OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.COM
MAY 21, 2021
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
CRUISIN’
CLASSICS & HOT RODS
More than 3,000 cars expected to flock to OC for gas-fueled, roaring weekend event – Page 27
FREE
Unmasking ends long nightmare No more having to deal with angry, yelling patrons
GREG ELLISON/OCEAN CITY TODAY
BIRTHDAY SURPRISE
Shelia Hurst, former proprietor of the Mast Restaurant and Hotel on Harbor Road in West Ocean City, is honored during her 96th birthday party on Wednesday with a surprise drive-by from emergency first responders and beams as Steve Hannon, with the Hogs and Heroes Foundation, delivers flowers and an American Flag.
Boardwalk banner honors departed Sgt. Chip Green Leader of mounted patrol remembered at ceremony near substation downtown By Greg Wehner Staff Writer (May 21, 2021) A new banner placed near the Ocean City Police Department substation at the south end of the Boardwalk will honor the late Sgt. Charles “Chip” Green, who served the community for 25 years. The vertical banner features a picture of Sgt. Green astride Benson, the horse the sergeant rode as a member
of the OCPD mounted patrol. Several people attended the unveiling of the banner on Friday, including four members of the mounted unit and their horses – Benson was there, too. PFC Connor Finch was on Benson during the ceremony, as people walked by and pet him and the other three horses. Sgt. Green, who started with the department as a seasonal officer in 1994 through 1998 before getting hired full time, died unexpectedly of natural causes in his sleep on May 6, See BANNER Page 11
By Mallory Panuska Staff Writer (May 21, 2021) The past year has been nothing short of a nightmare for Ocean City business owners like Brittney Acita when it came to enforcing the state’s mask mandate. “My staff has literally been put through hell and back for the last year policing people about this,” Acita said of her employees at Pickles Pub, Sello’s Italian Oven & Bar, and Eighth Street ‘The whole year for staff and Liquors. That’s why, owners has just when Gov. Larry been a Hogan made a nightmare.’ surprise an— Brittney Acita nouncement last Friday lifting the state’s mask mandate for fully vaccinated people indoors in most places, Acita could not have been happier. Not so much for herself, but for her staff. “That’s honestly why I’m not really stressing myself about this anymore,” she said. The days of angry patrons yelling, screaming and cursing at the workers who were simply trying to enforce the state’s mandate that was in effect since the height of the pandemic last year are over. And business owners are ready to get back to normal. “The whole year for staff and owners has just been a nightmare,” Acita said. “Things are constantly changing, and as time’s gone on, more people are over it.” The constant changing is a detail even Hogan picked up on during his announcement last week. He said See UNMASKING Page 4