Facts On Ambulance Accident In Delaware Today

Millsboro's ambulance was returning from Beebe Hospital after delivering a patient. The driver and the EMT were up front while the paramedic was sitting in the back. The ambo was stopped at an intersection waiting for other traffic to cross. A Ford SUV suddenly veered and hit the ambo on the passenger side in the area of the rear wheels. The impact opened a large, gaping hole in the side wall of the ambo. The paramedic was ejected via the rear loading doors. He was flown to Christiana with skull/facial fractures and several associated injuries. However, he recognized his wife and has a reasonably good prognosis at this time. The ambo driver was also flown to Christiana, but has since been cleared and has or will soon be released. The EMT was transported to Beebe but has been discharged. The driver of the SUV was dead at the scene. There are reports that this vehicle had been driving erratically for several miles/minutes before the collision.

This tragedy is not at all similar to those in the area of recent times. This is an ambulance in a non-emergency mode in which the EMS personnel became the victims. We all need to do one and only one thing......keep ALL those involved in our thoughts and prayers and let the authorities do what they're assigned to do. I just wanted to get a few of the facts out there before the rumor mills gobble this up.

New Home Sales Drop By Record Amount

One day you read in The Daily Times home sales are up, then they're right back down two days later. Well, here it is Folks, New Home Sales dropped a record 16% in 2007 while prices posted the weakest showing in 16 years!

Sales marked the worst sales year on record, surpassing the old record by 23.1% plunge in 1980.

Oh, I forgot, we're NOT in a recession. I'm really starting to believe our very own President is one of Jerry's kids. Can't wait to see his speech tonight! Oh, that's right, there's a City Council Meeting instead.

Senator Kennedy Backs Obama For President

It's official, Kennedy backs Obama and really ticks off Hillary. Two generations of Kennedys, the Democratic Party's best known political Family endorsed Barack Obama for President on Monday, with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy calling him a "man with extraordinary gifts of leadership and character" a worthy heir to his assassinated brother.

Although I had heard this was going to happen yesterday, I sat back in disbelief until it was just announced. This Country seems to be moving forward.

Miss America Wins Contest In A See Through Gown

This is one way to impress the judges so they don't get you mixed up with all the other beauty queens strutting their stuff on the stage: Wear a see-through gown. That's just what Miss Michigan Kirsten Haglund, a 19-year-old aspiring Broadway star, did on Saturday night in Las Vegas and it paid off. She was crowned Miss America 2008.

It may have been inevitable that the blonde Haglund would win this competition, which was jazzed up with a new, hipper look. She has pageants in her blood. Not only is her mother an active pageant volunteer, but also her grandmother was a former Miss America contestant in 1944. The see-through gown was well planned. The dying enterprise had to be given new life, and the pageant officials did just that with sass, humor, blue jeans and racier outfits. How is this for sass? When Miss Utah Jill Stevens, who is an Army medic, failed to make the cut, she dropped and gave the audience pushups.

A student at the University of Cincinnati, Haglund sang "Over the Rainbow," but it was strutting in the black and gold bikini that was the real crowd-pleaser and may have clinched her the coveted title. that comes with a $50,000 scholarship and a year of travel. First runner-up was Miss Indiana Nicole Elizabeth Rash, while the second runner-up was Miss Washington Elyse Umemoto. Haglund's platform issue will be awareness of eating disorders, an illness from which she herself has suffered.

Arminio Walks The Plank

Look, I'm just going to keep it real and tell you my thoughts on this guy as this Blog is all about my own opinions anyway.

Joe Arminio is a guy in outer space who likes to call Republicans Neocons. While giving his closing statement last night, Arminio pulled out a piece of timber large enough for a barn, not an alleged campaign sign. There was still old nails sticking out of it while he barely got over Pipkin's head, (not hard to do) and this was NOT a fresh piece of wood used for any yard sign. Nevertheless, that's what he was selling anyway.

Arminio went on to try and make people believe this was what was left of one of his signs on a Democrats property. PLEASE! First of all, IF it was on a democrats property, perhaps they realized just how big a nut you are and they probably started reading your book that you more than likely DONATED to them as a swap for allegedly putting your sign up and they busted the sh!t out of it themselves?

Arminio will be at the Chamber of Commerce tonight in Salisbury at 7:30 PM, go see for yourself just how big a nut this guy is, seriously. Although I am expecting some serious fireworks at the City Council Meeting tonight, (SERIOUSLY) I may even go for a good laugh.

Between Pipken playing the Bully and Arminio screaming and yelling as well, they're NOT the type of people you'd ever think of bringing home to your Mother, (if you are a female). So if that's how they are personality wise, who the heck would even think of sending them to Congress? Then again, people voted for Barrie Tilghman. It's a strange country we live in! LOL

I should add. Show me ONE big sign this guy has anywhere anyway? I see a million little signs, I saw them place 5 of them under an Andy Harris sign buut I have yet to see ONE big sign anywhere, have you?

Congressional Candidate Andy Harris On Bill Reddish Tomorrow Morning

Senator Andy Harris will be on the Bill Reddish Show tomorrow morning at 7:40 AM. WICO is located at 1320 AM.

Do You Know Who's Tag This Belongs To?

Last night while sitting on my front porch, I heard tires screeching and then a couple of bangs. I knew someone had just been in an accident so I ran in, got my camera and off I went towards the sound. While I was pulling out of my driveway I saw a vehicle going slow towards me, the black gentleman got out of his vehicle to look at the damage and he told me he had just hit a deer. I went to get out of my truck and the guy hopped in his vehicle and took off.

Being suspicious I started driving up the road to see if there was a deer on the side of the road, nothing. I did get a glance at his rear tag as he pulled away and wrote down his tag number, most of it anyway. The next thing I knew I was driving back towards my home still looking for skid marks when I noticed he had gone off the road, hit a large cattle gate and fence post and actually went into the pasture where my neighbors have several horses.

Fortunately this guy didn't hit any of the horses you regularly see standing right at that gate. Nevertheless, Dee, Dee, Deeee bolted out of there so fast, he left something VERY important behind, his TAG!

The Delaware State Police arrived and started chuckling when we produced the tag as this individual was now SNAGGED! Hit & Run and leaving the scene of an accident. My neighbors had been out of town but had just pulled up to their home within one minute of this guy pulling away. We were able to round up the horses and get them into the barn before any of them got loose.

So IF you happen to be reading this Blog and you're the owner of this tag, I'd suggest you go turn yourself in because the State Police and perhaps now the WCSO are now looking for you.

Ambulance Gets In Accident In Sussex, One Dead

The fatal accident happened near Angola in Sussex County around 6:15 AM this morning. At least two patients were flown to Christiana Hospital.

GO HERE to see the article and photos at The News Journal.

National Review Article - The Sierra Club Congressman

The Sierra Club Congressman
Will conservatives revolt against Rep. Wayne Gilchrest?

JOHN J. MILLER

On February 26, 1998, Andy Harris spotted a headline in a copy of the Washington Post that was sitting in the doctor's lounge of the hospital where he works. "I still remember that it was on the front page of the Metro section, on the right-hand side," he says. Here's what it announced: "Md. Senate Delays Bill on Abortion; Issue Won't Resurface This Year, Officials Say."

The story described how his state senator, a Republican, had played a vital role in killing a proposed ban on partial-birth abortions. "He led the fight against it, which really surprised me," says Harris. "I decided that he couldn't cast a vote like that and not be challenged."

Harris had no political experience beyond his occasional attendance of local Republican-club meetings - the kind of gathering that he says usually drew fewer than a dozen people. Harris nevertheless resolved to take on state senator F. Vernon Boozer, a 17-year incumbent, in the GOP primary - and won a victory that shocked Maryland's Republican establishment.

Now Harris is both aiming higher and trying to repeat history: On February 12, he'll square off in a GOP primary against Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, a liberal Republican who has sat in Congress for as long as Boozer served in the state senate. The contest, which also features state senator E. J. Pipkin, promises to be one of the most expensive in Maryland's history. More important, it could function as a Republican bellwether: Are conservatives so disgruntled following the defeats of 2006 that they'll evict a longtime incumbent whose voting record places him well to the left of his constituents?

Maryland's first congressional district includes all of the state's eastern shore, plus parts of suburban Baltimore. President Bush has carried it easily, winning with 62 percent in 2004. After the 2000 Census, state Democrats gerrymandered the district to contain as many Republicans as possible, with the goal of making other areas more favorable to Democrats. The result is that some of America's most contorted congressional districts lie between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The aesthetics may be questionable, but the election returns were clear: Maryland's House delegation moved from a four-to-four tie between Democrats and Republicans to a six-to-two lead for Democrats.

Gilchrest, a former Marine who won a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star in Vietnam, has never been an especially good match for his district. He favors abortion rights and gun control, and he even won the endorsement of the Sierra Club for his environmentalism. In its congressional scorecard, the American Conservative Union gives Gilchrest a lifetime rating of 61. Only two of his Republican colleagues have earned lower marks, and they at least have the excuse of coming from districts won by both Al Gore and John Kerry.

"The debate over liberal versus conservative is bizarre when it comes to competent public policy," says Gilchrest. "I think I'm a liberal like Gorbachev is a liberal - he wanted to bring freedom to his country. I don't follow a mythical, purist ideology."

That's not all he doesn't follow. Last summer, Americans for Tax Reform condemned Gilchrest for twice violating a no-new-taxes pledge he'd signed. The congressman claims not to remember signing the pledge, but ATR keeps a copy on file. "He gets letters from us regularly that remind him that he took the pledge," says Grover Norquist, ATR's president. "I've never heard that excuse before."

Gilchrest also broke his word in November, when he voted to override Bush's veto of a $606 billion domestic-spending bill. Less than five months earlier, he had joined 146 other House Republicans in signing a letter that promised to sustain the president's spending vetoes. "If I signed a letter such as that, it was to be reasonable about it," he says. "I thought the spending increases were a reasonable amount of money." Most House Republicans disagreed, and they just barely managed to keep the bill from becoming law.

So it's easy to understand conservative frustration with Gilchrest. For Harris, an anesthesiologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a commander in the Naval Reserve Medical Corps, the breaking point came last spring, when the congressman opposed the troop surge in Iraq. "That issue is just too important to our national security," says Harris. "I looked around and saw that nobody was getting ready to challenge Gilchrest, so I decided to step forward." He declared his candidacy in June.

Since then, conservatives have rallied around Harris, a Brooklyn-born son of immigrants from Ukraine and Hungary. "They hated Communism," he says of his parents. "The only newspaper my father read regularly was Human Events, and he read it cover to cover." National Right to Life, Eagle Forum, and the Washington Times editorial page have endorsed Harris, and so have two-time gubernatorial candidate Ellen Sauerbrey and 18 current members of the Maryland legislature. His most prominent backer is former governor Bob Ehrlich, who once served with Gilchrest in the House.

"We need Andy in Congress, given where we are as a party in this state and at this time," says Ehrlich. "We need someone who wants to build the party in Maryland. Wayne has shown no interest in doing that and Andy has." Conservatives frequently point to Gilchrest's flame-throwing interview with Reason.com last May, in which he tried to explain the Republican woes of 2006 and beyond: "I think the GOP was dissolving. Now it's drying up and the wind's going to blow it away. I just don't think we have the depth of knowledge, intellect, and experience necessary for a viable political party anymore."

This isn't the first time Gilchrest has faced an opponent in a GOP primary. In 2002 and 2004, he beat back conservative challengers without much difficulty. Harris, however, is by far his most significant threat to date: Harris's campaign expects to spend more than $1 million on the race. Gilchrest allows that Harris may outspend him, but says, "We'll have a sufficient amount of money." Last year he agreed to accept donations from political-action committees, which he had made a point of not doing in previous elections.

He'll need every penny. The Club for Growth, a free-market group that concentrates on GOP primaries, has already spent $340,000 on anti-Gilchrest ads and is almost certain to commit more money to the race as February 12 approaches. "My mother said that if I didn't have anything nice to say about somebody, then don't say anything at all," Gilchrest says of the Club for Growth. He pauses, but can't resist: "They're destroying the Republican Party. They're weakening and degrading it."

The Club for Growth has a history of boosting underdogs. Most famously, it backed the 2004 effort by Pennsylvania congressman Pat Toomey to unseat GOP senator Arlen Specter - a near miss. Then, in 2006, it had its first unqualified success against an incumbent when it helped conservative Tim Walberg swipe the GOP nomination from liberal-leaning Michigan congressman Joe Schwarz. "We're going to do the same thing to Wayne Gilchrest," says Toomey, who now runs the organization. "It's hard to believe how far to the left he's moved."

Unfortunately for Harris, a potential spoiler candidate entered the race in November. Like Harris, E. J. Pipkin is a Republican state senator. In 2004, he ran against Democratic U.S. senator Barbara Mikulski and lost badly. Pipkin is anti-tax, pro-gun, and an Iraq War supporter. Although not a 100 percent pro-lifer, he supports most of the abortion restrictions he might vote on as a congressman. If Harris hadn't jumped in first, it's conceivable that the candidacy of Pipkin, a former Wall Street trader with enough personal wealth to fund his own campaign, could have become a conservative cause. Even so, many Republicans are puzzled by a financial contribution Pipkin once made to Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a Democrat who ran for governor in 2002.

The worry among many conservatives is that because there's no runoff, Harris and Pipkin will divide a large anti-Gilchrest vote and award the congressman a new term that most of the Republicans in his district would prefer to deny him. Yet incumbents don't always survive three-way races: Two years ago, Alaska governor Frank Murkowski, a Republican, finished behind two challengers in a GOP primary. In December, a Club for Growth survey found Harris's support at 26 percent, Gilchrest's at 23 percent, and Pipkin's at 18 percent.

If those numbers hold up, the Washington Post will run a front-page article on February 13 and this time Harris won't merely read the story - he'll be the story.

22 Years Ago Today!

Ladies & Gentlemen, time has a way of slipping by us so fast we just don't realize it. However, this article will bring the reality of the speed of time and just how fast it goes by.

Today marks the 22nd Anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster back in 1986! To think there are some people reading this Post who weren't even born then! We lost some unbelievable people in this disaster and the very first Teacher to attempt to go into outer space.

So if you remember this moment, take a moment of silence and remember these hero's who lost their lives 22 years ago today.

BREAKING NEWS

Five U.S. Soldiers killed by roadside bomb in Northern Iraq.

I'll Huff & I'll Puff & I'll Blow Your Sheriff's Department In!

So out of nowhere we get a hurricane in Salisbury/Wicomico County. Not a bad one, mind you. Just one that would produce let's say 60 mph winds.

The next thing you know there are trees down everywhere, some roofs are torn off homes, cars have wrecked on the Bypass, who you gonna call? NOT the Wicomico County Sheriff's Department, that's for sure!

So why wouldn't you get through to the Sheriff's Department? Because their building, (GET THIS) is only rated for 50 mile per hour winds! Not only has this building been a complete piece of sh!t the past few years, it's gonna fall down if the winds get too rough.

Imagine that. We're in a local catastrophe and the one place everyone is going to depend upon will have fallen to the ground. Just what Idiot came up with this design and why the hell aren't you reading stuff like this in the Daily Times? Perhaps we will in the next few days?

Nevertheless, the building has more problems than just wind knocking it over. It leaks everywhere. Every two years or so they're in there replacing carpeting because water driven by rain comes right through the walls and gets the interior soaking wet. This can create what is called, "sick building syndrome." Mold and mildew become airborne and can cause some very serious health issues. My guess is, if they tested that building right now they'd come to find they have a problem.

So what do you do about it? You IMMEDIATELY get the ball rolling to build a new facility, seriously. This is no joking mater. The Sheriff's Department would be the number one resource in any catastrophe in Wicomico County, yet it's the most vulnerable! The Sheriff's Department is also working with Rick Pollitt with Animal Control, perhaps taking that away from the Humane Society and having their own facility.

When you're considering a new location for the Sheriff's Department, it would be smart to include a facility for animals to go with it. Like it or not, something has to happen. We watch all these Fire Departments going after Homeland Security money and so forth, yet the Sheriff's Department NEEDS a facility to provide their service in our time of need and they won't be standing, unbelievable!

Kodak Moments From Yesterday's Forum

I have more to add on another Post. However, Michael has the story in which I won't even attempt to compete with. GO HERE to view a very detailed story on yesterday's Republican Forum.

I was very pleased to finally see Michael show up at one of these Forum's as he is very detailed and right on track while still being fair to the Candidates. You know me, I go for the throat and this is too serious an issue this go around to toy with, so to speak.

Congressional Candidate Andy Harris Speaks Out On Illegal Immigration

Friends,

There has been much debate over the issue of illegal immigration. I wanted to take today's post to clearly discuss my commitment to ending illegal immigration.

The issue with illegal immigration is personal to me. My parents legally immigrated to this country to escape communism in Eastern Europe. My parents followed all of the rules to get into this country. They were forced to sign a document saying they would not be a burden on the government.

The horrors of communism were well understood by my parents. Growing up, they taught us to cherish the wonderful freedoms and blessings America had to offer. They truly understood the American Dream, and because of them, I am living it today. When my parents came into our great nation they followed all of the rules to come here. They had to sign a paper promising they would not accept free government benefits. That like so many other things has changed. Today, illegal immigrants cost taxpayers billions of dollars and it must be stopped!

As a State Senator, I have been a leader in Maryland against giving illegal immigrants government benefits which is why the state leader against illegal immigration, Delegate Pat McDonough has endorsed my campaign. I have co-sponsored legislation to ban illegal immigrants from receiving drivers licenses. I also successfully fought against giving illegal immigrants in-state tuition at our state colleges and universities by threatening to filibuster the legislation. i encourage you to look up newspaper articles from a year ago that discussed how I led the fight to kill that bill.

As your congressman, I will:
Vote to Secure Our Borders
Oppose all forms of Amnesty
Vote to hold businesses accountable

I hope you agree that our nation must end illegal immigration now. Illegal immigration not only costs taxpayers billions of dollars a year, but is also a threat to our national security.

The campaign is coming to a close and I hope I can count on your vote. I hope you will keep visiting our website to see the latest campaign updates.

God Bless,

Andy

Another Exciting Monday in Salisbury

Tonight, the most irrelevant body in government, the Salisbury City Council will meet again. What will Louise Smith and her buddies do?

Will they finally get around to the audit of the city's finances (which is only three months late)? No. Barrie Tilghman and company are still negotiating with the auditors to keep embarrassment in the management letter to a minimum.

Will they hold a serious discussion as to why the old Salisbury Mall project developers are receiving a triple subsidy? How about demanding answers as to why the Tilghman administration deliberately mislead the city council (along with the public and the press) regarding the marketing of the TIF bond? Of course not.

No, the Barrie Tilghman rubber stamp is meeting to spend some more of your hard earned tax money. As we all learned during the last budget deliberations, any discussion of saving taxpayer money needs to be gaveled down quickly. Spending, however ...

cross posted at Delmarva Dealings

Technorati Tags: Maryland, Salisbury, politics, Salisbury politics, Barrie Tilghman, Louise Smith, taxation, fiscal policy

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Arminio Aides Admit To Illegally Placed Signs

While I confronted Arminio and his Campaign Manager this afternoon, I told them for 90 to 100 miles or so on Rt. 50 there was one of his signs every quarter of a mile. I said, did you get permission to put those signs there and isn't that illegal? Arminio responded, we're working on that. His Campaign Manager admitted he knew they did NOT have permission but everyone else is doing it.

No, I don't agree with that at all. As a matter of fact, people outside the Forum stated they were sick of seeing his signs everywhere and obviously people were knocking them down in anger, as shown above.

I personally think this guy is trying to sell his Book and couldn't care less about winning a seat in Congress. To each his own, I guess.

Washington Times Editorial

Andy Harris gains momentum

THE WASHINGTON TIMES EDITORIAL

January 27, 2008

Things are not looking very good these days for Wayne Gilchrest, the liberal Republican incumbent who has represented Maryland's 1st Congressional District for 16 years. Mr. Gilchrest will be hardpressed to fend off a very difficult primary challenge in this Republican-leaning district mounted by state Sen. Andy Harris, a conservative from Baltimore County, who leads Mr. Gilchrest according to a newly released poll. In 1998, Mr. Harris won election to the state Senate by defeating a moderate/liberal incumbent in the Republican primary, and a decade later he's got a decent chance to do the same thing again: to topple Mr. Gilchrest, a veteran politician who has been drifting well to the left of his moderate-to-conservative district.

GO HERE to read the rest of thre article.

Public Sector Unions

As a former Union member and Executive Officer in a private sector Union I am a strong supporter of Unions in the private sector. In the private sector Unions know that the business they are in have to make money in order for them to get the raises they want or the benefits they want so there is the incentive to make money for the business. In their symbiotic relationship there is a balance that needs to be worked out in order for both to survive.

Unions in the public sector however do not make money. They take money from the citizens when they ask for ever higher wages and better benefits and nice retirement programs. Show me private sector unions which make 6 percent increases ever year. I know the one I was in didn’t and that company made hundreds of millions of dollars. We are at a point where those on the taxpayer dollar are making more than the ones supporting them, how can this be seen as fair. I know teachers perform a needed function and should be paid a fair wage, but they need to realize in lean times sacrifices need to be made. Before the complaint is made that they pay taxes also, they are merely returning taxes that someone in the private sector has already put into government coffers. They are not generating new money but recycling old tax dollars so in reality they are not adding a dime.

As I have said there is no doubt that teachers need to be paid a fair wage but it has to be reasonable and they have to realize that their pay comes from those in the public that do not live off the taxpayer which all government employees do. When times are lean it is easy for them to say tax more, while private sector employees are taking hits in pay or more likely benefits they are then saddled with the additional burden of the higher taxes.

While teachers complain about long hours they are not the only workers in this country that do more than eight hours work a day and don’t get extra pay, many people in the private sector work after they go home. If you don’t like it, take a job where you are not only off the taxpayer payroll but become a real contributor, but you can work your eight hours punch out and go home.

David K. Kyle

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-md.ar.contracts26jan26,0,2703403.story

Arundel schools' raises in doubt

Funding problems may affect system's ability to fulfill pacts, officials say

By Ruma Kumar | Sun reporter

Anne Arundel County school officials say they might have to renege on promised raises to thousands of teachers, administrators and support staff.

Though County Executive John R. Leopold said he is trying to find ways to foot the $51 million bill for teachers' raises, schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell said he doesn't believe the county can afford the $72 million price tag for all four union contracts. The county has issued a bleak budget forecast because of sharp cuts in state education aid and real estate tax revenues.

"It's my belief that I will not receive enough to fund the teachers' contract, let alone the other three," Maxwell said.

The move could create a credibility crisis for a system struggling to hire and retain qualified teachers and administrators, spark political fallout for Leopold in a state where public employee unions carry influence and draw retaliation from the more than 6,000 county teachers who say they are underpaid.

Since the early 1990s, at least two other area school systems, Howard and Carroll counties, have been stung after backing out of contracts because of funding shortfalls. In Howard County, the school board reneged in 1991 on the last two years of a contract that promised teachers annual 8 percent raises. Outraged, teachers retaliated for months by working only contracted hours and refusing to write college reference letters for students, a task they had done on their own time.

"These public employee unions are not only powerful, they're politically active," said Matthew Crenson, professor emeritus in political science at the Johns Hopkins University. "When they get crossed, union members get mad, they organize, and they can really grind things to a halt."

Anne Arundel County teachers expected the third-straight year of 6 percent raises. Administrators also were scheduled to get 6 percent, while support staff like secretaries along with cafeteria workers, bus drivers and custodians had forged contracts for 3 percent raises. The raises made up a large chunk of the $100 million increase Maxwell is seeking for school funding.

Though the contracts are contingent on funding being available, backing out of them could severely handicap the recruitment efforts of a system that loses about one in 10 teachers every year, half of them leaving in their first five years. More than a dozen administrators resigned last year to seek better pay elsewhere.

"When you renege on a contract when you're recruiting it hurts you," Maxwell said. "For how many years will we be plagued by 'You didn't fund the contract'? If you were thinking of coming here, would you trust us? Would you take a chance taking a lower-paying job in a district that failed to honor its agreements?"

News of the possibility had a local teachers union official warning of a range of retaliation, including picketing job fairs to dissuade prospective employees from joining the school system and leaving immediately after the final bell, grinding to a halt hundreds of after-school activities they oversee.

"We would go back to the negotiating table and all previous bets are off," said Tim Mennuti, president of the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County. "If this happens, you'll see the resignation [and] retirement rate would go right through the roof, as it did the last time this happened."

In July 2003, then-County Executive Janet S. Owens didn't fully fund the budget request and the system scrambled to renegotiate contracts and offer teachers a midyear 1 percent raise.

Leopold told local legislators last month that the governor's changes in a landmark education funding formula along with anemic housing sales will amount to about a $20 million loss in revenue for the county this year. Given that reality, Leopold has said the schools budget is "an ambitious request in difficult fiscal times."

Still, John Hammond, Leopold's budget director, said the county executive remains committed to providing the 6 percent raises for teachers, but he was careful not to promise the raises negotiated with the other three unions.

Through a spokeswoman, Leopold said yesterday that he has asked directors of every county department to cut their budgets by 5 percent to help pay for teachers' raises and other needs.

Despite the assurances, schools officials announced this week that they are immediately eliminating 50 unfilled nonteaching positions, and cutting the budget for substitute teachers to help beef up their reserves.

More cuts might be imminent: The system is launching a wholesale review of its operations that might result in outsourcing jobs.