Another One Bites The Dust

I have been making statements and posts about all the News Reporters disappearing out of nowhere here in Salisbury and tonight I announce the departure of Danya Bacchas from WMDT 47 News. Tonight was her last night as she'll be taking a job in Memphis with another CBS Station.

The photo above shows three Reporters no longer with us in this area. Danya is good people and will be missed.

It Could Only Play Out Like This, Salisbury 11, Gettysburg 10 - 2 OT

With a wide open lane Kylor Berkman from a Bruce Richardson pass had only Gettysburg's goalie between the back of the net and another birth to the NCAA Finals. Berkman buried the shot and the drama was over!

The double overtime thriller comes only days after SU's goalies, Riley Clark and Zach Krissoff, were arrested for vandalism. The call for the net came to Junior Nick Fiorentino who made 8 saves in the win including a nice one at the end of regulation in which he won the ball back for his attackers by chasing after the ball getting in front of the Gettysburg attacker. Not much pressure for this kid who only had every eye on him! What else can he say other than he did his job how he was supposed to do it.

Faced with the most dire of situations Salisbury kept the game close knowing that Gettysburg would leave nothing left on the field. Most teams after sustaining such a shocking blow to the core principle of what a team is would fold or not play with purpose. Not Salisbury! Salisbury, though at the beginning seemed a bit sluggish, still matched what Gettysburg gave them, competed, and finished with the win.

Coach Jim Berkman had a monumental task in front of him; to solidify his team back together so they could play focused and with their intended calling. That calling was to best represent what any school team means; to exhibit what is best in the School, Team, and Principle! The Seagulls did just that!

Two senseless players in a senseless and a pointless act could not disrupt or dissolve the Gulls' resolve to show why they are the best team in the nation in lacrosse! Proving that any doubters were wrong these young men played with great integrity, hustle, and un-dying commitment to their program, school, and community! How else could this game shape up but with constant drama with two great programs playing as hard as they could? Coaches, fans, and players could not expect anythng more than this type of game!

Coach Berkman and his players could best show what SU's athletics is about with a win. The antics of two did not keep the community at bay from attending, Seagull Stadium was packed. Disdain and boycotting the game was obviously not the path everyone took, though it is so easy to play the blame game of guilty by association and gross generalizations of a group which often we can fall into.

Only two did something horrendously wrong! Their names are off the roster much like the act of removing tyrants names from the annuls of history on monuments they built for themselves. Infamy will follow them and we can only let justice take it's course and can only hope they rehabilitate themselves into better individuals.

Two players wanted to have it all and in their own way. 47 just wanted to play what they loved to do for everyone as best as they could!

Congratulations Salisbury Men's Lax!

Salisbury will face Cortland State again in the National Championship Game in Foxbororo Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium at 1:30 next Sunday. Cortland defeated Ithica (NY) to advance for the Championship 16-5. This will be the third straight year that Salisbury and Cortland have met in the finals with SU winning 2 of the three match-ups.

Scoring was balanced with 8 players racking up a goal. Bruce Richardson had 2 goals and 2 assists to lead Seagull scoring. Berkman and Jake Delillo both scored two goals each.

The light rain made it a little slick and footing a bit suspect, but played no major part in the outcome of the game.

For complete stats go to - http://livestats.prestosports.com/salisbury/mlax/mlacrosse.html

Salisbury's Men's Lax Page - http://www.suseagulls.com/sports/mlax/index

SU, Gettysburg Pics!

Salisbury University LAX Wins In Double Overtime Against Gettysburg

The Salisbury University LAX Team just won their game WITHOUT their two key Goalies, 11-10. The Coaches Son, Kyler Berkman scored the winning goal. CONGRATULATIONS SU!

Pocomoke Tattler Rated #3 Politically Influential Blog in State of Maryland... Why???

I still have not figured out this ranking system with Blogenet News (BNN) and probably never will but we are honored for the high ranking once again. Joe Albero at SBYnews.com has written a post today which descibes his idea of 'influential' & using that, then I guess the Pocomoke Tattler does fit the bill.

We have exposed the open corruption at Pocomoke City Hall and if asking them to do the right thing does not work, then we will continue to shine the spotlight on their crooked politics.

We have helped to institute meaningful changes to the political process here in Pocomoke City but its not enough and corruption is still King with the 'Boss Hogg form of government' shoved down the citizens throats on a daily basis.

We have brought the Worcester County Sheriff's Dept in to police the Open Air Drug market which for decades has been endorsed or worse rumored to be controlled by certain members of the Pocomoke City Government.

We have fed information to Federal investigators about the openly corrupt municipal government in Pocomoke City, they are investigating but fear reigns and its tough to get anyone to testify against the corrupt machine.

We have exposed lies and deceitful actions from elected officials and the unelected Dictator of Pocomoke City; King 'Boss Hogg' Russ Blake, City Manager... to no avail...

The City government is still openly corrupt. (disappearing public documents, no disclosure, back-room real estate deals, etc.)

The City of Pocomoke still has an unqualified councilman who has moved outside of his district in defiance of the City Charter.



X-Councilman Cane is illegally retaining his council seat with the 'Blessings' of Boss Hogg and his cronies and I was 'screamed at' by the Mayor for asking Cane's resignation during a City Council meeting. X-Councilman Cane responded to my wife asking the same question by waving unpaid medical bills from her heart attack two-years ago... The procceded to use the 'N-word' twice while waving a print out from a Pocomoke Tattler Post last July... (like anyone thought it was naggers)

The City of Pocomoke still does not broadcast ANY City Council meetings (King 'Boss Hogg' Russ Blake has vetoed this for over 15-years) forcing any citizen with a complaint to expose themselves to public humiliation of their personal private matters, during council meetings *IF* they dare complain. Other citizens who have voiced concern or complaints have been visited by uniformed police officers who questioned 'Why did you go to that meeting' and effectively silence them through open intimidation. IMAGINE A COP KNOCKING ON YOUR DOOR THE DAY AFTER A COUNCIL MEETING!

The City of Pocomoke still does not have a qualified, certified building inspector, yet the one on staff still condemns buildings for demolition based on orders from King 'Boss Hogg' Russ Blake.

The City of Pocomoke gave away 3-square city blocks of downtown waterfront for $750,000.00 to a development group whose shareholders still have not been disclosed and are rumored to be current & former members of the City Government. The project has a $40-million dollar build out schedule making money another key motivator and we were told by a uniformed police officer that 'King Boss Hogg Russ Blake' supposedly purchased a condo in Florida with his share of the kick-back money.



The same councilman who is illegally retaining his council seat sold a tiny 50' x 100' lot in the middle of the 3-blocks mentioned above to this development group for over $300,000.00 and he did not recuse himself from voting FOR the sale to the unidentified buyers. If personal enrichment from a private back-room real estate deal is not open corruption, heck I don't know what is, but It's Pocomoke... Blessed by the King & his stooges so it's OK.

We have gotten the city to clean up some of it's act publicly yet they are still crooked in private, still in power, still run the drug market, still intimidate any citizen who dares to speak out.

The Mayor of Pocomoke City recently used an unlicensed home improvement contractor to paint his house because he was recommended by the City's unlicensed, un-certified 'housing inspector' Harvey Davis, for the job.

We notified the Mayor that the contractor was not licensed by the State of Maryland and his resonse was "...he was recommended by Harvey Davis (the unlicensed inspector) and has done lots of work for other people including churches here in Pocomoke..." and "...he told me he was licensed in Virginia & Maryland and I don't need to do a background check on everyone who works for me..."

The DLLR for the State of Maryland stated that a MHIC license was REQUIRED for this job and the person performing the work did not have one AND even if they did he would be in violation for not displaying MHIC number on his trucks, signs, contracts and advertising. King 'Boss Hogg' Russ Blake and his new stooge Mayor Mike McDermott take the position they are above State laws and that we should sit down & shut up like everyone else in Pocomoke City does.

We never posted anything about the Mayor of Pocomoke City using unlicensed home improvement contractors in the hopes he would do the right thing, but he has not done so and now is one of King 'Boss Hogg' Russ Blakes staunchest defenders. Click here to read HIS views of how great the 'King of Pocomoke' has been during his 32-year reign of unbridled power.

The Pocomoke City Government is still openly corrupt but we put the pressure on the Boss Hogg form of government whenever we can, if that makes the Pocomoke Tatter a 'Politically influential' Blog on a Statewide basis great; but its our goal to expose & run these crooked politicians out of town.

We only had about 25 comments this week on the blog section of the Tattler but the forums had another 50 to 60 comments. The Tattler forums with less than 100 registered users has over 1,500 threads with tens of thousands of page views, but they do not count towards any BNN points. Small potatoes compared to SBYnews.com 809 comments but we are not in this for high page counts but to expose the openly corrupt Pocomoke City Government.

Sadly it is rumored that King Boss Hogg has something on everyone involved with City Politics and getting Mayor McDermott to use an unlicensed contractor for home improvements, it looks like 'Deputy Dawg Mayor Mike McDermott' is now property of 'Boss Hogg' & his cronies because he wanted to save a couple thousand dollars on a paint job.


As for being "influential" Statewide I am still baffled and we are honored for being selected; but our goal is to expose the openly corrupt Pocomoke City Government until meaningful change in the form of removing the crooked City Manager from office takes place...

That will be a reward for the citizens of Pocomoke City & the taxpayers for the entire State of Maryland who are fleeced for millions annually by the open corruption of Pocomoke City's Boss Hogg form of one man rule government.

BREAKING NEWS! Explosion In Princess Anne

Photos courtesy of JD Simpkins
A Bio Diesel Plant exploded just moments ago in Princess Anne, two people were injred and one flown off in a State Police Helicopter.

If you look at the side of the building you can see where it has bulged from the explosion. The Crisfield and Princess Anne Fire Departments were on the scene. More to come.......

UPDATE: I'm told one person has died.

What's More Influential, 14 Comments Or 809 Comments?

There has been much discussion between Michael's Blog verses mine and what the "most influential Blog" means to us. Our opinions differ quite a bit but I'd like to state a couple of things here for the record.

If we are to take the past several day as an example and look at the difference in influence, the numbers do NOT lie. As of the 13th of this month Michael has received a total of 14 comments on ALL of his Posts. Salisbury News, however, has received a total of 809 comments in that same time period. I'm only talking a 5 day period here, the 13th through the 17th.

Now do I agree with the Blog Net News Rankings? Absolutely not! Do I believe Michael's Blog deserves to be in the top 10? Absolutely not. No disrespect Michael but really, you get next to no hits, you get next to nothing in comments and like I said in an earlier comment, I don't believe Michael is drawing in a ton of Democrats to his Site and converting them to the Republican Party. To me, that's influential. You DO however see that happening on Salisbury News.

I believe an Influential Blog is one in which ALL Parties can come together and review all sides and make educated decisions. As my comment also mentioned in a post, do you think Barrie Tilghman would be stupid enough to actually think she could win her seat as Mayor ever again? Heck No! However, what I wouldn't do to have her do so just to prove she'd be blown out of Office with embarrassment. Now that would be some kind of reward.

Instead, in today's Daily Times she mentions the Blogs, which is very similar to what former Council President Mike Dunn started complaining about before he chose not to run again. In the end he blamed it ALL on the Blogs. Michael, THAT'S INFLUENTIAL!

I'm NOT at all suggesting you don't have a fantastic Blog because you do. However, it's a Blog in which very few enjoy, (respectfully) as it is very verbose and you are more of an intellect. Certainly it has its place but to be in the top 3 or top 5 or even the top 10 Influential Blogs, I don't think so and that's just my opinion.

I know this Post is going to brings some harsh comments and that's cool. However, I truly feel everyone should look at what "influential" means and consider why those of us who put in countless hours running around to different events, taking pictures, covering stories and then another Blogger goes off of an e-mail he received and creates a Post about it and gets ranked in the top 5 or 10 simply doesn't seem fair to those people out there working hard for FREE.

Nevertheless, your opinion and posts are worthy Michael, don't take this one too harshly. Remember, when you comment, this isn't about Joe vs Michael. It's about influential and what YOU think matters? It's hard to argue 14 comments verses 809 though.

Don't forget to vote Andy Harris for Congress, OR ELSE! LOL

Ocean City News

Someone hit a utility poll in Ocean City just moments ago on or around 5th street and all power is out. Everyone is being detoured to the Bay side and then back on 15th street & Coastal Hwy. More to come......

Courageous Christopher 5k Race Photos

While our very own Nick Loffer finished the race in 1st place, the actual winner was the Mull Family & Christopher.

Enjoy Your Wicomico River, Right Barrie?

As you can clearly see from this photo, the "floatables" were everywhere yesterday, (the weekend) when everyone actually uses the river. Sorry, my camera isn't good enough to get in that close to catch the OTHER floatables, mainly coming from the WWTP. Baby Ruth comes to mind though. You're doing a wonderful job Barrie. Aren't you just so proud of this City?

Today's Wildlife Photo

Top 3 Bloggers In State Of Maryland Are From The Eastern Shore

Maryland's Most Influential Political Blogs

1 Salisbury News
2 monoblogue
3 Pocomoke Tattler
4 Politicker MD - Inside Politics for Political Insiders
5 Maryland Politics
6 WorcesterRight
7 Charles County Cafe
8 Baltimore Reporter
9 The Duck Unplugged
10 Delusional Duck
11 Maryland Politics Today
12 Capital Punishment
13 Gunpowder Chronicle
14 Brian Griffiths
15 Rockville Central
16 The No BS Zone
17 Maryland Politics Watch
18 Martin O'Malley -- Broken Promises -- OMalleyWatch.com
19 On The Record
20 Silver Spring Daily Photo

Question of the Day, Sun 5/18

How old does your children have to be to make you feel old?

Katelyn's 9th birthday is today. She is the oldest of my 2 children. She was born 18 days shy of my 22nd birthday. The things that she says and does sometimes makes me feel so old. She won't let me shop for her anymore. I can't pick out her clothes in the morning. She gets her hair cut the way she wants it now. She plays PSP better than any kid or adult I know. On the flip side, I don't get carded. I never have anyone tell me I look younger than I am. What happens to women when they have children.....fall apart? If that's the case, it's worth it!!!

Happy Birthday Katelyn