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OCTOBER 11, 2019
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
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CRUISIN’ OCEAN CITY
More than 2,000 vehicles will be on display this weekend duing the annual event – Page 25
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Kirwan explains commission’s job at Wor-Wic forum
ELIZABETH BONIN/OCEAN CITY TODAY
QUIET RIDE Corvettes line the Boardwalk for the 33rd annual Free State Corvette Club Weekend on Oct. 5, when hundreds of vintage and new ‘Vettes came to town. It’s the quietest of all the resort’s vehicular events.
Residents want answers on ‘H2Oi’ Gehrig apologizes to crowd for what he says is council failure to take more action By Josh Kim Staff Writer “Somebody is going to die,” several residents and an Ocean City councilman said Monday of what might happen should there ever be a repeat of the havoc-causing modified car rally in the resort two weekends ago. How to prevent that from happening, however, remains undetermined at Monday night’s council meeting, where a roomful of angry residents as well as participants in the unsanctioned modified car event held forth during the public comments portion of the session.
Although the discussion was not on the agenda, the event, known colloquially, if erroneously, as H2Oi was clearly on audience members’ minds. “To quote E. Stanley Jones,” said Wilmington, Delaware resident Nigel James, a defender of the loosely organized car rally, “‘A rattlesnake, if cornered, will become so angry it will bite itself.’” James said the city should not attempt to push participants away with harsher penalties, but should reach out to the group, collaborate on creating a sanctioned event and profit from it. “I take offense when you say that we are not open to this group,” resort resident and business owner Michelle Knopp countered, “because we are open to all of the groups [who] come here.”
“I know they’re here to have a good time, but they also seem to come to cause problems. They seem to hate the Ocean City police … when you pull into town and you have a F*** the Ocean City Police Department [sign], that doesn’t go over well.” Knopp went on to list a variety of events, including last month’s Bike Fest, that caused no issues despite heavy attendance. “I would like an answer from you all [City Council] … and it might be to accept them … but right now I feel like we’re 10 steps behind, and they are always 10 steps in front of us,” Knopp said. Several other residents echoed the possibility of working with participants, however, one resident pointed See MARTIN Page 5
By Rachel Ravina Staff Writer (Oct. 11, 2019) The local edition of Chairman Dr. William “Brit” Kirwan’s pitch for state education reform continued Tuesday evening during a forum at Wor-Wic Community College. The Kirwan Commission, more formally known as the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education, is ‘Until we have a tasked with alloclearer picture cating billions of from the state on dollars to rehow funding for vamp the education system in the commission will be allocated, Maryland. The Kirwan I will remain Commission’s concerned about funding formula how these workgroup has findings will been meeting for the past several impact our months. The school system.’ group is expected Worcester to share the County Public county-bycounty numbers Schools and recommen- Superintendent dations during an Lou Taylor Oct. 15 meeting. “We absolutely will have [them],” Kirwan said. Worcester County Public Schools Superintendent Lou Taylor said after the forum that while he liked what Kirwan said, he’s reserving judgment until the county-by-county breakdowns are released. “Because of the state’s current funding formula, our county and our school system receive only a nominal level of funding from the state, despite the over 42 percent of students’ families living under the poverty line,” Taylor said. “Until we have a clearer picture from the state on how funding for the See COUNTY Page 3