Town Drops Charges Against Woman For Front-Yard Veggie Garden

A woman who faced the prospect of 93 days in jail for refusing to stop growing vegetables in her front yard is sighing with relief after the Detroit suburb dropped all charges against her. All charges regarding her garden, that is. Now they have renewed charges against her for having two unlicensed dogs, even though she got her paperwork taken care of in June.

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BREAKING NEWS: Consumer Sentiment Falls To Lowest Level Since March '09

A preliminary reading on consumer sentiment for the month of July checked in at 63.8, the worst reading since March 2009 and much lower than the 72.5 economists had expected.
From Fox News

Humane Society Needs to Be Transparent

This morning’s Daily Times op-ed, as usual, attempts to walk a tight rope without offending too many people. While I won’t argue for being offensive, I do wish that our local paper would take a stand!

The chain emails were also directed at county officials, drawing more scrutiny. Acting County Administrator Sharon Morris has scheduled a meeting with Humane Society Director of Development Linda Lugo to get the other side of the story -- something those who sent nasty emails or letters did not bother to do. And the County Council has also expressed interest in meeting with Humane Society leadership.

In the past, both the council and County Executive Rick Pollitt have sought meetings with the Humane Society’s board. In a profanity laced (on Ms. Lugo’s part) meeting with Humane Society Executive Director Linda Lugo, both Pollitt and council members were basically told to pound salt. This incident was recently related again at a council meeting.

Now the Humane Society has little choice but to meet with Pollitt and the county council. The fate of this dog has brought international attention to our little slice of heaven AND the Wicomico County Humane Society. But – one thing the Humane Society seems unwilling to do is meet with our elected officials in public. As we reported Wednesday (and something that has been left out of the DT op-ed), the Humane Society and acting County Administrator Sharon Morris arranged for a meeting that only allows for three members of the council to attend. The only purpose for such a specific arrangement is to not trigger the Maryland Open Meetings Act.

It’s a little disingenuous of the paper to chastise the public for not meeting with the Humane Society when the Humane Society will not meet with the public and is only meeting with (SOME of) our elected officials because of the harsh light recently shined on them by SBYNews.

For the record, I have no dog in this hunt (forgive the pun). I love animals, but have more than enough pets at home. I’ve only met Ms. Lugo once and spoke with her on the phone another time. I have had a bad experience with the Humane Society, but it had nothing to do with animal care. My experience had to do with the mindless bureaucratic attitude I encountered when I was forced to visit the Humane Society. To be fair, this is far too common when dealing with government and non-profits; so I have no reason to have anymore prejudice against them than government in general and half of the non-profits I deal with.

I honestly believe that I am an objective agent in this debate. As such I have a quarrel with what appears to be an attempt by the DT to whitewash this matter:

This incident should be seen as an opportunity for all parties to come together and have an open, honest discussion about what is happening --strengths and weaknesses, needs that are being met and shortfalls. People who are passionate about these animals should focus squarely on helping the Humane Society meet the needs of the animals --and residents -- it serves.

All parties can’t have an open, honest discussion. The discussion to which the DT refers will be held in the proverbial back room. All of our elected officials will not be present. As for asking “people who are passionate about these animals” to focus on helping the Humane Society, why would people volunteer their time, talent, and treasure when this organization refuses to do meet with the public and explain themselves?

Md. Panel OKs Delmarva Power Rate Increase

SALISBURY - The Maryland Public Service Commission voted to approve Delmarva Power's request for an increase in electric delivery rates for the company's nearly 200,000 Maryland customers.

The change will add 1.4 percent to monthly residential electric bills. The typical bill for a Standard Offer Service residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month would increase by $1.78, moving the average monthly bill from $127.08 to $128.86.

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Queen Anne’s Officials Question BOE Charge

The Queen Anne's County school board has billed the county commissioners for using three schools for public budget hearings.

The Board of Education has not previously billed the county for the use of schools for hearings.

At the county commissioners' meeting July 12, Commissioner David Olds called the charges "petty" and asked County Administrator Gregg Todd if they could be deducted from next year's Board of Education funding.

Todd presented the bills to the commissioners for informational purposes and there was not a vote taken on whether or not to pay them. Todd said after the meeting that the county would pay the invoices.

The charges are $124 for using the Bayside Elementary School gymnasium for two hours (at $62 per hour) on June 13, $124 for using the Sudlersville Middle School gymnasium for two hours on June 15, and $418 for using the Queen Anne's High School auditorium for two hours (at $209 per hour) on June 14.

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A&E Series To Highlight Local Intervention Program

CENTREVILLE The RESET program, an early-intervention education program offered in Kent, Queen Anne's and Caroline counties, has been selected by A&E TV to be filmed as part of its series "Beyond Scared Straight."

The video is expected to air this fall. Filming is taking place July 12-16 at four area locations the Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Office, the Queen Anne's County Detention Center, the Chester River Medical Center and the Liberty Building in Centreville.

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Cardin Raises $1 Million

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin will report raising more than $1 million in the second quarter of this year for his 2012 reelection effort, a roughly 32 percent uptick in fundraising from the first quarter, his campaign said Thursday.

More than 1,300 individuals gave to the campaign, according to the announcement, and the Maryland Democrat received the majority of his donations from state residents. Cardin will report having $1.8 million in the bank.

Cardin, who is considered a safe bet for reelection by nonpartisan political observers such as the Cook Political Report, had $1 million on hand at the end of April. The latest figures suggest he spent around $200,000 in the second quarter.

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Lori Klein, Arizona State Senator, Pointed Loaded Gun At Reporter Richard Ruelas's Chest

Arizona state Sen. Lori Klein (R), a gun-rights champion, keeps a loaded raspberry-pink handgun in her purse, and during an interview with Arizona Republic reporter Richard Ruelas, she took it out and pointed it at him.

"Oh, it's so cute," Klein said, before aiming the gun at Ruelas's chest to show off the red beam of the laser sight. Klein's gun, a .380 Ruger, has no safety, but the senator assured Ruelas that he wasn't in danger.

"I just didn't have my hand on the trigger," she said.

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Revolving Door Can Be Sqeaky

The beauty of a revolving door is that it can take you back where you started with little effort. But, it can also put you in a different place, and not necessarily a better place in the long run.

The term “revolving door” is commonly used when referring to public employees who leave their jobs to go work in the private sector. The opposite also occurs, thus the “revolving” metaphor, as in coming and going.

A recent state audit shows how the revolving door can be problematic. Two former managers of the State Highway Administration were found to be in potential violation of state ethics laws and Department of Transportation rules.

One employee apparently solicited funds from companies doing business with SHA. A senior manager was involved in awarding a $16 million contract to a firm for which he went to work 12 days after retiring from the agency, according to the audit. Ask any public lawmaker and they’ll tell you that the revolving door practice is long-standing and continues, despite the best efforts of governmental bodies to curtail it.

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Pentagon Discloses Largest-Ever Cyber Theft

(AP)  WASHINGTON - The Pentagon on Thursday revealed that in the spring it suffered one of its largest losses ever of sensitive data in a cyberattack by a foreign government. It is a dramatic example of why the military is pursuing a new strategy emphasizing deeper defenses of its computer networks, collaboration with private industry and new steps to stop "malicious insiders."


William Lynn, the deputy secretary of defense, said in a speech outlining the strategy that 24,000 files containing Pentagon data were stolen from a defense industry computer network in a single intrusion in March. He offered no details about what was taken but said the Pentagon believes the attacker was a foreign government. He didn't say which nation.


"We have a pretty good idea" who did it, Lynn said in an interview before the speech. He would not elaborate.

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Third Friday Today – SBYNews Will Be Closed

As many of you know, today is Third Friday in Downtown Salisbury. We hope many of you will come out and enjoy the festivities.

Last week we announced that we would be hosting a little event down at our offices. Unfortunately, both Joe and I have to be out of town this evening (for different things).

We’re going to try and re-schedule, probably in September.

Have a GREAT WEEKEND!

Bay Bridge – Cash Cow of MD

As they say in show business – “Tough crowd"; at least if you were in favor of raising the toll on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Pocomoke Mayor Bruce Morrison warmed up the vocal crowd by pointing out that Worcester County thrives on tourism. Down in Pocomoke, at the southern end of the county, Sysco is their biggest business. Neither would be positively impacted by the draconian toll hike proposed by the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA). Mayor Morrison then introduced his predecessor as mayor – Del. Mike McDermott (R-38B).

McDermott whipped the crowd into a near frenzy. He pointed out that the Bay Bridge was the “Cash Cow of Maryland”. Yet, the MDTA has refused, or been unable, to produce current financial data for the Bay Bridge. (Ironically, before moving forward with the toll hike proposal the MDTA merged all accounting for the state’s bridges, tunnels, and toll roads.) McDermott argued that it didn’t matter whether the MDTA wanted to raise tolls $50 or 50 cents, they needed to be able to justify it.

McDermott noted that the Bridge had been paid for multiple times. “We don’t want to pay more for something that already takes in more than it spends.”

The crowd had groaned when McDermott explained that their tolls would go up while the tolls for the ICC would not. They reacted similarly when told that their toll dollars would go to fund infrastructure improvement in the Baltimore – DC corridor.

House Appropriations Chairman, Del. Norm Conway (D-38B) received a cool reception that turned quite rude. Conway tried to thread the needle between being supportive of the O’Malley administration and standing up for his constituents’ opposition to a toll hike.

“I want the Bay Bridge to be as strong as it can be; but listen to what the people across the state are saying.” However, Conway then offered a compromise: “Maybe these people would be willing to pay $5.”

At that point the crowd, predominately from Worcester County, began to shout “NO!” and boo Conway.

Maryland Senator Jim Mathias (D-38) was unable to attend because of his wife’s illness. He sent a spokesman to read a prepared statement . While Mathias’s statement basically acknowledged the proposed increase to be a foregone conclusion (and calling for deeper EZ Pass and commuter discounts), the crowd kept stone silent out of respect for Mrs. Mathias.

Del. Jay Jacobs (R-36) emphasized the unintended impacts on Maryland’s economy that will emerge from a toll hike. “In my district, more and more people are going to Delaware to spend their money. They raised the sales tax. More people started shopping in Delaware. They’ve just raised the alcohol tax. More people are going to Delaware to spend their money. Now they want to raise the tolls. I can promise you that where I live people will think long and hard before crossing those bridges.”

Nick Loffer of the AFP was the first person to speak who was not an elected official. Loffer noted all of the elected officials who had signed the AFP petition against the toll hikes. Notably absent were Conway and Mathias. At that point Loffer asked Conway if he wanted to sign the petition. Conway said no and the booing commenced again.

The themes behind opposition to the toll hike have changed little since the first Eastern Shore hearing on Kent Island. A massive toll hike will negatively impact tourism. It will cause many Marylanders to shop in Delaware. It will cause many Eastern Shore residents to stop shopping in Annapolis and Baltimore. It will cause the cost of our food and other consumables to rise. None of these is positive.

However, maybe a toll hike could be justified. There’s just one problem – the state can’t provide the data to do so without cooking the books.

Falsely Accused Man Awarded $852K

Unfounded allegations of child sexual abuse cost a Severn man months of quality time with his two young daughters and his job as a mortgage consultant with a local bank.

A county jury found that the false light put on Darryl Ginyard and the punitive damages he incurred after his ex-wife falsely accused him of sexually abusing their children were worth $850,000.

Last week's decision came more than a year after another county Circuit Court judge awarded Ginyard full custody of his girls, now 7 and 8 years old.

Ginyard was seeking $13 million in damages from his ex-wife, Amani Ginyard of Hanover, in a two-day civil hearing in Circuit Court in Annapolis.

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Franciscan Friar Arrested in Child Abuse Case

A 41-year-old friar and former teacher at Baltimore's Archbishop Curley High School was arrested this week in Connecticut and charged with inappropriate conduct with a child, according to police.

Michael Miller, a member of the Conventual Franciscan Friars, was charged Tuesday with risking injury, impairing the morals of a minor and attempted acts of obscenity, according to the Berlin, Conn., Police Department. He was freed in lieu of $150,000 bail and was ordered to appear in court in Berlin on July 26.

Officials at Archbishop Curley High School confirmed Thursday that Miller taught religion there in the mid-1990s and again between 2003 and 2006. From 2006 until shortly before his arrest, he was the parochial vicar at St. Paul Church in Kensington, part of the town of Berlin, but was suspended "from all public ministry" on July 4, after the Archdiocese of Hartford learned of the allegations against him, according to a statement from officials of the Franciscan order.

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BREAKING NEWS: Consumer Prices Fall 0.2% In June

Inflation at the consumer level fell 0.2% in June, a slightly larger drop than the 0.1% decline economists had expected. Excluding the food and energy component, prices were up 0.3%, more than the 0.2% forecast.
From Fox News

Rasmussen: 55% Oppose Tax Hike In Debt-Ceiling Deal

More than half — 55 percent — of likely voters say a tax hike should not be included in legislation to raise the debt ceiling, while just 34 percent believe it should, according to Rasmussen Reports.

There is a huge partisan divide on the issue: 58 percent of Democrats want a tax hike in the deal while 82 percent of Republicans do not, Rasmussen says of a July 12-13 national telephone survey of 1,000 likely voters. Among those not affiliated with either major political party, 35 percent favor a tax hike and 51 percent are opposed.

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City, State Promise Citigroup Million to Move to Wilmington

State officials and the city of Wilmington have offered banking giant Citigroup $3.4 million to expand its credit card business into the Brandywine Building in downtown Wilmington and add up to 200 workers.

The Buccini/Pollin Group Inc., the real estate firm that bought the 18-floor landmark building from the DuPont Co. in 1999, said Citi has not signed a lease. An official there would not comment on negotiations.

An advisory panel to the Delaware Economic Development Office will meet on July 25 to consider awarding Citi a $3 million grant.

The offer is tied to job-creation targets and allows the state to demand repayment of a portion of the funds if Citi doesn't maintain pre-arranged employment levels for seven years, according to state economic development director Alan Levin.

Levin said that Citi plans to add 93 workers by the end of next year and move an additional 65 workers from its offices in Pike Creek. Salaries on those jobs will average between $80,000 and $85,000, Levin said.

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Koch Brothers, ALEC And Their Corporate Allies Plan To Privatize Government

On February 25, 2011, Florida State Representative Chris Dorworth (R-Lake Mary) introduced HB 1021. The bill sought to curtail the political power of unions by prohibiting public employers from deducting any amount from an employee’s pay for use by an employee organization (i.e., union dues) or for any political activity (i.e., the portion of union dues used for lobbying or for supporting candidates for office).

Furthermore, HB 1021 stated that, should a union seek to use any portion of dues independently collected from members for political activity, the union must obtain annual written authorization from each member.

In effect, this bill defunds public-sector unions—like AFSCME, SEIU, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association—by making the collection of member dues an onerous, costly task. With public-sector unions denatured, they would no longer be able to stand in the way of radical free marketeers who plan to profit from the privatization of public services.

Given the similarities between HB 1021 and a rash of like-minded bills in states across the country, including Wisconsin, on March 30 a public records request was sent to Dorworth’s office seeking copies of all documents pertaining to the writing of HB 1021, including copies of any pieces of model legislation the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) may have provided.

Within an hour of submitting this request, Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon’s (R-Winter Park) Communications Director Katherine Betta responded: “We received a note from Representative Dorworth’s office regarding your request for records relating to the American Legislative Exchange Council and HB 1021. Please note that Mr. Dorworth’s legislative offices did not receive any materials from ALEC relating to this bill or any ‘model legislation’ from other states.”

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Number of Baltimore Schools Missing Targets Surges

Nearly 90 percent of Baltimore elementary and middle schools fell short of academic targets on state assessments this year, signaling a trend that education officials nationwide say will eventually label most American schools as failures.

Only 15 of the 141 city schools met federally mandated progress goals in math and reading on the Maryland School Assessments, according to state and city school data. And the schools that didn't meet the adequate yearly progress goals included some of the highest-performers in the city and the state, illustrating the continuing debate about the embattled No Child Left Behind Act.

"It's a crude measure and an unsophisticated system in that it tarnishes schools with the same brush," said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a nonpartisan group that has tracked the nation's progress under the law since its inception. "It's one of these things that everyone knows there's a problem, but no one has figured out how to fix it."

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