Commentary

Commentary Ocean City Today May 13, 2022 Page 59 Next year will be bigger and better

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote about 286 years before last weekend’s Springfest, give or take a few months.

Yet, the verse may be the most apt description of the ups and downs of resort business, whose success is dependent on so many things beyond its control, with the weather being the most capricious of them of all.

No one knows that better than Ocean City’s Springfest organizers, who saw months of planning ruined, despite the expectation that it would outshine many of its predecessors because of its fresh layout and pent-up demand by a public desperate to celebrate outside.

Food vendors, artisans, and nonprofit organizations just knew this year’s Springfest would be a full-fledged return to the opportunities they had been denied by other uncontrollable circumstances.

And then this — a lumbering, howling nor’easter just blew it all away like loose pages from a notebook.

Oh well, one might say, that’s life at the beach, where more or less everyone knows that nature plays no favorites.

It’s a shame that Ocean City officials had to make the call to shut down one of May’s most celebrated and enjoyable events, but they did the right thing.

Maybe having done all that planning and organizing helped with that decision by allowing them to recognize just how futile and even dangerous it would have been to attempt to push on through. Knowing their event and its requirements certainly didn’t hurt.

But now, as the festival’s organizers have said, they will take the lessons learned this past weekend and fold them into their planning manual for the next time. In the meantime, optimists that we all are, there’s always next year, which, as everyone likes to say around here, will be bigger and better than ever. Weather permitting.

Ocean City Today

11934 Ocean Gateway, Suite 6, Ocean City, Md. 21842 Phone: 410-723-6397 / Fax: 410-723-6511.

EDITOR ............................................ Stewart Dobson MANAGING EDITOR................................ Lisa Capitelli STAFF WRITERS .................................... Greg Wehner, ..........................................Jack Chavez, Mallory Panuska ACCOUNT MANAGERS.......... Mary Cooper, Vicki Shrier ..............................................................Amanda Shick CLASSIFIEDS/LEGALS MANAGER .... Nancy MacCubbin SENIOR DESIGNER ................................ Susan Parks GRAPHIC ARTIST .................................... Kelly Brown PUBLISHER........................................ Christine Brown ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ...................... Gini Tufts

PUBLIC EYE Just covid, no options

I have come down with the covid, as they might say where I grew up. Not covid-19, or Delta or Omicron or the Alpha-Beta-Gamma Variant 2.3 of Subset Seven. It’s just plain covid and I have come down with it. From my perspective, knowing what edition of the coronavirus I have is pointless, since it’s not as if one version is more notable than the other. People aren’t going to say, for instance, “Oh yeah, he has covid, but it’s just the base model.” Even though covid’s multiple variations has us citing all sorts of alphanumeric designations in our plague-of-the-week conversations, they don’t mean diddly to the average person, some of whom wouldn’t know the difference between a “viral envelope” and a #10 mailer.

Besides, it’s a virus, not a car. There is no A-Class model at the low end, an S-Class luxury edition at the other, and for the sporty set, the Covid-RT Series with Offroad Capability.

Even so, some people can’t help trying to appear more knowledgeable about this virus than they really are.

“What? You have covid-19, the Omicron subvariant, BA.2.12.1?”

“I don’t know, maybe. Does it matter?”

“Well, the BA.2.12.1 (an actual thing) is trending, you know.”

“Gee, I hadn’t thought about the importance of staying on trend.” Again, I don’t know and don’t care what strain or subvariant hit me a little more than a week ago and left me isolating in my own home. It didn’t lay me low, necessarily, because I’ve had more vaccinations than a flock of baby chickens and that helps block the worst stuff. But it has been interesting having my evening meals presented to me on the end of a long stick. “Here you go,” she says, pushing a plate of pot roast toward my assigned dining area with a 10-foot-pole. All I need is for her to blow a whistle at suppertime so I’ll get close enough to the bars

By of my cage to snag the evening’s offering and Stewart Dobson take it back to my corner and gnaw on it. I do understand her concern, though, because it hasn’t been what I would call an enjoyable time, even though I have not experienced some of the more notorious symptoms, including the loss of the senses of smell and taste, and brain fog. Okay, I did inadvertently put toothpaste on my hair for that tousled-yet-in-control look, but that wasn’t brain fog. It could happen to anyone with a sink as cluttered as mine, and I do have to say that having a minty fresh head isn’t the worst thing that could happen. Still, I do miss being at the office, where I can aggravate a different set of people just for the sake of variety. I should be back soon enough though, depending on which subvariant I have. And again, it really makes no difference, because all I know is that after all this time, I’ve finally gone viral.

Alfred University in New York. Since 2014 he has worked as a designer for the Danish glass company Holmegaard.

Snee’s talk precedes the Art League’s June 15 bus trip to the Chrysler Museum of Art Chrysler Museum of Art and the Perry Glass Studio in Norfolk, Virginia, where he will guide guests through the museum’s glass collections, one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world.

Advanced registration for Snee’s lecture is available online at ArtLeagueofOceanCity.org or by calling 410-524-9433. Walk-ins are welcome.

The Art League of Ocean City is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing the visual arts to the community through education, exhibits, scholarship, programs and community art projects.

Annual Fight the Bite walk/run set to take place Sat. By Lisa Capitelli Managing Editor (May 13, 2022) The sixth annual Fight the Bite Lyme Disease Awareness 5K Run/Walk will take place this Saturday on the Ocean City Boardwalk.

Registration will begin at 8 a.m. on the boards near the inlet parking lot. The race will kick off at 9 a.m. The cost to participate is $30.

The first 200 registered participants will receive a long sleeve Tshirt. Post-race refreshments and Funding for this event is in part Lyme prevention materials for all at- provided by the Worcester County tendees will be provided. Arts Council, Maryland State Arts

The monies raised will go to pay Council and the National Endowfor billboards in Maryland and ment of the Arts, organizations dedDelaware, which promote prevention icated to cultivating a vibrant of tick bites, according to event co-or- cultural community where the arts ganizer Angela Burke. This year’s bill- thrive. board in Worcester County will be located on Route 50, just west of the intersection with Route 589.

“We are expecting a few hundred people, either runners, walkers or supporters,” Burke said. “We had to have virtual races in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic … The 5K brings awareness to the topic and provides prevention tips.”

There will be a cash prize for the See WALK Page 63 Fellow holds lecture on glass art (May 13, 2022) Glass artist Aric Snee, the Art League’s 2022 Orem & Harriet Robinson Fellow for Contemporary Art, will hold a free lecture about his art and what inspires him on Wednesday, May 18, at 6 p.m. at the Ocean City Center for the Arts, 502 94th Street, bayside. The public is invited to attend the lecture entitled “Designing a Life in Glass.” Snee’s lecture will provide insight into his educational background and work experience, as well as his ideas about art, design and craft. He will also present his own design glass objects. Snee, who was born and raised in Bel Air, Maryland, and is a current resident of Salisbury, is assistant professor and head of the glass department at Salisbury University. The artist works with glass in studio, academic and factory environments, and his work creates a dialogue between fine art and industrial design. After studying glass at SU and the Canberra School of Art in Australia, Snee worked in several private studios in Brooklyn, New York, as a master glassworker at Steuben Glass in Corning, New York, and as a gaffer at the Corning Museum of Glass. He subsequently received a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from

Aric Snee Ocean Pines Players seeking talent for upcoming cabaret (May 13, 2022) The Ocean Pines Players (OPP) are looking for people aged 8 and up to audition for a fun and family friendly cabaret called “Happy Birthday, USA.”

Auditions will run until Saturday, May 14, by appointment only. To schedule an audition, contact Karen Adcock at 703-727-0528 or by email at karenjadcock@gmail.com.

The multi-media show, scheduled for June 24 and 25, features solo and group songs, poems and dramatic readings about the USA and Independence Day. Singers should prepare a short upbeat song and a ballad.

There will not be an accompanist, so bring a backing track on a phone or data key. Those interested in nonmusical performances need not prepare anything in advance.

No experience is necessary and the Players value diversity and inclusivity. The auditions are designed to be casual, fun, and stress free. There will be very few cast rehearsals. Because of the limited time available, performers must be willing and able to practice on their own and be available for approximately six cast rehearsals and, if necessary, a few individual or small group rehearsals. Parents of children in the cast should be prepared to help their children learn their pieces. OPP is a local all-volunteer 501(c)(3) charitable organization and supported in part by a grant from the Worcester County Arts Council & Maryland State Arts Council. For general information about OPP, visit oceanpinesplayers.org or follow them on Facebook Facebook.com/oceanpinesplayers.

Bacteria rises after heavy rain

Continued from Page 58 tershed does change frequently, particularly after heavy rain events, and it really is important to monitor the two, weather and water quality, simultaneously.”

The trust monitors 11 sites throughout Isle of Wight Bay, Assawoman Bay, the St. Martin River, and Herring and Turville Creeks. Each week, data parameters (pH, water temperature, salinity, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen) and water samples are collected and made available to the public on the trust’s website at ActForBays.org and WaterReporter.org. The trust also utilizes the Swim Guide app., which allows users to monitor enterococcus levels in their local waterways.

WORLD WAR II Germans defeat Soviets in second invasion of Kharkov

By Peter Ayers Wimbrow III Contributing Writer (May 13, 2022) This week 80 years ago, the Second Battle of Kharkov (Kharkiv in Ukrainian) began.

Although the Soviet Union had dodged a fatal blow when the Red Army, and its ally, General Winter, stopped the vaunted Wehrmacht at the gates of Moscow in December 1941, the Soviet brass knew that the Axis were not finished, and when spring came, the offensive would be renewed.

But where? The front stretched for over a thousand miles, from the White Sea in the north, to the Black Sea in the south. Stalin was convinced the blow would be aimed, again, at the Soviet capital. In early spring he ordered small offensives all along the front in a vain effort to disrupt German preparations.

The largest of these offensives was directed at the recapture of Kharkov, located in Ukraine, less than 20 miles from the Russian border. Before the current war with Russia, Kharkov had a population of around 1,500,000, and was the second largest city in the Ukraine, with a significant amount of industry.

At the beginning of WWII, it was the largest city in the Ukraine, with a population of 901,000, and, for a time, served as the country’s capital. Its Freedom Square is the largest in the country.

The famed Soviet T-34 tank had been designed and developed and was being produced at the Kharkov Tractor Factory — Factory #183. It is now known as Malyshev Plant and, at least before the current war, produced the T-84.

Kharkov factories also produced aircraft, mortars, submachine guns and artillery tractors. By the time Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau’s Sixth Army had captured Kharkov, in October 1941, 320 trains had removed equipment from 70 major factories at Kharkov to locations east of the Ural Mountains.

Factory #183 was joined with one in Nizhny Tagil, 16 miles east of the Ural Mountains, to form Uralskiy Tank Plant # 183, where more than 30,000 T-34s were produced.

Marshal Semyon Timoshenko, who was born in the Ukraine, near Odessa, commanded the Southwestern Front, which was charged with recapturing Kharkov. The offensive was launched over the heated objections of the Chief of the Red Army General Staff (Stavka), Marshal Boris Shaposhnikov, and future Marshals Aleksandr Vasilevsky and Georgi Zhukov.

Marshal Timoshenko had at his disposal more than 750,000 men, almost 1,200 tanks, 300 self-propelled cannons and 926 aircraft. His Southwestern Front included the Sixth, Twenty-First, Twenty-Eighth and Thirty-Eighth Armies, commanded by Avksentii M. Gorodniansky, Vasilii Gordov, Dmitrii I. Riabyshev, and Kiril S. Moscalenko (from the Donetsk, Ukraine), together with the XXI and XXIII Tank Corps, commanded by Grigorii I. Kuzmin and Efim G. Pushkin. Gens. Gorodniansky and Kuzmin were killed in the

Portrait of Marshal Semyon Timoshenko wearing two Hero of the Soviet Union stars

Continued on Page 62

Call Tony Matrona for more info on these properties. 410-641-1671 Lot # 257

$242,900

Immaculate Fully Furnished 2 Bedroom on a Large Corner Lot. Recently Replaced HVAC, Sliders with Built in Blinds, Sink, Entry Door & Storm Door. Roof & Skylights Replaced in 2010. Vinyl Siding, Insulation & Windows Replaced in 2009. Spacious Open Concept Living Area, Cathedral Ceilings, Large Master Bedroom, Stack Washer/Dryer, Courtyard & Shed.

Call Tony Matrona 410-641-1671 Lot # 490

$242,900

410-641-1671

Beautiful Updated 2 Bedroom. Roof, HVAC, Floors, Appliances, Granite Countertops, Tile Backsplash, Windows, Ceiling Fans, Vinyl Siding & Insulation, Water Heater, Composite Steps & Vinyl Railing, Plumbing, Electric Outlets have all been replaced. Courtyard & Shed.

Call Tony Matrona 410-641-1671

assateaguepointesales.com

Continued from Page 61 battle. Gen. Pushkin was killed in 1944, still commanding the XXIII Tank Corps.

The Southwestern Front would also be supported by the Southern Front, commanded by Gen. Rodian Malinovsky, who was born in Odessa. The Southern Front included the Ninth and Fifty-Seventh Armies and V Calvary Corps commanded by Fedor M. Kharitonov, Kuzma P. Podlas and Issa A. Pliev, who was regarded as one of the finest cavalry commanders in the Red Army. Gen. Podlas was executed after being captured in the battle.

Also assigned to the force was Commissar Nikita Khrushchev, who was born near the Ukrainian border and spent much of his early life in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

However, as Marshal Vasilevsky later noted: “The Soviet Army of [early] 1942, was not prepared to conduct major offensive operations against the well-trained German Army, simply because it did not have the necessary quantitative and qualitative advantage over the Wehrmacht. And because it’s leadership, both at Command and Junior Officer level, was still being rebuilt after the defeats in 1941.”

Unbeknownst to the Soviets, the Axis’ Spring Offensive was also to come in the south, right where Marshal Timoshenko’s offensive was to land. It would be led by Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, formerly commander of Armeegruppe Center, now commander of Armeegruppe South. Therefore, the Axis had been reinforcing Field Marshal von Bock’s Armeegruppe South.

At 6:30 a.m. on May 12, 1942, the Soviets began the attack with an hour artillery barrage, followed by a 20minute air attack. The fighting was ferocious. By the end of the day, the Red Army had only advanced about seven miles. Soviet units did advance to within 12 miles of Kharkov. In response, Hitler ordered some of Gen. Baron Dr. Wolfram von Richtofen’s Luftflotte VIII units transferred to the Kharkov area and placed under the command of Gen. Kurt Pflugbeil’s Fleigercorps VI.

Gen. Pflugbeil was able to win temporary air superiority by flying his planes and pilots from dawn until dusk. The Germans continued to hold, while the Soviets ground on.

On May 17, First Panzerarmee, under the command of Gen. Ewald von Kliest, supported by Gen. Pflugbeil’s planes, launched a counterattack into the southern flank of the Soviet Offensive.

It was led by III Panzerkorps, commanded by Baron Geyr von Schweppenburg; XXXXIV Armeekorps, commanded by Maximilian de Angelis; and VI Romanian Corps, commanded by Corneliu Dragalina. When Marshal Timoshenko reported the Axis’ counterattack to Stavka, Gen. Vasilevsky attempted, in vain, to get Stalin’s approval for a general withdrawal.

The next day the situation worsened for the Red Army and once again Stalin refused to allow it to withdraw. That day, Gen. Pflugbeil’s planes destroyed 130 tanks and 500 motor vehicles. Twenty-nine more Soviet tanks were destroyed the following day, and the Sixth Army, now led by Gen. Frederic Paulus, began an offensive on the other side of the Soviet Forces, in an attempt to encircle them.

Stalin finally authorized Gen. Zhukov to stop the offensive. However, it was too late. On May 22, Gen. von Schweppenburg’s III Panzerkorps, linked with Sixth Army’s 44th Infantry Division, commanded by Heinrich Deboi, coming from the north. By the end of the day on May 24, the noose around the Red Army was tightening. Futile attempts to break out continued until May 30.

At least 240,000 Soviet soldiers were captured, in addition to the loss of 2,026 artillery pieces and 1,250 tanks. German loses was a total of 20,000 dead, wounded and missing. Gen. Dragalina’s Romanian VI Corps took 26,432 prisoners at a cost 2,983 casualties.

An anonymous Soviet soldier, commenting after the battle, said that, “The Fascist woke up after they hibernated!”

With the failure of this offensive, Marshal Timoshenko’s career waned. Never again would he be tasked with commanding an offensive.

Kharkov would change hands two more times before war’s end. More than 70 percent of the city was destroyed, and more than 50,000 of its citizens perished. By the end of the war, the population was 453,000.

One of Russia’s better-known authors, Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy, wrote, “I saw Kharkov. As if it were Rome in the 5th Century. A huge cemetery....”

Next week: Stilwell’s Walkout

Mr. Wimbrow writes from Ocean City, Maryland, where he practices law representing those persons accused of criminal and traffic offenses, and those persons who have suffered a personal injury through no fault of their own. He can be contacted at wimbrowlaw@beachin.net

24 Hour Awake Staff All Private Rooms & Baths Three Home-Cooked Meals a Day! All Inclusive Pricing In-House Doctor Visits VA and MAC Subsidy Approved Respite Care and Hospice Care