EAT UP! It’s Restaurant Week in
Your guide to the 23rd edition of Ocean City’s annual spring festival PAGE 1B
Ocean City, and dozens of dining establishments are offering some of their best at special prices PAGE 6A
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . . 44A CLASSIFIED . . . . . . . . . . 1C ENTERTAINMENT . . . . . . 5B LEGALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3C
LIFESTYLE . . . . . . . . . . . 1B OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . 20A OUT&ABOUT . . . . . . . . 24B SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . 37A
WOR PREP FACES OFF AGAINST STEPHEN DECATUR IN TENNIS…PAGE 37A
Ocean City Today MAY 3, 2013
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Recreation and Parks employees demonstrate equipment recently installed at Northside Park, available to the public at no charge.
CITYSTILLMUM ONGYMCLASH Fitness center owner says free facility competes with his uptown business
43RD ANNUAL WARD WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WILDFOWL CARVING COMPETITION
ZACK HOOPES ■ Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY NANCY POWELL
(May 3, 2013) A local gym owner says he has yet to receive word from the city on what he sees as a massive encroachment onto his business investment, although there appears to be no hard legal line that prevents the city from entering the private marketplace. Two weeks ago, Gold’s Gym owner Rick China sent
Fred Negrijn of Exeter, Ontario, in top photo, studies a lifesize great blue heron carved by Gary Eigenberger of Green Bay, Wis., which was on display at the Ocean City convention center last weekend during the Ward World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition and Art Festival. The 43rd annual gathering featured the craftsmanship of more than 600 of the world’s top carvers, including wildfowl species such as Baikal teal, ostriches, bald eagles, snowy owls and a variety of hummingbirds. (Far left) A goshawk carved by Toru Twahashi of Sanda City, Japan. (Above) A common potoo, carved by Keith Mueller of Killingworth, Conn., was the winner of the decorative lifesize wildfowl division.
a letter to city officials — and to Ocean City Today — questioning the city’s decision to install a free, outdoor exercise area in Northside Park. The facility, China said, would directly compete with his business at the Gold Coast Mall, and had an unfair advantage because it is publicly funded. “I haven’t heard anything from the city yet,” China said See LEGAL on Page 7A
Council defends 146th Street parking; residents disgruntled ZACK HOOPES ■ Staff Writer (May 3, 2013) The city’s renewed attempt to impose paid parking at the Delaware line appears to be garnering just as much opposition now as it did two years ago, as the City Council took
the opportunity during the public comments portion of this week’s session to defend the decision. “All 100 of our owners are against this, pretty much without exception,” said Mac Balkcom, a year-round resident of the Ocean View See COUNCIL on Page 5A