OPA BUDGET: It’s not often that a budget
FISH FACTS: The feds have changed the
generates high praise, but that’s what OPA General Manager Bob Thompson heard when he turned in his proposed $13.35 million package PAGE 8
way they estimate annual recreational fishing catch totals. That’s good news for those who enjoy testing their skills – and luck – in local waters PAGE 3
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . 34 CLASSIFIED . . . . . . . . 52 ENTERTAINMENT . . . . 45 LEGALS . . . . . . . . . . . 23
LIFESTYLE . . . . . . . . . 41 OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . 16 OUT&ABOUT . . . . . . . . 47 SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . 36
HOLISTIC HEALTH FAIR: MASSAGE, REFLEXOLOGY AND REIKI…PAGE 41
Ocean City Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.NET
FEBRUARY 24, 2012
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RESORT WORKERS ASK FOR BARGAINING RIGHTS Nonunion employees have no confidence in council,group rep says STEWART DOBSON ■ Editor
PHOTOS COURTESY TOWN OF OCEAN CITY
FIRST HORSES STROLL OCEAN CITY SHORELINE There were some new visitors on the beach in Ocean City this week, when horses were permitted under a new ordinance that allows horseback riding on the beach during winter months. On Wednesday, Ann Luke of Holly Ridge Farms in Willards, purchased four single-day permits to bring horses Lady, Zena, Sparks and Lucky to the beach. Permit applications are now available at the City Clerk’s Office in City Hall, 301 Baltimore Ave., or online at www.oceancitymd.gov. Cost is $20 for a single-day permit and $50 for a seasonal permit. Horseback riding is allowed on the beach, from the inlet to 27th Street, between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m., Nov. 1 to March 30.
Bitter bride vacations in OC at ex-love’s expense NANCY POWELL ■ Staff Writer
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(Feb. 24, 2012) As the old saying goes, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. A Selbyville, Del. woman did her part to prove just that when, this past weekend, she whisked off to Ocean City for a solo getaway — on her ex-fiancé’s dime. Forty-two-year-old Wendy
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Marie Armstrong was arrested Monday after she used her ex-fiancé’s credit card to purchase items and to stay in an Ocean
City hotel where they had planned to spend their honeymoon. The credit card, however, was not one she swiped from her former love’s wallet, but one she acquired on her own, using his date of birth and Social Security number. Police charged Armstrong with fraud of more than $500 by identity theft, a theft scheme from $1,000 to See WOMAN on Page 19
(Feb. 24, 2012) It can’t be said that Ocean City employee James Moxley lacks gumption. Selected by his co-workers to ask the City Council for “Wedon’tfeel the right to appreciated.” form a public employees union, MoxJAMES MOXLEY ley respectrepresenting city emfully held ployees who wish to forth Tuesform a public employees union. He added that, in day night besome instances, they fore a mayor even feel ‘despised’ by and council council members whose cool post-speech silence indicated a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the idea. In requesting a city charter change to allow workers to bargain collectively, Moxley said the employees’ primary complaint was the lack of equality within the ranks of all on the municipal payroll. Without saying so, he was referring to the police and firefighter unions, the creation of which has led to what he said were “second-place employees.” “It is only proper to extend these rights to all,” he said. Moxley also told the council that while the grievances of nonunion employees had been outlined to all members of the council in one-on-one meetings, he would reiterate them in public. Citing what he called a lack of consistency in the application of the rules and regulations in the
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city’s employee handbook, Moxley said, “We can’t have different rules for different departments.” He went on to say that employees feel they have no one to advocate on their behalf and that the ouster last September of City Manager Dennis Dare, whom they believed filled that role, “shocked employees to the core.” The 4-3 vote and the bitter exchanges between elected officials that preceded and followed the See EMPLOYEE on Page 8
What’s behind theunionpush? STEWART DOBSON ■ Editor (Feb. 24, 2012) When Ocean City’s public employees went before the Ocean City mayor and City Council on Tuesday to declare their desire to form a union, the opinions had already been formed as to why employees outside the public safety realm want collective bargaining. On one side, the argument is that the vast changes in pay and benefits for new hires and the departure of Dennis Dare are the cause, while on the other is the belief that employees want a union because other city personnel have them. They are both right, according to one employee, who asked to remain anonymous. In a conversation last week, the employee said nonunion See BEHIND on Page 8