordinance outlining the Special Bayside Development Regulations has been passed on second reading. At Tuesday night's Mayor and Council meeting, City Solicitor Guy Ayres presented the ordinance, noting the few minor changes that were made before being presented for second reading. The minor changes focused on setbacks, an issue that arose in July during the first reading of...READ MORE