Hey guys,

Long time no-blog.. Just wanted to check in from the new evening shift. On yesterday’s program a discussion about Tattoo’s came up and we decided live on air to have an impromptu Delmarva’s Best Tattoo contest. Two listener’s volunteered some great prizes., 1st prize is a $25 downtown gift certificate sponsored by Rehoboth Beach Main Street good at over 100 downtown establishments: shops, galleries, spas, hotels, restaurants & more!! (full list below) 0 2nd Prize a listener is donating a $25 g/c to Strawberry Liquors in Selbyville.

To submit your tattoo e-mail a pic or text a pic to jared@wgmd.com - I will be choosing a winner on Friday night, but your votes can help me decide.

To check out the current entries go to http://twitpic.com/photos/jaredmorris

to vote e-mail a description of the one you like the best to jared@wgmd.com (or call me on the air 7pm - 10pm)

So far (as of 06-24-09 at 10:48 PM) this one is my fav:

This isn’t an official radio station promotion, just a fun contest on the new Jared Morris Radio Show. (btw for those of you asking, I will have podcasts of the last few days up tomorrow night, having some computer troubles today! Thanks for keeping tuned in to the new show)

List of participating establishments for donated $25 G/c

RETAIL & SERVICES:
Adeline New York
AerieArt Gallery
Amandeline Gallery
Angel Eyes Gallery
Angel Scents
Ann Bateman Ltd
Anything Goes
Atlantic Books
Atlantic Jewelry Expressions Co
Bad Hair Day?
Bayside Rug Co.
Beach Essentials
Beach Fun Rentals & Sales
Beach Graphics
Bella Mia Hair Boutique
Bike to Go
Bin 66 Wine & Spirits
Blooming Boutique
Bob’s Bike Rentals
Body Shop Fitness
BodymindCenter
Bootlegger
Browseabout Shops
California Sunshine West
Carlton’s
Christmas Spirit
Cleo’s Boutique
Coastal T- Shirt
Coquina Caye
Creatable Crafts
Crysti & Company
Del Sol
Detail Gallery
Dolphin Dreaming
Downtown Cowgirl
E C Shades
The Edge
Elegant Slumming
Gallery 50
Gidget’s Gadgets
Heidi Lowe Jewelry
J Conn Scott Inc
Jeff West Home
Kennedy Gallery
Kitschy Stitch
Lily Pad Children’s Clothing
Lotions & Potions
Lounging Lizard
Mark Showell Interiors
Mizzen Mast
Mod Cottage
One Spirit Massage Studio
OutGear & More
Panache Gallery
PhilipMortonGallery
Portraits In The Sand
Redfish Designs
Rehoboth Art League
Rehoboth Beach Running Co.
RehobothBeach Variety
Rehoboth Lifestyle
Rehoboth Toy & Kite Co
Robert Thomas Salon
Rock Creek
Rose Garden
Sandals Sandals Sandals
Sea Finds
Sea Shell Shop
Shademakers Eyeware
Sharee’s Inc
Shirt Factory
Sign of the Times
Sign-A-Rama
Sole Boutique
Sole Kids
Something Comfortable
South Moon Under
Stuart Kingston
Sunsations
Sunshine Octopus
Thunderbird Gallery
Tidal Rave
Tidal Rave’s 5 & 10
Tiger Lili
Toys from the Attic
Ward Ellinger Gallery
Winding Beam Collection
Wooden Indian Ltd

RESTAURANTS, SNACKS & GOODIES:
Abstractions Sushi Bar & Restaurant
Adriatico Ristorante
Aqua Grill
Arena’s
Atlantic Seafood Grill
Back Porch Cafe
Bake Shoppe
Beachberry Frozen Yogurt
Best Buns on the Beach
Blue
Blue Moon
Cafe Papillon
Cafe Sole
Candy Kitchen Shoppes
Catchers
Claws Seafood House
Cloud 9 Restaurant
Coffee Mill
Cold Stone Creamery
Confucius Restaurant
Corner Grille
Cultured Pearl
Delfinis Italian Restaurant
DISH!
Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats
Dos Locos
Double Dippers
Eden Restaurant
Espuma
Finbar’s Pub & Grill
Fins Fish House & Rawbar
Fisher’s Popcorn
Five Guys
Frogg Pond
Go Fish!
Grazie! Italian Take Out
Grotto Pizza
Hobo’s Restaurant
Ice Cream Store
Iguana Grill
Irish Eyes
Jakes Seafood House
Kohr Brothers
La La Land
Louie’s Pizza
Lupo di Mare
Mariachi Restaurant
Nicola Pizza
Nourish
Obie’s by the Sea
Ovations Restaurant
Pig + Fish Restaurant Planet X
Pop Pop’s Donuts
Porcini House
Purple Parrot Grill
Rainbow Earth Foods
Rehoboth Ale House
Retro Café and Grille
Rigby’s Bar & Grill
Ristorante Zebra
Robin Hood Restaurant
Royal Treat
Salt Air
Sammy’s Kitchen
Seafood Shack
Seaside Thai Cuisine
Shag
Snyder’s Candy
Stingray Sushi Bar + Asian Latino Grill
Stoney Lonen
Summer House
Thrasher’s French Fries
Touch of Italy
Victoria’s Restaurant
Vine
Wings to Go

LODGING:
Admiral Hotel
At Melissa’s B & B
Atlantic Sands Hotel
Atlantis Inn
Avenue Inn
Beach View Motel
Bellmoor Inn & Spa
BoardwalkPlaza
Canalside Inn
Cape Suites Motel
Crosswinds Motel
Delaware Inn at Rehoboth
Hotel Rehoboth
Melbourne B & B
Oak Grove Motor Court
RoyalRoseInn
Sandcastle Motel
Summer Place Hotel
The Whitson

Ocean City, MD Mayor Rick Meehan has the following alert regarding the evaporation of the ocean due to environmental causes and urges citizens to visit Ocean City before it is too late!; from youtube.com: A RECENT STUDY PUBLISHED in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society predicts the planet’s oceans will evaporate in just one billion years. This is not the result of global warming, but rather, the natural effect of our planet being pulled toward an increasingly large sun.

Check out the video of Meehan’s PSA here.

Update: On a side note… this video kind of reminds me of a Dharma Orientation Video… View Here…

Well, For all of those of you who have been wondering about the message in the bottle from today’s program:

from WGMD News:

A message in a jar was found on the beach Monday in front of the Henlopen Hotel by WGMD’s Maria Evans’s husband. Maria brought the jar to WGMD for its unveiling. It was tossed into the ocean in Rehoboth Beach by someone with a Maryland phone number.

Here’s the youtube video of that portion of today’s program, this is one of those segments that’s kind of funnier to see than to hear, I guess… We all had a great deal of fun with it today… Thanks to all the callers who chimed in and to Maria Evans and to ML for the photos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te7laMlD2qg

For more WGMD videos from my show and misc station vids check out my youtube site at www.youtube.com/jaredmorrisradio

Joni Mitchell sang, “They paved paradise & put up a parking lot”… condo, town house, mini-mall…..    

Yeah – I can play the “I remember when” game when it comes to Delmarva.  I remember when I was a kid when there really wasn’t anything much north of 33 Street except the Carousel Hotel.  I remember when Route 1 in Delaware was pretty much two lanes and bumper to bumper traffic – well some things never change.  But tell me – when did Ocean City turn from a place I used to love to go to as a kid and a teenager – to one pretty ugly town?   There’s development and then there’s development gone wild.  I know folks in Sussex County say development is out of control, but there are development districts in the county – where development is allowed (like it or not) and other places where there’s no infrastructure to support development – and you can’t develop those areas.  In Ocean City – it seems the entire town is one ginormous development district – and if there’s not the space to build – they’re filling in the bayside wetlands to create more space to pave over!   There’s so little green in Ocean City today – about all that’s left are the ball parks at 3 Street and Northside Park.  Much of the rest of Ocean City today is tar and concrete.                                     I was watching a DVD recently by an aerial photographer, Jim Whaley.  While his “A Bird’s Eye View” DVD has some spectacular shots of the resort I spent at least part of every summer in since I was a kid – it also made me realize just how “developed” Ocean City has become since I first saw it as a child – and ugly.  When the condo my parents live in was built in 1975, it was one of the tallest buildings in the lower part of town (basically south of 33 Street).  Height variances had to be obtained to build as high as they did – 11 stories – with a parking garage at the ground level (so 12 stories actually).  There was nothing taller to the south.  Not any more.  While Mayor Cropper dreamed in the 1960s of developing Ocean City to the state line, I don’t know if that dream included what has come to be.  Some of the ugliness can be attributed to a handful of people – like Buddy Jenkins who started filling in the bayside wetlands to develop 28 Street bayside and gave others the idea to fill in the other bayside wetlands – like Charles Holland – who’s new Sunset Island at 66 Street is one of the ugliest creations I’ve seen.  Those are only 2 examples – there are many.  Of course all that wouldn’t have been possible without the approval being granted for all these projects by the Ocean City planning & zoning commissions and the town councils through the years. Condo Row in North Ocean City was inevitable, but the bayside was supposed to stay less developed with smaller buildings – like single family homes or town homes.  Even the high density mobile and manufactured home developments like what’s mostly at 94 Street and Montego Bay, while pretty ugly – at least allow for something green – like a lawn.  Not multi-level monstrosities like Rivendell at 81 Street.  A high rise condo on the bayside that was, oops, built taller than what was approved, but the town council has not said – “oh well – it’s already there, so it can stay.  Besides they’re going to pave the sidewalks and powerwash the neighboring buildings as a consequence for being too tall.”  Right now the centerpiece in the current crop of OC ugly is the monstrosity that’s being erected at 48 Street and the ocean.  The Gateway Grand - a 16-story, 196-unit, oceanfront luxury condominium.  What was wrong with the old Gateway?   Oh – I get it – a motel just doesn’t generate the revenue that these condos will bring in - prices range from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000+.  Just how many Bill Gates and Warren Buffetts do they expect to be moving to town?  The Gateway Grand is just too – everything.  Too big, too tall, too out of scale to the rest of the area and too UGLY (of course that’s totally my opinion).  Of course it also brings up the questions everyone asks – there’s someplace to house all these folks – but there’s no place for them to go.  Coastal Highway can’t handle the traffic, there’s no where to shop because they’re closing many of the stores to build more housing (45 Street Village), grocery stores are far and few between.   And you just can’t have EVERYONE in town head to the second main attraction in town – the Boardwalk – all those people & their cars just won’t fit.  You just can’t pour a gallon of water into a pint bottle. At the rate that Ocean City is being developed – both up and out, it’s a wonder they haven’t decided to just fill in the bay and become one with Bishopville, Ocean Pines and Berlin. I think I’ll stay in Delaware – compared to Ocean City – even eastern Sussex County is the wilderness! Photo credits - Jim Whaley’s “A Bird’s Eye View” DVD and the GatewayGrand.com

Are the Skateboard restrictions in Rehoboth Beach too stringent? Another season starts.. another series of violations occurs.. (see photo :below: courtesy of the henney report, http://www.henney.com/)

So basically the city ordinance states “No skateboards anywhere in, around, or near the city or Rehoboth are to be ridden, viewed, stared at, or smelt.” So, the fine isn’t wallet busting..

[Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined for the first offense not less than $15 nor more than $25, and for a second or subsequent offense shall be fined not less than $25 and shall pay the costs of prosecution. [Amended 4-21-2003 by Ord. No. 0503-3]

But are they really that bad? Is it the danger? The Sound? The element? Do they scuff up the fancy Rehoboth sandscaping?

I think that it does make the city a little less family friendly.. but, I understand wanted to keep the city safe and sound… or safe from sound??

A. It shall be unlawful for any person to ride or operate any skateboard on and/or over any sidewalk adjoining any street, any street in the City of Rehoboth Beach from May 15 until September 15 of any year.

B. It shall be unlawful for any person to ride or operate any skateboard or scooter on and/or over the bandstand or any public structures throughout the entire year. The term “public structures” shall, in addition to its ordinary meaning, include but not be limited to the city’s benches, plaques, memorials and steps.

C. It shall be unlawful for any person to ride or operate any skateboard on, under and/or over the Boardwalk or any of the Boardwalk pavilions throughout the entire year.

Is there no way skaters and regular folk can get along? I’ve seen plenty of worse things in Rehoboth than a dirty skater kid. Although, they’re a little too full of themselves for me. (that last statement has nothing to do with the fact that I’ve never been coordinated enough to shred the pavement.)