Time Machine: 2007, 1891, 1937, 1942, 1956, plus local history author's TV segment on Sika Deer- from Japan to Delmarva.

 September, 2007

Salisbury Daily Times

February, 1891

Baltimore Sun

October, 1937

Salisbury Times

October, 1942

The News Journal (Wilmington)

May, 1956

Worcester Democrat

From Japan to Delmarva- Sika Deer 

Throwback Thursday with Jim Duffy- Sika Deer – DelmarvaLife

Favorites on Virginia Eastern Shore

 (Shore Daily News)

The Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission is excited to announce the winners and runners up for the 2022 Eastern Shore Local’s Choice competition! 

(View the list:)

Visit ESVA announces 2022 Locals Choice winners - Shore Daily News

More info:

Performers | National Folk Festival Salisbury MD | Music Festival

National Folk Festival Salisbury, MD Comes to Eastern Shore

 

4th Friday Street Festival

Time Machine Preview

This Sunday here at The Pocomoke Public Eye:

2007  ..  

1891  ..  

1937  ..  

1942  ..

                                 

1956  ..  The new Miss Pocomoke-

Plus local history author Jim Duffy's TV segment on Sika Deer-from Japan to Delmarva.

 

First event of the Crisfield Hard Crab Derby

 

Little Miss Crustacean & Little Mr. Crustacean

Friday- August 26th- 7:00PM

Crisfield High School

$10 Admission

The full Hard Crab Derby schedule takes place Labor Day weekend, September 2, 3, 4.

See more about it:

Home | derby (nationalhardcrabderby.com)

 

NASA and Chincoteague team up for better water

 (WBOC)

View news story:

NASA, Town of Chincoteague Collaborate to Rid Drinking Water of "Forever Chemicals" | Latest News | wboc.com

Wicomico Hit and Run update

Maryland State Police have updated investigation information regarding a recent hit and run fatality on north Route 13, Salisbury. The victim was 29-year-old Colin Henny Lin, a son of the owner of The Tokyo Steak House in Salisbury and was a manager at that restaurant.  The restaurant has been temporarily closed.

UPDATE: Further investigation has revealed more evidence from the scene that links the crash to other vehicles involved. 

Investigators believe the crash occurred at approximately 4:00 a.m. Additional information gleaned through further investigation of the crash has ruled out the blue and white truck, initially listed as a vehicle of interest.

During the investigation, video surveillance of the area where the crash occurred developed additional vehicles of interest.  One vehicle was identified as a white Ford Edge.  On 8/22/2022 that vehicle was located and identified as a 2009 Ford Edge.  The vehicle has been seized and is being stored at the Maryland State Police Salisbury Barrack pending further investigation.

Another vehicle of interest has been developed as being involved in the crash after forensic analysis of vehicle debris at the scene identified the parts as belonging to a Kia Soul, believed to be a light colored Kia Soul between the model years 2016 and 2019. 

Anyone with information relevant to the investigation is urged to contact the Maryland State Police Salisbury Barrack at 410-749-3101.

 

Dear Worcester County families and community,

I want to begin by extending my sincerest thanks to you for the incredible patience, understanding, and support you have shown us as we navigated very difficult circumstances amid what felt like a never-ending crisis. As we look ahead to the 2022 - 2023 school year, I am happy that our schools will once again resemble the places of learning our students and you - our families - have longed for.

While the pandemic has ended, we have learned valuable lessons from this time. These lessons are woven through both this plan as well as established best practices for general health and safety, instruction, and technology integration.

With that in mind, I want you to know that this plan looks very different from previous years as our focus shifts to recovery of learning. Notably, you'll see the removal of our stages of learning. In Worcester, we have consistently advocated for students' safe return to the classroom early in this pandemic. We led the way in designing strategies and protocols that did just that.

Once again, we anticipate leading the way as we continue our work to close those learning gaps that either appeared or widened as a result of these tumultuous years. We look forward to your partnership in this endeavor.

Sincerely,

Louis H. Taylor

Superintendent of Schools

View details:

Responsible Return 3.0 - Worcester County Public Schools (worcesterk12.org)

Time Machine: 2004, 1884, 1949, 1937, 1956, plus local history author's TV segment on some Secrets Of The Eastern Shore.

 

May, 2004

(Pocomoke High School students Leslie Levin, 17, and Kenneth Nugent, 16, testified before the House Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans during an oversight hearing on the Chesapeake Bay in your community: A Restoration Plan on Tuesday in Washington.)

Salisbury Daily Times

March, 1884

Delaware Gazette and State Journal (Wilmington)

July, 1949

Salisbury Times

*January, 1937

Baltimore Sun

Pocomoke Public Eye reader comment:

 grammy said...

Automobiles sin the 1930s usually did not come equipped with heaters as standard equipment. That's probably why the young lady in the photo is attempting to drive with that huge coat with a fur collar. There was even a term for such attire; the carcoat. You can look it up! Every stylish young lady of that era wanted a carcoat. I can remember in about 1958 when my aunt Ruth boasted about getting a new carcoat at Penny's at Clarke Avenue and Market Street.

tk for PPE says: Remember the cash carrier set up at the Pocomoke Penny's? The sales clerk put your payment in the carrier and up it went to the balcony via a pully type mechanism where a cashier made change and sent it back down with receipt to your sales person on the main floor.

 grammy said...

I sure do! I remember when my father took me in to get my first pair of real work shoes. Bobby Judd was the salesman and Dad asked if the shoes were $10. Bobby replied they were....$10 for each shoe. That was considered really expensive back then.

tk for PPE says: Bobby was in my sister's PHS graduating class. Bobby's sister, Peggy, was in my class.

July, 1956

The Cumberland News

Some Secrets Of The Eastern Shore

Secrets Of The Eastern Shore with Jim Duffy | Archive | wboc.com

(Updated) Radio Station fire

1950's- Young Choppy Layton on the air at WDMV:

                         (submitted photo/Salisbury Daily Times)

       (WBOC)

View WBOC video news story:

https://www.wboc.com/news/pocomoke-city-radio-station-manager-vows-to-rebuild-after-devastating-fire/video_57c52c47-e5a1-5a5a-9f7d-d0a86e1a1a5c.html

View Shore Daily News story:

Longtime Pocomoke City radio station destroyed by fire - Shore Daily News

(Earlier Pocomoke Public Eye postings)

(Thursday, 8/18/22)

The building that was home to Pocomoke's radio station on Dun Swamp Road was declared a total loss as a result of a fire Thursday that reportedly started from an electrical problem in the attic area. 

Above photo is from 1964. The building was constructed in 1955 when WDVM went on the air. Call letters were changed later in the 1950's to WDMV "Wonderful Delmarva."  After operating for decades with the WDMV call letters ownership changed the call to WGOP.

Photos below from the Pocomoke Volunteer Fire Company.

Comments from a Pocomoke Fire Company member who was a former announcer at WDMV:

" - sad day for a Pocomoke landmark today. A fire gutted the former WDMV studios. We received the call at around 11:40 AM and first unit on scene had smoke showing from roof and all sides of the building. It took about 2 hours to bring fire under control. Besides Pocomoke, mutual aid companies included Stockton, Snow Hill, Girdletree, New Church, and Princess Anne. Atlantic Fire Company stood by at the Pocomoke Firehouse. Support was provided by Pocomoke City EMS and Worcester County Emergency Services. The Worcester County Fire Marshal's office is investigating origin and cause. Side note: Ironically WDMV (as WDVM) signed on the air this week in 1955." 

Criminal Intelligence Network expanding into Worcester and Somerset

 (WBOC)\

View governor's announcement:

Gov. Hogan Announces Expansion Of Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network | Latest News | wboc.com

Sad news from the Lioness Club in Berlin

 (Bayside Gazette)

(View letter:)

Letter to the Editor - Worcester County News Bayside Gazette (baysideoc.com)

Liquor dispensary verdict

 (Crisfield-Somerset County Times)

Somerset County dispensary manager guilty of felony theft

The Somerset County Dispensary's highway store north of Pocomoke City where Cynthia Vanfossen was the manager.

Posted Monday, August 15, 2022 10:11 pm

PRINCESS ANNE — Following a two-day trial a jury in less than an hour found the former manager of the Somerset County Liquor Dispensary’s highway store north of Pocomoke City guilty of felony theft for failing to account for $17,625 in deposits that never made it to the bank.

Cynthia M. Vanfossen, 60, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison but the state will likely ask for 18 months — which is more than the sentencing guidelines of probation to six months.

Senior visiting Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr. of Carroll County who presided during the trial ordered a pre-sentence investigation.

“Twelve deposits…all missing,” and Ms. Vanfossen was the sole person responsible, said State’s Attorney Wess Garner in his closing argument.

“Everything ran through the manager’s office,” reminding the jury that from July 2 through Aug. 20 of 2020 cash deposits “still have not been made.”

The alarm was raised when two years ago daily deposits were not being made on time or by the second day which was allowed because of the location of the store.

Liquor Control Board member Cynthia Knopp testified that Vanfossen “came with good references” but she and board members Robert Hogg and John French together with bookkeeper Colbi Sayre went to the store to meet with the manager about why deposits were not being made.

French testified that the explanations given didn’t produce any results. Vanfossen borrowed an employee’s car and went to her house in Pocomoke City to get deposits that might have been there, but didn’t have them.

“She always had a story” why the deposits didn’t get to Hebron Savings Bank, and the problem “was never resolved,” Sayre said.

State Police Master Trooper Alexander Edwards who was assigned to investigate said after a search and seizure warrant was executed at Vanfossen’s home some 4.4 miles from the store there was $122.60 in currency found in a desk drawer along with several empty bank and/or similar bags but no other significant amounts of cash.

Vanfossen did not testify and Public Defender Arch McFadden argued on her behalf that the state failed to prove each and every transaction was theft. He said the jury would have “to leap” to fill everything in between because all they heard was “a conclusion and some testimony.”

Instead McFadden said the jury heard about “sloppy practices by the liquor board,” acknowledging with “all candor” there were sloppy practices by Vanfossen. From testimony the jury heard that the safe at the store was “open all day long” and with the store open 77 hours a week and the manager working 40 hours employees were left unsupervised at best monitored by a camera system in the store which transmitted images via “spotty” internet, Knopp said, as she would pull up video on her phone.

On the possibility of other employees being involved Garner said the proof of theft was the deposit tickets in Vanfossen’s house without the cash, saying she used the liquor board’s money “as her own personal cash machine.”

In fiscal year 2021 when the thefts occurred liquor stores were among the businesses that were allowed to remain open during the height of the coronavirus pandemic and the Liquor Control Board reported its highest profit ever of $305,000. Through the years there have been inventory shortages due to employee theft and clerks have been charged for selling alcohol to persons underage but this theft of cash is one for the books — which will close for the final time at the end of this year.

At the county’s request the General Assembly during the 2022 session passed House Bill 671 which abolishes the Liquor Control Board and Gov. Larry Hogan allowed it to be enacted without his signature.

Starting in January the private sector has the opportunity to sell hard liquor through a new Class A beer, wine and liquor license priced at $5,000 with an annual renewal, managed by the Somerset County Board of License Commissioners.

(Pocomoke Public Eye reader comments:)

 Anonymous said...

County governments never should have been involved in the liquor business in the first place.

 Anonymous said...

And I still say Pocomoke municipal government never should have been involved in the restaurant business.