DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
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Saturday, April 21, 2012
Report: Wal-Mart Hushed up Mexico Bribe Network
Kitten Gets New Legs and Lease on Life
2011 Saw More Measles Cases Than The Past 15 Years
There were 222 cases of measles, a large jump from the 60 or so seen in a typical year. Most of the cases last year were imported -- either by foreign visitors or by U.S. residents who picked up the virus overseas.
U.S. children have been getting vaccinated against the measles for about 50 years. But low vaccination rates in Europe and other places resulted in large outbreaks overseas last year.
Bee Gee Robin Gibb Wakes From Coma
2012 Military Family of the Year From Hollywood, Md
It was a moment of complete surprise that left Anne Marie Karnbach literally shaking with delight Thursday.
Her husband, Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Karnbach, was supposed to be at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he is deployed as a Navy reservist. But he had secretly arranged with military superiors to attend a ceremony in Washington, D.C., where his family was to be honored as Our Military Kids’ 2012 Military Family of the Year. When he appeared on stage, his stunned family swarmed upon him, engulfing him in embraces with arms and legs wrapped around his body.
The event was hosted by Our Military Kids, a nonprofit organization that helps families of deployed servicemembers by giving grants that allow military children to participate in extracurricular events. Since 2005, the organization has awarded $14 million dollars in grants and each year chooses among the grantees a family and individual children to honor.
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BREAKING NEWS: Chicago White Sox Pitcher Humber Throws Perfect Game
From Fox News
Michelin Recalls 77,000 Tires for Safety Problem
Naturalization Push Ahead of November Election
Legionnaires' Patient Sues Ocean City Hotel
Pat Dent filed suit against Plim Plaza Hotel Wednesday in federal court in Baltimore. He and his wife are seeking $5 million in compensatory damages and $1 million for loss of consortium.
Health officials said six cases of Legionnaires' disease, including a fatal case, were confirmed in people who had stayed at the hotel.
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Salisbury Police Can't Control The Animals At The Zoo
Nugent Ousted From Fort Knox Concert Line-Up
The decision to oust Nugent came after “recent disparaging remarks made against the commander in chief,” Ryan Brus of the Fort Knox public affairs office said.
Because the concert is taking place on a military installation, it “would be a conflict of interest since the military has the obligation to be apolitical,” he said
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Speed Camera Set On Fire
All that's left today is the foundation upon which it stood along the 400 block of South Rolling Road; neighbors watching last night what they lobbied hard for literally go up in flames.
Unemployment Ticks Up In Maryland
State officials say the workforce growth outpaced employment gains during March.
And that's why Maryland's jobless rate ticked up to 6.6 percent in March from 6.5 percent in February, despite the fact that the US Department of Labor reported there was a net gain of 1,500 jobs last month.
In the past 12 months private sector employers added nearly 48,000 jobs in the state. That's out of almost 50-thousand overall since March of 2011.
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Berlin Eyes 5-Cent Property Tax Rate Decrease
BERLIN -- While there may be trouble at the county level, the budget picture for the town of Berlin is largely positive and contains a property tax decrease, a $500 one-time bonus for employees and a more than $500,000 budget surplus with revenues coming in higher than expenditures.
Totaling $13,333,164 million, the proposed budget is $328,680, or 2 percent, lower than the current budget. This is the fourth consecutive year that the town has decreased its budget from the previous year. Even so, the council is considering dropping the current property tax rate of 73 cents per $100 of real estate value down to 68 cents per $100.
“This 5-cent decrease equals a reduction of $50 per every $100,000 of real estate valuation, or $100 less a year for the average residential taxpayer in the Town of Berlin,” Mayor Gee Williams said.
Town employees also benefit in this budget. While it does not contain a salary increase as last year’s did, the proposed budget will include a one-time $500 bonus for every employee, similar to what was proposed in Ocean City last Friday, though Williams reported the two ideas were developed independently.
Women Supporting Women
RPORATE FASCISM
What States Have The Most Favorable Business Tax Climate?
Nine U.S. Banks Said To Be Examined On Overdraft Fees
The inquiry by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau focuses on how financial institutions persuade customers to enroll in what they call overdraft protection programs.
The agency, which will decide by the end of the year whether to write new rules, is scrutinizing nine banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and Bank of America Corp., said four people briefed on the examination.
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Andy Harris Honors Holocaust Hero Who Saved 100,000 Hungarian Jews
Raoul Wallenberg was made an honorary citizen of the United States, an honor only previously extended to Winston Churchill. Before the vote, Rep. Harris participated in an event sponsored by the Hungarian Embassy that included Annette Lantos, herself a Holocaust survivor and the widow of former Rep. Tom Lantos, Hungarian Ambassador Gyorgy Szapary, Hungarian Deputy Foreign Minister Zsolt Nemeth, and Congressmen Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Dan Burton (R-IN), Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL).
Softball Tourney Benefits Women Supporting Women
Labor Unions Call On Lawmakers To Approve Gaming
The labor leaders delivered a letter Friday to Governor Martin O'Malley, House Speaker Michael Busch and Senate President Mike Miller.
Patrick Moran, executive director of AFSCME Maryland, is among the labor leaders who signed the letter.
The labor leaders say a sixth casino in Prince George's County, and the addition of table games at the state's five remaining casinos, "creates the structure for long-term revenue growth for Maryland."
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Interesting Parallels Between Lincoln And Obma
Experts Say Zimmerman Attorney Made Smart Move
A judge ruled Friday that Zimmerman can be released on $150,000 bail while he awaits trial on murdering 17-year-old Trayvon Martin during a Feb. 26 confrontation in a Sanford, Fla. gated community. Zimmerman apologized to Martin's parents, who were in the courtroom for the bail hearing, in a surprise appearance on the witness stand. Zimmerman is pleading not guilty and claims self-defense.
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Plant Sale Pre-Orders Now Available
BERLIN -- With longer days and warmer temperatures, many are planning to spruce up yards and businesses to enjoy the outdoors. When the time comes to put your green thumb to work, think about the benefits of planting native plants.
If you want to purchase native plants (and delicious heirloom tomatoes) for your yard or business, join the Assateague Coastal Trust (ACT) for the 13th Annual Native and Heirloom Plant Festival, scheduled for May 5.
The festival begins at 8 a.m. and will be held in ACT’s large back yard, steps from the corner of Old Ocean City Boulevard and North Main Street in Berlin. The site is a perfect venue for a festival that combines gardening activities, local craft exhibits, and children's programs.
Native or indigenous plants are those that naturally occur in the coastal and Chesapeake Bay watersheds. Using native plants will increase the chances that the plants will thrive in your yard, as they are suited to our soils and climate. Native plant species require less watering than non-natives do, and are able to make better use of rainwater than typical lawn turf. An incredible fringe benefit of the native plant garden is that local and migratory wildlife use native plant species for food, cover, and rearing young.
PEDESTRIAN STRUCK ON COASTAL HIGHWAY
The pedestrian, who was not in a crosswalk at the time of the collision, was transported by Ocean City Emergency Services to Peninsula Regional Medical Center for non-life threatening injuries. Currently no charges have been filed against the pedestrian or the driver; however, the investigation is on-going.
The Ocean City Police Department is reminding citizens to use marked crosswalks while crossing the street. Pedestrians should not take unnecessary risks crossing busy streets against traffic lights. In addition, pedestrians are encouraged to make eye contact with drivers and continue to watch for traffic the entire time you are in the crosswalk. Motorists should also be extremely vigilant while driving, keeping constantly aware of pedestrians, bicycles, mopeds and scooters.
Glen Ave. To Close
- Tuesday, May 29 Parkside High School
- Wednesday, May 30 Mardela High School
- Thursday, May 31 Wicomico High School
- Friday, June 1 James M. Bennett High School
Jefferson On Taxation And Debt
If we run into such debt, as that we must be taxed in our meat andin our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors andour amusements, for our calling and our creedsas the people of England are, our people, like them,must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four,give the earnings of fifteen of theseto the government for their debts and daily expenses;and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread,we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes;have no time to think,no means of calling our miss-managers to accountbut be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselvesto rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers.
Our land-holders, too, like theirs,retaining indeed the title and stewardship of estates called theirsbut held really in trust for the treasury,must wander, like theirs, in foreign countries,and be contented with penury, obscurity, exile,and the glory of the nation.
This example reads to us the salutary lesson,that private fortunes are destroyed by publicas well as by private extravagances.
And this is the tendency of all human governments.A departure from principle in one instancebecomes a precedent for the second;that second for a third; and so on, till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery,to have no sensibilities left but for sinning and suffering.
Then begins, indeed, the bellum omnium in omnia [war of all against all - Ed.] ,which some philosophers observing to be so general in this world,have mistaken for the natural, instead of the abusive state of man.
And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt.Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression."-- Thomas Jefferson(1743-1826), US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US PresidentSource: Letter to Samuel Kercheval, Monticello, July 12, 1816
Time Is Running Out!!!
GOVERNOR AND OTHER STATE OFFICIALS TO OFFICIALLY OPEN NEW STATE POLICE WESTERN OPERATIONS CENTER IN HAGERSTOWN
The ceremony will include comments from Governor O’Malley, Colonel Brown, Secretary Collins, and Lt. Tom Woodward, commander of the Hagerstown Barrack. Other guests attending this event include West Virginia Secretary of Military Affairs and Public Safety, Secretary Joe Thornton, and Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan. The event should last about 30 minutes.
Exxon To Drill In The Arctic
Meanwhile, the United States government will celebrate Lenin’s birthday tomorrow on Sunday by calling it Earth Day, an excuse to shutter capitalism in this nation.
The Environmental Protection Agency just announced it will crack down on fracking, which has led to oil booms in Kansas, North Dakota and Texas,. The last thing the Democratic Party wants is energy independence for the United States. And the Republican Party is not much better.
The folks at Exxon are not stupid.
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HISTORIC COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 4-21-12
(The picture above of the 1934 Ford is from a brochure my father picked up at a Ford dealer in Buffalo, NY in 1934 back in the days when the appearance of the new year models was a big event.)
From the beginning of the era when most families owned an automobile, there was born a family tradition known as “the Sunday ride”.
I remember my mother telling me about the rides she had when she was young. She usually carried a friend with her and, for them to see as much as they did in one afternoon, was a marvel of the time. This would have been in the 1920’s and before the Great Depression, so things were booming around the Eastern Shore. This Sunday afternoon activity was to continue until about 1954 for most Americans. By this time, there were so many more activities available to the average American family to occupy their Sunday afternoons. Things such as organized sports leagues, more traffic on the road and last, but not least, television became much more attractive to people than “just riding around in the car” until 3:30 when the “good programs” would be playing on the radio. But, before all this, the chance to get away from it all and see wondrous sights in the country was the absolute best thing to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Of course, there was always a down side and that is where I contributed to our weekly family outing in the 1940’s. I had two great fears and never let my Dad have that nice, peaceful ride. I was forever asking if he really knew where we were and did we have enough gas to get home. I don’t know why these concerned me to the extent that it did. He never got lost and never ran out of gas, but I persisted in asking these questions on a regular basis.
Everyone else enjoyed the scenery, the farm animals and the new development taking place in and around Salisbury. After a while, they just learned to ignore the five year old nervous wreck in the back seat. Eventually, I learned how to read the gas gauge and a map and never had the problem again.
Barack Obama's Re-Election Bid Is Already In Deep Trouble
All in all, April is not a bad result for Mitt Romney - long enough to test him, short enough to allow him to focus solely on the general for the final six months.
Despite the very recent and ugly and negative primaries, Romney's struggle with conservatives and the relative difficulty he had in overcoming a lacklustre field, Republicans - who tend to fall in line more readily than Democrats - are already uniting behind him.
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Rand Paul's Future
Amid the speculation about Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's future, a clue about his direction from POLITICO's Seung Min Kim:
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is taking on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) – over Las Vegas.
The freshman senator is demanding an investigation into exactly how many government conferences have been held in the last three years in Sin City – like the four-day General Services Administration (GSA) junket that’s now embroiled the agency in a spending scandal.
A rookie senator, less than two years in, taking on the Majority Leader in his own backyard? It's the kind of breach of protocol that would have been unheard of in an earlier Senate era -- and would have made for an epic episode in a Robert Caro book.
But it fits into the narrative he's crafting, one that breaks enough china to signal his outsider status but also has an element of political savvy, such as sticking it to Reid.
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All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Breakfast
All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Breakfast
Eggs, Sausage, Bacon. Fried Potatoes, Fresh Fruit
Biscuits
Coffee, Juice
Hosted by Salisbury Metro Lions Club
Saturday, April 22, 2012
8:00 am - 10:00 am
$6.00 Adults
$3.00 Children 10 - Younger
DEWTOUR: WELCOME BACK!
Earlier this week, Alli Sports, a division of the NBC Sports Group, announced a four-year renewal of its partnership with Mountain Dew, along with the 2012 Dew Tour schedule — Ocean City is stop No. 1.
“I’m both happy and excited. The dates were set — we were just waiting for them to make it official,” Mayor Rick Meehan said this week. The Ocean City Council in January set aside Aug. 16-19, for the East Coast leg of the 2012 Dew Tour, as requested by the tour’s planners, Alli Sports. “The Dew Tour is a great event for Ocean City and it will continue to grow and be more successful.”
Troopers Arrest Man For Kidnapping
Location Last Seen: 5000 block of Seashore Highway, Bridgeville, DE
Date of Occurrence: Monday April 16, 2012 at approximately 10:00 p.m.
Victim:
Candice Kraszewski, 15, Bridgeville, DE
Defendant, Charges, and Bail Information:
Michael R. Rigsby, 23, of Lyles, Tennessee (Photo Attached)
Kidnapping 2nd
Arraigned at JP3 and committed to SCI on $20,000.00 cash bail
Resume:
Bridgeville, DE- The Delaware State Police have arrested the man who picked up a Bridgeville teen.
Detectives from Troop 4 have arrested Michael R. Rigsby, 23, of Lyles, TN. Information led Detectives to Candice Kraszewski’s location in Springfield, Virginia where she and Rigsby were picked up by Fairfax County Police.
Candice was returned to her parents unharmed. A warrant was obtained for Rigsby’s arrest and he was held in Fairfax County until his extradition back to Delaware this afternoon.
Rigsby was arraigned on the charge of Kidnapping 2nd at JP3 and committed to Sussex Correctional Institution on $20,000.00 cash bail.