DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Monday evening a crowd of over 500 people showed up at the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center to hear some of their elected officials discuss current federal and state initiatives to curtail Marylanders’ right to keep and bear arms. The meeting, hosted by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) and Wicomico Sheriff Mike Lewis featured the two hosts, Del. Mike McDermott (R-38B), Wicomico State’s Attorney Matt Maciarello, Worcester Sheriff Reggie Mason as well as Sheriff’s (and their representatives) from around the state.
Each speaker emphasized the individual’s God-given right to bear arms, not just for hunting and sporting purposes, but for the protection of one’s person, family and community. Another common theme was the fact that pending federal and state legislation do nothing to stop gun crime, but will make criminals out of law-abiding citizens.
Wicomico Sheriff Mike Lewis spoke and acted as the moderator for the evening’s event. He emphasized the importance of our second amendment rights. He was obviously torn over the potential consequences of pending state legislation. Lewis noted that he swears an oath to protect and uphold the constitution of the United States, the state of Maryland and to enforce the laws of the state; given that most county Sheriff’s believe that this legislation strips Marylanders of their rights to keep and bear arms. Lewis provided an excellent analogy from the infamous Dred Scott decision - Slaves could not bear arms, because they are not citizens.
Congressman Harris made a moving argument regarding the consequences of attempts to strip citizens of their guns:
“Many of you already know my story. My parents escaped from communism in the Ukraine right after World War II. In communist regimes, the first thing they do is disarm the citizens.”
Harris also demonstrated the hypocrisy of claims that more gun control is about keeping guns out of the hands of criminals:
“In 2011, over 76,000 people were caught lying on their ATF form stating that they could legally purchase a firearm. How many were actually prosecuted? 62! … Prosecute people who break the law!”
While every speaker received a standing ovation from the enthusiastic crowd, Del. Mike McDermott was probably the most impassioned speaker among many impassioned speakers. McDermott emphasized that pending state legislation calls for registration of firearms and will require gun owners to go through a background check (with fingerprint) and could cost each law-abiding gun owner over $200. This is on top of the other tax and fee increases already heaped on citizens just in this session.
“This legislation does NOTHING to stop criminals. However, on November 1st it will make a criminal out of many of YOU.”
State’s Attorney Matt Maciarello gave examples of current cases his office is working on:
“Before I came over here tonight, I was in my office looking at some pending cases – burglary, armed robbery, murder, attempted murder. Everyone involved a gun. NONE of those crimes was committed with a LEGALLY OBTAINED firearm!”
G. A. Harrison is a former editor of SBYNews and a regular contributor. He also writes at the DelMarVa Observer. This article was originally posted at the DelMarVa Observer.
They set out to sell ice-cold lemonade, but now three Washington, D.C. protesters might need some legal aid.
Capitol police arrested three people Saturday afternoon for selling lemonade on the West Lawn of the Capitol Building. They were participating in “Lemonade Freedom Day” — a national demonstration against a spate of recent lemonade stand shutdowns by police and health inspectors.
According to the D.C. group’s Facebook event page, three lemonistas — Meg Mclain, K.n. Dill and Will Duffield — were taken into custody by Capitol Police. It is not known what the protesters were charged with. The Capitol Police did not return calls for information.
Violent crime in Salisbury and the Lower Eastern Shore was down significantly last year. This follows a statewide reduction. Police officials cite many possible reasons for the reduction, including better information.
A 36-year-old Delaware State Police trooper has pleaded guilty to harassment and other charges.
Ryan J. Mitchell of Frankford also pleaded guilty Aug. 17 to misuse of a computer in connection with unwanted and unsolicited contact with a Sussex County woman. He was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for supervised probation by Superior Court Judge Richard F. Stokes.
State police initiated a criminal investigation after receiving a stalking complaint April 5. Mitchell was arrested April 8 and was suspended without pay.
SALISBURY, MD - Last night the homes of Salisbury City Council members Debbie Campbell and Tim Spies were vandalized. A cinder block was thrown through the rear window of Bill Campbell’s car and a brick was thrown through a window in Spies’ home. (the photos below are from Spies’ home)
Given that both victims are members of the Salisbury council and political allies, it is unlikely that these acts were random. The enemies shared by both members is a relatively small list.
The Salisbury Police Department is investigating the matter.
TOLCHESTER, MD - The discovery of a partial human skull on a remote stretch of beach last week has produced more questions than answers.
The skeletal remains are those of a man who was murdered, most likely this year, according to Maryland State Police. While investigators have not been able to identify the victim, they have determined that the man is not Rock Hall resident Bruce Edward Freeman, who was reported missing in June 2010. Dental records eliminated Freeman as a possibility, MSP Cpl. William McFarland said in a telephone interview Wednesday. McFarland is the supervisor of the Kent Bureau of Investigation, which is assisting the MSP Homicide Unit.
The investigation into Freeman's disappearance is ongoing, according to Rock Hall Capt. William Dempsey. He said Freeman's information has been entered into the national missing person database, and that a KBI investigator talks to Freeman's family on a monthly basis.
DENTON, MD - A Denton man was arrested Saturday on drug-dealing charges after police seized 119 grams of crack cocaine from a home he was in, according to a news release from the Denton Police Department.
Police said Jermaine Lotez Ringgold, 38, of High Street was charged with possession of a large amount of drugs with the intent to distribute, drug possession with the intent to distribute, drug possession not marijuana, drug paraphernalia possession and failure to obey a lawful police order.
Police said Ringgold was riding on the back of a motor scooter driven by Michael Seth, 47, of Denton, which failed to stop at a stop sign at the Goose Creek gas station on North Sixth Street.
Facebook has become an effective crime-fighting tool for law enforcement officers, not only allowing cops to profile suspects but providing convenient ways for victims to report crimes.
KTRK Houston spotlights the ways in which police in the Houston suburb of Conroe have adapted social media into their crime fighting routines. The department set up a page to mingle with the community and has snagged two wanted suspects and collected evidence in open cases. The department also posts crime prevention and safety tips on the page.
Have you used a social network to prevent or report a crime?
Facebook friends helping Conroe police catch crooks [KTRK Houston via Slashdot]
BALTIMORE - The two New Yorkers charged with stealing historic documents from Maryland were indicted federally Thursday in a far broader scheme in which prosecutors say they stole many more valuable manuscripts from museums in both states.
A National Archives official called the scope of the case "truly breathtaking," with the indictment charging that the two men pilfered and sold copies of speeches from a former president and took a land grant signed by Abraham Lincoln along with a letter to John Paul Jones.
Barry H. Landau, 63, a well-known collector of presidential memorabilia, and Jason James Savedoff, 24, were each charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of the actual theft of "major art." They face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
BALTIMORE - A 21-year-old Pasadena man pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Thursday for shoving a stranger who couldn't swim into the Inner Harbor in 2008 — an act previously characterized by one Baltimore judge as complete stupidity.
Wayne Black, who was 18 when he pushed 22-year-old Ankush Gupta into the water and ran, will be sentenced to four years in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for Aug. 30, per an agreement cut with Baltimore Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock.
His mother dabbed tears from her eyes as the deal was done, while Gupta's friends and family sat stone-faced on the other side of the courtroom.
Robert Jackson III was pronounced dead at 12:12 a.m. after being given a lethal injection at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna.
Jackson, 38, lifted his head when asked for his last words shortly after midnight. Searching the window between the execution chamber and witnesses, he asked if the two children of the victim, Elizabeth Girardi, were watching.
"Are the Girardis in there? Christopher and Claudia, if you are in there, I've never faulted you for your anger. I would have been mad myself," he said, going on to deny he killed their mother.
He suggested that his accomplice in the burglary, Anthony Lachette, was the killer.
"Tony's laughing his ass off right now because you're about to watch an innocent man die. This isn't justice," he said before putting his head back down and closing his eyes.
When the execution began, Jackson started making a snoring sound, his lips sputtered and his breath began to quicken. Prison officials closed the curtain between the execution chamber and witnesses after about four minutes to check whether he was conscious, calling out twice, "Inmate Jackson, can you hear me?" There was no response.
The Delaware State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating two vehicle fires it says were intentionally set July 28 in Pot Nets Lakeside, Long Neck.
The first fire occurred at 2 a.m. in the 32000 block of Tern Cove, said Chief Deputy Fire Marshal Randall Lee, and the second fire was discovered at 8:30 a.m. on the 26000 block of Cottontail Cove.
The Indian River Fire Department responded to the first scene and upon arrival, Lee said, they encountered the vehicle fully involved in fire. A fire department response was not requested for the second fire, he said.
No injuries were reported and damages for both vehicles have been estimated at $45,000, Lee said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333 or the State Fire Marshal’s Office at 302-856-5600.
Prosecutors today asked that former Del. Phillip A. Hamilton be given a sentence of more than 12-and-a-half years in prison for bribery and extortion.
The ex-legislator from Newport News was convicted in May for arranging funding for the Center for Teacher Quality and Educational Leadership at Old Dominion University in 2007 in exchange for a job as its director.
He is to be sentenced Aug. 12 by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson, who is free to impose a term under or over the 151 to 188 months called for under U.S. sentencing guidelines.
“This is a case without precedent in annals of the history of this commonwealth and its state legislative officials,” the U.S. Attorney’s office wrote in its sentencing brief to Hudson.
The government is seeking a term within the guidelines, complaining: “Essentially, the defendant sold his position of public trust, violating his oath of office to the citizens of Virginia, in exchange for the extraction of a personal benefit to which he was not entitled.”
DENTON, MD - Caroline County District Court records reveal more details on what happened the night Denton resident Louis R. Nichols allegedly was murdered and his body dumped in the Choptank River.
Police charged Charlene Ruth Weddle, 45, and Mary Sue Chider, 34, both of Denton, each with first- and second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the case. Chider, listed in court documents as Weddle's girlfriend, also faces counts of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and various conspiracy charges.
According to court records, Nichols, 71, lived at 312 S. Fourth St. with Weddle, the daughter of his deceased wife Ruth Nichols, and Chider. Police said the trio got into an argument which led to Nichols' death sometime between late Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
A man who opened fire outside Johns Hopkins Hospital in September 2009, injuring a bystander, was sentenced Wednesday to 54 years in prison, the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office announced.
Timothy Gaskins, 44, fired five shots that day, striking a woman's handbag, a man's trouser leg and an employee of the Kennedy Krieger Institute, who was leaving work. She was struck in the hand.
Police said at the time that they believed the shooting was related to a fight between teen-age girls that drew in their fathers. One girl's father tried to break up the squabble, while Gaskins reacted with violence, police said.
He was convicted in May of attempted, second-degree murder, assault and related charges after a jury trial.
Delaware State Police arrested a 53-year-old security and facility manager for Mountaire Farms July 26 in connection with rape and sexual harassment charges.
Several women working at the Mountaire Farms facility near Millsboro said they were sexually harassed or had unwanted sexual encounters with the man, said Cpl. Bruce Harris of the Delaware State Police.
WASHINGTON – At least one person in the White House knew about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives gun-running operation three months before weapons from the botched sting were found at the murder scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
That’s what a high-ranking ATF official told Congress on Tuesday.
William Newell, the former ATF special agent in charge of the Phoenix field office, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that he communicated with Kevin O'Reilly, a staffer on President Obama’s National Security Council, about Operation Fast and Furious in September 2010.
By that time, at least one thousand guns straw-purchased in the U.S. had been transferred to Mexican criminals under the noses of ATF officials who intended, but failed, to track them to see where they’d end up.
TAYLORS ISLAND, MD - Two Linkwood men were arrested July 19 on multiple burglary and theft charges after they allegedly stole tools from a Taylors Island home in April.
David Hobart Tyler, 35, of 3645 Karen Circle, Linkwood and Rankin Scott Creighton, 31, of 3636 Karen Circle, Linkwood, were each charged with first-degree burglary, fourth-degree burglary, fourth-degree burglary theft, conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary and theft under $1,000.
David Tyler and Creighton were released Thursday from the Dorchester County Detention Center in Cambridge after they each posted $50,000 bond.
According to charging documents, Dorchester County Sheriff's deputies responded at 1:42 p.m. April 10 to the 4300-block of Smithville Road for a report of several burglaries.
TAYLOR'S ISLAND, MD - A burglary attempt Monday at a Hoopers Neck home was thwarted by the shotgun-wielding homeowner, who sustained minor cuts after tangling with one of the suspects, according to a press release from the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office.
The burglary attempt occurred early Monday morning, according to Dorchester Sheriff James Phillips, who said a homeowner at 4613 Hoopers Neck was awakened by noises coming from his garage.
The homeowner, who remains unnamed, according to policy of the sheriff's office, carried a shotgun when he went to investigate and told deputies that he fired twice in the direction of a porch on the garage after observing two men in his garage.
After the homeowner fired his shotgun, he told deputies, one of the men ran away, but the other attacked him with what he believed to be a box knife. Phillips said the homeowner sustained two minor cuts, one on his face and another on his chest. He was treated at the scene by Dorchester Emergency Medical Services.
The two people observed by the homeowner in his garage are described as black males. Anyone with information should call the sheriff's office at 410-228-4141; calls may remain confidential.
