Commentary
Ocean City Today May 20, 2022
Page 61
Sportsplex talks must include all Proponents of building a major athletic complex outside Berlin on Route 50 had better get their acts together and stop having the separate conversations that have dogged this proposal since the beginning. So far, no public declaration of unity between the Town of Ocean City and the Worcester County Commissioners has emerged, even though the majority of elected officials in both branches seem to want the same thing. As it stands now, only the county has formally attached itself to the idea by approving a bond sale to finance the purchase of property where the complex would be built. Ocean City government, meanwhile, has committed nothing more than an official “Hell yeah!” to the effort, at least as far as the public knows. Certainly, resort government is working on this in the background, but that’s not helping move the project toward fruition when the one element that’s critical to this project’s success is overwhelming public support throughout the county. Residents of Berlin and Ocean Pines in particular, as well as voters in other districts, have to be wondering what, if anything, is in this for them? They undoubtedly want to know what the potential upsides and downsides might be for their communities, or whether this proves the long-held (and mistaken) belief out in the county that “Ocean City always gets everything.” That attitude has to be overcome if this is going to work and there is only one way to do it — by including representatives of these communities in the conversation, by answering their questions when the answers are available and working together to find them when they aren’t. Ocean City and county officials who back the sportsplex concept have a serious sales job to do if they want to get this done as smoothly and as quickly as possible. One way to do that is to create a multi-government workgroup to take over this job, let the public see how it’s working and how the benefits of sports tourism won’t go to Ocean City alone, but will be spread throughout the county. Or everyone can just keep talking and hope it works out.
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EDITOR ............................................ Stewart Dobson MANAGING EDITOR ................................ Lisa Capitelli STAFF WRITERS .................................... 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 MAY 17, 2019
PUBLIC EYE
UFOs are to blame
Now I get it. All our problems, our disagreements and our conflicts aren’t our fault at all. No, they are not, and the governmentapproved evidence has been revealed at last — UFOs are real. That’s what the Pentagon told Congress this week, as officials cracked the seal on files that have been hidden from the public for generations for fear that people would do something stupid as a result. But realizing that horse left the barn a long time ago, By the generals in charge of Stewart maintaining this collection of Dobson tapes and photos (and ray guns, strange metals and jars of things that look like big pickles with appendages) the top brass concluded they had nothing to lose and everything to gain. And what would the upside be of knowing we are not alone? For one thing, we might start worrying more about being taken over and/or eaten than lesser concerns. I mean it’s not as if the aliens (at least those not already in office) are going to ask,“Progressive or Conservative?” before they whip out their Cosmic Star Blasters and turn you into the soup of the day. Once they’ve reduced you to protoplasmic goo all they are thinking about is, “Hey, Zork! Don’t get that on your shoes! You’ll never get it off!” Okay, so maybe that’s an exaggeration and all we really know is that exceptionally speedy
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somethings have been flying in our skies for a long, long time. What we don’t know is why, although it is my belief they have been retrieving the scouting parties they have been depositing here for years (You’re next, Elon Musk, Ron DeSantis, Bernie Sanders and Dennis Rodman). The top brass also says we should start thinking about what the intentions of these visitors might be and why they keep coming. I have several theories about that as well. 1. Apply their superior intellect and technology to simplify the building permit process for the benefit of all humankind. 2. Stop for a quick snack and a bathroom break, Earth being a Stuckey’s along the Intergalactic Highway. 3. Attend hands-on shape-shifting workshops. 4. To boldly go where all their friends have gone before. 5. Just to mess with us (“Hey, you see the look on that fighter pilot’s face? Hahahahahahaha!”). 6. Teach the kids to drive in an out-of-the way location (Stop making crop circles or you’re going straight back home!”) 7. Check on the evolution of Scottish cuisine (“Spaceship XT to base: Nope. Still sheep’s stomach stuffed with ground innards and oats. Over and out.”) 8. Continue to convert family rentals to Airbnbs. 9. They’ve been waiting for an invitation to join NATO. 10. They’re really us back from the future to see where we went wrong.
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