Thankful For OC Area
Editor:
Eighteen years ago, I walked into Northside Park as a young, wide eyed college graduate to start my journey as a recreation supervisor where I have had the opportunity to interact with countless people in our great community.
I have had the pleasure of watching kids begin in the Start Smart Sports program, attend Camp Horizon, play in our many sports leagues, attend special events and then move on to adult sports leagues and tournaments. Some of my original participants have returned to coach in clinics and attend programs with their own children. It has been a great trip and one I will never forget. I write today though to say “thanks and goodbye” to such a wonderful place. Ocean City has made me and my family feel so welcome through the years.
Starting out at 23 and now the father of four kids, I have had the chance to enjoy so much that this area has to offer. We will miss Assateague, Jolly Roger’s, Northside Park, Trimper’s, and so many other places that have brought so much joy to our lives. We will always remember the friends and relationships that we have developed including participating with East Wicomico Little League, River Soccer, and Berlin Little League (where my daughter Abigail was a member of the first girls softball state champions this past summer).
On a professional level, I want to thank everyone who helped me along the way from both the business community and in the Town of Ocean City government. Thank you too to everyone who volunteers to help at Ocean City Recreation & Parks. The OC Recreation Boosters and all of the volunteer coaches make the programs happen. Without their support, programs at Northside Park would just be ordinary. Thank you to the Mayor and Council. Your support is crucial to the success of the recreation department. Thank you to my co-workers who have taught me how to appreciate all that every participant can bring not just to a program, but also to your life. I have been enriched by so many who have joined us for programs through the years.
As you read this I will be finishing my final day with Ocean City Recreation & Parks and will be off Monday to King George County, Va. to serve as its new director of Parks and Recreation. The lessons I have learned in Ocean City will carry me far into this new adventure. I wish all of you the very best and hopefully I will return with the family on vacation and we will all see each other again.
Forever grateful to a wonderful place,
Chris Clarke
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Vote For Own Interests
Editor:
Any true student of economics knows that tariffs are nothing more than a fancy word for increased taxes. Attention Wal-Mart shoppers. China does not pay the tariffs on the stuff we buy; We pay that 15-25% extra. The only tariffs that China pays to itself are those that they place on stuff that hurt Trump’s base the most like farm products, which they now can buy cheaper from many other countries anyway. So, of course, Trump decides to give those he hurts the most, tax relief to mollify his base, coming from the rest of us taxpayers to pay for his blunders. If you do the math you will see that we middle income folks and below did not get any real tax relief and since many of us buy products for the lowest price usually, we wind up with that added 15-25% higher sales tax. That is not a problem for those top 1% who got a huge tax break and do not have to buy the cheap stuff.
Even that marginal student who barely got his undergrad degree in economics, not business, with only two years of his at Wharton with no honors of any kind, should know this. (This is public record, look it up) Maybe if he applied himself he could have gone on to get the MBA he apparently needs to understand how business works, and not really on his superb confidence artist skills that he learned from his father. How do you lose a billion on a casino? Steaks? Clothing lines? The Trump University scam? Luckily for him his parents gave him so much as well as the Russian banks, to bail him out repeatedly. Let us see that tax records.
Who is going to bail the rest of us out? Please vote for your own interests with actual facts that can be verified with the public record and math, not the sound bites from very well crafted and well-funded ads that lie to our faces
Hans Van Den Bosch
Snow Hill
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Home Tour A Hit, Thanks To Support
Editor:
On behalf of the Art League of Ocean City, thank you to everyone who made this year’s 14th Annual Sand Castle Home Tour and Party a huge success. The proceeds from this yearly event continue to provide sustaining funds to support our non-profit mission of promoting artistic expression and appreciation for the creative arts in our community, and help to keep the Ocean City Center for the Arts free and open to the public. The tour showcases the many beautiful residential communities in our area, as well as the builders, decorators, contractors, restaurants, and others who provide amenities that support our local economy and the arts.
We would like to thank Maryland’s First Lady, Yumi Hogan, for being our 2018 honorary chairperson. Our gratitude also goes out to the gracious homeowners who opened their doors for the tour: the Foelber, Ebersole, Coffin, Corey, Fuchsluger, Craig, Brous, Correa, Smith, and Dypsky families. Thank you, as well to our Home Tour committee members — Mary Ellen Rosenblit, Ryan Wilde, Karen Hunter West, Nancy Fortney, Marian Bickerstaff, Eileen Salafia, Sheila Harding, Emmy Challenger, and Linda Kessinger — who worked many months to coordinate the tour.
This year’s kick-off “pARTy of the Year,” themed “Art-a-Ritaville,” was an evening to celebrate the arts. We are grateful to Tony DeLuca and the Gateway Grand for allowing us to hold it in their beautiful facility. Our gratitude also goes out to our dedicated committee of Cindy Leiner, Kari Berger, Jamie Albright, Sandy Gillis, Marsha Howarth, Rebecca Galyon, Cheryl Taustin, Nadine Wieder, Gayle Widdowson, Jennifer Klepper, Jan Perdue, and Eileen Stamnas. Thank you to our sponsors: Jamie and Jeff Albright, Bank of Ocean City, Sidney and Sherrie Beckstead family, Kari and Dr. Leonard Berger, Jack Burbage, Casual Designs Furniture, Reese Cropper III, Delaware Elevator, Dr. Kathy Dillon and Dan Mason, Fager’s Island, Lora Fritschle/Condominium Realty, Harrison Group, Maller Wealth Management, Buddy and Laura Jenkins, Kimmerly Messick/Furniture Queen, Mercedes of Salisbury, Jim and Jan Perdue, Seacrets, Eileen and Dr. Greg Stamnas, Rina and Jeff Thaler, Gayle and Dirk Widdowson, and Nadine Wieder for sponsoring the party. We are also grateful for our in-kind donors — Taste Events, Nori Sushi, Phil Cropper, Candy Kitchen, Phil Spinuzza, The Clarion, Evo, Pepsi, Coastal Tents, Sysco, Rita’s Ice, the Taustin Family, Lloyd and Monica Martin, and Maria De Forrest — for their donations to the party. Thank you also to Adam Showell, The Residence Inn, the Harrison Group, and Sandy and Palmer Gillis for the raffle donations.
Thank you to the florists who provided spectacular arrangements for the party and homes: City Florist, Flowers by Alison, Ocean Greenery, Ocean City Florist, Beached Butterfly, Barefoot Gardeners, Alison to the Altar, Encore Events, Ocean Pines Garden Club, and Worcester County Garden Club. We are grateful to all of the artists who painted the fabulous home portraits: Jim Adcock, Nancy Ellen Thompson, Robin Foreman, Kathy Bohs, Rebecca Simonds, Sandy Glassman, Jill Glassman, Ellie Scott, Gerilyn Gaskill, and Tinsel Hughes. Thank you as well to Atlantic General Hospital for the blue booties and Blue Water Development for the tour bags.
Our appreciation goes out to our valued media partners — Ocean City Today, Maryland Coast Dispatch, Coastal Style Magazine, Metropolitan Magazine, and Delmarva Public Radio — and to the 50 local businesses who advertised in the tour book. We thank the restaurants that provided gift certificates for our raffle: The Hobbit, Hooked, Rare & Rye, the Bonfire, Marlin Moon, Liquid Assets, The Victorian Room at the Dunes Manor, Blu Crabhouse/ Madfish, Captain’s Table, and Evo/Sobo’s.
It truly takes a village to run this event, and we are so grateful to the over 165 volunteers who worked as docents during the tour. Many return to help each year, and some are representatives from other non-profits in the area.
Finally, to the almost 1,000 people who took the tour, thank you for coming. We hope you enjoyed the beautiful residences of our area and look forward to seeing you at the Ocean City Center for the Arts on 94th street, and in 2019 for the 15th Annual Sand Castle Home Tour, Sept. 20-21.
Rina Thaler
Ocean City
(The writer is the executive director of the Art League of Ocean City and the Ocean City Center for the Arts.)
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Appreciation Expressed
Editor:
A free outside Community Youth Fair at Wilson United Methodist Church was held Sept. 28.
Special thanks to the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department that provided K-9 demonstrations, radar and motorcycle patrol and a wide display of literature and hand-outs, appropriate for children and parents. Our appreciation goes out to the Fire Chief and EMS Captain of Bishopville VFD for their fire truck on display including hours of fun with fire hose demonstrations, also a bounce house donated by Ocean Pines VFD. Boy Scouts of America and leaders spent time speaking to fair-goers on camping, hiking and community service; they built working “box ovens” and much more.
We also thank the Gideon’s for their faith based time and dedication. We are grateful for our special guests, making such a positive impression on the youth and our community.
Wilson United Methodist Church Bishopville