Commentary

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.

Ocean City Today

11934 Ocean Gateway, Suite 6, Ocean City, Md. 21842 Phone: 410-723-6397 / Fax: 410-723-6511.

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

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!” Only part of that is true, of course. The would-be selfie taker 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 un-

By derstand why men are twice as likely as Stewart women to suffer from a fatal photo attempt: men like to show off and are stupid. Dobson 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?”

LEGISLATIVE TALKS

Del. Wayne Hartman, left, spoke at the May meeting of the Ocean City AARP Chapter, providing updates to members about legislation passed during the 2022 session of the Maryland General Assembly, including improvements to the retiree tax credit that will provide tax relief to many seniors. He is pictured with AARP1917 Chapter President Bob McCluskey.

GOP FORUM

The Republican Women of Worcester County hosted a Republican Candidates Forum/Meet & Greet at the Ocean City Marlin Club on May 17. Mike Bradley of radio station WGMD was the emcee of the event. Pictured, from left, are Sandy Zitzer, president of RWWC; Charlotte Cathell, Americanism chair; and Bradley.

Tribute celebrating OCBP Capt.’s 50th season set Sunday

By Mallory Panuska Staff Writer (July 15, 2022) The resort was a very different place the first time Ocean City Beach Patrol Capt. Butch Arbin climbed to the top of his first lifeguard stand.

The year was 1973, and just one day earlier Arbin had passed his surf rescue technician test allowing him to oversee the beach and waves. This weekend, the longtime captain will reflect on that day, and the five decades that followed, at a tribute hosted by the city’s emergency services department, fellow Beach Patrol staff, and the Ocean City Life-Saving Museum.

Set for 9:30 a.m. Sunday, the event will begin at the inlet on the rock jetty for a reenactment of Arbin’s first day of work 50 years ago. At 9:45, the captain will drag his circa 1973 stand out to where it was that day, and send out the same message he did then, letting his colleagues know he was up and ready for duty.

The dramatization will be followed by a news conference behind the lifeguard stand. At 10:30 a.m., crowds will be directed to the life-saving mu-

Capt. B. Arbin

FC Start against Flakelf

WORLD WAR II

FC Start taking the field

Soccer matches played to help with peace

By Peter Ayers Wimbrow III Contributing Writer (July 15, 2022) This week, 80 years ago, the Ukrainian soccer team, F.C. - Start defeated a German army soccer team, PGS, and the Hungarian Army soccer team, MSG Wal, twice, at Zenith Stadium in Kyiv, Ukraine.

In September 1941, Axis forces had occupied the Ukrainian capital after a huge battle that resulted in the capture of 650,000 Soviet soldiers. After the battle, some of the captured Ukrainian soldiers were released, while the Russians were sent to Germany to work.

Before the war, Kyiv had boasted a very good soccer team — Dynamo Kyiv. Founded in 1927, it was Ukraine’s best, and with 13 Soviet championships, was the most successful in the U.S.S.R. Dynamo Kyiv was supported/sponsored by the NKVD — the Soviet State Police.

After the Battle for Kyiv, Dynamo’s goalie, Mykola Trusevich, was released and found work in Bakery Number 3. The reason that Trusevich got the job was because the bakery boss, Iosif Kordik, was an ardent Dynamo fan. Although Kordik was a Czech, he spoke fluent German, and convinced the Germans he was Austrian, living in Kyiv with his Ukrainian wife, which is how he got his position. Some say the baker’s name was Otto Schmidt and that, although born in Kyiv, he was of German heritage.

The German occupiers suggested soccer matches in order to assist in the pacification of Kyiv. When the bakery boss learned of this he suggested a team be formed. Ultimately, seven other Dynamo Kyiv players were recruited: Mikhail Svyridovskiy, Nikolai Korotkykh, Oleksiy Klimenko, Fedir Tyutchev, Mikhail Putistin, Ivan Kuzmenko, Makar Honcharenko.

To complete the squad, three players — Vladimir Balakin, Vasil Sukharev, Mikhail Melnyk — were recruited from Lokomotiv Kyiv. Lokomotiv Kyiv, although older than Dynamo Kyiv, being founded in 1919, played in a lower level league. The team would be called F.C. Start — CTAPT in Russian.

The first game was played on June 7, 1942 against another Ukrainian team, “Rukh,” which “Start, City of Kyiv All-Stars” won 7-2. Rumor has it that Rukh was a collaborationist team. The Start team wore red, the color of the Soviet flag, uniforms, as a symbol of defiance. Although others say that it was happenstance, because these were the only jerseys they could find in occupied Kyiv.

Two weeks later, a team of Hungarian soldiers was defeated 6-2. On July 5, a team of Romanian soldiers fell 11-0. A week later, a German army team was defeated 9-1. A second German army team, PGS, was blanked 6 - 0, on July 17. As news of the team’s success against the occupation forces spread, attendance at Zenith Stadium increased to the point that the Germans began charging five roubles admission.

Now, things were getting serious. Hungary sent its best, MSG Wal. It was dispatched 5-1, on July 19 and 32 in a rematch two days later. In an effort to salvage Axis pride, the Luftwaffe challenged the “Untermenschen” (the Ayrian word for sub-humans) and on Aug. 6 met the same fate as all other challengers, falling 5-1, although the results were not reported in the newspapers.

Arbin started with dept. in ’73

Continued from Page 64 seum, where a display of Arbin’s tenure with the department will be available for public viewing.

Arbin moved smoothly through the ranks after his first day on the job, becoming a lieutenant in 1996 before his appointment as captain the following year. He has held the position ever since, while spending his off seasons working for the Charles County school system for the past 45 years. Continued on Page 66