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Sunday, May 04, 2008

Pocomoke City Skatepark is OPEN - Grayson Burke's Review: I LOVE IT

Half PipeAfter going to City Hall with both parents who had to produce positive government issued ID and signing the application in front of a city employee.

Then we enjoyed a family trip to the 'Lock-up' section downstairs at the Pocomoke City Police Dept to have 'skater mug-shots' taken. The people at the station were very friendly and explained the process is new and they will work out a 'system' for the kids.

We received a call from Angel Thornes at the Pocomoke PD 2-hours later letting us know that the card was ready and had Grayson pick up his "Offical Skatepark card" in person after school the next day. (He was so excited)

Thursday night we checked all of our stock skateboard equipment and discovered his board had a split wheel so we drove to Toy's R Us in Salisbury Saturday to purchase a new skateboard and helmet... arriving back in Pocomoke after dark to a closed skatepark.

Talk about a kid filled with anticipation who could care less about any adult bickering, he was finally going to get to skate in the new skatepark.

10:34 AM we arrived only to find the gate locked so I called the station and they told me that an officer had already been dispatched to open the park for us. She was very friendly, opened the gate and told me there had been a grand total of 4 (four) kids there on Saturday...

Grayson did not care he was first and had it all to himself, he promptly ran to the top of the small ramp, skated down and shouted: I LOVE THIS SKATEPARK!

Small ramp

He skated all over everything up and down but I quickly realized that the kid needs a little instruction from the old man... but the cop who opened the gate sat in her car the whole time I did not want to "illegally" demonstrate how to do a kickturn on a ramp to my son. I decided then and there to obtain a pass for myself and would encourage any parent who has ever skated to get one too. (if its free then its for me)

Police Supervision @ P-City Skatepark

Yes the park is a little small and the equipment is jammed together, but Grayson did not notice and he wants to go back for an afternoon session.

We would like to organize a community group to raise funds to improve the skatepark.

PARENTS IF YOU HAVE NOT REGISTERED YOUR CHILDREN DOWNLOAD THE FORMS AND GET THEM SIGNED UP THEY WILL THANK YOU FOR IT.

UnHappy

I am very unhappy with Delmarva Now's Parent Company that owns the Daily
Times.


My oldest daughter has been working there for a while, and during the
transition, she worked 7 nights a week for weeks on end, because they were
"short handed". While some of her co workers quit, and came back, took
breaks smoking "weed" in the parking lot, and played games while work
should have been done. Her supervisor(s) chose to ignore all of this.

She was blamed for mistakes that another worker did, and ended up doing
work, that other workers should have been doing.

Today, she was laid off, due to the fact that they don't need her anymore.
Now, she couldn't take vacation over Christmas, (even though it was take
it or lose it), because they were in the middle of the transition, and
short handed. Now, they don't need her anymore. I don't know if the
hired new people and are replacing her, or if they knew all along that
they only needed her for the transition, but I do know that I think that
the newspaper is not what I thought it was.

I won't mention the names of the people that made it a bad place to work.

I will mention that when she worked at the Pocomoke Office of the
Worcester County Paper for Bill Kerbin, she was never treated this way.
Mr. Kerbin was the kindest most considerate boss that she could ever have
asked for. If he could have kept the paper, and hired her with full time
hours and benefits, she would have stayed there forever.

SU's Relay For Life A Hit!

Thanks goes out to all the Relay Teams, individuals, volunteers, and all who donated to this amazing cause. $89,098 was raised this year!

Students and guests came together in a healing and remembrance process to actively live with a terrible aspect of nature. Despite some painful memories of the past the event went on without a hitch and some great times ensued. SU's students always come up with some great fundraising activities. My personal favorite was a Plinko board from The Price is Right. You could get food, a massage, your nails painted, or put some one in jail. Most of SU's groups were represented from varsity athletes, clubs, and Greek Life.

My favorite part of Relay outside of the main intention is that Relay is good clean fun. For the whole night students play some type of sport; playing catch with footballs and the old mitt; playing some Ultimate Frisbee; kickball; and even a giant game of twister on a giant homemade twister board. It is quite the amazing site!

Best wishes and blessings go out the families who have had cancer enter into their lives and to all those who brought the event to fruition or helped in some way.

Live At The Shorebirds...

Delmarva Shorebirds (16-13) vs. West Virginia Power (11-18).
Starting Pitchers - Delmarva, Luis Noel (1-0, 3.28 ERA) Power, R.J. Siedel (1-2, 4.43 ERA).

Top of the 1st- Lee Haydel grounded out. Noel K'd Brent Brewer and Jonathan Lucroy swinging. 0-0.

Bottom of the 1st - Matt Angle grounded out. Matt Tucker advanced to first after getting beamed in the gut by a pitch. Tyler Henson drilled one up the middle advancing Tucker to third and arriving at 1st. Joe Mahoney grounds out into a inning ending double play. 0-0.

Top of the 2nd - Zelous Wheel lined out to 2nd. Caleb Gindl walked to 1st. Curt Rindal flied out left field for the 2nd out. Steffan Wilson hit one to short left for a single and Gindl moved to 2nd. Ulrich Snijders popped out to left to end the threat. 0-0.


Bottom of the 2nd - Anthony Martinez dribbled one in the infield for the first out. Joe Nowicki gets one to land in left for a hit. Brendan Monaghan moves Nowicki to 2nd on a dribble down the third base line but is thrown out at 1st. After a nice snag on a Pedro Sliveren hit down the first base line, RJ Sidel could not hold on to the toss from first baseman Steffan Wilson for the out. Nowicki scored! Calvin Lester was walked, men on first and 2nd. Matt Angle grounds out to end the inning. 1-0 Shorebirds.

Top of the 3rd - David Fronseca walked to open up the side. Haydel flied out to center for the first out. Brewer K'd by Noel for the 2nd out. Fronseca stole 2nd base. Lucroy K'd to end the inning. Thats Noel's 4th K of the game. 1-0 Birds.

Bottom of the 3rd - Tucker grounded out to start the inning. Tyler Henson stretched out a hit down the third base line for a triple. Joe Mahoney got a sac fly RBI to score Henson. Martinez grounded out to end the inning. 2-0 Birds.

Top of the 4th - Tyler Henson made a sliding grab to get Wheeler out at first. Gindl grounded out for the 2nd out of the inning. Rindal got K'd for the final out. 2-0 Birds.

Bottom of the 4th - Nowicki almost took RJ Siedel's head off with a single straight up the middle. Monaghan grounded out but Nowicki reaches 2nd safely. Silveren hitted one to center and it got bobbled allowing Silveren to make it to 2nd and allowing Nowicki to score. Lester grounded out moving Silveren to 3rd. Angle grounded out to end the innning. 3-0 Birds.

Top of the 5th - Ryan Adams came in at shortstop replacing Henson. Wilson got a lead off solo HR. Snijders got one to drop to left for a single. Fonseca popped out to right. Haydel lined out to left center for the 2nd out. Brewer K'd to end the inning. 3-1 Birds.

Bottom of the 5th - Ryan Adams flied out to start the inning. Henson grounded out for the 2nd out. Mahoney ends the inning with a ground out. 3-1 Birds.

Top of the 6th - Shane Matthews came in for relief. Lucroy walked to start the 6th. Lucroy advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch. Wheeler K'd for the first out. Gindle took 1st after getting hit by a pitch. Rindal grounded into a fielders choice, Lucroy moved to third. Steffan Wilson flies out to end the threat. 3-1 Birds.

Bottom of the 6th - Martinez flew out for the first out. Nowicki got K'd looking. Monaghan gets a hit to right field. Silveren grounded out to end the inning. 3-1 Birds.

Top of the 7th - Snijder pounded one to left for a lead off single. Houin K'd by Matthews. Haydel drilled one to Silveren, but he could not hold on. Men on 1st and 2nd. Matt Tucker botches a double play ball throwing it into the dugout; Snijder scored. Lucroy grounded out to end the inning. 3-2 Birds.

Bottom of the 7th - Lester grounded out to start the bottom of the 7th. Matt Angle beat out the throw on a dribble. Ryan Adams hit a triple and Angle scored. Free Hardee's Thickburgers to everyone in attendence! Henson K'd swinging. Mahoney grounded out to end the inning. 4-2 Birds.

Top of the 8th - Wheeler got walked to start the inning. Gindl soared one to left for the first out. Rindal grounded out for out #2. Wilson grounded out to third for the final out. 4-2 Birds.

Bottom of the 8th - Martinez popped out to start the side. Nowicki got a 1 out single up the middle. Monaghan grounded out moving Nowicki to 2nd. Silveren grounded out to end the inning. 4-2 Birds.

Top of the 9th - Brian Parker in for the Save. Snijders got sat down swinging. Haydel gets a single. Brewer ends the game with a pop out.

Noel (2-0) gets the win and Siedel (1-3) gets the loss. Parker gets the save.
The Birds take the 5 of the last 6 and improves to 17-13 and the Power are 11-19.

8,197 Visitors At Shorebirds Game Last Night

Last night proved to be the finest turn out of the season at the Shorebirds Game with 8,197 people visiting the game and enjoying the Fireworks.

Today's game will start off at 2:05 PM so if you're looking for something to do, it's a beautiful day for Baseball!

The United Way Carnival of Non Profit Organizations surround the Stadium inside and out. This is a way for people to learn more about each organization and hopefully participate in volunteering your time with the charity of your choice.

Sadly, many people don't recognize these fine groups until some kind of tragedy hits home. Come out and learn what these groups offer and hopefully you'll participate before one of these situations hits home.

Salisbury Philosophy Symposium A Huge Success

With standing room only the Salisbury Philosophy community paid tribute to Dr. Jerry Miller for 28 years of service. Dr. Miller founded the philosophy program at Salisbury and has brought major up to the forefront of the ranks of chosen majors by students. Thunderous roar like a summer storm welcomed him when he took the podium causing the modest professor to yell at everyone to quit being "jerks"!

Known for his quirkiness of throwing erasers, shoes, cups of pop (I'm a Midwest boy, we say pop, so soda for the rest of the Shore), and any other hosts of objects ready at hand while wearing a bright yellow NAACP jacket is one of the most profound intellectuals at the school. Dr. Miller's veracity for the commitment of searching for meaning through philosophy has developed a cult following with majors and non majors alike. Simply put Dr. Miller has taken the intimations of students of their current world and challenged them to develop those intimations into full mature insights. Once accepted, no one turns back, though often it is a struggle with him.

The Symposium centered around Dr. Miller's essay "The Way of Suffering: A Reasoning of the Heart" which addressed the ideas of a Lewis Hyde's' "Gift Economy", the opening up of the heart, and how to be when evil is done or has been done to you. I could give you a detailed explanation but to correctly elucidate his position I would be writing another 20 page paper for him.

Most astonishing was the outpouring support for the Philosophy Dept. from an auction of some of Dr. Miller's "artifacts" from the years. His NAACP Jacket fetched $305 dollars and was promptly donated back to Dr. Miller who was on his knees not wanting to give up his prized possession! His glasses brought in over $200 and overall his goods brought in $1200 plus for the Dept.

Dr. Miller will be a scheme of recurrence at Salisbury for ever. A man of his stature and love of his life, the commitment to philosophy and family, will be an enduring tradition which will be a beacon for undergrads to follow! Dr. Miller you will be missed!

http://www.salisbury.edu/philosophy/

The Lower Shore Special Olympics









Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the Lower Shore Special Olympics and you have to admit, there couldn't be a more perfect day for this outdoor event.

The beginning of the event had the WCSO, SPD and even the Berlin Sheriff arriving with the Torch with sirens blasting and lights all over the place letting everyone know, something very special was about to happen.

There was a fantastic crowd of people visiting to watch each event and the participants couldn't be more excited.

Sandstorm In Iraq


Joe, this is a picture my nephew took of an oncoming sandstorm in Iraq.

Question of the Day

What have you done to ease the price of fuel for yourself/family?

Have you had to purchase a different vehicle with better gas mileage? Have you had to sell some things? Do you carpool? Do you buy from Ray ?(just kidding) What's your take on the gas prices and do you feel there is an end in sight? Have you had to skimp on other material things to help feed your fuel tank?