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Attention
Saturday, June 25, 2011
GOLD ALERT GREENWOOD MAN
Salisbury Police Department Prostitution Operation
ARRESTED #1: Jennifer Marie Joseph, 30 years of age Salisbury, Maryland
ARRESTED #2: Barbara Elaine Spatz, 45 years of age Salisbury, Maryland
ARRESTED #3: Holly Lynn Hill, 40 years of age Delmar, Maryland
ARRESTED #4: Mairinita Leatherbury Polk, 43 years of age Fruitland, Maryland
CHARGES (All): Prostitution
DISPOSITION: All released to Central Booking
CC # 20110002408/201100024414/201100024399/201100024406
The second segment of the investigation targeted the prospective male customers. This segment was completed with the assistance of the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office and resulted in the below listed arrests:
ARRESTED #1: Kenneth Lee Wharton, 19 years of age Snow Hill, Maryland
ARRESTED #2: Ernest Chuck Cox, 37 years of age Berlin, Maryland
ARRESTED #3: Melvin Andrew Robinson, 42 years of age Salisbury, Maryland
ARRESTED #4: Vick Lamont Tankford, 36 years of age Exmore, Virginia
ARRESTED #5: Earle Maurice Brooks, 75 years of age Salisbury, Maryland
ARRESTED #6: Alan Bryan Eskridge, 57 years of age Mardela Springs, Maryland
ARRESTED #7: Bertram Lee Devonald, 61 years of age Salisbury, Maryland
ARRESTED #8: Orlando John Harrison, 58 years of age Newark, Maryland
ARRESTED #9: David Lamont Collins, 31 years of age Salisbury, Maryland
CHARGES (All): Soliciting for prostitution/assignation
DISPOSITION: All released to Central Booking
CC # 201100024543/201100024546/201100024549/201100024554/
201100024561/201100024567/201100024568/201100024569/201100024573
In addition to the above, the below listed suspect was arrested in a related incident:
ARRESTED: Joseph Janelle Bradley, 36 years of age Salisbury, Maryland
CHARGES:
Trespassing
Possession of marijuana
Possession of heroin
Possession of CDS/paraphernalia (2 counts)
DISPOSITION: Released to Central Booking CC # 201100024551
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World's Ugliest Dog
Pretty, I am not: Yoda wins World's Ugliest Dog title
2-pound dog was found abandoned and initially mistaken for a rat
Current Caroline Budget on Track to End Year in Black
With the current fiscal year drawing to an end June 30, Caroline County officials are hopeful they will not have to dip into their back-up fund to end it in the black.
Caroline Finance Director Margaret Roe appeared before the county commissioners Tuesday to give an update on the $41.5 million fiscal year 2011 budget as it entered its final stretch, and the outlook she gave was promising.
According to Roe's spreadsheets, the county has received $40.3 million in revenue and spent about $41.4 million a difference of $1.1 million. Not all of the county's tax revenue has been received at this point though.
"Right now, expenses are over revenue. But it's really too early to say how we're going to finish," Roe said.
Roe said the county is still expecting more income tax to be doled out from the state, but is not confident the amount coming will meet budgetary estimates. She said while Caroline needs $2.9 million more to meet expectations, the county may only receive between $2 million to $2.5 million.
Md. Catholics Stand Up For Illegal Immigrant In-State Tuition
Crossing The Bay Bridge And Entering Summer
By the end of June the pace of our domestic life was slowing. The heat had set in, and, as a neighbor once observed, there was never an electric fan in our home. Baltimore was just different in the summer. The downtown department stores closed at noon on Saturdays. As you walked the streets you heard Orioles games on radios through all the open windows.
My relatives were industrious morning people who worked hard before the summer sun got going. For weeks before that June Saturday we collected cardboard boxes for packing. We went away for a month or more, sometimes the entire summer, and took necessities such as traveling steam irons and cast-iron frying pans.
At about 9 or 10 on that Saturday morning, we finally cast off from the alley behind our Guilford Avenue home, the neighbors assembled on back porches and waved us off for a happy departure; most neighbors indulged in the same practice a few weeks later when they called at our summer addresses and spent some time. Those without cars arrived via the Carolina Trailways bus, which served the Eastern Shore and Delaware on curiously zigzag routes that involved excruciating traveling times.
My elders traditionally dressed formally but not on a travel day. They acted as if crossing the Bay Bridge were crossing the meridian. For this arduous, 114-mile excursion of three hours (tops), my grandmother and great aunt wore elasticized turbans atop heavy hairnets. My grandfather, rarely seen without a suit and tie, produced a khaki shirt and khaki trousers, along with a matching canvas cap with broad visor. He could have been on an archaeological dig.
The then-new Bay Bridge was a talking point. Some days there weren't enough toll takers on duty. That occasioned my grandfather to give one of his sermons on the complete and totally inefficiency of all Maryland governmental agencies. He also paid the toll in silver dollars, just to get a reaction from the unsuspecting collectors.
A civil engineer, he habitually rapped the bridge's design, which he held should have been four lanes wide, with a pair of train tracks down the center. In 1954 it was one lane in each direction.
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Delaware Suspends License of Claymont Physician
State officials this week ordered an emergency suspension of Claymont doctor Timothy Wong’s medical license for committing serious violations of the Delaware Medical Practice Act.
Secretary of State Jeffrey Bullock and Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline President Raymond L. Moore, Sr. ordered the suspension based on a formal complaint issued by the Delaware Attorney General’s Office, Delaware Department of State spokesman Christopher Portante said.
The order maintains that Dr. Wong, who has been on licensure probation since March 1, 2011, has engaged in activities that present a clear and immediate danger to the public health, Portante said. Wong’s specialty is family practice, but he practices mainly pain management.
Wong has continually prescribed controlled substances to patients without conducting proper medical examinations, without creating and maintaining proper records or logs, without ordering tests, without requesting medical records, without contacting patients' primary care or other treating physicians, without obtaining patients' informed consent, and with little or no discussion or establishment of any underlying medical or psychiatric basis or need for medication, the Complaint and Motion for Emergency Suspension alleges, among other things. He also allegedly abandoned hundreds of patient medical files at his Claymont office, refused to provide medical records to treating physicians and patients and falsified patient medical records.
Today's Wildlife Photo
Coons Endorses SAVEGO
U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) today called on Congress and the White House to include the Save As You Go mechanism in its negotiations to ensure that Washington can’t run away from making the hard choices that need to be made on our dangerous annual deficits and staggering national debt.
Coons is a member of the Senate Budget Committee.
“Under our current budget process, the path of least political resistance is to keep revenues low while offering a high level of services,” Coons wrote in an op-ed appearing Friday in POLITICO.com. “Balanced budgets are fundamentally against the short-term interests of politicians from both parties. Our growing national debt is neither a Republican nor a Democratic problem, but rather a shared, structural problem. We need a way to keep both parties at the table.”
Save As You Go, or SAVEGO, is a backstop designed to ensure that, if Congress and the White House cannot save enough money each year to bring our budget back under control, their inaction will not lead to devastating economic consequences.
Entries Open For Second Salisbury Super Soap Box Spectacular
Greensboro Parade Cancelled
The streets of Greensboro will not be filled with fire trucks or marching bands this July after it was decided that there will be no parade during the town's annual carnival.
On Tuesday, Town Manager David Kibler said the Greensboro Volunteer Fire Company opted not to hold a parade during its carnival this year, set to run June 27 through July 2. Kibler said it will be the first time in quite a few years that there will be no parade.
GVFC President Richard Covert said the fire company members voted against a parade this year because of a lack of participation in the parades for the last three years. Covert said the fire company spent $700 on trophies for last year's parade, but had very few groups show up to take part.
Queen Anne’s County Farmers Offer Tour
Yes, they did know how to use a level when they built the football-field-size cow barn at Patterson's Farm in Queen Anne's County. The concrete floor was built at a 3-degree slope on purpose, so that a water rinse would ease waste away from the dairy cows with minimal disturbance.
Farm knowledge is generally lacking these days since the majority of people don't spend life growing up on a farm anymore. Modern construction and environmental practices are uniquely shaping the farming industry, which is struggling with the dynamics of family succession and government oversight.
The Queen Anne's County Farm Bureau offered its latest effort in education outreach on a recent June morning, presenting a tour of the county's agricultural areas to local government officials in a comfortable air-conditioned coach, with stopovers showcasing some of county's diverse farming businesses.
Civil Rights Group Demands Answers in Shooting
A local civil rights organization says it's asking questions and demanding answers in the case of a 69-year-old man killed last weekend in a shootout with police in his home.
The Coalition for Justice for Civil Rights says it wants to know why police found it necessary to break down William A. Cooper's door to execute a search warrant for prescription painkillers. The group says police could have waited for Cooper to get home and then executed the warrant.
"This could have been handled differently," said Rudy Langford, the coalition's president. "Why not just wait for the guy? It's ridiculous. It didn't have to cost a life."
Langford said he wants to know the circumstances of the shooting, such as more about the informant who provided information about Cooper; how much time elapsed between the police entry and the shooting and how many shots were fired.
Veasey Named As Independent Counsel in DE Campaign Finance Probe
Former Delaware Supreme Court Chief Justice E. Norman Veasey has been named independent counsel to lead a probe into possible violations of state campaign finance laws, state Attorney General Beau Biden said today.
“I am honored to be appointed to this position of independent counsel,” said Veasey, a registered Republican and senior partner at the prestigious firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges.
Veasey’s appointment is the result of a more than yearlong investigation into federal election violations by liquor executive Christopher J. Tigani. Earlier this month, Tigani, who ran the family’s lucrative N.K.S. Distributors Inc. in New Castle, pleaded guilty to two federal felony violations of campaign-finance law and two counts of tax fraud.
Body of Man Missing for 3 Years Identified
The body of a Capitol Heights man missing since 2008 was identified this month and police are investigating his death as a homicide, announced Prince George's County police Friday.
Police identified Anthony Jerome Nelson, 30, of the 6900 block of Aquamarine Court as the person found dead in a community park in March.
Nelson’s family reported him missing on August 16, 2008, after he walked out of his family’s home saying he was going to meet friends and never returned. Just a few hours after he left, two burglars broke into the home, bound family members with duct tape and stole various items and money from the home, according to reports published at the time ofNelson’s disappearance.
Wife of Former PG County Executive to Plead Guilty
The wife of former Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson is scheduled for a plea hearing next week.
Federal prosecutors announced Friday that Leslie Johnson will appear June 30 at a plea hearing in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. Johnson was arrested in November on obstruction of justice charges after FBI agents said she tried to flush a $100,000 check from a developer down the toilet and stuff cash in her undergarments.
Johnson had previously signaled her intent to plead guilty, but a plea hearing set for earlier this spring was canceled without explanation.
Her husband pleaded guilty last month to federal corruption charges as part of a sweeping probe into wrongdoing in county government.
Postal Employee Charged With Stealing Money Meant for Charities
A Hyattsville woman working as a postal service mail processor was indicted in federal court on Friday on charges she stole mail addressed to charities and containing checks worth $9,000.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District said Lisa M. Hunter, 40, faces up to five years in prison if convicted of theft of mail by a government employee after she was indicted by a grand jury in U.S. District Court for the District on that charge and two counts of first-degree theft.
Authorities said that on June 2 at about 10:40 a.m., a Postal Service police officer saw Ms. Hunter pushing a mail cart through a turnstile at the employee exit of the Brentwood postal facility in Northeast Washington.
When questioned, she claimed that she had been authorized by a supervisor to remove the mail from the facility. But the man she said gave her permission told investigators he was not her supervisor and that he did not authorize her to take the mail.
NJ Pediatrician Sent to Jail
A longtime Toms River pediatrician was sentenced today to 60 days in jail, put on probation for three years and ordered to perform 60 days of community service for surreptitiously taking nude photographs of a patient and giving expired vaccines to others.
Jose Romillo, 66, of Bay Point Drive, also was ordered to repay $1,246 to an insurance company that bore the cost of revaccinating the patients.
Superior Court Judge Stephanie M. Wauters, who imposed the sentence, said she had struggled with what punishment to give Romillo. She said she gave heavy weight to the need to deter him, and equally heavy weight to the fact that he voluntarily surrendered his medical license.
Man Drowns in Boating Accident in Chesapeake City
Emergency crews recovered the body of a 25-year-old man who fell off a boat as it pulled into a dock in Chesapeake City Friday night.
Sgt. Art Windemuth of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police said the man fell in the Mooring Basin near the Chesapeake Inn at 8:37 p.m.
The body of the man, whose name is being withheld until his next of kin can be notified, was recovered around 10:15 p.m., Windemuth said.
Windemuth said the man’s body will be taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy. The Natural Resources Police’s special operation division will continue to investigate the incident, he said.
Carney Votes Against Involvement in Libya
Breaking ranks with his Democratic colleagues, Rep. John Carney of Delaware opposed continuing U.S. military operations in Libya on Friday in votes that were considered a rebuke to President Barack Obama.
He was among 70 Democrats who joined Republicans in rejecting a measure 295-123 that would have authorized the yearlong limited use of U.S. forces, except for ground troops, in the NATO mission against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Most lawmakers weren't willing to ban funds for some U.S. operations there, rejecting that separate proposal 238-180. But Carney was one of 36 Democrats to vote in favor. That proposal came with several exceptions -- funds for search and rescue,intelligence, aerial refueling and operational planning would not have been affected.
Deeds to Seek Re-Election
State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, is seeking re-election to the Senate in the 25th District.
Deeds lost the 2009 gubernatorial race as the Democratic candidate.
Deeds said that if re-elected, he would continue to work to improve higher-education opportunities and the transportation system.
No one has stepped forward to oppose Deeds yet. He has served in the legislature for 20 years.
The 25th district includes Charlottesville and extends westward to the West Virginia line.
Maryland Lawmakers Split on Libya Vote
Maryland’s congressional delegation split along party lines Friday over a resolution in the House of Representatives that would have authorized President Barack Obama to continue U.S. military involvement in Libya for one year, with the state’s six Democrats in support and two Republicans opposed.
The measure, similar to one pending in the Senate that is backed by Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, failed on a vote of 123-295. Seventy Democrats joined all but eight Republicans in opposition.
Lawmakers in both parties have grown increasingly restive about the administration’s approach to Libya, which began with a series of airstrikes in March to weaken forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi. Obama has maintained he does not need authorization from Congress to continue the effort because the military is not engaged in full-blown hostilities.
Judge Blocks Indiana from Cutting Funds to Planned Parenthood
A federal judge on Friday blocked the parts of Indiana's tough new abortion law that cuts off most of Planned Parenthood's public funding in the state because the organization provides abortions.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt granted Planned Parenthood's request for an injunction in striking down the law's defunding provision as unconstitutional, and siding with federal Medicaid officials who have said states cannot disqualify Medicaid providers merely because they also offer abortions.
The U.S. Justice Department also had filed a brief siding with Planned Parenthood, with attorneys saying the law restricts Medicaid recipients' freedom to choose their health care provider.
Sorry for the Delay …
We apologize for the delay in posts this morning. Our internet service downtown went out at midnight so I went home early.
New posts are coming immediately.
- G. A. Harrison, Managing Editor