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FEBRUARY 22, 2019
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
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Decatur wrestling team wins conference title and six individuals take home awards – Page 57
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Larmore will end 10-year stint as chief Will return to pre-chief job in developing, construction
VICTOR FERNANDES/OCEAN CITY TODAY
Fire destroyed this Salt Point Road home in Bishopville early Monday morning. Three family members in the home escaped, but two pets died in the blaze.
Community rallies for fire victims By Victor Fernandes Staff Writer (Feb. 22, 2019) A Bishopville woman suffered first and second-degree burns, and her family lost their home and two pets, in an early morning house fire Sunday at 12121 Salt Point Road in Bayview Estates. Becky Ange, her husband, Mark Ange, and their son were taken to Peninsula Regional Medical Center in
Salisbury. Mark Ange and 12-yearold Carter were treated and released from the hospital, Worcester County Fire Marshall Jeff McMahon confirmed, while Becky Ange was transferred to The Johns Hopkins Burn Center in Baltimore for further treatment. Bryan Pugner, lead pastor of Coastal Community Church in Berlin, said Wednesday she since
has been released. The family, longtime members of his congregation, stayed with relatives in the southern Baltimore suburb of Pasadena after Becky Ange was released from the hospital, and are now staying with friends in Ocean Pines. The blaze, which claimed the lives of the family’s pet dog and rabbit, completely ravaged the home and See DONATIONS Page 5
OCPD crime stats continue decline
Ross Buzzuro
By Greg Ellison Staff Writer (Feb. 22, 2019) Ocean City Police Chief Ross Buzzuro reported this week that even though the crime rate continued to decline in 2018, the charge for law enforcement to further reduce those figures remains unchanged. Buzzuro presented the
2018 OCPD Annual Report during the Ocean City Council meeting on Tuesday. “I reported back in 2016 … we had 25-year crime lows,” he said. “Since that year, and every year since, we’ve dropped that number and now we’re at 28-year crime lows.” Buzzuro said violent and other serious criminal offenses
dropped 14 percent in 2018 compared to the prior year, with five-year averages down roughly 22 percent. “Anytime you talk about crime numbers being reduced in the double digits, that is significant,” he said. “What that means is that there is a whole lot less victims of crime this See OCEAN Page 52
By Greg Ellison Staff Writer (Feb. 22, 2019) After mulling a change of course for the past year, Ocean City Fire Chief Chris Larmore resigned last week to pursue a business opportunity in the construction industry. A former home builder who left the field in 2008 to fill what was then a ‘I’ve been given new position, an opportunity Larmore said, that it is truly “I’ve been given an op- once in a lifetime. portunity that I will be the lead it is truly once on two new housing in a lifetime. I developments.’ will be the Ocean City lead on two Fire Chief new housing developChris Larmore ments.” Speaking on Monday, Larmore said he had already concluded the timing was ideal to depart as Ocean City’s top official over the combined EMS, career and volunteer fire departments. He decided to act, however, when the housing development venture materialized in January. “The decision was already made but it prompted urgency when I was approached in January and that’s what expedited the decision,” he said. He did not disclose his date of departure, or whether a date has been decided. Larmore assumed the role of overall fire chief during one of the resort’s See AFTER Page 11