Voices From The Readers – April 23, 2021

Voices From The Readers – April 23, 2021

Event Support Appreciated

Editor:

The Downtown Association Committee of OCDC would like to thank all those who came out and helped make our Italian Dinner at Shenanigans on Sunday, April 11 such a success.

To Greg Shockley and everyone at Shenanigans, we can’t thank you enough for letting us take over your restaurant and kitchen for the day. The dinner has become an annual tradition for many local families who look forward to this important fund-raiser every year.

Everyone enjoyed the delicious homemade pasta and authentic Italian sauces prepared by our chef, Nick Ruggieri. Thank you to Nick, Caroline Ruggieri and Jaenell Downes, as well as the many other volunteers that made the day happen; Ray and Carolyn Robinson, Joe Manganello, Nancy Howard, Nancy Bradford, Vicki Barrett, Donna Greenwood, Lauren Taylor, Maureen Hoffman and Danelle Amos.

A special thanks to our awesome Stephen Decatur High School servers, Mary, Conner, Hailey, Harper and Saylor! They are our next generation of volunteers and we can’t wait to see the exciting changes they will bring to our great community.

Thanks also to Bob Rothermel, T.E.A.M Productions, Melody Cedarstrum, Dorothy White, Carrabba’s and the Ladies of Glen Riddle for preparing and serving the fabulous deserts that accompanied the meal.

We look forward to a great summer of 2021 in downtown, the heart of Ocean City.

Mary Ann Manganello

Ocean City

(The writer is the event planner for the Ocean City Development Corporation.)

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Open Letter to the Police

Editor:

We need your help, the relationship between the police and citizens of America especially those of color is in a very fragile and crisis situation.

There is fear and apprehension in our collective relationships and interactions. Our trust levels are in a spiral meltdown. We don’t need an ‘uncivil war’ within America between the police and the people of America.

We have to create a not only mutual and impactful respect for each other, we must explore and develop real time narratives and systemic policies that will impact the culture of policing.
The way forward must mitigate and end the adversarial breach of trust that currently exists in our nation between the police and our communities.
We must create a blueprint that delivers peace and the end to this ‘uncivil war’ that now exists in America between the police and selective communities in America.

My community needs the police to police the police. We need those in uniform to stop the hate, fear and unlawful acts of policing in our communities. We know it is futile to “fix” the police from the “outside.” We come in peace to create a body of peace otherwise the nation will implode and collapse.

My community has a role as well. We must end the behavior and conduct within our community firewalls that fosters and creates fear, tension and anxiety for the police in America.

Families on both sides of this uncivil war want to go home without the casualties of a ‘uncivil war’. We can’t continue to weather these killings, protests and a state of 24/7 fear and anxiety in the streets of America between those who take an oath to “protect and serve” and its citizenry. Let’s save America together.

Greg Thrasher

Washington, DC.