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JANUARY 13, 2017
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
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HANDMADE CRAFTS Nautical & Wildlife Art Festival and Craft Show this weekend in Ocean City – Page 31
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Anglers reply to aquarium’s canyon pledge Search for common ground pointless — it doesn’t exist
PHOTO COURTESY BOB GIZINSKI
A convoy of snow plows operated by private contractors makes its way down Coastal Highway Monday morning in one of the multiple attempts to clear the resort’s main artery despite conditions that made the job more difficult than usual.
Ice wasn’t nice for snow plowing Wonder why it took so long to clear Coastal Highway? It was fault of sub-layer
By Katie Tabeling Staff Writer (Jan. 13, 2017) Ice lying beneath the snow in Ocean City was just one of the problems that led to a slowerthan-normal street plowing process following the weekend’s snow storm. As numerous motorists found on Monday, even by late in the day, main roads such as Coastal Highway seemed to remain snow-covered longer than usual. Public Works Director Hal Adkins told the Transportation Commission Tuesday that a foundation of ice under the snow was the main reason the State Highway Administration had difficulty plowing Coastal Highway and Baltimore Avenue, while the
same problem hampered city crews trying to clear municipally maintained roads. ‘The plows that were out were privately owned and sub-contracted to the SHA, and they have rubber edges on them to minimize damage to manholes and water risers,” Adkins told the commission. “It’s great when you’re pushing fluffy snow. But when there’s an ice pack under it, and with the freeze-thaw of the ice pack, the rubber edge is going to bounce across the top of it.” He added that there were other issues with getting additional help since the SHA assistant district engineer for maintenance retired two weeks ago. “Ryan White, who is the district engineer for construction, pulled double duty. When we called to share concerns, he assured us that things would be speeded up,” Adkins said.
By Monday afternoon, the SHA was out in full force with a salt and brine tanker. A subcontractor from Prince George’s County also worked all night to clear out intersections. SHA spokesman Charlie Gischlar said later that the agency was not able to pre-treat the roads in time before the roads froze. “What you have to understand is that [moving] 12 inches [of snow] is a large effort, and we had temperatures in the single digits,” Gischlar said. “We needed a little cooperation from mother nature for the ice to melt and to get the treatment chemicals to work. Folks got to be more patient.” Mayor Rick Meehan also told city officials and staff that there were several complaints about snow plowed in front of driveways by city vehicles. Adkins explained that it is city policy not to do residential driveways beSee LAYER Page 5
By Stewart Dobson Editor/Publisher (Jan. 13, 2017) Ocean City attorney Mark Cropper fired a shot across the bow of National Aquarium officials this week, following their late December pledge to withdraw their application to designate Baltimore Canyon an urban marine sanctuary if no common ground could be established between the aquarium and local opponents of its protectionist efforts. In a Jan. 5 letter to National Aquarium CEO John Racanelli, Cropper, who represents numerous local marinas and the Ocean City Marlin Club, said the aquarium should make good on that promise because the common ground he seeks does not exist. “It is clear that the local community in and around Ocean City, Maryland is not supportive of this endeavor by the aquarium, nor will it ever be,” he wrote. Cropper included in his correspondence to Racanelli copies of letters of opposition from the Town of Ocean City to Gov. Larry Hogan and a similar letter from the Worcester County Commissioners to Hogan and the county’s delegation to the Maryland General Assembly. Also enclosed in the packet was a copy of a letter from seven members of congress, including Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st), to the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Kathryn D. Sullivan. That correspondence, sent Dec. 7 by congressional representatives from the coastal regions of New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland, opposes not just the nomination of Baltimore Canyon, but also that of the Hudson and Norfolk canyons, which also are being considered or proposed for sanctuary See SANCTUARY Page 3