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JUNE 7, 2019
OC CAR AND TRUCK SHOW
Annual event to feature hundreds of vehicles at the convention center this weekend– Page 26
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Piggyback tax boost aids budget Mitrecic wants better treatment for resort By Rachel Ravina Staff Writer (June 7, 2019) The Worcester County Commissioners approved a $201.2 million operating budget for fiscal year 2019-20 in a 6-1 vote Tuesday, with Commissioner Joseph Mitrecic continuing to object to the county’s budgetary treatment of Ocean City. While Mitrecic said he appreciated the work that was done to complete the budget and the attempts that were made to respond to the concerns of Ocean City, the district he represents, he said he wouldn’t vote for it. “I, of course, voted against the budget the last four years because of the tax differential situation for Ocean City and will do so again today,” Mitrecic said. “I think that Ocean City still needs to be treated [fairly].” From Ocean City governSee SCHOOLS Page 8
LIFESTYLE
Foreign students find getting visas tougher
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MARCHING ELVISES Members of Ocean City Ravens Roost #44 embrace their inner Elvis spirits during the annual Ravens Roost parade, last Saturday.
By Rachel Ravina Staff Writer (June 7, 2019) Katherine Phillips, an environmental scientist with the Maryland Coastal Bays, had counted 36 diamondback terrapins by the end of a two-hour survey last Friday. That, apparently, constitutes a good day of turtle counting from the perspective of the Coastal Bays program, which goes out each year to see how the local terrapin population
is holding up in the bays and their estuaries. This time, though, Phillips and several others headed out to the mouth of Gray’s Creek, on the mainland side of Assawoman Bay, an area the program had not previously surveyed. “We’re going to try to go to a new location today … so it’ll be interesting to see if it’s a new hotspot for terrapins,” she said. That, however, was just one leg of the annual count, as volunteers and program per-
sonnel scoured the Coastal Bays watershed from May 27-31 to look for the presence — or the absence — of terrapins. But the tally is more than a head count, as it is broken down into three categories: large female, male/juvenile and undetermined. Phillips said the female turtle’s shell is roughly nine See MORE Page 4
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By Morgan Pilz Staff Writer (June 7, 2019) The increasing number of rejections of J-1 student visa applications by federal immigration authorities is having an impact on the resort tourist industry, which is having difficulty filling many seasonal jobs. While thousands of J-1 students are still anticipated to work in the resort and will arrive within the end of the month and the beginning of July, their overall presence seems to be diminishing. American students, meanwhile, apparently aren’t as eager as they used to be to work in Ocean City. “We have restaurants who historically have been the goto restaurants who still could use a few hands,” Susan Jones, executive director for See RESORT Page 14
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