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SEPTEMBER 1, 2017
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
HOLIDAY Ocean City Today and Bayside Gazette will be closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday. FREE
Former Showell fire dept. treas. stole $100K+
City Council recognizes Texas’ woes
Gets five years after nearly forcing station to end operations
Help from Ocean City could be called later
By Greg Ellison Staff Writer (Sept. 1, 2017) Mark Widgeon, the former Showell Volunteer Fire Department treasurer, will serve five years in jail and pay $150,000 in restitution after entering a guilty plea to a felony theft scheme in Worcester County Circuit Court on Monday. Judge Broughton Earnest sentenced Widgeon to the maximum of 15 years in ‘He paid for the departmedical ment of corrections with expenses and all but five alcohol suspended. counseling. Widgeon will be on He paid for dating supervised p r o b a t i o n services on for five years the internet.’ after being Lynn Nixon, released. L y n n Worcester N i x o n , County W o r c e s t e r assistant County asstate’s s i s t a n t attorney state’s attorney, told Earnest the financial improprieties started in September 2009 and continued until 2013, only coming out when Widgeon was sentenced to a year in jail following a fifth drunk driving conviction. Over several years, Widgeon had used bank debit cards to withdraw more than $100,000 in cash from fire department bank accounts, Nixon said. Included in Widgeon’s spending spree were vehicle repairs, airplane tickSee WIDGEON Page 8
JOSH DAVIS/OCEAN CITY TODAY
MUD WORK A Jeep Week crew member is fully engaged in his work Saturday in Berlin as he directs a backhoe to extract another Jeep that bogged down in the trench during the mud pit driving competition.
Back to school for 6,600 kids Worcester educators kick off year on Tuesday with energy, excitement
By Kara Hallissey Staff Writer (Sept. 1, 2017) Summer is over for the more than 6,600 students who will report to Worcester County’s 14 public schools on Tuesday, Sept. 5, when the 2017-2018 school year begins. “We are looking forward to welcoming students back on Tuesday with energy, enthusiasm and excitement,” Carrie Sterrs, Worcester County Board of Education spokesperson, said. “We expect 2017-2018 to be a very successful year both for our students and staff.” As of Wednesday, 6,663 students will fill the halls this year as compared to last year when 6,689 students were enrolled. The 180-day school calendar runs to Friday, June 15, with three cancelation days allowed for snow and other inclement weather days. The last day of school will be adjusted if the county school system does not use the days or they exceed that number, Sterrs said.
By Katie Tabeling Staff Writer (Sept. 1, 2017) Although, Ocean City has not sent rescue crews out to areas hit by Hurricane Harvey, the City Council draped the Texas flag across the dais during Tuesday’s work session. “It’s a heartfelt way to say from one coastal resort town to another, Texas and the first responders are in our thoughts and prayers,” said Council Secretary Mary Knight, who borrowed the flag from Kite Loft manager Christopher Rudolph. Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the Texas coast last Friday with winds as high as 130 mph. In the days that folSee RESORT Page 7
Median work starts in Oct. Barrier will run from 62nd to 26th Street
KARA HALLISSEY/OCEAN CITY TODAY
Baruti Kafele makes his point at school rally. See page 5.
While students spend 180 days in class, the teachers must work 188 days. Some of those are professional days, which gives time off for stuSee FRESH Page 5
By Katie Tabeling Staff Writer (Sept. 1, 2017) Work on the median fence along Coastal Highway is expected to begin on Oct. 9, although the installation will stretch further down the highway than originally planned, the State Highway Administration said this week. The $6.8 million installation of a five-foot-tall fence from 26th Street to 62nd Street will include grinding and repaving the road. Last January, plans to start working on the medians from the Route 90 bridge to See SHA Page 3