OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.NET
MAY 29, 2015
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WELCOME FANS Baltimore Ravens enthusiasts will converge in OC this weekend for parade and convention – Page 49
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Teachers ‘walk in’ in protest
LISA CAPITELLI/OCEAN CITY TODAY
GOOD SIGNS Ocean City restaurants, retail shops and other businesses, the beach and Boardwalk, pictured here Sunday, saw large crowds during the Memorial Day weekend as an estimated 250,000 people were in town. “If this weekend was any indication of what summer will be like then I think we will have an outstanding summer ahead,” said Jessica Waters, communications manager for the Town of Ocean City. See story on Page 6.
By Brian Gilliland Staff Writer (May 29, 2015) While nothing will be finalized until the Worcester County Commissioners formally adopt their 2016 budget next week, reaction has been strong to their plan to eliminate funding for mid-year cost-of-living adjustments for teachers, let alone the step increases called for in the contract between the Board of Education and the Worcester County Teacher’s Association. On Wednesday morning, about 45 teachers at Stephen Decatur High School staged a “walk in,” where they ceremonially entered the school together at the required time of 7:45 a.m. and planned to walk out in the same fashion at dismissal time, according to Beth Shockley-Lynch, president of the teachers’ union. Shockley-Lynch said a similar plan had emerged at Buckingham Elementary School, and stressed that the See EDUCATORS Page 5
Lifeguards hit in Craigslist rental scam Criminal impersonating local realtor swindles $7K out of Canadian workers
By Kara Hallissey Staff Writer (May 29, 2015) Picture this: driving about 600 miles from Montreal, Canada to Ocean City for a job on the Ocean City Beach Patrol, rolling up to the condominium that had already been paid for via an Internet rental company and then finding that the condominium had been gutted and is unlivable. Worse still, the rental company responsible for all this apparently does not exist. This is what happened to Beach
Patrol members Sunday night, when a summer housing ad placed on Craigslist by “Ocean City Vacation Rentals Management” turned out to be a scam that cost them $7,000 and their housing for the summer. Youcef Belrachid was distraught on Tuesday as he wondered where he would be sleeping after his lifeguarding shift ended. “I have no money to make a deposit on another place and we pay a $1,000 Visa to come here. I love this job. We come back every summer because we love it and to be scammed is a shame,” he said. Belrachid, along with his brother Rahym, and friends Aude LemaireHamel and Adam Bielawski, were all See REALTORS Page 4
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