knights stand up to national power

Andrea ShiellStaff Writer

The Maryland State Department of Edu-cation (MSDE) releasedSt.Mary’sCountyPublicSchools’studentperformanceresultsfortheMary-land Science Assessment for students in grades five and eight, which boast that a vast majority of stu-dents successfully completed the assessment, sur-passing state averages.

At the fifth grade level, 75.8 percent of students completed the assessment with a proficient or ad-vanced score, as compared with the state average of 64.1 percent. At the eighth grade level, 72.6 percent of students in St. Mary’s County scored proficient or advanced, compared with the state average of 61.4percent.

Claudia Wortman, Supervisor of Science In-structionforSt.Mary’sCountyPublicSchools,saidthatthescoresareexpectedtogoupnextyear.Thisis the first time the MSDE Division of Accountabil-ity and Assessment Office has released the Mary-landScienceAssessment scores. “Wehadapilotlastyear,butnoscoreswerereleasedfromthatpi-

lot,” explainedWortman,who added that instruc-tors were not sure what material would be covered onthisyear’sassessments,sopreparationhadbeendifficult. “The target, obviously, would be 100 per-cent,”shesaid,“butteachershadnotseenthistestso it was difficult to anticipate what would be on it.”

“Although there ismuchwork to be done,weare pleased that the majority of our students are meeting or exceeding the Maryland Science As-sessment standard,” said Superintendent MichaelMartirano. “The science assessment provides us a goodcomparisonofhowwellourstudentsareper-forming relative to the state standard and to their peersaroundthestate,”hesaid.

SMCPS performance data compared favorably to other school systems in the state, ranking St.Mary’s County sixth out of 24 school systems for fifth grade students, and seventh for eighth grade students. Carroll County ranked first for fifth gradeperformanceonthetest,andHowardCoun-

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<< Club House Gets Face Lift A-3

Knights Stand Up To National Power B-1

SMCPS Students Perform Well On New Science Assessment

By Guy LeonardStaff Writer

CollinsBailey,CharlesCountySchoolBoardmem-ber and Republican challenger in this year’s congres-sional race for Maryland’s 5thDistrict, said the federalgovernment must return to fiscal responsibility or saddle futuregenerationswithcripplingdebt.

Bailey, 54, chatted with students at St. Mary’s Col-legeofMaryland’sCenterfortheStudyofDemocracyTuesday inhopesofgettinghismessageout tounseatincumbentDemocratU.S.Rep.StenyH.Hoyer.Hoyerhas held the 5thDistrictseatfornearlythreedecadesandis now the House Majority Leader.

Baileystartedoffwithahistorylesson,statingthatwhen he was 17 the minimum wage was just $1.20 an hour,butwiththat,youcouldtakeyourpaychecktoWal-dorf,buyasplitfoyerhouseandsupportafamilyontopofthat.

But prices have gone up, Bailey said, because with homepricesbeingwhattheyarenow,minimumwagewould have to be raised to untenable levels.

“You’d have to raise the minimum wage to $30 an hour now to do that,” Bailey told the roughly 20 students Monday.

Bailey talked about the national financial crisis that

Hoyer Opponent Bailey Woos Students At St. Mary’s College

By Guy Leonard Staff Writer

State Republicans led by localDel. Anthony O’Donnell (R-Dist.29C) have penned a budget package that calls for $3.8 billion in tax cuts

Maryland Politicians Clash Over Budget PrioritiesBy Guy Leonard

Staff Writer

Knownforyearsasasmall,pri-vate Catholic institution in Holly-wood,St.John’sSchoolisstretchingits reach across theAtlanticOceanall the way to Milan, Italy in hopes offorgingalong-lastingpartnershipwithasimilarschooltopromotecul-turalawarenessandcooperation.

Karen Oliver, a St. John’s par-ent, said the idea started through a

roundofe-mailsshehadwithteach-ersattheCollegioSt.CarloinMilan.TheywantedtoknowhowAmericanteachers prepared lessons for theirstudents, Oliver said, and the move

St. John’s School In Hollywood Goes International


As the fallmonthschillthe air and the leaves start to change, the staff atWalden/Si-errawillbeworkingtohighlightdomestic violence programs for themonthofOctober,which isDomestic Violence AwarenessMonth.

“We’ll be doing a lotmore public outreach, and wedo a proclamation with the

Walden Programs to Highlight Domestic Violence Awareness

“It’s giving these licenses away for pennies on the dollar” - Del. Anthony O’Donnell (R)

SeeSt. John’s page A-7

SeeScience Assessment page A-7

SeeBailey page A-8

SeeBudget page A-8

Del. Anthony O’Donnell (R-Dist. 29C)

SeeWalden page A-5

Photo by Guy Leonard

Photo by Guy LeonardCollins Bailey, Republican challenger for U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer’s 5th Congressional District seat, talks to students at St. Mary’s College of Maryland about his political agenda and philosophy.

Cassie Oliver, a student at St. John’s School in Hollywood, gets some computer time in with new found friends during her trip to the Collegio San Carlo in Milan, Italy back in February. St. Johns and the Milan school have formed a partnership that exchanges ideas, teachers and students.

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

AndreaShiellStaffWriter

When turning onto La-goon Drive in the tranquilLongviewBeachcommunity,it is hard to miss the Lucashousehold amongst the otherhomesas it boasts a signoutfront calling it the “Big LRanch”.

Theheadofthischarminghousehold is none other than

Bernard Lionel Lucas, whocelebrated his 91st birthdaySept. 12, and held a formalcelebration in his home withmore than 100 friends andfamilymembersthefollowingday.

“I was born in PrinceGeorge’s County, but I wasonlydownthereforoneyear,”Lucassaid,explainingthathewasbornin1917andgrewupinAnacostia,themostfamous

neighborhoodinSoutheasternWashingtonD.C.

“Back then it was rural;ithadfarms,”hesaid,addingthat housing developmentsand populations changed thelandscape significantly before he left the neighborhood in1965.

Lucasdidnot leaveAna-costia,however,untilhisfam-ily had made their mark onthe area. His father Samual

Lucas had beena carpenter, andbuilt many homesintheregion,someof which are stillstandingtoday.

“My father built all thehouses in Lincoln Place inAnacostia,” Lucas said, add-ingthathehimselfhadstartedworkataveryyoungage,de-liveringpapersat16.

“When I started servingpapers,Iserved30papersev-eryday,”hesaid,addingthathe saved up his own moneyto buy a car, and then begandeliveringasmanyas500pa-persadaywhilestillgoingto

PhelpsVocationalHighSchooltostudycarpentry,electricity,and plumbing. By the timeLucaswas17,hehadgoneintobusinessasahousepainter.

He worked as a pipe fitter’s helperattheNavyPowerFac-toryinIndianHead,Md.,be-fore transferring to the NavyYardinWashington,D.C.andadvancing to the position ofFirstClassOpticalInstrumentAssembler,apositionhehelduntil the end of World WarII.Heworkedinthesameca-pacity inPhiladelphia,all thewhilefallingbackonhisfree-lanceworkasapainter.

Even with his dizzyingwork history though, Lucassaidhissecrettolonglifeandhappiness had been to retireearly.

“When my first wife (Theresa) died, I said if any-thinghappened tomywife, IwasgoingtodowhatIwantedtodo,”hesaid,explainingthathedecidedatthetimetoretirefrom his job as a MechanicYard Supervisor with AceWreckingCompanyandcometo Longview Beach, “to thelandofbetterliving”whenhewas48yearsold.

“I decided I was just sit-tingthereandgettingfat,”hesaid, laughing, “so I decidedtoresignthejobandspendtherest of my life doing what Iwantedtodo.”

He raised four daughterswithhissecondwife,Lucille,allofwhomgrewuptoenjoyindependenceandoccupation-alprestige.

“He’s a man’s man, a nononsense kind of guy,” ex-claimed his granddaughter,LaTanya Thomas, one of hisseven grandchildren. “He’s awealthofwisdom.”

Lucas also has sevengreat-grandchildren, and ev-eryone in Lucas’ family hasa nickname, from his oldestdaughter Antoinette, who hecalls“Tweedly,”tohisyoung-est daughter Alice, who henicknamed “Home Alone,”because“itdon’tmatterwhenyoucallher,she’shomealone,”hesaid,laughing.

AftercomingtoSouthernMarylandandresumingworkboth as a carpenter, house-painter,anddeliveringpapers,heandhis latefriendGeorgeGardner were the first male members of the St. Mary’sCountyDemocraticClub,andLucas has served the demo-cratic party faithfully sincethen,volunteeringhistimeasapollwatcheratMarylandvot-ingsites.Hesaidheisexcitedaboutthisyear’selection,andhewillbe supportingBarackObama.“He’stheman,”heex-claimed,addingthatheneverdidthinkhewouldseethedaywhenaminoritycouldachievesuchpoliticalstanding.

Nearing his centennialhas not slowed Lucas downonebit,asisevidencedbyhiscontinued activity and excel-lent health. He continues todeliverpapersdailytohisen-tireneighborhood,andhealsoworksasasecurityguardfortheLongviewBeachClubAs-sociation,ofwhichhewasontheBoardofDirectors for19years. He fishes, hunts, and enjoysboatingaswell.

The “Big L Ranch” isLucas’s second home in theLongviewBeachcommunity,andhehas livedthereforsixyears.Hislatestbirthdaywasrecognized by dignitaries aswellasfriendsandfamily,andaccording tohisgranddaugh-terLaTanya,nextyearshouldbejustasmuchfun.

“The entire family looksforwardtocelebratingMr.Lu-cas’ 92nd birthday,” she said,smiling as her grandfathernodded.

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Mr. Bernard Lionel Lucas celebrated his 91st birthday recently with family and friends. Despite his age, he continues to work in security for his com-munity, and deliver newspapers.

Thursday, October 2, 2008 The County Times Section A - �

By Guy LeonardStaff Writer

It’s taken about seven years of plan-ning, negotiation and work but the once-deteriorating clubhouse at the Wicomico Shores public golf course stands anew after a $2.1 million expansion and renova-tion project.

Phil Rollins, director of the county Department of Parks and Recreation, who oversaw the project, said that plans were originally in the works to tear down the structure already there on Airport Yacht

Club Road in Chaptico, but high bids sev-eral years ago caused county commission-ers to go for an overhaul of the clubhouse.

“The old clubhouse was in deplor-able condition,” Rollins told The County Times. “One of the things I saw when I came on in 1991 was that we needed to do something with this building.”

And that’s just what happened, said Patty Meyers, course manager at Wicom-ico Shores.

“Players can utilize it a lot more in the current format,” Meyers said, adding that the renovation project opened up space in

the clubhouse and made access to facilities like the dining room and pro shop much easier.

Golfers can come in from the greens and immediately stop in at the refurbished banquet area or make a turn into the newly renovated pro shop, which was actually placed on top of one of the roof sections and enclosed, Meyers said.

The inside of the clubhouse comes complete with a recently improved look and fresh coat of paint and furniture.

The interior even smells new.Rollins said that when the original

clubhouse was donated from a private group back in the 80’s that its condition was so poor that they could not even fully operate the banquet facilities.

But now the facility can comfortably accommodate 175 people, Meyers said.

“It’s a whole new outlook,” Meyers said of the clubhouse facelift. “We brought it up to the 21st century.”

The Board of County Commissioners formally dedicated the clubhouse Tuesday after the operations staff moved back into the facility Sept. 12.

Rollins said that the initial plans to

build the new facility started in 2001 but by the time bids came in 2003 they were too high.

County commissioners eventually de-cided on a renovation and expansion proj-ect in 2005 with construction starting in April of 2007, Rollins said.

Part of the funding for the project came in the form of $500,000 in state Program Open Space funds, Rollins said, while about $1.35 million was borrowed by commissioners from banks to pay for the rest of the project.

That amount will be paid back over

the next 15 years from golf course rev-enues; as a county enterprise fund, Roll-ins said, the course is self sustaining from user fees.

Meyers, who has been at the golf course for almost 12 years, was happy to be back in a permanent office — she and her staff had been in a trailer for 18 months of construction — but was just as pleased with the reception from players.

“There were no tears when that [trail-er] rolled out of the parking lot,” Meyers said. “But everybody I see walking in the clubhouse says they love it.”

Wicomico Shores Clubhouse Gets A Facelift

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Statistics show that St. Mary’s County Public schools en-joy a significant advantage as op-posed to other school systems in the state of Maryland, which leads the nation with its glaring gap in the number of quality teachers at wealthier versus poorer schools.

Statewide, Maryland el-ementary schools in wealthy ar-eas boast a rate of 94.8 percent of classes taught by highly qualified teachers, whereas poorer districts have only 66.2 percent of classes taught by quality instructors, ac-cording to a report released by the U.S. Department of Education. The 28.6 percent gap in Maryland is 12 percent greater than the sec-ond-highest gap in Illinois, and among secondary schools, Mary-land as a whole led the nation with a 25.7 percent gap between well-to-do and disadvantaged schools.

Dr. Edward Weiland, direc-tor of Human Resources for St. Mary’s County Public Schools, said the criteria for what consti-tutes a “highly qualified” teacher, as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, “would take seven hours to explain.

“Highly qualified basically means that an individual is certi-fied in a certain area, and on a cer-tain level,” he said, adding that the candidate must have a bachelor’s degree in their area of teaching as well as their certification from the state of Maryland, and demon-strate knowledge of their subject.

As a rule, Weiland said St. Mary’s County Public Schools aims to hire only highly qualified teachers, with very rare exceptions being made when candidates are not fully certified, but have one or two remaining courses to take for certification.

“We’re usually in the top tier of counties with that,” he said. “We’re always above 90 per-cent…we work very hard to make sure that all of our teachers are highly qualified and certified.”

The five states with the larg-

est gaps in qualified teachers also have notably urban populations, such as Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburg, and Philadelphia, with smaller gaps coming from states with fewer urban populations.

Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Prince George’s County and Montgomery County make up 54.5 percent of the state’s stu-dent population and account for 70 percent of the classes not taught by highly qualified teachers.

“It’s a very challenging mar-ket across the state,” said John Smeallie, acting Deputy State Su-perintendant, when asked about recruitment of teachers. “Teach for America has placed 174 teach-ers, considered highly qualified, in the city, but their help is tempo-rary because there is no long-term commitment,” he said.

Weiland said St. Mary’s County will have to step up efforts to recruit teachers with programs like the residential teacher certifi-cation program, offered through a partnership with state colleges like the University of Notre Dame and the Southern Maryland High-er Education Center, and targeted at people interested in changing their career to teach or using the degree they already have to build toward their teaching certification. Such programs require candidates to commit to teaching within the county for a number of years after they earn their certification.

Weiland conceded that the state’s dismal percentages of qualified teachers could be indic-ative of the higher education sys-tem’s failures. He said St. Mary’s County has been lucky with its recruitment, but that Maryland as a whole does not train enough teachers to keep up with the needs of its schools.

“Maryland never produces enough teacher candidates, but we’ve been lucky” Weiland said. “We have not had as difficult a time as I thought we might have…and colleges and universi-ties are working hard to reduce that deficiency, but we still have a long way to go.”

Maryland Schools Desperate for Qualified TeachersSt. Mary’s County Above State Average

By Shelby Oppermann

Hello to Terri Bartz Bowles “Ramblings of a Country Girl” readers, I’m Shelby Oppermann. I received a call from my good friend Terri, telling me she was going to finish her college degree and expand her career horizons. This also meant ending her warm, homespun column which we, as her readers had all followed week-ly. I have known Terri for seven years through our affiliation with the Maryland Antiques Center in Leonardtown. Boy, have we had some fun times, and some great talks. She is just like what she writes, funny, off-the-wall, and compassionate. I wish her many hours of endless enjoyment study-ing to fulfill her dream. I say this with Love, Terri.

Which leads me to how I am writing this column. Reading Terri’s got me to thinking how I ended-up in St. Mary’s County 29 years ago this month. My Dad used to take me on Sunday drives through Southern Maryland, and my Mother and I would camp in our camper trailer at Point Look-out when the camp ground was on the left side of the road by the old hotel. This was all in the late 60’s, early 70’s. So, I had fleeting memories of this and that from traveling down Route 5. One of these memories was of a beautiful village on the way down. I always thought that this vivid picture in my mind was a dream, until I was deciding what college to attend and was reading through college catalogs in the Guidance Office at Surrattsville Senior High in Clin-ton, MD. One of the catalogs was for St. Mary’s College of MD, and as I leafed through it I saw the pic-

tures in my dream. It was a real place. How could anything be so beautiful? All the pictures were sepia-toned, black walnut pen and ink drawings by local artist Charles Wolf III.

After I was accepted at St. Mary’s, which was no easy feat since I was considered a “late bloomer” having only done well in High School my last two of the three years, I was thrilled to actually meet the artist Charles “Charlie” Wolf. Charlie worked in the equipment room at the college gym when he wasn’t helping on the family farm or being a waterman. I thought I had met a real celebrity. I told him that he was the reason that I came to St. Mary’s College. The dream had become real. Even the caption under my senior pic-ture said “Dreams of attending St. Mary’s.”

St. Mary’s County was like another world, even though it’s only an hour away from Clinton. I was amazed passing by people either on campus or in the com-munity who waved to you and said “hi”. Everyone says hi to you here. I couldn’t figure it out at first. Es-pecially anyone in a pick-up truck. No one seemed as wary or rush-ing to be anywhere. I remember telling people back home that there was one traffic light that I knew of in 1979, and that was at the intersection of the Roost and McDonald’s in Lexington Park. If there were more than three or four cars at the light it was a traffic jam. I grew up right next to malfunc-tion junction, where I counted 29 lights. We lived within 1000 feet of it and it would take 20 minutes to get through the series of lights. So coming down here was completely different in that respect also.

One of the biggest changes was the amount of bars in the county and how many diverse peo-ple frequented them. We had one bar in Clinton, The Clinton Inn, that I never would have thought of going in. It just wasn’t something any women or girls I knew did. We did house parties. My Father asked me sometime during my first semester what we did for fun down here. I told him about FOD night at the college. That was we called Thursday nights, since ev-eryone went home for the week-ends. FOD was Flake-Out and Die. And then I told him, “Well Daddy, on Thursday nights, we go to the

Oar House”. He said, “You do what!” I said, “The Oar House, Daddy, The Oar House.” I don’t think he quite heard me correctly the first time. I explained to him that whole families went in bars here.

But, really I did gain so much from my years at St. Mary’s Col-lege. I was a Social Science ma-jor with my particular love being Social Psychology and the study of individuals in groups. The Oar House, Monks Inn, and The Green Door were excellent places to study human behavior. Of course, I used my degree and have been a Picture Framer for 27 years, but that’s o.k. I am glad I received my B.A. St. Mary’s College was, and is, a beautiful college with dedicated professors who have left their mark on thousands of stu-dents over the years. It continues to grow each year meeting more needs of the students.

The county has changed in the last 29 years as well, but I love it intensely and cannot imagine ever living anywhere else. Almost

two thirds of my life has been lived here, and in that time, I have seen landmarks taken down and new ones built in their places. I know it must be harder for those who are a bit older than me and have lived their entire lives in this beauti-ful county. I have raised my two wonderful sons, Robert and Ryan here, loved the beauty of each day in each season, and found so many loving, caring friends. I would like to bring you my impressions and memories of the county and Southern Maryland from a relative “newcomer’s” perspective along with other aimless mental wander-ings. To each new day’s adven-ture, Shelby

Please send comments to: [email protected]

“With Love and Best Wishes To Terri and a Hello from Me”

Photo by Guy LeonardPatty Meyers, golf course manager at Wicomico Shores, looks out from the newly renovated banquet hall of the clubhouse onto the greens.

SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,October2,2008

Editorial&Opinion

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The County Times

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By: Bob Schaller

“How’s the economy?”We’re all asking this question to one extent or another. The message lately on the state of the economy has been a mixed one. On one hand, we’re fac-ing a financial industry crisis nationally thathasbroadanduncertain impacts. The econo-my will likely play a dominant role in the upcoming elections. Closertohome,newsoflocalbusiness closures and cut-backs add to the uneasiness. At the same time, some busi-nesses are having their best year ever. Businesses feel the effects of changing consumer behavior and adjust plans and operations accordingly. Like-wise,eachofusashouseholdsabsorb all this along with our individual employment and income situations, and adjust our behaviors accordingly. So we’re all connected in someway through the system we call the economy. Depending onwhatyoudointheecono-mywilldeterminehowmuchyou are affected. Fortunately, St. Mary’s County as a whole has done fairly well through-out the current economictimes. This is largely due to our strong employment base. One thing to keep in mind is thatbusinesscyclescomeandgo. The same set of circum-stances that brought about thecurrentsituationwillulti-matelybecorrectedand leadto a turnaround. The key for every player in the economic system, whether it’s a busi-ness owner, consumer, or gov-ernment agency, is the ability and willingness to adapt to the changing environment. This is our everyday challenge.

Dealing with short-term economic challenges is first priority. But I’d also like to offer some encouraging news for longer-term prospects in St. Mary’s County. In particu-lar, the work that’s been done

to attract, retain, and develop a world-class workforce is be-ing reflected in our changing demographics. The U.S. Cen-sus Bureau released demo-graphic information based on its most recent annual survey from 2007. I’ll briefly describe just three measures that relate to our workforce: educational attainment, median age, and commuting patterns.

In educational attain-ment, there’s continued im-provement nationally, state-wide, and locally. Since 2000, the rate of improvement in St. Mary’s County is greater than that of the state and nation. We now exceed the U.S. rate of Bachelor’s Degree comple-tion (27.8% vs 27.5%). In 2000 we lagged the national rate by almost 2%. St. Mary’s County has also narrowed the gap with the state average over the same time period. The Mary-land average was 35% in 2007 and ranked 2nd nationally. The growth of program offerings and enrollments at our localinstitutions of higher educa-tion including the College of Southern Maryland, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Southern Maryland Higher EducationCenter, andothershas contributed to this prog-ress. Future growth plans at all institutionswill only nar-row this gap further.

Improved high school graduation rates have also played a key role in prepar-ing students for post-second-ary education. St. Mary’s County’s High School Gradu-ate completion rate exceeds both the state and nation. The organic progress we’ve seen in the local school systemalong with the partnerships developed with NAS Patux-ent River and other employers and organizations will infuse even more graduates into the workforce pipeline.

In terms of median age, St. Mary’s County repeats in

2007 with the youngest pop-ulation in the state. At 34.4 years, St. Mary’s median age is the lowest of all Maryland counties with populations of65,000 or more. The growth of young professionals at-tracted here by employmentopportunities and the growth of families are the key factors. A younger and more highly educated workforce is a great economic foundation for thefuture.

In commuting patterns, St. Mary’s County continues to stand apart with only 29% of our labor force commut-ing out of the County to work. Compared with our neighbor-ing counties of Charles and Calvert both at about 60% and the state at 46%, there’s more time to enjoy the quality of life that surrounds us. With rising fuel and energy prices, this is an even greater factor in our favor. An increasingly home-grown workforce with the op-portunity to live where they work is a tremendous asset.

So three basic ingredients - increased educational at-tainment, a young population, and a work where you live pattern - combine for long-term workforce and economic development opportunities. Back to the original question on the current state of theeconomy,it’snotaneasyoneto answer. There’s little ques-tion though that today’s situ-ation is different than it waseven a year ago. Attention needstobepaidtotheimme-diate economic issues at hand. But let’s not forget that some ofthefundamentalandstruc-turalfeaturesofoureconomywhich have been years (and decades) in the making will be there to make the economy even stronger when the cur-rentbusinesscycleturnsmorefavorable.

The Economy: Today and TomorrowThe Coastal Conservation Association Maryland’s Patuxent River Chapter extends a big

thank you for all who helped us make our second annual Banquet and Auction last weekend a rousing success. We were able to raise around $11,000 to help restore and protect marine re-sources in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

More than 85 recreational anglers and local residents joined us for a night of celebration. A special thanks goes to our major sponsors, Dominion Cove Point and ManTech International Corporation.

In a little over 15 months our chapter has planted more than 61,000 oysters in two local creeks which we will grow to adult size when they will be able to each filter 55,000 gallons of water a day, run a fishing day for wounded veterans and their families, and supported the first week long youth fishing camp administered by a CCA chapter in the United States. The support this community provided our banquet will allow us to continue that work. Thanks to all!

Scott McGuireChapterpresidentLexington Park, Md

Local Conservation Chapter Thanks You

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We average folks are un-derstandably nervous. We are not quite sure just how thecurrent“economiccrisis”will impact us. Are our jobs safe? Is our little bit of sav-ings safe? Will we be able to pay the mortgage, provide for our children’s educationas we planned, and so on.

And everyday the news seems to get worse. The federal government is go-ing deeper and deeper into debt. Main Street bailing out Wall Street (is there a differ-ence?). More talk of raising taxes on the folks to pay for more entitlement programs. The cost of being the world’s freedom police has never been heavier. Oh my, our

federal government is broke, we are broke!

Our State government reports that despite Gover-nor O’Malley and our State Legislature passing the larg-est tax increase in our State’s history, Maryland will have a $1.5 billion dollars deficit next year. Oh my, our State government is broke, we are broke!

Our County Commis-sioners, despite collecting 20% more in property taxes from the folks this year than last year say they can’t keep up and will probably have to raise taxes. Oh my, our County government might go broke, will we go broke?

In the meantime, the

folks are just holding on, wondering who will save us from this mess.

Everyone is blaming someone else. No matter the party affiliation, it’s the other party’s fault. No matter the level of government, it’s the other level of government’s fault. All of the career politi-cianswarnedallofthiswascoming, but nobody would listen to them. Don’t you re-member when they warnedus?

And by the way, all of this is not our elected offi-cials fault, it’s everyone else’s elected officials fault. It’s Congresses fault, but not my Congressman. It’s the Mary-land Legislatures fault, but

not my Senator. County gov-ernments runaway spending is the Commissioners fault,but not my Commissioner.

These are all nice guys; it’s not their fault.

And by the way, did youseethenicecitationmyCongressman, Senator, and Commissioner gave Mom and Dad for their 50th Wed-ding Anniversary? They are such nice people; this mess can’t be their fault. It’s Bush, he’s at fault. It’s O’Malley, he’s at fault. It’s the econo-my stupid, it’s at fault.

Oh by the way, you know Congressman Hoyer is up for re-election this November, he is such a nice guy, he saved Pax River, not just the mili-

tary base, he saved the river. And we sure are lucky to have a guy like him with his experience, leadership, and ability to get what we need, especiallynowthatheistheMajority Leader. It must be hard on Steny, having to put up with all those idiots inCongress everyday. Thank goodness he’s the leader.

And you know, that boy Roy, he sure is a nice guy, he saved Pax River, not just the military base, he saved the river. He’s a former Con-gressman (but let’s not talk about that), and now we have all his years of experience in the Maryland Senate. Boy, just think how bad off our State would be if we didn’t

have Roy up there in An-napolis, we would be broke. Oh, that’s right we are broke! Did you see that citation Roy gave dad for his 80th birth-day? He sure is a nice guy.

Back to the mess we are in. Maybe it is time for change. This country is headed in the wrong di-rection, something has to change. I’m going to vote for change, I’m going to vote to change the President, that will show those people thatwemeanbusiness, thatwillturn this Country around,then we will get the kind of government we deserve.

By the way, did you see that nice citation my momgot for her 70thbirthday?

Maybe The Folks Will Get The Government They Deserve


Agenda Items For The St. Mary’s County Commissioners

Consent Agenda

10.01 & 10.02 - Personnel-Teachers/Administrative SupervisoryIn accordance with the Annotated Code of Maryland (Section 6-201), “the superintendent

shall nominate for appointment by the county Board of Education all principals, teachers, and other certificated personnel.” The superintendent “shall assign them to their positions and transfer them as the needs of the system require.”

Motion: To approve the consent agenda as presented.Motion By: Second:Cathy Allen Salvatore L RaspaAction: UnanimousVoting Record:William M Mattingly YesCathy Allen Yes Gary K Kessler Not PresentSalvatore L Raspa YesMary M Washington Yes

10.04 - FY 2009 Categorical RequestAttached for your review and approval is a categorical request summary for the increase for a

.05 FTE for General Fund - Instructional Salaries and .15 FTE for the Local Management Board - Care Management Entity Grant for FY 2009.

Funding Source: FY 2009 Approved Operating Budget and Local Management Board funding.

Motion: To approve the consent agenda as presented.Motion By: Second:Cathy Allen Salvatore L RaspaAction: UnanimousVoting Record:William M Mattingly YesCathy Allen Yes Gary K Kessler Not PresentSalvatore L Raspa YesMary M Washington Yes

Action Items

11.01 – Comprehensive Maintenance PlanComprehensive Maintenance Plan 2008 - By regulation, each local educational agency (LEA)

is required to submit annually a Comprehensive Maintenance Plan (CMP) that has been approved by the Local Board of Education (COMAR 23.03.02.18.A.2 ). The CMP describes the LEA strat-egy for maintaining public schools.

Motion: To approve the comprehensive Maintenance Plan for 2008 as presented by staff.Motion By: Second:Cathy Allen Mary M WashingtonAction: UnanimousVoting Record:William M Mattingly YesCathy Allen Yes Gary K Kessler Not PresentSalvatore L Raspa YesMary M Washington Yes

Board of Education Voting RecordMeeting Held on September 23, 2008

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 *Revised 9/29/08 (additions)

1. Draft Agendas for October 7 and 14, 2008

2. Sheriff’sOffice (Sheriff Timothy Cam-eron; Erin Shoemaker, Fiscal Manager; Elaine Kramer, CFO)

a. Motion (1): To approve and accept the Targeted Enforcement and Education Grant Award from the Governor’s Office of Crime and Prevention.

a. Motion (2): To approve and authorize the Commissioner President to sign the budget amend-ment, in the amount of $49,485, that will closeout MD0934 for funding reclassification from state revenue to federal revenue for the Targeted En-forcement and Education Grant, which will in-crease the Supplemental Reserve Accounts.

a. Motion (3): To approve and authorize the Commissioner President to sign the budget amend-ment that will reflect the set-up of $40,200 in fed-eral revenues and expenses for the Targeted En-forcement and Education Grant and decrease the Supplemental Reserve Accounts.

Motion By: Jarboe Second:Dement

Action: PassedVoting Record:Francis Jack Russell YesThomas Mattingly YesDaniel Raley YesLawrence Jarboe YesKenneth Dement Yes

b. Motion (1): To approve and accept the Compstat Program Award form the Governor’s Office of Crime and Prevention.

b. Motion (2): To approve and authorize the Commissioner President to sign the budget amend-ment, in the amount of $32,334, that will closeout MD0915 for funding reclassification from state revenue to federal revenue for the Compstat Pro-gram, which will increase the Supplemental Re-serve Accounts.

b. Motion (3): To approve and authorize the Commissioner President to sign the budget amend-ment that will reflect the set-up of $15,080 in federal revenues and expenses for the Compstat Program and decrease the Supplemental Reserve Accounts.

Motion By: Raley Second: Dement


c. Motion (1): To approve and accept the School Bus Safety Enforcement Award from the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention.

c. Motion (2): To approve and authorize the Commissioner President to sign the budget amend-ment, in the amount of $14,500, that will decrease the project budget revenues and expenses and in-crease the supplemental reserve accounts, aligning the project budget with the grant award.

Motion By: Mattingly Second: Jarboe


d. Motion: To approve and authorize the Commissioner President to sign the budget amend-ment, in the amount of $22,800, to set-up the ex-penses and revenue for the Sex Offender Registra-tion grant.

Motion By: Dement Second: Mattingly


*e. Motion (1): To approve and accept the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Award from the State Highway Administration.

*e. Motion (2): To approve and authorize the Commissioner President to sign the budget amend-ment, in the amount of $800, that will increase the project budget revenues and expenses and decrease the supplemental reserve accounts, aligning the project budget with the grant award.

Motion By: Mattingly Second: Dement


3. Dept. of Recreation and Parks (Phil Rollins, Director; Christy Chesser, County Attorney, Bob Schaller, Director, DECD)

Motion: To approve and authorize the Com-missioner President to sign the Declaration of Covenant document establishing the replacement property for the Port of Leonardtown, Leonard-town Winery, as specified in the Program Open Space Consent and Release agreement approved by the Board of County Commissioners on June 10, 2008.

Motion By: Mattingly

Second: DementAction: PassedVoting Record:Francis Jack Russell YesThomas Mattingly YesDaniel Raley YesLawrence Jarboe YesKenneth Dement Yes

4. Dept. of Public Safety (David Zylak, Director)

a. Motion (1): To approve and authorize the Commissioner President to sign the Memorandum of Agreement with the Maryland Emergency Man-agement Agency

allowing the Maryland State Highway Ad-ministration to retain the awarded funds for the construction of one tower to provide microwave connectivity at Mary McLeod Bethune School, and to sign the budget amendment, in the amount of $143,200, closing grant number US0940 since the State Highway Administration will be paid direct.

Motion By: Mattingly Second: Jarboe


b. Motion (2): To approve and authorize the Commissioner President to sign the budget amendment to close-out the $290,000 in Pre-Di-saster Mitigation grant funds, Project US0980, and return the budgeted match of $96,667 to the BOCC Emergency Appropriation Reserve.

Motion By: Dement Second: Jarboe


*Motion (3): To approve and authorize the Commissioner President to sign the Memorandum of Agreement between the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, Charles County, Calvert County, and St. Mary’s County for the expansion of the National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee (NSPAC) channels, and to sign the as-sociated budget amendment.

Motion By: Mattingly Second: Raley


c. Motion (4): To approve and authorize the Commissioner President to sign the budget amend-ment, in the amount of $30,000, moving funds from Public Safety to the BOCC Emergency Ap-propriations Reserve Fund, realigning accounts to cover partial match of the NPSPAC grant.

Motion By: Mattingly Second: Raley


Dept. of Human Services (Bennett Connelly, Director)

Motion: To approve and sign the resolution, with an effective date of October 14, 2008, to re-scind prior designation of the Local Management Board of St. Mary’s County, Inc. as the Local Man-agement Board and to designate the Department of Human Services as the Local Management Board for St. Mary’s County.



(Cynthia Brown, Manager, Community Services)

*Motion: To approve and authorize the Com-missioner President to sign the Memorandum of Agreement between the Corporation for National and Community Services and the Office of Com-munity Services, for the assignment of two cost-share AmeriCorps *VISTA members to the Divi-sion of Community Services and one non-county VISTA to the Patuxent Habitat for Humanity, and

*Motion: To approve and authorize the Com-missioner President to sign the related Memoran-dum of Agreement between the Patuxent Habitat for Humanity and the Board of County Commis-sioners, and

*Motion: To approve and authorize the Com-missioner President to sign the related Sub-recipi-ent Agreement between the Patuxent Habitat for Humanity and the Board of County Commission-ers, and

*Motion: To approve and authorize the Com-missioner President to sign the budget amendment, reflecting the decrease of $22,776 in both revenue and expense, due to the decrease of two cost-share positions.

Motion By: Raley Second: Jarboe

Action: PassedVoting Record:

Francis Jack Russell YesThomas Mattingly YesDaniel Raley YesLawrence Jarboe YesKenneth Dement Yes

�. Dept. of Land Use & Growth Manage-ment (Denis Canavan, Director;

Elaine Kramer, CFO)

Motion: To approve and authorize the Com-missioner President to sign the budget amendment moving $10,000 from the Planning – Consultants and Zoning Administration – Other Contract Ser-

vices Accounts to the Supplemental Reserve Rev-enue and Supplemental Reserve Expense Accounts, to cover the shortfall in state funding projected in FY2009.


Action: PassedVoting Record:Francis Jack Russell YesThomas Mattingly YesDaniel Raley NoLawrence Jarboe YesKenneth Dement Yes

Board of County Commissioners,” said Community Development Manager Val-erie Colvin, adding that recent changes at Walden, including a new policy of cross-training counselors to deal with both domestic violence and substance abuse issues, will help extend existing services and make them more efficient.

“We’re training all of our substance abuse counselors for trauma and our trauma counselors in substance abuse,” said Executive Director Kathleen O’Brien, explaining that the two issues often overlap. “There is a correlation between substance abuse and domestic violence.”

October’s observance will be a time to educate the public about domestic vi-olence as a serious public health issue, say the managers at Walden, who con-cede that the economy is placing a lot more stress on families, which could be leading to more incidences of domestic violence in the community. “As times get tougher the demand for our services will increase,” said O’Brien. “We’ve al-ready seen a dramatic increase.”

As the demand for services peaks, O’Brien said that newer programs at Walden will be integrating services and offering a more streamlined approach to solving community problems. Among the newer initiatives are the development of a fatality review committee, a multi-disciplinary case review committee, and a new lethality assessment program, which has been set up to administer an assessment to domestic violence victims to determine their need for counseling, treatment, and other services.

Assistant Director Gary Lynch de-scribed the fatality assessment as a test that police now administer to victims when responding to domestic distur-bances in the community. If a victim’s risk of fatal injury is high, then police

officers would call a counselor and en-courage the victim to inquire about counseling services for themselves and their family members.

“Since this has started we’ve got-ten about 20 calls a month,” said Lynch. “These are cases that we might have seen, but we might not have. They might not have called about counseling otherwise,” he said, adding that since the program was initiated, 60 percent of test recipi-ents scored at serious risk of being killed or seriously injured by their partner, and of those, 80 percent of the victims who took the assessment have called to talk to counselors. “We’re certainly seeing more since this program started,” Lynch said.

A Day of Unity was first initiated by the National Coalition Against Domes-tic Violence in 1981, the purpose at the time being to connect battered women’s advocates across the country, but it soon grew into a week of activities observed at the state, local, and national levels. The first Domestic Violence Awareness Month was observed in October 1987, and the Day of Unity is still celebrated on the first Monday in October.

Domestic violence itself is described as a pattern of behavior that seeks to es-tablish power over another person in a relationship through fear and intimida-tion, often including the threat or use of violence. Perpetrators are most of-ten men, making the majority (73 per-cent) of victims female. Statistics show that females between the ages of 20 and 24 are at the greatest risk for intimate partner violence, and incidents result in more than 16,000 homicides and over $2.2 million in medically treated inju-ries every year.

The St. Mary’s County Family Vio-lence Coordinating Council encourag-es members of the Southern Maryland Community to speak out against domes-tic violence, and urges those who are in violent or abusive relationships to seek help by calling Walden/Sierra’s 24-hour crisis hotline at 301-863-6661.

WaldenContinued from page A-�

SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,October2,2008Thursday, August 21, 2008 The County Times Section A - �

Alice Mildred Brown, 99

Alice Mildred Brown, 99 of Leonardtown died Aug. 16 in her home.

Born Nov. 9, 1908 in Baltimore, Md., she was the daughter of the late James and Lilly Mae Jackson Rebham.

She was a member of St. George’s Episcopal Church, Valley Lee, and Order of the Eastern Star, Chapter 107, Ju-lia Halla, Hollywood.

Mrs. Brown is survived by two sons, Lloyd E. (Jerry) Brown, Jr. of Leonardtown and Willard Bruce Brown of Terra Alta, W. Va. She is also survived by six grand-children, Julie Brown-Rund, Jeff Brown, Nancy Deal, Wendy Jarda, Judy Graybill and Pheobe Brown, and eight great-grandchildren Clay and Will Rund, Kristen and Josh Brown, Shawn and Bruce Deal, Audrey and Samantha Jarda.

She was predeceased by a daughter Betty Ruth Brown and a brother John B. Fenwick.

Relatives and friends at-tended Mrs. Brown’s Life Celebration in the Brinsfield Funeral Home, Leonardtown Wednesday, Aug. 20 from 5 – 8 p.m. with prayers recited at 7 p.m. A funeral service will be held Thursday, Aug. 21 at 11 a.m. in St. George’s Epis-copal Church, Valley Lee. Reverend Greg Syler, pastor of the church, will officiate. Interment will follow in the church cemetery.

Memorial Contributions may be made to The Mis-sions Endowment Fund or Cemetery and Grounds Fund, c/o St. George’s Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 30, Valley Lee, MD 20692.

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

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

Francis Joseph Brown, Sr., 66

Francis Joseph Brown, Sr., 66, passed away in his home in Indian Trail, N.C. Aug. 12.

Mr. Brown was born July 1, 1942 in Leonardtown, son of the late Mary Edna Brown Norris.

Mr. Brown is survived by his wife Jacqueline Mer-cer Brown; a son Francis J. Brown, Jr. and his wife Shelia of Stanfield, N.C.; a daughter Jennifer Lynn Brown of Indi-an Trail, N.C. and two grand-daughters Christianna Page and Allyson Grace Brown.

The family received friends Sunday, Aug. 17 from 2 – 5 p.m. in the Matting-ley-Gardiner Funeral Home, where Prayers were said at 3 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Mon-day, Aug. 18 at 9:30 a.m. in St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church with Fr. John Mat-tingly officiating. Interment followed in Charles Memo-rial Gardens.

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

Luis Antonia Castillo, 70

Luis Antonia Castillo, 70, of Leonardtown died Aug. 16 in St. Mary’s Nursing Center, Leonardtown.

Born Sept. 20, 1937 in Puerto Rico, he was the son of the late Luis Antonia and Elsa Monserrate Morales Castillo.

Luis is survived by three sisters, M. Elaine Ohler of Millsboro, Del., Evelyn Cas-tillo of Chestertown, Md. and Elsie Collins of Las Vegas, Nev. He is also survived by several nieces and nephews.

Family received friends Wednesday, Aug. 20 from 11 a.m. – noon in the Brinsfield Funeral Home, Leonardtown, with prayers recited at noon. Deacon George L’Heureux officiated. Graveside service followed at 2 p.m. at Cedar Hill Cemetery, Suitland, Md.

Memorial Contributions may be made to the St. Mary’s Nursing Center Foundation, Inc.,

21585 Peabody Street, Leonardtown, MD 20650.



Lloyd Raymond Harris, 97

Lloyd Raymond Har-ris, 97, died peacefully Aug. 12 in the St. Mary’s Nursing Center.

Mr. Harris was a longtime resident of St. Mary’s County. He was born in Gallatin, Mo. June 13, 1911 to the late How-ard May Harris and Frankie Lee Jackson. He married his beloved wife of 59 years, Mary Catherine “Sis” Nelson at the Washington Cathedral in Washington D.C. Sept. 2, 1939. She preceded him in death in 1998. He was also preceded in death in 1998 by his beloved sister Margaret Harris.

Mr. Harris served in the United States Army as an As-sistant Chaplain. Following his army service he was em-ployed in Washington, D.C. by the Federal Government for many years before retir-ing. He then worked in the tax department for the State of Maryland and retired in 1971. During his retirement, he and his wife enjoyed trav-eling throughout the United States.

He enjoyed playing cards, dancing and buying new cars. Ray loved life and most of all he enjoyed helping others while expecting nothing in return. He was devoted in the care of his wife and sister un-til their death.

The family received friends in the Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home, P.A., Leonardtown, Friday, Aug. 15 from 9 – 10 a.m. with a funer-al service that followed at 10 a.m. officiated by Rev. Keith Schukraft. Interment followed at Charles Memorial Gardens in Leonardtown. Pallbearers were Frank Nelson, Donnie Bowles, Fred Nelson, Harry Nelson, Jr., Michael Russell and Roy Copsey.

Contributions may be made to American Heart Association, 415 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201-4101.


Valorie Anne Henry, 48

Valorie Anne Henry, 48, of Mechanicsville, formerly of Grandview, Mo., died Aug. 17, in Lexington Park.

Born Oct. 31, 1959 in Lincoln, Neb. she was the daughter of James Ray Dick-inson of Mouldrow, Okla. and Hortense Anne Campbell Crawford of Grandview, Mo. She was the loving wife of Earl Allan Henry, whom she married July 16, 1986 in War-rensburg, Mo.

She is survived by her son Earl Ian Henry.

Mrs. Henry gradu-ated from Grandview High School’s Class of 1977. She moved to St. Mary’s County in October 1988 from Wal-dorf, Md.

The family will receive friends Saturday, Aug. 23 from 10 – 11 a.m. in Patux-ent River Assembly of God Church, California, where a Funeral Service will be held at 11 a.m. with Pastor Lanny Clark officiating. Interment will be held Wednesday, Aug. 27 at 10 a.m. in Maryland Veteran’s Cemetery, Chelten-ham, Md.

Contributions may be made to Hospice if St. Mary’s, P.O. Box 625, Leonardtown, MD 20650.


Karen A. McEntyre, 51

Karen A. McEntyre, 51 of Lexington Park, formerly of Plano, Texas, died Aug. 13 in Washington Hospital Center.

Born Feb. 24, 1957 in Sweetwater, Texas she was the daughter of Carold and Mary Aleese Benson of Pla-no, Texas.

She is also survived by her children Jeremy Porter of Snyder, Texas, Jonathan Porter of Plano, Texas, Angie Porter, Sheila Horton and Ma-rissa Horton, all of Lexington Park as well as her brother Victor Benson of Plano, Texas and three grandchildren.

Karen was employed as a registered nurse.

All services are private. Arrangements provided

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

Timothy Brian McGrath, 50

Timothy Brian McGrath, 50, of Lexington Park died Aug. 11 in St. Mary’s Hospi-tal, Leonardtown.

Born June 14, 1958 in Freeport, Ill., he was the son of Patricia (Chambers) Mc-Grath of Mesa, Ariz. and the late Charles McGrath.

Timothy attended La-salle-Peru High School in La-salle, Ill. where he graduated in 1976. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1976 until 1999. After his service in the Navy, Timothy was employed by a Government Contractor and worked at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station. He was an Elks Lodge member and a past member of the Lexing-ton Park Volunteer Rescue

Squad. In addition to his mother,

Timothy is survived by his wife Debra Kay (Houtz) Mc-Grath, his son, Sean Patrick McGrath of Lexington Park, his sister, Karen McGrath of Mesa, Ariz. and his brother, Michael McGrath of Ill.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, Aug. 23 at 10 a.m. at the Bay District Volunteer Fire Department, Lexington Park.



Patrick Connor Miller 2

Patrick Connor Mill-er 2, of Avenue died Aug. 12 in St. Mary’s Hospital, Leonardtown.

Connor was born Oct. 11, 2005 in Anne Arundel Medi-cal Center, Annapolis, Md., the son of James L. Miller and Krystal Kaldenbach of Avenue.

He is survived by two sis-ters, Lillian and Kayla Miller, a brother Kyle Miller, his pa-ternal grandparents James L. and Darlene Oliver Miller of Chaptico, maternal grandpar-ents, Eugene Kaldenbach of Harrimon, Tenn., and Debra Adams Kaldenbach of Win-chester, Ky.; great-grandpar-ents Francis and Audrey Oli-ver of Chaptico and

G reat-g rand mother s Mary Lou Adams of Waldorf, Md. and Shirley Miller of Newburg, Md.

The family received friends for Connor’s Life Celebration Sunday, Aug. 17 from 3 – 4 p.m. in the Brins-field Funeral Home, Leonard-town, with a funeral service at 4 p.m. Interment was private.



Mary Aleathea Redmond, 84

Mary Aleathea Redmond, 84, of Leonardtown died Aug. 16 in St. Mary’s Hospital.

Born April 18, 1924 in Mechanicsville she was the daughter of Clarence Leo Ev-ans and Gertrude M. (Pilker-ton) Evans.

Aleathea graduated from Margaret Brent High School in 1941. She worked from 1961 to 1971 as a secretary/re-ceptionist for St. Mary’s Col-lege. She enjoyed cooking, croqueting, playing cards, gardening, and sewing; often making clothing for her and her daughter.

She is preceded in death by husband James Franklin

Redmond, whom she mar-ried March 4, 1945 at the Im-maculate Conception Catholic Church in Mechanicville. She is survived by her beloved chil-dren Gayle A. Hancock and her husband William of Fair-fax, Va., and James “Frank” Redmond and his wife Wanda of Fredericksburg, Va. She is also survived by three grand-children, Jeffery A. Hancock and his wife Jennifer of Fair-fax, Va., Mark D. Redmond and his wife Tanya of Fred-ericksburg, Va., Jason P. Red-mond of Fredericksburg; and four great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her sister Agnes Rice.

Family received friends Wednesday, Aug. 20 from 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. in the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A., Leonar-dtown. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated 11 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 20 at St. Aloysius Catholic Church, Leonardtown, with Rev. John Dakes officiating. Interment followed in Charles Memorial Gardens, Leonardtown.

Serving, as pallbearers were Mark Redmond, Jason Redmond, Jeffery Hancock, Bill Hancock, Lawrence Pilk-erton, and Arthur Pilkerton. Honorary pallbearer was Earl Dean.

Memorial contribution can be made to the Ridge Volunteer Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 456, Ridge, MD 20680.



Louis Marshall “Junior” Thompson, Jr., 84

Louis Marshall “Junior” Thompson, Jr., 84, of Avenue died Aug. 4 in his residence.

He was born July 20, 1924 in Dynard to the late Louis Marshall and Catherine Elea-nor Harris Thompson Sr.

He was the loving hus-band of Rose Lee Thompson whom he married July 26, 1942 in Sacred Heart Church, Bushwood. He is also sur-vived by his children, Mar-garet Taylor and her husband George of Hollywood, Buddy Thompson and his wife Deb-bie of Avenue, Benny Thomp-son and his wife Mary of

Morganza, Donnie Thompson and his wife Debbie of Me-chanicsville and Rose Mary George and her husband John of Avenue; 16 grandchildren, 44 great-grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and his sisters Mary Ozella Lacey of Abell, Gertrude Osborne of King George, Va. and Susan Vallandingham of Bushwood.

He was preceded in death by one great-grandchild and his sisters Catherine Hall and Louise Bryant.

A lifelong resident of St. Mary’s County, Junior was a self-employed waterman. While enlisted in the U.S. Army from Oct. 19, 1944 to Nov. 19, 1945, he served as a rifleman, a light machine gunner and a cook.

He belonged to the Knights of Columbus and en-joyed playing cards and being with his family and his two special buddies Maynard and Ringo.

The family received friends in the Mattingley-Gar-diner Funeral Home Thursday, Aug. 7 from 5 – 8 p.m. with prayers being said at 7 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Friday, Aug. 8 at 9:30 a.m. in Holy Angels Cath-olic Church, Avenue, with Fr. William Gurnee officiating. Interment followed in Sacred Heart Cemetery, Bushwood. Pallbearers were Johnny George, Jereme George, Tina Fay Ferguson, Dave Hodg-es, Matthew Thompson and Donnie Thompson. Honorary pallbearers were his grand-children, nieces and nephews.

Contributions may be made to Holy Angels Sacred Heart School, 21335 Colton’s Point Road, Avenue, MD 20609, Seventh District Vol-unteer Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 7, Avenue, MD 20609 and/or Hospice of St. Mary’s, P.O. Box 625, Leonardtown, MD 20650.


Evelyn Tillotson Woods, 86

Evelyn Tillotson Woods, 86, of California died Aug. 14 in St. Mary’s Nursing Center, Leonardtown.

Born Dec. 18, 1921 in LeMoyne, Pa., she was the daughter of the late George C. Tillotson and Eva (Dowhow-er) Tillotson. Evelyn was an avid Pittsburgh Steelers fan.

Evelyn is survived by her daughters, Christine W. Moore of Chesapeake Beach, Md. and Deborah J. Standish of California, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

All services are private. Condolences to the fam-

ily may be made at www.brinsfieldfuneral.com.


Obituaries

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DhirajlalNathalalContractor,7�

DhirajlalNathalalCon-tractor,76,LexingtonPark,MarylanddiedathishomeonSeptember27,2008.

Born January 30, 1932inNadiad,IndiahewasthesonofthelateNathalalAr-junlal and Maneckbai Na-thalal Contractor his wifePaigeEllen died inFebru-ary2002.

Mr. Contractor was agraduate of the UniversityofWichita inKansaswitha double major in Aero-nautical Engineering andIndustrial Engineering.After graduation, he wenttoworkfortheDepartmentof Navy as an Aeronauti-cal Engineer retiring in1997 from the Naval AirWarfareCenteratPatuxentRiver,Maryland.

He is survived by adaughter Suman DianaKaba and a son Drew J.Contractor both of Oden-ton,MD;onesister,SumanWilson Christian and onegrandsonIanKaba.Inad-dition to his parents andwife, Mr. Contractor waspreceded in death by twosisters; Gunvanti SalamatSingh, Sarojini RameshDoctor and two brothers;Wilson Nathalal Contrac-tor and Shantilal NathalalContractor.

Relatives and friendswereinvitedtoD.N.“Deno”Contractor’s Life Celebra-tiononFriday,October17,2008 from 6 to 8:00 p.m.in the Brinsfield FuneralHome, 22955 HollywoodRoad,Leonardtown,MD

Condolences to thefamily may be made atwww.br insf ieldfuneral .com.

Arrangements by theBrinsfield Funeral Home,P.A.,Leonardtown,MD

LoriLouiseChesserCromwell,48

Lori Louise ChesserCromwell, 48 of GreatMills passed away Sept.24.

Lori was the wife ofNickolas Cromwell, andthe daughter of Ralph andLoisChesserofFlorida.

Lori attended TownCreek Elementary, Es-peranza Middle, and St.Mary’s Academy HighSchool. She then wenton to Towson University,whereshegraduatedwithaBachelorofArtsdegreeinaccounting.Loriworkedinher father’s Seven Eleven

untilshewasabletomakeherownwayandfranchiseher own Seven Eleven,eventually owning a sec-ondstoreforseveralyears.She had over three and ahalf decades of service inthefranchise.

Lori was a loving, en-dearing wife and motherwho loved sports of allkinds. A year didn’t passwhenshewasn’tseenattheRedskinsfootballgamesorNASCAR races. She alsoattended countless sport-ingeventsofher children,ChrisandMary.Sheservedasaboardmember for theSouthernMarylandAthlet-ic Little League (SMALL)whilehersonChrisplayedbaseball for many years.Lori was a true nurturer,always thinking of every-oneelse’sneedsbeforeherown.

Lori loved travelingwithherhusbandandchil-dren to the Caribbean is-lands, including cruisesandtripstoJamaica,Mex-ico,Bahamas,and theU.SVirginIslands.Sheenjoyedrelaxingwithherfamilyinher vacation home in theDeep Creek Lake area ofWestern Maryland. Shelovedwatchingmoviesandherfavoritesitcoms,whilespendingqualitytimewithherfamily.

Shewasthelovingandcaring mother of HilaryHartenstein of LexingtonPark, Christopher Spakand Mary Spak of GreatMills,stepmothertoThom-as Cromwell and TaylorCromwell of Brooksville,Fla., and sister of StephenChesser of Cape Coral,Fla.

Lori’s Life celebrationwas held Sept. 30 in theBrinsfield Funeral Home,Leonardtown. A FuneralServicewasconductedOct.1at10a.m.inthePatuxentPresbyterianChurch,Cali-fornia,Md.withReverendMikeJonesofficiating.In-termentwasprivate.

In lieu of f lowers Me-morial contributions maybemade to an account es-tablished for the childrenofLoriCromwellincareofMarylandBankandTrust,P.O. Box 340, LexingtonPark,MD20653.

Condolences to thefamily may be made atwww.br insf ieldfuneral .com.

Arrangementsprovidedby the Brinsfield FuneralHome,P.A.,Leonardtown.

JosephClarenceEv-ans,Jr.,�4

JosephClarenceEvans,Jr.(Kingfish,PopPop)wasborn Feb. 26, 1944, to thelate Joseph Clarence Ev-ans,Sr.andSarahTurner.

HedepartedhisearthlyhomeSept.21inSt.Mary’sHospital.

Kingfish receivedhis education through St.Mary’s County’s PublicSchools. Kingfish retiredin 2005 after being em-ployedattheHarryLunde-bergSchoolofSeamanshipin Piney Point for over 25years. He enjoyed huntingandrabbithunting,fishing,going to dog meets andplaying cards. He thoughthisfourbeagles(CryBaby,Jack, Banjo and Snoop)were the best of rabbitdogs.

During his young-er years, he spent manynights at Budds CreekRaceway watching race-carswithMaryRose,Pamand Toeno. His favoritecarwasa63ChevycalledtheCalvertShaker.Hees-pecially enjoyed spendingtime with his family andfriends. His pastime wasgoing to Medley’s Garagein Loveville and everySunday at Burchmart inLeonardtown to shoot thebreezewithhisfriends.

Kingfish had his waysabouthim–youneveraskeda question if youwere notready to hear the answer;hewould tell it like itwasanddidn’tcareifyoulikeditornot.Thatwashim.Tooursurprise,Kingfishhadpicked his own pallbear-ers with a memo that hedid through his job backin1997;hewantedhisco-workerstocarryhimtohisrestingplace.

To cherish his memo-ries, Kingfish leaves hislifetimecompanionof40+years, Mary Rose Young;one brother George M.Somerville,Sr.(Ruth);onedaughter Pam Savoy (Sil-vester); three granddaugh-ters, Tiara Baker, LatriceBlackwell and SamalaSavoy; one aunt, MarieYoung;hisniecesDeborahSomerville and BarbaraSomerville; his nephews,GeorgeSomerville,Jr.andClarence Somerville; hisgreat nephew, Ian Somer-ville; and a host of familyandfriends.

He was preceded indeathbyhisparentsandsonGeorge(Toeno)Young.

The family receivedfriends Sept. 28 from 2–5p.m.intheMattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home,with Prayers being said at3 p.m. A Mass of Chris-tian Burial was held Sept.29 at 10 a.m. inSt. John’sCatholic Church, Holly-wood, with Fr. RaymondSchmidt officiating. Inter-ment followed in CharlesMemorial Gardens, Leon-ardtown. Pallbearers wereSam Spalding, Jr., DavidHammett,MickeyHayden,TommySwann,StevePrattandFreddieKnott.Honor-

arypallbearerswereDavidKane,HerbertTaylor,JohnTaylor,MarkMedley,Clar-ence Miles, Joseph ClarkandRobertShort.

Arrangements provid-ed by the Mattingley-Gar-dinerFuneralHome,P.A.

DouglasV.Johnson,75

DouglasV.Johnson,ofElktonwenttobewiththeLord Sept. 11, surroundedby his loving family andfriends.Hewas75.

Born in Gainesboro,Tenn., he was the son ofthe late Virgil and Lucille(Henson) Johnson. Heserved in the U.S. ArmyduringtheKoreanWarandretiredafter21years.

Douglas is survivedby his wife of 53 years,Brigette Johnson; a sonRalf Johnson, of Holly-wood,Md;fourgrandchil-dren, Benjamin, Rebecca,Ryan and Regan; a greatgrandson; Kaleb, five sis-ters,JoannKirbyofElkton,MargariteSullivan,EuniceBilbrey, Lois Young, andJoy Wallace. He was alsoprecededindeathbysisterBobbie Cowen and Willo-deanAllen,ofTenn.

Funeral services forMr. Johnson and his sonRaymond, who passedawayAug. 17,will be pri-vate at Harford MemorialGardens.

Online condolencesmay be made at www.tar-ringcargo.com

Arrangements entrust-edtothefamilyownedTar-ring-Cargo Funeral Home,P.A.ofAberdeen.

WilliamLucas“Will”Smith,Jr.,19

William Lucas “Will”Smith,Jr.,19,ofScotland,Md.,diedSept.21 inUni-versity of MassachusettsMedicalCenter,Worcester,Mass.

William Lucas Smith,

Jr. was born to William“Will” Lucas Smith, Sr.and Jeanne Marie (Mul-hall)SmithJan.4,1989inPatuxentRiver.

WilliamattendedRidgeElementarySchool,SpringRidge Middle School andGreat Mills High School.After graduating fromGreat Mills High School,Williamdecidedtocontinuehis education at West Vir-ginia Tech University andlater transferred toBeckerCollege in Massachusetts,whereheplannedtomajorinSportsManagement.

Williamwasanall-starathlete and loved playingsports. William’s favor-ite sport was basketball.When you feel the windblowing,itisWilliamplay-ing one-on-one with theHeavenlyBasketballTeam.William was a memberof the Great Mills Schoolbasketball, football andbaseballteams.Heenjoyedplayingbasketball,footballandspendingtimewithhisfamily and friends. Wil-liam was a member of St.Luke United MethodistChurch. William will bedeeply missed because oftheloveandsupportthathesharedwithallhemet,andwillberememberedforhissmilegenuineloveforlife,laughterandfriendship.

Williamleavestocher-ishhismemoryhislovingparents William and Jean-nie Smith, and his brotherTimothy Smith; grandpar-ents,GuffrieSmith,Sr.andParthenia Smith of Scot-land, Md., John and Es-telleMulhallofCleveland,Ohio.Healsoleavestwen-ty-seven aunts and uncles;TimothyMulhall (Sandra),Maureen Voyticky (Ken-neth), Margaret Walters(Jerry), Patricia Hansady(Michael), Kevin Mulhall(Mary), Thomas Mulhall,Michael Mulhall, (Cath-erine) Patrick Mulhall(Laurie),DennisMulhall (Victoria), Kathleen Gore-ntz (Robert) all of Cleve-land Ohio; Guffrie Smith,Jr. (Casey) of St. Leon-ard, Md.; Marva Johnson(Reno)ofUpperMarlboro,Md.; Zerita Shade of St.Inigoes; Alberta Smith ofForestville;OrlandoSmith(Donna)ofLexington,Ky.;BeulahBarnesofScotland,Md.;EugeneSmith(Joyce)of Dale City, Va.; DesireeBerry (Paul) andRamonaSmith both of Scotland,Md.; Holly Powell (Larry)of Glenarden, Md.; AaronSmith(Gloria)ofScotland,Md.;WendyMorton(Terry)and Vivian Smith of Lex-ingtonPark;ShayneSmith,and Cindy Smith, and onebrother-in-lawRobertBen-nett (Mae)allofScotland,Md.,andahostofcousinsandfriends.

William was prede-ceased by his aunt MaeHelen Bennett, his cousinPaul“June”Johnsonandaclosefriendandbrother-in-lawWilliamShade,Jr.

Familyreceivedfriends

Sept.27from8:30–11a.m.inSt.PeterClaverCatholicChurch, St. Inigoes. A fu-neralservicewasheldat11a.m. with Reverend LeroyBoldleypastorofSt.Luke’sUnited Methodist Churchofficiating. Interment fol-lowedinSt.Luke’sUnitedMethodistCemetery,Scot-land,Md.

Memorialcontributionsmaybemadetoanaccountestablished for TimothyM.Smith incareofCedarPoint Credit Union, 22745Maple Road, LexingtonPark,MD20653

Condolencestothefam-ily may be made at www.brinfieldfuneral.com.

Arrangements by theBrinsfield Funeral Home,P.A.,Leonardtown.

JosephMichaelTrick-ett,�2

Joseph Michael Trick-ett, 62 of LexingtonPark died Sept. 25 in hisresidence.

BornSept. 10,1946 inCallaway, he was the sonofWilsonandVerdaBullerTrickett.

Mr. Trickett was theowner/operator of a PestControlCompany.

He is survived by hiswife, Anna Trickett ofLexington Park; son Wil-liam Flarida of LexingtonPark; siblings; LorrineBakerofPuntaGorda,Fla.,Joan Nussberger of Holly-wood, Md., Ruth DamarrofMechanicsville,FrancesBrewer of Sugar Valley,Ga.,ReginaKnott ofLex-ingtonPark,WayneSheetsof La Plata and RodgerCliffordofJackson,Tenn.

He was preceded indeathbyasisterBettyLouKnott.

A Memorial ServicewasheldSept.29at7p.m.in the Brinsfield FuneralHome with Reverend Jo-seph Dobson officiating.Inurnmentwasprivate.

Inlieuoff lowersMe-morial Contributions maybe made to the AmericanCancerSociety

St.Mary’sCountyUnit-350, P.O. Box 1032, Lex-ingtonPark,MD20653

Condolences to thefamily may be made atwww.br insf ieldfuneral .com

Arrangementsprovidedby the Brinsfield FuneralHome,P.A.,Leonardtown.


Port Tobacco Players Bring Stylish Screams to the Stage

The Family That Preys

The WomenEagle Eye

Shows and Rating Provided By Yahoo Entertainment. Check Local Listings For Show Times.

AMC Loews Lexington Park 6

Eagle Eye Rated PG-13, 1 hr 58 min

Showtimes: 4:10, 7:00

Lakeview Terrace Rated PG-13, 1 hr 50 min


My Best Friend s Girl Rated R, 1 hr 41 min


Righteous Kill Rated R, 1 hr 41 min


Tropic Thunder Rated R, 1 hr 47 min


Tyler Perry s The Fam-ily That Preys

Rated PG-13, 1 hr 51 minShowtimes: 4:20, 7:15


ThoseinterestedingettingintothespiritofHalloweenmight

want to consider checking out thePortTobaccoPlayers’ latestproduction,Dracula:TheCaseoftheSilverScream,acleverandstylishadaptationofBramStoker’sclassicnovel.

The play itself is done in the style of film noir, characterized bystarkcontrastsofblackandwhite,low-keylighting,andeerievisuals.Itisastylethatlendsitselfperfectlytohorrorandcrimestories,whichhavebeenblendedseamlesslyinthisproduction.

Early noir filmmakers like Karl Freund and Fritz Lang,popularized both the gritty and the romantic in the 1930s, when filmgoers became obsessed with the darker side of fiction. In the 1940s, when this play is set, Americans in particular became obsessedwithdetectivestoriesasnoirentereditsclassicperiodwith movies like the Maltese Falcon and Murder, My Sweet.

Thisproductiongivesaheavynodtoclassicnoirhere,withits chief character being Detective Abe Van Helsing, a private eye who climbs into a whisky bottle every night after his wife dies. A damselindistressappearsintheformofHollywoodstarletLucyMurray,whowantstohirethedetectivetoinvestigateaseriesofmurders.Shehasrecentlyarrivedintinseltowntoreplacethemissingleadactresswhoturnsupdead,drainedofblood,whichmakesLucyfearforherlife.

Lucy’s ex-boyfriend is Jonathan Harker, director of a finan-cially struggling horror film currently shooting on location at WhitbyHillSanitarium.Headshrink,Dr.Sewardsuggeststhathe may have a potential lead on a financial backer for the film, themysteriousnewneighborlivingintheestateacrossthestreet,CountDracula.

Whatfollowsisawildrideofclassicliterarycharactersre-vampedandservedwithatwistofviolence,blood,gore,andgun-fire that is not for the faint of heart. Smoking and fog machines are

usedonstage,andtherearestrobelighteffects,thoughaudiencememberscanrestassuredthattherewillnotbecreepycharactersjumpingfromtheaislesat them,norwill therebeprofanityornudity.InthiscasethefamousHaysproductioncodestillseemstoapplyhere,givingtheplayawonderfullyquaintqualitythatnods to two eras of storytelling, the first being Bram Stoker’s, the second being the 1940s and 50s, during which directors and pro-ducershadtocomeupwithcreativeloopholestocensorshiplawsin order to have their films released.

The Port Tobacco Players will run the play Fridays, Satur-days,andSundaysattheirlocationonCharlesStreetinLaPlatafrom Sept. 26 to Oct. 12. For reservations, call 301-932-6819 or go onlineatwww.ptplayers.com.

Olde Town Pub has a relaxing atmosphere with a lounge, 4 widescreen TV’s, tasty menu, and

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toapartnershipbetweenthetwoschoolsseemednatural.As an experiment to see how a partnership might work out,

Oliver,andheryoungdaughterCassie,setoutonatriptoMilanwhereherdaughterspentaweekinSanCarloclasses.

“She was terrified,” Oliver said. “But I said you’re going to dothis…anditwasanawesomeexperienceforCassie.

“Bytheendoftheweekshewasastar,kidswouldcallouther name at San Carlo.”

Bysummertime,teachersfromSanCarlohadtraveledtotheUniversityofMarylandatCollegeParkaspartofaprogramtoencouragetheuseoftheartsineverydayclassroomteaching.

TheteachersmadetripsalloverMaryland,includingstopshereinHollywood,andevenlearnedhowtoincorporateenvi-ronmentalscienceandtheartstoimprovetheirlessonplans.

Thismonth,Oliversaid,twoteachersfromtheSanCarloSchoolwillcometoSt.Mary’sCountyaspartoftheexchangeprogram.

Onewillbeamiddleschoolmathteacherwhowillbringherownsixthgradesonaspartoftheprogram,whiletheotherwillteachintheelementaryschoolgrades.

WhatwasOliver’spassionforstartingallofthis?“What struck me is realizing even though were miles apart,

we have a lot in common with educators around the world,” Oli-ver,whoisalsoapublicschoolteacheratLettieDentElemen-

tarySchool,said.“Iwantedkidstoseethatwearepartofonebig global community.”

PatriciaSuit, principal at St. John’sSchool, said the newpartnershipwouldhelpgiveherstudentsthechancetohaveawindowontheworld.

“Wewanttohelpgivestudentsarespectforwhatothercul-tureshavetooffer,andtoshowhowinterdependentweareasaworld,” Suit told The County Times.

Though this is “uncharted territory” for a local school that hasstayedclosetoitsrootsfordecades,Suitsaid,thepartner-ship will help broaden students horizons early in life.

“Weweretryingtothinkwhatwecouldofferourkidsasauniquelifeexperience…asbeingaSt.John’sstudentprepar-ing for the world,” Suit said of the school’s choice to get be-hindtheplan.“Becausethiswasasmallthingandnowitisn’tanymore.”

While the exchange program gets underway, which by April orMayofnextyearmayentailteachersfromSt.John’saswellasstudentsandparentstravelingtoMilan,studentscanstillgetatasteofItalyhere.

An afterschool program of almost 40 students recently startedup,Oliversaid,fundedbyagrantfromtheNationalItal-ian American Foundation.

Thiswillallowchildren topick-upa foreign languageaswellaslearnaboutthecountry’sculturalaspects.

“We’re going full force with this,” Oliver said, adding that the son of the soon-to-be-arriving mathematics teacher willprobablyfacethesamejittersastheonesherdaughterhad.

“It’ll be like a sink-or-swim situation, but I know he’ll swim,” Oliver said. “He’ll feel so thankful he had the opportunity.”

St. John’sContinued from page A-�

ty ranked first at the eighth gradelevel.

“Curriculum units havebeen designed that arealigned with the ScienceVoluntary State Curriculum ensuring that studentsmas-tertheindicatorsandobjec-tives of the state standards,” said Chief Academic Offi-cerLindaDudderar. “Datafrom county assessmentsis collected, analyzed, and used to design instructionthatensuresthatallstudentsare prepared to be success-fulontheMarylandScienceAssessment.”

“BeingasmallercountyI think we did really well,” said Wortman, echoingDudderar’s statement withconfirmation that quarterly assessments administered

bythecountyschoolsystemhad served as a model forthescienceassessmentlongbefore it was administeredbythestate.“Quarterlyas-sessmentsofferinsightsintoknowledge gaps, and helpus set goals,” she said, add-ing that teachers are alsobeing offered professionaldevelopment throughouttheschoolyeartohelpthemteachnewunitsandinstruc-tionalstrategies.

“Iamextremelypleasedwith the results,” said Wort-man. “Administrators and teachers are working veryhard to ensure the successof our students in science.Strong science instructionis vital to the future of ournation, its defense, and itsplace in the world.”

Science AssessmentContinued from page A-�

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currentlygripsthepublic’sin-terest aswell as their pocketbooks,andhowtheWallStreetbailout congress is consider-ing passing to buy up rotteninvestment bank mortgagesand other securities does ac-complishacertainmission.

“We’ve got an economythat’s based on debt and in-creasing [that] debt,” Collinssaid, adding that if the goalwas to prop up that level ofdebttokeeptheeconomygo-ing then the bailout packagewasagoodplan.

However,Baileysaid,theanswertothenation’smoneywoesliesinpartwith“soundmoney”andheillustratedthatpointwiththeexperiencesofhisgrandfatheruptothepointin1971whenthecountryleftthegoldstandardasabench-markforvaluingthedollar.

“Up to that point theprices he experienced upto my lifetime hadn’t re-ally changed that much,”Bailey said, adding that thenation needed to return to“money thatholds itsvalue.”Bailey told the students thatthe dollar had lost about 40percent of its value throughinflation through the past decade.

Education costs havespiraled aswell,Bailey said,answeringonestudent’sques-tion about his opposition fortheNoChildLeftBehindActof 2001, which posits strictaccountability for a student’sabilitytoreadandcomputeinthe grades up to high schoolby2014.

Thisyear’sfederalbudget,Bailey said, had nearly $100billion in education funding,whichtranslatedintoroughly$18,000expendedperstudent.

If Charles Countytried to do that, hesaid, it would costtheschoolboard$50million.

The county isset to receive just a fractionofthatthisyearforeducationfromthefederalgovernment,hetoldthestudents.

“No Child Left Behindhasbroughtstandardsdown,”Bailey argued. “It’s a topdown centralized approachthatdidn’twork inRussia, itdidn’t work in China and itwon’tworkhere.”

Bailey said he wouldabolishNoChildLeftBehindinfavoroftakingthatrevenueandgivingittolocalandstateauthorities who would betterknowhowtospendit.

Acts like No Child LeftBehind,alongwithotherfed-eral government programsthatputpressureonlocalsys-tems,isaformofoppression,Bailey said, and reduced thecontentsofthewalletaswellasfreedoms.

“Government placed tohighhasthepotentialfortyr-anny,”Baileysaid.“Butitalsohas the potential for fraud,wasteandabuse.”

Though a registered Re-publican, Bailey declinedto answer student questionsabout which candidate hewouldsupportfortheupcom-ingNov.4presidentialballot.

“Of the six candidatesout there (four are from par-tiesother thanRepublicanorDemocrat) I could say therearethingsthataregoodaboutallsixandthatarebadaboutallsix,”Baileysaid.

ButBailey,whowasavo-cal supporterofTexas repre-sentativeRonPaulinthepri-maries,hadnoqualmsaboutscolding his party for theirlack of fiscal responsibility in WashingtonD.C.upto2006.

“The first six years of this

decade the Republicans [fiscal responsibility] has been hor-rible,” Bailey said. “Thingslike fiscal responsibility and thenationaldebtaren’tliberalorconservativeissues,they’reAmericanissues.”

JenniferYogi,aseniorpo-liticalscienceandphilosophymajor, said she differedwithBailey’s core philosophy, butwashappytohearfromanewfaceonthepoliticalcongres-sionalscene.

“He’s advocating a morelocal [power-centered] ap-proach…butI thinkthefed-eral government’s role is toensure there’s no local dis-criminationwhendistributingaid,” Yogi told The CountyTimes. “But there’s definitely roomforwhathe’ssaying.”

BaileyContinued from page A-�

andseriouscurbsingovernmentspending.GOP leaders also say their slots plan is

betterthantheconstitutionalamendmentGov.Martin O’Malley’s administration proposesthat would bring 15,000 machines to five lo-cationsinMaryland.AlocalopponenttotheGOPmeasure,however,saysrevenuestothestatewilldecreaseovertime.

StateresidentswillhaveachancetovoteontheslotsreferendumNov.4.

O’Donnell, who supports bringing slotstoMaryland,hascriticizedtheO’Malleyplanbecausehebelieves itgives licensesforslotsawaytoocheaply.

“It’s giving these licenses away for pen-niesonthedollar,”O’DonnelltoldTheCountyTimes.“I’minfavorofslotsbuttheconstitu-tionalamendmentisabaddealforthestateofMaryland.”

O’Donnell said that the GOP slots planwouldbringin$850millioninupfrontlicens-ingfees,almostninetimeswhattheO’Malleyplanwouldbringin.

The Republican budget plan would alsoslash corporate as well as sales taxes to thetuneof$3.8billionintaxrelief.

GOPleadersmaintainthattheplanwouldbe able to rid the state of its structural deficit andbringinasurplus.

Last month the O’Malley administrationcameoutwithstatementsdollingoutmorebadnews on the state’s economy. The first notice saidthattheBoardofRevenueexpectedbud-get shortfalls for this fiscal year and 2010 to the tuneofabout$1billion.

O’Malley’s statement said the state hadmoved to cut $1.8 billion in program spend-ingandeliminatedsome700stategovernmentpositionsinthelasttwoyears,butinthesamebreathmentionedthattheslotsreferendumwasfastapproachingand,ifpassed,wouldprovide$650millionforeducation.

Just two weeks later, O’Malley’s secondstatementsaidhisadministrationwasworkingtoscopeout“hundredsofmillionsofdollars”inbudgetcutstobringbeforetheBoardofPub-licWorks,whichapprovespublicconstructionprojects,aswellastellingdepartmentstopushforupwardsof5percentcutsintheirbudgets.

“Themorereductionswemakenow, thebetteroffwewillbeindealingwithanextraor-dinarily difficult budget next year,” O’Malley

said inhis statement. “While these cutswillnotbeeasy,itisclearthattheeconomiccrisisthatournationisexperiencingwillhaveadra-maticimpactonnextyear’sbudget.”

O’Donnellsaidthatthegovernorwas“dis-ingenuous” in implying thatslotswouldhelpsolvethestate’sbudgetwoesandscoldedhisadministrationforpushingforasalestaxhikeinlastyear’sspeciallegislativesessionjustasthenationalandstateeconomieswerestartingtoteeter.

Del. John Wood (D-Dist. 29A) said nei-therslotsnortaxcutswouldhelpMaryland’sstruggling economy without curbing statespending.

“We’vegotabudgetshortfalltoaddress,”Woodsaid.“We’vegottomakesomecuts.

“Ithastobedoneandwe’renotdoingit.”Eveniftheslotsreferendumpasses,Wood

said,mostofthemoneywouldhavetogotothegeneral fund just topaydown thestate’sdeficits.

Themoneythestateraisedfromthepre-vioussales taxhikedid little toassuage thatproblem,Woodsaid.

“Before we left town we spent $1.4 bil-lion in programs and that didn’t address thestructural deficit,” Wood told The County Times.“Therevenuesaren’tkeepingupwithspending.”

WoodsaidhedidnotbelieveRepublicanplans to call for more tax breaks would getmuch traction in the StateHousewhen theyreconveneinJanuary.

“All that would do is make the deficit worse,”Woodsaid.

Del. John Bohanan (D-Dist. 29B) sup-portedbothoftheO’Malleyplans,addingthatthe latestGOPbudgetplan smackedof theireffortstostopthesalestaxhike.

“Itisbasicallytrottingoutthesameplanthey floated last year that failed to gain trac-tion,” Bohanan said. “There are no specific cuts; it’saplanthatdoesn’thavealotofdetails.”

On the Republican slots plan, Bohanansaid that it meant “cashing in now, but overthe long term it provides less revenue to thestate.”

Bohanan said that, fiscally, Maryland was still doing well compared to about 29 otherstates.

“Ifwehadn’traisedtheadditional$1.4bil-lionwe’dprobablybeclosinginona$3billionshortfall,”Bohanansaid.“Rightnowwehaveamanageableshortfall.”

BudgetContinued from page A-�

ByGuyLeonardStaffWriter

OneweekafterbankrobbersallegedlykidnappedaPNCBankbranchmanager fromher homein Lusby and had her removemoney from her own place ofworkinCaliforniaastherobbersheldhertwoyoungchildrencap-tive,St.Mary’sdetectivesarestilllookingforsuspectsinthecase.

“We haven’t developed anyspecific suspects,” said Bureau of Criminal Investigations com-manderLt.RickBurris.“We’vegotten a lot of calls… we stillhavealotofworktodo.

“We’regoingtobebusyforawhile.”

Police are looking for atleast three suspects involved intheSept.24robbery,allofthemblackmales.

The too suspects that ap-proachedandallegedlyabductedthe PNC Bank manager at herLusbyhomeassheandher twochildren,a1-year-oldsonand5-year-old daughter, were prepar-ingtoleavearesaidtohaveworncamouflage clothing, masks and were carrying either shotgunsor rifles, according to police information.

Thesuspectsdrovethebank

Detectives Continuing Search For At-Large Bank Robbersmanager’s 2008 Chevy Tahoetoherbranchandorderedhertogoinandremoveanundisclosedamountofmoney.

Theythenorderedherbackinto the vehicle when she camebackout.

ThesuspectsthendrovethethreevictimstoGreenHollyEl-ementary School and releasedthemunharmed.

The two suspects drove totheCVSDrugStoreonRuePur-chaseRoadandabandonedit,onewas seen fleeing on foot.

A third suspect was seendrivinga2003or2004blackNis-san Sentra with tinted windowsat the McDonalds restaurant onRoute235.

Burris said that, so far, theaccount of the abducted bankmanager has remained cred-ibleasdetectivescontinuedtheirinvestigation.

PNC Bank has offered a$10,000 reward for informationleadingtothearrestandconvic-tionofthesuspects.

Theincidenthadotherlocalbanksandcreditunionswaryofpossible further crimes againstthem.

“There’snowaytopreventit[ifcriminalsaredetermined,”saidAaron Chase, security special-istatCedarPointFederalCreditUnion. “You can only make itharderforthem.

“The more deterrents they[banks] put up the more likelycriminals will go someplaceelse.”

Chase said that he was en-couragingcreditunionemployeesto avoid wearing their identifica-tion badges outside of work, astheycouldidentifythemasatar-getforabankrobberyscheme.

“It was well thought out,”Chasesaidoflastweek’srobberythat led to law enforcement tolockdownheavilytraveledroadsand search individual vehicles.“Someone was watching [thebankemployees’]patterns.

“Thecriminalsalwaysshowyouwhatyouhave toafter they

committhecrime.”Valerie Buckner, branch

manager atMarylandBankandTrust on Shangri-La Drive inLexington Park knows aboutbankrobberies.

Herbranchwasrobbedtwiceintwomonthslastyear,allegedlybythesamesuspect.

That man, Antonio WarrenGantt,41,ofSt.Leonardhasjustbeendeemedmentallycompetentto stand trial in St. Mary’s Cir-cuit Court after a year of beingincarcerated.

Gantthasalsobeenchargedalong with other inmates in at-tempting to escape from the St.Mary’sCountyDetentionCenterwhilefacingtherobberycharges.

“We’ve had a buzz-in sys-tem installed since the last rob-bery,”BucknertoldTheCountyTimes, but even the extra secu-ritycouldn’tprotectherfromtheanxiety of learning of the latestbankheist.

“Everybody needs to bemore aware of their surround-ings,” Buckner said. “I literallylostmybreathwhenIreadaboutit[thePNCBankrobbery.]”

knights stand up to national power

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