OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.NET
MAY 13, 2016
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
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BAYSIDE CHAMPS Stephen Decatur girls’ lacrosse team captures conference championship title – Page 43
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Bus cameras: here’s looking at you, kids State wants resort to install 400 surveillance recorders in its transportation fleet
STEWART DOBSON/OCEAN CITY TODAY
MEGATRON MOVES OUT After close to 12 weeks of rehabilitation and a diet of herring, squid and small forage fish at the Baltimore National Aquarium, the harbor seal Megatron returns to the open sea. The Wednesday morning release at 40th Street came after Megatron bounced back following his rescue at Bethany Beach in late April. The juvenile seal was emaciated, suffered from dehydration and skin lesions. A crowd of more than 50 people watched as Megatron flippered himself out of his cage and immediately into the ocean.
DROWNING AVERTED: The quick response of an unknown surfer and two Ocean City firefighters prevented the drowning of two boogie boarders who found themselves caught in a rip tide. Page 3
DOZENS BUSTED: After months of investigation, a multiagency task force arrests scores of suspects on drug-dealing and related charges involving heroin, crack and other substances. Page 5
By Katie Tabeling Staff Writer (May 13, 2016) The Maryland Transit Administration wants Ocean City to install new surveillance cameras in every bus that drives on Coastal Highway, and it is willing to help pay for it. Public Works Director Hal Adkins told the Transportation Commission on Tuesday that the MTA offered partial funding to install 400 cameras on the resort’s fleet of buses and ADA vans. “The grant came out of left field and was granted when we were in budget ‘This is for lawmeetings,” Adkins suits, police insaid. “[Budget manvestigations ager] Jennie Knapp and training.’ was made aware that — Hal Adkins we had some rePublic Works quests still out when we were discussing the 2017 budget.” The total cost is projected at $500,000, with the cost split between federal, state and local governments. The federal government will cover 80 percent of the cost, which comes out to $400,000. Maryland and Ocean City will pay $50,000 apiece. Roughly 30 to 50 percent of Maryland’s transit systems do not have surveillance systems, according to Beth Kreider, the MTA’s director of Locally Operated Transit Systems. The MTA has recommended installing five or six high-resolution cameras inside and outside the 40-foot standard buses, and eight or nine cameras for each of the two new articulating buses. The cameras would also include audio as well as visual, but would not stream live. “This would be reactive,” Adkins said. “There’s nobody sitting behind a monitor watching live surveillance See FEDS Page 5