Articles

NEW FOR THURSDAY: Months Later, Post-Fire Rebuilding Efforts Now In Full Swing

OCEAN CITY -- Months after a pair of devastating fires in and around Ocean City just 10 days apart, all or parts of the damaged buildings are being torn down with the hope of a quick turnaround for both. On Sept. 26, 2012, a massive fire consumed the entire top floor of a three-story condominium building at the Bradley on the Bay complex at 37th Street, bellowing thick black smoke across much of the midtown area. The Ocean City Fire Department responded en masse to the blaze and soaked the...READ MORE

NEW FOR THURSDAY: Citizens Add Input To OC Strategic Planning Effort

OCEAN CITY – As part of the ongoing strategic planning process, the Mayor and City Council invited approximately 70 citizens to participate in a summit to receive input on goals and initiatives moving Ocean City into the future. For the past couple of months, the Mayor and City Council and city staff have gone through several rounds of interviews and workshops to narrow down a Strategic Planning Model that outlines a vision describing the preferred future of Ocean City over the next 15...READ MORE

NEW FOR WEDNESDAY: Woman Hits Fiance With Beer Can, Then Bean Can

OCEAN CITY -- An Ocean City woman was arrested on assault charges twice within a span of a few hours on Tuesday and early Wednesday morning after allegedly attacking her fiancé first with a can of beer and later a can of beans. On Tuesday, Kathleen Theresa Machen, 47, of Ocean City, was arrested on second-degree assault charges after allegedly attacking her fiancé by hitting him in the head with a can of beer. Ocean City Police responded to the residence on Philadelphia Ave. near 12th...READ MORE

NEW FOR WEDNESDAY: Resort Council Approves Committee Structure

OCEAN CITY – At the conclusion of the Mayor and City Council’s strategic planning workshop last Friday, the decision to re-establish town committees was brought forward to dig deeper into details. Councilman Joe Mitrecic brought up the idea last month to re-enact the committee structure the town had in place prior to the organizational meeting following 2010’s municipal election when the previous council voted to dissolve the groups. The reasoning was to have all city business...READ MORE

NEW FOR TUESDAY: OC Arrests Jumped 14% Last Year; Disorderly Conduct Tops Calls For Service

OCEAN CITY – Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) Acting Chief Kevin Kirstein gave an overview last week of the department’s 2012 Annual Report. In 2012, there were 1,497 reportable offenses, representing incidents that have to be reported to the FBI like homicide, rape, robbery, assault, breaking and entering, larceny and motor vehicle thefts. Since 2006, there has been an average of 1,488 reportable offenses in Ocean City. Within those offenses, assaults decreased 10.6 percent from...READ MORE

Snyder Wins Annual Officer Of Year Honors

OCEAN CITY -- Less than a week after the new ballroom at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center was officially opened, the newly remodeled area was officially broken in on Tuesday with the annual Neighborhood Watch Association’s Ocean City Police “Officer of the Year” banquet. Pfc. Chris Snyder, who joined the OCPD as a full-time officer nine years ago, was named the Neighborhood Watch Association’s “Officer of the Year” during Tuesday’s annual banquet...READ MORE

OC Fire Dept. Scores $383K Grant

OCEAN CITY -- The Ocean City Fire Department this week got a fiscal shot in the arm in the form of a $383,000-plus federal grant through homeland security to purchase lifesaving rescue equipment. U.S. Senators Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin this week announced the Ocean City Fire Department will receive the federal funding through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program to purchase lifesaving and rescue equipment. The Ocean City Fire...READ MORE

Salisbury Seeking Lower Alarm Fines

SALISBURY – To have false alarm fees become more equitable with today’s cost for fire and police response, the Salisbury City Council is looking to revamp the fine structure. According to City Administrator John Pick, the city’s police and fire departments experience a severe drain on their resources making repeated responses to the same properties in response to false alarms. For many years, the city has had an ordinance that included a graduated fee schedule for fire and...READ MORE

OC’s Last Homicide Still ‘Open Case’

OCEAN CITY -- While a homicide investigation involving the death of a local man and the arrest of another unfolds, the eighth anniversary of Ocean City’s last murder in 2005 quietly arrived this week and remains an unsolved case. Eight years ago this weekend, a Virginia man was apparently murdered in his family’s Ocean City condominium, and while the suspects have long since been identified, the remains were never found and the case remains open as the perpetrators have likely fled...READ MORE

Resident Outcry Leads Berlin To Relocate Wind Turbine

BERLIN -- With the discomfort of residents clear, the Berlin Town Council reached a consensus this week that a new wind turbine, which would be the town’s first, will not be located on Schoolfield Street. Instead, a property on Old Ocean City Boulevard will be pitched to the council as an alternative site. “After the last meeting and thinking about it, we’re actually entertaining the thought of maybe moving [the turbine] to a different location, which would be the Rayne’s...READ MORE

Shark Data Questioned At Hearing; Anglers Propose Catch Alternatives

OCEAN CITY -- Better identification and more accurate statistics would be a better alternative to protecting the dusky shark population than an umbrella catch size limit increase for all species of sharks caught off the coast of Ocean City, according to many area anglers. That was the opinion and common theme of several other suggestions to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) representatives Wednesday at a public hearing in Ocean Pines over the service’s controversial “Amendment...READ MORE

More Laser Shows, Fireworks Planned In OC

OCEAN CITY – The popular laser light and firework shows downtown last summer have been given the go-ahead to continue on into the summer of 2013. Tourism Director Donna Abbott presented the Mayor and City Council with a request to approve the recommendation made by the Tourism Advisory Board (TAB) to continue last summer’s weekly fireworks and laser light shows on the beach downtown. According to Abbott, TAB reviewed T.E.A.M Productions’ proposal to continue the shows this...READ MORE

Ocean City Proclaims Today As ‘Purple Friday’

OCEAN CITY – The Town of Ocean City proudly proclaimed today as Purple Friday in support of the Baltimore Ravens. On Tuesday afternoon, Council Chambers at City Hall was filled with black and purple as Mayor Rick Meehan presented Ravens Roost #44 with a proclamation stating today, Friday, Feb. 1, as Baltimore Ravens Day Purple Friday. “It is a special time not only in Ocean City but in the State of Maryland,” the mayor said. “It is all about what is upcoming this Sunday...READ MORE

Man’s Death Ruled A Homicide

OCEAN CITY -- One local man is dead and another behind bars on manslaughter and other charges after an altercation last weekend outside a downtown Ocean City bar. Around 1:30 a.m. last Saturday, 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. The male individual was taken to AGH where he was pronounced dead. He was identified as Michael Eric Post, 39, of Ocean...READ MORE

Local Veterans Gather To Observe Tet Anniversary

OCEAN PINES -- In a solemn, quiet ceremony yesterday, about a dozen U.S. veterans and their supporters gathered at the wind-swept Worcester County Veterans Memorial at Ocean Pines to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Tet Offensive, a major attack by communist forces on South Vietnam in 1968 that helped escalate the ill-fated conflict. After a few brief remarks, Vietnam veterans Bob Bates, Ray Updike and Worcester County Sheriff Reggie Mason placed a wreath with a sash simply saying Tet 45...READ MORE

Council Wants Committees Back; Specifics Will Be Decided

OCEAN CITY – The Mayor and City Council voted to move ahead in re-establishing the committees and commissions that were dissolved over two years ago with future discussions promised to set specifics. Councilman Joe Mitrecic brought up the idea last month to re-enact the committee structure the town had in place prior to the organizational meeting following 2010’s election when the previous council voted to dissolve the groups. The reasoning was to have all city business brought...READ MORE

Resort Nightclub Cleared In $1M Civil Lawsuit

OCEAN CITY -- A popular Ocean City nightclub this week was cleared in a $1 million civil lawsuit by a plaintiff who was brutally raped on a private parking area away from the establishment in 2008. After a two-week trial in U.S. District Court ended on Monday, a federal jury found in favor of Seacrets in a case brought by a plaintiff known only as Jane Doe, who was brutally beaten and raped on a private condominium parking lot adjacent to the night club in the early morning hours of Saturday,...READ MORE

Mayor Calls Rumors ‘Local Politics At Its Dirty Worst’

BERLIN -- Looking to quiet what he referred to as a “whispering campaign” by political enemies, Berlin Mayor Gee Williams spoke out Monday at a Mayor and Council meeting about rumors that he said have recently been circulating in the community portraying him as a reckless alcoholic. “I don’t know if I should be flattered or offended by these rumors because for them to be true I would have to be a 64-year old superman, and one of the most influential elected public figures...READ MORE

Berlin To Form Utility To Combat Flooding Woes

BERLIN -- A last-minute pushback from town residents, businesses and non-profits worried about annual fees did not halt the Berlin Mayor and Council’s decision to establish a new stormwater utility department. During last night’s public hearing, people in the town were not unanimously against the idea, however, with some encouraging and praising the council for finally making a move to combat stormwater and flooding, a decades-old issue in Berlin. With a few exceptions, battle lines...READ MORE

Md. Bill Seeks Increased Waterway Patrols

OCEAN CITY -- Frustrated with an alarming spike in the number of illegal catch and poaching cases in the state’s waterways, including the areas around Ocean City and the coastal bays, and perhaps more frequently the Chesapeake Bay, a trio of Eastern Shore lawmakers this week introduced legislation to increase the number of Natural Resources Police (NRP) officers on patrol. In the last few years, there has been a significant increase in poaching and illegal harvest cases in and around the...READ MORE

Chamber Beer Sales Approved For Events

BERLIN -- Though split votes over the presence of alcohol at certain town events have been common recently, the Berlin Council was unanimous Tuesday in agreeing to relax Berlin’s open container law at six events for next year and approve an application by the Chamber of Commerce to sell beer and wine at five of those events. The six events listed were the Jazz and Blues Festival, the Fiddlers Convention, May Day Play Day, Octoberfest, New Year’s Eve and the new International Food and...READ MORE

S.W.E.A.T. Opens New Location In West Ocean City

OCEAN CITY -- For the fitness minded on Delmarva, S.W.E.A.T (Speed, Weight, Endurance, Agility, Training) promises a professionally crafted workout that routinely produces results no matter the starting fitness level. “It is really designed to take the individual to the next level no matter what level they are standing on,” said Powerhouse Gym and S.W.E.A.T owner Tony Taghipour. The idea behind S.W.E.A.T is relatively simple. Classes consist of a variety of exercises at several...READ MORE

Great White Shark’s Online Track Captivating Many

OCEAN CITY -- The public’s long fascination with great white sharks has reached a crescendo in recent weeks with the appearance of a massive 16-footer cruising along the coast including a pass by Assateague and Ocean City last weekend. OCEARCH Shark Trackers, a group of scientists dedicated to tagging and tracking sharks and researching their often misunderstood migration patterns, has been tracking the suddenly famous “Mary Lee,” an estimated 3,500 pounder. “Mary...READ MORE

Convention Center’s New Bayfront Space Celebrated

OCEAN CITY – The curtains were drawn on the Roland E. Powell Convention Center’s new ballroom and exhibit space last week as city officials and guests gathered to take in the space and its beautiful view. Last Thursday the Town of Ocean City celebrated the completion of the first phase of the convention center’s renovation project exhibiting the new Bay Front Ballroom and Trimper Dockside Exhibit Hall with a ribbon cutting and opening ceremony. The Bay Front Ballroom is on the...READ MORE