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OCTOBER 6, 2017
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
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FALL CRUISIN’ The more sedate older vehicles are in Ocean City this week for the annual ‘Endless Summer’ car cruise — Page 49
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Median fence to start construction in two weeks’ time Pedestrian barrier is priority this year, SHA officials say
PHOTOS COURTESY DAN COLLINS
ROUGHED UP A small boat battles big waves last Thursday near the inlet, as surf conditions created by storms passing out to sea created some extremely rough conditions.
Mayor: H2Oi has no place in resort Council to consider tough choices after underground car rally gets nightmarish
By Katie Tabeling Staff Writer (Oct. 6, 2017) In the aftermath of what Ocean City officials called a “horrible” car rally weekend, Mayor Rick Meehan called on the council, residents and business owners to unite to prevent such an event from happening again. “Those that came here that disrespected our community, challenged our police and wore tickets as badges aren’t wanted here,” he said during Monday’s council session. “The type of behavior we saw was unacceptable. We need to discourage and displace this event. It’s going to be painful, because it’ll probably disrupt our citizens and businesses to do what we need to do.” Ocean City Police and other law
enforcement agencies arrested 78 people between Sept. 28 and Oct. 1, after hundreds of young car enthusiasts descended on resort in loud, low and often customized compact cars for a gathering created through social media. Ostensibly, they would have been here for the annual water-cooled Volkswagen/Audi show known as H2Oi, but that event was postponed when the show sponsor had difficulty lining up a headquarters location. That did not dissuade the element that made the weekend miserable for residents, other visitors and standard motorists. Police Chief Ross Buzzuro said police responded to 2,735 calls last weekend, and most of them involved large unruly crowds attempting to provoke a fight. Several officers suffered minor injuries while making arrests. Those injured included a Worcester County Sheriff deputy and an Ocean City officer who apparently
were intentionally hit by a car by a teen allegedly trying to avoid arrest for marijuana possession. While that teen was charged with various counts of attempted murder, most arrests were for disorderly conduct, open container, assault and other charges. “There were a handful of visitors this weekend who came to simply enjoy our city,” Buzzuro said in a press release. “Unfortunately, it was the vast majority of the participants that quickly ruined it for everyone, with unruly behavior and zero respect for our laws and property.” Twenty-eight crashes were reported last weekend, one of which involved a pedestrian. An Ocean City Police patrol officer struck an unidentified pedestrian Friday night when he made a left turn on Coastal Highway near 56th Street. The 26-year-old man was treated on the scene and later flown to See MEEHAN Page 5
By Katie Tabeling Staff Writer (Oct. 6. 2017) Construction of the long-planned median fence and LED street light project for Coastal Highway will begin in two weeks so the work will be completed by the summer, the State Highway Administration said last week. Although this project was packaged with the annual street repaving project, the SHA will first focus on building the five-foot-tall fence and light posts on the median from 26th Street to 62nd Street. Con- ‘Work may take struction will place from start on Oct. 17. “The first sunrise to sunset order of business in spring 2018 to will be the memeet the dian. It is more Memorial Day than likely that deadline.’ the resurfacing Charlie portion of the project will begin Gischlar in early spring with completion by early Memorial Day,” SHA media relations manager Charlie Gischlar said. It remains unclear where the median construction work will start, but Gischlar said that the crews could begin work as early as 7 a.m. “It’s likely that motorists can expect single- and occasional double-lane closures [on the left] during the median fence installation,” he said. “Work may take place from sunrise to sunset in spring 2018 to meet the Memorial Day deadline. Decreased traffic volumes can permit this.” The SHA estimates that 48,000 vehicles travel Coastal Highway daily. For months, the mayor and City Council have coordinated with the SHA on pedestrian barrier that would run on the medians from the Route 90 bridge to the convention center drive. That stretch was supposed to be the first phase of a larger project to funnel See PROJECT Page 6