SALARIES: Ocean City
’62 STORM: Ash Wednesday
Today’s annual report on resort government’s salaries goes from top to bottom PAGE 33
nor’easter, which happened 50 years ago on March 7, set the stage for Ocean City’s modern era PAGE 41
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . 42 CLASSIFIED . . . . . . . . 60 ENTERTAINMENT . . . . 53 LEGALS . . . . . . . . . . . 27
LIFESTYLE . . . . . . . . . 49 OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . 22 OUT&ABOUT . . . . . . . . 55 SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . 44
PINK RIBBON PINUPS: ‘UNCONVENTIONAL’ BREAST CANCER CREW…PAGE 41
Ocean City Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.NET
MARCH 2, 2012
YOUNGWHALELOSESITSWAY Baby minke stranded in Turville Creek transported to Smithsonian NANCY POWELL ■ Staff Writer (March 2, 1012) A whale calf separated from its mother was taken from Turville Creek to the Smithsonian last Friday. A nearby resident spotted the whale on a mud flat in the creek near Route 589 as he was walking his dog in the waterfront trailer park at about 5:15 p.m. Thursday. “I looked in that direction,” Eric Sexton said. “The tide was down and something drew me to it. I saw the tail move and I thought it was a porpoise or a whale.” Sexton contacted a friend at the Department of Natural Resources and arrangements were made to tow the whale to Turville Creek’s public boat ramp. A fireboat was used to tow the marine mammal and fire apparatus from the Berlin and the Ocean Pines volunteer fire company provided light as it was secured to the dock with cargo netting at about 8 p.m. “It’s not often you see a whale in Turville Creek,” said Charlotte Powell, who lives next door to the boat ramp property, and was one of several people
PHOTOS COURTESY ERIC SEXTON
A baby minke whale was found stranded on a mud flat in Turville Creek last Thursday. The marine mammal was towed to the Turville Creek’s public boat ramp, where it was euthanized by a veterinarian. The remains, shown above on the forklift at the Gum Point Road boat ramp, were transported to a necropsy facility at the Smithsonian Museum.
watching as the whale was attached to the dock. The young whale was a minke, the second smallest baleen whale. Fully-grown whales measure about 35 feet. Calves measure 7.2 feet to 9.2 feet at birth. The calf in the creek measured 11.5 feet long. “Somehow it got itself into a couple feet of water,” said Dave Quilter, a member of the Marine Animal Rescue Program, an organization that rescues stranded whales, seals, turtles
and other sea creatures. Because the calf was so young, less than a year old, its “chance of survival is zero on its own,” Quilter said shortly after the small whale was secured. The final determination, however, was made by a veterinarian from the National Aquarium in Baltimore, who agreed with Quilter and euthanized the whale at approximately 12:30 a.m. After onlookers dispersed, Jennifer Dittmar, the aquarSee YOUNG on Page 14
FREE
If gay union bill survives, Hales will do court’s work Petition effort launched against measure STEWART DOBSON ■ Editor and NANCY POWELL ■ Staff Writer (March 2, 2012) Worcester County Clerk of the Court Steve Hales will do what he is asked to do next January, when the Civil Protection Marriage Act takes affect. The act, which confers legal status on same-sex nuptials, was scheduled to be signed by Gov. Martin O’Malley on Thursday. “Statutorily, part of the oath of office we take is to uphold the law and to abide by the laws of the state of Maryland and the Maryland constitution,” Hales said. “We (circuit court clerks) will be performing same sex marriages not just in Worcester County, but the entire state of Maryland unless it is petitioned to referendum and the voters decide against it.” An attempt to do that has begun, Delegate Michael McDermott (R-38B) reported this week. In an e-mail to the media and constituents, McDermott said the petition drive is being headed by Delegate Neil Parrott (R-Washington County). “I spoke with Delegate Parrott on Friday and he advised me that the petition language has been submitted to the Maryland State Board of Elec-
tions for their review,” he wrote. “Once the language of the petition has been approved, it will be put before the public for their active participation.” State law requires that a petition calling for a state referendum have the signatures of at least 3 percent of state’s qualified voters, based on how many people voted in the preceding gubernatorial election. That would put the total number needed in the neighborhood of 56,000. That effort would have to be completed and turned in to Maryland’s Secretary of State by June 1. The passage of the measure, however, reflected the cultural division between the Eastern Shore and suburban counties on the western side of the Chesapeake. The bill cleared both houses by a fairly close margin — 2522 in the Senate and 72-67 in the House of Delegates — without the support of area legislators. McDermott was joined in opposition by Delegate Norm Conway in the House, while Sen. James Mathias (D-38) cast a no vote in that chamber. Should the legislation survive the attempt to kill it, Hales sees other ramifications that could come into play because of Ocean City’s resort status. See HALES on Page 15