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Saturday, October 10, 2015

Mentally Ill and Guns


Found Dog In Salisbury

This dog has been round my house all day. I'm over by the zoo. Very nice and well-mannered but he has no tags. If anyone knows who he belongs to please call me at 4102515032

Sheriff Clarke Sends Warning That Obama’s Gun Free Zones Are Killing Fields

The shooting incident at Umpqua Community College would have been so different if someone else in that classroom had a gun. Which could have been, if it wasn’t a Gun Free Zone. There is no denying that a good person with a gun can be a great force for protection against a bad person with a gun… THIS is what one Sheriff, Sheriff Clarke is saying about the “Gun Free Zones” and why they are killing fields!

But the college required students to agree not to carry guns on campus.

Sheriff David Clarke recently appeared on Fox News to speak his mind on gun control. President Barack Obama seizes the chance to push gun control whenever there’s a mass shooting, but he remains oddly silent at shootings that go on every week in places like Chicago.

The sheriff said he’s tired of hearing lectures from someone with a platoon of “armed individuals” to protect his family (and rightly so) “while he expects the rest of us at ground level,” average, ordinary citizens to outsource their personal safety to the government.

Get rid of so-called gun-free zones, Sheriff Clarke added. Concealed-carry license holders should be able to “play a role in their own safety.” Can you imagine cowering while a homicidal thug takes his time and shoots people? Just one armed citizen could have taken him out before he got off a shot. Why would the government want to hamstring law-abiding people and render them defenseless in this way? Criminals aren’t going to obey gun laws.


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FBI digs up more than $500G in backyard of California man who looted armored truck

FBI officials uncovered more than $500,000 Wednesday from the backyard of a Southern California home where an armored truck driver who admitted stealing $1 million had once lived.

The money was found inside a trash bin buried in the backyard of the Fontana home, FBI spokesman Laura Eimiller said.

Cesar Yanez, who lived in the home, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy and bank robbery in the 2014 heist of a Loomis armored truck. The 38-year-old former driver was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.

His fellow driver, Aldo Vegas, 28, of Pomona, also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

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When Cruz Makes His Move, Watch Out

The Texas senator may look like an also-ran, but he’s a legit contender. 

Where’s Ted Cruz? The outspoken Texas senator has been unusually quiet in recent weeks. But in GOP circles, there’s soft but growing chatter that he is likely to be one of the last men standing in one of the most chaotic and unpredictable presidential races in recent memory. 

You wouldn’t know it from his poll numbers. Cruz is running at about 6 percent nationally and in key states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. That’s well behind outsiders Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, and Ben Carson, and those numbers accord with the attitude that many influential Republicans have taken toward him since his arrival in Washington three years ago: There’s no way he can win the nomination. He’s too conservative and doctrinaire, and his abrasiveness doesn’t help the cause.

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#BlackLivesMatter Leader Warns US Needs New Constitution or “There will be Bullets”

Blake Simons, a UC Berkeley student, argues that a Constitution written by white men will never serve the interests of Black People.

A “Black Lives Matter” leader has issued a dire warning for the United States: the United States needs a new Constitution or else, he warns, “it will be the bullet” for the US.

Blake Simons, who wrote an article detailing his ideas, is the Deputy Comms Director of “Afrikan Black Coalition.” The name of his piece is “A New Constitution or the Bullet.”

Simons writes, “Our Black Lives Matter protests have stormed the country, yet cops continue to kill us daily, and the judicial system continues to justify our deaths with acquittals, non-indictments, and light sentences-all in the name of upholding the Constitution.”

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Gun Control Debate Divides Nation's Police Officers, Too

After the mass shootings in Roseburg, Ore., last week, the national media gave a lot of attention to the fact that the local sheriff, John Hanlin, is an ardent supporter of gun rights. He'd written a letter to Vice President Joe Biden shortly after the Dec. 14, 2012, massacre of schoolchildren at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., saying gun control was not the answer. In the letter, Hanlin pledged not to enforce gun regulations he believed to be unconstitutional.

What wasn't widely reported was how common views like Hanlin's have become in law enforcement.

"Talking about firearms now is like talking about race," says Richard Beary, chief of police for the University of Central Florida and president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. "These are difficult conversations, and people get very polarized on each side of it."

It's not unusual to see law enforcement executives arguing with each other about guns in public.

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Heartland fury as university renovates chapel to accommodate Muslims

A decision to make a university’s chapel “faith neutral” to accommodate Muslim students has created great angst in the nation’s Heartland after critics were accused of being Islamophobic.

Last May, Wichita State University ordered workers to remove all the pews and an altar inside the Harvey D. Grace Memorial Chapel. The pews were ripped from the floor and replaced with portable chairs to make room for Muslim prayer rugs.

“Under the terms of Mrs. Harvey D. Grace’s gift to the university in her will, ‘This chapel will be open to all creeds and to all races of people,’” WSU President John Bardo said in a statement. “Our goal should be exactly what Mrs. Grace set out to do in her gift, to have an all faiths chapel that is welcoming to all religious groups on campus.”

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SWAT Team Descends on CO School Over Student’s Halloween Costume

Female student was spotted in the hallway wearing a gas mask and trench coat

A female high school student awaits a disciplinary hearing and could face expulsion for wearing a Halloween costume to school that prompted officials to lock down the building Wednesday.

An unnamed female student was spotted in the hallway at Pueblo County High School early yesterday morning wearing a gas mask and trench coat, and a classmate reported her to school officials, The Pueblo Chieftain reports.

The teen was hauled to the office where she was interrogated by the police, who also placed the school on lockdown for about an hour. The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team, which was training near the school, also responded in full camouflage gear and a large armored vehicle to sweep the building for anything dangerous or suspicious. They found nothing, according to the news site.

A spokesman for the sheriff’s office told KKTV the girl said the outfit was a Halloween costume. She wasn’t carrying any weapons.

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Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann

The Ocean City Bandstand was built on the Boardwalk at Somerset Street in the early 1950’s. At the time, Ocean City had its own band comprised of local musicians and concerts were very popular in the summer evenings. The Bandstand was also the site of the annual Easter Parade where prizes were awarded to the best dressed families and civic leader WP Laws gave silver dollars to the kids in his role as “Mr. Easter.”

By the late 1960’s the structure had fallen into disrepair and become a hangout for vagrant young people. With rumors of drug use and other unsavory activities on the part of these so-called “hippies,” the town fathers declared the Bandstand a public nuisance and had it torn down in 1969.

Postcard image from Bunk Mann’s collection

This article was written by DispatchAdmin, Special to the Dispatch. Bookmark the permalink.

Doctors Without Borders Bombing: U.S. Changes Story Four Times in Four Days

2009 Peace Prize winner bombs 1999 winner

After relentlessly bombing a civilian hospital staffed by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF — Doctors Without Borders) in Kunduz, Northern Afghanistan, the U.S. military did the only thing truly befitting American government — it tried to get away with it.

Saturday’s initial summary involved U.S. troops taking on fire in Kunduz, but — according to officials that day — they had no idea if they’d hit the hospital or not.

After a day to fully concoct recall those events, Sunday’s military brief said the strike occurred in the “vicinity” of the hospital so, sure, maybe it was hit by accident.

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Carozza reflects on first law passed as housemember

Changing the way an entire state buys things is no mean feat, but Delegate Mary Beth Carozza (R-38C) did just that as the law she sponsored in the House took effect on Oct. 1, doubling the percentage requirement Maryland contracts veteran-owned businesses from one-half to one percent.

It doesn’t sound like much, and even Carozza said she had her sights set higher, but fiddling with procurement percentages is not usually how a freshman delegate spends their time.

“It goes back to my time as a civilian with the Department of Defense. I had this experience working with the military and veterans and wanted to continue that as a delegate,” she said.

Carozza said she had met with another delegate, Kelly Schulz, upon entering office. Schulz was about to be named Secretary of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, and asked if there were any issues she could take up.

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BERNIE SANDERS: ‘DON’T BE SURPRISED IF WE DO WELL WITH A NUMBER OF REPUBLICANS’

Sanders argued he will be helped in Democratic primaries by an ability to connect to working-class voters

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), widely regarded as the most liberal candidate in the Democratic presidential field, made a pitch Thursday morning for his potential appeal to a not-so-obvious segment of the electorate: Republicans.

Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist from Vermont, was a guest on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” where host Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, nudged him to talk about areas of “crossover” with GOP voters.

Sanders, who has emerged as a surprisingly strong challenger to Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton as he campaigns on a message of economic fairness, noted at the outset that he has several “strong differences” with many Republicans, including on the issues of abortion and same-sex marriage.

“But you know, Republicans have to send their kids to college,” Sanders said. “Working-class Republicans can’t afford to do that. Working-class Republicans have seen their factories shut down and moved to China. Working-class Republicans are equally disgusted about a campaign-finance system which allows billionaires now to buy elections.”

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Police/Courts 10/09/2015

Pulling fire alarms

Ocean City police officers arrested Ryan Wuthrich, 26, of Crownsville, Md. after he pulled and destroyed two fire alarms in a condominium on Oct. 1.

The Ocean City Fire Department and police determined the fire alarms were activated falsely after one was found partially ripped out of the wall and the other’s lid completely removed, according to the report.

Police reported a witness said he saw Wuthrich pull the alarm and, after confronting him, the suspect ran down the stairs.

Wuthrich’s description was broadcast and he was located shortly after in a nearby parking lot.

He was arrested and charged with two counts of malicious destruction of property and two counts of knowingly pulling a fire alarm for no reason.

Assaults
Justin Racelis, 30, of Oxford, N.J., was arrested on Oct. 2 for assaulting two people in the midtown area.

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If You’re Having An Open House, Don’t Leave Pills In Your Medicine Cabinet

As we’ve already shown today, some folks will go to great lengths to steal prescription medications. But why deal with having to pry open a security door when a wannabe pill thief can just go to an open house and hope to score in the unlocked medicine cabinet? 

Tamer H2Oi Weekend Reported In Ocean City; Service Calls, Traffic Stops, Citations All Declined

OCEAN CITY — Despite the blowing rain, gusting winds, flooded streets, road closures and deteriorating driving conditions, they came anyway.

The annual H2O International (H2Oi) event is one local law enforcement and residents circle on the calendar each fall, but the conventional thinking heading into the weekend was the Nor’easter camped off the coast of the resort and the ominous potential arrival of Hurricane Joaquin would deter the crowds of tricked-out Volkswagons, Audis and other sports cars of all makes and models. Contrary to that belief, thousands of them arrived.

The H2Oi event started to make its presence felt by mid-week, and by Friday afternoon, traffic along Coastal Highway looked similar to the Fourth of July right after the fireworks. Tens of thousands of vehicles, a large percentage of which were H2Oi-type cars, crept along inch by inch and block by block. There were a handful of accidents, most of which appeared to be of the fender-bender, rear-ender variety, but there was a vehicle on fire Saturday on Coastal Highway that required the Ocean City Fire Department and a large number of burnouts up and down the island, but by and large, despite the size of the crowd, they were slightly better behaved this year, according to Ocean City Police spokesperson Lindsay Richard this week.

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Lumber Liquidators Settles With Federal Government

Discount flooring superstore Lumber Liquidators has found itself under two separate federal investigations this year: one alleging that some of their products give off potentially dangerous chemicals, and another alleging that the companyillegally imported hardwoods. They’ve now settled the latter charge by pleading guilty, and will pay $10 million to the federal government and a wildlife charity. 

OC Restaurant Week Starts Tomorrow


Click HERE for a list of participating restaurants, menus 
and pricing.

Wounded Warriors Gala, Oct. 17

American Legion Post #166 will host the second annual Wounded Warriors Gala on the evening of Saturday, Oct. 17 at its 24th Street facility.

The festivities will begin at 5 p.m. with a social hour including hors d’oeuvres and drinks before a special program led by keynote speaker Debra Malone, a lieutenant colonel of the U.S. Army and head nurse at Walter Reed National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

“People will feel good they are making a difference in benefiting a local wounded warrior,” said American Legion Post #166 Commander Sarge Garlitz. “There will be 15 wounded warriors from Walter Reed at the dinner and visiting Ocean City from Oct. 15-18.”

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Dozens of Baltimore public housing families exceed income limits

Sixty-four families who live in public housing in Baltimore earn more money than is permitted by the program's income eligibility requirements, new data from a federal inspector general's audit shows.

The families, who represent less than 1 percent of public housing units maintained by the Housing Authority of Baltimore City, earned a combined $798,563 over the income limits, according to an analysis of the data by The Baltimore Sun.

Income caps for public housing vary by city and family size. For example, in Baltimore, a family of four can earn no more than $44,200 to qualify for housing.

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Is Giving Up Your Right To Sue Fiat Chrysler Worth $200?

Companies that don’t want their customers to sue have a special weapon: they slip mandatory arbitration agreements into new contracts and service agreements, requiring customers to opt out if they would prefer to retain their right to sue. Yet Fiat Chrysler is trying an interesting tactic: they’ll give you a $200 discount if you sign a piece of paper agreeing to arbitration.

WILL YOU BE THE NEXT VISITOR TO SLAUGHTER HOUSE FARM?

The Scott family created Slaughter House Farm in Laurel Delaware to benefit Operation We Care. Operation We Care sends much needed care packages to our soldiers serving overseas. Funding from this project will help defray the cost of mailing those packages. By visiting Slaughter House Farm Halloween attraction you will not only get an awesome night of scares you will be supporting our troops. If you would like to sign up to help with this project please leave your info. on our contact section. HELP US HELP OUR HEROS! Come out and get scared!!!!

For group discounts to our haunted attraction you may call 302-381-2150

Slaughter House Farm address: 32076 Gordy Rd. Laurel Delaware 19956

Contact information: 302-381-2150


http://www.slaughterhousefarm.org/

Berlin Celebrates Community Development Week October 19-28


The Town of Berlin is a 2015 sponsor of ‘Community Development Week’, an initiative organized by the Community Development Network of Maryland, CDN. 


Berlin will be celebrating Community Development Week this year by sponsoring a Children’s Public Art Project entitled: “What is Community?” Children ages 5 to 17 are encouraged to define what ‘Community’ means to them and to submit a drawing depicting their own personal definition. 

Each entry will be entered into a contest to win a toy donated by our Main Street shop, World of Toys. There are two categories: Ages 6-10 and 11-17.

Entries will be displayed along the windows in our shops on Main Street as well as our Visitor’s Center during the week of October 19-28. 


Entries must be dropped off at the Berlin Visitor’s Center by 4 p.m., Friday, October 16, 2015. 

Scientists say a dramatic worldwide coral bleaching event is now underway

For just the third time on record, scientists say they are now watching the unfolding of a massive worldwide coral bleaching event, spanning the globe from Hawaii to the Indian Ocean. And they fear that thanks to warm sea temperatures, the ultimate result could be the loss of more than 12,000 square kilometers, or over 4,500 square miles, of coral this year — with particularly strong impacts in Hawaii and other U.S. tropical regions, and potentially continuing into 2016.

The event is being brought on by a combination of global warming, a very strong El Nino event, and the so-called warm “blob” in the Pacific Ocean, say the researchers, part of a consortium including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as well as XL Catlin Seaview Survey, The University of Queensland in Australia, and Reef Check.

“This is only the third time we’ve seen what we would refer to as a global bleaching event, an event that causes mass bleaching in the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Atlantic-Caribbean basin,” said Mark Eakin, who heads NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch. The prior events, Eakin continues, “were in 1998 and 2010, and those were pretty much one year events. We’re looking at a similar spatial scale of bleaching across the globe, but spanning across at least 2 years. So that means a lot of these corals are being put under really prolonged stress, or are being hit 2 years in a row.”

The total loss could amount to 5 percent of the world’s corals in 2015, according to Eakin. That’s not as bad as the loss in 1998, but there’s a fear that if the event continues into 2016, the losses would grow.

“We’ve been hearing worrying reports of bleaching from various places, and now the bad news is officially here, with worse news likely yet to come with the strengthening El Nino,” says Nancy Knowlton, an expert on coral reefs with the Smithsonian Institution, of the news. “No reefs that experience unusually warm waters are likely to escape unscathed, but reefs already suffering from overfishing and pollution may have a particularly rough time recovering, based on what we have learned from past bleaching events.”

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Traffic Backup At Apple Scrapple


Apple scrapple traffic in Bridgeville. Had to turn around because it was not moving at all.

How Our Aversion To Change Leads Us Into Danger

The deeply embedded, genetically determined aversion -or resistance- to change that we are all born with is an important survival tactic. Since change equals potential danger, our aversion to it keeps us out of danger.

We are ‘programmed’ to prefer familiar surroundings, to first look at what we recognize, and to ignore what we do not until we feel comfortable enough about what we do know.

Ironically, though, the aversion to change can also lead us into danger. Because it prevents us from preparing for change, and therefore preparing for danger.

Yes, people can adapt, they have that ability too, but we don’t fully adapt to change until and unless we’re forced to. And while it may not be too late then, it certainly tends to make adaptation much more difficult.

WHY is the USA BANKRUPT?

We have been hammered with the propaganda that it was the Iraq war and the war on terror that is bankrupting us.

I hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the readers gets sick of reading them. I also have included the URL's for verification of all the following facts.

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal immigrants each year by state
governments.

Verify At : http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?

2. $22 Billion dollars a year is spent on food Assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal immigrants.

Verify At :
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal immigrants.

Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on Primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!

Verify At :
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt...0.HTML

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for Education for the American-born Children of illegal immigrants, known
as Anchor babies.

Verify At http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to i ncarcerate illegal immigrants.

Verify at:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/%20TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison Inmates are illegal immigrants.

Verify at:

https://owa.slugger.com/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on Illegal immigrants for Welfare & social Services by the American taxpayers.

Verify At :
http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.HTML >

9. $200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal
immigrants.

Verify At :
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRI >

10. In 2006, illegal immigrants sent home $45 BILLION in remittances to their Countries of origin.

Verify At : "http://rense.com/general75/niht.htm%3e"

11. The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One million sex crimes committed By Illegal Immigrants In The United States ..

Verify At : http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml%3e

The total cost is a whopping

$ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR AND IF YOU'RE LIKE ME, HAVING TROUBLE UNDERSTANDING THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY; IT IS $338,300,000,000.00
WHICH WOULD BE ENOUGH TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY FOR THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY.

Are we THAT Stupid?

YES, FOR ALLOWING THOSE IN THE U.S. . CONGRESS TO GET AWAY WITH DOING THIS YEAR AFTER YEAR!!!!!

Ashton Carter: U.S. to end Syrian rebel training program, instead will work with Kurds

The U.S. will change the failed Syrian rebel training program to focus efforts on working with capable Kurdish and other forces in Syria, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday.

No details were immediately available, but the $500 million program to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State group is widely considered a failure. It has produced fewer than 100 soldiers, many of whom had fled, been captured or killed in early fighting.

Carter said at a news conference in London that the work the U.S. has done with the Kurds is a good example of an effective approach with a capable, motivated ground combat force. He did not provide more details.

U.S. officials said the new effort would focus more on embedding recruits with established Kurdish and Arab units, rather than sending them directly into front-line combat. Last week, a commander of one of the U.S.-trained rebel units turned over a half-dozen U.S. vehicles to extremist militants.

“The work we’ve done with the Kurds in northern Syria is an example of an effective approach,” Carter said. “That’s exactly the kind of example that we would like to pursue with other groups in other parts of Syriagoing forward.”

He called it a “more strategic approach” than what the U.S. has been doing from the beginning.

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Class action lawsuit filed against Dead Freddies

Ten employees have joined a class-action suit filed in federal court in Baltimore as plaintiffs against Dead Freddies LLC alleging they are owed unpaid overtime and minimum wages.

The complaint was filed on Aug. 27, and while the defendant has until Oct. 19 to respond, the company already challenged claims made by two plaintiffs as of Sept. 30.

According to court records, plaintiff Melanie Mason of Pocomoke City was a tipped “front of house” server from Feb. 2013 to August 2015.

Mason, however, alleges she was not paid for all of the hours she worked, was forced to pay for customer walk-outs, mis-rung or rejected food and drink and was forced to perform excess amounts of “side work” including rolling silverware, cleaning tables and both cleaning and stocking service areas.

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Baltimore hosts White lives matter too much convention

A major national conference for teachers and school administrators starting on Saturday, October 10, in Baltimore will focus exclusively on race and racism, featuring workshops on “interrupting whiteness” in American schools, the “dominance of White supremacy” in society, “White privilege” enjoyed by Caucasian students, “white domination of thought,” and how to “decenter whiteness.”
The conference, officially titled The National Summit for Courageous Conversation 2015, is organized by thePacific Educational Group (PEG), a large and influential consulting firm hired by hundreds of school districts nationwide — often under pressure from the federal government — to address “racial gaps” in scholastic performance and behavior problems in the classroom.
But don’t take my word for it.
Below are excerpts taken from the official program of the upcoming National Summit for Courageous Conversation 2015, as well as examples taken from earlier Summits in 2014 and 2011, accompanied by direct screenshots of the text as it appears in the programs. You can confirm this by viewing the official 2015 program itself as uploaded by Pacific Educational Group, as well as pdfs of the 2014 Summit program and the 2011 program still archived at the Summit’s own Web site.
This first example is a prototypical workshop at the National Summit for Courageous Conversation; is this the kind of race-obsessed confrontational philosophy that should be guiding instruction and curricula in the nation’s public schools?
White Privilege, White Responsibility: Deepening Our Commitment as White Allies in the Struggle for Racial Equity in Schools
To achieve racial equity in schools, all educators must be able to identify and communicate where their own personal whiteness plays out in classroom, school, and community systems. Deepen your ability to focus a critical lens on your own whiteness and privilege and see how they impact your life. Through the tenets of Critical Race Theory, analyze how society constructs whiteness as the dominant norm in the U.S. Explore what it means to be a white educator leading for racial equity without perpetuating a system of white dominance.
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Russia’s Syria intervention may force choice on Obama: Act or yield

Russia’s military moves in Syria are fundamentally changing the face of the country’s civil war, putting President Bashar al-Assad back on his feet, and may complicate the Obama administration’s plans to expand its air operations against the Islamic State.

So far, the administration has not budged in its twofold strategy — direct airstrikes against the Islamic State and significant aid for those fighting against it, and a push for negotiations to end what has been the largely separate Syrian civil war.

Senior administration officials acknowledge that Russia has already made some tactical gains in the civil war, even as they insist President Vladi­mir Putin will ultimately pay for what they describe as a strategic blunder that will undercut his already tenuous reputation in the world and encourage the spread of the militants.

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CFPB To Consider Rules That Would Revoke Banks’ “License To Steal”

The lengthy, often complicated terms of use for more than half of all credit cards — and nearly half of all federally insured bank deposits — include clauses that force customers into arbitration, taking away their right to sue these companies in a court of law and usually blocking them from joining together in a class action. Critics argue that these forced-arbitration clauses allow banks and other businesses to break the law with impunity. Heeding the call of lawmakers and consumer advocates, the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has decided to consider rules that would ban this practice among financial institutions.
For those unfamiliar with arbitration clauses, here’s how it works: Somewhere in the contract or user agreement with a company (it’s not just banks; cable companies, telecom providers, tech manufacturers, and others are increasingly doing this), you might find a paragraph or two, usually under the heading of “dispute resolution.”

You can’t change these terms and rarely have the choice to opt out, meaning you have no choice but to accept the full contract or use another product.

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Ohio man gets 'too high,' calls police

An Austintown, Ohio, man with a serious case of the munchies called police to complain that he was "too high," according to the Austintown Police Department.

Austintown police responded to the call around 5:20 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3 and found the 22-year-old "in the fetal position." He "was surrounded by a plethora of Doritos, Pepperidge Farm Goldfish and Chips Ahoy cookies," according to the police report.

The victim told police he could not feel his hands, but declined medical service. He told the officer he "smoked too much weed."

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Upon Further Review: Has Route 113 Crosswalk Accomplished Much?

OCEAN CITY – Bobby Lee Johnson has been crossing Route 113 from his residence on Flower Street in Berlin almost every day for the past 56 years.

He says even with the new crosswalk at the intersection of Bay Street and Assateague Road that was installed after one teenager was killed and another critically injured after being struck by a passing police cruiser roughly two years ago, crossing that highway is a daunting task.

“It’s still as dangerous at is it ever was,” said Johnson. “You better know what you are doing and get yourself moving when that light turns green because you don’t have a lot of time.”

To truly understand what Johnson means, it helps to take the walk across the busy highway which has not only been deemed one of the most dangerous in our region, but also has historically divided the east side of Berlin, which is predominantly inhabited by African-American residents and the west side of Berlin, which is mostly made up of Caucasian residents.

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Cheers and Booze at College Stadiums

Beer Here! Beer Here?

More universities are embracing the sale of alcohol at football games, but not everyone is comfortable with the trend.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. —
Fans of professional sports teams would not have noticed anything out of the ordinary at Milan Puskar Stadium’s concession stands on a recent sunny Saturday afternoon. Domestic and imported beer, wine and a hard cider advertised as gluten-free were all for sale during West Virginia’s football game against Maryland.

But these options were actually unusual. West Virginia is in the small minority of college teams that sell alcohol at football games to general-admission ticketholders, which it has done since 2011. And it is one of very few in the five most prominent conferences to do so, although many more make alcohol available in suites and to holders of other kinds of premium tickets.

“I’m a traditionalist,” said Alan Cage, 65, a West Virginia fan who sold Coca-Cola at the old Mountaineer Field when he was a boy. “It’s college football, and I grew up with no beer in the stands.”

But he was quick to add, “From an economic standpoint, I can understand.”

Berlin Octoberfest Apple Pie Baking Contest

Do you make the most delicious apple pie in the world? Berlin Main Street presents the Berlin Octoberfest Apple Pie Baking Contest on Saturday, October 17th. First place is $100. 

The contest is open to the public, amateur bakers only. Pie must be baked from scratch, no store bought pastry and apple must be the main ingredient. Each contestant must make two pies, one for the contest and one for the auction. Auction proceeds benefit our Christmas parade. Pies that need special handling, refrigeration or any on-site heating are not allowed and must be in disposable pans. All entries must be accompanied by a typed listing of ingredients and name of pie.

Registration forms may be picked up at the Berlin Visitor Center at 14 S. Main Street and must be completed and returned by Wednesday, October 15th by 4 pm.

Feds Made $124.7B in Improper Payments in 2014; ‘Almost $1 Trillion’ Over 12 Years

(CNSNews.com) - The federal government made an estimated $124.7 billion in improper payments in fiscal 2014 and has made “almost $1 trillion” in improper payments over the past twelve years, U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, head of the Government Accountability Office, told the Senate Finance Committee last week.

“In fiscal year 2014, agencies reported improper payment estimates totaling $124.7 billion, a significant increase—almost $19 billion—from the prior year’s estimate of $105.8 billion,” Dodaro told the committee in written testimony.

“The almost $19 billion increase was primarily due to the Medicare, Medicaid, and Earned Income Tax Credit programs, which account for over 75 percent of the government-wide improper payment estimate,” he said.

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TPP: Unfair to American Workers, Consumers, and Companies

By Rep. Curt Clawson (R, Fla.) and Peter Morici

Proponents of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement assert it will open new markets for U.S. goods and services, and help the American worker. We conclude the opposite: It’s a bad deal for America and should be rejected by Congress.

This deal benefits multinational corporations producing in Asia, and clearly helps the Asian workers at the expense of American jobs. Also, Americans will pay higher prices for some products.

Nike is a big TPP supporter, not because it will help the shoemaker create more jobs in America, but because its production in Asia will benefit, where it enjoys tax benefits and cheap, non-union labor. The Obama Administration says it opposes outsourcing; so this makes no sense at all.

The TPP hurts American competitiveness in a number of industries –automotive parts, metals, consumer electronics, software, light manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, and others. Our world-leading service sector, including internet and credit card transactions, will suffer increased outsourcing to nations with lower wages and taxes.

All this because the U.S. Executive Branch negotiators decided winners and losers – another example of crony capitalism, favoritism, and the corruptive power of the lobbyists.

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The TPP: A Monster Too Big to Fail?

Obama was never about creating more jobs in America. He was and is about Globalism

“For every President, there comes a moment when he does what he has been put into office to do. All prior bets and decisions are off the table. They carry no freight. He knows this. He knows he has no excuses. He has no one to blame. He must win. He must succeed. If he fails, he falls. He falls hard. The electorate? His colleagues, friends, and advisors? His flock of adoring supporters? All dust in the wind. He must do this one thing. He must go as deep and as dark and as crazy as he has to, in order to pull off the crime he was sent in to commit.” (The Underground, Jon Rappoport)

I have written extensively about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty and its destructive effects.(Full archive here.)
Now that all 12 nations have agreed to the text, the US Congress must vote on it. Since the Congress has already granted Obama fast-track authority, no committees will discuss it; no filibustering is permitted; no changes can be made to the text.

Again I stress: Obama was put in the White House to make TPP and similar treaties come to fruition. Failure is not an option.

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Impeach the IRS Director

"Look," wrote Lois Lerner, echoing Horace Greeley, "my view is that Lincoln was our worst president not our best. He should [have] let the [S]outh go. We really do seem to have 2 totally different mindsets."

Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, was referring to Southern secessionist states when he urged President-elect Lincoln to "let the erring sisters go in peace."

Greeley favored separating the nation from certain mindsets; Lerner favors suppressing certain mindsets. At the IRS, she participated in delaying for up to five years — effectively denying — tax exempt status for, and hence restricting political activity by, groups with conservative mindsets.

She retired after refusing to testify to congressional committees, invoking Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

As the IRS cover-up of its and her malfeasance continues, the Republicans' new House leaders should exercise this constitutional power: "The House . . . shall have the sole power of impeachment." The current IRS director, John Koskinen, has earned this attention.

The Constitution's Framers, knowing that executive officers might not monitor themselves, provided the impeachment recourse to bolster the separation of powers.

Federal officials can be impeached for dereliction of duty (as in Koskinen's failure to disclose the disappearance of emails germane to a congressional investigation); for failure to comply (as in Koskinen's noncompliance with a preservation order pertaining to an investigation); and for breach of trust (as in Koskinen's refusal to testify accurately and keep promises made to Congress).

Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, says the IRS has "lied to Congress," and "destroyed documents under subpoena."

More here

County approves $662K spend on replacement cars

As part of its annual budgeting and procurement processes, Worcester County purchases a number of vehicles to replace or augment its existing fleet.

This year, the Worcester County Commissioners agreed to a total expenditure of $662,000 for this equipment, which is about $11,400 over budget.

That department will use savings in fuel expenses to make up the shortfall between the actual and budgeted amounts, attributed to the Worcester County Sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office requested five vehicles: one full-size SUV 4x4, one unmarked full-size SUV 4x2 and three full-size police pursuit SUV 4x2s at a budgeted amount of about $165,400. The low bids for this equipment totaled nearly $177,000.

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Salisbury Maryland Kennel Club Donation

PHOTO: left to right: Jeannine Dennis, heat sensor donor; Lt. Rich Wiersberg, Wicomico County Sheriff's Office; Peggy Bradford, President, Salisbury Maryland Kennel Club.

On October 6th, the Salisbury Maryland Kennel Club presented a heat sensor unit and remote door release system to the Wicomico County Sheriff Office for their new K-9 vehicle. The unit will alert the K-9 officer if the vehicle's interior temperature goes above a pre-set level. It will automatically activate an S.O.S. horn, the siren and light bar. It also features a dual window drop and an integrated remote door system to release the K-9 for immediate assistance of the officer. The ACE K-9 Hot-N-Pop PRO, costs $1154, which was purchased through funds raised through the Salisbury Maryland Kennel Club Charitable Trust as the result of the raffle of a handmade quilt donated by club member and quilt maker, Jeannine Dennis.

The Salisbury Maryland Kennel Club Charitable Trust (SMKCCT) was founded in 2010. Working with the Salisbury Maryland Kennel Club (SMKC), the Trust is able through tax deductible donations by SMKC members, the public and friends of dogs and animals to provide the Tri-County area of Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset funding and other support for such things as the following:

Stab-Ballistic Proof Safety Vests for K-9 police units
Small Animal Oxygen Masks for Fire Departments
Educational programs for school children, youth groups, such as 4-H, Scouts and the general public on safety around dogs, on responsible dog ownership, on training, on the humane care and treatment of all dogs and all animal life, as well as on enjoyable ways to interact with dogs.

"I'm Not Here To Beg You To Open Your F##king Eyes"

So I’m often asked whether I really believe that government and policymakers intentionally create laws and policies that hurt the people and help themselves. My answer is typically that

“if you’re asking me this question you know I do but you don’t believe me; so either do your own research or continue to live in the world as you wish to perceive it. I’m not here to beg you to open your fucking eyes”.

I started this blog about 18 months ago and I have chosen to provide my research with no income attached to it. It means I have no axe but the truth. I spent 13 years in major international banks and have been on both sides of the double edged sword that makes the financial services sector a place to reap riches and also to be thrown to the wolves. That is, I am intimately familiar with the system. That said, what I’ve discovered is that really very little effort is required to see the world for what it is.

The closest analogy is probably best left to Orwell with Animal Farm. Humans around the world have been molded to believe they are part of a system to enable them to get ahead. While some do manage to find a path that has substantial monetary rewards the vast majority (and growing) have, whether they realise it or not, succumb to a role of Boxer, the cart-horse.

That is, our lives revolve around putting in 8 to 10 hours of labour each day for which we receive enough to feed ourselves and our families, have a warm place to sleep and some of us are able to obtain some credit from which we can enjoy things like new cars every few years (while rarely actually owning them). However, in terms of reaping rewards we sew, it is simply not reality. The current system has a clear economic hierarchy which began taking shape centuries ago in Europe. The problem which seems to exist is that people are willing to look at a calendar, see that it’s Thursday but believe almost any (false) figure of authority who says it’s Wednesday. Let me give you an example.

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One Part Of The Economy Is Booming: The Underground/Cash-Only Sector

If you make it so burdensome to operate a legit business, then you're basically giving people without big lines of credit and capital few choices but to work in the cash-only underground economy.

It won't be much of a surprise to those living outside the Washington D.C. beltway and the Unicorn Herd of start-ups selling for millions of dollars that the underground cash-only economy is one of the few bright spots in the U.S. economy. Correspondent B.U. recently submitted this report from rural America in response to my entry What Happens to our Economy as Millions of People Lose the Habits of Hard Work?, which mentioned those in the cash-only sector as not showing up in official employment statistics:
It is very common for folks where I live to get some form of subsidy be it SSI or WIC or whatever. Then they maintain their lifestyle by:

-- Selling items for cash on Craigslist:

This is mostly sub $1500 cars, Building materials or scrap metal.

I know quite a few folks that are doing very well in this line of business.

--Selling at various ‘trades-days’:

A friend mine clears ~$100K just trading in gold, firearms and ammunition.

Others I know trade cattle and livestock.

Another friend repairs cars at his home. He has weeks of backlog and turns away work all the time.

The key to all of this is that these folks have no official business. They trade only in cash. They do not make deposits in the bank except for the government checks.

The point is that for these folks, unplugging was a pay raise just in the tax exposure. When they get sick, they claim indigent and get whatever they need.

The spread between the burden of regulation and taxes is getting so onerous that folks are just falling into the very solution you describe.

I believe your focus is more professional in nature in terms of folks being a hired gun (i.e. free-lancer/contract employee). But what I see are the non-professionals as the ones who are really moving to fill the void of value that is growing as deflation/inflation oscillate.
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HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 10-10-15

Shoes

Something we all take for granted these days are shoes. This has all come about during the last 60 years or so. Women have always had a lot of shoes to go with different outfits. Most of the shoes for men consisted of a good solid pair of dress shoes; maybe some work shoes and possibly a pair of athletic shoes. There are very few men who polish their shoes nowadays. This was a habit I picked up when I was away at high school. I still wouldn’t be caught without a nice shine on my shoes.

People got more life out of their shoes years ago, thanks to your friendly shoe arcade. They would put on new heels and soles, either whole or half soles. A good pair of shoes would last a long time with the proper care. And once a good pair of shoes was broken in, there was nothing any more comfortable. For a time in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, some people put metal taps on the heels. There were even toe taps that could be used to make a distinctive sound along with the heel taps; you don’t see any of this anymore,

When I was growing up, the boys had two choices for shoes. Either “penny” loafers or “Chucks” were the order of the day. By “Chucks”, I mean the model of Converse All-Star that was endorsed by Chuck Taylor. They were predominately black with white trim around the sole. Any tennis shoe that was black with white trim but were not Chucks were referred to as “fish heads”. I think they still make Chucks today in many colors. I had a pair that I wore smooth playing basketball on our chip and tar driveway. I remember taking them to my grandfather’s workshop and putting them in a vice. I then proceeded to use one of his saws to put new tread on them. They worked great. This seems like a lot of trouble to extend the life of a pair of $3.98 sneakers, but that is the way things were done in the 1950’s. There was a period in the 1950’s that “white bucks” were all the rage. I remember that whenever someone showed up at school with a new pair, it was the obligation of every other boy to step on the new shoes.

Now, everybody wears athletic shoes, primarily for the comfort. When my oldest son was just beginning to walk, we bought a pair of white, high top leather shoes. The leather soles on them would become slicker than glass after a short time. I would take them to the basement and rough up the soles again. This never lasted too long. Then a sales girl at the Athlete in the old Mall told me that the high top shoes were bad for the development of his ankles. Also, she had a son a little bit older than mine and said she got him a very small pair of Nikes. I did the same and he ran everywhere, without once slipping.

Yes, we have come a long way from home-made school clothes. In those days the only thing purchased at a store was shoes and many a child had to work in the canning factories to get their shoe money. Now, parents think nothing of spending $100 on new shoes for their children.

Unmarked Submerged Dredge Pipes Causing Major Damage To Vessels; Latest Incidents Related To Storm

OCEAN CITY — At least two more boats have fallen victim to allegedly unmarked dredge pipes in local navigation channels, including an unnamed commercial vessel and a large sportfishing vessel seriously damaged in the Inlet channel last week.

In two separate incidents, a commercial trawler and the sportfishing charter boat “No Quarter” struck a section of dredge pipe partially submerged across the main channel in the Inlet, causing serious damage to both vessels. The two incidents last week bring the total of vessels striking pipes in navigation channels in and around the resort area to at least 10, including a half a dozen or so when the dredge company, Goodloe Marine out of Florida, had set up their operation much further south near Assateague last month.

The federal Army Corps of Engineers contracted Goodloe Marine to dredge the navigation channels in and around the resort to maintain the channels at the appropriate depth. As a side benefit, the dredged material has been pumped onto existing historic islands in and around the coastal bays including the now somewhat famous “Flag Island” enjoyed by so many boaters throughout the summer. In addition, some of the dredged material was earmarked for the beaches on Assateague and Ocean City, which was ultimately the cause of the last week’s round of boat strikes near the Inlet.

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RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, OBAMA STYLE

Larry Pickering

Four-time Walkley Award winning political commentator and Churchill Fellow, has returned to the fray over concern that the integrity of news dissemination is continually being threatened by a partisan media.

Retired US Lieutenant General David Deptula said recently, “The ultimate guidance (regarding air strikes in Iraq) rests with the black guy with his feet on the desk. Over three quarters of pilots leaving Gulf carriers are returning without dropping anything due to delays in decision-making up the chain of command in Obama's War council.”

Sources involved in the air war against ISIS said that, “Strike missions take on average just under an hour from a pilot requesting permission to strike an ISIS target to a weapon leaving the wing so by that time the insurgents have either vanished or we are out of fuel”.

After Obama had changed the rules of engagement (ROE) in Afghanistan in 2011, immediately US combat troop deaths tripled.
Marines complained that they needed to watch through their night-vision goggles as shadowy green figures dug holes in the roadway. “On several occasions we opened fire but at some point, the order came down to ‘Stop shooting at night unless you can positively identify an insurgent’. We knew what they were doing ... burying IEDs for sure, but command instructed us that, ‘You can't be positive. They might be farmers.' It’s ridiculous”, they said.

Also under orders from the Obama Administration, a new military handbook was published for all U.S. troops deployed to the Middle East which contained a list of “taboo conversation topics”. It included:

• “Making derogatory comments about the Taliban.”
• “Advocating women’s rights.”
• “Any criticism of paedophilia.”
• “Mentioning homosexuality and homosexual conduct,” or
• “Anything related to Islam itself.”

Furthermore, Obama had noted in his handbook that, “The tripling in deadly attacks by Afghan soldiers against US forces was due to Western ignorance of Afghan culture”. Hmmm.

Obama’s revised ROE in Iraq has meant airstrike missions have dropped from a planned 800 per day to 14, through pilots’ inability to engage targets.

The pilot must first determine that no more than 10 per cent of any target would involve civilians and in no case no more than 30 civilians must be at risk at any time. If in any doubt, permission must be sought from higher up the line of command.
Combat troops must be accompanied by Iraqi soldiers and must not enter mosques at any time nor should they enter homes unless fired upon first.

Only women can search women, even when a male is suspected of wearing a burkah. No night or surprise searches are allowed. Households have to be warned prior to searches. U.S. soldiers may not fire at the enemy unless the enemy is preparing to fire first.
U.S. forces cannot engage the enemy if civilians are present.
If Iraqi soldiers are present US troops can fire at an insurgent if they see him planting an IED during the day, but not at night and not if insurgents are merely, “walking away from the area where the explosives have been laid”.

The recent fall of Ramadi was anticipated 12 months ago when US intelligence first detected a slow build-up of ISIS forces on the western perimeter, yet targeting of those forces using air strikes was not given clearance by US command.

The ISIS can peruse the revised Obama ROEs on the internet at any time, courtesy of Wikileaks, yet no changes appear to have been made to the rules. So mosques have become weapons caches, male suicide bombers dress in burkahs, ISIS militia will not open fire on US troops unless surrounded by civilians and, as long as they are not shooting at things, convoys of ISIS artillery can move freely on open roadways without fear of being shot at.

Fair dinkum can America sustain 18 more months of the Obama/Kerry twins, with the corrupt Clintons in the wings?

And more importantly, WTF are we doing there?

Thanks Hillary

Thanks Hillary.

Posted by Dr. Ben Carson on Friday, October 9, 2015

MAC Center of Excellence awarded $733,698 grant

The Living Well Center of Excellence at MAC Inc. in Salisbury has been awarded a two-year Chronic Disease Self-Management Education grant from the Administration for Community Living.

Only eight of the grants were awarded nationwide. The grant to MAC totaled $733,698.

“The ACL grant is the beginning of a major period of growth for this agency,” according to Margaret A. “Peggy” Bradford, executive director of MAC Inc. Bradford notes, “Under the direction of Leigh Ann Eagle, MAC’s Living Well Center of Excellence is shepherding the statewide expansion of programs to empower persons with chronic conditions to live a healthy life.”

This grant supports the Center’s recent activities to provide statewide coverage for licensing, training, technical assistance and data management for several evidence-based programs.

An important partner in the development and capacity building of the Center has been Maryland’s Department of Aging, which will continue to play a key role in this grant. Additional partners include: the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Peninsula Regional Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology and Meritus Medical Center.

MAC will work with health care systems, the aging network and state and community partners throughout Maryland to meet the goals of this Living Well project:

· To significantly increase the number of older adults and adults with disabilities in underserved areas and populations who complete evidence-based self-management education and support programs to empower them to better manage their chronic conditions; and

· To implement innovative funding arrangements to support the proposed programs, while embedding the programs into an integrated, sustainable evidence-based prevention program network.

Also receiving grants were: Health Foundation of South Florida, Miami; AgeOptions Inc., Oak Park, IL; Mississippi State Department of Health; University of North Carolina at Asheville; Health Promotion Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; South Dakota State University; and the Community Council of Greater Dallas in Texas.

Eastern Shore Pregnancy Center Labor of Love Fundraising Banquet

The Eastern Shore Pregnancy Center will be hosting its 11th Annual Labor of Love Fundraising Banquet on Thursday evening, October 15, 2015, at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center, 500 Glen Avenue, Salisbury, Maryland, presenting the theme, “Stand in the Gap for Life.” Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with a catered dinner beginning at 7 p.m.

The speaker will be Pastor Charles Flowers from The Great Turnaround Ministry, and

Senior Pastor of Faith Outreach Center International, in San Antonio, Texas. Pastor Flowers will speak on the banquet theme of “Stand in the Gap for Life.”

For reservations, which must be made by Monday, October 12, to this fundraising event, please e-mail info@espc.comcastbiz.net, or call the Pregnancy Center at 410-546-5433.

The Eastern Shore Pregnancy Center offers compassion and support to those facing the challenges of an unplanned pregnancy. Their services include free pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, teen parent support group, mentoring, and assistance with baby and maternity supplies. All services are offered free of charge and are funded by local churches, community individuals, and through events such as this banquet. The Eastern Shore Pregnancy Center does not receive any government funding.

SCAM ALERT

SCAM ALERT
WE NEED YOUR HELP, PLEASE. Someone is making phone calls and arranging for our number, 410-742-8732, to show up in the caller ID. We do not call anyone to ask for support. Not ever. If you get a call that looks like it's from us, do not trust the caller. If you will, please help us collect information. Please find out what they want and then call us to fill us in. You can reach us at 410-742-8732. Just ask for Maureen or Elaine. PLEASE SHARE!

Did They Happen To Mention Pete Rose?


Lesson Of The Day


Double Standard?


The basis of the this country is under attack


Yup. Walmart takes care of their employees


Hillary Sinking