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SEPTEMBER 3, 2021
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
Fire station sticker shock New facility on 65th Street would cost $7 million more than originally projected
By Greg Wehner Staff Writer (Sept. 3, 2021) Treatment for shock might have been appropriate Tuesday, when the Ocean City Council learned that the cost of its plan to
build a new fire station at 65th Street would be more than twice the amount forecast. What had been expected to cost the city $5.5 million five months ago, has since jumped to $12.7 million, leaving the mayor and City Council short of breath and looking for answers. Appearing before the council at its Tuesday work session, City Engineer
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Two-day festival offers residents and visitors an end-of-summer bash on the beach – Page 32
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Terry McGean and Ocean City Fire Chief Richard Bowers presented their plans to relocate Fire Station 3 from 74th Street, where it was built in 1969, to a new facility on 65th. Over the years, the functionality of the facility has become “obsolete,” according to Bowers, and it has outlived its service life. It was last updated and enlarged in 1986. See PROPOSED Page 8
A Most Blessed Sacrament student wears the required mask.
Masks made mandatory in county schools Public schools, MBS stick with state board’s decision
PHOTO COURTESY ROBYN MARSDEN
The Last Call goes down in flames in the Ocean City Inlet early Sunday morning.
Fire claims charter boat Last Call
By Mallory Panuska Staff Writer (Sept. 3, 2021) The Last Call charter boat had only been on the water for 10 to 12 minutes early last Sunday morning in the Ocean City Inlet near the south jetty when one of the seven people on board smelled smoke. Minutes later, the 46-foot sportfisherman was engulfed in flames,
and not long after, it was underwater, taking with it nearly four decades of memories for Capt. Frank Pettolina. “I’d had that boat since 1984,” Pettolina said. “There’s a lot of memories on it. It was a big part of our life for a lot of years.” Pettolina, his co-captain and five charter customers were aboard when the engine room caught fire just after
5 a.m. for reasons still unknown. Fortunately, some Good Samaritans onboard the Obsession, which was following the Last Call through the inlet, helped the passengers and crew to safety once the fire started burning. “We never met them before; they just happened to be there,” Pettolina See LAST CALL Page 4
BOAT COLLISION OFFSHORE RESULTS IN FATALITY — PAGE 4
By Mallory Panuska Staff Writer (Sept. 3, 2021) All Worcester County public schools, and one private one, are no longer giving people a choice about masking inside buildings following intervention from the state board of education last week. “[On Aug. 26], the Maryland State Board of Education held a special meeting, where they voted to pass an emergency regulation requiring universal masking in all Maryland schools,” county schools Superintendent Lou Taylor said in a message on the district’s website on Aug. 27. “In light of this vote, beginning on Monday, August 30, all students and staff – regardless of vaccination status, will be required to wear face coverings in our school buildings.” The decision changes the district’s See COUNTY Page 13