July 4 fireworks at Veterans Park
July 2023
The Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Department will once again host a Fourth of July fireworks celebration at Veterans Memorial Park on Route 589 and Cathell Road. The event this year is scheduled from 5-8:45 p.m. on Tuesday, July 4, with carnival games, dry slides and bounce houses for children, plus live music and food and drink vendors.
General Manager John Viola in a report at the June 18 monthly Board of Directors meeting touched briefly on the incremental progress that could lead to a formal proposal to the Board of Directors about a new or mostly new Southside firehouse, perhaps as soon as July or maybe the annual meeting of the association in August. The proposal would include details on how much the OPA might need to assess OPA members for a portion of the cost of the project. That number has been elusive to date. Viola said the size and scope of the building will depend in part on the extent to which the OPA and OPVFD will be able to raise grant funds to help defray the cost.
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INSIDE THIS EDITION
Ocean Pines ............... Pages 1-32 Board election .........Pages 33-39 Worcester County .. Pages 40-41 OPA Finances .......... Pages 42-44 Lifestyles ................... Pages 45-47 Opinion ..................... Pages 48-49 Captain’s Cove ......... Pages 50-63
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THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY
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Firehouse proposal nearing completion
www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress
COVER STORY
Knupp defendant’s attorney files for change of venue Retired judge from Dorchester County to preside over motion hearing By TOM STAUSS Publisher s the sad one-year anniversary of the death of Ocean Pines teenager Gavin Knupp approaches, the legal case against the West Ocean City man implicated in the accident which killed the 14-year-old Knupp grinds ever slowly through the legal system. It took nine months and 17 days from the time of the accident, which occurred on July 11 last year, for the state to file charges in the case. It took another 48 days from April 28, the date charges were filed, for the defendant’s attorney to ask for a change in venue, on grounds that the climate in Worcester County is so toxic and prejudiced against his client that a fair trial in Snow Hill is impossible. Tyler Mailloux, 22, was cited with 17 counts in the
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accident, all of which seem to boil down a single charge: He left the scene of the July 16 accident at about 10:45 p.m. on Gray’s Corner Road, about two miles south of Ocean Pines, without stopping. The crux of the state case is that he knew, or should have known, that an accident had occurred, and that he should have stopped to render assistance to an injured person and provide information to the first responders. All are serious charges with the potential of serious penalties, to be sure, but not on a par with vehicular manslaughter, speeding or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The list of charges against Mailloux would be far more voluminous had alcohol been involved, excessive speed or some other fault been found in his driving. But To Page 3
Third Board seat to be contested this summer ~ Page 33
Vi s i t u s a t t h ewe d g e o c .co m
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6/22/23 12:18 PM