RAVENS UNITE: Baltimore team partners with Roosts to present first-ever ‘Beach Bash’ this weekend throughout Ocean City PAGE 49
CARRIAGE RIDES: Horse and buggy could be in the offing for visitors to the downtown area in the off-season should city officials agree PAGE 15
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . 42 CLASSIFIED . . . . . . . . 74 ENTERTAINMENT . . . . 53 LEGALS . . . . . . . . . . . 67
LIFESTYLE . . . . . . . . . 49 OPINION . . . . . . . . . . 20 OUT&ABOUT . . . . . . . . 55 SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . 35
SENIOR SEAHAWKS, MALLARDS BID FAREWELL TO HALLWAYS…PAGE 24
Ocean City Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.NET
JUNE 1, 2012
FREE
JUST LIKE SUMMER
Drunk driver strikes, kills Towson Univ. student in OC NANCY POWELL n Staff Writer
OCEAN CITY TODAY/LISA CAPITELLI
It might still be spring, but it sure looked like summer on the beach Saturday, as the Memorial Day crowd responded to excellent weather and downright hot temperatures throughout the four-day holiday weekend.
Optimism widespread after strong Memorial Day weekend LISA CAPITELLI n Assistant Editor
T
he business community will be grinning from ear to ear for the next few months if the Memorial Day holiday weekend is any indication of how the summer season will go. According to demoflush statistics, which use wastewater flows to estimate the city’s population, an average of 281,812 people were in town last weekend, taking advantage of the warm weather and holiday activities. That number was just 83 people shy of the estimated 281,895 who visited during the 2011 Memorial Day weekend. After revealing last year’s number, Donna Abbott, Ocean
MEMORIAL DAY: BY THE NUMBERS n 281,812: Estimated number of people in OC last weekend n 281,895: Estimated number of people in OC during same weekend in 2011 n 278,468: Estimated number of people in OC during same weekend in 1993 (the last year the resort experienced such high volume of visitors) Source: Demoflush statistics, which use wastewater flows to estimate the city’s population
City tourism and marketing director, checked back through town files to 1992 and couldn’t find a Memorial Day weekend when there was a higher demoflush number. The second-highest had been in 1993, when an estimated 278,468 people were in town. Abbott said she was in Ocean City all four days, Friday through Monday, and
saw quite a bit of activity. “Traffic was heavy, but it was moving. I had heard at one point there was a backup at the Bay Bridge heading eastbound on Friday. In Ocean City on Saturday evening, I noticed just about every hotel had the ‘No Vacancy’ sign on,” she said. “The weather forecast comSee WEEKEND on Page 4
Holiday crowds keep police,beach patrol on theirtoes NANCY POWELL n Staff Writer (June 1, 2012) Memorial Day weekend crowds kept the Ocean City Beach Patrol and Ocean City Police Department busy, with a higher number of calls for service and rescues than last year. “We started off with a bang,” said Sgt. Tim Uebel of the Ocean City Beach Patrol. “The weather was great.” On Saturday, the OCBP’s first day on the stands, 78 lifeguards were on duty and 73 rescues were made. On Sunday, they made 53 rescues and on Monday, they made 18. See OCBP on Page 5
(June 1, 2012) Tragedy marked the Memorial Day holiday weekend when a 22-year-old visitor from Cooksville, Matthew Jude Cheswick, was struck and killed as he tried to cross Coastal Highway at 54th Street at about 1:20 a.m. Monday. Cheswick was crossing west to east when he was Diogo Facchini struck by an Isuzu Rodeo being driven north in the bus lane by Diogo Miller Facchini, 30, of Lorton, Va., who did not stop, but continued driving north on the highway and then east on 55th Street. Witnesses followed his vehicle for a block until police apprehended him. The dance floor at Blue restaurant on the west side of the highway at 54th Street was full of young people having a good time. It was the new restaurant’s first big weekend, but the music stopped and the partying ended almost as soon as Cheswick was struck. “The owner of the club said to stop the music immediately,” said Marla Robertson, who was the deejay that night. “A lot of people wouldn’t do that. The kids were dancing and having a great time and he said, ‘Stop the music.’ The night was over.” Robertson and many patrons went to the porch where they saw paramedics with Cheswick. She saw it as an opportunity to warn them about the dangers of crossing streets. “Look at this,” she said she told them. “I just let them know there’s consequences. Don’t drink and drive and do use crosswalks. He See FACCHINI on Page 6