Letters To The Editor

Treatment Questioned

Editor:

I am and have been a summer resident of Ocean City for many years. The rest of the year I reside in Florida.

On a morning in September 2010, I pulled my white pick-up truck out of a side street at a traffic light on North Philadelphia Ave. I was pulled over on North Philadelphia Ave. by Officer Chris Snyder who accused me of making a U-turn at the intersection, then he proceeded to issue me a ticket. When trying to explain that I was never traveling on South Philadelphia Ave. to make that U turn, his response was “take it to court”.

When I had my day in court I presented photographs clearly proving that Officer Snyder could not see South Philadelphia Ave. or the intersection because of the bushes in the median which would block his view.

Judge Daniel R. Mumford ended the proceedings abruptly, finding me guilty. While viewing the photographs, he asked Officer Snyder if he could clearly see the area. His untruthful response was yes, describing how he saw a white SUV making the U-turn – end of story. I guess Officer Snyder has better eyesight than most that he could see through shrubbery to the intersection of Dolphin St. and Philadelphia Ave. from the Taylor Bank parking lot. So was it my Florida license plate or the city just needing some money that they decided to unfairly target me.

It seems the police would have better things to do than harass innocent, seasonal residents. Hope you read this Chief Bernadette DiPino because this has greatly changed my opinion of your police force.

Norman Manley
Palm Coast, Fla.

Police Actions Questioned

Editor:

It was Thursday, June 8 at about noon when the power went out. Now as if this wasn’t bad enough, it was about 98 degree outside. The area affected was the Route 50 Bridge down to the Walmart Shopping Center.


I called the power company and they said power would be restored by 2 p.m. Well, power came back on five times before finally being restored at about 6;45 p.m.

In the meantime, my wife and I were sweltering in the heat, so we decided take a drive to a mall so we could refresh ourselves in one of the air-conditioned stores. Little did we know what we were about to meet once we got to the highway — the police were there and in an effort to help they blocked every intersection and forced you to drive past where you wanted to turn and by the time you got to an intersection where you could turn there were so many cars turning that it took forever.

I don’t understand how this maneuver could help and would like the police to review that situation and see if they could come up with a better solution to that problem.

Ralph Giove
West Ocean City

Seniors Deserve Better

Editor:
(The following letter was addressed to the Ocean City Mayor and Council.)

In June of 2001, the Mayor and Council proposed a bill which would eliminate the free ride on the tram and bus for local taxpaying citizens. At that time, we wrote a letter to the Mayor and Council that the senior citizens with their high taxes and water bills, help to support tourism, which in all fairness and justification, tourism should be helping to lower our local taxes.

After our letter was sent to the Mayor and Council and was also published in the local papers, the tax voting and paying citizens contacted the Mayor and Council to such an extent that the councilman who proposed the bill suggested that since he received a tremendous amount of negative comments from the local residents that he now would recommend that his bill be removed, “which it was” from further discussion.

As the new bill now reads, the local senior citizens will only be able to ride the tram free during the hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This is the time of day when all physicians and news casters recommend that seniors please stay in air conditioned buildings, but this is when you, our leaders, suggest that the senior citizens ride the tram.

Thanks a lot.

With this in mind, we are requesting all senior taxpaying citizens of Ocean City contact City Hall and let our council know that we are aware of the unfairness of this bill and will act accordingly in the next election.

During the next election, we personally will take a petition to vote against any member of the council who voted to pass this bill.

Thomas and Shirley Iacoboni
Ocean City

‘Just Vote Them Out’

Editor
I read with interest the article by Joanne Shriner regarding the tram rides.

I am a senior property owner who lives in Pennsylvania, pays taxes and cannot vote. When I lost the free tram privilege, I decided to stop spending money on the Boardwalk and no longer take my grandchildren on the Boardwalk. I have voted with my pocketbook and suggest affected seniors do the same.

I would recommend to Mr. Albright and the 35 percent voting seniors that maybe they should "just vote them out".

Bob DeHoff
Mount Joy, Pa.
Donors Applauded

Editor:

The Worcester County Garden Club (WCGC) wishes to thank their many donors who contributed to our annual scholarship and fund raiser on June 6, which was held at the Taylor House Museum in Berlin. We achieved our goal which will provide services to our youth and other community benefits.

Some of the donors included Food Lion, West Ocean City; Walmart, Berlin-Ocean City; Home Depot, Berlin; Cedar Swamp Nursery, Bishopville; Lynn Crockett, Ocean Pines; Parker Plant Depot, Pittsville; Treasure Chest, Berlin; Jeffrey Auxer Glass, Berlin; East Coast Nursery; Planted Pleasures, Ocean Pines; A&W Farms; Cupcakes in Bloom, Berlin/Ocean Pines; Edgemoor Antiques; Elizabeth Treasures; and, as always, our devoted membership who contributed plants and treasures from their own gardens.

Carol Morrison
Berlin

(The writer is president of the WCGC.)

Suggested Fed Cuts

Editor:

Boehner wants $2 trillion in cuts. But he and other Republicans want them to be in what middle class and poor people need. Instead, the GOP should look across the river and feast their eyes on the Father of All Pork and the Mother of All Corporate Welfare.

They should:

Trim five of the 11 aircraft carriers. The Chinese will soon have DF-21 missiles that can easily blow a carrier out of the water along with its 5,000-man crew. Save $75 billion.

Cut all the F-35 fighters. The F-15s, F-16s and F-18s we now have are fine. Use more drones. Build one new sub a year, not two. Do not use 2B in fuel. Save a whopping $676 billion.

Cut the Ronald Reagan relics, the Cold War missiles/nuclear weapons. Save $80 billion.

Trim troops to 700,000 from 1.3 million, bases to 300 from 500, generals/admirals to 500 from 952, stop 57 K “re-up” bonuses. Make it “25 and out” not 20. Save an admirable $487 billion.

Trim our 17 spy groups who gather more “intelligence” than they can study. Save $152 billion.

Bring home now the 100,000 troops in Afghanistan. Avoid quagmire. Save $350 billion.
Zero-base the whole Pentagon budget: justify each item each year. Save $180 billion plus.

There’s your $2 trillion, Mr. Speaker.

But if a little pork/corporate welfare is a must, compensate: axe the Bush tax cuts for the rich and impose a minimum corporate income tax.

Ordinary Americans are wising up. A respectable poll finds 55 percent favor military cuts but only 21 percent Medicare cuts and only 13 percent Social Security cuts. On Aug. 3, if Republicans prove pigheaded, Reggie Retiree may find no SS check in his mailbox. He is one of every seven retirees for whom SS is 100 percent of his income. But Reggie shouldn’t have to fear doomsday; it should be the pork chasers and corporate welfare queens who feed at the Pentagon trough.

James A. Hoage
Severna Park

Grateful For Support

Editor:

 The Quiet Resorts Charitable Foundation (QRCF) held its annual Golf Classic fundraiser at Cripple Creek Country Club on June 2.  The weather was beautiful, and we had a great turnout of golfers and volunteers.  All in all, the tournament was a resounding success.    Its proceeds will go directly to fund $16,000 in college scholarships and over $25,000 in grants to organizations within the Bethany-Fenwick area this year.

The success of this event is attributed to the contributions of area businesses, residents and organizations that sponsored the tournament and generously donated monies, prizes, food, beverages, advertising and their time, making it the best tournament in the region.  Of course, without our golfers, who not only played but generously participated in games on the course, there would be no tournament, so a special thanks is extended to them as well.

It is not possible to name everyone involved, but QRCF is sincerely grateful to each of you; thank you for supporting our mission to improve the quality of life in the Quiet Resorts.

Brent Poffenberger
Cheryl Wisbrock