Commentary
Ocean City Today July 15, 2022
Page 63
Primary election recommendations The 2022 primary elections for the Democratic and Republican parties taking place next Tuesday will offer voters a ballot bursting with candidates. Some contests in this preliminary round, however, are not contests at all, since the candidates face no opposition and will take office after the general election in November. In this group are District 7 County Commissioner Joe Mitrecic, State’s Attorney Kris Heiser, Clerk of Court Susan Braniecki, Register of Wills Terri Westcott, and Delegate Wayne Hartman. Congratulations. The race for the office of sheriff, meanwhile, is a straightforward two-candidate affair that will be decided by Republican voters. Incumbent Matthew Crisafulli has handled the job well in his first term, thus earning our endorsement for reelection. The most complicated races are for county commissioner in Districts 3 and 4, with each giving Republicans four candidates to consider. In the District 4 all-Republican contest, incumbent Ted Elder has represented the wishes of his constituents, but we believe it’s time to give someone else the opportunity. That would be the county’s former chief fire marshal Jeff McMahon, who backs responsible development, farm and environmental preservation and maintaining a top tier school system. The wide-open Republican contest in District 3 is the toughest call. Numerous good people are running in this district, but because it includes rural areas, a big part of Berlin and rapidly growing West Ocean City, the job will require philosophical flexibility with an eye on the future. In this instance, we recommend Shawn Kotwica for the job. As for our recommendations in the less crowded races in Districts 2, 5 and 6, incumbents Democrat Diana Purnell (Dist. 2), Republican Chip Bertino (Dist. 5) and Republican Madison “Jim” Bunting (Dist. 6) have represented their constituencies well and should receive the nod from voters in their parties. Most important, however, is that voters show their support for our democratic institutions by going to the polls on Tuesday. Vote for whomever you prefer, but vote.
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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
PUBLIC EYE
Selfie-attempt craters
A Baltimore area man, whose name will remain unpublished for reasons that will be apparent shortly, was trying to take a selfie recently when — whoops! — he fell into the crater of an active volcano. Talk about your bad luck! This guy just wanted to take a photo of himself and the surrounding countryside, when someone apparently slipped Mount Vesuvius under his feet without his knowledge. “Saayyy, this looks an awful lot like Mount ... aggggghhhhhhhhh!” By Only part of that is true, of Stewart course. The would-be selfie taker Dobson knew (or should have known had he read the signs along the way that said, “Warning: Volcano ahead!”) that he was standing on top of Europe’s most dangerous volcano, which still gurgles from indigestion caused by an appetite for melting rocks. Call me overly cautious, but I’ve always tended to steer clear of anything that might turn me into a cloud of ash while taking a ride on the lava express. This is even though volcanic ash is said to be good for the soil in the grape vineyards on the perimeter down below, because in this case it would be my ash drifting with the wind. I also wouldn’t want anyone to say, “Hmm, a full-bodied wine, with good legs, hints of tobacco and just a touch of Dobson’s ash.” Anyway, that’s not entirely true either. What happened was that this individual was attempting to take a selfie on the crater’s edge
when he dropped his cellphone down into it. Naturally, he was trying to retrieve it when ... aggggghhhhhhhhh! ... 50 feet down the hole. Lucky for him, volcano guides saw him cratering and hauled him up to safety. Apparently, this kind of thing happens all the time and yet people persist in taking selfportraits on the edges of cliffs that don’t extend out quite as far as they think they do — whoops! — on train tracks that aren’t quite as abandoned as they think they are — whap! — and on all kinds of spires that don’t offer much space to stand and no place to hold on — yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaa! I seriously do not get it, although I do understand why men are twice as likely as women to suffer from a fatal photo attempt: men like to show off and are stupid. I know, because I’ve been there, having experienced numerous “Hey, watch me do this!” moments over the years. My last major fail in that regard has been recounted here before, so let’s just say the result involved having to get several stitches, and earlier having to drop my pants because a mouse ran up my pant leg. I know, it could happen to anyone. As for the man who went inside the volcano after his cellphone, that’s understandable as well, considering how attached people are to their devices. In fact, I suspect that the next step in our technological assault on common sense is having one of these things permanently embedded in our bodies shortly after birth. “Well, Mr. and Mrs. Snord, the doctor is ready to take care of baby Johnny. As I see on the form here, it’s a circumcision and then we’ll just ... would that be Verizon or T-Mobile?”
