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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Wicomico Schools Honored For Outstanding PBIS Programs

Sixteen Wicomico schools will be honored at the Nov. 17 Wicomico County Board of Education Awards & Recognitions Night for earning Gold, Silver or Bronze status for their effective PBIS programs.

PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) is an evidence-based approach to establishing a positive school climate. Various schools in Wicomico and throughout the country have implemented PBIS with tremendous success, said Dr. Wayne Hickman, PBIS organizer for Wicomico County Public Schools. Gold, Silver and Bronze recognition come as recognition for a school’s effective PBIS initiatives. The schools received recognition for their outstanding PBIS programs during a ceremony held at Wor-Wic Community College at the 2009 PBIS Eastern Shore Regional Summer Institute.

Wicomico schools recognized as Gold Schools were Beaver Run Elementary, Delmar Elementary, East Salisbury Elementary, Fruitland Intermediate, Glen Avenue Elementary, North Salisbury Elementary, Pemberton Elementary, Prince Street Elementary, and Westside Intermediate.

Recognized as Silver Schools were Bennett Middle, Fruitland Primary, Salisbury Middle and West Salisbury Elementary.

Recognized as Bronze Schools were Charles H. Chipman Elementary, Mardela Middle and High, and Pinehurst Elementary.

During the 2009 Summer Institute, school representatives from Wicomico, Somerset, Worcester, Caroline and Talbot counties participated in returning team training. Attendees received training in many areas, including behavioral strategies for the classroom, PBIS action planning, bullying intervention strategies, understanding gang culture, and various elements of PBIS.

Schools recognized from other counties were:

Gold: Somerset Intermediate and Woodson Elementary (Somerset County); Buckingham Elementary, Pocomoke Elementary, Pocomoke Middle and Snow Hill Middle (Worcester County); and Ridgely Elementary (Caroline County).

Silver: Berlin Intermediate, Cedar Chapel Special School, Showell Elementary and Snow Hill Elementary (Worcester)

Bronze: Federalsburg Elementary (Caroline)

Redistricting Process: Wicomico Schools Seeking Volunteers Now For Task Force

The Wicomico County Board of Education at its monthly meeting Tuesday, Oct. 13, approved the use of a task force comprised of approximately 1/3 staff, 1/2 parents/guardians, and 1/6 community members to assist the school system with redistricting. The school system is now accepting volunteers to serve on the 25- to 35-member Redistricting Task Force, which will meet approximately twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays from early November to early January.

The task force will include parents/guardians and community members from throughout the county. (Staff members who serve on the task force will serve only as staff members, not as parents.)

“It’s very critical that we have the input from our entire community on this task force,” Board President Mark S. Thompson said.

Anyone interested in serving on the Redistricting Task Force may call 410-677-4501, or send an e-mail to comments@wcboe.org. Please share a little information about your background, your location and your interest in serving on the Task Force. This will assist the Board in appointing a Task Force whose members represent the many facets of the community.

Redistricting is necessary because in the more than 10 years since Wicomico last changed school boundaries, some Wicomico schools have become overcrowded while others are underutilized, Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Fredericksen said at the October Board of Education meeting. The Redistricting Task Force, starting from Targets for Establishing Student Attendance Areas, will examine enrollment numbers and other data to develop a redistricting proposal. There will be many opportunities for public input before the Task Force presents a final proposal to the Board in January.

“This process has built-in times for people to get involved and share their thoughts,” said L. Michelle Wright, Board vice president.

Throughout the redistricting process, the Board will keep the community up to date with a redistricting page on its web site at www.wcboe.org, and public input may be made at any time by calling 410-677-5251 or e-mailing to comments@wcboe.org.

A final vote on the redistricting plan is anticipated for the February 2010 Board meeting.

Hazmat Accident In Princess Anne, One Man Dead


A Tractor Trailer has crashed in Princess Anne, south of Allen Road. As we understand it right now, it's a fuel truck and the driver was trapped inside. Salisbury's Hazmat Team is now on the scene. More to come...... Traffic on Rt. 13 is being re routed, so prepare for major delays.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

DelDOT The Victim In Criminal Mischief Case In Bear

Location: Route 896 and Howell School Road, Bear, Delaware, New Castle County

Date and Time: Monday, October 26, 2009, at 1:45 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. respectively

Suspect(s): Unknown

Resume: The Delaware State Police needs the publics’ help with this one…

Yesterday afternoon, at 1:45 p.m., DelDOT technicians received a failure notification from the fiber optic cable lines located at Route 896 and Howell School Road. This disabled DelDOT’s ability to communicate with the traffic signals in the area.

While officials were sorting this issue out, around 3:00 p.m., another failure was received from this same location. This time, the signal was triggered by a power failure.

Officials responded to the scene and found that someone has purposely cut a fiber optic cable and power lines. Both of these severed lines are located underground and were accessed, by the suspect, via lifting a ground level concrete cover.

The damaged fiber optic cable was located at the intersection. Because of its diameter, the person who cut it had to use an industrial sized tool. The power line was located approximately 70’ away from the intersection. Because it was smaller, a smaller tool could have been used to sever it.

The damage has been estimated at approximately $8,000.00. Signals in the area were out of commission for several hours while the damage was repaired. No traffic crashes were reported in the area at this time.

Senior Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh says, “This was a deliberate act by someone who not only damaged DelDOT property, buy who also put lives in danger when the traffic signals went down without warning.”

There is no suspect information at this time. Anyone with details pertaining to this case is asked to call Troop 9 at 302.378.5218 or Crime Stoppers at 1.800.TIP.3333.

Shell Gas Station Robbery Update

Yesterday we also posted THIS ARTICLE referencing two other robberies in Salisbury. One at the Royal Farms Store and the other at the Shell Gas Station.

Salisbury News Insiders have come to learn the Salisbury Police Department will produce a Press Release some time tomorrow, (surely making tomorrows Daily Times) referencing an arrest in this case.

We want to thank our readers for getting involved and calling the SPD & Crime Solvers with tips and helping the SPD close this case. While everyone knows Chief Webster refuses to send any information to Salisbury News, we took the liberty of borrowing the images from their Website and posting them on Salisbury News, being confident the case would get cracked almost instantly and it worked, once again.

Salisbury News Readers have played a huge role in solving multiple crimes throughout Maryland and Delaware and we simply want to thank all of you for getting involved. Getting these thugs with weapons off the street is more important than anything else. Hopefully Chief Webster, (in the future) will choose to work with Salisbury News directly in order to get these people off the street faster, sending us these images rather than our having to search them out. Getting guns and hard criminals off the street would only make him look good, not bad. That's just my opinion, of course.

Who Is Charles Truitt


Yesterday we posted these images and someone came back in comments stating, "Your suspect is Charles Truitt, This info was provided to SPD and MSP and they said the detectives will be in the next morning."
There is no Charles Truitt on the Eastern Shore in this age group. If this person goes by another name, please contact the Sheriff's Department and fill them in with more details. You also posted a similar comment on another article. Your further assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Vovak Asks Uncapher To Resign From GOP Nominating Committee

BETHESDA, MARYLAND – The Maryland Republican Convention on November 14, 2009 will probably be the most festive convention since the mid-Nineteenth Century, when the Republicans overthrew the Whigs to seize power in Maryland. Following the resignation of embattled Chairman James Pelura, Daniel "The Whig Man" Vovak has called for the resignation of the chairman of the Republican Nominating Committee, following a lapse in Mark Uncapher's ethics.

Uncapher holds two chairmanships within the Maryland Republican Party. Foremost, he is the chairman of the nominating committee for the next chairman. Secondly, he is the chairman of the Montgomery County Central Committee. Uncapher's primary job is to facilitate the process for about 270 central committeemen to elect the next chairman, who will be: Daniel Vovak, Chris Cavey, or Audrey Scott. However, Vovak has alleged that Uncapher is acting unethically by writing a letter of support for Audrey Scott, in spite of being the person who should be neutral in the process. Regardless, he believes Uncapher should continue as Montgomery County Chairman.

"Mark Uncapher's job is to find nominees, not to hand-pick them," says Vovak, a movie producer and ghostwriter in Bethesda. "Since Uncapher is in charge of the nominating committee I asked him today to write a letter of nomination for me and he said he will only support Audrey Scott. My position is that Uncapher should support all candidates who want to be chairman or he should support no one. It is absolutely unethical for the chairman of the nominating committee to single out a specific candidate while pretending to be neutral with the others. If Uncapher feels so strongly about Audrey Scott then he needs to resign because he is definitely not a neutral arbitrator."

The rules of the Party require a chairman-nominee to provide three nomination letters from committeemen in three different counties to be submitted to the nominating committee for vote by the whole committee. On Tuesday, Vovak asked Uncapher for his nomination letter and was flatly denied it. Uncapher's bias extends to the website for the Montgomery County Republicans, which lists only Audrey Scott as a candidate for chairman, but not Chris Cavey or himself. (See ATTACHED.)

"It's issues like this that frustrate me as a Republican," says Vovak. "The next chairman needs to raise funds and stop airing our dirty laundry."

Vovak can be contacted at 202-367-4835 or DanielVovak@gmail.com.

Gun Ban (Time To Stand Our Ground)

Message from the Ohio Militia
They took away guns in the UK and Australia and they would love to take away our right to bear arms as well. Never back down an inch. JUST SAY NO TO A GUN BAN

GO HERE to view video.

Redskins Litigants Win Support From Psychologists, Justice Advocates


By Rob Capriccioso

WASHINGTON – Native American plaintiffs suing to end the trademark of the controversial Redskins National Football League team have gained new support from legal experts, social justice advocates and child psychologists.


One notable amicus brief to the plaintiffs’ September U.S. Supreme Court petition was filed in mid-October by a group of renowned researchers in the social sciences fields, including experts in the areas of stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination.


Based on scholarly evidence, the experts told the court there is “extensive and pervasive” public harm caused by the continued use of Indian mascots in professional sports.“


Social science research shows that the use of ethnic slurs like ‘redskin’ perpetuates harmful stereotypes and leads to discrimination,” the authors of the brief wrote.


Many of the researchers work at the top universities in the country.


Tribal citizens have long noted that the “redskins” term has historically been used as a derogatory reference to American Indians, in a similar way that the word “nigger” has been wrongly used toward blacks.


Historically, the word “redskins” was also used by the U.S. government as a way to refer to bounties it placed on scalped Indian heads, according to historians and legal experts.


The psychology scholars added that the affects of American Indian sports mascots are especially harmful to Native youth, tending to lower the self-esteem of Indian children and young adults.Along those lines, they cited studies showing that exposure to Indian sports mascots depress the self-esteem and feelings of community worth and limit the aspirations of Native high school and college students.


The psychologists’ arguments weren’t the only new unique avenue of support.A group of social justice advocacy experts also added an amicus brief in mid-October that said the Redskins trademark sets back progress and equality in American society.


“The social justice interests involved in this case go far beyond Native Americans. Either a trademark is disparaging or it is not. And if it is, it should not enjoy the perpetual protections of the United States government.”


They went on to make the case that the Redskins trademark is disparaging, and they noted, too, that numerous schools and other groups have removed offensive Native American team names in recent years.A third amicus brief filed in October came from the National Congress of American Indians and several other Indian advocacy organizations.


The group said the Redskins’ trademark is disparaging not only to petitioners individually, but to all Native American people and should never have been registered.


All the support stems from a September legal petition filed by a group of Native Americans who asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case calling for an end to the trademark of the Redskins team name and logo.


The petition requested that the high court review a lower court decision that sided against the Native Americans based on a statute of limitations-based legal concept known as laches – which the petition asserts is not applicable in this case.


It argued, too, that there is precedent for overturning the lower court’s statute of limitations-based decision, including a Third Circuit decision made by Samuel A. Alito, a current justice on the high court.


While laches makes for an interesting legal argument for lawyers and judges to ponder, it doesn’t necessarily resound on an emotional level, some legal experts have said.


The amicus briefs help fill that gap.Richard Guest, a legal expert with the Native American Rights Fund, said the multi-pronged support briefs create more ways for the public to understand the arguments of the Indian plaintiffs.


“It becomes not just a legal argument, but a moral and psychological one, too.”


Philip Mause, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the briefs are persuasive.


“The psychology professors’ brief goes into an issue that we are learning more and more about: The harm to young American Indians involving mascots,” said Mause, a partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath in D.C.


“It’s new information and an important new development. It’s very helpful.”He said all the briefs add to the debate and help strengthen the plaintiffs’ case.Still, Mause noted, the Supreme Court chooses to hear very few cases, so it’s an “uphill battle.”


In a reply brief to the plaintiffs’ petition to the high court, the Redskins lawyers argued that laches is applicable.

Rick Pollitt’s “Ditch The Cap” Show

Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt went on the road this morning to promote his latest album - “Ditch the Cap”.  Included were such soon to be hits as:

  • “I Ain’t Got Enough of Yo’ Money to Spend”
  • “Them Bureaucrat Blues”
  • “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Money, Mo’ Money”

Singing harmony was Councilman Bill McCain.

The show is scheduled to be broadcast on PAC-14 later this week.

READ MORE …

Gas Prices in Salisbury JUMP

WaWa on Route 13 South and Ohio Avenue just jumped their regular unleaded gas price to $2.77 per gallon. Royal Farms on Route 13 North and Main Street remains at $2.59 per gallon. If you need gas now would be the time to run out and fill up before it jumps 18 cents a gallon today. Sams Club is $2.55 per gallon.

Why Is Maryland and Local Government Taking Property OFF of the Tax Rolls?

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley can’t seem to balance a budget.  Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt can’t seem to either.  The other night Pollitt appeared on Phil Tilghman’s PAC-14 show and argued (AGAIN) that we need a “grassroots movement” to end the dreadful revenue cap.

As someone opposed to the cap on principle I’m willing to listen to such arguments.  However, I find it very difficult to take people like Pollitt seriously when local officials are hell bent on giving Wicomico taxpayers back door tax increases while the cap is in place.  If anything, such behavior is evidence that the cap should NEVER be repealed.

What am I talking about?  I’m referring to the recent acquisition of the Powerwave property east of Salisbury by the Tri-County Council of the Lower Eastern Shore.  While O’Malley claims the state is broke, Maryland bureaucrats are able to hand out multi-million dollar grants to take property OFF of the county tax rolls.

When Pollitt and his cohorts on the Wicomico County Council whine about the revenue cap you need to ask yourself how much more money the county would have to spend (some may say “waste”) if they didn’t support taking taxable land off of the tax rolls.

READ MORE …

PUBLIC NOTICE


SPECIAL MEETING


In accordance with §SC2-4 of the Salisbury City Charter, a majority of the City Council have called for a Special Meeting to be held on:

Monday, November 2, 2009, at 4:15 p.m. for consideration and adoption of Ordinance No. 2091 for second reading – FY09 General Fund budget amendment to transfer funds to Other Post Employment Benefits; and
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. to conduct a hearing on a claim for refund request.

The meetings will be held in Conference Room 306 of the City/County Government Office Building (125 N. Division Street).

Life After Death

As many of you know I lost my Mother to cancer recently. This past weekend her five children met at her home in Annapolis and cleared out her estate. While the beginning wasn't easy, it turned into memory lane and the laughs continued for two straight days.

As many of you have experienced a death in your Family, I thought I'd share some of the arguments we shared while dividing up Mom's things. You see, the Albero Family continues to prove that if you're raised right, greed is the furthest thing from your mind.

I walked in and saw certain piles being started. I didn't know who's piled belonged to, so I simply asked, hey guys, who's taking this picture? My oldest brother Frank replied, well, I was thinking about taking it. Why, do you want it Joe. I said, nah, if you're taking it it's fine with me. Frank replied, no, seriously, if you want it you're more than welcome to take it. Again, I replied, that's OK Frank.

The entire experience went just like that. No one got mad. No one was selfish and not one of us went home after all was said and done with more than what you could carry in your own hands in one trip back to your car. The rest was all donated and recycled for someone else in need.

The title of this Post, "Life After Death" has a meaning. You see, Mom passed away on a Tuesday and Wednesday Jennifer's Son Graham enjoyed the Birth of his first Son, Guage. I think that's how they spelled his name, I'm not exactly sure though. People come up with the craziest names these days and then they spell them all screwed up too. Nevertheless, while we mourned one, we celebrated another. That's just how life works. So we're Grandparents for the second time and we couldn't be more excited.

I hope others can learn from our estate experience. Mom never put anything together saying who gets what because she knew she raised us in such a way, she didn't have to. Material items are just that, items. I'd say we kept 5% of Mom's things, more for memory sake and 95% went to others. My Grandmother told me once after I had lost some money in New York, "Someone needed it more than you did Joe." She's right.

Check Out This LIVE Rocket Launch

http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream2

We were just informed the launch will happen at 9:24 AM.

They're about to go in 4 minutes after delays. Launch will happen at 9:49 AM.

It's on hold again.

Today's Survey Question

Have You Had Your H1N1 Flu Shot?

Church Of Scientology Guilty Of Fraud In France


Judge cites ‘obsession’ with financial gain as group is fined $400,000

PARIS
- A Paris court on Tuesday convicted the Church of Scientology of fraud and fined it more than half a million euros — but stopped short of banning the group as requested by prosecutors.

The group's French branch immediately announced it would appeal the verdict.

The court convicted the Church of Scientology's French office, its library and six of its leaders of fraud. Investigators said the group pressured members into paying large sums of money for questionable financial gain and used "commercial harassment" against recruits.

GO HERE to read more.

Open Forum On Last Night's City Council Meeting

Sen. Al Franken Humbles Hudson Institute

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) humbles Hudson Institute dilettante over health care bankruptcies

Salisbury Police Department Press Releases


On October 23, 2009 at 7:35am, officers met with a victim of an assault that occurred in the 1000 block of E Main Street. The victim advised that he was struck in the head and arm with hedge clippers causing a laceration to the back of the head and bruising to victim’s arm. The victim was involved in a verbal argument with the below listed suspect which turned in to a physical altercation.

Brett Victor Burns, 22yoa of Salisbury, MD. Charged with 1st & 2nd Degree Assault and Reckless Endangerment. Burns was released to the custody of Central Booking.
200900037748

On October 24, 2009 at approximately 5:25pm, officers responded to Walmart located on N Salisbury Blvd for a shoplifter detained by loss prevention officers. The below listed suspect was observed concealing merchandise on his person. The suspect was approached by the loss prevention officers and started to flee from the store. The suspect became involved in a physical altercation in which one of the loss prevention officers was struck above his eye.

David John Miller, Jr, 25yoa of Lewes, DE. Charged with Theft less than $100 and Disorderly Conduct. Miller was released to the custody of Central Booking.
200900037980

On October 25, 2009 at approximately 3:38am, officers responded to the area of University Terrace for a reported disorderly subject. On arrival, officers met with a security officer who advised that he had asked the below listed suspect several times to leave the property since he did not reside there. The suspect became very loud, disorderly and cursing the police officer causing a disturbance. The suspect refused to co-operate and was placed under arrest after he attempted to flee on foot from the officers.

James M Tanney-Palmeter, 23yoa of Salisbury, MD. Charged with Disorderly Conduct and released to the custody of Central Booking. 200900038067