DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Obama Wins Miss. Primary
Barack Obama was victorious in Mississippi's Democratic Primary Tuesday. The Obama Campaign will start preparing for next month's high-stakes race with Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania.
Have you seen these cars? Possible Pocomke Murder Suspects
The Worcester County Sheriff's Dept is beating the bushes to find the muderer(s) of William 'Nib' Niblett in Pocomoke last Friday. If anyone reading this has seen or even think you have a lead on these vehicles PLEASE CALL 1-800-811-8396
Breaking News
The new WICBOE Superintendent is being introduced on Thursday morning at 9:00 AM at the BOE Central Office.
Either Pam Oland Is A Complete Idiot Or The Salisbury Fire Department Lied
OK, let's discuss this new Salisbury Fire Department Ladder Truck Scam. Last night Pam Oland got in front of the Council and clearly expressed that she was using the Blacksburg Fire Department in Virginia as an example as to why they are spending $1,200,000.00 PLUS on a new Ladder Truck for the City of Salisbury. The truck was supposed to only cost $950,000.00, (if you can believe that's an only) but since the Volunteers are putting up $89,118.00 and SU is putting up $200,000.00 towards the Ladder Truck, they went and ordered OPTIONS up the Ying Yang for their newest TOY. I've been told they ordered a leather interior, power windows, you name it, they're getting it. Perhaps it's a simulated leather interior, I'm not sure?
Nevertheless, Blacksburg, VA. ordered theirs and guess what Pam, it's only $575,969.00, NOT $1,200,000.00! Perhaps the next time you should do more homework or MAKE See & Gordy give you the REAL details. You see, since NO ONE challenges them on stuff like this, it goes unnoticed, like a $10,000,000.00 Fire Station and they get whatever they want.
To the Volunteers, a hat tip to ALL of you for funding and raising the $89,118.00, you should be VERY proud. How's that ACCOUNTABILITY working for you Louise? The Taxpayers are getting screwed once again by this notorious group of Bandits, (See & Gordy) and it's not going to stop until it's too late. I should add, the Ladder Truck mentioned is a 75 ft. Ladder Truck and I'm sure Salisbury's will be longer, I don't recall? Nevertheless, they're not getting $600,000.00 worth of Ladder, what do you think?
The information below comes directly from the Blacksbury Website, link included. Further information shows a 100 ft. long Ladder Truck would cost $850,000.00.
"TO: Town Council
VIA: Marc A. Verniel, Town Manager
FROM: Susan H. Kaiser, Financial Services Director
SUBJECT: Ordinance to Transfer Funds from State Fire Funds Fund Balance to the State Fire Funds Fund
DATE: November 9, 2007
Ordinance 1466 will appropriate funds from the State Fire Funds Fund
Balance. These funds are previously received but unappropriated State Fire Funds. State Fire Funds are to be used for the purchase of fire equipment or training facilities. The Town has purchased, during Fiscal Year 2007/2008, a 75 foot Aerial Ladder truck for the Fire Department for $575,969 and a Pumper Truck for $343,500.00 The purchases in accordance with a bid issued by the Town. The
volunteers of the Blacksburg Fire Department coordinated the vehicles with
the vendor. There were modifications to the vehicles that exceeded the purchase orders that are now due to the vendor. The State Fire Funds can be used to fund these modifications but must be appropriated before they can be expended.
If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them. Thank you."
If you'd like to verify this Post, please GO HERE.
Technical Difficulties Fixed, Somewhat?
Although some would would like to claim I had a virus in my camera, (stupid) they're wrong! Somehow I must have hit a button that put the camera into what they call a "RAW" mode.
This means the files were HUGE and I could not download them onto this computer. Heck, I don't know if I can download them onto any computer, we'll see? Nevertheless, I've possibly lost a day's worth of photos unless I can recover them elsewhere.
Moving on, I have some serious catching up to do. Sorry for the delays Folks.
This means the files were HUGE and I could not download them onto this computer. Heck, I don't know if I can download them onto any computer, we'll see? Nevertheless, I've possibly lost a day's worth of photos unless I can recover them elsewhere.
Moving on, I have some serious catching up to do. Sorry for the delays Folks.
EXECUTIVE POLLITT INTRODUCES CERTIFIED FRAUD EXAMINER
Wicomico County Executive Richard M. Pollitt, Jr., announced today that the accounting firm of McLean, Koehler, Sparks & Hammond of Hunt Valley, MD, has been hired to conduct a complete forensic investigation of financial activities and practices at the county’s landfill operation. Robert A. Garvey, Jr., a Certified Fraud Examiner and a member of the firm, has begun work on this project which is a direct result of the recent theft discoveries at the county landfill.
Mr. Pollitt expressed a strong desire that the cost of the audit not exceed $30,000 but noted, “At any cost, the expense of the audit is insignificant compared to the price we have paid in the damage done to public confidence.” Funding for the investigation will come from the landfill account and no county property taxes will be used to pay the examiners’ fees.
The criminal investigation by the Wicomico Bureau of Investigation into the landfill thefts continues. Pollitt noted that the audit investigation will complement the work of the Bureau as the two agencies work hand in hand to uncover the entire scope of the landfill scandal.
Mr. Pollitt expressed a strong desire that the cost of the audit not exceed $30,000 but noted, “At any cost, the expense of the audit is insignificant compared to the price we have paid in the damage done to public confidence.” Funding for the investigation will come from the landfill account and no county property taxes will be used to pay the examiners’ fees.
The criminal investigation by the Wicomico Bureau of Investigation into the landfill thefts continues. Pollitt noted that the audit investigation will complement the work of the Bureau as the two agencies work hand in hand to uncover the entire scope of the landfill scandal.
Technical Difficulties
Forgive me if I'm starting to sound like The Daily Times but I'm experiencing some of my own technical difficulties with downloading pictures. There will be several articles to come this evening. They just may be shy of pictures.
Effects On Wildlife
LAKE MEAD, Nev. -- On this brisk, glittering morning, a flat-bottomed boat
glides across the massive reservoir that provides Las Vegas its drinking
water. An ominous rumble growls beneath the craft as its two long,
electrified claws extend into the depths.
Moments later, dozens of stunned fish float to the surface.
Federal scientists scoop them up and transfer them into 50-quart Coleman
ice chests for transport to a makeshift lab on the dusty lakeshore. Within
the hour, the researchers will club the seven-pound common carps to death,
draw their blood, snip out their gonads and pack them in aluminum foil and
dry ice.
The specimens will be flown across the country to laboratories where
aquatic toxicologists are studying what happens to fish that live in water
contaminated with at least 13 different medications - from over-the-counter
pain killers to prescription antibiotics and mood stabilizers.
More often than not these days, the laboratory tests bring unwelcome
results.
A five-month Associated Press investigation has determined that trace
amounts of many of the pharmaceuticals we take to stay healthy are seeping
into drinking water supplies, and a growing body of research indicates that
this could harm humans.
But people aren't the only ones who consume that water. There is more and
more evidence that some animals that live in or drink from streams and
lakes are seriously affected.
Pharmaceuticals in the water are being blamed for severe reproductive
problems in many types of fish: The endangered razorback sucker and male
fathead minnow have been found with lower sperm counts and damaged sperm;
some walleyes and male carp have become what are called feminized fish,
producing egg yolk proteins typically made only by females.
Meanwhile, female fish have developed male genital organs. Also, there are
skewed sex ratios in some aquatic populations, and sexually abnormal bass
that produce cells for both sperm and eggs.
There are problems with other wildlife as well: kidney failure in vultures,
impaired reproduction in mussels, inhibited growth in algae.
"We have no reason to think that this is a unique situation," says Erik
Orsak, an environmental contaminants specialist with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, pulling off rubber gloves splattered with fish blood at
Lake Mead. "We find pretty much anywhere we look, these compounds are
ubiquitous."
For example:
-In a broad study still under way, fish collected in waterways near or in
Chicago; West Chester, Pa.; Orlando; Dallas; and Phoenix have tested
positive for an array of pharmaceuticals - analgesics, antibiotics,
antidepressants, antihistamines, anti-hypertension drugs and anti-seizure
medications.
-That research follows a 2003 study in northern Texas, where every
bluegill, black crappie and channel catfish researchers caught living
downstream of a wastewater treatment plant tested positive for the active
ingredients in two widely used antidepressants - one of the first times the
residues of such drugs were detected in wildlife.
-In several recent studies of soil fertilized with livestock manure or with
the sludge product from wastewater treatment plants, American scientists
found earthworms had accumulated those same compounds, while vegetables -
including corn, lettuce and potatoes - had absorbed antibiotics. "These
results raise potential human health concerns," wrote researchers.
-Blood and liver samples of bull sharks in Florida's Caloosahatchee River,
a nursery area for juvenile bullsharks and home to six wastewater treatment
plants, are being tested for the presence of an array of medications this
winter. Of the first ten sharks sampled, nine tested positive for the
active ingredient in an antidepressant.
-And in Colorado's Boulder Creek, 50 of the 60 white suckers collected
downstream of Boulder's wastewater treatment plant were female, compared to
about half of them upstream.
Elsewhere in the world - from the icy streams of England to the wild game
reserves of South Africa - snails, fish, even antelope, are showing signs
of possible pharmaceutical contamination. For example, fish and prawn in
China exposed to treated wastewater had shortened life spans, Pacific
oysters off the coast of Singapore had inhibited growth, and in Norway,
Atlantic salmon exposed to levels of estrogen similar to those found in the
North Sea had severe reproductive problems.
More than 100 different pharmaceuticals have been detected in surface
waters throughout the world.
"It's inescapable," said Sudeep Chandra, an assistant professor at
University of Nevada, Reno who studies inland waters and aquatic life.
"There's enough global information now to confirm these contaminants are
affecting organisms and wildlife."
While some researchers have captured wildlife and tested it for
pharmaceuticals, many more have brought wildlife into their laboratories
and exposed them to traces of human pharmaceuticals at levels similar to
those found in water, aquatic plants and animals.
The results have been troubling.
Freshwater mussels exposed to tiny amounts of an antidepressant's active
ingredient released premature larvae, giving the next generation lower odds
of survival; in a separate lab study, the antidepressant also stunted
reproduction in tiny fresh water mud snails.
When researchers slid hydras - a tiny polyp that under a microscope looks
like a slender jellyfish - into water tainted with minute amounts of
pharmaceuticals, their mouths, feet and tentacles stopped growing. While
the hydras are minuscule, the implications are grave: Chronic exposure to
trace levels of commonly found pharmaceuticals can damage a species at the
foundation of a food pyramid.
Tiny zooplankton, another sentinel species, died off in the lab when they
were exposed to extremely small amounts of a common drug used to treat
humans suffering from internal worms and other digesting parasites.
In a landmark, seven-year study published last year, researchers turned an
entire pristine Canadian lake into their laboratory, deliberately dripping
the active ingredient in birth control pills into the water in amounts
similar to those found to have contaminated aquatic life, plants and water
in nature.
After just seven weeks, male fathead minnows began producing yolk proteins,
their gonads shrank, and their behavior was feminized - they fought less,
floating passively. They also stopped reproducing, resulting in
"ultimately, a near extinction of this species from the lake," said the
scientists.
While the Canadian study was prompted by human intervention, similar
die-offs have occurred in the wild.
In Pakistan, the entire population of a common vulture virtually
disappeared after the birds began eating carcasses of cows that had been
treated with an anti-inflammatory drug. Scientists, in a 2004 study, said
they eventually determined that the birds' kidneys were failing.
"The death of those vultures - the fact that you could get a complete
collapse of a population due to pharmaceuticals in the environment - that
was a powerful thing," said Christian Daughton, an EPA researcher in Las
Vegas. "It was a major ecological catastrophe."
In November, at the annual Society of Environmental Toxicology and
Chemistry meeting in Milwaukee, 30 new studies related to pharmaceuticals
in the environment were presented - hormones found in the Chicago River;
abnormalities in Japanese zebra fish; ibuprofen, gemfibrozil, triclosan and
naproxen in the lower Great Lakes.
Many of those studies refer to the heralded research at Lake Mead. There,
on a recent morning, Steven Goodbred struggled to hold a large wriggling
carp with both hands. On the outside, the carp looked fine, vibrant and
strong, but the U.S. Geological Survey scientist assumed the worst.
"Typically we see low levels of sex steroids, limited testicular function,
low sperm count, that kind of thing," he said slipping the fish into a
holding tank and closing the lid. "We'll have to wait and see about this
fellow."
These carp live, eat, reproduce and die at the mouth of what amounts to a
30-mile-long drainage system that starts within the toilets and sinks of
the casinos, hotels and homes of Sin City.
Some 180 million gallons of effluent are discharged into the channel each
day from three wastewater treatment plants. The daily sewage discharge is
expected to increase to 400 million gallons a day by 2050.
The USGS and U.S Fish and Wildlife Service tracked the channel from its
origins, before the inflow from the sewage plants, to where it empties into
Las Vegas Bay in the lake. Their findings: The amount of
endocrine-disrupting compounds (including hormone treatments and other
chemicals affecting reproduction) increased more than 646 times.
Not far from the mouth of the drainage channel - amid the fishing boats and
sightseeing tours - water is sucked into a long pipe, destined for a
drinking water treatment plant, then Las Vegas - thus beginning the cycle
all over again.
Other communities in Nevada, as well as locales in California and Arizona,
also draw on Lake Mead.
"Lake Mead is a fortuitous worst-case scenario" for study, said
environmental toxicologist Greg Moller, holding a bottle of Lake Mead water
he planned to take back to his lab at the University of Idaho. "You've got
the wastewater, you've got the documented impact on wildlife, and you have
drinking water uptake."
Although more than eight million tourists, including 500,000 anglers, visit
the reservoir annually, there are no warnings about the contaminants. No
signs. No advisories.
That's not unusual. Scientists have been finding pharmaceuticals in
hundreds of other public waterways across the nation and throughout the
world - almost always without public fanfare, as documented in the AP
investigation.
At the same time, scientists are looking for remedies. In Las Vegas, just
off the Strip at the Desert Research Institute, microbial biologist Duane
Moser optimistically held a tray of increasingly murky test tubes.
"We put a little bit of estrogen in here, and then we added a particular
bacteria, and guess what? The bacteria are consuming the estrogen," he
said. Someday, perhaps, scientists will be able to use these special
bacteria to clean estrogen out of contaminated water.
"It's early, but it's promising," he said.
Roger C. Helm, Ph.D.
USFWS -Chief, Division Environmental Quality
4401 N. Fairfax Dr. Rm. 820
Arlington, VA 22203
703-358-2148 FAX: -1800
roger_helm@fws.gov
glides across the massive reservoir that provides Las Vegas its drinking
water. An ominous rumble growls beneath the craft as its two long,
electrified claws extend into the depths.
Moments later, dozens of stunned fish float to the surface.
Federal scientists scoop them up and transfer them into 50-quart Coleman
ice chests for transport to a makeshift lab on the dusty lakeshore. Within
the hour, the researchers will club the seven-pound common carps to death,
draw their blood, snip out their gonads and pack them in aluminum foil and
dry ice.
The specimens will be flown across the country to laboratories where
aquatic toxicologists are studying what happens to fish that live in water
contaminated with at least 13 different medications - from over-the-counter
pain killers to prescription antibiotics and mood stabilizers.
More often than not these days, the laboratory tests bring unwelcome
results.
A five-month Associated Press investigation has determined that trace
amounts of many of the pharmaceuticals we take to stay healthy are seeping
into drinking water supplies, and a growing body of research indicates that
this could harm humans.
But people aren't the only ones who consume that water. There is more and
more evidence that some animals that live in or drink from streams and
lakes are seriously affected.
Pharmaceuticals in the water are being blamed for severe reproductive
problems in many types of fish: The endangered razorback sucker and male
fathead minnow have been found with lower sperm counts and damaged sperm;
some walleyes and male carp have become what are called feminized fish,
producing egg yolk proteins typically made only by females.
Meanwhile, female fish have developed male genital organs. Also, there are
skewed sex ratios in some aquatic populations, and sexually abnormal bass
that produce cells for both sperm and eggs.
There are problems with other wildlife as well: kidney failure in vultures,
impaired reproduction in mussels, inhibited growth in algae.
"We have no reason to think that this is a unique situation," says Erik
Orsak, an environmental contaminants specialist with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, pulling off rubber gloves splattered with fish blood at
Lake Mead. "We find pretty much anywhere we look, these compounds are
ubiquitous."
For example:
-In a broad study still under way, fish collected in waterways near or in
Chicago; West Chester, Pa.; Orlando; Dallas; and Phoenix have tested
positive for an array of pharmaceuticals - analgesics, antibiotics,
antidepressants, antihistamines, anti-hypertension drugs and anti-seizure
medications.
-That research follows a 2003 study in northern Texas, where every
bluegill, black crappie and channel catfish researchers caught living
downstream of a wastewater treatment plant tested positive for the active
ingredients in two widely used antidepressants - one of the first times the
residues of such drugs were detected in wildlife.
-In several recent studies of soil fertilized with livestock manure or with
the sludge product from wastewater treatment plants, American scientists
found earthworms had accumulated those same compounds, while vegetables -
including corn, lettuce and potatoes - had absorbed antibiotics. "These
results raise potential human health concerns," wrote researchers.
-Blood and liver samples of bull sharks in Florida's Caloosahatchee River,
a nursery area for juvenile bullsharks and home to six wastewater treatment
plants, are being tested for the presence of an array of medications this
winter. Of the first ten sharks sampled, nine tested positive for the
active ingredient in an antidepressant.
-And in Colorado's Boulder Creek, 50 of the 60 white suckers collected
downstream of Boulder's wastewater treatment plant were female, compared to
about half of them upstream.
Elsewhere in the world - from the icy streams of England to the wild game
reserves of South Africa - snails, fish, even antelope, are showing signs
of possible pharmaceutical contamination. For example, fish and prawn in
China exposed to treated wastewater had shortened life spans, Pacific
oysters off the coast of Singapore had inhibited growth, and in Norway,
Atlantic salmon exposed to levels of estrogen similar to those found in the
North Sea had severe reproductive problems.
More than 100 different pharmaceuticals have been detected in surface
waters throughout the world.
"It's inescapable," said Sudeep Chandra, an assistant professor at
University of Nevada, Reno who studies inland waters and aquatic life.
"There's enough global information now to confirm these contaminants are
affecting organisms and wildlife."
While some researchers have captured wildlife and tested it for
pharmaceuticals, many more have brought wildlife into their laboratories
and exposed them to traces of human pharmaceuticals at levels similar to
those found in water, aquatic plants and animals.
The results have been troubling.
Freshwater mussels exposed to tiny amounts of an antidepressant's active
ingredient released premature larvae, giving the next generation lower odds
of survival; in a separate lab study, the antidepressant also stunted
reproduction in tiny fresh water mud snails.
When researchers slid hydras - a tiny polyp that under a microscope looks
like a slender jellyfish - into water tainted with minute amounts of
pharmaceuticals, their mouths, feet and tentacles stopped growing. While
the hydras are minuscule, the implications are grave: Chronic exposure to
trace levels of commonly found pharmaceuticals can damage a species at the
foundation of a food pyramid.
Tiny zooplankton, another sentinel species, died off in the lab when they
were exposed to extremely small amounts of a common drug used to treat
humans suffering from internal worms and other digesting parasites.
In a landmark, seven-year study published last year, researchers turned an
entire pristine Canadian lake into their laboratory, deliberately dripping
the active ingredient in birth control pills into the water in amounts
similar to those found to have contaminated aquatic life, plants and water
in nature.
After just seven weeks, male fathead minnows began producing yolk proteins,
their gonads shrank, and their behavior was feminized - they fought less,
floating passively. They also stopped reproducing, resulting in
"ultimately, a near extinction of this species from the lake," said the
scientists.
While the Canadian study was prompted by human intervention, similar
die-offs have occurred in the wild.
In Pakistan, the entire population of a common vulture virtually
disappeared after the birds began eating carcasses of cows that had been
treated with an anti-inflammatory drug. Scientists, in a 2004 study, said
they eventually determined that the birds' kidneys were failing.
"The death of those vultures - the fact that you could get a complete
collapse of a population due to pharmaceuticals in the environment - that
was a powerful thing," said Christian Daughton, an EPA researcher in Las
Vegas. "It was a major ecological catastrophe."
In November, at the annual Society of Environmental Toxicology and
Chemistry meeting in Milwaukee, 30 new studies related to pharmaceuticals
in the environment were presented - hormones found in the Chicago River;
abnormalities in Japanese zebra fish; ibuprofen, gemfibrozil, triclosan and
naproxen in the lower Great Lakes.
Many of those studies refer to the heralded research at Lake Mead. There,
on a recent morning, Steven Goodbred struggled to hold a large wriggling
carp with both hands. On the outside, the carp looked fine, vibrant and
strong, but the U.S. Geological Survey scientist assumed the worst.
"Typically we see low levels of sex steroids, limited testicular function,
low sperm count, that kind of thing," he said slipping the fish into a
holding tank and closing the lid. "We'll have to wait and see about this
fellow."
These carp live, eat, reproduce and die at the mouth of what amounts to a
30-mile-long drainage system that starts within the toilets and sinks of
the casinos, hotels and homes of Sin City.
Some 180 million gallons of effluent are discharged into the channel each
day from three wastewater treatment plants. The daily sewage discharge is
expected to increase to 400 million gallons a day by 2050.
The USGS and U.S Fish and Wildlife Service tracked the channel from its
origins, before the inflow from the sewage plants, to where it empties into
Las Vegas Bay in the lake. Their findings: The amount of
endocrine-disrupting compounds (including hormone treatments and other
chemicals affecting reproduction) increased more than 646 times.
Not far from the mouth of the drainage channel - amid the fishing boats and
sightseeing tours - water is sucked into a long pipe, destined for a
drinking water treatment plant, then Las Vegas - thus beginning the cycle
all over again.
Other communities in Nevada, as well as locales in California and Arizona,
also draw on Lake Mead.
"Lake Mead is a fortuitous worst-case scenario" for study, said
environmental toxicologist Greg Moller, holding a bottle of Lake Mead water
he planned to take back to his lab at the University of Idaho. "You've got
the wastewater, you've got the documented impact on wildlife, and you have
drinking water uptake."
Although more than eight million tourists, including 500,000 anglers, visit
the reservoir annually, there are no warnings about the contaminants. No
signs. No advisories.
That's not unusual. Scientists have been finding pharmaceuticals in
hundreds of other public waterways across the nation and throughout the
world - almost always without public fanfare, as documented in the AP
investigation.
At the same time, scientists are looking for remedies. In Las Vegas, just
off the Strip at the Desert Research Institute, microbial biologist Duane
Moser optimistically held a tray of increasingly murky test tubes.
"We put a little bit of estrogen in here, and then we added a particular
bacteria, and guess what? The bacteria are consuming the estrogen," he
said. Someday, perhaps, scientists will be able to use these special
bacteria to clean estrogen out of contaminated water.
"It's early, but it's promising," he said.
Roger C. Helm, Ph.D.
USFWS -Chief, Division Environmental Quality
4401 N. Fairfax Dr. Rm. 820
Arlington, VA 22203
703-358-2148 FAX: -1800
roger_helm@fws.gov
GOP Thretens NY Governor Impeachment
A top Republican state lawmaker has threatened to push for impeachment proceedings against Governor Eliot Spitzer if he doesn't resign in the next 48 hours because of a sex scandal.
The McMichaels Case
I'm sorry for the misinformation earlier, forgive me? I wanted everyone to know right away what had happened and I understood it to be much different and quite frankly, I'm disappointed. I asked the Deputies who the Judge was and they told me he was a visiting Judge, that also was not the case. There was no name plate and I believed what the Deputies told me and went by their words.
As for the sentence, what can I say? The honorable Judge Simpson rejected the plea deal of 7 years and almost doubled it. The families involved will see justice, just not the kind of justice I had thought he had stated at first.
While McMichael spoke, he apologized to his Wife and Family, the Child involved, the neighbors Family and that child who was involved and then went on to ask for forgiveness from his Brothers and Sisters and the Badge they wear. However, when he did so he faced the Judge and did not turn around and face the Families. He slightly turned his head towards that side of the court room but not directly at them.
IMO, when you say you're sorry, that's one thing. However, as some of you may know about me, you turn and face the person you're apologizing to and you ask for their forgiveness. That was not the case here. Again, IMO, I believe he was sorry for getting caught.
As for why the States Attorneys Office only asked for a 7 year plea deal, the standard sentence for such a case is 5 to 10 years. They did not want to put the children through a long drawn out trial with at least 50 people in the court room at all times. There was no DNA evidence, no physical evidence and no medical evidence, so the case wasn't as strong as one where you have those kinds of evidence. It should be mentioned that both families felt comfortable with the original 7 year plea agreement.
I have to agree with the States Attorney Jamie Dykes, (in this case) and McMichaels never denied responsibility towards any of the charges. Then there's the actual time he'll spend in Jail. McMichaels is not a free man and will be held locally for a few days and then be sent off to Baltimore in a few days. A Police Office and a sex offender places him in a very high risk environment and I'm sure some Officers can chime in and tell when they know could happen to him.
In the end I wish he would have seen more time but certainly the honorable retired Judge Simpson rejected that plea and chose a much harder sentence. Maybe I shouldn't be so disappointed?
As for the sentence, what can I say? The honorable Judge Simpson rejected the plea deal of 7 years and almost doubled it. The families involved will see justice, just not the kind of justice I had thought he had stated at first.
While McMichael spoke, he apologized to his Wife and Family, the Child involved, the neighbors Family and that child who was involved and then went on to ask for forgiveness from his Brothers and Sisters and the Badge they wear. However, when he did so he faced the Judge and did not turn around and face the Families. He slightly turned his head towards that side of the court room but not directly at them.
IMO, when you say you're sorry, that's one thing. However, as some of you may know about me, you turn and face the person you're apologizing to and you ask for their forgiveness. That was not the case here. Again, IMO, I believe he was sorry for getting caught.
As for why the States Attorneys Office only asked for a 7 year plea deal, the standard sentence for such a case is 5 to 10 years. They did not want to put the children through a long drawn out trial with at least 50 people in the court room at all times. There was no DNA evidence, no physical evidence and no medical evidence, so the case wasn't as strong as one where you have those kinds of evidence. It should be mentioned that both families felt comfortable with the original 7 year plea agreement.
I have to agree with the States Attorney Jamie Dykes, (in this case) and McMichaels never denied responsibility towards any of the charges. Then there's the actual time he'll spend in Jail. McMichaels is not a free man and will be held locally for a few days and then be sent off to Baltimore in a few days. A Police Office and a sex offender places him in a very high risk environment and I'm sure some Officers can chime in and tell when they know could happen to him.
In the end I wish he would have seen more time but certainly the honorable retired Judge Simpson rejected that plea and chose a much harder sentence. Maybe I shouldn't be so disappointed?
BREAKING NEWS! McMichaels Sentenced To 13 Years!
Judge D. William Simpson, refuse the plea deal of 7 years and instead sentenced McMichael to 8 years on count 3 and on count 11, 5 years. He suspended 17 years on count 3 and 5 years on count 11. This will put McMichael in Jail for 13 years. More to come.........
I have corrected the sentence time above as I had the numbers backwards. I'm told McMichaels could be out in 5 years.
I have corrected the sentence time above as I had the numbers backwards. I'm told McMichaels could be out in 5 years.
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Misappropriation in Salisbury
Misplacing over $10 million certainly doesn't seem to have bothered Salisbury Mayor Barrie Tilghman, or her cohorts on the city council - Louise Smith, Gary Comegys and Shanie Shields. Last night we learned that the Tilghman administration had again misappropriated funds and her "council leadership" only wanted to cover it up.
Misappropriation, defined as the illegal use of property or funds for one's own use or other unauthorized purpose, is not only a violation of the city's charter, it is a violation of state law. Yet, Tilghman never hesitates to spend taxpayer money without proper appropriation by council. Why should she, when she carries a three person "rubber stamp" in her hip pocket that will approve almost any transgression?
Monday night the public learned that the Tilghman administration has again spent money that wasn't appropriated. Councilwoman Debbie Campbell asked the council to add an emergency item to the agenda to address this matter. If there was any legitimate reason for the misappropriation, why was the Mayor so testy? More importantly, why did Smith, Comegys and Shields refuse to even discuss the matter?
Perhaps there was a legitimate reason for the expenditure. If so, Tilghman merely needed to ask for a supplemental appropriation. It certainly isn't a a major undertaking. Yet, for some reason the administration and Tilghman's rubber stamp want another two weeks to put together a better sounding story.
Was there any mention in this morning's Daily Times? Of course not. It seems that misappropriation of funds is only front page news if it happens on the Wicomico County side of the GOB.
cross posted at Delmarva Dealings
Technorati Tags: Maryland, Salisbury, politics, Salisbury politics, fiscal policy, misappropriation, Barrie Tilghman, Louise Smith, Gary Comegys, Shanie Shields, Debbie Campbell, Daily Times, Gannett, media
Misappropriation, defined as the illegal use of property or funds for one's own use or other unauthorized purpose, is not only a violation of the city's charter, it is a violation of state law. Yet, Tilghman never hesitates to spend taxpayer money without proper appropriation by council. Why should she, when she carries a three person "rubber stamp" in her hip pocket that will approve almost any transgression?
Monday night the public learned that the Tilghman administration has again spent money that wasn't appropriated. Councilwoman Debbie Campbell asked the council to add an emergency item to the agenda to address this matter. If there was any legitimate reason for the misappropriation, why was the Mayor so testy? More importantly, why did Smith, Comegys and Shields refuse to even discuss the matter?
Perhaps there was a legitimate reason for the expenditure. If so, Tilghman merely needed to ask for a supplemental appropriation. It certainly isn't a a major undertaking. Yet, for some reason the administration and Tilghman's rubber stamp want another two weeks to put together a better sounding story.
Was there any mention in this morning's Daily Times? Of course not. It seems that misappropriation of funds is only front page news if it happens on the Wicomico County side of the GOB.
cross posted at Delmarva Dealings
Technorati Tags: Maryland, Salisbury, politics, Salisbury politics, fiscal policy, misappropriation, Barrie Tilghman, Louise Smith, Gary Comegys, Shanie Shields, Debbie Campbell, Daily Times, Gannett, media
Sheriff's Deputy To Accept Plea On Alleged Child Molestation Today
This morning at 9:00 AM in Wicomico Circuit Court, the Sheriff's Deputy featured in the news in early December, Charles H. McMichael, will accept a plea bargain. You will likely be surprised at how little the blind lady doles out nowadays for allegedly molesting two ten-year-old girls, one of them over a period of years.
I Pledge Allegiance To The Mayor
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Louise Smith sure showed us her real priorities at last night's council meetings. Seems she's got a new "system" for asking questions. If you were good boys and girls and turned your questions in to the city administrator in advance, then you get to ask your questions first! Oh, boy! I can't wait to get home and fill in my extra credit homework, teacher!
Louise made it a point to repeatedly say how getting questions in, in advance, was "to be fair to the administration." Of course, when her own council members don't get to see information that's been around for a month until 3 days before the meeting, big deal. It's the Administration we have to worry about.
Louise thinks if she mentions the word "transparency" enough times, then people will believe she supports it. This is kind of like when she kept repeating the word "accountability" while she raised next to no questions about the audit, none about the account overdrafts, and votes against Debbie Campbell's reasoned recommendations to just DISCUSS measures to get the city's finances in some kind of sane order.
Louise scored one for the word "unity" tonight, too, but not like she'd like to think she did. While she worried about advance warning, er, questions to the administration, she didn't bat an eye about the administration tossing the infamous Northeast Collector Bike Trail bomb at the council at the last minute. Terry Cohen made a benign suggestion to consider the whole financial matter at the work session the city administrator wanted for explaining how the Administration suggests filling in the money gap on a property the taxpayers already gave a $450,000 right-of-way subsidy to on top of a TIF (hat tip to Debbie Campbell for remembering that little financial detail).
Louise and her two underlings on the council couldn't vote Cohen down fast enough. So much for an opportunity for UNITY, Cohen said. Terry, Terry, Terry...Unity means not making the Mayor wait a single second more for what she wants. Didn't you know that? Louise is AT ONE with the Mayor, Ohmmmm.
There were lots of great lines from tonight, but I just couldn't get Louise off my mind. A tell-it-like-it-is lady named Donna Ennis hit another home run in public comment on many points said it best when she talked about having stood out in the cold campaigning for Louise. "You lied to us."
Yeah, Donna. Louise lied to us. She's still pretending. And throwing in a little hypocrisy for good measure by reciting the Lord's Prayer just before she turns and Pledges Allegiance to the Mayor.
Fight The Maryland Tech Tax
Maryland Technology Companies are the backbone of a thriving knowledge economy. However, during its recently concluded special session, the Maryland General Assembly enacted a computer services sales tax. This new law hurts businesses of all sizes and industries throughout the state. It also makes Maryland’s business climate and tax structure less competitive with other states. Contact your legislators and urge them to repeal the computer services sales tax. GO HERE to learn more.
When asked why he is immorally clinging to City Council Office Pocomoke X-Councilman Cane Responded using the N-word
The Pocomoke City Council Meeting tonight got more than a little heated when Stephanie Burke stepped up to the plate and asked X-Councilman Honiss Cane to do the right thing and resign like a decent man. He responded by holding up this picture using the N-word and asking how she could call people laying drunk in the street N*GGERS, rather than being a man and stepping down from office as required by the Charter since he has moved outside his election district.
When asked why he is immorally clinging to City Council Office X-Councilman Cane Responded using the N-word
X-Councilman Cane ranted about how he has been falsely accused and asked how we could be using the 'N' word... but Mr. "...lets talk black on black..." said the whole word because its OK for him to use it FROM THE CITY COUNCIL TABLE.
It's quite obious that X-Councilman Can does not watch Southpark, to see how this was used in context click here.
X-Councilman Cane is steadfastly refusing to do the honorable thing and step down as required by the City Charter.
When questioned about the abundance of junk cars on his property X-Councilman Cane ranted about the tree which went down on my property due to the gross negligence of Eastern Shore Gas and said I was trying to get "two hundred thousand dollars for a house, a boat and an old Cadillac you don't even own..."
It was a circus at City Hall tonight, there will be a report in the morning.
In the meantime google the term 'People Who Annoy You' Unkle Honiss.
When asked why he is immorally clinging to City Council Office X-Councilman Cane Responded using the N-word
X-Councilman Cane ranted about how he has been falsely accused and asked how we could be using the 'N' word... but Mr. "...lets talk black on black..." said the whole word because its OK for him to use it FROM THE CITY COUNCIL TABLE.
It's quite obious that X-Councilman Can does not watch Southpark, to see how this was used in context click here.
X-Councilman Cane is steadfastly refusing to do the honorable thing and step down as required by the City Charter.
When questioned about the abundance of junk cars on his property X-Councilman Cane ranted about the tree which went down on my property due to the gross negligence of Eastern Shore Gas and said I was trying to get "two hundred thousand dollars for a house, a boat and an old Cadillac you don't even own..."
It was a circus at City Hall tonight, there will be a report in the morning.
In the meantime google the term 'People Who Annoy You' Unkle Honiss.
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