September 6, 2013 The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch Page 43 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR FROM PAGE 42 thank those who cared for me. Sharon E. Maloy Philadelphia In the town of Ocean City, our younger population often works in the service industry and invariably that involves alcohol. I have seen countless young adults come to town starry eyed, and in a few years turn into alcoholic barmaids and bartenders, only to shorten their lives and appear in the obituary columns in their 40s or 50s. Crime in Ocean City is embedded in the culture of alcohol and alcoholism, which is out of control and permeates every aspect, moral, ethical, and legal, of our culture. Mayor Meehan, who imbibes with regularity, is merely a reflection of the culture around him: the culture of crime. Unless we become convicted to change our culture, we can only expect crime to worsen in the future. The Mayor and Council apparently while surfing the web found a lewd video on YouTube showing a woman performing sex acts with men inside a Boardwalk tavern. When the Mayor and Council found out, they moved with a seldom-seen alacrity to get YouTube to erase the video. Hiding what happened does not change the culture. It only obscures one event. I only wish the Mayor and Council would move with the same eagerness and energy in attacking alcoholism and the cultural decay it has wrought on our small seaside town. Exhorting the mayor or police chief to arrest the symptom may make us feel better, but maybe the real question should be asked to ourselves. Do we want the culture of alcoholism and decay? If so, Rick Meehan is the perfect mayor for he merely reflects what the Town of Ocean City has become, what its people want. If not, if we earnestly want to change the culture, well then we have our work cut out for us. First we must acknowledge the problem. Only then can we begin the hard work to change. Is it any wonder that our amusement parks for children are practically empty? Yes, it is true that our prices have made us uncompetitive with the Outer Banks for many families with kids, even though we may be closer in distance, but just ask any priest or rabbi or minister on the sand bar: What is the greatest enabler or contributor to our moral and ethical decline, to our cultural decay, to our crime? They will tell you without hesitation: alcohol. Tony Christ Ocean City Between The Lines By Publisher/Editor Steve Green There is nothing official about online petitions through the website change.org, but there’s no question they can be an adequate barometer to gauge public sentiments on a particular issue. In Ocean City, specifically, the recent past has shown these petitions do have an impact on public policy. Over the last couple years, several petitions have been started with the most recent being started by a young resident, Matt Landon, who took exception to Ocean City’s plan to allow beach vehicle access for surf fishermen in the slow season. Landon expressed his views on the matter and asked for a show of support from residents and visitors against the initiative. It received more than 900 signatures within a week and clearly had an impact on the Mayor and Council’s decision to abandon the effort altogether. Other petitions started through the website involving Ocean City issues did not have the same volume of support, but were still effective in ultimately changing city policies. In the spring, a petition started by then-high school senior Mike Durkin to stop the planned operation reduction of the town’s skate park received a little less than 500 supporters. Prior to that, the initiative led by Mick Chester to change the town’s surfing beach policy received about 470 signatures. Chester previously launched a different online petition to legalize skateboarding that garnered about 300 supporters. I happened to be on the beach on 21st Street last Saturday when the boat caught fire just a couple hundred yards from shore. Because of my profession primarily, I watched the scene attentively to observe the fire boat in action. What was more entertaining to me than anything was how the people on the beach reacted. They were a disinterested bunch by and large. Generally speaking, they could have cared less, confirming for me how serious people take their vacations these days. In my immediate vicinity, dozens of people didn’t even lift their heads from their books and many body boarders never even acknowledged what was taking place. There was no disbelief or amazement at the sight of a boat on fire and the fire boat looking to extinguish it. A few folks stood up and walked down to the water’s edge to get a clear look, but it was all taken in stride, particularly by the children, most of whom were bored by the incident in short order. When the boat eventually sank, it was amazing to see those people with an interest simply return to the chairs and playing with their kids. A few minutes later, a pod of dolphin were spotted jumping in the ocean and that clearly received more attention from beach-goers, for what it’s worth. In Berlin, one of the biggest controversies in recent town history appears to be coming to a head on Monday evening. The Berlin Fire Company (BFC) will learn from the Mayor and Council exactly how much the town will provide in funding to the company. Last year, $600,000 in town funding was pulled for a variety of reasons stated by the town, including objections over present leadership, policy decisions and employee treatment. While Mayor Gee Williams would not disclose the amount of money the town has decided on in advance of next week’s meeting, he was willing to reveal it will not be restored to the full amount. “It’ll be less than full funding and we’ve informed the fire company of that,” Williams said. Speculation for months has been that the town will restore about half of the previous allocation, and that realization could be why the BFC penned a two-page letter to town residents this week. The letter starts with “We Need Your Help” and seeks to explain to residents the importance of the BFC getting its funding restored to previous levels. The letter reads, “The fire company is unable to plan its future public safety and business operations due to the uncertainty of the financial support from the Town of Berlin. … If our requested level of funding is not restored, the Mayor and Council will force us to consider which items to sacrifice. Is it the safety of our members? Is it the 24 hour paramedic level ambulance crew? It is our plea to the Mayor and Council that we not have to make these hard decisions due to their funding reductions.” While the letter clearly seeks to rally support for the BFC with a large turnout on Monday, Williams made it clear pressure from pro-fire company citizens will have no bearing on the council’s decision, which clearly has already been made. The Culture Of Crime Editor: In a strongly worded Opinion piece in this paper a few weeks ago, Steve Green, to his credit, broke open a public discussion of recent increased crime in Ocean City. This was followed by a barrage of letters and articles citing the decline of Ocean City and demanding that the mayor and police chief act to fix it. I believe crime is the symptom, not the cause, of the problem. If we want to fix the problem of crime, we must first identify what contributes to or causes local crime, then work to eliminate the cause(s) of crime. What is the cause of the increased crime in the town of Ocean City? Could it be that our local culture has declined? While thinking about this one Saturday night in early August, I drove around Ocean City around midnight. I drove by the underage club where partially clad 15-year-old girls tell their mothers and fathers, “It’s for kids; they don’t allow alcohol.” I saw male predators of all hues in their 20s, 30s and 40s trying to ply their young targets with cannabis being smoked in public, to draw them in with the allure of drugs. Next, I drove by 18th Street where young adults in their 20s and 30s were staggering around outside an establishment from apparent overconsumption of alcohol. There were also separate shooting and stabbing incidents within a block of there. I then drove up to 49th Street, turned into the establishment’s parking lot, and drove to the entrance. I saw an attractive woman standing on the left side of the road looking confused, as if she didn’t know the cab stand was on the other side of the road. I passed her to turn my car around to leave and noticed she had water running down her leg. She was urinating. The next morning at about 7:30, I went into a convenience store to get two morning papers on my way to exercising, which is often my habit. That time, one fellow, a working man, scratched out a lottery ticket he had just written. Disgusted, he threw it on the floor, already littered with tickets, and promptly left. I often see what appears to be people taking dear money, milk money for their families, and putting it in Lotto tickets. I have a friend who owns a couple of hotels who told me that, since the casino opened, his maids have been coming up and saying, “Mister, can I get an advance?” Things have also recently gone missing from rooms. On July 8 of this year, I was in court awaiting the resolution of a matter I initiated. About 12 cases were heard before mine. Eight were felonies, including theft of a police car, narcotics, assault at knife point. All 12 cases involved alcohol. I was amazed as Judge Fletcher, at least six times, issued a sentence of two years reduced to 60 days probation. No one suffered any consequence. Thanks For Support Editor: On behalf of The Ocean City LifeSaving Station Museum, I would like to offer a heartfelt thank you to all of the wonderful people and organizations that made our Free Summer Programs possible. With their help, we were able to provide free educational “classes” every day of the week for eight weeks this July and August and reached over 1,500 people. George Hurley shared his knowledge of Ocean City history during the O.C.B.C. “Ocean City Before Condominiums” program, and Bob Stevens promoted the museum and his passion for the U.S. Life-Saving Service while hosting “Storm Warriors.” Don Schaefer, Joe Britvch and Don Logan of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary schooled visitors on the art of knot tying and members of the Ocean City Beach Patrol advised participants on the latest techniques of beach safety. New to our lineup this year was “Diary of a Reptile” which was hosted by interns from the Delmarva Discovery Center in Pocomoke City. The Ocean City Museum Society is very grateful to all of our volunteers and supporters who allow us to continue our mission to inspire and support life-long interest in Ocean City history and the U.S. Life-Saving Service. Thank you one and all. Sandra D. Hurley Ocean City (The writer is the curator of the Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum.)