(June 19, 2015) The Ocean City Marlin Club’s 36th annual Small Boat Tournament, for vessels 34 feet long and smaller, will take place this weekend.
Registration for the competition will begin today, Friday, at 6:30 p.m. at the Marlin Club, located on Golf Course Road in West Ocean City. A captains’ meeting will follow at 8 p.m. The tournament is open to Marlin Club members and nonmembers.
Participants will fish from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., either Saturday or Sunday, June 20-21. Anglers can participate in the inshore or offshore divisions. They also have the option to compete in both.
The inshore division includes categories for flounder, sea bass, tautog, bluefish, rockfish and shark.
Offshore division categories include tuna, dolphin, shark and billfish release. There is a $500 bonus award for the heaviest flounder.
Weigh-ins will take place Saturday and Sunday from 3-6:30 p.m. at Sunset Marina in West Ocean City.
An Eastern Shore-style crab feast and awards banquet is scheduled for Sunday from 6:30-9 p.m.
The entry fee is $250 per boat to fish offshore or inshore. Five banquet tickets are included in the fee. To fish inshore one day and offshore the other, the cost is $500 and includes 10 banquet tickets. Added entry-level calcuttas are available for each division and cost $100, $200 and $300. The $200 offshore billfish added entry level is winner takes all.
For more information, call the Marlin Club at 410-213-1613 or visit www.ocmarlinclub.com.
Forty-nine boats carrying approximately 245 anglers of all ages competed in the Marlin Club’s 35th annual Small Boat Tournament last year. A total of $17,290 was paid out to tournament winners.
“A fair amount of fish were weighed … I don’t think it could have gone any better,” Bill Regan, tournament co-director, said after the 2014 event. “It was a great tournament.”
Regan said there was a good mix of participants, from young children to adults.
“Some people that fish now started fishing this tournament when they were kids,” Regan said. “Some of them have been fishing this tournament 15-20 years straight. That’s really cool.”
(June 19, 2015) Ocean City police officers arrested and charged Christian Gill, 16, of Hagerstown, Md. as an adult for attempting to rob a group of people with a handgun inside a motel last week.
On June 10, police met with a group of individuals who identified Gill as the person who displayed a handgun and demanded money from the victims. They resisted and the suspect fled to a room inside the Ocean City motel with a number of other people.
Officers were able to determine which room Gill was in, and they ultimately detained five individuals.
A search and seizure was performed in the room where a pellet gun, clothes matching the description of the suspect, marijuana and drug paraphernalia were located, according to the report.
The investigation revealed it was a drug-related robbery and Gill was charged with armed robbery, robbery, first-degree assault and theft of less than $1,000.
Gill was seen by a Maryland District Court Commissioner and was initially transferred to the Worcester County Jail on $250,000 bond. After a bond review, he is now being held without bond.
(June 19, 2015) Public school teachers and support staff will be getting an increase in pay in the new fiscal year, following the Worcester County Board of Education’s decision Wednesday to shift $1.9 million from other areas of its budget to cover the unbudgeted expense.
Despite some post-decision celebrating by beneficiaries of the board’s action, the maneuver did come with a cost: 13 education assistants were cut and other positions will not be filled.
A total of 32 positions were eliminated in the deal, but the bulk of those — 19 in all — are coming from retirements or resignations according to schools’ spokeswoman Barb Witherow. The cuts include 1.5 administrator positions and 17.5 teacher jobs.
“Each of these 32 jobs directly supported a student’s education,” said Superintendent Dr. Jerry Wilson. “Their losses affect our community and mean fewer resources for students, but we have been determined to pay our employees.”
Salaries for Worcester County teachers have slipped from 11th to 16th in the state over the past couple years, are below the state average and teachers have received only a half percent increase in their salary for six consecutive years, according to Vince Tolbert, the school board’s chief financial officer.
The $102 million operating budget proposed to the Worcester County Commissioners was $4 million more than last year’s total and included salary increases for teachers and staff.
The county commissioners, however, denied that request, when they adopted a maintenance of effort budget on June 2 with only an increase for health insurance costs. Maintenance of effort is a state law requiring counties to spend an equal amount per pupil year over year to prevent them from slashing school funding and balancing their budgets by diverting that money to other areas.
The county contributed $78.6 million to schools for the current fiscal year and allocated $79.1 million for the schools for fiscal year 2016.
In response to the county’s decision not to budget the pay increases, teachers in each of the county’s 14 schools organized and executed a “work to rule” protest. A petition calling for the implementation of the increases also was started by Stephen Decatur High School students and gathered more than 1,000 signatures.
Subsequently, members of the school board, the Worcester County Teachers Association and the Worcester County Education Support Personnel Association had to negotiate a new agreement.
The new terms, based on the $98.9 million education budget the commissioners approved, provides either one step for employees or a one percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) if an employee is not eligible for a step.
In addition, employees who, due to skipped pay scale steps in 2010, 2011 and 2012, have three years more work experience than their current salary step, will also receive a one-step increase mid-year. Bus contractors will receive a similar rate increases.
“We have been forced into a terrible dilemma and made some difficult decisions,” said Board President Robert Rothermel.
Beth Shockley-Lynch, president of the Worcester County Teacher’s Association, surveyed teachers in the county and more than 97 percent of her membership approved the new agreement.
“It’s been a tough year, but you have given us a happy ending and we thank you,” she told the board after the vote.
(June 19, 2015) Of the 23 counties and Baltimore City, Worcester ranks 11th in “health outcomes” according to a recently-released annual report compiled by the Robert Wood Johnson foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
The full report, found at www.countyhealthrankings.org, breaks out six major areas and ranks counties versus their states and the top performers in the country. Worcester does well in certain areas, coming in first in the state in “physical environment,” but the county falls to 20th place in social and economic factors, and 15th in health behaviors.
“Premature death is the one most troubling to me,” Michael Franklin, CEO of Atlantic General Hospital said. “It’s the one we’re all worried about.”
Defined as “years of potential life lost before age 75 per 100,000 population,” Worcester ranks 20th in the state with almost 7,300 years of potential lost life, almost a millennium more than the state’s average of 6,439.
Franklin said, in analyzing the methodology to determine these results, that 40 percent of the factors contributing to the premature loss of life were behavioral.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do as a region behaviorally and socio-economically,” he said.
The county’s high unemployment rate, 11.2 percent according to the study, along with 22 percent of children living in poverty as well as a relatively high income inequality rate of 4.2 percent, all contribute to Worcester’s low score in this area. Social associations are high at 17.3, nearly double the rest of the state, so there are a lot of private interactions within the county without a lot of results.
“I see significant issues that directly relate to the social and economic factors, which are the biggest driver of the other items,” Franklin said. “I’m concerned with the obesity, smoking and drinking rates.”
According to the study 18 percent of adults smoke and 31 percent are obese, each three percent higher than the state average. Excessive drinking, physical inactivity, alcohol-impaired driving deaths and the teen birth rate are all slightly higher than the state average. Worcester ranks 15th in the behavior section.
It’s not all bad news, though. Worcester ranks eighth in quality-of-life factors including reported amount of poor physical or mental health days and low birth weight.
In clinical care, or access to medical professionals, the county ranks fifth.
“There is still a need for providers,” Franklin said, and the numbers bear him out. Despite the county’s high ranking, ratios of patients to providers are significantly higher than state averages. The state average for a patient to primary care physician ratio is 1,131 to 1. In Worcester County that ratio is 1,433 to 1. Dentists are even more scarce with a state average of 1,392 to 1 and a Worcester County ratio of 1,912 to 1. Diabetic screenings and mammography rates are also well above state averages.
Where Worcester shines is in its physical environment. The county is ranked first in physical environment. While most, 82 percent, drive to work alone, only a few, 29 percent, drive more than 30 minutes. The county has recorded zero drinking water violations, while the state average is 16 percent, and there is a lower amount of air pollution than elsewhere.
“All of this together tells a story, not about a program or a specific message, that needs to get out there. This is what creates the whole picture of population health,” Franklin said.
(June 19, 2015) Earlier in the month the Worcester County Commissioners empowered Treasurer Phil Thompson to enter the bond market to refinance old debt and pay for a few capital improvement projects to the tune of about $43 million, expecting between $800,000 and $850,000 in savings.
“If you see I have no fingernails left, [it’s] because the market has been up and down over the past few days,” Thompson told the commissioners Tuesday.
Thompson said his staff spent between 200 and 300 hours preparing for the bond issue. “It’s a lot of work and a difficult time of year to do it, since we just finished the budget process,” Thompson said. “We tried to schedule another time, but any savings would be worth going to market over.”
As bids were opened earlier in the week, it became clear that Worcester County’s traditionally conservative finance department had once again been conservative with its projections.
“We should save $1.1 million over the life of the bond issue,” Thompson said to a visibly pleased board of county commissioners, “about $600,000 of that will be realized in fiscal 2016.”
Thompson said the projects included in the $12 million capital improvement bond issue, called “A series,” are the Berlin rubble fill cap and closure project, which will close the operation, a new 800 MHz radio system for the Emergency Services department, financing for the construction of a new cell at the landfill and interconnections for the Mystic Harbour water and wastewater system, plus costs, fees and capitalized interest on the bonds.
The refinanced bonds will carry an interest rate of 2.716 percent.
The county is also pursuing $30 million in refunding bonds, called “B series,” which would essentially refinance old debt at a lower interest rate.
Included would be the 2007 refunding bonds, covering the Worcester Career and Technology Center construction and other public works projects, and 2008 capital improvement bonds for the Pocomoke High addition and renovation plus a loan from Taylor Bank financing the Ocean Pines Fire Protection system loan as well as fees, interest and other associated costs.
The net interest rate for these bonds is down to just 1.9 percent.
“I’m very thankful for the staff and the commissioners for supporting the bond sale,” Thompson said.
(June 19, 2015) Commercial and recreational fishermen who have had trouble entering and exiting the Ocean City Inlet because of incessant shoaling can breathe a little easier as the Army Corps of Engineers has made $250,000 available to pay for intermittent dredging.
“The money is being allocated now, but that’s not to say work will begin immediately,” Sarah Gross, public affairs specialist with the Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday.
Action began on the issue after commercial fisherman Joe Letts said he was forced to move his fleet into New Jersey to avoid potential damage and delays because of shoaling at the inlet.
Some of the larger commercial boats, and most recently the vessel contracted to map the ocean floor beneath leased property for an offshore wind farm, are subject to wait for high tide to traverse the inlet. The survey boat was delayed for 12 hours.
“The requested $250,000 allows for special usage from Wilmington,” Gross said, “It’s still [Superstorm] Sandy recovery money.”
Pursuing advanced maintenance funds to finance more frequent dredging of the inlet was the first of three steps identified at an April meeting organized by Delegate Mary Beth Carozza and attended by federal, state and local elected officials, commercial fishermen and government employees.
“Operations will be performed whenever they can get out and do it. How many trips the money will fund is a function of how much material and the scope of the removal effort,” Gross said, “This is a Band-Aid until we can do something more substantial.”
The depth of the inlet is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers and is approved for a depth of 10 feet, plus and additional two feet of overdraft. Regular dredging is necessary to maintain that depth as the inlet continues to fill with sand and sediment.
In April, Corps Project Manager Bob Blama said he would attempt to secure funds to dredge the inlet to a total depth of 14 feet.
Blama said the ideal situation would be to take the entire inlet down to a depth of 14 feet, but the way the funding works and the availability of the dredge won’t allow for that at this time.
“I can go down to 14, but the way this is working, I’m only getting the dredge sporadically,” Blama said, “We’re working in a timeframe. If I have a hotspot that’s only seven or eight feet, we’re going to take it down as far as we can in the allotted time.”
The county as well as other interested parties sent letters of intent to the Army Corps of Engineers late last month asking them to act on a 1998 study recommending dredging to a permanent depth between 14 and 16 feet. The local share of funding for such a project is expected to be around 10 percent of the total cost.
A new study, also requested in the letter of intent, to pinpoint the source of the shoaling sediment, would carry a cost-sharing aspect of about 35 percent local funding. Whether that funding can be provided as an in-kind donation, by Worcester County providing a site to dispose of the dredged material, for example, will be answered when the county signs a project contract for a more permanent solution to the sediment problem.
(June 19, 2015) With more than $10,000 raised of his $20,000 goal — nearly 10 percent of that raised this past weekend — local disaster relief expert Patrick Robbins said the Nepali family who adopted him is now living in a traditional albeit temporary structure until a replacement house can be built.
“What’s happening now is the typical Nepali bureaucracy taking over,” Robbins said, as the Nepali government has instituted a rebuilding ban until new design standards can be implemented.
“That knowledge is already out there around the world,” Robbins said of construction intended to withstand natural disasters.
Like many conversations with Robbins — a graduate of Salisbury University who engaged in a number of national and global disaster-relief efforts while remaining on the Lower Shore — there is a silver lining.
“Monsoon season has already started,” Robbins said, “and the best time now to build is after it ends.”
Monsoon season runs contemporaneously with the western hemisphere’s hurricane season, but is a horse of a different color. Instead of a few major storm events, monsoons in Nepal are more of a constant soaking rain punctuated with times of high winds and infrequent clear days.
“When you wash your clothes, which is all done by hand, of course, even if you hang them inside they don’t really get dry,” Robbins said. He is a frequent visitor to the area and has experienced monsoons.
Even without the first earthquake, which hit at the end of April, or the follow-up quake that hit a couple of weeks later, diseases such as cholera and diarrhea are annual deadly threats.
Sanitation is a concern in the best of times, Robbins said, and the Basnet family’s new temporary quarters is a giant step forward from the tarp they had been living under since the earthquake.
“This is separate from the house funds we’ve raised,” Robbins said of the traditional structure, built from bamboo harvested from the nearby jungle and fitted with a corrugated metal roof. The walls will be plastered with mud to aid weatherproofing, but the structure is still a far from the brick-and-mortar structure the 10 members of the family had been used to.
“It’s a 15-minute walk from where they were in a portion of field they usually plant,” Robbins said. The new structure is not without its own dangers, Robbins explained, because of its proximity to the jungle and another threat: leopards.
“I didn’t really believe animal attacks were a problem until I was introduced to an uncle who had survived an attack,” Robbins said. The scars, he said, were horrific.
Overall, the Basnet family is lucky in terms of outcomes, Robbins said.
“Of the 22 houses in the village, nine were damaged or ruined. People in the village are taking care of each other, and they’re close to the capital so there are some resources. There are lots of Nepali families who will be, let’s face it, living in tents for years to come,” he said.
The fact that some houses remain livable is no small blessing.
“In the remote villages, everyone is in the same situation. No one in this village is starving or out on their own,” Robbins explained.
The crowdfunding effort, even at 50 percent of its stated goal of $20,000 is enough to get started. After monsoon season ends, and the government passes its new standards for housing, Robbins said the boots are on the ground ready to build.
For more information, or to donate, visit www.crowdrise.com/basnetfamilyshousefund.
(June 19, 2015) Balancing lower fees and quicker decisions with the need for public comment and transparent decisions, the Worcester County Commissioners on Tuesday continued to push toward abolishing the Shoreline Commission.
Docks, piers, riprap, replacement bulkheads and soft shorelines all fall under the jurisdiction of seven-member commission, but Department of Environmental Services Director Bob Mitchell told the commissioners he thinks his staff can handle the regulatory duties itself.
“Most functions are internalized,” Mitchell said, “Mechanized even. Historically, all the problems have been neighbor disputes.”
If a neighbor believed a project under the Shoreline commission’s jurisdiction negatively affected his or her property, a hearing could be convened. Neighbors would also be alerted by mail if a major project were intended in their area.
“The power to make those decisions can go to one person,” Harold Scrimgeour, of Stockton, argued, “There’s no review process and we need a better appeal structure.”
The proposed appeal process crosses department lines in county government. As part of the proposed end of the commission, the environmental services department would conduct the initial review, and the Board of Zoning Appeals would hear appeals.
“Some people want the process. There has to be mediation,” Ginger Gillis, of Berlin, said.
An amendment offered by Commissioner Chip Bertino, and passed by the board, would still require mailed notification to adjoining property owners of applications for both major and minor projects.
Jen Cropper, a sitting member of the Shoreline Commission from Ocean City, wanted to ensure the commission could be reconvened if the substitute process doesn’t work.
“This offers economy and efficiency but we need a safety valve,” Bertino said.
Under the plan, the application fees for both major and minor projects would be halved to $125 and $75 respectively.
The commissioners voted to approve Bertino’s amendment concerning neighbor notification, and another amendment offered by County Attorney Sonny Bloxom to move relevant sections of code from Zoning to Natural Resources to facilitate the effort. They will vote on a “clean” version of the bill during the meeting scheduled for July 21.
(June 19, 2015) When you mix a lot of hot air with loads of cool water, you don’t just get a recipe for fixing Congress, sometimes you get a stuck bridge too.
The Town of Ocean city reported via its Twitter account on Tuesday morning that the Harry Kelley drawbridge was stuck in the “up” position, and that the problem had been resolved a few minutes later. While the phenomenon was not new, it was a novel incident in Ocean City in one respect.
“When the bridge tender closes the drawbridge it has to seat properly — a sensor has to say it’s OK,” David Buck of the State Highway Administration said, “What we’ve never seen in Ocean City is the significant difference between the air and water temperatures affecting the sensor.”
The sensor is attached to a metal spring that must compress to a certain degree for the sensor to show the bridge is seated properly for safe travel. The warmer air, measuring almost 80 degrees near the time of the incident by www.wunderground.com, caused the metal spring to expand; the cooler water, measured at about 67 degrees around the same time by NOAA, was enough to play havoc with the sensor’s tolerances. The bridge, which may have been seated properly, was still showing the bridge was in the “up” position.
The fix is somewhat underwhelming.
“We just had to reopen and reclose the bridge,” Buck said, “The operator let off the button too early. If it was held down for a couple of seconds longer it would have seated properly.”
Buck said the incident was a “little bit of operator error and a little bit miscalibrated sensor.”
A potentially more exciting fix Buck suggested would be to “get out there with a fire hose and cool everything down,” but instead the State Highway Administration said it would send someone out on Wednesday to adjust the sensor.
“We know what it is because we’ve seen it on other bridges,” Buck said, “We just need to convince the sensor the difference is much less than what it is.”
(June 19, 2015) In what appeared to be a stumble for the Berlin-to-Snow Hill excursion train project, the phase 2 report on the plan spent considerable time proposing a Berlin-Delaware line run that was of no interest to the Worcester County Commissioners.
Further, that proposal was bolstered by a PowerPoint presentation not provided to the commissioners in advance.
“The presentation uses new data that’s about 4 days old,” Randall Gustafson, vice president of operations for Stone Consulting, the firm leading the excursion train charge, said. Commissioner Chip Bertino voiced concern over the inability to review the information.
Gustafson advocated for the Berlin line north because of what he said was its suitability for so-called “feature trains,” or trips centered on a character or event, such as a tie-in to the Polar Express movie.
The featured events, Gustafson maintained, are the bread and butter of an excursion train operation, drawing ridership from local, rather than tourist, traffic and bolstering profitability in the off-season.
“I don’t see much attraction moving north from Berlin,” Commissioner Ted Elder said.
“For me,” Commissioner Bud Church agreed, “I don’t see the advantage of going north from Berlin. The idea is to bring people down into the county, and there’s more advantage to going south rather than north.”
“[Train operations] are more dependent on capital costs and where the money is,” Gustafson said, adding that the route the train might eventually take didn’t matter.
The capital costs are rehabilitating the tracks and installing or improving facilities to service the trains or to provide ancillary support for train operations, like a gift shop.
How fast the train will move will dictate the level of rehabilitation. The lowest level, not recommended by Stone Consulting, would result in a net replacement of 26.1 percent of the existing track and allow for speeds of 15 mph. The recommended level, allowing speeds of 25 mph would result in a 39.1 percent replacement of the existing track.
The total costs to rehabilitate the track are dependent on what route the excursion train would take. While it appears certain the train would not travel north of Berlin, how, where and at what speed it would make its way through Berlin to Snow Hill and points in-between would change the cost, according to Gustafson’s report.
Five routes were outlined in the phase 2 report, including Berlin to the Delaware State line; Berlin to Newark, Newark to Snow Hill, a Snow Hill “special event” loop and Snow Hill to Berlin.
The Snow Hill “special event” loop is the shortest and cheapest option, presupposing it operates in tandem with another station at an estimated $1.2 million. Next is Snow Hill to Newark at almost $1.7 million. Berlin to Newark is estimated to be almost $2 million, and the longest stretch, Berlin to Snow Hill is just a bit more than $3 million, according to Gustafson’s PowerPoint presentation.
“This report outlines what needs to be done,” Economic Development Director Bill Badger said, “It’s a deal involving a private partnership with a private partnership.”
The first private partnership would be the railroad, Maryland and Delaware Railroad, and the second would be the operator of the train, an as-yet-undetermined entity.
“I’ve got two operators on the line. The word is out on this project and it’s reaching critical mass,” Gustafson said.
Tickets, Gustafson estimated, would cost around $15 for a normal excursion trip and were estimated between $35 and $40 for a feature trip, though Gustafson himself said he would not endorse a $40 price tag.
(June 19, 2015) Facing charges related to the June 2014 death of Gioni Phillips, Gemayel Jarmon, 32, of Berlin, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last week in Worcester County Circuit Count and was sentenced to serve 10 years.
Probation conditions had not been updated in the Maryland Judiciary’s case search website, but the court ordered he must serve at least half of the sentence, because the incident is classified as a “crime of violence.”
Charges were filed, and subsequently not prosecuted by then-State’s Attorney Joel Todd. The incident occurred in 2007, when Phillips was 3 months old, and the cause of his injuries were attributed to “shaken baby syndrome.”
Phillips survived the 2007 incident, only to die last year, when the case was reopened by State’s Attorney Beau Oglesby and Jarmon was prosecuted.
Jarmon, in a handwritten response to the charges filed two months after the incident, explained his behavior as shaking the infant to rouse him after an earlier head injury, admittedly caused by Jarmon, left the child unresponsive.
The Ocean Pines Angler’s Club will join the community’s recreation and parks department for Teach a Kid to Fish Day this Saturday at the South Gate Pond, beginning at 9 a.m.
Ben Greely holds a bass he caught during the annual Ocean Pines Anglers Club, Teach A Kid To Fish day, last year, at the South Gate Pond.
Last year’s event went well, according to organizer Walt Boge, and this year’s event, held the day before Father’s Day, could provide participants with the perfect Norman Rockwell moment in scenic Ocean Pines.
“A dad teaching his kid to fish is probably the best way to build a family relationship, but, believe it or not, sometimes the parents and the grandparents learn in addition to what the kids learn,” Boge said. “We had a pretty good turnout last year and the weather held up, so everything went off without a hitch.”
Boge estimated the event has been running in Ocean Pines for 10-12 years.
“The whole idea of our club is oriented towards fishing and one of our tenets is to try to get kids to enjoy the concept of fishing and join in fishing expeditions,” Boge said. “One way to do that is to have the kids come in and learn a little more about the basics of fishing: different kinds of bait, how to tie a knot, how to cast a line, and then how to treat fish if they’re going to throw them back in the water.”
Children will have the opportunity to learn those skills at stations set up around the pond. Participants can register, for free, to win a number of prizes, including the grand prize of a fishing rod and reel.
During the event, kids will also have the opportunity to get a little hands-on experience.
“We provide bait for them, so after they learn the basic things, they can go to the pond with their parents or grandparents and start fishing,” Boge said. Sunfish, bluegills, bass and even the occasional catfish can be found in the pond.
“Hopefully, the kids learn a little bit more about fishing and the joys of it,” Boge said. “Basically that’s the whole idea – get them to enjoy fishing. Hopefully, kids will take what they learned in this event and then take part in our kid’s fishing contest on July [18].”
No license is required to fish in the pond. Ages 4-16 are welcome.
Nearly six months after a nighttime spray painting spree shocked Berlin residents, two suspects will go to trial in Worcester County District Court on Friday morning, June 19, on 40 vandalism-related charges that resulted in $11,276 in damages.
Berlin resident Nick Bonser, 18, is facing charges related to the January vandalism incident in Berlin. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)Ocean City resident Jordan Denton, 18, is facing charges related to the January vandalism incident in Berlin. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)
The defendants, Nick Bonser, 18, of Berlin, and Jordan Denton, 18, of Ocean City, face 39 charges of malicious destruction of property and one count of theft less than $100. The theft charge is believed to be in conjunction with the spray paint itself, taken from a nearby Wal-Mart shortly before the incident occurred on the evening of Jan. 25.
According to the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s office, an unnamed juvenile suspect entered into a plea bargain and submitted a plea of “involved” to all 40 charges.
The state’s attorney may only discuss outcomes when dealing with juvenile cases, so sentencing recommendations and details are unavailable.
In February, Berlin Police reported 36 separate victims, including the Town of Berlin, which had one vehicle, 10 electric meters and four trashcans spray-painted. Three buildings and 33 additional cars were sprayed during the incident that spanned a dozen streets: Ann Court, Ann Drive, Branch Street, Buttercup Court, Harrison Ave, Henry’s Mill, Littleworth Court, North Main Street, Pitts Street, Powell Circle, West Street and William Street.
Renaissance Plaza, the Evergreen Masonic Lodge, Town Center Antiques and vehicles registered to Nestle Dreyer’s Ice Cream and Delaware Elevator Inc. also suffered damages.
According to the statement of charges, Berlin police were dispatched to the municipal parking lot at 103 Williams Street at approximately 11:38 p.m. on Jan. 25 in response to a call that several vehicles had been spray-painted.
Law enforcement logged the buildings, meters and trashcans, as well as 10 vehicles, that evening. On the following morning, police received 23 additional reports of damaged vehicles and recovered several discarded cans of spray paint.
A police investigation led authorities to the three suspects. According to the report, Bonser and the juvenile admitted, during police interviews, to obtaining the spray paint from the Wal-Mart and “riding around spraying painting vehicles and buildings.”
The report went on to state that Denton admitted to stealing the paint from Wal-Mart and “coming to Berlin with [the suspects] and spray painting cars and buildings.”
Berlin Police said they obtained video from Wal-Mart showing the three suspects allegedly stealing spray paint from the store at approximately 9:36 p.m.
Police said all of the crimes occurred between 9:36 and 11:38 p.m. “pursuant to one scheme and continuing course of conduct, willfully and maliciously defacing [properties].”
Denton was served papers on Feb. 11 and had a scheduled hearing on March 13 at 9 a.m. at the district courthouse in Snow Hill. The result of that hearing is unknown.
(June 19, 2015) Now in its fourth year of having a physical location, Ocean City’s Irish Outreach has found what is likely it’s best spot yet.
In a ground-floor apartment on Baltimore Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets, the group has again set up shop. Two rooms are filled with shelves of bed linens, lamps, cookware and other home goods. Even in the age of online posting, several bulletin boards for jobs, housing, and free meals are full with hand-written notes.
“If you just want to hang out, use our Wi-Fi, talk to the volunteers, come by any time. Everyone here has an Irish connection,” Irish Outreach director Rick Fairbend told an assembly of students on Tuesday.
For the past four years, Fairbend and his wife, Pat, along with dozens of other volunteers, have organized an effort to help Irish students in ocean City find secure jobs, housing, and help navigating their summer in the states.
“We’re here to help you have a good time and respect what goes on here in Ocean City, especially the police and traffic laws. And sunscreen – especially sunscreen” Pat Fairbend said.
More than 300 student-workers have already signed up at the center. Most will be in Ocean City for several weeks, although their goal is to visit as much of America as they can before going back to Ireland.
“We want to make money to travel while we’re here,” said Róisín McLaughlin. “I don’t’ really care if I go back to Ireland with anything.”
Irish student-workers are different matter from most. The majority of the resort’s summer work-travel visa (J-1) students are from Eastern Europe, and essentially arrive on-demand, as they are required by the State Department to have pre-arranged housing and work contracts with qualified employers in the states.
Irish students, because Ireland is a so-called “visa waiver” country for U.S. diplomatic purposes, can arrive with no arranged jobs or housing.
“Housing is the issue this year,” Rick Fairbend said. “It’s a combination of some of the houses becoming weekly vacation rentals, and those that are available filling up with high school kids. Unfortunately, the Irish get what’s left over.”
Jobs are typically less of an issue. After a long trip to get to Ocean City from his home in Clare, near Limerick, Conor Cunningham stopped in a local pub for a beer.
“I was sitting there drinking my pint and they asked me if I wanted to work there. I had been in town three hours and started right away,” Cunningham said.
The situation isn’t a free-for-all, though. Irish Outreach works closely with visa agents to check on students, who still must report their jobs to their sponsoring agent, who must then get them vetted via the State Department. Email notices are sent out every 30 days, with survey questions students are required to answer.
“If we don’t hear back from you, we will reach out to you and to your employer,” said Sandi Wickenden of CIEE, one of largest visa agents sending students to the resort area.
“We’re doing it to look out for you guys and to make sure your employers are honest.”
Irish Outreach will also assist students in dealing with disputes with employers or landlords. Fairbend vets a number of housing locations to make sure that owners are offering fair leases. As the summer wears on, and housing become tighter, many landlords are often looking for any justification to kick foreign students out and free up their properties for higher-paying tourists.
“Remember, if you’re on the lease, you’re the ones responsible. If the police get called, they’re going to have everyone who doesn’t live there leave, and the ones on the lease are the ones liable,” Rick Fairbend reminded the students.
So far, things have been fairly quiet.
“I had two kids get picked up for open containers,” Fairbend said. “That’s something you can do in Ireland that the kids don’t understand you can’t do here. But two out of 300 isn’t bad. If nobody had any problems, I’d be surprised.”
One of the big talking points for students this year – Irish, American, or otherwise – is bicycle safety. Many visa sponsors are on edge since the recent fatality of a Ukrainian student bicycling in Rehoboth.
“This is how serious it is,” Wickenden told students. “You don’t realize how bad the traffic situation is going to get as the summer goes on.”
“If you’re on your bike, please stop at every red light and wait for all the cars to make their turns,” Pat Fairbend said. “And please don’t walk with your phone. You’re not paying attention. Wait until you’re on the other side of the street.”
Irish Outreach is sponsored by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and also receives significant funding from the Irish Apostolate USA.
“If we weren’t getting funding from the bishops, we wouldn’t be able to afford to run this place,” Rick Fairbend said.
To volunteer or make a donation, find Irish Outreach on Facebook, stop by the center on Baltimore Avenue Between 12th and 13th Streets, or call 443-523-6978.
Irish Outreach director Rick Fairbend speaks with student Conor Cunningham at Irish Outreach’s student center on Baltimore Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets.
(June 19, 2015) Although the state appears to have eased up a bit, Ocean City arcade owners are still pressing to have family amusements carved out from impending regulations that would put certain types of arcade machines under the licensing control of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Commission.
The MLGC regulations will likely come up for public comment and promulgation at the end of this month, with policy in place by next year, at the earliest.
“We’d definitely like family entertainment centers to be exempted from control by the lottery commission,” Chris Trimper of Trimper’s Amusements said. “I don’t necessarily have a problem registering my games, but I don’t particularly want Maryland lottery registration stickers on all my skee-ball machines. It puts a bad taste in people’s mouths.”
Last year, the state authorized the creation of a new regulatory classification for the MLGC, to be known as “electronic gaming devices.” These were any devices that distributed in-kind prizes of more than $30 in value, and would be subject to strict inspection, registration, and quarterly reporting requirements.
The intent of the definition, it was said, was to create some sort of control over the gray-market gambling devices that are found in malls or stores in some areas of the state. Those machines skirt the state’s casino rules by offering in-kind prizes, or tickets redeemable for prizes, rather than cash.
But the definition also would have caught so-called “merchandiser” machines, which are commonly found in arcades in Ocean City and elsewhere. Such machines require the user to perform some task – stacking a series of blocks, lining up certain shapes, etc. – in order to unlock a prize such as headphones or an iPod.
“Apparently there are issues in other counties where you’re winning a ticket that can be cashed in,” said Melanie Pursel, executive director of the Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce. “We didn’t feel that the merchandiser machines in family arcades should be lumped in with that.”
Due to outcry from the amusement industry, the regulations now being considered would instead put most games in a “skills-based amusement devices” category that would be somewhat less onerous.
Only nonskill games, such as video bingo, scratch-off, or pull-tab type systems – which are already covered under state casino legislation, unless they’re offering in-kind prizes – would fall under the additional “electronic gaming device” rules.
Still, any device dispensing prizes of more than $30 would be required to register with the MLGC. The commission would have the power to require testing of the device, and to set maximums on prize value for any given location.
Arcade owners believe this isn’t necessary, at least for facilities that are already gaming-oriented.
“Up in Annapolis, there are malls that have these claw machines all over the place and they’re more than likely not being operated correctly,” Trimper said. “They’re doing it to take dollars off people coming into the mall and they’re more than likely not being checked to see if they actually pay out.”
“That’s not the case here,” he said. “We use these machines as a draw to get people in to play the more traditional games, like skee-ball. They’re actually loss leaders. But if we lose that draw with the big prizes, there are places up in Delaware that have them all over place and they’re going to have a leg up on us.”
Creating a distinction between bona-fide arcades, versus other places that have a few dubious machines, is difficult. The Ocean City Chamber’s lobbyist is currently working on an addendum to be proposed to the state’s Administrative, Executive, Legislative Review Committee once the regulations are published in the Maryland Register and public comment begins.
“That’s going to be the critical part, how precise you can make that definition,” Trimper said.
(June 19, 2015) It’s official — the city’s sweeping new street performer regulations will begin July 27.
The comprehensive new ordinance, roughly nine months in the making, passed its final reading before the city council on Monday night.
The key provision of the new legislation is a requirement that all buskers wishing to perform on the Boardwalk from Ninth Street south must register at City Hall for a designated location. From the inlet to Ninth Street, 33 spaces have been tentatively identified that will limit, it is hoped, the blockage of stores and pedestrian progress while still allowing interested performers ample opportunities.
The spaces range in size from 25 to 100 square feet, and will be rotated twice per week, requiring performers to come to city hall to register.
The idea, the city says, is to cut down on congestion on the Boardwalk’s most crowded stretch. The city believes the regulation meets previous court mandates, which have ruled against the city previously, for limiting freedom of speech, since anyone not taking part in the rotation system will still have an opportunity to express themselves as long as they do it north of Ninth Street.
Despite multiple questions from street performers themselves, there was a strong outpouring of support from Boardwalk businesses in favor of the basic idea of compromise.
“It’s created an environment that I hope all of us can live with,” said Bruce Krasner, owner of several T-shirt and gift shops on the Boardwalk. “I think it will work out in the end. In the beginning, I was a staunch opponent of having any buskers at all, but given time I think we can work together.”
In order to cut down on the increasing number of performers encroaching on public ways and habitually blocking access to brick-and-mortar businesses, the city would have performers come to City Hall twice a week to sign up for a spot, under a system to be managed by the city clerk.
Signups would begin at 9 a.m. on a given Monday for spaces to be used the following Monday through Thursday. Likewise, signups for the following Friday through Sunday would begin at 9 a.m. the preceding Friday.
“No one is trying to discourage free speech at all, under any circumstance,” said Vicki Barrett, longtime head of the Boardwalk Development Association. “But I think the merchants have as much right to continue making their living. Over the past few years they have struggled, and the reports, at least to me, are that they are losing thousands of dollars. The contribution the buskers make is huge, but I think it needs to be regulated to the point where the merchants aren’t suffering.”
Some administrative details will likely need to be fine-tuned, such as exactly how the signup process will work.
“If you have 20 people waiting at the clerk’s office … what’s going to be the process if you get everyone there at the same time — how are the spots going to be distributed?” asked caricaturist Mike Moeller.
“We expect it’ll be based on a line, and the clerk will go through the line and it’ll be first come, first serve to pick spots,” said Council President Lloyd Martin.
The ordinance stipulates that no performer can be placed in the same spot for two rotations in a row. One of the major intents of the ordinance is to provide a mix of performers, addressing recent problems in which performers would stake out lucrative spots for the entire summer. Further, under the new policy, no performance materials may be left unattended for more than 15 minutes.
The new legislation also enacts a number of use restrictions not only over the designated spaces from Ninth Street south, but also from Tenth Street north, where performers are allowed to operate on any of the open areas at street-ends without going through the city clerk.
Some of those elements have been tweaked after performers said they were too restrictive, including the restriction on the size of props used increased to five feet in height.
“It seems like those concerns were addressed to a certain degree, so thank you,” said Moeller, who was concerned about the height of his easel. “I still think this is too restrictive, but I appreciate that it was considered.”
The sign-up requirement will also only be in effect between May 1 and Sept. 30 of any given year.
“The idea of the ordinance is that it’s too congested in the south end below Ninth Street, but it isn’t in the off-season,” said Councilman Dennis Dare. “To go through the whole process in the off-season seems unnecessary.”
The new policy was formulated after several months of hearings by a city task force, appointed to address the street performer issue, and advised by constitutional law firm Venable, LLC.
Venable was hired to advise the city in the wake of several lawsuits which threw out the previous licensing system for street performers on First Amendment grounds. In a 2011 ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Hollander found that Ocean City’s licensing policy did not serve any codified public need, other than for the city to hold leverage over street performers.
The plaintiff in that case, spray-paint artist Mark Chase, was appointed as a member of the recent city task force on the matter, although he objected to many of the committee’s findings.
The regulations also exempt any group distributing expressive materials, but not vending them, such as political groups distributing fliers or buttons. All other performers, whether seeking compensation or not, must comply.
