OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.COM
JANUARY 27, 2023
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
BYE SUSAN
RIVERBOAT SALE
Town of Snow Hill selling paddlewheel vessel after years of financial headaches — Page 14
FREE
Scooter crash victim backs proposed ban Just two resort businesses hold licenses to rent them
JACK CHAVEZ/OCEAN CITY TODAY
BLOOD DRIVE
The Blood Bank of Delmarva conducted its annual January drive at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center this week from Monday to Wednesday. A total of 609 donors had their blood drawn. Whole blood donor Lynn Callo of Berlin talks with phlebotomist Careen Harris as her blood is drawn.
By Mallory Panuska Staff Writer (Jan. 27, 2023) A little more than six years ago, Patty Gregorio’s life changed forever in the few seconds it took the driver of a rented scooter to run a red light at a Coastal Highway intersection. It was a sunny August day in 2016. Gregorio and her wife, Stephenie Fowler, had headed into Ocean City to see an author who was signing autographs at the convention center. It was Jeep Week and the center’s parking lot was full of cars, so they had to park on the oceanside near 41st Street. The couple waited at the intersection until the sign to walk switched on, and all the cars on both sides of the busy road came to a stop at the red light. They stepped out into the crosswalk and struck head-on by a man on a scooter speeding through the traffic signal in the bike lane. Gregorio said she took “about 90 percent of the hit” and ended up in shock trauma in Baltimore. Today, she is still living with the effects of a traumatic brain injury See SCOOTER Page 3
Major resort restaurant shuffle underway Expansions, relocations, sales, leases make it tough to know who’s going where By Mallory Panuska Staff Writer (Jan. 27, 2023) Some may not show it much on the outside, but several resort area restaurants will be
taking on new management and owners before the kick-off of the 2023 summer season. “For the last several years, the hotel industry has seen quite a bit of change in ownership and that seems to be happening to the restaurant ind u s t r y now,” Susan Jones, the
executive director of the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association, said in an email this week of all the food establishments that have announced or confirmed big changes in ownership and locations.
“All around the country, and in Maryland, there are restaurants closing and changing hands,” she added. The following restaurants have either inked deals with new owners or managers, or are working on getting there: See NEW Page 4