Prior to last Friday night’s Ocean City Chamber of Commerce Awards Gala, I had heard through the grapevine that Businessman of the Year honoree Bill Gibbs had been told to keep his remarks to approximately two minutes. All honorees were apparently asked to do the same. Gibbs had told some friends prior that would not… Read more »

An editorial in The Baltimore Sun set off some concerns this week among those advocating for a state mandate that all school systems start the new school year the day after Labor Day. However, word is legislation is still expected to pass the Maryland General Assembly next year, no matter how the election shakes out… Read more »

The fact Ocean City is moving toward implementing official smoking restrictions is not a major surprise, but the discussion and subsequent vote was a bit perplexing.The council’s decision in a 4-3 vote to move ahead officially with creating designated smoking areas along the Boardwalk and beach should not be confused with an outright ban. Smoking… Read more »

As if the calendar was not proof enough, it was evident this week the summer is indeed winding down. Although there are still vacationers here, the volume is simply down significantly from the week prior.It’s troubling to me to see the peak season has essentially shrunk to six weeks. Many business owners I speak with… Read more »

First thing Monday morning I posted on the paper’s Facebook page a photo of the pole dancer on the Boardwalk from Saturday night. Immediately, the photo went viral, reaching more than 150,000 people and resulting in more than 1,000 comments, 280 likes and 560 shares in less than 24 hours.The clear majority of respondents stated… Read more »

Who gives a you know what? That was the response of the minority on social media this week after this paper posted a story online about an Ocean City employee using an ambulance to taxi two women carrying unopened packages of alcohol. Misuse of the ambulance is one thing but the fact it took place… Read more »

Although not always in the public arena, many conversations have been taking place in Ocean City in recent years over the changing demographic of the resort visitors. Concerns have been expressed that not as many families are visiting the area and less wholesome vacationers are influencing the area in a negative way.While those sorts of… Read more »

All 170 feet and 500 tons of the tall ship El Galeon Andalucia will be back in Ocean City next week. Depending on weather and tides, the vessel will make its way through the Inlet on Wednesday, July 30 or Thursday, July 31 with plans to begin offering tours on Friday, Aug. 1.This year the… Read more »

Like most in Berlin, I have mixed emotions about the town’s fire siren.On the morning of the 4th of July, it was challenging not to be annoyed by the early morning siren malfunction that consisted of the alarm sounding non-stop for about 30 minutes. A quick call to the town’s non-emergency line revealed it was… Read more »

Although last month’s primary election attracted just one in five voters to the polls, it was nonetheless a historic one in Worcester County.For the first time in anyone’s memory, two candidates were deadlocked after all the votes were counted and ratified. Since there was no precedent for guidance, nobody essentially knew what to do, including… Read more »