"Candidate Lakernick is seeing support for his unsupported charges that Candidate Peck supported a boycott of Matt Ortt operations in OPA during the hit-and-run death controversy a couple of years ago involving an Ortt employee. Unfortunately, and likely more harmful than helpful to Lakernick's candidacy, the support is on a Facebook hate site that attacks women and generally supports the Get Involved Facebook group run by Lakernick's wife."

Lakernick supporters have been searching forum messages to find anything about this "boycott" business.

They found a post of mine where I wrote to Amy Peck back in January 2023:

"And maybe you should not have supported the idea of boycotting the Ortt restaurant operations in Ocean Pines."

Peck replied: "Are other private homeowners being questioned where they eat? My family made the decision to not go to the YC after a friend of mine was verbally assaulted and there was pending litigation. Maybe that's part of the problem...board members spending too much time drinking at the bars."

Marty Clarke responded, "I am pretty sure a reasonable argument could be made that the board members aren’t spending enough time drinking at bars." 

The boycott issue raised by Lakernick this year was apparently about organized boycotting of Ortt and the petition asking OPA to end the relationship with Ortt. There is no evidence Peck supported that boycott, started by nitwits wrongfully blaming Matt Ortt for some involvement in a hit-and-run death. To her credit, Esther Diller did her best to assist Ortt in that debacle.

Whether my use of "boycott" in my post to Peck was the proper word can be debated. However, based on what was going on at the time, it seems Peck had every reason to "boycott" the Yacht Club at a personal level after a disgusting drunken verbal attack on a woman at the Yacht Club by a former board member. The woman attacked at the Yacht Club was one of three women, including Peck, relentlessly attacked on a Facebook hate site that generally supports the Get Involved Facebook site for over two years.

That Facebook hate site even mocked Peck's husband over how he danced at the Yacht Club, with images as I recall. What woman would ever want to go to the Yacht Club with that kind of fear of verbal attack in the air?

In short, the undercurrent of hate and fear of public attack, verbal or otherwise, at the Yacht Club would certainly be cause for Peck or any woman subject to vile personal attacks for over two years to avoid going there.

At any rate, those are my recollections.

Finally, as someone who has covered OPA politics for over 20 years, and lived fulltime in Ocean Pines for 36 or so years, all this relative recent board politics nonsense is absurd. It began maybe four years ago. Fortunately, the vast majority of association members pay little attention.

Ocean Pines is a great place to live. It is an even greater place to live for those who ignore board politics.

From my perspective, all this campaigning and board backslapping about accomplishments reminds me of what board member Jeff Heavner likes to say about pursuing "Excellence."

If history tells us anything, EXCELLENCE in OPA at the board level only happens when there is an EXCELENT General Manager and the board stays out of the way. Fortunately, our association has been in that situation now for about the last three or more years.

As for the importance of the election results this year? Very little. Whether Peck or Lakernick is elected to the board will not impact association members in any way. 

Vote for the candidates of your choice, just be sure to vote.