The question of how much money the Ocean Pines Association should keep in reserve to cover the major expenses of maintaining its assets such as buildings, roads and bulkheads continues to haunt its budgetary discussions. It has done so again, as the administration, in concert with the budget committee, prepares to ask the OPA Board… Read more »

Most people have no idea who the public works and utility crews are in their towns and communities, or what they do beyond provide services they take for granted — until a pipe bursts or a street is impassible because of repairs, maintenance or construction. They don’t realize, except every other year or so, the… Read more »

Pocomoke City Manager Bobby Cowger isn’t just managing the community’s government affairs, he’s doing things, things that could have been done long before this hometown boy got his hand on the tiller. Going back to his days in business, as a Worcester County Commissioner, and later as the head of the county’s Department of Liquor… Read more »

At the last Town of Berlin council meeting, there was plenty of good that came out of Councilman Dean Burrell’s questioning of the recently released marketing video of the town. Burrell did the right thing by bringing up the issue in public rather than allowing any misunderstanding to fester behind the scenes. As a representative… Read more »

As officials from most population centers know, development goes where the sewer flows. The grandest plans, no matter how well refined or well financed they might be, are nothing but scrap paper if sewer and water service aren’t available — or affordable. The latter can be a major problem, as Pocomoke City Manager Bobby Cowger… Read more »

The shame is that the Oasis pool in Ocean Pines might have gone on operating as an adults-only facility for another 30 years if the board of directors hadn’t been made aware that the exclusion of children violated the Fair Housing Act. Even then, if the Ocean Pines Association were to be cited at some… Read more »

The 11 people who signed on to the Berlin Falls Advisory Committee to help guide the creation of this environmental preserve and recreation center will need many more attributes besides enthusiasm and willingness to serve to handle the job ahead of them. Its members will require, as Mayor Gee Williams suggested at the committee’s first… Read more »

Avoiding conflicts of interests and the appearance of ethically compromising circumstances in small communities is one of the most difficult tasks public servants face. It’s not because of any particular fault of officials at the community or the county level, but because smaller populations increase the likelihood that an official will encounter, in the course… Read more »

The police always need the public’s help, but not just any kind of help, which is why involving neighborhood watch groups in law enforcement efforts can be awkward and even dangerous. As Pocomoke Police Chief William Harden told a gathering of citizens last week, public involvement in protecting the community is vital to the department’s… Read more »

Regardless of what anyone says — and people are saying quite a bit these days — nothing is more American than protest. We may not like it, we may be made uncomfortable by it and we even may be enraged by it when the message goes contrary to what we believe. The purpose of protest,… Read more »