BUDGET: County government,
FEUDING: If the new scooter
suffering declining revenues from all quarters, approves 7-cent tax increase for the new fiscal year PAGE 14
regulations weren’t enough, two outfits apparently have had it in for each other for years PAGE 15
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . 42 CLASSIFIED . . . . . . . . 78 ENTERTAINMENT . . . . 53 LEGALS . . . . . . . . . . . 80
LIFESTYLE . . . . . . . . . 49 OPINION . . . . . . . . . . 20 OUT&ABOUT . . . . . . . . 58 SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . 35
OC AIR SHOW SOARS INTO RESORT FOR FIFTH ANNIV. EDITION…PAGE 49
Ocean City Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.NET
JUNE 8, 2012
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ALLEGANYCO.TEENKILLEDCROSSINGOCSTREET Police say local driver, 17, not to blame in resort’s second pedestrian fatality of ’12 NANCY POWELL ■ Staff Writer (June 8, 2012) A 15-yearold girl became Ocean City’s second pedestrian fatality of the year earlier this week. Samantha Sweitzer, who was visiting the resort with some of her friends, was crossing Coastal Highway at 21st Street with two of her friends at about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday to catch a southbound bus. They walked from east to west against the “no walk” signal to the median. Then they began to run across the south-
bound lanes just north of the marked crosswalk, but still crossing against the signal. One of the three, the 15year-old girl from La Vale in Allegany County, was struck by a vehicle in southbound lane three. She was treated at the scene by Ocean City paramedics and taken to Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin. Later, she was transferred to Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, where she died of her injuries. According to the Cumberland Times-News, Sweitzer had
just completed her sophomore year at All e g a n y High School, where an impromptu meSamantha morial service was held for Sweitzer herWednesday. The driver of the vehicle was identified as a 17-year-old boy from Worcester County. The girl’s body was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy. “It was 100 percent preventable on the part of the pedestrian,” said Pfc. Mike Levy of the Public Affairs Office of See LEVY on Page 29
OCEAN CITY TODAY/ZACK HOOPES
Rescue personnel tend to 15-year-old Samantha Sweitzer, who was struck and killed Tuesday as she crossed Coastal Highway in Ocean City.
OceanCity union solicitors reported to be out in force ZACK HOOPES ■ Staff Writer
HERE’S TO THE RAVENS, HON!
OCEAN CITY TODAY/LISA CAPITELLI
Baltimore Ravens cheerleaders hand out gifts to fans lining Baltimore Avenue from 19th Street, otherwise known as Johnny Unitas Way, to 26th Street, during the June 2, Council of Baltimore Ravens Roosts annual parade. This year marked the council’s 48th celebration in Ocean City, where it annually holds a convention and parade. Formerly known as the Council of Colts Corrals, the Council of Baltimore Ravens Roosts has gathered in the resort area since 1968 — the group even continued the festivities when Baltimore didn’t have a football team. The council was renamed when the Ravens came to Baltimore. More photos on Page 56.
(June 8, 2012) The petition drive to bring collective bargaining for city government employees has made its way into resort neighborhoods, although not everyone is pleased with some of the canvassers themselves. The problem, some residents have reported, is that the signature solicitors who appeared at their doorsteps aren’t city employees and have little information on the issue or the impetus for the effort in general. Last month, a storefront was established in the Food Lion shopping center on 118th Street for an organization calling itself the Ocean City Employee Coalition. Organizers there said that the Maryland Classified Employees Association, which has helped organize collective bargaining for public employees around the state, would be sponsoring the unionization efforts of Ocean City’s municipal employees, an idea that has been See UNION on Page 34