Thursday, March 6, 2008 • St. Mary’s County

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PINEY POINT LIGHTHOUSE

County TimesThe

Andrea ShiellStaff Writer

More than 25 dignitar-ies and community leaders from across St. Mary’s Coun-ty stopped by Mechanicsville Elementary School Monday for the seventh annual “Read Across America” event, some bringing stacks of their favorite books to share with the students while others chose from a table of books, most written by Dr. Seuss.

County Commissioner Daniel Raley read “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” by Laura Joffe Numeroff, enthusiastical-ly talking to the first graders in between pages.

Down the hall, Captain Glen Ives read “If You Take a Mouse to School” by the same author to some very enthusiastic kindergarteners. Ives has been a part of a countywide “Read With Me” partnership, send-

Community Leaders Participate in Seventh Annual ‘Read Across America’

By Guy LeonardStaff Writer

The man investigators and prosecutors believe is responsible for the murder of the owner of a hair salon in Charlotte Hall about two years ago is un-der investigation by federal authorities for a string of bank robberies scattered throughout the country shortly after the homicide took place.

William Marcus White was formally indicted in the killing of Robert Martin Phipps last year. Police and prosecutors here believe he bludgeoned the sa-lon owner to death in his business in June of 2006.

Investigators in other states say that in the

Murder Suspect Under Federal Indictment


A tax credit passed by the St. Mary’s County Board of County Commissioners three years ago de-signed to relieve the property tax bur-

den on senior citizens aged 70 and over has done a good job in its first few years of operation, according to a committee appointed to analyze its effectiveness.

The Senior Property Tax Credit Review Committee made their presen-

Senior Property Tax Credit Providing Some Relief

tation to the county commis-sioners Tuesday and said that while the program is costing the county some money in property tax revenues that the amount so far has been manageable.

Committee members told commissioners that so far the tax cred-it program has cost the county on aver-age about $100,000 a year in revenue.

“We think that yes… it is provid-ing relief to the average to middle class


An interagency task force charged with assessing the growing needs for health and human services in St. Mary’s County has come out with a report that supports placing separate departments working in the county on issues like mental health, substance abuse and job training un-der one coordinating office.

Bennett Connelly, director of the Local Management Board and head of the task force, said the two options outlined in the report rep-resented a chance for the county to employ a comprehensive approach to providing the best human services to residents without using additional money other than what is already provided by the state and through grant dollars.

One option included creating an Office of Human Service Coordina-tion that would be managed by a gov-erning council of agency heads from places like Connelly’s organization, the Mental Health Authority and the Division of Community Services.

That governing council would also include consumers and citizens to ensure the best services were be-ing delivered to all residents.

The office would be a county

entity staffed with county employ-ees under the first option, according to the report, and the second option would have the agencies stay as they are with their current employees, but reporting to the new organization’s director who would be a county employee.

The options in the report would help do away with what Connelly called a piecemeal approach to the way human services are managed now.

“There’s no one entity that looks at what they’re doing in a compre-hensive way or organizing and di-recting them in a comprehensive way,” Connelly said. It could be more efficient and responsive to the communities needs.”

The search for the specific hu-man service needs to be addressed started in 2006, when the Local Management Board was tasked with gathering input from community groups, providers and citizens. A report in July of 2007 showed the main human service challenges re-volved around a lack of affordable housing for the needy and disabled; a lack of access to health and mental health care for both the uninsured and the insured, including dental

Human Services Report Recommends Consolidation

See Read page A-10

See HHS Report page A-5

See White page A-7

See Relief page A-6

Seahawks NCAA Tourney-Bound When in doubt, trust each other.” -SMC Coach Chris Harney“

The president of the Mechanicsville Volunteer Fire Department said that the proposed tax increase his orga-nization has requested would help build a 16,240-square foot addition to their station on Hills Club Road.

The cost of the expansion would be $2.5 million, with $905,000 coming from the organization’s reserve fund, according to MVFD president John Montgomery.

The addition would include more room for fire-fighting apparatus, more office space for administrative tasks, training facilities as well as for physical fitness.

The tax increase would also help fund gender spe-cific bunkrooms.

There are currently 17 women serving in the de-partment, Montgomery said.

The proposed tax increase would mean homeown-ers in the 5th Election District would pay 5.1 cents per $100 of assessed value over the current 4.4 cent tax.

Mechanicsville VFD Wants Tax Increase To Pay For Expansion

Photo by Andrea Shiell

Photo Courtesy of Barstow County Police Dept.

Surveillance photos show alleged Hairtasia murder suspect William Marcus White, of Mechanicsville, robbing banks across the United States after fleeing St. Mary’s County in the summer of 2006.

St. Mary’s County Commissioner Daniel Raley reads to a group of first graders as part of the Read Across America event on Monday.

Congressman Steny Hoyer called on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to repeal new Medicaid rules that may slash funding or eliminate pro-grams. A report that was compiled with information from state Medicaid directors estimated that new regulations would reduce federal payments by nearly $50 billion over the next five years. Some cuts to the State’s programs are projected by Hoyer and others to include eliminating services such as a statewide hotline for patients looking for doctors, as well as cuts to outpatient hospital services, provider taxes, and rehabilitative services. “In Maryland, the changes would result in a reduction of critical ser-vices and a lower quality of care for Medicaid recipients,” said Hoyer on Tuesday. “At a time when the economy is significantly slowing down, it makes no sense to imple-ment changes that compromise a program serving those families who are most in need.”

Hoyer Criticizes New Medicaid Rules

Legislation to require registration of pharmacy tech-nicians is now in effect, according to the Maryland Board of Pharmacy. The Board will require pharmacy techni-cians to be licensed, registered or certified in order to as-sist pharmacists in the dispensing of prescriptions due to a new law effective January 28, 2008.The newly enacted regulations will require all pharmacy technicians cur-rently working in Maryland pharmacies to be registered by July 28, 2008. Technicians must meet certain educa-tional and training requirements, and pass a Board-ap-proved examination and undergo a criminal background check to successfully comply with the new law. In ad-dition, all registered pharmacy technicians must submit evidence of successful completion of continuing educa-tion courses in areas of pharmaceutical practice before renewing their registrations every two years.

New Law Requires Registration of Pharmacy Technicians

SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,March6,�008

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ByGuyLeonardStaffWriter

Ajuryof12residentscon-victedaTallTimberswomanoftakingpartinthebrutalas-saultofamanwhobrokeintoatrailerwhereshewasresid-ingtostealdrugsandmoney.

The two-day trial hadRobin Alana Thompson fac-ing charges of both first-de-gree and second-degree as-sault for sodomizing thevic-tim in the case, JasonYates,withaplungercausingseriousphysicaldamage.

Duringthetrial,itwasre-vealed thatYateswasadrugaddictwhoenteredthetrailerin Clements that Thompson

and an alleged drug dealerwerelivinginbackinJanuaryof 2007 where attempted tostealcrackcocaineandmon-eyfromtheallegeddealer.

It was at this time, ac-cordingtoclosingargumentsfromboththeprosecutionandthe defense, that Yates wasbeaten as many as 50 timeswithahammerbytheallegeddealer.

Itwasafterbeingbeatenbloody that Thompson as-saultedYatesfurtherbyram-mingaplungeruphisrectum,accordingtoprosecutorKevinMcDevitt.

“[She]committedahorri-bly violent crime,” McDevittargued to the jury.“Shevio-

latedhiminthemostdisgust-ingwaypossible.”

According to testimony,Yates was ejected from thetrailerafterbeingbeatenand,with his pants pulled down,his testicles were squeezedwithsuchforce,McDevittar-gued,thathecollapsedonthetrailer’sporch.

Itwasthenthattheplung-erassaultbegan,hesaid.

“He screamed stop, shedidn’t stop,” McDevitt said.“She pulled the plunger outthenputitinhisface.

“This is a chaotic situ-ation; an extremely violentsituation.”

PublicdefenderSeanMo-ranarguedthatthecredibility

of the state’s witnesses, whohe called “people at a crackhousedoingtheirthing,”wasunreliable.

HealsosaidYatesandhiscompanionshadalreadybeentothetrailertwotimesbeforethe assault had occurred, re-ceived free drugs, and hadconsumedsomuchthat theirrecollection could not betrusted.

Itwasthethirdreturntothe trailer and Yates’ subse-quentactionsthatearlymorn-ing that lead to the violentassault.

“Who’s going to breakinto a trailer at 4 a.m., thehome of a drug dealer, andreach over him while he’s

asleep to grab drugs andcash?”Moranaskedthejury.“Hestarted thiswholenight;he was the whole cause oftheseevents.”

The first and second-de-gree assault charges againstthe alleged dealer, JosephLouis Herbert of Clements,were dropped by prosecu-tors before Thompson’s jurytrial, according to courtdocuments.

Moran argued that Her-berthadmoremotivetocom-mitthecrimethanhisclient.

Moran also refuted theprosecution’s argument thatit was Thompson violentlysqueezingYates’testiclesthatcausedhimtocollapseonthe

porch.“His being beaten with

a hammer, and consumingcrack cocaine that had noth-ing do with his fall, it washer?”Moranargued.

ButthejurytooklessthananhourtoconvictThompsonof both charges of first and second-degreeassault.

JudgeC.ClarkeRaleyor-deredapre-sentencinginves-tigation in Thompson’s caseandalsoremandedhertothecustodyofsheriff’sdeputies.

The first-degree assault conviction could mean asmany as 25 years in prisonforThompson,whilethesec-ond-degree assault convic-tioncouldnether10yearsofincarceration.

WomanConvictedInViolentAssaultCase

By:BobSchaller

What is the top economic developmentchallengefacingSt.Mary’sCounty?Answerswill certainlyvarybut a consensus responsewouldbe theavailabilityandaffordabilityofhousing.Attractingandretainingskilledwork-ersgoeshand-in-handwithprovidinghousingoptions that are financially within reach. Thus thephrase“WorkforceHousing”capturestheidea that housing must be accessible to theworkforce that our economy depends upon.Theschool systemknows this, asdoesNASPatuxentRiver,thehospital,Sheriff’sDepart-ment,thedefensecontractingcommunity,andseveralotherlocalemployers.

Affordabilityofhousingisnotanewchal-lenge,norisitlocal.Jurisdictionseverywherearedealingwiththis.Thehothousingmarketthat fueled the overall economy formuch ofthisdecadehassincecooledoff.Theimpactson localmarketsvarybut sharp increases inmedianhomepricesandevensharperincreas-esinlandvalueshavemadethechallengeevenharder,especiallyhere.Presentlythehousingmarketissoftwithmanymorechoicesavail-

able.Priceshavestabilizedandinmanycasesarefalling.Itisabuyer’smarket.Industryex-pertsexpectthistrendtocontinueforperhapsanotheryearbutmanyforecastsshowaturn-aroundinearly2009.

Sothereissomeshort-termreliefinsightasbuildersanddevelopersadjust theirplans.Infact,we’veheardfromseveralbuildersanddevelopers,both largeand small,whodesireto offer more workforce housing. This is inresponse tomarket shifts but also a genuinedesiretohelpaddressacommunityneed.OnetargetedexampleisSt.Mary’sAffordableRentforTeachers(SMART)program,apartnershipbetweenalocalbuilderandSt.Mary’sCoun-tyPublicSchoolsfordiscountsonrentalsforfirst-year teachers. Also, larger projects involv-ingpublicinvestmentareadvancingwithTheGatewaysonGreatMillsRoad,HuntingCreekonWillowsRoad,eventhenewoff-basemili-tary housing communities Columbia ColonyinFirstColonyandChallengerEstatesinWil-dewoodtakingshape.Thisisallgoodnews.

Oneareathathasgottenmuchrecentat-tentionisMobileHomeParksandwhatfuturerole theyplay inaffordabilityofhousing.As

theclosureofNationalandWhiteOakParksoffRt.235iscompletedinthecomingweekstherewillbe twofewerparks in theCounty.Thiscontinuesadownwardtrendstartedafewdecades ago when growth pressures broughtoffers fordevelopmentprojects suchasWal-Martforcommercialandotherusesforthesesites.

Historically, mobile and manufacturedhomes have offered a unique affordable andworkforce housing option to this communi-ty.Theconstructionof thebaseanditsearlygrowth were the reasons for the rapid influx ofmobilehomeparksinthe1950sand1960s.During that time the flexibility and speed of readying mobile homes resulted in a signifi-cantpercentageofnewhousingstockcomingfromthissector.Thiscontinuedintothe1970sandearly1980s.AccordingtotheCensusBu-reau,in1990therewere3,842mobilehomesrepresenting 14%of all the housing stock inSt.Mary’sCounty.AtthattimeSt.Mary’sledboththenationat8.3%andstateat3%intermsof mobile home percentage of total housingstock.Butby2006theserateshadfallenacrosstheboard.Moreimportantly,inSt.Mary’sthe

ratehadfallenfasterthanboththestateandnation.In1996St.Mary’sat5.2%wasactu-ally less than the nation at 6.9%. Marylandhadalsofallento1.7%.Overthis16-yrperiodtheCountyhadlostmorethan1,700mobile

homes,almosthalf its inventory.Meanwhile,the totalhousingstockgrewbysome11,000unitswithmedianpriceswellover$300,000.

MobileHomeParkswillcontinuetoplayanimportantalbeitdiminishedroleinthefu-tureofaffordabilityof localhousing.This isacomponentofoneof the recommendationsof the Community Workforce Housing TaskForce: preserving and revitalizing existingneighborhoods.Theaddedchallengewefaceasapeninsulaandacommunityinterestedinpreserving agricultural land confronted withsimilar development pressures is balancingthese sometimes conflicting interests so that affordability of housing, present and future,canbeachievedsoourcommunitycancon-tinue to prosper. What we’ve learned aboutaffordable and workforce housing from themarket, themobile home park experience inparticular, andavarietyof landpreservationefforts,isthatittakesacollectiveandcollab-orativeeffortinvolvingtheprivateandpublicsectors,alongwithcommunityandothernon-profit organizations, to bringthisabout.

AffordableandWorkforceHousing

AndreaShiellStaffWriter

Attorney General Douglas F. Ganslerand Governor Martin O’Malley announcedlast week that the state of Maryland has filed suit inBaltimoreCityCircuitCourtagainstConstellation Energy Group (Constellation)anditssubsidiaries,BaltimoreGasandElec-tric(BGE)andCalvertCliffsNuclearPowerPlant(CalvertCliffs).TheStateisaskingtheCourt to find under Maryland law that the credits issued to BGE customers specified in SenateBill 1 (SB1) in 2006 are a constitu-tionalandlegalactoftheGeneralAssembly.

Thebill,passedduringtheGeneralAs-sembly’sspecialsessioninJune2006,wasinresponsetotheimpendingincreaseinpricesforStandardOfferServiceforBGEcustom-ers, which would raise significantly once the rate freezepreviouslyput inplace forelec-tricresidentialcustomersexpired.Custom-erswouldbearthebruntofincreasedenergycoststotheaddedtuneofnearly$750ayearfor the average residential customer, a 72percentincrease.TheSenatebilllimitedtherate increase for electric service to 15 per-cent, while provisions were put in place toallowcustomerstodefertheircoststhrougharatestabilizationplan,allowingforsmallerpaymentsoveraperiodof10years.

“Inthefaceofrisingenergycosts,SB1provided Maryland customers with muchneededrelief,”saidAttorneyGeneralGansler.“Despitereceivinghealthyandgrowingprof-itsover the last severalyears,ConstellationwantstoboostitsbottomlineattheexpenseofhardworkingMarylanders.Weareaskingthe Baltimore City Circuit Court to confirm thattheprotectionsbuiltintoSB1arelawfulandcannotbeignoredbyConstellation.”

Constellation has countered with theirownsuit, seeking toprevent theState fromtakinganestimated$386millionfromCon-stellation shareholders under the disputedSenatebill,citingBGE’s1999restructuringagreement,whichwasapprovedbytheMary-landPublicServiceCommissionandsubse-quentlyupheldbytwoMarylandcourts.

“Inthistimeofeconomicuncertaintyforsomanyofourfamilies,itisunfortunatethatConstellationwouldseektofurtherboostitsprofits on the backs of the working people of our state,” saidGovernorMartinO’Malley.“The $386 million rightfully belongs to

Marylandratepayers,andwewilldoevery-thinginourpowertomakesurethatthiscostisnotpassedontoconsumers.”

InNovember,2006,afterSB1providedcreditstodeferpaymentsinthewakeoftherateincrease,theStateandConstellationen-teredintoastandstillagreementthatprovidedthatifBGEwantedtosuetochallengeSB1,they were required first to provide the State 30daysnoticetoterminatetheagreement.

On January 30th of this year, after thePublic Services Commission released a re-portsuggestingthatBGEanditsparentcom-pany,Constellation,hadreceivedawindfallunderthe1999Settlementtothedetrimentofconsumers,andatthesametimeConstella-tion reported substantial profits, BGE provid-edtheStateofMaryland30daysnoticethatitwasterminatingtheStandstillAgreementandthatitwouldseektooverturnthecreditsthat theGeneralAssemblyhadpassedwithSB1.

Specifically, BGE indicated that after therequired30daysnoticetoterminatetheStandstillAgreementExpired,itintendedtofile a federal lawsuit within five days to “en-forcetheirrightsunderthe1999Restructur-ingSettlementAgreement and to challengetheunlawfultakingssetforthinSB1.”

Thiswill likely becomea roaring legalbattleasbothsidestrytoimposetheirposi-tion. Constellationmaintains that theyarewithin their rights to file federal charges to challenge the bill,while theState has said,“BGE’s notice of its intent to file a federal lawsuit representsanattempt tocircumventwhatSB1requires,thatanylawsuitchalleng-ing the law be filed in the Circuit Court of BaltimoreCity.”

“Acontractisacontract,”saidMayoA.ShattuckIII,chairman,president,andchiefexecutive officer of Constellation Energy. “The state must abide by rule of law…thelegalityof the1999agreementhasbeenre-viewedandupheldaspartoftwopriorcourtrulings...Additionally,wedonotbelieveitisappropriate that the Maryland Legislaturecanlimit…ConstellationEnergy’sability…toseekFederalCourt protection from legisla-tiveactionsthatviolatetheU.S.Constitution.”

MarylandFilesSuitAgainstConstellationEnergyConstellation Energy Sues Back

Thursday, March 6, 2008 The County Times Section A - �

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CMYK

Emily FinchContributing Writer

In the early nineteenth century, women were considered second-class citizens whose existence was limited to clean-ing house and raising children. Women were considered subsets of their husbands, and after marriage they did not have the right to own property, maintain their wages, or sign a contract, much less vote. It was also considered improper for women to travel alone or to speak in public.

With the belief that intense physical or intellectual ac-tivity would be injurious to the delicate female biology and reproductive system, women were taught to refrain from pursuing any serious education. Silently perched in their birdcages, women were considered merely objects of beau-ty, and were looked upon as being intellectually and physi-cally inferior to men. It would take more than 100 years, but some of that would change.

The Seneca Falls Convention

The Women’s suffrage movement was formally set into motion in 1848 with the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York.

The vehicle for this gathering was the World Anti-Slav-ery Convention held in 1840 in London and attended by an American delegation which included a number of women, who were forced to sit in the galleries as observers because they were women. This unequal treatment did not rest well with these women of progressive thoughts, and they decided to hold their own convention for progression of women’s rights.

Using the Declaration of Independence as a guideline, Elizabeth Cady Stanton presented her Declaration of Prin-ciples in her hometown chapel, brought to light women’s subordinate status, and made recommendations for change.

Resolution 9, requesting the right to vote, was perhaps the most important in that it expressed the demand for sex-ual equality. Subsequent to the Seneca Falls Convention, the demand for voting rights became the centerpiece of the women’s rights movement.

During the Civil War

During the Civil War, women’s suffrage was obscured by the war effort and movement for the abolition of slav-ery. There was a lot of discussion on the topic of women’s rights, but little action due to the war. Activists petitioned the government for the emancipation of slaves with the be-lief that, once the war was over, women and slaves alike would be granted the same rights as free white men.

At the end of the war, however, the government saw the suffrage of women and that of enslaved blacks as two sepa-rate issues because the black vote was thought to have more immediate effects than the female’s.

Uniting with NAWSA

The American Equal Rights Association was established by Stanton and her colleagues in 1866 to fight for women’s rights. Just two years later, the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment proved an insult to the women’s movement, as it defined “citizenship” and “voters” as “male”, and raised the question as to whether women were considered citizens of the United States at all. The exclusion of women was fur-ther reinforced with the ratification of the Fifteenth Amend-ment in 1870, which enfranchised black men.

In a disagreement over these Amendments, the women’s movement split into two factions. In New York, Stanton and Susan B. Anthony established the radical National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe, and Henry Blackwell organized the more conserva-tive American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) in Boston. These two groups later merged in 1890 to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAW-SA) under the leadership of Stanton.

WINNING THE VOTE

In 1878, a Woman’s Suffrage Amendment was intro-duced to U.S. Congress. With the formation of numerous groups, the women’s movement gained a full head of steam during the turn of the century.

But, the U.S. involvement in World War I in 1918 slowed the suffrage campaign as women pitched in for the war effort. However, in 1919, after years of petitioning, picketing, and protest parades, the Nineteenth Amendment was passed by both houses of Congress. On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment declaring that the right to vote cannot be denied on account of sex was ratified under the presidency of Woodrow Wilson.

The Fight Continues

Upon this victory of the vote, the NAWSA disbanded as an organization, giving birth to the League of Women Voters. The right to vote, however, was not enough to se-cure women’s equal rights according to Alice Paul, founder of the National Woman’s Party, who moved to take wom-en’s rights one-step further by proposing the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) to Congress in 1923. This demand to eliminate discrimination on the basis of gender failed to pass though.

The push for the E.R.A. continued on a state-by-state ba-sis, until the newly formed National Organization for Wom-en launched a national campaign during the 1960’s. Despite many heated debates and protests, the E.R.A., although passed by Congress in 1972, has never been ratified.

Did You Know?

Susan B. Anthony was arrested for attempting to vote for Ulysses S. Grant in the 1872 presidential election.

The first public high schools for girls opened in New York and Boston in 1826.

Female doctors were not legally permitted to practice medicine until 1849, when Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. Women were not permitted to practice law until 1868.

It wasn’t until 1971 that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to end sex discrimination in hiring with Reed v. Reed.

The History of Women’s Suffrage

SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,March6,2008

Editorial&Opinion

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WantGasWithYourCorn

DearEditor,

With crude oil topping $100perbarrel,gasnowcostsAmericans above $3.00 per gal-lon. Save the very wealthy, our peoplearefrustrated,angeredandhurtingintheirstruggletomakeendsmeetastheirformerdisposable income is deprived. Therefore,it’sneedfultoiden-tify those whose obstinaciesandlethargypromotethecur-rent misery and in doing so,theunadvisedandunsuspect-

ingpubliccanappropriatelyreact. In af-fixing blame,

it’s convenient to finger OPEC, terrorist, escalating American and worldwide demands, andthe stock market, et al. How-ever,let’salsoidentifyourveryown home perpetrators, Con-gressional Representatives,overwhelmingly those com-prising the Democrat Party.

Oil addicted, yes, along with every other nation. Re-gardless, America needs oil today,andatreasonablepricesto keep businesses afloat and people working. Let’s drill now let’s erect sufficient refin-erieshereathome,now,whilesimultaneously promoting R

& D efforts at obtaining suf-ficient amounts of alternative energysourcesyetsomeyearsaway. Reportedly, Anwar, Alaska encases an estimated 35 years worth of America’s own oil requirements. It’s ours forthetakingbutweareforcedtoletourresourceliedormantwhile others explore as usual.

Radical environmental-ist lobbyists (special interest)occupy high rent offices in Washington, D.C. permeate the halls of Congress touting theirunimpededaccesstoourrepresentatives. These well positioned, well financed, and mediaballyhooedpseudosav-iors wield powerful influences as theymaintain adeath-gripon the throats and purses of

To The Editor:

The recent emer-gence of gambling machinesin several St. Mary’s County businesses caused Sena-tor Roy Dyson to ask Senate President Mike Miller and Charles County Senator Mac Middletontohelphimridourcounty of these devises. Both aremorethanhappytocarrythe ball on behalf of Dyson.

These machines areactually nothing new to theState of Maryland. For many years these kinds of ma-chines have been operatingin many parts of Maryland. In fact, across the bridge inCalvert County these types ofmachineshavebeenintheRod-N-Reel Restaurant foras long as many people canremember.

The provision of thelawthatallowsthesemachinesto operate in Maryland pro-vides that the proceeds must

benefit a non-profit organiza-tion or charity. A more com-monformofgambling,whichoperatesunderthesamepro-visions of the law, is Bingo.

Many organizations, most notably many fire de-partments,churches,andpri-vate/parochial schools havefor years held regular bingonightstoraisefundsfortheirorganization. Unfortunately these organizations have seen revenues fall over the pastyears due to several factors.

Finding volunteers to workbingonighteveryweekis a tall order. Additionally, larger bingo parlors offeringupdated environments, andlarger prizes due to a larger customer base have becomemore popular. These bingo parlorsarecommerciallyrunestablishments,whichdonatetheirproceeds to local chari-ties as well.

Businesses which have recently installed gam-blingmachinesthat lookandworksimilartoslotmachineshavedonesofortworeasons:toprovideadditionalrevenuesto local non-profits and chari-ties,andtoincreasecustomersinto their own establishmentin difficult economic times.

With additional cus-tomersintheirestablishments,these businesses are able toprovide better jobs and em-ployees benefits that otherwise suffergreatlyduringtimesofeconomic slowdowns.

Many local Catholic schoolshavesignedonasthebeneficiary of some of these machines. These schools con-tinue to provide quality educa-tionformanyofourchildrenas well as providing parentswith school choices. Unfor-tunately, the cost of runningtheseschoolscontinuestorise

and many parents are finding itimpossibletokeepupwithrising tuition costs.

Senators Dyson, Mill-er, and Middleton have longhistoriesofbeing the friendsof organized labor. Labor unions have financed the po-litical careers of all three; inreturnthethreehaveprovidedsupport to union issues.

One of the more pow-erful unions in Maryland isthe Teachers union. As with most unions, the leadershipdoes not believe in the exis-tence of non-union operatorsand fights to have all work-ers in their respective indus-triesasduespayingmembersof their union. Non-union shops, as in this case, non-union schools are considereda threat to union leadership.

Dyson, Miller, andMiddleton have done whatthey can over the years to

advance their cause. In fact, when Governor Ehrlich ad-vancedthelegislationtoallowCharter Schools in Maryland, thethreesenatorsworkedhardtochangethelegislationsotoonly allow Charter Schools provided theyoperatewithinthe local public school sys-tem. Ehrlich had wanted the Charters Schools to have the choiceofoperatingwithinthelocal school system or not.

In order to providemore funding for publicschoolsaswellasotherstatespendingprojects,thesethreehave voted to put the question of state run slotmachines tothe voters this November.

The existence ofthesenon-staterungamblingmachines threatens the suc-cess of state run machinesand more important providebenefits to non-union schools whentheywanttheproceeds

to benefit union schools. Thereismuchatstake

here. If the nearly 2,000 chil-dren in St. Mary’s County that currently are educated out-sidethepublicschoolsystemwere forced to attend publicschools itwouldcost taxpay-ers nearly $40 million moretax dollars each year. That’s $20 million more in State tax dollars and $20 million more in County government tax dollars thatwouldbeneededfor public schools. That does not include the hundreds ofmillionsofdollarsthatwouldbeneededtoprovidefacilitiesfor another 2,000 students.

It could mean hun-dreds of new dues payingteachers and classified em-ployeesworkingintheunionshop.

The three Senators are on a mission to rid St. Mary’s County of these de-vises, not because they areillegal, but because they goagainst their politics.

Fate of Gambling Machines: Much To Do AboutPolitics,LittleToDoWithLegalities

these, their entrenched min-ions. Hollywood too, with its aggrandized elitists routinely animate members with theirspecialappearanceandgeniusapproach at minimizing car-bonfootprintsandgreenhousegases, gag me. It matters not that these people are but ac-tors no smarter and certainlynobetterthananyoneelse,but,as they are beautiful people,they’re only too deserving offurthering their radical left-istsagenda(specialinterest)atour expense. They’ll make up to a $260 mil a year, so what’s $10.00 per gal gas to them.

American commerce is hurting;theautoindustrysus-tained head trauma and thehousing tradehas succumbedto a coma. And while preda-tory lending and insufficient planningon thepart of somehomeowners are mitigatingfactors,thefundamentalstim-ulusforthismessisthecontin-uously escalating price of gas. How many new cars do you noticeonthestreetandforhowlong have those weathered For Sale signs been standing? The 2008 autos are beautiful and safer than they’ve ever beenandtherecouldn’tpossiblybea better time to buy a house. Manyofyouwanttopurchasethenewcarorhomebutyoujust can’t do so in good con-scienceforfearofnextweekspossible $4.00 per gallon gas. You’re already aware that

the soon switch to gasoline’sSpring/ Summer blend with itself drive up cost another$.20 per gallon, apart form any other possible factors, i.e., mid East saber rattling or storms. Therefore, you’ll continueholding off on you’re wantedmajor purchase and hope forthe best while preparing forthe worst. Meanwhile, myri-ad American employees and businessescomprisingtheau-tomobileandhousingindustryare in a peril. And soon, you’ll see the increasing sad effectsofsoaringgaspricesonevery-thing all across our nation.

Thanks toDemocratswehaven’t had a refinery erected inalmost40yearsandwecan’tgetcongressionalapprovalforAmerican oil industries to drillforthisexclusiveresourcewithin American parameters. Readers, God Almighty, by design,placedoilbeneaththeearth’ssurfaceandit’sthereforouruseasare forests,oceansand outer space. If we don’t punch holes in the earth toextract this natural resourcewhat becomes of it? It remains there, untapped, unexploitedand of no good to mankind,just as outer space once was.

We all want to wean our-selvesoffforeignoil,thesoon-erthebetter,butattheexpenseof gobbling up American farmland? Don’t you care that utilizing corn and wheat to fuel yourautoisraisingthepriceof

your dinner, i.e., chicken, pork andbeefaswellasthevegeta-bles. So, while continuously paying more at the pump forforeignoil,you’repayingmoreforyourdailybreadalongwithit.

Comfortable leading Dem-ocrat candidate for President consistentlyechoesdisdainforCapitol Hill lobbyists (special interest) are shunned whileothers are embraced. Oh the power of that oozes from green fingered deep pocketed envi-ronmentalist lobbyists (spe-cial interests) that are sowellfinanced, well positioned and afforded maximum positiveexposure via liberal media.

What we have here is not onlyafailuretocommunicate,but also, a failure to care. Vot-ingRepublican this fallwon’taffectacure-allforthediverseneeds of 300 million Ameri-cans. It will, however, provide American ingenuity the oppor-tunity tosafelyandconscien-tiously erect refineries and ex-tractoil inourownbackyardto helpmeet our own energyneedsinthemosttimelyman-ner possible. Virtually every Republican favors increasingourownsupplyofoilandvir-tually everyDemocrat rejectsit. Fellow Americans, it’s your oilandyourmoney–don’tyoucare?

Chester M. Seaborn, Jr.Mechanicsville,MD


Ramblings of a Country Girl

Travel Observations

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So I’ve just returned from a week of travel and various thoughts are skim-ming through my mind and I thought I would share. I enjoy traveling and even if it’s on business, I can generally find something fun or pleasant to do no matter where I’m go-ing. Of course, there are also always annoying little things that happen when you’re trav-eling but then we have some-

thing to laugh about later.I always take a book and

a magazine with me when I travel. I generally sleep on the plane for some amount of time (moving object plus Terri in a seated position equals naptime) but I also spend a good deal of the time read-ing. But when I’m sitting in the airport waiting for my flight, I never read. There is just too much to see. I think everyone enjoys some amount of people-watching and an

airport has such an interest-ing cross-section of society, I don’t know how people stay glued to their computers or newspapers. I have to look and watch people, I basically can’t help myself. I’m amazed by the way people dress to travel, the amount and type of stuff they’ll carry onboard, the va-riety of food they eat while they’re sitting there bored, the interactions between couples and families.

Since we all have to take

our shoes off to go through security, I cannot understand wearing knee-high boots. Don’t you hate getting behind that person in the security line as they struggle to pull their skinny boots off and get all their stuff in the bins? Usu-ally, this is the type of person who has the maximum carry-on, also. Haven’t we all had to run to catch a flight after a late connecting flight or gate change? How does the chick in the high heel boots run through an airport? Yes, all women can run in heels for a finite distance. But it’s sort of like a gazelle, it’s a short burst of speed for a very limited amount of time, that’s why ti-gers periodically have gazelle for luncheon. I had to stop myself from gaping at the guy with tattoos completely cov-ering both arms and several earrings in both ears who was carrying a set of Louis Vuit-ton luggage. He had the roll-ing carry-on and a satchel that was so absolutely feminine I kept waiting for the girl to show up. Two hours later, she never had so I can only as-sume the luggage was all his. Who would have guessed? And there was the husband and wife with two sons and a baby in the stroller. I don’t know what happened before they got to the gate, but she

was not happy and everyone in a 10-foot perimeter knew it. The husband was nonplussed so I can only assume this was pretty much how their lives were. And then there are the folks carrying their pillows from home, with the pillow cases still on them. They’re dragging them around the airport, onto the plane, into the hotel and then they’re tak-ing them back home to their own bed. Bleah! That’s just disgusting.

I have stayed in four dif-ferent hotels in the past month or so and not one of them had automatic doors. Who de-signs these buildings? Who in their right mind thinks a hotel doesn’t need either au-tomatic doors or a doorman? And let’s face it, I can’t afford the hotel with a doorman so I’d be perfectly happy with the automatic door. Both hands are full with rolling luggage and you have to struggle with the door. It’s crazy and drives me absolutely nuts. I don’t care about a coffee maker in the room, just open the darn doors for me! The little things in life that shouldn’t be hard and make life more of a hassle are the most annoying. It would be so easy to fix this and it would make so many people happy.

The happiness of the cus-

tomers is not necessarily the goal of all businesses. Good-ness knows the airlines say they want us to be happy trav-elers but they don’t mean it. If they did, they wouldn’t squash us in so tightly, try to charge us three times the price for the same candy bar we could have gotten at the newsstand and tell us not to head to-wards the bathroom until the aisles are clear. How do they think the folks at the front of coach are ever going to get to the bathrooms at the back of coach? Every time somebody in Row 10 starts to stand up, somebody from Row 21 on darts to the bathroom and foils them. There’s just no choice, at some point, there has to be one or two people standing there waiting for the lavatory. I know all about security and not having people congregat-ing but let’s mix some com-mon sense in there.

The upside is, I got warm last week because I went to the west coast and I had some great ice cream made on site at a dairy store that’s been in the same place since the 20’s, observed some interesting people and my luggage didn’t get lost. All in all, that counts as a good trip.

You can email the Coun-try Girl at [email protected]


At a budget work session of the Board of County Com-missioners Tuesday it was revealed that tax revenues are expected to be lower by about $325,000 as compared to estimates from December, prompting commissioners to contemplate hard choices about funding budget requests for new employees.

Requests for new full-time employees in the Depart-ment of Economic and Com-munity Development met the ax as did requests from the Department of Aging and the Department of Public Works and Transportation for several vehicle operators.

Robert Schaller, director of economic and community development, lobbied hard to keep requests in for coordi-nators for workforce housing and tourism but eventually

lost out.“I don’t see how we can af-

ford this,” said Commissioner President Francis “Jack” Rus-sell (D-St. George’s Island) of the coordinator requests, which would cost about $130,000 in combined salaries and benefits each year.

“We’re missing a large opportunity to address this [issue of workforce housing],” Schaller pleaded. “It needs a lot of coordination.”

Russell said he did not be-lieve that filling the positions would be fiscally achievable, especially since the county was making strides in work-force housing as well as at-tracting tourists.

Elaine Kramer, chief fi-nancial officer for county government, reported that tax revenues were down this year and that the county could be in much the same situation next year.

Property taxes increased

from about $82.6 million to $85.3 in the projections but income taxes fell from $65.4 million to $63.7 million as did other local revenues like recordation taxes from $13.5 million to $12.2 million.

Total tax revenues dropped from $169,509,804 to $169,179,984, Kramer reported.

Kramer also said that there was a lesser growth rate in net taxable income as well.

“I think that’s a true indi-cation we’re seeing a slowing in our growth,” Kramer said.

The county will also have to be fiscally cautious in spending allocations since they plan to go to the bond market in 2009 to ask for $35 million in bonds to fund vari-ous building projects.

The county commission-ers approved unanimously the capital improvement, or county construction budget, for public hearing Tuesday as

well.Facing tight capital and

operating budgets this year, they hoped for citizen input on what projects to fund.

“One recent statement made about why the county is in decent [financial] shape is that the we didn’t over-spend in the good times,” said Commissioner Dan-iel Raley (D-Great Mills). “We’re sure not going to overspend in the not so good times.”

The commissioners also debated programs expenses, especially those that were running behind.

Commissioners said they would continue to try and find ways to fund the Medical Adult Daycare Services (MADS) even though it was running a $458,000 deficit.

“We can’t keep it go-ing like this,” Raley said of the program who was

supported the service.Lori Jennings-Harris of

the Department of Aging said her office was looking for way to make the program more cost efficient, but said the commis-sioners should still aid it.

“For participants and families it’s worth support-ing,” Jennings-Harris said.

Russell said: “We’ve got

to find some answers to get this bottom line down.”

The county commission-ers will continue with two more budget work sessions on March 11 and March 17 be-fore finalizing the budget for public hearing by the end of the month.

County Revenue Projections Down

work; a lack of coordination of public transportation and job skills training.

The report recommends using current state and grant monies to fund the adminis-trative cost of the transition.

Those funds include $275,000 for the Local Man-agement Board, $245,000 for the Mental Health Authority, $434,190 for the Division of Community Services, and about $120,000 for the coun-ty Health Department for handling substance abuse, according to the report.

This money would only

come from operating ex-penses, Connelly told The County Times.

“None of these are direct service dollars,” Connelly said. “We’ve found that most communities we researched have a coordination and we don’t have that right now.

“We think there’s an op-portunity for that to happen now.”

Not everyone who was on the task force is happy with the final report.

Tina St. Clair, direc-tor of the county’s Mental Health Authority, said there

was no clear consensus as to which of the two alternatives offered would be better. She also said the report lacked critical details of how the transition would occur with-out hindering the mission of the organizations affected.

“We haven’t discussed how this office would be funded in detail,” St. Clair told The County Times. “I’m not enthusiastic about this.

“They need more work on details so there’s no dis-ruption in service.”

Another possible shake up to the system could come in the form of competing for newly formed county jobs if the first option is adopted by the Board of County Commissioners.

Connelly said people who are currently in human services positions, including himself, would likely have to reapply to get their jobs back.

It’s all part of the coun-ty’s competitive job process, he said.

“If it becomes [a unit staffed with] county po-sitions we’d have to fol-low county employment guidelines.”

The county commis-sioners are scheduled to see the report at their March 11 meeting.

HHS ReportContinued from page A-�

St. Mary’s CitySt. Mary's City

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SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,March�,2008

ByGuyLeonardStaffWriter

Scientists working on a planto identifyproblemareas along theshoreline of the St. Mary’s RiverWatershed are working to get ahigh-techtooltoaidintheirefforts— photography supported by GPS(GlobalPositioningSystem)andGIS(Geographic Information System)technology.

The project will allow thosestudyingtherivertocatalogexactlywhere a photographwas taken andatwhat timeofday itwassnappedtoshowtheshoreline’sexactcondi-tion.This is important for trackingthehealthof thewatershedand theshorelinewhenitcomestosedimentanderosioncontrol.

“It’llbeareallypowerfultool,”said Prof. Robert Paul, who headsthe St. Mary’s River Project at St.Mary’sCollege.“Itdocumentswhatthe shoreline looks like… the stateneedstoknowwhatshorelinesneedrestoration and to get a handle onhowmuchisbeinglost.”

Paul,whoisworkingongettingfederal grant funding through thestatetodotheproject,ishelpingtoformulatetheSt.Mary’sRiverWa-tershedRestorationActionStrategy(WRAS),alistofrecommendationsforbettering thewatershed’shealththatwill take thenext twoyears tocomplete.

Paulisconcernedaboutthequal-ity of the water in the river, specifi-cally what his scientific research has documentedaslowoxygenlevelsinthedeepestpartsoftheriver,whichisharmfultoaquaticplantandani-mallife.

Healsosaidsedimentationandother runoff is muddying the riverandkillingofflifethereaswell.Allthewhileshorelineiseroding,whichreduces habitat for flora and fauna.

Joe Anderson, former countycommissionerandnowpresidentoftheSt.Mary’sRiverWatershedAs-sociation,saidthephotographywilldocument conclusively theproblem

areas in thewatershedandmake iteasier to justify to elected officials the need for resources to rectifythem.

“It’llcomeinhandyforaddress-ingproblemssoonerratherthanlat-er,”Anderson said, adding that thehealthofthewatershedaffectedthatoftheChesapeakeBay.“Theriveris

a threatened resource… we’re justtryingtotakecareofourownback-yardandhelpthegreatergood.”

Paul said the GPS/GIS as-sisted photography has been usedby the stateDepartmentofNaturalResources as an enforcement toolagainst landownerswhomaybe inviolationofthelawalongtheCorsi-

caRiverontheEasternShore, but Sue Vieth,county environmentalplanner,hadadifferentvision.

“It’sagoodsnapshotin time,” Vieth said oftheadvantagesthepho-tography affords. “We

cantrackerosionandseehowwellwe’reapplyingcriticalarealaws.”

Vieth said she believed thephotographycouldbeusedtowarnlandownersoferosionproblemsandgivethemachancetotakecorrectivemeasures.

Someofthoseincludedplantingmorevegetationnearertheshoreline

or using small stone in barriers toreducetheerosioncausedbywaveswithout using heavier stones thatdisfigure the landscape.

There are laws under consid-eration inAnnapolis that couldap-prove those methods, she said, aswell as strengthening critical arealawstoprotecttheChesapeakeBay.

“There’salotofmomentumforgetting environmentally friendlyshoreline preservation measurespassed,”Viethsaid.“It’sforasofterlookingshoreline.

“Ithinkit’ll[theGPS/GISpho-tography]beusedproactively.”

HighTechPhotographyCouldBeUsedToHelpPreserveWatershed

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[senior] homeowner,” saidSandra Wheeler, chair ofthefour-personcommittee.

Usingafictionalelderlyhomeownerasanexample,projectionsshowedthatforanelderlypersonowningahome assessed in 2007 at$226,643, which was themeanhometaxassessmentfor that year, they wouldpay$1,763intaxes.

That amount wouldhave increased to $1,851thefollowingyearbuttheyonly had to pay the previ-ous locked in rate becausetheygotintotheprogram.

While the assessmentscontinuedtoincreaseeveryyear, eventually to $3,325in taxesayearby theyear2020,accordingtothepro-jection,thefictionalhome-ownerwouldstillonlypaythe$1,763fortheyeartheyenteredtheprogram.

Thetotalsavingstothathomeownerwouldcometo$9,872bytheyear2020.

ButcommitteememberBerneWheelerwarnedthatapplicants had to refreshtheir application to theprogram each year or theywouldnotbeincludedbackintotheprogram.

“If you want this con-tinual cumulative earningyou have to reapply everyyear,”BerneWheelersaid.

County Treasurer JanNorris said that the taxcredit program has alsobeen popular since itsinception.

She said that in 2005there were 899 eligibleapplicants, while in 2006that number increased to1,037. In 2007 there were1,164 participants in theprogram.

Under the county lawtheparticipants in thepro-gram would only have an-othertwoyearstoreapthebenefits of the tax creditbecause of a sunset provi-sion in the legislation.Butthe following year a state-wide bill was passed thatallowed every county andjurisdictionintohavease-niorpropertytaxcredit,ac-cordingtoCountyAttorneyChristyHoltChesser.

Chessersaidthat if thestatelawhadnotcomeintoeffect then seniors herewould have had to pay in-creasedtaxratestogetbackuptotheirlevelofpropertyvalue assessment, whichwouldhavebeena signifi-cantblowtotheirfinances.

“Once the county lawsunsets, we’ll still havetheability tohaveaseniorpropertytaxcredit,”Chess-ersaid.

Commissioner DanielRaley (D-Great Mills) op-posed the tax credit origi-nally,butsaidthatthecur-rentdrainitrepresentedoncounty tax revenues was

acceptablefornow.“It’s OK for the time

being,” Raley said, addingthat future commissionerswould have to reexaminethedrainonrevenueinfu-ture years to see if the se-niortaxcredittoseeifthecountycouldaffordtokeepitinplace.

The report had projec-tions for best, average andworse case scenarios forrevenue loss pertaining tothetaxcredit.

If thenumberofappli-cantsriseninepercenteachyear,thebestcasescenario,thecountycouldlose$658,826inpropertytaxrevenueby 2010 and $1.87 millionby2020.

Ifapplicationsincreaseby 14.2 percent, the aver-agescenariothecountycanexpect to lose $858,623 in2010 and about. $3.9 mil-lionby2020.

Theworstcasescenarioshowed the county wouldlose about $1.1 million inpropertytaxesby2010andalmost $8.3 million tenyears later if applicationsroseby20percentayear.

For seniors to be eli-gibleforthetaxcredittheymust be 70 years old ormore and make less than$80,000 a year in income.The report recommendedreassessment of the pro-gram in another threeyears.

ReliefContinued from page A-�

Photo Courtesy of Robert PaulSections of shoreline like this along the St. Mary’s River could be the subject of Global Positioning Systems assisted photography that would be used to documents erosion and other problems as part of efforts to maintain the watershed.

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Talk About Strict!

In February, a United Arab Emirates court in Dubai sen-tenced Briton Keith Brown to four years in prison for violating the country’s “zero tolerance” drug laws. He was found with a “speck” of marijuana weighing 0.003 grams, which was stuck in the tread of his shoe and discovered by sensitive drug detection equipment at an airport in Dubai. The same equipment detected three loose poppy seeds stuck in the shirt of a Canadian passen-ger, from a bread roll he had eaten at the airport. The Canadian man was also imprisoned for possession.

Unusual Lengths

26 year-old Shafkat Munir was sentenced to 12 months in jail for an attempted hoax in Lancaster County, England. He had received three speeding tickets in 2007, but rather than pay the fines, which totaled $350 and would have retained his license (his driving record was otherwise clean), Munir instead fabricated his own death certificate to get the charges dismissed.

Detectives for the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department in Pasco, Washington, said a man had a friend of his shoot him in the shoulder so he would not have to go to work. Daniel Kuch told police that he had been the victim of a drive-by shooting while he was out jogging one Thursday, but Kuch later admitted that he had asked his friend to shoot him so he could get some time off work and avoid an upcoming drug test. The friend, Kur-tis Johnson, of Burbank, has been arrested for reckless endan-germent, and Kuch was booked into the county jail, where he is expected to be charged with false reporting. There have been no reports on his employer, or whether or not he is still employed.

Seeing Double

Two weeks ago, a robber escaped with cash from the Sover-eign Bank branch in Plainstow, New Hampshire, after a relative-ly successful hold-up. But two weeks later, police said that the same man wearing the same clothes walked into the same bank and attempted to rob it a second time using the same words and gestures as he had the time before. Bank employees refused to give him money the second time, but he still escaped, though this time witnesses have described his getaway car and license plate number. Police in Plainstow are searching for the suspect.

Cheap Husbands Beware!

An Iranian court in Tehran ordered a man to buy his wife 124,000 red roses after she filed a complaint against her husband to claim her dowry. “Shortly after marriage I realized that Sha-hin was very cheap. He even refused to pay for my coffee if we if we went to a café or restaurant,” said the wife, identified by her first name as Hengemah. Under Iranian law, a woman can claim her dowry, which is a gift pledged by the husband at the time of marriage, at any time during married life or during her divorce. The court has seized Shahin’s apartment, which is worth 600 million rials (64,000 dollars) until he has bought his wife 124,000 roses. A long stemmed red rose costs about 20,000 rials (two dollars) in Tehran, and Shahin has complained that he can only afford to buy her five roses a day, but he may end up in jail if he does not pay.

In Need of More Intensive Treatment

A man in St. Paul, Minnesota was on his way to an anger management class when he allegedly attacked a 59 year-old woman at a bus stop in Ramsey County. 27 year-old Justin John Boudin was waiting at a bus stop when his altercation with the woman started. After a brief spat of yelling, in which he screamed, “Why don’t you show me some respect?” the woman took out a cell phone to call the police when Boudin hit her in the face. He also hit a 63 year-old man with a blue folder containing his name and his anger management homework before fleeing the scene. Boudin has pleaded guilty to fifth-degree assault and may face a sentence for time served…and more anger management.

By Kate Elizabeth QueramCapital News Service

Sen. Ed DeGrange, D-Anne Arundel, Thursday slammed State Comptroller Peter Franchot’s release of a list of state employ-ees and their salaries, calling it a “gross violation of trust between employees and employers.”

DeGrange has filed a letter with the State Ethics Commission accusing Franchot of releasing the information for his own political gain.

Franchot released the list after being questioned about the sala-ries of three of his deputies during a recent Senate committee hear-ing. A Franchot spokesman said nothing improper took place.

Under the Maryland Public Information Act, state employee salaries are required to be released to the public upon request, but DeGrange said the comptroller received no such request and instead just offered the information to the media.

“There is a process in place. If you want the information, you follow the process,” DeGrange said. “This information was not re-quested. It was offered.”

DeGrange was referring to Franchot’s appearance before the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee last week, where he was questioned about three of his deputies who each make around $150,000.

Budget analysts said this seemed a relatively high salary for

deputies in state agencies. Franchot replied that he had a list showing those salaries were not out of line.

But Joe Shapiro, director of communications for Fran-chot’s office, said the actual release of the list took place only in response to specific requests for it.

“We had two requests for the information, one from [The Examiner] and one from The Gazette,” he said. “The Gazette requests it every year whether or not the Examiner did it because he mentioned it, I can’t say.”

Franchot, a Democrat, has angered several members of his own party by taking the opposing viewpoint on major legisla-tive issues, including tax hikes and the ongoing debate over slots.

In a written statement, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Mill-er Jr., D-Calvert, called the list’s release “very troubling. I think he should apologize to the people of Maryland, and particularly our state employees, whose trust he has violated.”

DeGrange echoed the sentiment in his letter to the State Eth-ics Commission, saying that “by using and publicly releasing the names and salaries of 4,678 state employees to justify the salaries of individuals working in [his] office, the Comptroller not only has committed an ethical breach, but has violated the public trust.”

Shapiro shrugged off these claims.“I would refer Senator DeGrange to the Maryland Public In-

formation Act,” he said. “Anyone who requests information from the comptroller’s office will get it if it’s following the law. We have never released salary lists just to release them, and we never will.”

Franchot SalariesSenator Angry At Comptroller For Releasing State Employee Salaries

months following White’s al-leged murder of Phipps, he sometimes tried to repeat his alleged crime in the same place.

When White was indicted in November, he was serving a jail sentence for a bank rob-bery conviction in Cape Gi-rardeau, Mo.

Det. Thomas Hedderich, of the St. Mary’s County Bu-reau of Criminal Investiga-tions, said White is a suspect in bank robberies in places like Little Rock, Ark. and Knox-ville, Tenn.

“He robbed several banks and now it’s catching up with him,” Hedderich said, White

is currently incarcerated at Missouri Department of Corrections.

BCI commander Lt. Rick Burris said it was difficult to tell when White would ever be extradited back to Maryland to face the charges against him.

“It really could be [a long time,” Burris said. “At this point I don’t know when we’ll get him back.”

Officials with the FBI said they closed their federal case against White once he was convicted by the state of Mis-souri for the Cape Girardeau bank robbery.

“We have him under in-dictment for a bank robbery here,” said Jane Duke, acting U.S. Attorney in Little Rock. “It’s a federal indictment with an April 28 jury trial.”

Det. Leo Griego, with

WhiteContinued from page A-�

Andrea ShiellStaff Writer

Thirteen year-old George Pugh has been getting a crash course in political advocacy, having toured the General As-sembly in Annapolis and tes-tified before a crowded com-mittee co-chaired by Senator Roy Dyson. George testified on Friday for the Committee of Education, Health & Envi-ronmental Affairs to have a bill passed that would desig-nate May as a national aware-ness month for Dandy Walker Syndrome (DWS).

By the look of him, it is hard to imagine that George was not expected to survive being born. “They told us that we’d have a vegetable, a very sick child, or a dead child,” said his mother, Kia Pugh, who said that her specialist recommended that she abort her baby.

George was diagnosed with DWS when he was in the fetal stage of development, a rare neurological disorder characterized by the abnor-mal development of the brain that leads to the growth of a cyst on what is commonly known as the fourth ventricle of the brain cavity. This in turn can lead to hydrocepha-lus, a condition of fluid on the brain that increases pressure on the brain cavity, and, if left untreated, is fatal.

If passed, House Bill 895

and Senate Bill 477 would designate May as a statewide Dandy Walker Syndrome and Hydrocephalus Awareness month, the first step in Mary-land getting more funding for research and treatment, which for parents and their children affected by the disease would be a welcome relief.

Kia described her prob-lems finding out information on the syndrome when she was told that she should ter-minate her pregnancy. She said, “The book in my spe-cialist’s office only had one little paragraph.”

Since Kia’s pregnancy took place before the advent of the internet, Kia described having to track down infor-mation the old-fashioned way, and the frustration that came along with it. She described talking to other parents of Dandy Walker children and hearing similar horror stories about fears of giving birth to sick or dead children.

“If you live in a place where there aren’t top-notch neurosurgeons, then you don’t know,” she said, adding that the bill should help to correct a lot of the ignorance that has surrounded her son’s disease, and possibly bring about more effective treatments. A similar resolution is circulating Con-gress, asking for increased public awareness and fund-ing. Kia explained that there are currently only two foun-

dations conducting research on DWS, and she and George hope that public awareness will widen the pool of available research in years to come.

Kia was left go-ing to the Depart-ment of Health and the National Institute of Health to conduct her own research, which for her was discourag-ing, to say the least. “They sent me eight to ten case files of just vile, sick, disgusting stiff,” she said, add-ing that not much has changed since then. “All you saw was what could happen…no good news…”

But there has been a lot of good news for her son George, who has only had to have his shunt repaired four times in the last 13 years, and though he suffers from some learning disabilities, he is an honor roll student at Leonardtown Mid-dle School who studies music and enjoys photography. He will be featured in a medical documentary called Dandy Kids, which is being peddled to networks like HBO and the Discovery Channel. “George is lucky,” exclaimed Kia. “He has great things going on for him.”

And George seems to be a very well adjusted boy. When asked about his experi-

ences in Annapolis, testifying for Senator Dyson, he smiled as he described videotaping the tour, saying, “It wasn’t really what I saw there, it’s what I was taping…I realized how much I loved using the camera.”

George also commented on the importance of his tes-timony. “If I wasn’t there,” he said, “then people wouldn’t know what it’s like.”

As for his medical diffi-culties, George is optimistic. “Since I’m not in the ER very often,” he said, “I don’t re-ally worry about my health…I imagine myself as a normal kid.”

As Kia sat next to her son, proudly nodding as he spoke, she seemed happier than ever to have not taken her special-ist’s advice.

Local Residents Testify For Dandy Walker Kids

George Pugh testified before the Committee of Education, Health & Environmental Affairs on Friday about Dandy Walker Syndrome.

the Barstow, Calif. police said White has already been ac-cused of committing one bank robbery there in 2006 and at-tempting to rob that same bank, a Bank of America just two days later.

Those incidents occurred July 26 and July 29 of 2006, Griego said. Each time White allegedly used a “threatening note” to demand money from the tellers. During the first rob-bery, White was allegedly able to make off with bank money but when he returned he was

not so successful.“They recognized who he

was and they didn’t give him any money,” Griego said. “Af-ter they refused he fled.”

Between the two alleged robberies in Barstow, White drove to St. George, Utah and allegedly robbed a U.S. Bank there again using a threatening note.

Many of the robberies White is alleged to have com-mitted occurred “in pretty close proximity to the major interstates.”

SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,March6,200�

AndreaShiellStaffWriter

Wine enthusiasts mayhave some celebrating to dohere in Southern Maryland,where the grape-growingindustry is gearing up to re-cruit more farmers for thebourgeoning wine business.Themostrecentofaseriesofwine workshops was held atthe SMECO Auditorium inHughesvilleonFebruary13th,anddrewalargeresponseinthewakeofgrowing interestinthecrop.

Wine is certainly not anew business in the UnitedStates, but in Maryland it isrelativelynew.Thenumberofvineyardshasrisenfrom12to32 in the last fewyears, andinterest is steadily growing.“It’s kind of like a snowballeffect,” said Steve Purvins,President of the SouthernMarylandGrapeGrowersandWineryAssociation,andVicePresident of the SouthernMaryland Winegrowers Co-operative.“Onceafewvine-yardsandwineriesappear inthe region, people begin tonotice.”Purvinssaysthatthenextstepwillbea“winetrail,which brings more recogni-

tion andmorevineyards andwineries.”

Thewinetrailhasbeenintheworksforsometime.InFY2007,$500,000infundingfrom the County Commis-sionerswasfunneledintothecreation of an actual wineryat the Port of Leonardtown.TheCountyhasalreadyhiredawineryconsultant todeter-minewhatneedstobedonetoturnthehistoricpropertyintoafullyfunctionalwinery.

In the meantime, grow-ershavebeensteppingup totheplate.Somegrowershavereplaced their tobacco cropswith grapes, in pursuance ofthe Maryland Tobacco Buy-outprogram,whichofferstaxincentives and subsidies togrowerswhostrayfromtheirtraditionaltobaccoharvesttoproduceother things,but thetransitionhasnotalwaysbeeneasy.

“One of the require-ments of the tobacco buyoutprogram was that while thegroweragreestoceasetobac-coproduction,healsoagreesto remain productive in ag-riculture,” explained growerDavid Wood, who plantedhis first wine grapes as “a to-baccoalternativeexperiment”

at the Forrest Hall Farm inApril2004.“Themarketingpart of the puzzlewas takencare of for us with tobaccoproduction.Yousimplytookyourcroptotheauctionanditwassoldforyou…Todayyouhave to find your own buy-ers for your ‘alternative totobacco’ crop. That’s easiersaidthandonebecauseit’sanuncharted territory for somefarmers…especiallythefarm-ers that only grew tobacco.They were not diversified and have struggled with what todonext.”

Purvinsnoted,“Therehasbeen considerable interest ingrape growing from farmersthathavetakenthebuyout,butbyandlargemostnewgrow-ers are new to farming…butastheendofthebuyoutnears,Iexpect toseemore farmersgettingintograpegrowing.”

Growershavecommentedthat Virginia and Pennsylva-nia have relatively friendlierstate laws for promotion anddistribution than Maryland.“Many states have seen thebenefits that a thriving wine industry offers,” explainedPurvins, “but Maryland hasbeen slow to recognize this,andthenumberstellthestory.

Virginia and Pennsylvaniaeachhavewellover100win-eries.Wehavejustover30.”

There are several chal-lengesthatgrowershavebeenfacingastheyedgetheirwayinto the wine market, whichrequires long term invest-mentsoftime,labor,andcapi-tal.“Theupfrontinvestmentin both time and money arethe biggest initial hurdles,”saidPurvins.“Addtothatthefact that it takes a couple ofyearsbeforeadecentcropcanbeharvested,andit’seasytoseewhysomearehesitant togetintograpegrowing.”

Inordertoencouragein-terest, the Tri-County Coun-cil and the Maryland GrapeGrowers Association haverecentlystartedofferingcapi-tal assistance programs “thathavecost-sharedthepurchaseof grapevine stock,” saidPurvin. In addition, partici-pants are put through “newgrower workshops” to edu-cate themon the harvest cy-cle,whichgrowerssayisnotmuchdifferentthantobacco.

“It might sound odd atfirst,” said Purvin, “but I see a lot of similarities betweengrowing grapes and grow-

ing tobacco. Obviously youonly plant a grapevine once,but you’re out in the field sev-eral times a year, managingthegrowthof theplant…andcomelatesummeryou’rehar-vesting about three to fourtonsworthofcrop.”

“The biggest differenceis thegrapevine takesaboutthree years of growth andmaintenance before the first grapeharvest is taken. Dur-ingthatthreeyearsasubstan-tialinvestmentismadebeforea returnon investment is re-alized,”saidWood.“Theup-sideisthatgrapevineshould

produceaharvestfor20yearsormore.”

With vines sproutingacross Southern Maryland,growersseemveryoptimisticaboutthefutureofthewinerybusiness here. “The Ameri-can Vintners Association re-centlyputoutnumbersstatingthatforeverydollarspentatawinery,thereisanotherdollarspentsomewhereinthecom-munity,” said Purvin. “Tome that’s apretty impressivestatistic, especiallygivenourgovernment’s recent budgetwoes.”

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NavalAirStationCommandPressRelease

NAVAIRPATUXENTRIVER,MD--TestVehicle3, the thirdhe-licopter built for the VH-71 Presi-dential Helicopter ReplacementProgram, made its initial flight Feb. 27 in Yeovil, England marking thefourth helicopter to enter flight test. TV-3isduetoarriveatthePresidential

HelicopterSupportFacilityhereonMar.17andwillthentraveltoLock-heedMartinSystemsIntegrationinOwego, N.Y. for final assembly and mission systems integration. TV-3will be the first vehicle tested that is outfitted with mission systems. Once missionized TV-3 will jointhe other three test vehicles, TV-1,TV-2 and TV-5 already in flight-testingthathaveaccumulatedmorethan 650 total hours of flight test. Asamissionizedaircraft,TV-3will

be able to validate in-flight data, whichhaspreviouslyonlybeeneval-uatedinlaboratories.Oneadditionaltest vehicle is scheduled for flight-testingandmissionizationafterTV-3beforetheinitiallotofproductionair-craftaredeliveredtoPatuxentRiver. With fuel system testing alreadycomplete, VH-71 flight test of-ficials are currently concentrat-ing on satellite communicationsand high-powered FM Radio test-ing with tail rotor and flight load

survey testing on the horizon. In addition to forward movementon flight-testing of Increment 1 test vehicles, which currently meet orexceedallkeyperformanceparam-eters,aparallelandconcurrenteffortsupporting the flight test program is theSystemsIntegrationLabcur-rently operational at the Presiden-tial Helicopter Support Facility. The SIL consists of test benchesused to evaluate individual subsys-tems currently in development. A

largerSILfacilityatLockheedMar-tin Systems Integration in Owego,NYincludesamastersystemsbench--afull-scalefunctionalmockupofthe VH-71 cockpit and cabin. Thesystems integration laboratories al-low VH-71 program engineers totestVH-71avionicsandmissionsys-temspriortoinstallationaboardtheaircraft.

AnotherPresidentialTestHelicopterTakestotheAir

SouthernMarylandAimingtoBecomeNextNapaValley

Maryland Vineyards have increased from twleve to thirty-two in the last few years as growers shift to new crops.


June Lucille Bell Dyson, 88

June Lucille Bell Dyson, 88, of Charlotte Hall died Feb. 23 in the Charlotte Hall Veter-ans Home, Charlotte Hall.

Born April 13, 1919 in Rochester, N.Y., she was the daughter of the late Arthur Gordon Bell and Helen M. Little Bell. Mrs. Dyson served her country during WWII in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1945. She worked as a claims examiner at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station from 1946 to 1973. Mrs. Dyson was a member of N.A.R.F.E. #969, the American Red Cross, St. Mary’s County Garden Club, American Antique and Art Association and the Order of the Eastern Star #92, La Plata, Md.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Gideon A. Dy-son in May 2007.

A Memorial Service was conducted Saturday, March 1 at 11 a.m. in All Faith Epis-copal Church, Charlotte Hall. Inurnment will be Thursday, March 13 at 1 p.m. in Arling-ton National Cemetery, Ar-lington, Va.

Memorial contributions may be made to the All Faith Episcopal Church Building Fund, P.O. Box 24, Charlotte Hall, MD 20622.

Arrangements by the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A. in Leonardtown.

Talbot Harding, �6

Talbot Harding, 96, of Leonardtown died Feb. 15 in St. Mary’s Nursing Center, Leonardtown.

Born Jan. 17, 1912 in Cleveland, Ohio, he was the son of the late Richard Tal-bot Harding and Della Elouse Purcell Harding.

Mr. Harding graduated from Oberlin College in 1934. He studied German at Heidle-berg University in Germany and later rose to the rank of Captain in the Signal Corps in World War II. He married his wife, Cecilia Mary Randall, in England in 1943 and returned to Cleveland after the war and worked as a reporter and copy editor for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He later became edi-tor of the Erie Railroad Maga-zine, public relations director for the Family Service Asso-ciation and eventually retired as public relations director for the Ohio Turnpike Commis-sion in the early 1970’s. He and his wife then settled in Darien, Ga. until 2005.

Active in community and church affairs wherever he lived, Mr. Harding served on the vestry of the Church of the Epiphany in Euclid, Ohio, as president of the Western Re-serve Chapter of the Sons of the America Revolution in Cleveland, Ohio, and as direc-tor of the Coast Development Commission of McIntosh County, Ga.

Mr. Harding had many interest and hobbies, ranging from model railroading to sailing. He was an avid reader and book collector. But he will be best remembered as a won-derful father and role model for his family.

He is survived by his sons, Martin of Springfield, Va., Nicholas of Hartford, Conn., and daughters, Rona of Lex-ington Park, Fargo of Liberia, Costa Rica and his grandchil-dren and great grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his daughter, Cecilia Clair Harding in 1972 and his wife, Mary Cecilia Harding in 2005.

A Memorial Service was conducted Friday, Feb. 29, 2008 at the Church of the As-cension, Lexington Park. In-terment will be private.


George Craggs Hopkins, Jr., 88

George Craggs Hopkins, Jr., 88, of Lexington Park, died Feb. 27 in St. Mary’s Hospital, Leonardtown.

Born Feb. 17, 1920 in Mitchellville, Md. he was the son of the late George Craggs Hopkins, Sr. and Eva Marie Clarke Hopkins.

George was a retired St. Mary’s County public school teacher and owner and opera-tor of various businesses in-cluding the Roller Rink. He was the founder of the George C. Hopkins, Jr. Arts Endow-ment Scholarship Awards which helped local students pursue college studies in the field of Art. He enjoyed draw-ing and visiting with his many friends at Linda’s Café.

George is survived by a daughter, Linda Hopkins of Bradenton, Fla., a son, George C. Hopkins, III of Seattle, Wash., his lifelong compan-ion, Dolores Mercer of Lex-ington Park and her daughters Sharon Boudreau of N.H., and Charlene Knott of St. Mary’s City.

The family received rela-tives and friends Saturday, March 1 from 9:30 – 11 a.m. in Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, Lexington Park. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at 11 a.m. with Father Jack Ken-nealy officiating. Interment will follow in the church cemetery.

Condolences to the fam-ily may be made at www.brinsfieldfuneral.com.

Arrangements by the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A., Leonardtown.

Warren Kunz, 86

Warren Kunz, 86, of Cali-fornia died Feb. 25 in St. Mary’s Hospital, Leonardtown.

He was born July 18, 1921 in New York, N.Y. to William John Louis Kunz And Irma Fink who were first genera-tion Americans. He was the youngest child in a family of three boys whose mother was an excellent cook. Warren quickly earned the nickname “Chubby” which followed him throughout his long life.

When he was seven years old, Warren’s family moved to Port Washington, N.Y. where

he and his brothers enjoyed swimming and boating on Long Island Sound and spent several summers on a farm in Upstate New York.

He was an outstanding student who graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the Uni-versity of Rochester in 1942 with a BS degree in mechani-cal engineering, with highest distinction. He received an L.L.B. degree from Chase College of Law in 1954 and was a member of the Bar in Ohio and Massachusetts.

He married his high school sweetheart, Fredda Louise Turrill Feb. 20, 1943. They moved to Hartford, Conn. where he began his ca-reer developing engines for Pratt & Whitney Company. In 1949, Warren joined the legal department of Avco Corpora-tion in Cincinnati, Ohio. He served as a patent attorney in the Cincinnati office and later developed the patent of-fice at the corporation offices in Massachusetts. In 1962, he was named vice president of administration for Avco Systems Division. In 1975, he was named corporate direc-tor of planning and informa-tion systems and in 1976 was elected a corporate vice presi-dent serving at the corporate offices in Greenwich, Conn. He retired in July 1983 after 34 years with the company.

In 1990, he moved to St. Mary’s County where he and his wife became active mem-bers of Patuxent Presbyterian Church. He served on the Session and contributed his handyman skills to a variety of projects. He served on the board of the Honey Maccal-lum Christian Pre-School and Kindergarten and especially enjoyed telling stories of his beloved dragon Archibald to the kindergarten children.

He was a member of the Lexington Park Rotary Club and loved working the front gate at the annual Oyster Fes-tival. In recent years he served on the St. Mary’s County Eth-ics Commission. He enjoyed writing and authored “Lest We Forget Major Kunz” about his brother, Robert Cal-vin Kunz’s service and death in World War II as well as a collection of personal recol-lections entitled “Leaves in the Wind”.

Besides his wife, he was preceded in death by his par-ents, two brothers, William John Kunz and Robert Calvin Kunz.

He is survived by his daughter Claudia Ann Knowlton and her husband John Charles Knowlton; his son Robert Ronald Kunz and his wife Frances Junod Kunz; granddaughters Andrea Beth Mroz and her husband Rob-ert Carl Mroz, Amy Michele Joyce and her husband Robert Joyce, and Katharine Anne Kunz; and grandsons John Charles Knowlton III and his wife Lalania Dawn Knowl-ton, Todd Steven Knowlton, and Robert Carter Kunz and his wife Meredith Alexander Kunz. He is also survived by six great grandchildren; Logan Ronald Joyce, James Warren Knowlton, Elizabeth Helen Kunz, Shannon Louise Kunz, Natalie Jane Mroz, and Rachel Anne Mroz.

A Memorial Service will be conducted Friday, March 7 at 3 p.m. at the Patuxent Pres-byterian Church, California.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Patuxent Presbyterian Church, 23421 Kingston Creek Road, Cali-fornia, MD 20619 or Hospice House, c/o HOSPICE of St. Mary’s, Inc., P.O. Box 625, Leonardtown, MD 20650.


Josie Lee Newland, 75

Josie Lee Newland, 75, of Lexington Park died Feb. 29 in St. Mary’s Hospital, Leonardtown.

Born Sep. 10, 1932 in Vardaman, Miss., she was the daughter of the late Ver-nice Theodore Higginbo-

tham and Lelia Bessie Wiggs Higginbotham.

She was a Navy wife and mother, maintaining a home wherever duty assignments took her husband, among which were several stations in California, Guam, Maine and Maryland. She was a good mother, well loved by her children who were always first and foremost. Her hus-band of 48 years stated, “She will be sorely missed. She was the glue that held our family together.”

She enjoyed sewing and needlecraft, particularly cro-cheting, for most of her life making gifts for friends and family members until losing her vision to macular degen-eration. An avid reader be-fore, she then switched to the audio versions recorded on tape or CD afterwards. Health issues caused her to become a virtual shut-in for a long time. While she would rarely leave the house for social occasions, she greatly enjoyed visits from the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Mrs. Newland did volunteer work for the Of-fice on Aging at the Garvey Center in Leonardtown.

She is survived by her husband, James R. Newland, LCDR, USN (Ret.), whom she married July 9, 1960 in Memphis, Tenn., a daughter, Patricia A. Thomas, two sons, William J. Newland and Rob-ert E. Newland all of Lexing-ton Park, three grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, two sisters, Faye Emerson of Earle, Ark., Gladys Archer of Toney, Ala. and a brother, James T. Higginbotham of Millington, Tenn.. In addi-tion to her parents, she was preceded in death by two sis-ters, Jewel Jacobs in 1984 and Thelma Lillie Carlin in 1995.

A Memorial Service will be conducted Friday, March 7 at 7 p.m. in the Brinsfield Fu-neral Home Chapel in Leon-ardtown. Inurnment will be in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va. March 13 at 2 p.m.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Macular Degeneration Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 531313, Hender-son, NV 89053.

Helen Florence Royle, 88

Helen Florence Royle, 88, of Lusby died Feb. 26 in her residence.

Born Sept. 28, 1919, she was the daughter of the late Ralston DeMar Binkley and Elsie May Chambers Binkley. Mrs. Royle was a graduate of Sibley School of Nursing in Washington, D.C.

She is survived by her husband, Judson Royle of Lusby, six daughters, Illona Hull of Westminster, Md., Karen Changuris of Freder-ick, Md., Denise Bloom of Laurel, Kathleen Carlisle of Provo, Utah, Becky Royle of Lexington, Tenn., Charlotte Hawk of Port Republic, Md., three sons, David L. Grigg of Greenville, S.C., Troy Grigg of Lusby, David Royle of Rockville, Md., 18 grandchil-dren, four great grandchildren and two sisters, Grace Her-man of St. Helena, Calif. and Mary Lou Huffaker of Gobles, Mich.

All services will be private.


Carolyn Jean Russell, 63

Carolyn Jean Russell, 63 of Leonardtown died Feb. 29 in St. Mary’s Hospital.

Born July 9, 1944 in Leonardtown, she was the daughter of the late Louis Frederick Burris and Jean (McNey) Burris. She would later marry Richard F. Rus-sell, and from this union came five loving children.

Carolyn had many hob-bies, some of which included basket bingo and watching game shows. She loved to host and entertain the family during gatherings; especially Easter and Thanksgiving. Carolyn adored her children and grandchildren and always looked forward to dinner with her siblings. She appreciated the little things in life and most of all her savior on earth, Richard her loving husband.

In addition to her hus-band Richard, Carolyn is sur-vived by her children, Eleanor Cargill of Hazel Park, Mich., Kenneth Robert Russell of Chesapeake, Va., Kyle Patrick Russell of Leonardtown, and ten grandchildren. She is also survived by her siblings, Beth Wilkerson of Leonardtown, Fred Burris of Clements, and Dan Burris of Leonardtown.

In addition to her parents, Carolyn was predeceased by a daughter Elizabeth Jean Osantowski, a son James Er-nest Dixon III, and a brother Tommy Burris.

The family received rela-tives and friends Monday, March 3 from 5 - 8 p.m. in the Brinsfield Funeral Home Chapel. Prayers were recited at 6:30 p.m. A mass of Chris-tian burial was celebrated Tuesday, March 4 at 10 a.m. in St. Aloysius Catholic Church, Leonardtown, with Fr. John Dakes officiating. Interment followed in Charles Memorial Gardens, Leonardtown.

Serving as pallbearers were Michael Russell, Shane Wilkerson, Rick Burris, Gary Oliver, Robert Drury, and Da-vid Guyther.

Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice House of St. Mary’s, P.O. Box 625, Leonardtown, Maryland 20650.

Condolences to the fam-ily may be made at www.brinsfieldfuneral.com.

Arrangements by the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A., Leonardtown.

Mildred Margaret Wie-denbach, 87

Mildred Margaret Wie-denbach, 87, of Leonardtown, died Feb. 28 in St. Mary’s Nursing Center.

Born Nov. 1, 1920 in Brooklyn, N.Y. she was the daughter of the late Thurston and Lillian Peterson Johnson.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated March 3 at St. Francis Xavier Catho-lic Church where an inter-ment followed in the church cemetery.

Arrangements provided by the Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home, P.A.

Francis Xavier Woodland “Frankie”, 45

On the morning of Feb. 26 God, in His infinite wis-dom and mercy, took unto

Himself the soul of one of his own, Francis Xavier Wood-land “Frankie”, 45 of Mechan-icsville, at St. Thomas More Nursing Center in Hyattsville, Md. after a lengthy bout with cancer.

Born Nov. 13, 1962, in St. Mary’s County he was the youngest of 13 children born to Agnes M. Molden Wood-land and the late Joseph H. Woodland.

He attended St. Mary’s County Public Schools. Fran-cis also received his GED from the State of West Vir-ginia in June 1981. Francis was baptized in 1963 and was a devoted Catholic.

He held several jobs dur-ing his employment years, as a Ticket Agent for Diplomat Travel; Mail Clerk for Ameri-can College of Health Care; Office Manager for National Technical Services Associa-tion, and last, as a cashier for Giant Foods before retiring due to his illness. He was a

hard working and dedicated man.

He was well liked and a good hearted person. He was well known for tracking and playing the daily lottery numbers. In his spare time, he enjoyed watching the soap op-eras, playing cards, listening to gospel music and spend-ing time reminiscing with his nieces, nephews, family and friends.

Francis leaves to cherish loving and special memo-ries, his mother Agnes M. Woodland, five sisters Thel-ma Graham (Arthur), Alice Young (Thomas), Mary Mills (Thomas), Annie Holley (James), Brenda Daniels and five brothers, Adrian Wood-land (Thelma), James Wood-land, Jerome Woodland (Ag-nes), John Woodland (Bonita), Charles Woodland (Shirley) and host of nieces, nephews, cousins and other relatives and friends.

In addition to his father, he was preceded in death by his two brothers, Clayton Eu-gene and Thomas Matthews Woodland; maternal grand-parents Thomas R. and Mary L. Molden; one niece (Sonja) and one nephew (Garrett), and several loving aunts and uncles.

The family received friends Friday, Feb. 29 from 10 – 11 a.m. in Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Mechanicsville where a Mass of Christian Burial was cele-brated at 11 a.m. with Fr. Peter Alliata officiating. Interment followed in Charles Memorial Gardens, Leonardtown.

Arrangements provided by Mattingley-Gardiner Fu-neral Home, P.A.

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SectionA-10 The County Times Thursday,March6,2008

ingworkersfromthePatuxent Naval AirStation to read withchildrenduringtheirlunchhours.

“They lovedCaptain Ives,” said kindergarten teacher There-saDyson,whocommentedthattheguestreaderturnoutwasalways impressive. “Hewasso in-crediblypersonablewiththem.”

Colleen Seremet, assistant state superinten-dent of instruction for the Maryland State De-partmentofEducation,read“OspreyAdventure”byJenniferKeatsCurtiswhileLindaDudderer,chief academic officer for St. Mary’s County PublicSchools,read“TheGivingTree”byShelSilverstein.

MarkViniard,GeneralManageroftheBlueCrabsbaseball team,gotintotheact,wearingalargeblue-crabheadpieceashereadtothechil-dren.Dr.BradGottfriedoftheCollegeofSouth-ern Maryland read “Oh the Places You’ll Go,” and then talked about his love of reading withchildren.

“Oneofmygoalsistohavegrandchildren,”hesaid.“WheneverIhaveanopportunitytoreadto kids, it’s one I won’t miss.”

Research has shown that the simple act ofreadingtoachildcanimprovenotonlytheirvo-cabulary and reading skills, but their confidence andattentiveness.

“Mrs.Mattinglysharedthatoneofherread-

erstripledherreadingscores,”exclaimedSchoolBoardmemberCathyAllen,whentalkingaboutthe“ReadWithMe”partnership.“Sothatshowsthepoweroftakingtimetoreadwiththem.”

Barbara Cooksey Abell, principal of Me-chanicsvilleElementary,commentedonthesig-nificance of the day.

“Guest readers can show the children themagicofreadingandhowitopensthedoortoaworld of information and enjoyment,” she said.“Afterhavinglearnedtoread,childrenareneverquitethesame.”

School Board member Mary Washingtoncradledahomemadesetofgreeneggsandhamas she crossed the hallways to read Seuss’s book toanearbyclass.

“This will always be etched in their mind,howmuchfuntheyhadreadingDr.Seuss,”shesaid,addingthattheexperiencewouldhelpfos-tera loveof literatureas thechildrengotolder.“Leadersarereaders!”shesaid,enthusiastically.

ReadAcrossAmericaissponsoredbytheNa-tional EducationAssociation, and started sevenyearsagotocelebratethebirthdayofDr.Seuss.

ReadContinued from page A-�

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Photo by Andrea Shiell Photo by Andrea ShiellBlue Crabs General Manager Mark Viniard reads to children at Mechanicsville Elementary. Read Across America was set up to honor Dr. Seuss on his Birthday

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Thursday, March 6, 2008 • St. Mary’s County