The Day I Lost my Innocence

I know this is long but very poignant from a man that was there...

Distant Echoes of Vietnam

The Day I Lost My Innocence

By William P. O'Connor with written permission from William P. O'Connor

01/05/08 "Counterpunch" -- -- When I was nineteen I was stationed in a remote Laotian village on the Mekong River. I was an Irish kid from the Bronx, over twelve thousand miles from home. It had been a twenty-two hour plane ride to get, “in country” and another four excruciating hours strapped to a cloth harness in the perimeter of a cargo plane to get to Nakhon Phenom, a town Bob Hope called, “the armpit of the world.” My first day in town seems surreal now. I remember walking up a dirt road and gaping at a yak being prodded by a toothless woman in a sarong.

Sadly, I remember even more clearly the nausea in my own well-fed stomach, as I turned a corner and was confronted with throngs of swollen bellies huddled on the side of the road. Attached to the swollen bellies were revoltingly emaciated bodies with twig like arms extended for food. The voices belonging to the bellies wanted money: money to buy food, money to make the pain of hunger go away.

I had some money, not enough for their needs, not all of them. “Do I give all I have?” I thought, “How else could I claim to be human? But what about tomorrow? There won’t be any fewer of them tomorrow.” I was only nineteen and I had no idea when I signed my enlistment paper a year earlier that this dusty dirt trail in a remote village I had never heard of was where I was destined to have a head-on collision with my humanity. A boy should not have to make a decision like this. I loved my country in a way maybe only an immigrant can. I felt I owed it everything and when my country led me to believe I was needed to stop communist aggression, I was happy to settle my debt.

The heat is heavy in the jungle and like a spoiled overweight child it insists on being carried everywhere. You can’t put it down for a second. The heat wears you out and beats you up and when it goes away after nine tedious arid months, the jungle hands the baton to another thug to finish you off. The thug that grabs the hand off is called monsoon, and he brings with him a never-ending torrent of rain every day and night for three months. Monsoon turns the soil into a gigantic sponge which sops up every drop of water from the jungle canopy and turns the cracked soil into a sea of mud.

Mud was everywhere, not just midst the mangroves, but in the hootches where we slept, in the showers where we washed, on our toothbrushes and shaving gear; mud was in parts of our body almost as remote as the jungle itself. The mud mixed with the dampness and gave it a texture much more permanent and penetrating, like cement.

Not surprisingly, the enlistment brochures didn’t contain any pictures of the mud nor of the seventy thousand American boys who were shipped home inside body bags. Those seventy thousand poor young boys who were once dirty and wet were now clean and dry, clean and dry and dead. They believed that their sacrifice was necessary so that the Vietnamese could be free and make their own choices; to insure this fundamental right of man, they would, in the words of President Kennedy, “pay any price, bear any burden.” The price they paid was the ultimate one.

The men who paid this exorbitant price were swindled, they were not shown U.S. intelligence reports declaring that if there were free elections in Viet Nam, Ho Chi Min and his communist party would have won overwhelmingly, and so there could be no free elections. Instead, the U. S. would install a Christian puppet friendly to our government, Diem. According to then Secretary of Defense McNamara, President Johnson called Diem, “a son of a bitch, but our son of a bitch” (McNamara 141).

The installation of Diem was only one of several deceitful actions taken by the U.S. government during the war. According to President Johnson, the U.S.S. Maddox was fired upon by North Vietnamese forces. This so-called attack in international waters led to the direct and massive build up of American forces in the region. Many years after the Gulf of Tonkin resolution was passed, however, President Johnson said, “Hell, for all I know, we could have been shooting at a bunch of seals out there” (McNamara 141). The young soldiers in the field were not privy to such remarks.

No the generation of young men who fought the Viet Nam war trusted authority. We thought because people in authority are experienced, they usually know best. We were hopeful and idealistic, and the majority of us believed in our country. We were told that freedom has a price and we lived in a country that represented democracy and freedom around the globe. We also believed, as we know now erroneously, that our government was committed to this paradigm. Age has not blessed me with wisdom, but I do know old men make the wars, and I sincerely believe that they feel truth is just a game, a game for children and a game that must be played by young idealistic boys.

Old men make the wars, but they don’t fight the fight. The congressmen that declare war are too important to fight, too important and too busy. They are too busy lobbying, too busy collecting the lucrative pensions they have allocated themselves, and too busy assigning defense contracts to companies that will employ them after their tenure in congress. Combat is for the young, who have mountains of time and for whom the years mean nothing. A young man may feel immortal, but a body bag doesn’t have room for such a delusion. Reality registers quickly in combat and options must be weighed: he cannot desert, for all that’s out there is the enemy and the jungle. If he decides the stockade is preferable to death, he is abandoning his brothers and forfeiting his honor. The young hold both honor and the approval of their peers priceless, so once they get to the battlefield they commence to kill.

The perpetual conundrum of the old men who declare war is how to get the young boys to commit to the battle field. They have solved this conundrum by selling young boys on a counterfeit cause: freedom. War is somehow always about freedom, whether it is insuring it, or making the world safe for it; the men who spin these yarns preach that the only way to insure freedom is to liberate the villages, liberate the towns, and liberate the cities. We did that in Nam. We would send in mortars to soften up a village and then spray it with machine gun fire before occupying it and killing whoever we suspected might be the enemy. After the patrols, some of us would wash away the memories of such philanthropic antics with tumblers of Johnny Walker. We drank at the community lean-to back at the base, a lean-to which was appropriately christened, “Bombs for Peace.” I vividly recall guzzling a pitcher of Manhattans and looking up at the television set to see President Nixon making an urgent address to the nation. His words were clear, emphatic, concise, and complete bullshit. “We are not now, nor have we ever, bombed the country of Laos”(Sheehan 310). So I finished my drink, rolled a nice fat joint, and went outside to smoke it, because it was 8:45 now. The Air Force usually started the napalming of Laos about nine. I didn’t want to miss the show. After all, how many people get to see bombs that don’t exist?

I am old enough now to comb what little hair I have left with my hand, and age has replaced my innocence with cynicism. It has been six years now in Iraq, long past the six weeks or six months that the war makers predicted. The people whose country we have occupied did not have links to Al Qaeda and they were not responsible for blowing up the World Trade Center. We have long since given up finding the weapons that we were told they had. We have forced two million Iraqis to leave their country and have killed, by most accounts, a million more. We have obliterated their bridges, hospitals and schools. We have succeeded in getting four thousand brave Americans killed and we have managed to get seventy thousand more maimed at a cost of what could ultimately be three trillion dollars.

The Iraq War is a national travesty that brings to my mind a distant echo, an echo that reverberated in my brain much too often in Viet Nam. An echo which belonged to a voice heard more than half a century ago in another country in yet another war for freedom. An anonymous young soldier, just arrived in Normandy during WWII, look around him at the devastation wrought by the withdrawing forces and said, “Boy, we liberated the hell out of them.”

References

McNamara, Robert S. In Retrospect. New York: Random House, 1995.
Sheehan, Neil. A Bright Shining Lie. New York: Random House, 1998.

William P. O’Connor enlisted in the Air Force on August 1, 1966. He served in the Vietnam War from August 1969 to August 1970 in Nakhon Phanom in Northern Thailand. William was born in County Cork, Ireland in 1948. He is a former pub owner and retired NYC fire fighter. He may be contacted at williampoconnor@hotmail.com.

BC Responds To Today's Liquor Dispensary Article

1. I find it interesting that you don't show the whole ad. What is there that you don't agree with.

2. The LCB has ZERO to do with the county. IT IS ALL state mandated. That means your wonderful guvnah is in charge of it, not the local yocals you call a county council.

3. ANY business that takes its employees to lunch, or dinner, or gives them a bonus, is ultimately doing it with their customers money. So I guess what you want is every LCB employee to get $6.15 an hour and no benefits, because that would equal lower costs right??? Have you ever done anything for your employees?!? Either you are a scrooge of a boss, or you are raising your costs and taking care of your people. Where do you expect them to go to dinner, Brew River???

4. SERIOUSLY, with all the crap that is going on on the shore, you are still worried about an organization which you have no jurisdiction over at this time, which gives you $400 k a year.

5. Stewart Haemel is not Barrie Tilghman!!! Not even close. Stevie Prettyman on the other hand, Her personality, and the results of her politics, THAT is more like Tilghman.

6. Let us not forget - Stevie Prettyman LIED at that council meeting when she grandstanded and threw the beer on the table - beer she did NOT buy at a dispensary (they never sold Bud Light!!!) But YOU won't ask her for the receipt, probably because she never had it.

7. I know this won't see the blog, but I know you read it, and you know everything I've said is true.

Good enough for me. Seriously, if you really want a villian, look at the county council. Those are the most dishonest people around you.

11. btw...It was Nancy Reagan's 11th commandment that you keep disregarding, not Ronald's.

and I'm B.C., in N.C. I don't need anonymity, just don't use any of that other stuff.

Andy Harris for Congress Press Announcement

"Beach Replenishment is an Investment in Our Economy"
Harris tours beach replenishment project in Ocean City

Ocean City - Thursday afternoon, State Senator Andy Harris, the Republican nominee for Congress in Maryland's first district, met with leaders in Ocean City to discuss the beach replenishment project as part of Ocean City's overall economy.

Mayor Meehan and City Engineer Terry McGean discussed the size and scope of the beach replenishment project. After speaking to the press, Andy loaded into the SUV with the Mayor and City Engineer and toured the dunes and beach replenishment project.

With the economy slowing across the country, Andy Harris has made economic growth a pillar of his campaign. Andy Harris believes Congress must lower taxes and decrease wasteful government spending to stimulate economic growth. The beach replenishment project is the first of many stops throughout the district in which Andy will discuss how to move our economy forward.

At the press conference Harris released the following statement:

"Ocean City is an economic engine for Maryland's Eastern Shore. The beach replenishment project is an investment in our economy. This project not only benefits the people who visit Ocean City, it benefits our entire country. As a member of Congress, I will do everything in my power to keep Ocean City strong.

"From a taxpayers' perspective, this project is a great investment. The revenue the federal government receives from a vibrant Ocean City economy is dependent on the well maintained beach that the beach replenishment project provides."

!!!!BREAKING NEWS!!!!

The mother of Army E-4 Robert Lewis is going to get a wonderful Mother's Day gift: her son is returning to Salisbury from Iraq TOMORROW, AT THE AIRPORT AT 1:50 p.m.


A shout out to EVERYONE: Please join "We Care About Wicomico County", the American Legion and V.F.W. in welcoming him back home. Be at the
Airport by 1:50 p.m.--we have the banners and flags! Just show up and
help us welcome him HOME!!!!!!!!!!! It only takes a few minutes of your
time and is time well-spent to honor his service.

Animal Rights Group Dupes Donors Into Believing It Takes Care of Animals

(Columbus) - When regional retailer, Meijer, received pressure from sportsmen to sever ties with the animal rights extremists in the Humane Society of the Unites States (HSUS), some questioned why the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) acted to oppose the partnership.

“Most people simply don’t know that the HSUS is actually an animal rights organization that is opposed to any use of animals for the benefit of humans,” said USSA president and CEO Bud Pidgeon. “The public deserves to know the hidden agenda behind this is to deceive them.”

On April 24, 2008, HSUS, the world’s largest animal rights organization, announced a partnership with Meijer, a regional discount retail chain to raise $5,000 for the organization’s fund to address the purported problem of abandoned pets as a result of the national home foreclosure crisis.

The USSA, a national organization founded to protect the rights of sportsmen, responded with an alert asking hunters to contact the retailer to protest the partnership. Meijer quickly responded by canceling the arrangement. Since that time, some animal welfare activists have questioned why USSA would oppose a partnership alleged to benefit pets.

The Washington DC-based HSUS, raised $100 million dollars according to its 2006 IRS filing. Despite a name that seems tailor made to animal shelters, HSUS is in fact an animal rights organization. Its main function is to change laws that permit Americans to gain any benefit from animals. It advocates for restrictions on livestock farmers, bans on life-saving medical research performed on animals and opposes zoos, circuses and rodeos. Of course HSUS also opposes hunting. The HSUS does not operate or represent the local dog and cat shelters that exist across the United States.

“With a name like the Humane Society of the United States, it’s easy to see why some people believe that there is a connection between it and local animal shelters, which struggle every year to make ends meet,” explained Pidgeon. “HSUS spends the bulk of its money on making contributions to politicians, lobbying, lawyers and expensive 30-second advertisements to promote voter issues aimed at banning various uses of animals.”

The Humane Society uses campaigns, such as the Meijer campaign, as a public relations tool to help it raise its $100 million dollar war chest for its animal rights crusade. Evidence of this is contained within its leadership. Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the organization, is the former executive director of the Fund for Animals, which was the nation’s leading anti-hunting group. Upon accepting the executive job at HSUS, Pacelle announced a merger with the Fund for Animals and quickly hired its most ardent hunting opponents as his top management staff.

The HSUS then swallowed several anti-livestock organizations, hiring their leadership as well. Its takeover of the Doris Day Animal League has given it access to Hollywood dollars, previously the home turf of the radical People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Unlike PETA, however, Pacelle and HSUS are not interested in making a large public relations spectacle using naked models or making outrageous statements comparing the Holocaust to the slaughter of chickens. Instead, HSUS has launched a series of campaigns that put it in a positive light with animal lovers in general.

Such was the case in 2005, when HSUS created a fund to aid animals stranded as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Later, the Louisiana Attorney General’s office launched an investigation of HSUS when allegations surfaced that the money never made it to the pets in need.

In 2007 it launched a campaign to address the issue of so-called “puppy mills,” abusive large-scale commercial dog breeding operations. Using sentimental images of suffering puppies, the organization is backing legislation in Pennsylvania that would devastate small hobby breeders, dog show kennels and sporting dog enthusiasts. The legislation is so radical that it has been opposed by the American Kennel Club, United Kennel Club and even dog rescue shelters in the state.

“Taking advantage of the American people’s love for their pets, HSUS is able to deceive donors and the public into believing that the organization is in the mainstream of American values,” said Pidgeon. “It is this mainstream image that allows HSUS to raise its 100 million dollar budget to take our hunting and fishing rights away. At the same time, by deceiving animal lovers, HSUS robs financially strapped dog and cat shelters of critical funds needed to actually look after abandoned and abused pets.”

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance recommends that people who want to help real animal shelters give to their local shelter organizations.

“Some animal rights groups masquerade as pet shelters, so donating to a local organization gives the contributor the opportunity to determine how their funds will actually be spent,” said Pidgeon.

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance is a national association of sportsmen and sportsmen’s organizations that protects the rights of hunters, anglers and trappers in the courts, legislatures, at the ballot, in Congress and through public education programs. For more information about the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance and its work, call (614) 888-4868 or visit its website, www.ussportsmen.org.

Alert courtesy of: U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance

801 Kingsmill Parkway, Columbus, OH 43229

Phone: 614 888-4868 Fax: 614 888-0326

Ask The Governor: ADD-ON

I forgot to edit this paragraph in, but in any event:

PLOTKIN TIME!!! The part of the show where WTOP (103.5FM) Political Analyst Mark Plotkin joined in on the fun.

On his popularity or lack there of:
O'Malley attributed is popularity ranking just above "Glendening Territory" due to the fact that he raised taxes. But then he said it was a little more complicated than that simple answer. BLAME EHRLICH TIME AGAIN: "We were left a $1.7 billion deficit by our predecessor that red ink came crashing on us. We had to make a lot of cuts and we also had to push a lot of unpopular measures and nobody ever stands up and applauds. However even after doing that, 40 percent of the public did approve..." PIETY: "Mark, what I try to do is make the right decision based on what's in the best long term interest of the people I serve and I trust over time they figure out that's the way I am making decisions."

A VERY IMPORTANT MEETING

CITY OF SALISBURY
CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA

MAY 21, 2008 -- 6:00 p.m.
City/County Government Office Building -- Room 301

***Public Hearing - FY09 budget***

If all of the supplemental requests being made by the Tilghman Administration are granted, there could be another double digit tax rate increase next year (beginning July 1, 2008).

If the sewer and water rates being proposed by the Tilghman Administration are approved, they would increase by almost 50% in the next two years.

OUCH!

One Year Ago Today

Leave it to this Mayor, Barrie Tilghman to make sure the City gets what she wants out of that building. As things stand now, whomever puts in a RFP that suits what Barrie wants, (sometimes called FOB's) that's who they'll choose to take over that property.

It doesn't matter what the Citizens say they want done with the building, not at all. It's what the Mayor and majority of the City Council want done with it. I'll repeat, I used to own the old Fire Station 7 in Pittsville. I believe it was originally sold for $15,000.00. Look what it's worth today, more than a million dollars. So DON'T keep it in the City's possession. Sell it cheap and then let the Mayor sell all of you on how whatever goes in there will help economic & development in the City/Downtown.

As Dr. Phil would say about the Downtown Plaza and even the Arts District the Mayor created last year, HOW'S IT WORKING FOR YOU BARRIE? Heck, how's anything you've done working for you?

HELP WANTED

I'm looking for a Drywall Finisher and a Painter. If you do such work and or know someone who does contact me at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or call 410-430-5349. Joe

PRICE OF GAS AROUND THE WORLD

Prices are quoted in US dollars per gallon for regular unleaded.

Oslo, Norway $6.82

Hong Kong $6.25

Brussels, Belgium $6.16

London, UK $5.96

Rome, Italy $5.80

Tokyo, Japan $5.25

Sao Paulo, Brazil $4.42

New Delhi, India $3.71

Sidney , Australia $3.42

Johannesburg, South Africa $3.39

Mexico City $2.22

Buenos Aires , Argentina $2.09

... YOU'RE GONNA LOVE THIS ....

Riyadh , Saudi Arabia $0.91

Kuwait $0.78

Caracas , Venezuela $0.12

Hot Springs, Arkansas Who Cares? Ain't going anywhere.

Make That A Double!

Ladies & Gentlemen, this has to be, (seriously) one of the most offensive slaps in the taxpayers face I have ever seen in my entire life. If you don't get the Daily Times, the Wicomico County Liquor Dispensary didn't just run ONE ad of flat out lies, they ran TWO FULL PAGE ADS in today's Daily Times! It doesn't get any more expensive than that!

OK, so what are they trying to say here? Are they trying to tell you that they want you to know where you can purchase your liquor? Nope! Are they trying to sell you on discounted purchases you could be making? Nope! They're trying to tell you that Rick Pollitt and the County Council are lying to you when in fact the Dispensary is flat out lying in their two full page ads themselves.

They claim that most restaurants do not support buying from a distributor when in fact that's a complete lie. ALL of the people we spoke to absolutely wanted to purchase from a distributor and believed the County needed to get out of being in the liquor business.

To take ALL that money from the Taxpayers and buy TWO FULL PAGE ADS on a Friday for your own BS should be considered criminal, seriously. The three of you are out of control and my guess is after you've made this move, you've seen your last days as a dispensary.

I should tell everyone reading this as well. The Dispensary sent out a letter to ALL Staff that they were holding a discussion over DINNER at the Green Hill Country Club on May 1, 2008 and all Staff and their Families were invited to attend, AT YOUR EXPENSE, THE TAXPAYERS.

Again, this is all stuff you won't read in the Daily Times because they'd rather sell two full pages of ads and take in thousands upon thousands of dollars, therefore they can't tell you the TRUTH about what's going on around you.

What You Won't See In The Daily Times

The facts as they are presented. You can click on these images to enlarge them. Nonetheless, this is clearly a mess. It's one thing for Joe Albero to get on here and express my opinion. It's another when the facts are delivered for YOU to decipher. I'm interested in your response to these documents. I'm also interested in how you feel about the lack of presence from the Daily Times any more? They're not at meetings, events, could the end be near?

As If Last Years 14% Tax Increase Wasn't Enough

Tighten your seat belt Ladies & Gentlemen because you're about to get hit with a 45% Water & Sewer rate increase! At the City Council's work session on May 8, Salisbury's new Public Works Director recommended that course of action to keep the fund from depleting its surplus account to a dangerous level, which is what
could occur under the "no increase" budget that Barrie Tilghman has proposed
for next year, which begins in less than 60 days now.

That's right, you'll more than likely get hit with a 25% increase this coming year and another 20% increase the following year. That's IF they go with that program. The other option is a straight up 45% increase right away.

So what else will this mean? It means that once the elections are over and Barrie Tilghman runs with a no tax increase any time soon, there will be another huge tax increase the following year.

The budget is a mess and the Mayor is truly passing the buck off on the Council, not taking any responsibility for her shenanigans. Department Heads came to her with requests and she misrepresented her budget by stating none of these requests actually happened. It's the Mayor's job to show what requests were made and she absolutely did not show them.

I could go on and on for quite some time with all of this but the beef of it all is, you're going to get slammed in a very big way. Remember Folks, YOU voted for her. I'll bet everyone comes out in record numbers to make sure she's never voted in again.

It should be noted, no one from the MSM showed up last night for this meeting. That means you'll only read about it here. How convenient that not even the Daily Times showed up, eh?

Salisbury Police Department Press Releases

On May 6, 2008 at approximately 12:25 pm, Officers of the Salisbury Police Department were in the area of Wilson St. and stopped a vehicle operated by below listed suspect #1 for traffic violations. Upon stopping the vehicle, the officers located a suspect (#2) within the vehicle that was found to be wanted as a fugitive from Pennsylvania. Officers placed suspect # 2 under arrest, and a search of the vehicle compartment incident to arrest revealed quantities of suspected marijuana, suspected crack/cocaine, suspected heroin and a number of cds smoking devices.

ARRESTED #1: Victoria Jo Wildasin, 43 years of age York, Pennsylvania

CHARGES: Possession of cocaine

Possession of cds/paraphernalia

ARRESTED #2: Kevin Nathanial Gaines, 46 years of age York, Pennsylvania

CHARGES: Fugitive-Camp Hill, PA- Violation of probation

Possession of cocaine

ARRESTED #3: Troy McKinley Dozier, 46 years of age Salisbury, Maryland

CHARGES: Possession of heroin

Possession of cds/paraphernalia

DISPOSITION: All suspects released to Central Booking CC # 200800015891

On May 6, 2008 at approximately 5:05 pm, Officers of the Salisbury Police Department conducted a routine traffic stop of a vehicle operated by the below listed suspect for traffic violations. Upon stopping the vehicle, the officer detected the scent of suspected marijuana emanating from the vehicle. The vehicle was checked, and the operator was found to be in possession of a quantity of suspected marijuana, a quantity of suspected cocaine and cds related paraphernalia.

ARRESTED: Christen Michelle Hansen, 24 years of age Fruitland, Maryland

CHARGES: Possession of cocaine

Possession of marijuana

Possession of cds/paraphernalia

DISPOSITION: Released to Central Booking CC # 200800015929

On May 7, 2008 at approximately 11:30 am, Officers of the Salisbury Police Department placed the below listed suspect under arrest pursuant to an arrest warrant charging the suspect with the attempted first degree murder of a victim. It was reported to the Salisbury Police on February 15, 2005 that the suspect had physically assaulted the victim in an attempt to intimidate the victim and discourage the victim from testifying in court against a friend of the suspect. Salisbury detectives investigated the complaint and obtained an arrest warrant charging the suspect with the below listed criminal charges.

ARRESTED: Victoria Grant, 47 years of age Salisbury, Maryland

CHARGES: Attempted first degree murder

Reckless endangerment

First and second degree assault

Possession of a dangerous and deadly weapon

Intimidate/Influence a Juror

Obstruction of Juror

DISPOSITION: Released to Central Booking CC # 200500005555

On May 7, 2008 at approximately 9:50 pm, Officers of the Salisbury Police Department received a call to respond to an apartment at Emory Court for the report of a malicious destruction of property and a domestic argument. Upon arrival, the officers met with the victim who advised that following a domestic argument, the below listed suspect damaged the door to the apartment and refused to leave the property. The suspect also refused to leave the property when ordered by the officers.

ARRESTED: Jawad Mushtaq Awan, 37 years of age Salisbury, Maryland

CHARGES: Trespassing

Malicious destruction of property

Disorderly conduct

DISPOSITION: Released to Central Booking CC # 200800016115

On May 8, 2008 at approximately 2:00 am, Officers of the Salisbury Police Department received a call to respond to an apartment at Seagull Lane for the report of a loud party. Upon arrival, the officers responded to the front door of the suspected apartment and encountered the odor of suspected marijuana. The officers checked the apartment and located approximately 1.9 pounds of suspected marijuana ,a number of cds smoking devices with suspected marijuana residue and a set of digitial measuring scales containing suspected marijuana residue.

ARRESTED: Blaine Marco Morton, 19 years of age Salisbury, Maryland

CHARGES: Possession of marijuana

Possession of cds/paraphernalia

ARRESTED #2: Justin Robert Dickerson, 18 years of age Mt. Airy, Maryland

CHARGES: Possession of marijuana

Possession of cds/paraphernalia

DISPOSITON: Both suspects released to Central Booking CC # 200800016142

Don’t Miss Your Chance To Shout BINGO! This Weekend

Bingomania 47 Returns to Civic Center Offering $25,000 in Prizes!

Salisbury, MD – The Eastern Shore’s largest bingo event, Bingomania returns to the Wicomico Civic Center this Saturday, May 10. Doors open at 5:00pm for early bird games and regular games begin at 7:30pm.

Admission to Bingomania 47 includes all regular and special games, including the Jumbo Jackpot Game. Regular games offer a $500 prize while special games pay out $1000. The Jumbo Jackpot Game pays a maximum $10,000.

Increase your chances of winning and help the Maryland Food Bank at the same time by bringing three non-perishable food items to the game. Those that do will receive 3 additional cards for the first early bird game, which has a payout of $500.

Advanced tickets are still available for only $45 per person. Admission is $55 per person the day of the event. Tickets are on sale at the Civic Center Box Office, online at www.WicomicoCivicCenter.com and by phone at 410-548-4911.

All proceeds benefit the Mardela Junior/Senior High School Band. For more information contact the Civic Center Box Office at 410-548-4911 or the Mardela Band-Aides at 410-677-5170.

To stay up-to-date on the latest Wicomico Civic Center events visit www.WicomicoCivicCenter.org and sign up for the Press Pass to receive email alerts about upcoming shows and the chance to buy tickets before they go on sale to the general public.

Governor O'Malley on WTOP

Here are some highlights from yesterday "Ask The Governor" with Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) on WTOP (103.5FM) in Washington, DC.

On MVA Services:
O'Malley says that there are a number of things they work to improve upon every day and that they measure performance as part of their stat process. He said that the agency is better now than it was from when he first started driving, it can be better. He also adds that the hiccup is being more vigilant against individuals who attempt to obtain licenses fraudulently. It should be noted that the caller said his girlfriend is having a hard time getting a Maryland license after moving out of DC, adding that they had trouble trying to get a supervisors name.


On school construction in a particular county (county was not specified):
For four years, O'Malley describing a conversation with a gentleman who said that he moved to this particular area because of the schools and now his third grader will have to learn in a trailer. O'Malley told this constituent that in the particular county he lives in, the state stopped investing...he corrected himself and said "greatly reduced" the pace of investment he said the state should have been making. He compared it to the two years of his administration in which he claimed over $700 million was invested as opposed to over $200 million under his predecessor, Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R). That's right folks, making it's first appearance in 2008 (or is it second appearance,) O'Malley has blamed Ehlrich for having this kid learn in a trailer. "Because the investments weren't made six years ago, children who are now in third grade did not have the benefit of the investments we should have been making six years ago." Now the pious part, "I can't change that, but I can in the trust I've been given try to change that for the future."

Responding to Montgomery County legislators who said Gov. O'Malley stiffed them on $9 million for school construction:
"I'm one person in the government, there's also a speaker of the house, there's also a senate president and we also had a national downturn during the interim where [Montgomery] Sen. [Rona] Kramer was part of that special session...I had hoped and I had told them that we wanted to come up to $55 million for Montgomery County...this year [they] received the largest allocation, about $5 million more than any other county in that $46 million they received for school construction. If you lok at the two year period, it is $98 million [invested] in school construction [for the] county. BLAMING EHRLICH AGAIN: "If you contrast that to the first two years of our predecessor it was $19 million that the Ehrlich-Steele administration invested in Montgomery County..." PIETY: "I'm glad to serve an ambitious people. I think our representatives should be ambitious and be urgent about the needs there."

On the Hilltop affair:
O'Malley said that the facts laid out by WTOP Reporter Mark Seagraves (although Seagraves was simply summing up the story in The Washington Post) were "roughly accurate." PIETY: "Every legislative session there are thousands of issues big and small that senators and delegates bring to us and we try to bring them to a fair and reasonable resolution within the law." O'Malley goes on to say that when Prince George's Senator Nathaniel Exum (D-Dist. 24) brought the issue to his office, they asked State Police Superintendent Col. Terrence Sheridan to take a look at the case and "we did in fact ask him to take a second look at it." The second look was request according to the Governor when "the facts that he received internally didn't seem to square with some other things that was being shared by the company in question." O'Malley said that the solution Sheridan came up with was "fair and resonable and within the law." When pressed by Seagraves about the decision being a matter of public safety, O'Malley said that this will put Hilltop Fleet Services in Capital Heights "high on the radar screen." He called the situation an anomaly because there was no set period of revocation for the garage.

More comparisons from four years ago:
"Four years ago, we would wipe out dollars for open space for the purchase of open space. We would wipe out things like the transportation trust fund and pour it into the general fund and as a result, we didn't keep pace with the infrastructure, we didn't keep pace with the schools we didn't keep pace with a lot of things. We are trying to restore fiscal responsibility so we do not raid the transportation trust fund."

PIETY: "That's a principle we are committed to. It's hard because it's very unpopular to raise any revenue item even for a worthy cause like alleviating congestion and catching up with our transportation back log. But we are going to do it and were going to trust in the long term people understand what those trust funds are for and why they are important."

PLOTKIN TIME!!! The part of the show where WTOP Political Analyst Mark Plotkin joined in on the fun.

On his popularity or lack there of:
O'Malley attributed is popularity ranking just above "Glendening Territory" due to the fact that he raised taxes. BUt then he said it was a little more complicated than that simple answer. BLAME EHRLICH TIME AGAIN: "We were left a $1.7 billion deficit by our predecessor that red ink came crashing on us. We had to make a lot of cuts and we also had to push a lot of unpopular measures and nobody ever stands up and applauds. However even after doing that, 40 percent of the public did approve..." PIETY: "Mark, what I try to do is make the right decision based on what's in the best long term interest of the people I serve and I trust over time they figure out that's the way I am making decisions."

It should also be noted when Plotkin asked Gov. O'Malley about 2010: "I don't think about 2010 too much."

Download or listen to the show at wtopnews.com.

Question of the Day, Fri 5/9

I have been watching this story of the father who kept his daughter in an underground "dungeon" for 24 years and fathered his own (7) grandchildren. I have attached the article from CNN News from yesterday about this sick man. Of course, as I was suspecting, he's already telling investigators, "I must be crazy." In an earlier article, investigators stated that he had 7 locked/coded doors installed so no one could get out of the dungeon. He also had the walls sound-proofed to hide his "2nd family." He's already said that he wanted to free her but knew he would get into trouble with the law if she told . . . which means he knew what he did was wrong and did nothing about it . . . FOR 24 YEARS!

More and more people who are committing unfathomable crimes are pleading insanity. Yes, they may be crazy, but I feel their "chemical imbalance" should not lessen their punishment.

How could family & neighbors NOT know his secret for 24 years? Why wasn't his wife curious as to why he would lock himself underground for days? No one asked questions? What kind of punishment do you give a human being for doing this for 24 years to his own daughter? What would have happened to this dungeoned family if this guy died of health, old age, or a car accident, murder or suicide?

Since this is such an intriguing story to me, I'm sure someone out there must have something to say.



http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/05/08/austria.fritzl.ap/index.html