OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.COM
MARCH 11, 2022
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
GOING GREEN
RETURN OF THE IRISH
OC’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade slated for Saturday (pending weather) – Page 26
FREE
Soccer bucks spur pursuit of higher fees Meehan wants share from tourney’s cash-flush event
JACK CHAVEZ/OCEAN CITY TODAY
VIGIL FOR UKRAINE
Ukrainian Anya Kucuk and her children, 12-year-old Ruya, 10-year-old Aylin and 8-month-old Demir, listen to remarks from Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan during a vigil for the people of Ukraine at the Ocean City inlet on Tuesday. Several dozen people showed up and listened as Meehan, Ocean City Baptist Church Pastor Sean Davis and Ukrainian national Inna Kotwica, an American citizen whose family is still in the war-torn country, spoke to the throng of supporters for the war-torn nation. The vigil was set with the Ferris wheel at Jolly Roger At The Pier in the backdrop and lit up in blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
LOCKDOWNS, MASKS, LOANS, NO TOILET PAPER! Two years ago, no one was prepared for what would happen with covid-19 By Mallory Panuska Staff Writer
(March 11, 2022) It began with the cancelation of the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival. The date was Thursday, March 12, 2020, two days before the event was scheduled to take place along Coastal Highway.
On March 11, 2020, state health officials reported 12 cases of what was then an unknown, possibly unfathomably dangerous and deadly virus. The patients were confined at the time to Prince Georges, Montgomery and Baltimore counties, but it seemed inSee CVOID-19 Page 3
By Mallory Panuska Staff Writer (March 11, 2022) The success of a for-profit annual sporting event and the good deal organizers are getting on renting the public beach space where it takes place has prompted Mayor Rick Meehan to call for a look at the city’s fee schedule. “We talk about partnerships,” Meehan said during a Monday City Council meeting in reference to a request from North Carolina-based Beach 5 Sand Soccer to add an August date to their annual June tournament schedule. “I think it could be a better partnership if that revenue was shared to some degree, but of course I want them to be the ultimate recipient of their revenue,” he continued. For decades, organizers with Beach 5 Sand Soccer have annually set up goals and equipment on a summer weekend at the south end of the beach near Dorchester Street for a two-day youth tournament. Meehan said the event began modestly in the 1990s and progressed over the years, with organizers expecting to host roughly 6,500 participants for this year’s event set June 24 and 25. It’s that popularity, and the group’s request to rent the beach from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Aug, 6 for the reasonable price of $1,280 under the city’s existing fee structure, that prompted Meehan to ask City Council members to pump the brakes on approval. “I suggest we hold the date for Beach 5 Sand Soccer for special events, parks and rec, and the city manager to look at this next fiscal year and moving forward,” Meehan said. “And we look at a different fee See SOCCER Page 16
