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Superintendent Makes Bennett Middle Pitch

SALISBURY -- Just days after Wicomico officials expressed doubt about the availability of funding for a new James M. Bennett Middle School in the current year’s budget, the county’s Superintendent of Schools outlined several reasons why the money should be found for the new facility. Last Tuesday, the Wicomico County Council voted to keep a new Bennett Middle School on the county’s 2012 capital improvement “wish list,” but expressed deep reservations about finding...READ MORE

Mathias Delivers Historic Speech

ANNAPOLIS -- Senator Jim Mathias (D-38) was called on this week to deliver the ceremonial Presidents’ Day address in the historic Old Senate Chamber where George Washington officially resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief in 1783 and called on his colleague’s to embrace the first president’s notion of civility. Every year on Presidents’ Day, the State Senate holds a special celebration of Washington’s birthday in the chamber where he resigned as...READ MORE

Local Man Indicted In U.S. District Court

OCEAN CITY -- A West Ocean City man remains behind bars this week after being indicted in U.S. District Court on federal possession of child pornography charges. Lawrence King III, 41, of West Ocean City, was arrested last October and charged with 13 counts of possession of child pornography after members of the Maryland State Police Computer Crimes Unit served a warrant on his Golf Course Rd. home after receiving information from authorities in Anne Arundel County. The investigation into King's...READ MORE

Pediatric Dental Center to Open

BERLIN -- Worcester County Health Department officials this week announced its pediatric dental center will soon open in Berlin. The Worcester County Dental Center, located on William Street in Berlin, will accept patients ages 18 and under who are uninsured, low income or participants in the Maryland Healthy Smiles program. The goal of the Worcester County Dental Center is to ensure all children in the county receive access to quality dental care. Full service dentistry including cleanings,...READ MORE

Ocean City Eyes Increase In Seasonal Cops

OCEAN CITY – The Mayor and City Council gave their authorization for the resort’s police chief to increase the number of seasonal officers hired. Councilman Joe Hall pointed out that in the past the council voted to decrease the cap of seasonal police officers hired to 100, which the law states is the minimum number of positions allowed. “In the past, we have offered upwards of 150 [seasonal officer positions],” he said. Hall explained that because the town’s budget...READ MORE

OC Again Seeks Dismissal Of Former Cop’s Discrimination Suit

OCEAN CITY -- The town of Ocean City this week filed a motion to dismiss a discrimination lawsuit filed by a former Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer against his employer. Former OCPD officer David Catrino in 2009 filed suit in U.S. District Court against the department and the town of Ocean City seeking injunctive relief and an undisclosed award of compensatory and punitive damages against the defendants for wrongly denying him a reasonable accommodation to which he believes he was...READ MORE

Bills Introduced To Alter Liquor Control Structure

BERLIN -- With the introduction of a pair of bills in the House and Senate this week, the abolition of the county’s beleaguered Liquor Control Board (LCB) now appears to be on the fast track. Delegates Mike McDermott and Norm Conway this week introduced House Bill 1237, which calls for the abolition of the LCB and the creation of a similarly operated Worcester County Department of Liquor Control, essentially turning over the distribution of liquor to the county. Senator Jim Mathias...READ MORE

Salisbury Mayor Vows To ‘Not Change Course’

SALISBURY – Mayor James Ireton, Jr. stuck to a theme that the city is “turning a corner” as he reviewed accomplishments from the past year and looked towards what can be done for Salisbury in the future during his State of the City Address on Monday night. According to the 2010 Census, Salisbury is home to 330,343 people, a 28-percent increase from the year 2000 and the largest increase in population of any city in the state of Maryland. “Our city has turned a corner...READ MORE

Wicomico Council Opts Against Fee Hike

SALISBURY -- Amid fears of hampering an already dreary construction climate in the county, Wicomico officials last week voted down a proposed hike in fees for development review and permitting. At the request of County Executive Richard Pollitt, Jr., the Wicomico County Council considered the across-the-board increase in fees and other costs associated with development reviews by the county’s public works department. The fees have not been altered since 2004 and the proposed change was...READ MORE

OC Job Fair Returns March 12

OCEAN CITY -- The Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce in partnership with The Town of Ocean City, Comcast Spotlight and Md. Workforce Development will present the 26th Annual Ocean City Job Fair on Saturday, March 12 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at the convention center. Nearly 100 employers will be present to hire for many of the nearly 12,000 positions that are available in Ocean City each year in addition to jobs available through year-round businesses in the area and the surrounding area as...READ MORE

12-Year Sentence In West OC Arson

SNOW HILL -- A Snow Hill man who pleaded guilty in December to first-degree arson for setting a residential house fire in West Ocean City last April was sentenced to 12 years in jail last week in Worcester County Circuit Court. Around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 11, 2010, Ocean City firefighters responded to a reported fire at a residence on Keyser Point Rd. A neighbor reported the fire. First-arriving units reported heavy fire showing from the rear of the single-story dwelling, which was...READ MORE

Mobile Home Sprinklers OK’d For Ocean City

OCEAN CITY – The town’s building codes were tweaked this week now that sprinkler system requirements will include mobile homes. In December, the Mayor and City Council approved the adoption of the 2009 International Building Code and the International Energy Conservation Code, which replaced the 2006 building codes that the town previously had in place. A portion of the new code is the requirement to sprinkle newly built single-family homes. This requirement does not apply to...READ MORE

Resort Run Part Of Spring Fitness Weekend Planned

OCEAN CITY – Special events proposed this week hit a soft spot as the Mayor and City Council may change protocol for supporting events. The council was presented with a hand full of special event requests this week that were awaiting approval. Two of the events, Ocean City 5 Mile Run and Seaside 10 Mile Run, were presented by OC Tri-Running’s Chris Klebe. Klebe explained that the 5 Mile Boardwalk Run is a kickoff to a fitness challenge weekend. “We do a bike ride in Berlin, and...READ MORE

Salisbury Primary Next Tuesday

SALISBURY -- Eight candidates will face off in the Salisbury City Council primary election next Tuesday with the top six vote getters advancing to the General Election in April. Salisbury’s City Council will get a dramatic makeover after the General Election in April, but the first step in that process occurs next Tuesday when primary elections are held for the town’s three available seats. A total of eight candidates will be narrowed to six after Tuesday’s primary in the...READ MORE

Slots In Clubs Looks Promising, Legislators Say

OCEAN CITY -- Companion bills that would allow limited slot machine gambling in non-profit service clubs, fraternal organizations and veteran’s groups in Worcester had preliminary hearings in their respective House and Senate committees last week, and local lawmakers appear confident the legislation will pass. For each of the last three years, a bill that would have added Worcester to the list of eight Eastern Shore counties that allow a limited number of slot machines in service clubs and...READ MORE

Convicted Murderer Trying Again For 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 nine years ago, made a renewed bid for a new trial this week after introducing an initial salvo in his most current appeal in U.S. District Court. Benjamin Sifrit this week introduced a personally prepared informal brief in U.S. Court of Appeals outlining why he should be granted a new trial after his appeal for a writ of habeas corpus was...READ MORE

Dolphin Found In Bethany Beach

BETHANY BEACH – Officials are seeking an outside opinion on the exact cause behind the death of a white sided dolphin that washed ashore on the beach this week. On Tuesday, a white sided dolphin washed ashore onto the beaches of Bethany Beach, Del. Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute (MERR) Executive Director Suzanne Thurman reported that the dolphin was a young adult female and approximately seven and half feet long and weighed around 300 pounds. “And that is a...READ MORE

A Memorable Week For Berlin Family

OCEAN CITY – Berlin residents Dave and Sara Hambury have had an eventful week -- winning $75,000 on Sunday and welcoming the birth of their second child on Tuesday. “We’re almost overloaded with excitement,” said Dave Hambury yesterday. Last Sunday, Feb. 20, the Hamburys received the news that they had won the Ocean City-Berlin Optimist Club’s $75,000 grand prize out of the Scholarship Lotto. “The only thing I had to do was buy a $100 raffle ticket, which I...READ MORE

School Board Clarifies Bus Standards

SNOW HILL -- Even with the Worcester County Board of Education in a perpetual budget crunch, members decided to impose strict standards upon themselves when it comes to replacing school buses. Prior to last week’s Board of Education meeting, the official policy was that all replacement buses purchased by the county would have to be “generally new.” However, Board members chose to make the language more concrete, defining a “generally new” bus as one with “no...READ MORE

Bloxom, Cummins Named To State Commission

BERLIN -- A pair of familiar names and faces were among Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s list of “green bag” nominations submitted to the state senate last week for appointment or reappointment to various state boards and commissions. Former Worcester County Commission President and current county attorney John “Sonny” Bloxom and former County Planning Commission chairperson and Maryland Coastal Bays Program advocate Carolyn Cummins last week were nominated...READ MORE