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Donald Wittkowski

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Contract for North End Drainage Project Tops City Council Agenda

At its last meeting in 2017, City Council is scheduled to award a nearly $8 million contract for a series of major drainage improvements designed to alleviate flooding in low-lying neighborhoods in the north end of town. The project will include an overhaul of old drainage pipes and deteriorated roads in flood-prone areas between First and Eighth streets from West Avenue to the bay. The plan includes three new pumping stations to flush storm water off the streets and into the bay. The pumping stations will be built along the bayfront at Second, Fifth and Sixth streets...

Sutherland Takes Oath as Cape May County Prosecutor

Jeffrey H. Sutherland was sworn in Thursday as Cape May County’s new prosecutor and immediately vowed to confront the growing opioid crisis that has resulted in more than 30 overdose deaths in the county this year. Sutherland, 53, an Ocean City resident who has 28 years of experience in private law practice, stressed that his new role as prosecutor is to “pursue and convict the guilty, but at the same time recognize the rights of the innocent.” “I recognize the gravity of the position and that the prosecutor is the face of law enforcement in the county,” he said in remarks during his swearing-in ceremony at the Historic Cape May County Court House...

Beach Replenishment Project Expands Ocean City’s Shoreline

Kris Luckenbach was surprised by how far his bare feet sank into the powdery sand that now covers Ocean City’s beaches like a thick, white blanket. “I feel like I’m sinking in. I guess it’s gotten a lot softer,” he said. Luckenbach, of Egg Harbor Township, discovered Ocean City’s deeper and wider shoreline when he stepped out on the beach at Fifth Street on Wednesday to shoot some video...

Ocean City Boardwalk’s Reconstruction Moves Along at a Fast Clip

It’s as though a cataclysmic storm has wiped out an entire section of the Ocean City Boardwalk, leaving a gaping hole between 11th and 12th streets and exposing the virgin sand underneath. “How bare it looks,” Nick Tassiello exclaimed while gazing at the empty space. “What would you do without the Boardwalk?” Tassiello, 55, of Sicklerville, Camden County, decided to take a trip to the shore Tuesday to bask in the mild weather. While strolling on the Boardwalk, he was surprised to see that a portion of it is gone...

Ocean City Students Honored for Academic Excellence

Ocean City’s Board of Education honored nearly 20 of the school district’s outstanding students, including some who achieved perfect scores on standardized state tests for English, mathematics and science. During the school board meeting Tuesday night, all of the students were given certificates recognizing their academic excellence. The board members shook hands with each student while offering their congratulations...

Council Approves Appointments of Fire Chief and Public Works Director

When Jim Smith was hired as a rookie firefighter 23 years ago, he had absolutely no dreams then of one day becoming fire chief. Joe Berenato started as a seasonal worker with the Public Works Department in 1990, taking a job as a carpenter. Both men recalled those humble beginnings to their careers in Ocean City on Thursday night when they were elevated to the top positions in their departments...

Work Begins on First Landscaped Park for Ocean City’s Main Gateway

The gas-to-grass transformation that will turn Ocean City’s main corridor into a more inviting gateway is finally underway. The redevelopment strategy calls for converting three former gas station sites along the Ninth Street artery into green space. Construction work on the first park has begun, months after the blighted old BP gas station that once stood there was torn down. A decorative brick wall and metal fence have been added as the first part of the property’s makeover into a quaint park...

Snow Adds to Holiday Fun in Ocean City

Usually, the only white stuff found on the Ocean City Boardwalk is the beach sand that flakes off the feet of summer sunbathers while they are rushing to grab some ice cream or a slice of pizza. But on Sunday, Boardwalk strollers navigated through slippery patches of slushy snow left over from Saturday’s storm that turned the city into a winter wonderland...

New Art Exhibit Remembers Ocean City’s Legendary Sindia Shipwreck

Ed Wismer’s striking oil painting of the legendary Sindia gives you the sensation of being there on that fateful day in 1901, when the four-masted ship ran aground in Ocean City. It’s as if you can hear the ship’s sails flapping in the howling winds, feel the spray of the angry ocean on your face and see the crew members as they frantically tried to save the Sindia in its death throes...

Bestselling Author Rita Mae Brown Calls Book Lovers the Nation’s “Elite”

Rita Mae Brown, social activist and bestselling author of more than 50 books, believes that even ordinary people can become “elite” simply by doing one thing – reading. In wide-ranging and occasionally humorous remarks that touched on politics, the media, popular culture and gay rights, Brown urged a roomful of her fans Thursday night to emulate some of the world’s most accomplished leaders by picking up a good book...