During the recent book ban discussions at the Worcester County Board of Education meeting as well as across the state and country, it seemed inevitable there may be some legislation introduced on...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2024/02/01/between-the-lines-43/
Commissioners Wrong On Diakonia DecisionEditor:I was incredibly disappointed by the Commissioners recent vote to effectively delay the expansion of Diakonia.Its mission is second to none and rep...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2024/01/25/voices-from-the-readers-january-26-2024/
“For the times they are a-changin.”The phrase is repeated five times in the Bob Dylan song by the same name. It’s been the prevailing sentiment around our office for several weeks ahead of ...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2024/01/25/editor-weighs-in-on-newspaper-merger/
It’s clear to all it’s an election year on the national front with a disturbing Biden-Trump rematch inevitable on the presidential level, but there will also be much decided on the local fron...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2024/01/25/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-january-26-2024/
A 4-3 vote by the Worcester County Commissioners has jeopardized the future of a 42-unit affordable housing project operated by Diakonia.Diakonia’s current facility on Old Bridge Road can no lo...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2024/01/18/diakonia-project-merits-exception/
It was a pleasant surprise to see the Worcester County Commissioners vote 5-2 to explore implementing a public comment period at its meetings. Making the motion was Commissioner Joe Mitrecic and ...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2024/01/18/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-january-19-2024/
Tax Relief Needed For Middle ClassEditor:When I first starting to pay my taxes in the 60’s we could deduct all interest payments. Credit was difficult to get, unlike now. Now credit easy is to...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2024/01/18/voices-from-the-readers-january-19-2024/
In 2024, it appears there will be two Jeep events in Ocean City – Jeep Fest and Jeep Week. More specific plans for Ocean City Jeep Week, tentatively scheduled for May 9-12, and the associated J...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2024/01/11/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-january-12-2024/
Because it’s been one way for decades is not reason enough to continue doing something that’s wrong. It’s our position on public comments not being accepted at Worcester County Commissioner...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2024/01/11/public-meetings-should-allow-public-comments/
Commissioner Off Base With BOE AccusationsEditor:(The following letter was addressed to Worcester County Commissioner Eric Fiori.)I read your “thoughts and reasoning into your vote” to not f...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2024/01/11/voices-from-the-readers-january-12-2024/
In this first issue of 2024, I offer some predictions for what will make news in the weeks and months ahead. The Appellate Court of Maryland will uphold the lower court’s decision to dismiss ch...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2024/01/04/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-january-5-2024/
Juvenile Services Requires AttentionEditor:I would like to enlighten Worcester County residents of the punishments enforced upon our youths within our county by employees of Worcester County’s...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2024/01/04/voices-from-the-readers-january-5-2024/
“Without Ocean City, Worcester County would be Somerset County,” former Worcester County Commissioner Granville Trimper once said in the face of concerns from south-end commissioners about Oc...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2024/01/04/what-will-county-do-with-property-new-tax-revenue/
It’s time to look back on how my predictions for the year turned out.On The Money After being canceled in 2022 due to Mother Nature, the massive Oceans Calling Festival took place in late Septe...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/12/28/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-december-29-2023/
Selecting the top stories of any year can be challenging, but here’s our top five, taking into consideration the number of stories written over the year on the topics as well as the overall com...
Sports Complex Opposition Editor: (The following letter was addressed to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore with an enclosure of a letter opposing a sports complex.) Enclosed you will find a letter which I ...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/12/28/voices-from-the-readers-december-29-2023/
The optimist in me sees some hope the state may pivot a bit on providing funding for a new Buckingham Elementary School. However, the realist was taken aback a bit by the comments from the IAC le...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/12/21/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-december-22-2023/
Empower Our Students To Understand, EngageEditor:I am writing to express my unwavering support for intellectual freedom, the right to access diverse educational materials, and a staunch oppositi...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/12/21/voices-from-the-readers-december-22-2023/
In the spirit of the season, we would like to devote some space to perhaps the most famous response ever to a letter to Santa.An editorial that appeared in 1897 in the New York publication The Su...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/12/21/reflection-yes-virginia-there-is-a-santa-claus/
It was great to see all the tributes to Greg Bassett this week.When I first heard of Greg Bassett’s passing Sunday, I immediately thought of Shawn Soper, who was a reporter and editor for this ...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/12/14/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-december-15-2023/
The Berlin Planning Commission did what it was supposed to do this week when it scrutinized the specifics surrounding a Wawa convenience store at the intersection of Route 50 and Main Street.A si...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/12/14/tabling-berlin-wawa-plans-best-for-now/
Creating Problems Where There Are NoneEditor:After listening to the Nov. 21, 2023 Board of Education meeting in its entirety, I along with many others, was appalled by the unkind comments of sev...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/12/14/voices-from-the-readers-december-15-2023/
Unacceptable CommentsEditor:During a recent Ocean City Planning Commission meeting, Palmer Gillis disparaged members of the City Council with reckless and baseless accusations. In response to lea...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/12/07/voices-from-the-readers-december-8-2023/
It was a good news, bad news deal for the OC Air Show this week.First, the event date change from mid-June to late-August is a major negative. The event will not be as successful and well receive...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/12/07/oc-air-shows-move-to-late-august-unfortunate/
It was a no brainer for the Worcester County Commissioners to strike a $37 million central office building for the Board of Education from the county’s capital improvement plan submitted to the...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/12/07/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-december-8-2023/
At last week’s Worcester County Board of Education meeting, Board member Dr. Jon Andes, the former 16-year superintendent of schools, suggested a potential compromise measure after hearing from...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/11/30/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-december-1-2023/
School Board Flirting With Concerning ChangesEditor:This letter is written with all due respect to Editor Steve Green and in response to the editorial he penned in “Between the Lines,” The D...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/11/30/voices-from-the-readers-december-1-2023/
Back in September of 2020, in this space the headline read, “County’s Riverboat Purchase A Risky Venture.” The County Commissioners had just voted 5-2 to sign off on the purchase of a river...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/11/23/sad-embarrassing-end-for-riverboat/
360 Families ServedEditor: I would like to publicly thank and acknowledge those members of the Worcester County Bar Association who donated to our annual Thanksgiving Charity fundraiser, which is...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/11/23/voices-from-the-readers-november-24-2023/
Revising the county’s five-year school capital improvement plan to include Buckingham Elementary was a procedural step needed before officially asking the state to reconsider denial of funding ...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/11/23/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-november-24-2023/
Public Decency At IssueEditor:I read Editor Steve Green’s missive on the flag controversy and the First Amendment. Sometimes, we must cut through the nonsense and simply speak our intuitive tru...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/11/16/voices-from-the-readers-november-17-2023/
Special events are proven economic drivers, and Ocean City tourism officials appear all in on the concept of the more the merrier.The slippery slope is ensuring quality events geared toward econo...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/11/16/special-events-a-clear-focus-for-oc/
Parking is big bucks in Ocean City, as an average of $6 million in revenue is generated annually from paid parking each year at municipal lots and streets in the downtown area. It seems Ocean Cit...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/11/16/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-november-17-2023/
The comments this week at City Hall about the Trump flags placed on the beach in Ocean City remind me of a similar, albeit more high-profile situation during the summer of 2020.In August of 2020,...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/11/09/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-november-10-2023/
The denial of a utility scale solar project on part of farm in Snow Hill by the Worcester County Commissioners is puzzling and concerning.On the agenda Tuesday was a 7.54-megawatt solar project p...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/11/09/state-should-support-solar-project-on-ag-land/
Losing Faith In CountyEditor:Has the Fiscal Year 2025 budget allocation to the Worcester County Board of Education already been decided by the County Commissioners? By the article posted online t...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/11/09/voices-from-the-readers-november-10-2023/
While US Wind seems to be moving ahead through the regulatory process to build wind turbines off Ocean City, there appears to be some uncertainty surrounding the other identified developer, Ørst...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/11/02/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-november-3-2023/
Incidents Require ReportingEditor:I am no longer a resident of Worcester County, but I have family and friends on the shore and I am alarmed to learn there is so many incidents, up to and includi...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/11/02/voices-from-the-readers-november-3-2023/
On the power of collaboration for a cause, Helen Keller said, “Alone, we can do so little, together we can do so much.”The famous saying comes to mind when reflecting on Halloween in Berlin.T...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/11/02/halloween-epitomizes-small-town-charm/
The tough talk between the Worcester County Board of Education and the State’s Attorney and Sheriff’s Office has reached alarming levels. As a media institution closely following the situatio...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/10/26/concerns-require-immediate-meetings/
Hundreds of individuals crammed into the cafeteria at Ocean City Elementary School this week to participate in the first of two in-person public meetings as part of the process to create a final ...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/10/26/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-october-27-2023/
Stuck in limbo amid the politics and the letters, comments, social media posts and statements issued this week are the people inside Buckingham Elementary School.This is a proud school. The pride...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/10/19/pride-fairness-at-play-with-buckingham/
Are Worcester County public schools unsafe? No. I’m a parent of a middle school student and I am not worried about his daily safety. I have spoken to many high school parents in recent weeks. W...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/10/19/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-october-20-2023/
Support For SchoolEditor:To the leaders of Worcester County and the State of Maryland, I cannot convey how troubled I am about the recent news that the new Buckingham Elementary School project ...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/10/19/voices-from-the-readers-october-20-2023/
County Disappoints With Memorial HandlingEditor:In 2017 our family sought to correct multiple inaccuracies on the Vietnam Memorial at the Worcester County Courthouse in Snow Hill. Because our tw...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/10/12/voices-from-the-readers-october-13-2023/
Though all hope is not lost on a possible reconsideration, the state’s rejection of a funding contribution for a new Buckingham Elementary School is a major blow to any type of future project. ...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/10/12/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-october-13-2023/
The blunt talk included in the letter to the Worcester County Board of Education from State’s Attorney Kristin Heiser and Sheriff Matt Crisafulli should be concerning.The letter was a call for ...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/10/05/authorities-sound-alarm-on-school-safety/
Human Perspective On Route 113’s DivisionEditor:Over the past seven decades, Route 113 has divided our town geographically. In 1952, a network of interstates was developed across the nation, o...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/10/05/voices-from-the-readers-october-6-2023/
A random collection of thoughts from my weekend attending the first Oceans Calling Festival in downtown Ocean City. It’s tough ahead of time to imagine 50,000 people gathered on the beach and B...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/10/05/thoughts-from-the-publishers-desk-october-6-2023/
Request For HelpEditor:A few weeks ago, my friends I went out for drinks to the Caribbean, The Angler, MR Ducks and Shotti’s. Somewhere along the line I lost my backpack.It is a black Under Arm...
https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/09/28/voices-from-the-readers-september-29-2023/