Commentary
Ocean City Today Apr. 22, 2022
Page 53
County hearing shows acceptance Strong public criticism can lead a government body to change its mind, as was demonstrated this week when the Ocean City Council took a pass on its harshly criticized plan to raise the fee for a beach bonfire permit from $75 to $85. Keeping that in mind, the Worcester County Commissioners’ 4-3 vote Tuesday night to buy a piece of land for a sports complex in Berlin was not surprising. The rows of empty seats in the Stephen Decatur High School auditorium saw to that, as did the absence of any great hue and cry from the public at-large and the Ocean City citizenry in particular. Sure objections were raised, but not an overwhelming number, which suggests that most residents either back the idea of sports complex or don’t see enough wrong with it to warrant raising a big stink. Whether this Ocean City/Worcester County joint project is a good idea, a bad idea or somewhere in between is not the point, which is that it’s too early to know precisely what the future portends. Besides, the argument over whether government should involve itself in this project is more a matter of political philosophy than it is of financial risk, since local governments routinely pay for capital projects with bond sale proceeds without any harm to the public. That’s because this county’s AA+ credit rating — the second highest listed by S&P Global Ratings — means it pays its bills on time and still can. In addition, it is not as if the county is buying land of no value, or that it can’t recoup its investment if things don’t turn out as officials hope. What happens next is the more critical question. Informal talks between county officials and potential facility operators began at least a year ago, although those conversations will remain a closed subject until a real agreement is in sight. In the meantime, most residents don’t seem to be that worried. If they were, the hearing room would have been packed, and it decidedly was not.
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EDITOR ............................................ Stewart Dobson MANAGING EDITOR ................................ Lisa Capitelli STAFF WRITERS .................. Greg Ellison, Greg Wehner, ..........................................Jack Chavez, Mallory Panuska ACCOUNT MANAGERS.......... Mary Cooper, Vicki Shrier ..............................................................Amanda Shick CLASSIFIEDS/LEGALS MANAGER .... Nancy MacCubbin SENIOR DESIGNER ................................ Susan Parks GRAPHIC ARTIST .................................... Kelly Brown PUBLISHER........................................ Christine Brown ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ...................... Gini Tufts Ocean City Today is published weekly by FLAG Publications, Inc. 11934 Ocean Gateway, Suite 6, Ocean City, Md. 21842 Ocean City Today is available by subscription at $150 a year. Visit us on the Web at www.oceancitytoday.com. Copyright 2022
reprint from 4/26/2013
PUBLIC EYE
Red light for Low-T
What a relief! It turns out that all our troubles, or at least a substantial share of them, are the result of a Low-T epidemic that’s really hitting American men below the belt. What’s more, this problem can be solved easily by having men shine a red light on their ... um ... on their less-thandynamic duo. That’s what noted scientific expert Tucker Carlson has been telling his viewers: that red light therapy applied to the right location will reverse the documented downward trend of testosterone in men around the world. By That downward trend part is true, according to various Stewart honest-to-goodness scientific Dobson studies that — I don’t know — use a dipstick or something to determine whether we men are due for refill. I’m still somewhat skeptical, though, especially considering that it took me a while to understand that testosterone was not some kind of Italian soup. “Say,” I asked my father when I was a kid, “is test-tos-ter-on-ee kind of like minestrone?” After he wrapped up his choking episode, he explained to me that the former was a hormone that, in too great a measure, would cause men to punch each other in the nose for the sport of it, and in too little of a measure would cause men to make up for it by buying
fast boats. Anyway, red light therapy is an actual thing, and is believed to help skin heal itself more quickly. How it is administered beats me, although I would assume that it’s best done by professionals and falls into the “do not try this at home” category. Being aware of the story of the professional baseball player who tried to iron his shirt while he was wearing it (See John Smoltz, who says it’s a big fat lie) you just know there’s a guy somewhere who’s going to do something stupid. “So,” says the emergency room nurse, “tell me what the problem is.” “Well,” begins the idiot, “I have this highpowered Tac Light and ...” “HOLY COW! Hey, everyone you’ve gotta come over and see this!” Actual scientists say one reason for the dip in T could be that men aren’t as physically active as they once were and spend more time sitting around in front of the TV than they do in honest-to-goodness manly pursuits that require them to get off their duffs, get outside and chop wood or something. In other words, it’s nature’s way of saying if you don’t need the T to fight off the challengers to your domain, it’s going to fade away. On the other hand, if red light therapy will work on this particular problem, I imagine there’ll be red light districts popping up all over.
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