LIVE Again From Room 301 In The GOB

Well, I'll start with this. There's no water in the building. No bathrooms can be used, therefore one must wonder how they can hold this meeting legally? If there's a fire, there's no water as well. A water main broke and they have nothing available water wise.

Chief See is here, WOW, twice in one day. The Salisbury Fire Department won an award, Deputy Chief Gordy was flown to New Orleans to receive a viatech award for innovative construction work on the new Fire Station. This organization is just about as big as you can get. Dupont, Chevron. This award was #2 in the nation.

Louise Smith, on behalf of the Council, we very much appreciate this award. Oh, sorry, I just threw up a little. Jim Nunan is back with KCI Technology. This is the same man that was in the earlier County Press Conference earlier today referencing the comprehensive plan.

By the way, if you're following this Post you'll need to keep hitting refresh to see any updates.

I have just received documents in which I'll post later PROVING David Moore was in fact applying for an Enterprise Zone for the new 15 Residential Condo Units and nothing towards commercial. Oh, things are now going to get VERY interesting. I have signed up to speak in order to present these documents to the Council. The funny part is, they'll probably approve this before I can provide the evidence.

Greg Latshaw from the Daily Times has walked out in order to meet their deadline.The Times could have brought in their own laptop and stayed later but they still choose to go the old school way.

The Salisbury Zoo, Public Works Inspectors recognized maintenance and public safety at the Zoo is a problem the boardwalk in the Bison area. The Zoo Commission has donated $10,000.00 worth of lumber to repair and replace that lumber needed and it passes unanimously.

Mr. Moore is present and Pick is expressing Moore put in more than $200,000.00 worth of improvements to the commercial portion of this property. Wilber refuses to make any statement towards how he sees things.

Pick, "I do not know the exact method at the Department of assessment and taxation." Campbell is again asking to bring it back to a work session for a full understanding on this proposal so they can make an educated decision. They're waiting for a motion. Personally, I think Mr. Moore has some pretty big ones asking for this. I'm not saying he's not an asset to this community, he is. However, this is a ridiculous request.

Mr. Moore is approaching. We included sprinkler heads, an elevator for all 50,000 sq. ft. Mr. Moore doesn't realize that he had to do all of the above in order to get the residential condos. He wants 3/4 of his building for enterprise zone.

Mr. Moore is being very cocky and interrupting Debbie Campbell time and time again. He's challenging Mrs. Campbell's interpretation of the State Website information. All Debbie is asking for is to take it to a work session to make sure they're properly educated and everyone needs to know this was just brought to the Council today and they're trying to push it through at the last second, once again.

They denied Debbie's motion to bring it back to a work session. The amendment passed will clearly state they will only vote it through with language that this is for the commercial space only. However, I still don't believe he's improved the commercial space for the proper reasons to receive an enterprise zone status.

The main portion of the meeting is over and they're now in public comments.

Residential Units Applying For An Enterprise Zone?

John Pick allowed onto tonight's agenda, (obviously with the Mayor's consent) an application from David Moore to take his new Manhattan Condos on Main Street to go through as an Enterprise Zone. THANK YOU BARRIE TILGHMAN! If this doesn't prove once again that there are in fact FOB's, I don't know what to tell you.

Residential Units CANNOT be accepted into an Enterprise Zone, you Idiots! The item has been asked to be removed from the agenda but as of this moment it has not. It has been confirmed residential units do not qualify but you know this Mayor, she'll push it till the very last man has fallen. So once again, You've Been Blogged!

UNBELIEVABLE!

UPDATE: I am LIVE in the GOB. Pick is immediately claiming there was $200,000.00 worth of repairs to the commercial portion of the building, therefore they're now asking for this designation for that portion of the building. Now, between you and the rest of us on this Blog, why would someone apply for this if the amount is so minimal. Debbie Campbell is asking to take this to a work session. Cohen stated they usually get documents with figures ahead of time as they have received next to nothing.

I was told there are only 5 residential units that have been sold, one of them went to the owner, David Moore. They are asking to remove it from this agenda and Louise, Gary & Shanie refused to drop it from the agenda, GO FIGURE!

Breaking News: Harris Campaign Outraised Opponent 2 To 1

Annapolis: Today, the Andy Harris campaign released their first quarter fundraising totals showing they outraised their Democratic opponent by a more than two to one margin. The Andy Harris for Congress campaign raised $401,168.22 this quarter and has $204,325.84 cash on hand.

This report covers all contributions and expenses from January 24, 2008 through March 31, 2008. The Harris campaign raised, on average, $5,987 a day.

"I have been humbled by the overwhelming financial support from the many individuals who agree with my vision of lowering taxes and decreasing government spending to stimulate the economy," said Andy Harris.

"Andy's positive message is resonating with voters, which has led to this overwhelming support for his campaign," said Chris Meekins, Campaign Manager for Andy Harris for Congress. "Doubling our opponents fundraising totals clearly shows the Andy Harris campaign has the support and momentum in the General Election."

Fast Facts:

Total Contributions Year to Date: 1,499,193.69

Total Contributions this Report: 401,168.22
Total Disbursements Year to Date: 1,286,663.47
Total Disbursements this Report: 569,293.46
Cash on Hand: 204,325.84

I Met A True War Hero Last Night

Last night I was at a Lincoln Day Dinner with several politicians and one of the representatives there was with the John McCain Campaign.

One would expect when you meet one of these Delegates you'd think they're simply a local politician. However, in this case, this was a man no one would have ever expected to be.

I was honored to break bread with this man. I sat at the same table with him for hours and to my surprise they asked him to please come up and say a few words. WELL, Mr. Mike Cronin got up[ there and just blew everyone away with his experiences.

You see, it turns out Mike was a POW with John McCain in Hanoi for 6 YEARS! He explained how difficult things were there, especially for John McCain. The reason being is, John McCain was injured when he crashed his plane and the injured got NO medical treatment. Broken bones healed crooked and any internal injuries in most cases killed many Soldiers.

John McCain was injured in several different ways but survived. The other main problem John McCain had was that they found out he was politically connected. It not only made things more difficult for him, they made him offers to send him home if he shared information and John refused to do so. He was a true Hero.

Nevertheless, I was honored to have met this man and I will never forget him. John McCain is a very lucky man to have such a great friend, especially after all these years.

This weeks DVD releases:4/15/08

Juno on DVD

New on DVD this week for the first time:

• "Juno"-(I saw it and loved it!)
• "Alien vs Predator:Requiem"
• "Lars and the Real Girl"

Other DVD releases:

• "Laurence of Arabia"(1962)-2 disc set
• "A Passage to India"(1984)-2 disc set
• "Retribution"
• "War Dance
• "The Clash Live - Revolution Rock"

TV on DVD

• "Melrose Place-The Fourth Season"-9 disc set
• "How the Earth Was Made-History Channel"

COUNTY EXECUTIVE TO DISTRIBUTE ENRICHMENT GRANTS

Wicomico County Executive Richard M. Pollitt, Jr., budgeted $50,000 in Fiscal Year 2008 as grant money to be distributed to deserving non-profit organizations in Wicomico County. Following a process of inviting and screening applicants, Mr. Pollitt will distribute his first Community Enrichment Grants to 14 worthy groups at a presentation ceremony at 5:30 P.M. next Tuesday, April 15th, in the DaNang Room at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center.

The organizations receiving funding are: Art Institute & Gallery/ Big Brothers, Big Sisters/Deaf Independent Living Association/Dove Pointe Daycare Field Trips/Easter Seals/Girl Scouts/Kappa Alpha Psi/Lower Shore American Red Cross/MAC, Inc./Salisbury Advisory Youth Council/Salisbury Jaycees/Salvation Army Awards Banquet/SHORE UP!/Urban Salisbury.

Mr. Pollitt will announce the amount of the grants at the ceremony.

UMES Wins National Bowling Tournament, On ESPN2 Tonight!

Coach Sharon Brummell arrived with the UMES Bowling Team Champions bringing home the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP BOWLING TEAM TROPHY. The games were held in Omaha, Nebraska.

UPDATE! The match will be on ESPN2 this evening @ 7pm.

WICO BOE APPOINTMENT

Democratic Central Committee Taking Applications for Board Of Education Post

Salisbury)—The Wicomico County Democratic State Central Committee has opened the process for filling an upcoming vacancy on the Wicomico County Board of Education. Governor Martin O’Malley is scheduled to make the appointment in June.

Interested citizens must reside in Wicomico County. Send a letter of interest and an updated resume to WCDSCC, P.O. Box 988, Salisbury Maryland 21803. The deadline for submitting applications is April 25, 2008. Interviews will begin on Monday, April 28, 2008.

Any questions regarding the appointment, please contact Chairman Ernest Leatherbury, 443-250-1139 or Secretary Jim Ireton, 410-749-5712.

Fruitland Police Department Press Release

Case #: 08-917

Incident: Poss w/intent to Distribute CDS (cocaine), Poss CDS, Disorderly Conduct, Resisting Arrest

Bench Warrant – VOP ($20,000 preset bond)

Charged: Andrew Parsons Morris St, Fruitland, MD

AA Male, 42 yoa

On 04/12/08, officers observed Andrew Parsons, wanted on an outstanding warrant for Violation of Probation, in the area of Poplar St. As officers approached Parsons, he fled on foot towards Dulany Ave. After a brief pursuit, officers apprehended Parsons who resisted efforts to place him under arrest. Subsequent to Parsons’ arrest, suspected cocaine was found in his possession.

Disposition: Released to Central Booking

A Message From Congressional Candidate Andy Harris

Friends,

With the General Assembly Session over, I returned full-time to the campaign trail. Every day this weekend I was out meeting voters.

Sunday night, I was the guest speaker in Ocean City for the Worcester County Lincoln/Reagan Day Dinner. The event had a great turnout because of the hard work of the organizers.

The theme of the night was the “Unified Republican Party.” The Republican Party is unified behind John McCain as our nominee for President and myself as our nominee for Congress.

Voters have a clear choice this fall. They can choose the Democratic philosophy of bigger government, higher taxes, and more wasteful government spending,, or they can choose the Republican philosophy of smaller less intrusive government, lower taxes and a lot less spending. They can choose the Democrats desire to decrease the size of our military, or they can choose the Republican philosophy of Winning the Global War on Terror. They can choose the Democratic philosophy of open borders or the Republican philosophy of securing our border and ending illegal immigration.

The choices are clear.

God Bless,

Andy

LIVE From Room 301 In The GOB

That's right, there truly is Wi Fi access in the Government Office Building. I am currently in the Comprehensive Plan Meeting with Rick Pollitt & Mr. Nunan. More to come....

Where Does The Recall Petition Drive Stand?

I met with Jordan Reisman last week and discussed the Recall Petition Drive against the Mayor, Louise Smith and Gary Comegys. Quite frankly, I didn't feel comfortable that I was being told the truth.

When I asked how things were going, Jordan replied, well, I have about 1/2 the signatures against Louise Smith. When I again asked about the Mayor and Comegys he said, well, I thought I'd go after Louise, do you think I should still go after the Mayor?

At that point I felt uncomfortable in believing he actually has a strong signature count against anyone, so I let it be. I have been alerted that WMDT had a story with a quote from that Mayor stating, "The Mayor has said, if there's any corruption in her administration, she'll sign the petition herself."

All that being said, believe what you want.I personally do not believe their drive is as strong as Jordan wants to make it sound. Time will tell.

LIVE From The Ocean City Convention Center

We're currently on the third of five speakers expressing their departments and how they work with Volunteers. For the most part, each speaker mentions safety and most importantly, serving their community. Blah, Blah, Blah! Chief See had his chance to speak as well and I'll touch on that more later.

What I have found interesting so far is Montgomery County. They have a $200,000,000.00, that's right, a two hundred million dollar Fire Department Budget! They have 35 Stations, most of which the Volunteers own. They have 1,061 Paid Firefighters and 1,132 Volunteers. They had some 12,000 calls last year. Not a very good comparison to Ocean City.

There is going to be a "closed work session" tomorrow where everyone will have the opportunity to get their side off their chest. More to come.........

Shorebirds Hosts Best Buddies!

The Best Buddies Chapter of Salisbury University was welcomed by the Shorebirds to Sunday's game and I had the privilege to watch the game with them. Everyone was all smiles! Comprised of Salisbury University students, these students take on the honor of being a "College Buddy" to those who have intellectual disabilities. The group is officially recognized by Salisbury University and proudly has over 100 total Buddy members.

The mission of Best Buddies is to enhance the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by providing opportunities for one-to-one friendships and integrated employment.

Best Buddies try to find matches between a student and a Buddy to enhance the life of those with intellectual disabilities. When a match is found the two begin a friendship in which the College Buddy engages in activities with their Buddy and keeps contact through phone calls. Currently the minimum requirements are to talk on the phone at least twice a week and hang out twice a month. Amazingly pretty much all of the College Buddies go beyond these standards. Currently they have been able to make 26 matches.

Each month Best Buddies holds a group activity which everyone participates in. They held a Valentines Dance, Picnics at the Zoo, and Shorebirds games which are one of the most anticipated events of the year. Over 60 members of the group showed up for the game! As you can tell by the pictures they had a ton of fun and I had a wonderful time talking with everyone. They all really got into the game and were true fans.

If you have any questions or would like to donate please contact Daphni at dm17116@students.salisbury.edu

http://www.bestbuddies.org/

Major Meeting All Day In Ocean City

Monday will be a very long day for the OC Mayor, City Council, OC Fire Department and several other Fire Chief's from around the State of Maryland.

I met with Mayor Mehan this evening who invited me out tomorrow from 9 to 5 for an all day meeting with several Fire Chiefs in an attempt to negotiate some kind of agreement with the Volunteer Fire Service in Ocean City.

I'm told one of the Fire Chief's will be Salisbury's very own Fire Chief See. The idea is to open some dialogue with other departments to see just how they can blend such a mix and make it work.

That being said, it looks like I'll be LIVE all day from Ocean City. I'll be sure to drop by the old Dough Roller and do a follow up on what's left in that location as well as some other stories I've been looking into out there.

There's one story I'll touch on and that's a new herb Salvia, (sp?) being sold at many of the Sunsations around town. I'm told it's very similar to LSD and legal across the counter right now. I was also informed many Hospitals are unaware of what it is, therefore they don't know how to treat someone who od's on it. More to come.....

Sludge Project In Baltimore Inner City

Scientists using federal grants spread fertilizer made from human and industrial wastes on yards in poor, black neighborhoods to test whether it might protect children from lead poisoning in the soil. Families were assured the sludge was safe and were never told about any harmful ingredients.

Nine low-income families in Baltimore row houses agreed to let researchers till the sewage sludge into their yards and plant new grass. In exchange, they were given food coupons as well as the free lawns as part of a study published in 2005 and funded by the Housing and Urban Development Department.

The Associated Press reviewed grant documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and interviewed researchers. No one involved with the $446,231 grant for the two-year study would identify the participants, citing privacy concerns. There is no evidence there was ever any medical follow-up.

Comparable research was conducted by the Agriculture Department and Environmental Protection Agency in a similarly poor, black neighborhood in East St. Louis, Ill.

The sludge, researchers said, put the children at less risk of brain or nerve damage from lead, a highly toxic element once widely used in gasoline and paint. Other studies have shown brain damage among children, often in poor neighborhoods, who ate lead-based paint that had flaked off their homes.

The idea that sludge - the leftover semisolid wastes filtered from water pollution at 16,500 treatment plants - can be turned into something harmless, even if swallowed, has been a tenet of federal policy for three decades.

In a 1978 memo, the EPA said sludge "contains nutrients and organic matter which have considerable benefit for land and crops" despite the presence of "low levels of toxic substances."

But in the late 1990s the government began underwriting studies such as those in Baltimore and East St. Louis using poor neighborhoods as laboratories to make a case that sludge may also directly benefit human health.

Meanwhile, there has been a paucity of research into the possible harmful effects of heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, other chemicals and disease-causing microorganisms often found in sludge.

A series of reports by the EPA's inspector general and the National Academy of Sciences between 1996 and 2002 faulted the adequacy of the science behind the EPA's 1993 regulations on sludge.

The chairman of the 2002 academy panel, Thomas Burke, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says epidemiological studies have never been done to show whether spreading sludge on land is safe.

"There are potential pathogens and chemicals that are not in the realm of safe," Burke told the AP. "What's needed are more studies on what's going on with the pathogens in sludge - are we actually removing them? The commitment to connecting the dots hasn't been there."

That's not what the subjects of the Baltimore and East St. Louis research were told.

Rufus Chaney, an Agriculture Department research agronomist who co-wrote the Baltimore study, said the researchers provided the families with brochures about lead hazards, tested the soil in their yards and gave assurances that the Orgro fertilizer was store-bought and perfectly safe.

"They were told that their lawn, as it stood, before it was treated, was a lead danger to their children," said Chaney. "So that even if they ate some of the soil, there would not be as much of a risk as there was before. And that's what the science shows."

Chaney said the Baltimore neighborhoods were chosen because they were within an economically depressed area qualifying for tax incentives. He acknowledged the families were not told there have been some safety disputes and health complaints over sludge.

"They were told that it was composted biosolids that are available for sale commercially in the state of Maryland. I don't think there's any other further disclosure required," Chaney said. "There was danger before. There wasn't danger because of the biosolids compost. Composting, of course, kills pathogens."

The Baltimore study concluded that phosphate and iron in sludge can increase the ability of soil to trap more harmful metals including lead, cadmium and zinc, causing the combination to pass safely through a child's body if eaten.

It called the fertilizer "a simple low-cost" technology for parents and communities "to reduce risk to their children" who are in danger of lead contamination. The results were published in Science of the Total Environment, an international research journal, in 2005.

Another study investigating whether sludge might inhibit the "bioavailability" of lead - the rate it enters the bloodstream and circulates to organs and tissues - was conducted on a vacant lot in East St. Louis next to an elementary school, all of whose 300 students were black and almost entirely from low-income families.

In a newsletter, the EPA-funded Community Environmental Resource Program assured local residents it was all safe.

"Though the lot will be closed off to the public, if people - particularly children - get some of the lead contaminated dirt in their mouths, the lead will just pass through their bodies and not be absorbed," the newsletter said. "Without this iron-phosphorus mix, lead poisoning would occur."

Soil chemist Murray McBride, director of the Cornell Waste Management Institute, said he doesn't doubt that sludge can bind lead in soil.

But when eaten, "it's not at all clear that the sludge binding the lead will be preserved in the acidity of the stomach," he said. "Actually thinking about a child ingesting this, there's a very good chance that it's not safe."

McBride and others also questioned the choice of neighborhoods for the studies and why residents were not told about other, possibly harmful ingredients in sludge.

"If you're not telling them what kinds of chemicals could be in there, how could they even make an informed decision. If you're telling them it's absolutely safe, then it's not ethical," McBride said. "In many relatively wealthy people's neighborhoods, I would think that people would research this a little and see a problem and raise a red flag."

The Baltimore study used a compost of sludge mixed with sawdust and wood chips packaged as "biosolids," the term for sludge preferred by government and the waste industry.

"What we did was make the yards greener," said Pat Tracey, a Johns Hopkins University community relations coordinator who recalled helping with the lawn work. "They were bald, bad yards. It was considered sterile fertilizer."

Baltimore environmental activist Glenn Ross says choosing poor neighborhoods destined for demolition makes it hard to track a study's participants. "If you wanted to do something very questionable, you would do it in a neighborhood that's not going to be there in a few years," he said.

HUD documents show the study's lead author, Mark Farfel, has pursued several other studies of lead contamination including the risks of exposure from urban housing demolitions and the vacant lots left behind.

Farfel has since moved to New York, where he directs the World Trade Center Health Registry surveying tens of thousands of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. He denied repeated requests for interviews and referred questions to Baltimore's Kennedy Krieger Institute, the children's research facility that was the recipient of HUD grants with Farfel as project manager.

The institute referred questions to Joann Rodgers, a spokeswoman for Johns Hopkins. She said a review board within its medical school approved the study and the consent forms provided to families that participated. "The study did not test children or other family members living in the homes," she said.

Some of Farfel's previous research has been controversial.

In 2001, Maryland's highest court chastised him, Kennedy Krieger and Johns Hopkins over a study bankrolled by EPA in which researchers testing low-cost ways to control lead hazards exposed more than 75 poor children to lead-based paint in partially renovated houses.

Families of two children alleged to have suffered elevated blood-lead levels and brain damage sued the institute and later settled for an undisclosed amount.

The Maryland Court of Appeals likened the study to Nazi medical research on concentration camp prisoners, the U.S. government's 40-year Tuskegee study that denied treatment for syphilis to black men in order to study the illness and Japan's use of "plague bombs" in World War II to infect and study entire villages.

"These programs were somewhat alike in the vulnerability of the subjects: uneducated African-American men, debilitated patients in a charity hospital, prisoners of war, inmates of concentration camps and others falling within the custody and control of the agencies conducting or approving the experiments," the court said."

The Daily Times Just Can't Keep Reporters

Here is a list of Reporters who have come and gone with the Daily Times. Have I forgotten anyone?

1. John Bozman
2. Dan Valentine
3. Joe Cacchiolli
4. John Vandiver
5. Joe Gidjunis
6. Monique Lewis
7. Laren Hall-Hughes
8. Katherine Crowell
9. James Fisher

"Juno" (2007)

One of the best movies coming out on DVD this week will be Jason Reitmans "Juno", and the title character is a sarcastic and independent-minded 16 year old girl who gets pregnant by her best guy-friend and decides ultimately to give her baby up for adoption. She selects an uber-yuppie couple played by Jason Bateman & Jenifer Garner to adopt her child and develops a deep bond with them over the course of her pregnancy.

Juno, played by Ellen Page, is already ostracized at her high school because she is a noncomformist and she encounters alot of judgemental people in school and out as she gets bigger. In one outstanding scene, she is the target of an ultrasound techinicians' scorn for being a teen mother and her stepmother tells the tech off.Juno also experiences ups and downs in her relationship with Bleeker,the father of her child.Their platonic friendship gets strained, naturally and eventually she discovers she loved him along.

This movie impressed me because it portrayed a very positive and responsible solution to a common social problem.Movies like last years "Knocked Up" make for a hilarious comedy, but how many yuppie fast track women are going to raise a baby with a drunken out-of-work slacker who impregnated them during a boozy encounter? On the other end of the spectrum, characters on TV and movies getting abortions have become the norm in liberal with-it Hollywood. It's just nice to see a story about someone faced with the same problem who takes the high road.

It also has an offbeat soundtrack with tunes by Lou Reed and The Kinks, just to name a couple. "Juno" will be released in two days on DVD and I totally recommend it!

Quote of the Day

I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale. Thomas Jefferson