SNOW HILL – Resistance to possible slot machines at Ocean Downs Racetrack may keep the popular one-armed bandits from descending on Worcester County en masse, but local fraternal organizations have just begun lobbying to bring them into their lodges in a small way.Commissioners Bobby Cowger, Jim Purnell and Virgil Shockley reported to their fellow commissioners… Read more »

OCEAN CITY – The Mayor and Council were presented with grant funds totaling $5,235, which will be used to send three town employees to the National Hurricane Conference. Jon Burrell presented the check to the Town of Ocean City on behalf of the Local Government Insurance Trust (LGIT), explaining that the grant would be used… Read more »

OCEAN CITY – A brief crime analysis of the 2007 summer season was given at a Police Commission meeting last week, with the conclusions the numbers were as expected.Ocean City Police Chief Bernadette DiPino and Corporal Glen McIntyre, who will be acting as a crime analyst for the department, made the presentation to the Police… Read more »

SNOW HILL – While project planning for Route 589 improvements is ongoing, the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) could not identify when any work could begin on the busy road, during its annual whistle-stop tour of the lower Eastern Shore counties.MDOT staffers spent 90 minutes discussing transportation issues and plans with the Worcester County Commissioners… Read more »

SNOW HILL – The way is now clear for a half percent hike in the Worcester County room tax after the County Commissioners passed enabling legislation this week raising the tax’s upper limit.The legislation raising and putting into effect the actual tax on hotel room and condominium rentals will be considered on Nov. 6, at… Read more »

OCEAN CITY – It came to light last week a New Jersey-based alternative energy company is exploring the possibility of developing a wind farm off the coast of Ocean City, following the lead of its already approved projects in Delaware, New York and Rhode Island.Bluewater Wind, one of the nation’s leading developers of offshore wind… Read more »

OCEAN CITY – Trimper’s Rides, the beleaguered Ocean City landmark and cornerstone of the downtown area, will be open for business as usual next summer, just has it has for nearly the last 120 years, but unresolved issues continue to curb any enthusiasm for its future beyond 2008.Trimper’s Rides officials announced yesterday the historic amusement… Read more »

WEST OCEAN CITY – When West Ocean City property owners retrieve their reassessment notices from their mail boxes in December, they will likely be relieved the anticipated increases have returned to levels not seen since the big real estate boom in the area started several years ago.While all of the final figures have not been… Read more »

SNOW HILL – Another serious accident at the dangerous Route 113 and Route 12 intersection in Snow Hill occurred yesterday morning, just two days after the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) visited the county on its annual tour.The Routes 113 and 12 intersection has been a point of contention between Worcester County and MDOT since… Read more »

BERLIN – It’s been five years since Worcester County adopted its controversial Critical Areas law and the legislation has become the cornerstone of how the county has developed in the years since and will develop in the future, but the jury is still out on whether the planning doctrine has or will achieve the desired… Read more »