Hornets Drop First To Patuxent Drug Bust Nets

PINEY POINT LIGHTHOUSE

PRSTD STD

US Postage Paid

Permit No. 145

Waldorf, MD

Established 2006 • Volume 3 • Issue 40

ThursdayT-Storms

82°

SaturdayCloudy 59°

FridayRain 62°

Op.-Ed ...........Page A - 4

Obituaries.......Page A - 8

Sports...............Page B - 1

Police ...............Page B - 7

Classifieds.......Page B - 9

For Continual News Updates

Visit:

somd.com

Inside

St. Mary’s Largest And Only Locally Owned Newspaper Call 301-373-4125 To Subscribe

Thursday, October 16, 2008 • St. Mary’s County

Drug Bust Nets Almost 200 K A-3

Hornets Drop First To Patuxent B-1<<

By Guy LeonardStaff Writer

A recently married couple who lived in Lexington Park was killed Oct. 10 when the motorcycle they were riding collided with another vehicle while they were traveling on Willows Road.

Phillip Brian Natalie, 26, who was driving the motorcycle died on the scene of the accident as a result of his injuries. His wife, Jessica Laurel Natalie, 26, was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital where she was pronounced dead, according to incident reports from the Maryland State Police.

Police reports state that the colli-sion occurred when a Toyota Camry, operated by Lateesha Shonte Coo-per, 25, of Lexington Park took a left hand turn from Crimson Drive onto eastbound Willows Road.

Brian Natalie’s westbound

Yamaha R-1 motorcycle collided with the Toyota while it was in the eastbound lane at the intersection of Willows Road and Crimson Drive, police reports stated.

The Natalies lived in the Abber-ly Crest apartment community on Willows Road and managerial staff there confirmed that Jessica Natalie was employed there as an assitant manager in the community.

Management staff also con-firmed that the couple had just been married over the summer.

Phillip Natalie worked for the defense contractor DynCorp at Patuxent River Naval Air Station at the Strike wing.

The cause of the accident is un-known, according to state trooper reports.

Cooper was transported to St. Mary’s Hospital for treatment and

Husband, Wife Killed In Motorcycle Wreck


Stewart Gough, the man who was convicted of first-degree murder in 2003 but won his bid to have the conviction overturned last year on the grounds he was not allowed to admit evidence in his favor at trial, plead guilty Oct. 10 to conspiracy to commit second- degree murder.

He was sentenced to 30 years in prison; but will have 25 years to serve since being incarcerated five years ago.

Gough was originally convicted of being a part of a fatal shooting that took place at the Brass Rail bar in Great Mills, in which Keith Bonds lost his life.

An associate of Gough’s, Vin-cent Gordon, Jr., was found guilty of the actual shooting, while Gough was believed by prosecutors to have driven the car in an escape from the scene.

“He [Gough] was not alleged to be the shooter,” said Assistant State’s Attorney James Tanavage, the pros-ecutor assigned to the case. “He was the driver in the shooting.

“We thought this was a fair disposition.”

Gough’s conviction on first-de-gree murder charges was overturned in July of last year when the Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled that Gough’s attorney should have been allowed to admit into evidence state-ments made by Gough that showed his surprise at the shots being fired by Gordon during the incident.

Man Awaiting Retrial

Takes Plea

Campaign Signs Under Siege In St. Mary’s

Local Republicans, Democrats Decry Destruction And Theft Of Campaign Materials

The Giving SeasonFarm Life Festival Raises Money for Christmas in April

See Trial page A-� See Signs page A-1

See Wreck page A-6

A-10


It had to happen sooner or later: reports of the de-struction or theft of presidential campaign materials are coming in from around St. Mary’s County, and the inci-dents have hit both campaigns GOP Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as well as the Democratic ticket of Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

David Willenborg, chairman of the McCain/Palin campaign here, said he has had two signs stolen from his yard and has received reports of at least seven other signs that have been destroyed, vandalized or purloined.

One Republican sign located at the intersection of Bull Road and Route 243 headed towards Compton had a sticker placed on it that prompted people to vote for a Democratic candidate if they were tired of GOP leadership.

The sticker was later removed.

“Stuff’s disappearing,” Willenborg said. “This is business as usual.

“This seems to have all happened in the past few days, an acceleration of stuff being destroyed.”

Cindy Slattery, president of the St. Mary’s County Democratic Club, was quick to condemn the destruction of a competing ticket’s campaign signs.

“This is not what democracy is about,” Slattery told The County Times. “There’s zero tolerance [in the local Democratic Party] for any of that nonsense.

“I just think that’s a bad way to play.”Slattery said Democratic volunteers have reported

incidents of sign removal from people’s yards but that vandalism has not become a problem.

Tom Haynie, chairman of the St. Mary’s County Republican Central Committee, said his party would, likewise, not tolerate any similar mischief aimed at the opposition.

“We’re not out there bothering their signs,” Haynie

Speaking of the Bush administration:

“Most fiscally irresponsible administration in our County’s history”

Speaking of fiscal reform:

“Earmarks are a distraction”

Andrea ShiellStaff Writer

Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) started canvassing the Patuxent River on Sunday to search for a missing boater near Solomons.

NRP was notified of an over-turned vessel on the Patuxent River in the area of Point Patience at 4:54 pm on Sunday. According to Sgt. Ken Turner, a 38-foot speedboat with four persons onboard, travel-ing at a high rate of speed, capsized, and all four individuals were ejected from the vessel. None of the individ-uals were wearing life jackets. The accident occurred just north of the Thomas Johnson Bridge, near the red #8 marker on the Patuxent.

Three of the occupants floated to the surface soon after the accident and were rescued from the water by boaters and anglers in the area. The owner of the boat, 30 year-old Robert T. Baumgarten of Lexing-ton Park, was transported to Prince George’s Hospital Center. Kenneth N. Weisskopf, 3�, and Joshua E. Re-ithmeyer, 25, both of Mechanicsville were transported to Calvert Memo-rial Hospital.

The fourth individual, Patrick G. Reiter, 39, of Mechanicsville is reported missing. Search efforts concluded at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, resuming at sunrise the next day. The incident is still under investiga-

Intensive Search and

Rescue For Local Man Lost In Boating Accident

See Accident page A-�

Photo by Andrea ShiellVisitors enjoyed a fun weekend at Parlett’s farm in Charlotte Hall during this years Farm Life Festival

SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,October16,�008

Use Your Gold Card Every Time You Shop

(See Details in Store)

more you save!Purchases* Reward$200 - $299 Save $10 $300 - $399 Save $15$400 or more Save $20

Use Your Gold Card Every Time You Shop!

The more you spend by 11/18, the more you save!

*Excluding items prohibited by law. Limit one per household.

Thursday, October 16, 2008 The County Times Section A - �


Two search warrants executed by vice/narcotics units last week netted more than 100 marijuana plants total, according to Unit Commander Lt. Daniel Alioto, which were valued at almost $200,000.

The first raid took place in the Town Creek neighborhood, where narcotics detectives ar-rested Robert Oscar Newland, 22, of Lexing-ton Park at a residence where they found more than 100 plants Newland was alleged to have been cultivating.

“He had just finished one crop,” Alioto told The County Times, adding that the plants were in various states of growth. “He’d have a constant flow of marijuana.”

Newland was initially charged with pos-session of marijuana, but other charges may be pending after prosecutors take over the case.

Alioto said that deputies also recovered a Glock .40 caliber handgun from the scene of the search warrant.

“This prevented a lot of pot hitting the streets,” Alioto said of the Lexington Park operation.

Farther north in Mechanicsville, tactical team members and narcotics detectives raided

another marijuana growing operation Oct. 9, the same day as the Lexington Park bust.

Detectives arrested Jackson “Jack” Fran-cis Russell, 55, after searching his home in

Helen and allegedly finding more than eight pounds of cultivated marijuana, according to police reports.

Police also recovered 13 fully matured

plants, according to police reports, as well as numerous weapons and ammunition. Russell was also con-victed in 2001 in a similar case that involved growing marijuana, and was charged with illegal ownership of a firearm as well as marijuana possession.

According to police reports, detectives estimated the total value of the marijuana seized was about $40,000 in street sales. Detectives also confiscated a GMC pick up truck valued at about $5,000.

The search warrant stemmed from several trespassing complaints, and detectives alleged that Russell had gone onto another person’s prop-erty to grow the marijuana plants.

“They were exceedingly well taken care of,” Alioto said of the plants, adding that each plant trans-lated into about two pounds of cul-tivated marijuana. “Some of them were as tall as seven or eight feet.

“We’re happy with the way the investigation went. I’d take busts like these once a week.”

Dual Drug Busts Nets Almost $200 K In Marijuana Plants

Robert NewlandRussell Jackson

Consent Agenda:

10.0� Personnel - Administrative and Supervisory

In accordance with the Annotated Code of Mary-land (Section 6-201), “the superintendent shall nomi-nate for appointment by the county Board of Education all principals, teachers, and other certificated person-nel.” The superintendent “shall assign them to their positions and transfer them as the needs of the system require.”

Motion: To approve the consent agenda as presented.

Motion By: Cathy Allen

Second: Gary K Kessler

Action: UnanimousVoting Record:William M Mattingly

YesCathy Allen

YesGary K Kessler

YesSalvatore L Raspa

YesMary M Washington

Yes

Action Items:11.01 Revised FY 2010

- FY 2015 State Capital Improvements Program

The FY 2010 – FY 2015 state capital improvements program was initially ap-proved by the Board of Ed-ucation on September 10, 2008. In light of the current economic conditions, staff has reviewed the program and made adjustments to the capital program to be fiscal-ly responsible while main-taining the project schedules to reflect the educational program requirements and capacity needs of the school system.

(Funding Source: State and Local Capital Improve-ments Program)

Motion: That the Board of Education approve the re-vised FY 2010 to FY 2015 state and local capital im-provements program for submission to the Board of County Commissioners for St. Mary’s County and the Public School Construction Program.

Motion By: Gary K Kessler

Second: Cathy AllenAction: Unanimous

Voting Record:William M Mattingly

YesCathy Allen

YesGary K Kessler



Yes

11.02 Chiller Replace-ment at Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary School

Plan and specifications for Bid Number 2009-1 for the replacement of the wa-ter-cooled chiller at Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary School were made avail-able to bidders on August 25, 2008. Eleven contractors purchased plans and speci-fications. Five contractors submitted bids on Septem-ber 19, 2008. The base bid encompassed the replace-ment of the existing 150-ton chiller and pumps. Alternate Number One called for the replacement of the existing water tower used for cool-ing the chiller. Alternate Number Two called for a re-furbishment of the existing water tower.

Base bids received ranged from $289,600 to $458,650. The lowest ap-parent bid is in excess of the budgeted funds for the project. Upon examination of the bids, staff believes that value-engineering op-portunities are present that could reduce the costs for the chiller replacement. Staff will work with the en-gineer to modify the plans and specifications for the re-bidding of the project in November 2008.

Motion: That the Board of Education reject all bids received for the Chiller Re-placement at Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary School, Bid Number 2009-1, on the basis that the bids exceed the budget for this project

Motion By: Mary M Washington

Second: Gary K Kessler

Action: UnanimousVoting Record:William M Mattingly

YesCathy Allen

YesGary K Kessler



Yes

Board of Education Voting RecordMeeting Held Oct. 8

SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,October16,2008

Editorial&Opinion

LetterstotheEditor

Ifyouwishtosendalettertotheeditor,pleaseincludeyourname,addressandphonenumberforcon-firmation purposes. We will only publish your name and city of residence. We can withhold your name by

request if circumstances merit it. We must receive all letters by Monday morning for publication in the next issue. Any letter received later than Monday will be held for the following issue.

P.O.Box250•Hollywood,Maryland20636

News, advertising, circulation, classifieds: 301-373-4125

JamesManningMcKay-Publisher

Tobie Pulliam - Office [email protected]

AndreaShiell-CommunityCorrespondent.......andreashiell@countytimes.net

ChrisStevens-SportsCorrespondent.............. [email protected]

GuyLeonard-GovernmentCorrespondent..............guyleonard@countytimes.net

HelenUhler-SalesRepresentative................................helenuhler@countytimes.net

The County Times

We are at your service with:- Aprofessionalsalesteam- Creativeaddesignservices- Competitiverates- Acommunityserviceorient-

edpublication

Call us today to start making

your advertising campaign a success.

(301) 373-4125

United Way Thanks You

The Board of Directors, counselors, andclients of the Pastoral Counseling Center of St. Mary’s, Inc. (PCC) wish to express our grati-tude for volunteer contributions to the 11th An-nual Day of Caring Campaign for United Way of St Mary’s County. We are grateful for will-ing PCC volunteers: Lou Kendrick, James Cop-persmith, Tim Gonzalez, Rev. Keith Schukraft, Travis Windsor and Darrell Scott. These men came early in the morning to remove furniture and equipment from our offices. Late after-noon they returned to restore the furnishings after the work projects were completed. We wish to express our gratitude for St. Mary’s Hospital’s (SMH) willingness to participate by donating time and labor of two employees to complete work projects for PCC. The SMH employees who provided this assistance are McKinley Guess and Kevin M. Oliver. We are deeply grateful for these employees’ willing-ness to participate. Once again SMH employ-ees demonstrated resourcefulness as McKin-ley and Kevin requested advice from Kevin’s wife, who not only advised and refreshed their knowledge about the tasks of carpet clean-ing, floor stripping and waxing, but came and provided assistance. Their enthusiastic, ener-getic and competent efforts are appreciated. As Director, I am profoundly grateful for community support and assistance through Day of Caring. PCC also is honored and

blessed by the support of the PCC family. Board President Lynn Kendrick joined us at noon to share the mission of PCC with SMH employee volunteers. Board Vice President Lynn Duff provided a luscious chocolate cheesecake for our enjoyment. PCC Intern Veronica Gonzalez enthusiastically assisted in cleaning and rearranging office furniture. Established in 1983, the Pastoral Counseling Center is a non-profit organization supported by local businesses, churches and the United Way of St. Mary’s County. At PCC, our mis-sion is to provide professional clinical counsel-ing from a Christian perspective at an afford-able rate to individuals, families and groups. A client assistance plan aids those who are un-able to pay full fee. PCC provides vital coun-seling service that assists individuals and fam-ilies to negotiate life’s difficult challenges in a positive and healthy way. Within the relation-ship between counselor and client, we believe healing compassion ... respectful listening ... professional skill … create possibility for un-derstanding and change in all relationships of life. Counseling is a process of exploring and facilitating choices that ultimately impact the community in both the family and work envi-ronment. Counseling is about enhancing qual-ity of living on a day to day basis. Individu-als, couplesand families fromareachurchesand communities have enhanced their qual-ity of living through counseling at PCC.Again, thank you from all those who benefit.

Sincerely,Betty Joanne Scott, Director

No Letters From Candidates 3 Weeks Before Elections

Irecentlywrotealettertotheeditoraboutthe twenty percent of St. Mary’s County ninth graders who don’t pass to the tenth grade. Theyare,inaword,notpreparedtoentertheninth grade. I also wrote about the Fairlead Academy which has been created to partially address the problem. We also have a program called Tech Connect where identified “at risk” ninth graders go to the James A. Forest Tech-nology and Career Center, and while there learn theconnectionbetweenacademicsandForest Center courses.

Recently, Scott Smith, director of second-aryinstruction,administration,andschoolim-provement, suggested that perhaps we should retain more middle school students. Currently, we retain very few. Presently, we do offer ex-tra school help in middle school. The hope is that if students see that theycanbe retained

that they will work to come to school, do their homework, and do what is necessary to pass.

I have an idea which has been recom-mended by a task force in the state of Idaho and is similar to one Mr. Scott has suggested. The Idaho Task Force recommended credits in middle school to progress from one grade to another. Considering that in St. Mary’s County, high school students must get a cer-tain number of credits to go from one grade to another, Scott Smith noted that that is a pos-sibility for middle school in St. Mary’s County. Students would have to complete a specified number of credits to go from sixth grade to seventh and so forth. I totally agree with Mr. Scott’s ideas and would like to suggest that we also have summer middle school intervention programs as were recommended by the Idaho Task Force. The hope is that by ninth grade the students would be prepared for high school. In the end, fewer students would fail ninth grade and ultimately fewer would drop out. We would indeed be keeping children first! Last, let’s be proactive instead of reactive once a problem exists.

Marilyn CrosbyLexington Park, Md

Tax Plan Has No Chance

Southern Maryland…What a place to live! …Mother county of the whole U. S. and A. …Unique home to a hard working Amish community grown from a faith-based, respon-sibility oriented heritage. …Unique home to premier technology-centered military research and development centers focused on ensuring continued defense of our country. …South-ern Maryland—tough and confident survivor of historical economic ups and downs…fish, crabs, oysters, tobacco. Yes, tough, resilient, and, one would think, a community intuitively able to smell a rat when carpetbaggers and hood-winkers come to town. Perhaps one of theotherwisecommendabletraitsofthispeo-ple is their seeming acceptance of just about anybody who can tell them a story withoutblinking, or crossing their fingers behind their backs. But, alas, this people has been flim-flammed and hoodwinked for many political years. Can anyone name any benefit to have been brought to “the people” by those in politi-cal office, namely, those photo-op reps, Dyson and Steny, union-babe Babs, the new Dem on the block, Benny, and the “oops, I forgot to tell you about my big tax plan” O’Malley? I sup-pose folks were out trying to earn a living in a newproductareawhentheelectiondayscamearound. Now, we are faced with another “elec-tion of the centuries”. One candidate has two big all-encompassing statements, “It’s Bush’s

fault!” and “I will give 95% of the middle-class taxpayers a tax cut.” Well, thinking folks will attribute the first statement to just plain “Barbara Streisand!” Assuming that south-ern Marylanders have successfully passed the fourth grade, including the old arithme-tic, look at his second braggadocios promise. If 100% of U. S. taxpaying-eligible folks paid some taxes, perhaps his promise would have a chance. But…here is a skoshi problem…the bottom 40% of taxpaying-eligible citizens pay…zero, none, nada in Federal taxes. 40% from 100% leaves 60% to be eligible for his tax cuts…but…the bottom 50% of eligibles pay a total of 3% of the taxes. So, (now I’m getting into higher math—not a strength). If those folks get just a 3% tax cut of the total bill, that leaves 90% of the country not paying a penny to support our country. Right now, though, the top 1% of our taxpayer’s fork out 40% of the whole bill, and the top 10% pay for 70% of the tax bill. Maybe this guy is using new math from his Ivy League schooling! (Or, is he sell-ing snake oil). We haven’t even folded in his plan for other ways to save the nation…elimi-nating the cap on earnings to save Social Secu-rity, returning to tax rate levels under Bubba, taxing some more on dividends (which, we all know would be only a tax on the rich), and, oh, don’t forget his plan to “invest” $800 bil-lion-to-$1 trillion in new programs…all for the middle and lower classes of course. Figure it out southern Marylanders!

Larry Lutz Lexington Park, Md

It is election time onceagain which means high-ways, streets and neighbor-hoods are becoming littered with political campaign signs. But this election sea-sonisonlyaquietreminderof what the landscape willlook like two years from now.

Over the past few weeks, more and more po-litical campaign signs have been popping up around St. Mary’s County, still the to-tal number is not that great, and with only three weeks left until the election, thosefew signs won’t be there too much longer.

Thisyear thereareonlya few local offices up for grabs, no state offices, and only two federal offices. Two years from now howev-

er,almostall localandstateoffices will be up for grabs as well as several federal of-fices. Campaign signs will then start showing up in July in abundance, and will cover nearly every corner and in-tersectionofourCountyfor4 months.

To some people this allseems so annoying and un-sightly. To those who cher-ish our democracy, muchthe same as a Navy jet fly-ing loudly above our County is considered “the sound of freedom”, so are these un-sightly signs considered “the sight of freedom”. Remem-bering that freedom is never without sacrifice, these signs are yet another sacrifice our Country must be willing to make to preserve freedom.

Nothing is more ger-

manetoourdemocracythanfree and fair elections, andthe freedom of speech thatallows each of us to voice our opinions is indeed basic tofree and fair elections. Sup-porting the candidate of your choice by placing a sign on your property demonstrating that support is a basic freespeech right that our Coun-try must protect.

Every campaign season, numerous campaign signs are reported vandalized or stolen. This season is no different, several McCain/Palin campaign signs were recently officially reported vandalized or stolen and just before press time there wasan unofficial report from the Democratic Central Com-mittee Chair that possiblysome Obama/Biden signs

may have been stolen. With so many signs

what does a few matter? The sheriff has been calledto investigate, aren’t other crimes more important? For our freedom’s sake, it does matter, and the sheriffmustmake this a priority. At first it may seem minor in theoverall scheme of this Presi-dential election, yet it is huge in preserving free and fair elections now and into thefuture.

This criminal activity gone unchecked may not af-fectthiselection,butitdoesviolate certain American’s Constitutional rights, and indeed could lead to great-er criminal activity in two yearsthatcouldaffectalocalor state election. The sheriff needs to send a clear message

right now that this violation cannot stand in our county.

In 2006, long time St. Mary’s County inspectors, friendlytoonepartydecidedto issue citations claiming certain political signs as un-lawful. A local newspaper, whohadendorsedtheoppos-ing candidate, ran front-page headlines just days before the election, claiming the cited candidate had broken the law.

A Maryland judge later found that St. Mary’s County Government was guilty of “political utilization of the sign ordinance”. The sign ordinance had been wrongly usedtoaffecttheoutcomeoftheelection, thelocalmediawent along. Of course, once the election is over, a judge’s ruling doesn’t correct the in-

justice, it is up to community lawmakers to make certain it cannot happen again.

The County Commis-sioners have refused to ad-dress the problem that hap-pened in 2006, it could eas-ily happen again. Now the sheriff is asked to address another campaign sign viola-tion in 2008, he must.

With 2010 elections just around the corner, your right to express your support for any one of the many can-didates up for election is aright that must be preserved, unfortunately ourCounty istrending the opposite way. If your rights cannot be pro-tected in this 2008 election season,whowillprotectyouin 2010 when much more is at stake?

Free Speech Rights, Cornerstone Of Democracy


’PIANO SALON

”“

I Found Bullocks!School Band Rentals

Baldwin Pianos,Guitars,

Amps & ViolinsOpen 9:30 - 8 pm

Mon - FriSat 9:30 - 5 pm

Rt. 301 & DeMarr Rd., White Plains(next to SMECO) on Rt. 301

301-705-7900Rental • Sales • New & Used

Service • Instructions


Gary Kessler eased into a seat in the Lexington Park Public Library and smiled, nodding amicably at some of the people passing by.

His demeanor was relaxed as he discussed his campaign for the Board of Education as he runs for his second term.

In addition to being a board member, Kessler has also been a civil servant for 26 years, and is now the ci-vilian equivalent of a two-star Navy admiral. Most recently, he has worked on developing unmanned aviation systems in the area, overseeing an annual budget of about $4 bil-lion. He said he often works 60 hours a week, in addition to juggling his duties with both his company and the school system.

“It’s a labor of love,” he said. “But I want to give back to the community. I care very strongly about public education.”

Being the only member of the Board of Education who is not an educator, he said he is making a case for him-self as a member of the local business commu-nity who sends his children to public schools in the county, and who cares deeply about the education they receive.

“I think I bring a different perspective to the other four board members that is very complimentary,” he said, as he spoke about his career and his first term in office.

Kessler said the biggest asset he brings to the board is his experience handling budgets.

“I have the skills to be very thorough with a budget…I think I lend a lot of input and

insight to that [process],” he said, adding that attention to detail would be important as the budget process for next fis-cal year gets underway in the face of expected shortfalls.

“We recognize right now that we’re going to have to tighten our belt,” Kessler said when discussing his expecta-tions of the next few months. He said he expects to see bud-get lines increase with capac-ity, particularly in the wake of opening the county’s new-est elementary school, and

upcoming negotiations with teachers unions. The problem is, “…we haven’t seen both from the county and the state level yet what our expected revenues are,” adding that only time would tell how tight money will become.

Kessler said his primary focus would be on maintain-ing recent gains with perfor-mance, test scores, and ser-vices, which he hopes will not suffer due to the troubled economy. “My concern in this upcoming economy is main-taining that upward trend,” he said. “In order to continue

providing those things, we’ll need the funding to do that, so we have to be very collab-orative with our unions, our county officials, and our state officials.”

Kessler said he would also focus on closing the achievement gap and im-proving graduation rates in the county, particularly by emphasizing programs at the ninth grade level, such as the Fairlead Academy and the TechConnect program.

“My biggest concern is expanding the capacity of those programs,” he said.

Kessler said he would also like to strengthen partnerships between the school system and the Naval Air Station, adding that he had connections to people at Patuxent River that could facilitate more programs.

“I know the base and who does what,” he said. “I can help connect the dots.

“Budget and funding drive everything,” Kes-sler said when address-ing teacher salaries in the county, which are some-what lower than in neigh-boring counties. “We have been competitive with our neighboring counties,” he added, explaining that benefits packages were as good or better than in oth-

er counties across the state. “So we’ve closed that gap

a bit…but we don’t pay our teachers enough,” he said, speaking of salaries across the country, “If we want to attract the very best teachers for our students, then we have to put our money where our mouth is.”

Kessler laughed as he explained his dizzying sched-ule, defending his occasional absences from board meet-ings as a natural result of his work schedule.

“When I’m not at a board

meeting I’m still reviewing the material, and I’m still very engaged,” he said, add-ing that he had pushed for the implementation of the new online BoardDocs system and Blackberries to help keep board members in touch. “I’m always connected, whether

I’m there or not,” he said.Kessler said he hopes

people will recognize the gains the current board had made when considering who to vote for.

“I hope the community recognizes that I put my name forward, and I hope St.

Mary’s County will give me the opportunity to continue this journey from good to great,” he said, smiling as he spoke a bit of his own cam-paign rhetoric. “I want to be a part of that.”

Balancing The BoardWith budget shortfalls looming, Kessler looks to lend his expertise to St. Mary’s school board for a second term


Marilyn Crosby pulled out a note card with a long list of community events and destinations where she has campaigned so far, but she said she has a long way to go before the election. “I’ve been to Spring Fest, I’ve been to concerts, I’ve been to church dinners,” she said, adding that she is trying to get in as much face-time with local residents as possible.

As the only chal-lenger to any seat on the Board of Education this year, Crosby said she feels it is a fight she will win, and she pointed first to her involvement with the Board of Education over the years. “When I would see problems, I would start working on it for the children,” she said, “and I would go to the board meetings.”

Crosby is a regular fixture at board meetings, and she says her atten-dance is evidence of her dedication to the educa-tional system, for which she has worked her entire life. She was a teacher for 24 years, serving first in Prince George’s County, and then moving to St. Mary’s County to teach at Chopticon High School in 1970. She also taught at Leonard Hall, Green Holly, and Piney Point, and served as a member of several committees serving the school system, including the School

Improvement Committee, the Budget Advisory Committee, and the Citizens’ Advisory Committee for Special Educa-tion, among others. “I’ve been on so many committees I can’t even remember them all,” she said, laughing.

She said that her accom-plishments ranged from being nominated for the Agnes Mey-er teaching award and sponsor-ing the Piney Point Computer Club, to lowering class sizes and advising the Board of Edu-

cation on the budget. “I think another accomplishment is that I’m still advocating for chil-dren by writing letters,” she said, adding that she has writ-ten over 100 letters to various publications about educational issues.

Crosby said that her in-volvement with the Board of

Education led her to want a few things changed. “From being at almost every meeting, I would like to see more critical review of important issues,” she said, explaining that she did not feel that board mem-bers devoted enough time to exhaustive discussion of poli-cy. “If you’re going to have an important issue…there should be a lot of public discussion about it, and then it should be tabled for a couple of weeks,” she said, adding that extra time

should be allotted so that board members could discuss all op-tions before voting.

Crosby said that her main goals if elected would be to im-plement universal pre-Kinder-garten programs, and enhance after school programs. “Pre-K will be law in 2014, but I think we need to do it before then,” she said, adding that she would also like to see a clustered bus route to provide better transportation for after-school programs.

Crosby said also that she would like to see the STEM program expanded. “There are a lot of smart kids in our school system that aren’t going into the STEM program,” she said, “you ought to have a pathway that will prepare all capable students for STEM at CSM.”

As a candidate, Crosby said she had debated with herself before deciding to run against Kessler, who she con-ceded had done well in his position, but she also said she

wanted to kick her advocacy up a notch nevertheless. “I’m me. I have a lot of integrity and a lot of humor within me, and I love the children, and that’s why I’m doing this,” she said.

Those interested in learn-ing more about Marilyn Cros-by’s campaign can visit her website at www.marilyncros-bychildrenfirst.com.

Local Advocate Challenges Kessler for Seat on Board of Education

Gary Kessler

Marilyn Crosby

SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,October1�,2008

SignsContinued from page A-�

released.ThedeathsoftheNatalies

brings the number of motorvehiclerelatedfatalitiesinSt.Mary’s County this year to13deathsin10accidents,ac-cording torecordsfromboththe sheriff’s office and state

troopers.Thataveragesouttomore

than one fatality per month,with six of the fatalities oc-curring in just the past two-and-a-halfmonthsalone.

Lt. Michael Thompson,commander of the Leonard-town barrack, said that anynumberofthingscausedfatalaccidents but speed, alcoholand distracted driving were

oftenkeyfactors.“Without question that’s

an alarming figure,” Thomp-sonsaidofthetotalofdeadoncountyroads.“It’snotuncom-mon for troopers down hereto issue citations for peoplegoing88or90milesanhourroutinely.”

Speed has not been de-terminedtobeafactorinthecrashonWillowsroad.

WreckContinued from page A-�

ByGuyLeonardStaffWriter

Thecommanderofthecounty’stopcrimi-nalinvestigativesectionsaysitappearsthepo-licehaveallthesuspectswhowereinvolvedinthePNCbankrobberycasethatoccurredhereSept.24.

Detectives went down to interview twoofthesuspects,WilliamCordellJohnson,28,and Joseph Franklin Brown, 25, who had fled toRaleigh,N.C.aftertheallegedrobberylastmonthandbothsuspectswereextraditedbacktoSt.Mary’sbeforetheweekend.

Thenext step for thedetectives involvedinthecase,Lt.RickBurris,commanderoftheBureauofCriminalInvestigations,said, is tocompileandreviewalltheevidencetoprepareforprosecution.

Two other suspects Quinita Jesse Ennis,30, and Edwin Jonathan Jones, 40, both ofLexingtonPark,arealsoincarceratedfortheiralleged role in the bank robbery as getawaydriverandplannerrespectively.

“It looks like we’ve got everyone involved,” BurristoldTheCountyTimesMonday.“Asfarasadditionalsuspects,everythingispointingtowards no one else being involved.”

Detectives have said from the beginningof the case that the branchmanager and hertwochildrenwhowerekidnappedfromtheirLusby home as a means to retrieve moneyfromthebankwerenotinvolvedintheallegedconspiracy.

JohnsonandBrown,whodetectiveshaveallegedare theoneswhoactuallykidnappedthe bank manager and her children, an 18-month-old and a 5-year-old, and committed

thebankrobberyhavebeenheldwithoutbondaftertheirarraignmentinDistrictCourt.

Bothhavebeenchargedwiththreecountsof kidnapping, three counts of first-degree as-sault,twocountsofarmedrobbery,theftandconspiracytocommitarmedrobbery.

Theweekthefoursuspectswerearrested,detectivesfoundfoursafesburiedinBrown’sbackyard, two of them filled with cash, law of-ficers alleged.

The suspects also attempted to destroyevidencelinkingthemtothecrimeandappar-entlywentonashoppingspree,accordingtodetectives,thatincludedbuyingclothes,com-puters,personalelectronicsandairplanetick-etstoLasVegas.

Of the$168,000 stolen,policehave said,$58,000wasspentbythesuspectsinjustaboutaweek,someofitincludedgamblinginAtlan-ticCity,N.J.

About$110,000of thestolenmoneywasrecovered,policehavesaid.

Accordingtopolice,BrownandJohnsonhadgonetoNorthCarolinawiththepurposeofsettinguparesidencetherewithsomeofthemoneytheyallegedlystole.Theywereprepar-ingtoreturntoSt.Mary’storetrievetherestof themoney,policesaid,when they learnedthatpolicebegananintensivewarrantsearchoperationlookingforthem.

BothsuspectsstayedinRaleighandwerearrested by law officers there on fugitive warrants.

Policeworkingonthecasehavesaidmuchof themerchandise the suspects boughtwiththestolenmoneyhadbeenrecovered.

BrownandJohnsonhavebeenscheduledtoappearinDistrictCourtNov.11.

PNC Robbery Suspects All Rounded Up

ByShelbyOppermann

Sounds likean episode of Lostdoesn’tit,butitwasjust another mind-less night of doinglaundry.Iwasthrow-inginallthewhites,my husband’s soft-ballclothes,andmylittle tennis stylesocks. I stopped asI watched my min-

is swirling around and wondered what theNBstoodforonthecrewpart. I lookedatthese sockshundredsof timesover the lasttwo years, but I finally was curious. The first thingthatcametomymindwasnotebeneornotewell;somethingyouhadtouseoccasion-allywhenwritingschoolpapers. I thoughtaboutitforawhilestillwonderingwhatNBmustreallystandforwhensuddenlyithitme,“you idiot, it’s New Balance.” A jock would justknow those things. On theotherhandshouldIcare.

I was the child who was afraid of theball,butofcoursetheballalwaysknewhowto find me. Dodge ball terrified me. In ele-mentary school I lookedwistfullyf r o m behind the backstop

watching the otherk id s play ball – soft-

b a l l ,

baseball, I don’t know. One time, howeverthe ball came flying towards home plate, was not caught, and instead flew right through the onlyholeinthefencebehindwhichIstood.Iwashitintheforeheadandfellbackwards,spreadeagledinthedust:poof.

About five years ago when my husband coachedayoungmen’ssoftball leaguenearSt.Mary’sLandingRestaurant inCharlotteHall,itstartedrainingandIthoughtasscore-keeperIshouldkeepthebookdryandwentintothedugout.Ofcourse,oneofthefastestthrowers in the league threw to first, again theballwasmissed,andyesIgothitinthehead. Thisballwastravelingapproximate-ly 60 miles an hour according to all thosepresent.For awhile everyone thought Iwaslaughing,Iactuallycouldn’tbreathe.Theballplayerwhohitmekepttellingeveryonethathewasmyhusband.Iwasn’trightforthreemonthsafterthatone,butIstillputina10’x12’raisedbedvegetablegardenthenextday.It’stheIrishsideofmeIguess.

But I did excel at some sports, well Ithinktheyareconsideredsports,maybeit’srecreationalactivities.ButIwasachampionatminiaturegolfandairhockey.Thisiswhathappenswhenyougrowupacrossthestreetfrom a miniature golf that later gets torndowntomakewayforabowlingalley,andhavelittleornosupervision.Parentspleasewatchyourchildren. Whenwewouldstayat one of the Virginia Beach campgroundswithourcampertrailerIneverwantedtogotothebeach.Ijustwantedtoplayairhockeyat therechall. MyMothercameuptoget

meoneday, and said sheaskedwhat thelonglinewasforsnakingaroundthebuild-ing.Itwaspeoplelineduptoplaymeatairhockey.

I guess these activities are cleanersportstome;youdon’tgetallsweatyand

dirty. Your socks stay relatively white,unlike the physical sports where orange

ball field dirt stains socks around the ankles forever,orgrassstainsballpantswithneonslime.It’snotthatIdon’tlikedirt,Ijustdon’tlike to perspire. All of these activities aregreat.It’sallfunisthepoint.Ihavecometoenjoysoftball,aslongasIneverhavetoplayit.MaybeonetimeI’llplayminiaturegolforairhockeyinmysockssotheygetthefeelofarealsportonceinawhile.

N.B. To each new day’s adventure,Shelby

[email protected]

Jocks vs. “The Others”

said. “And we’re not accusing them of thiseither.”

The campaign signs promoting the Mc-Cain/PalinticketwereapopulardrawattheSt.Mary’sCountyFair,Willenborgsaid,aswerebumperstickers.

About600signswerehandedoutandpeo-plepickedupabout3,000bumperstickers,hesaid.

SlatterysaidDemocraticcampaignsignsandparaphernaliawerejustaspopular.

Haynie said the signs represented a sig-nificant cost to the campaign with small signs running from $1.25 to $12. The larger signsplacednearroadsidescouldrunbetween$25and$30,hesaid.

“It’s a despicable infringement on a per-son’s right to put up a political campaign sign,” Hayniesaid.“We’renotdoingitexceptattherequestofthelandowner.

“Everysignthatisupisonsomeone’slandwho asked for it.”

Slatterysaidthathere,inSt.Mary’s,onlysmallObama/Bidensignswereavailableandshewasnotcertainwhatmighthappentothelargersignsiftheycameonthescene.

“Everybody[inthelocalDemocraticpar-ty]isjustfranticbecausewedon’thaveenoughObama signs,” she said.

MichaelCain,headof theCenterfor theStudyofDemocracyatSt.Mary’sCollegeofMaryland, said the destruction of campaign

signs is a practice with an ignominious tra-dition that can flare up around this particular season.

“There is a kind of trend of vandalismaround Halloween,” Kaine said. “But when it’s one party it can be a real problem.”

Kaine said the recent spate of vandalism andtheftwaslikelynotperpetratedbyanyor-ganizedgroup.

“Peoplefeelstronglyaboutthecandidatesdown here,” Kaine said. “Perhaps what we’re seeing here comes from strength of passion,butI’dbesurprisedifit’sorganized.

“But I’d certainly put a stop to it.”Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron said the

campaign sign mischief is more than just anuisance;itisacrime.

“It’s a serious issue,” Cameron said. “It’s a theft;and it’sourright[toexpresspoliticalideas],it’sourvoice.

“We’ll treat it like any other crime.”TherearestrongRepublicansentimentsin

St.Mary’sCounty,withmanyvotingfor theGOPinthepresidentialelection;butthatisof-tencounterbalancedbyvotesforDemocratsinCongress, the statehouse and in local offices.

Eitherway,Slatterysaid,St.Mary’swasbetterofbeingknownasaplacewherebothsidesofthepoliticalspectrumcouldworkto-getherinrelativepeace.

Therecentanticsputapalloverthatspiritofcooperation,shesaid.

“Weshouldbeamodelofdemocracy inSt. Mary’s,” Slattery said. “Not the model of bad play.”

PO Box 250 · 43251 Rescue Lane • Hollywood, Md 20636countytimes.somd.com

301-373-4125

Call us today to start making your advertising campaign a success.

n A professional sales team

n Creative ad design services

n Competitive rates

n A community service oriented publication

We are at your service with:

Advertise Your

Business This Fall In The County

Times!

Wonderings of an Aimless Mind


TrialContinued from page A-�

According to the Court of Special Appeals ruling Gough asked one of the co-defen-dants in the case “Why you do that s—?, I ain’t goin down for this s—.” The statement was overheard by Gough’s girl-friend when she made a cell phone call to Gough while he and other co-defendants were driving away from the Brass Rail after the shooting.

Gordon was sentenced to life in prison for the mur-der, plus 35 years for other crimes including firing on an off-duty sheriff’s deputy who was trying to help Bonds. That deputy wounded Gor-don in a firefight outside the bar that day.

The shooting was precip-itated by a fight that ensued as the bar closed, the COSA decision said, in which three co-defendants that went to the bar with Gough, Nathan Schindler, Terrance Snyder and Gordon began to beat the victim, Bonds.

Gough was present dur-ing the beating, the opinion stated, but accounts differed as to his level of involvement in the fight.

When off-duty Deputy Earl Young attempted to stop the assailants from beating Bonds further and get be-tween them he heard a shot fired.

Young returned fire when Gordon shot at him, wounding Gordon. The assailants fled shortly thereafter, but Gough quickly returned driving the vehicle with a wounded Gor-don inside, asking police to help his friend.

Gough was never said to have had a gun during the shootout, nor was he accused of firing any shots.

Tanavage said that Gough also pleaded guilty to con-spiracy to commit first-de-gree assault complete with a 15-year sentence, which was suspended.

The recent plea deal meant that this could be the last time the state would have to deal with the case.

“The good thing about a plea is you pretty much waive your rights to an appeal,” Tanavage said. “It’s done.”

Calling all ghouls & goblins!

It’s time to grab your crayonsand compete for treats in our Halloween Coloring Contest

Color this pageany “witch” way,

and you could winsomething sweet from

our Prize Cauldron!

Winner's Prize:Gift Certificate Provided By Brusters

$10

Halloween Coloring Contest Rules:

1. Contest is open to children ages 10 and under. 2. Relatives of newspaper employees or contest sponsors

are not eligible to win. 3. Contestants may use crayons, colored pencils or markers. 4. Limit one entry per child. Decision of judges is final. 5. Entries will not be returned, and may be printed in this

newspaper. 6. All entries must be received by this newspaper on or

before October 29th at 5 p.m.

Mail one completed picture with entry form to:

Halloween Coloring Contest

The County TimesP.O. Box 250, Hollywood, MD, 20636

Name:

Parent’s Name:

Address:

City: State: Zip:

Home Phone: Age:

Deputies Clay Safford, Milton Pesante and Shawn Moses of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office recently completed Home-land Security training September 29, 2008 through October 4, 2008 at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP), located in Anniston, Alabama. The Deputies attended the 40 hours Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Emergency Responder Hazardous Materials Technician Training which pro-vides the responder with a combination of lectures, hands-on practical exercises, and training that meets OSHA requirements for technician level training. The participants are provided hands-on training through practical exercises and must pass written evaluations.

The CDP is operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency and is the only federally chartered Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) training facility in the nation.

The CDP provides federally-funded, interdisciplinary training for emergency re-sponders from across the United States and U.S. Territories, for ten responder disciplines: Emergency Management, Emergency Medi-cal Service, Fire Service, Governmental Ad-ministrative, Hazardous Materials, Health-care, Law Enforcement, Public Health, Public

Safety Communications, and Public Works. Healthcare and Public Health training

is conducted at the CDP’s Noble Training Facility, the nation’s only hospital facility dedicated to training hospital and healthcare professionals in disaster preparedness and response.

Many training courses culminate at the CDP’s Chemical, Ordnance, Biological and Radiological Training Facility, the nation’s only facility featuring civilian training ex-ercises in a true toxic environment, using chemical agents. The advanced hands-on training enables responders to effectively prevent, respond to, and recover from real-world incidents involving acts of terrorism and other hazardous materials.

The Deputies were selected from the nation’s 11 million emergency responders. Training at the CDP ensures that responders gain critical skills and confidence to be better prepared to effectively respond to local inci-dents or potential WMD incidents.

FEMA coordinates the federal gov-ernment’s role in preparing for, prevent-ing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.

Deputies Attend Homeland Security Training

tion. Numerous fire departments from Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s Counties and the U.S. Coast Guard assisted NRP with the incident.

The Coast Guard scaled back its involve-ment with the investigation after Monday’s search efforts, and NRP took the lead in the search mission. Sgt. Turner reported that NPR still classifies the investigation as a search and rescue mission, but that they do not expect to find Reiter alive, though every effort is being made to locate him.

“We’re utilizing our side-scan sonar unit,” said Turner, explaining that the units were be-

ing dropped at the lower points of the search area, where the water could go as deep as 50 to 120 feet with strong currents, and surface and shoreline searches were also being con-ducted with personal watercrafts throughout the area. On Sunday and Monday, NRP and USCG helicopters conducted aerial searches with no luck.

Sunrise to sunset searches are still in ef-fect, and Turner reported that NRP will con-tinue the search until Reiter is found, though they expect that currents and tides would shift the search area’s parameters as the investiga-tion progressed.

“We will continue searching until this in-dividual is found, or until we find a body,” said Turner, “we will not give up.”

AccidentContinued from page A-�


Officials with the local Patuxent Habitat for Human-ity office say it’s been a long time in coming, but now with the ground breaking of some county-donated land in Lex-ington Park near Patuxent River Naval Air Station they can start building affordable homes for five deserving families.

The new affordable housing project, called Fen-wick Ridge, is the product of a partnership between St. Mary’s County government and Patuxent Habitat for Hu-manity that had its genesis in the last Board of County Commissioners.

The five homes will be built on a small portion of some 13,000 acres of rural legacy land, with the vast re-maining untouched by devel-opment. On the front section of the property, just of Route 235 and Forest Park Road, a small farmers market is slated

Habitat For Humanity Breaks Ground On Future Home Sites

for construction as well.“This is a blessed time…

for doing something for the community,” said Gary Wil-liams, president of Patux-ent Habitat for Humanity. “There’s such a spirit of work-ing together in this county.

“It’s such a sweet place to get something done.”

While these homes are sold to the deserving families picked out by the staff of the agency, complete with a no-interest loan, the homes are not giveaways, Williams said.

Adults who will be mov-ing into the homes will be re-quired to put in 200 hours of “sweat equity” into building their own home, he said.

The homes will represent a “green” housing project, Williams said complete with rain gardens to prevent runoff and rain barrels to save water for gardening.

Future home owners, agency volunteers from the community and churches who

support the project all gather together to build the homes; Williams said that the project could be completed in as little as three months.

Two families who will take up residence once the homes are built helped break ground on the project Tuesday.

“We’re thrilled,” said Catherine Dunn, a teacher at St. Mary’s Ryken High School. “It’s the best thing that could’ve happened to us.”

Dunn and her son, Gus, have been living with friends in St. Inigoes and living con-ditions have gotten crowded there.

Bill and Tiffany Shreve, with their daughters Autumn, 2 years old, and Lacey, one year old, were ready to take up residence soon, too.

“We greatly appreciate this,” Tiffany Shreve said. “This is the best gift anyone could give us.”

Photo by Guy LeonardGus Dunn, left, and his mother Catherine Dunn break ground with the Tiffandy and Bill Shreve and their two daughters Autumn and Lacey at the Patuxent Habitat for Human-ity affordable housing project at Fenwick Ridge in Lexington Park Tuesday.

SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,October16,200�Thursday, August 21, 2008 The County Times Section A - �

Alice Mildred Brown, 99

Alice Mildred Brown, 99 of Leonardtown died Aug. 16 in her home.

Born Nov. 9, 1908 in Baltimore, Md., she was the daughter of the late James and Lilly Mae Jackson Rebham.

She was a member of St. George’s Episcopal Church, Valley Lee, and Order of the Eastern Star, Chapter 107, Ju-lia Halla, Hollywood.

Mrs. Brown is survived by two sons, Lloyd E. (Jerry) Brown, Jr. of Leonardtown and Willard Bruce Brown of Terra Alta, W. Va. She is also survived by six grand-children, Julie Brown-Rund, Jeff Brown, Nancy Deal, Wendy Jarda, Judy Graybill and Pheobe Brown, and eight great-grandchildren Clay and Will Rund, Kristen and Josh Brown, Shawn and Bruce Deal, Audrey and Samantha Jarda.

She was predeceased by a daughter Betty Ruth Brown and a brother John B. Fenwick.

Relatives and friends at-tended Mrs. Brown’s Life Celebration in the Brinsfield Funeral Home, Leonardtown Wednesday, Aug. 20 from 5 – 8 p.m. with prayers recited at 7 p.m. A funeral service will be held Thursday, Aug. 21 at 11 a.m. in St. George’s Epis-copal Church, Valley Lee. Reverend Greg Syler, pastor of the church, will officiate. Interment will follow in the church cemetery.

Memorial Contributions may be made to The Mis-sions Endowment Fund or Cemetery and Grounds Fund, c/o St. George’s Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 30, Valley Lee, MD 20692.

Condolences to the fam-ily may be made at www.brinsfieldfuneral.com.

Arrangements by the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A., Leonardtown.

Francis Joseph Brown, Sr., 66

Francis Joseph Brown, Sr., 66, passed away in his home in Indian Trail, N.C. Aug. 12.

Mr. Brown was born July 1, 1942 in Leonardtown, son of the late Mary Edna Brown Norris.

Mr. Brown is survived by his wife Jacqueline Mer-cer Brown; a son Francis J. Brown, Jr. and his wife Shelia of Stanfield, N.C.; a daughter Jennifer Lynn Brown of Indi-an Trail, N.C. and two grand-daughters Christianna Page and Allyson Grace Brown.

The family received friends Sunday, Aug. 17 from 2 – 5 p.m. in the Matting-ley-Gardiner Funeral Home, where Prayers were said at 3 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Mon-day, Aug. 18 at 9:30 a.m. in St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church with Fr. John Mat-tingly officiating. Interment followed in Charles Memo-rial Gardens.

Arrangements provided by the Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home, P.A.

Luis Antonia Castillo, 70

Luis Antonia Castillo, 70, of Leonardtown died Aug. 16 in St. Mary’s Nursing Center, Leonardtown.

Born Sept. 20, 1937 in Puerto Rico, he was the son of the late Luis Antonia and Elsa Monserrate Morales Castillo.

Luis is survived by three sisters, M. Elaine Ohler of Millsboro, Del., Evelyn Cas-tillo of Chestertown, Md. and Elsie Collins of Las Vegas, Nev. He is also survived by several nieces and nephews.

Family received friends Wednesday, Aug. 20 from 11 a.m. – noon in the Brinsfield Funeral Home, Leonardtown, with prayers recited at noon. Deacon George L’Heureux officiated. Graveside service followed at 2 p.m. at Cedar Hill Cemetery, Suitland, Md.

Memorial Contributions may be made to the St. Mary’s Nursing Center Foundation, Inc.,

21585 Peabody Street, Leonardtown, MD 20650.



Lloyd Raymond Harris, 97

Lloyd Raymond Har-ris, 97, died peacefully Aug. 12 in the St. Mary’s Nursing Center.

Mr. Harris was a longtime resident of St. Mary’s County. He was born in Gallatin, Mo. June 13, 1911 to the late How-ard May Harris and Frankie Lee Jackson. He married his beloved wife of 59 years, Mary Catherine “Sis” Nelson at the Washington Cathedral in Washington D.C. Sept. 2, 1939. She preceded him in death in 1998. He was also preceded in death in 1998 by his beloved sister Margaret Harris.

Mr. Harris served in the United States Army as an As-sistant Chaplain. Following his army service he was em-ployed in Washington, D.C. by the Federal Government for many years before retir-ing. He then worked in the tax department for the State of Maryland and retired in 1971. During his retirement, he and his wife enjoyed trav-eling throughout the United States.

He enjoyed playing cards, dancing and buying new cars. Ray loved life and most of all he enjoyed helping others while expecting nothing in return. He was devoted in the care of his wife and sister un-til their death.

The family received friends in the Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home, P.A., Leonardtown, Friday, Aug. 15 from 9 – 10 a.m. with a funer-al service that followed at 10 a.m. officiated by Rev. Keith Schukraft. Interment followed at Charles Memorial Gardens in Leonardtown. Pallbearers were Frank Nelson, Donnie Bowles, Fred Nelson, Harry Nelson, Jr., Michael Russell and Roy Copsey.

Contributions may be made to American Heart Association, 415 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201-4101.


Valorie Anne Henry, 48

Valorie Anne Henry, 48, of Mechanicsville, formerly of Grandview, Mo., died Aug. 17, in Lexington Park.

Born Oct. 31, 1959 in Lincoln, Neb. she was the daughter of James Ray Dick-inson of Mouldrow, Okla. and Hortense Anne Campbell Crawford of Grandview, Mo. She was the loving wife of Earl Allan Henry, whom she married July 16, 1986 in War-rensburg, Mo.

She is survived by her son Earl Ian Henry.

Mrs. Henry gradu-ated from Grandview High School’s Class of 1977. She moved to St. Mary’s County in October 1988 from Wal-dorf, Md.

The family will receive friends Saturday, Aug. 23 from 10 – 11 a.m. in Patux-ent River Assembly of God Church, California, where a Funeral Service will be held at 11 a.m. with Pastor Lanny Clark officiating. Interment will be held Wednesday, Aug. 27 at 10 a.m. in Maryland Veteran’s Cemetery, Chelten-ham, Md.

Contributions may be made to Hospice if St. Mary’s, P.O. Box 625, Leonardtown, MD 20650.


Karen A. McEntyre, 51

Karen A. McEntyre, 51 of Lexington Park, formerly of Plano, Texas, died Aug. 13 in Washington Hospital Center.

Born Feb. 24, 1957 in Sweetwater, Texas she was the daughter of Carold and Mary Aleese Benson of Pla-no, Texas.

She is also survived by her children Jeremy Porter of Snyder, Texas, Jonathan Porter of Plano, Texas, Angie Porter, Sheila Horton and Ma-rissa Horton, all of Lexington Park as well as her brother Victor Benson of Plano, Texas and three grandchildren.

Karen was employed as a registered nurse.

All services are private. Arrangements provided

by the Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home, P.A.

Timothy Brian McGrath, 50

Timothy Brian McGrath, 50, of Lexington Park died Aug. 11 in St. Mary’s Hospi-tal, Leonardtown.

Born June 14, 1958 in Freeport, Ill., he was the son of Patricia (Chambers) Mc-Grath of Mesa, Ariz. and the late Charles McGrath.

Timothy attended La-salle-Peru High School in La-salle, Ill. where he graduated in 1976. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1976 until 1999. After his service in the Navy, Timothy was employed by a Government Contractor and worked at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station. He was an Elks Lodge member and a past member of the Lexing-ton Park Volunteer Rescue

Squad. In addition to his mother,

Timothy is survived by his wife Debra Kay (Houtz) Mc-Grath, his son, Sean Patrick McGrath of Lexington Park, his sister, Karen McGrath of Mesa, Ariz. and his brother, Michael McGrath of Ill.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, Aug. 23 at 10 a.m. at the Bay District Volunteer Fire Department, Lexington Park.



Patrick Connor Miller 2

Patrick Connor Mill-er 2, of Avenue died Aug. 12 in St. Mary’s Hospital, Leonardtown.

Connor was born Oct. 11, 2005 in Anne Arundel Medi-cal Center, Annapolis, Md., the son of James L. Miller and Krystal Kaldenbach of Avenue.

He is survived by two sis-ters, Lillian and Kayla Miller, a brother Kyle Miller, his pa-ternal grandparents James L. and Darlene Oliver Miller of Chaptico, maternal grandpar-ents, Eugene Kaldenbach of Harrimon, Tenn., and Debra Adams Kaldenbach of Win-chester, Ky.; great-grandpar-ents Francis and Audrey Oli-ver of Chaptico and

G reat-g rand mother s Mary Lou Adams of Waldorf, Md. and Shirley Miller of Newburg, Md.

The family received friends for Connor’s Life Celebration Sunday, Aug. 17 from 3 – 4 p.m. in the Brins-field Funeral Home, Leonard-town, with a funeral service at 4 p.m. Interment was private.



Mary Aleathea Redmond, 84

Mary Aleathea Redmond, 84, of Leonardtown died Aug. 16 in St. Mary’s Hospital.

Born April 18, 1924 in Mechanicsville she was the daughter of Clarence Leo Ev-ans and Gertrude M. (Pilker-ton) Evans.

Aleathea graduated from Margaret Brent High School in 1941. She worked from 1961 to 1971 as a secretary/re-ceptionist for St. Mary’s Col-lege. She enjoyed cooking, croqueting, playing cards, gardening, and sewing; often making clothing for her and her daughter.

She is preceded in death by husband James Franklin

Redmond, whom she mar-ried March 4, 1945 at the Im-maculate Conception Catholic Church in Mechanicville. She is survived by her beloved chil-dren Gayle A. Hancock and her husband William of Fair-fax, Va., and James “Frank” Redmond and his wife Wanda of Fredericksburg, Va. She is also survived by three grand-children, Jeffery A. Hancock and his wife Jennifer of Fair-fax, Va., Mark D. Redmond and his wife Tanya of Fred-ericksburg, Va., Jason P. Red-mond of Fredericksburg; and four great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her sister Agnes Rice.

Family received friends Wednesday, Aug. 20 from 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. in the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A., Leonar-dtown. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated 11 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 20 at St. Aloysius Catholic Church, Leonardtown, with Rev. John Dakes officiating. Interment followed in Charles Memorial Gardens, Leonardtown.

Serving, as pallbearers were Mark Redmond, Jason Redmond, Jeffery Hancock, Bill Hancock, Lawrence Pilk-erton, and Arthur Pilkerton. Honorary pallbearer was Earl Dean.

Memorial contribution can be made to the Ridge Volunteer Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 456, Ridge, MD 20680.



Louis Marshall “Junior” Thompson, Jr., 84

Louis Marshall “Junior” Thompson, Jr., 84, of Avenue died Aug. 4 in his residence.

He was born July 20, 1924 in Dynard to the late Louis Marshall and Catherine Elea-nor Harris Thompson Sr.

He was the loving hus-band of Rose Lee Thompson whom he married July 26, 1942 in Sacred Heart Church, Bushwood. He is also sur-vived by his children, Mar-garet Taylor and her husband George of Hollywood, Buddy Thompson and his wife Deb-bie of Avenue, Benny Thomp-son and his wife Mary of

Morganza, Donnie Thompson and his wife Debbie of Me-chanicsville and Rose Mary George and her husband John of Avenue; 16 grandchildren, 44 great-grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and his sisters Mary Ozella Lacey of Abell, Gertrude Osborne of King George, Va. and Susan Vallandingham of Bushwood.

He was preceded in death by one great-grandchild and his sisters Catherine Hall and Louise Bryant.

A lifelong resident of St. Mary’s County, Junior was a self-employed waterman. While enlisted in the U.S. Army from Oct. 19, 1944 to Nov. 19, 1945, he served as a rifleman, a light machine gunner and a cook.

He belonged to the Knights of Columbus and en-joyed playing cards and being with his family and his two special buddies Maynard and Ringo.

The family received friends in the Mattingley-Gar-diner Funeral Home Thursday, Aug. 7 from 5 – 8 p.m. with prayers being said at 7 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Friday, Aug. 8 at 9:30 a.m. in Holy Angels Cath-olic Church, Avenue, with Fr. William Gurnee officiating. Interment followed in Sacred Heart Cemetery, Bushwood. Pallbearers were Johnny George, Jereme George, Tina Fay Ferguson, Dave Hodg-es, Matthew Thompson and Donnie Thompson. Honorary pallbearers were his grand-children, nieces and nephews.

Contributions may be made to Holy Angels Sacred Heart School, 21335 Colton’s Point Road, Avenue, MD 20609, Seventh District Vol-unteer Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 7, Avenue, MD 20609 and/or Hospice of St. Mary’s, P.O. Box 625, Leonardtown, MD 20650.


Evelyn Tillotson Woods, 86

Evelyn Tillotson Woods, 86, of California died Aug. 14 in St. Mary’s Nursing Center, Leonardtown.

Born Dec. 18, 1921 in LeMoyne, Pa., she was the daughter of the late George C. Tillotson and Eva (Dowhow-er) Tillotson. Evelyn was an avid Pittsburgh Steelers fan.

Evelyn is survived by her daughters, Christine W. Moore of Chesapeake Beach, Md. and Deborah J. Standish of California, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

All services are private. Condolences to the fam-

ily may be made at www.brinsfieldfuneral.com.


Obituaries

To Place a Memorial Ad Please Call The County

Times at 301-373-4125

Charles Memorials-Mattingley MonumentsT/A CHARLES MEMORIAL GARDENS, Inc.

301-475-806026325 Pt. Lookout Rd. Leonardtown, MD

RemembeR OuR Pledge TO YOu• Quality Merchandise

• Superior Craftsmanship• Here to serve

you tomorrow• Professional

Service• Competitive

Prices

Serving All Cemeteries, Engraving“Caring Is Our Business”

Free Consultation

JohnRalphAbell,Jr.,�3

John Ralph Abell, Jr.,83, of Leonardtown diedOct. 11. He passed awayon his trusty John Deeretractor while discing acornfield on his belovedEllenborough farm inLeonardtown.

Born Aug. 3, 1925 inHollywood,Md.hewasthesonofthelateJohnRalph,Sr. and Pauline HaydenAbell.

He was never marriedand spent his life farm-ing and giving his time tothe Leonardtown Volun-teer Fire Department. Hegraduated fromSt.Mary’sAcademy in 1943 and washonoredasalifetimemem-ber of the LeonardtownVolunteerFireDepartmentJan.8,1994after50yearsof active service. He wasalsoafixtureattheannualfire department carnivalwhereheoperated theOc-topusRideformanyyears.

He ran the family’sdairy farm in Leonard-town until it’s closing inthe 1960’s and then raisedbeefcattlealongwithcorn,alfalfa and soybeans. Heenjoyed attending Balti-more Colts games at theOldMemorialStadiumandmakinghispopularstuffedhamduringtheholidays.

Heissurvivedbythreesisters,MariettaAbellAn-thony of Annandale, Va.,Gladys Abell Johnson ofSpringfield, Va., and Re-beccaAbellMacDonaldofLeonardtown.Hewaspre-deceased by another sis-ter, Irene Abell Dixon, ofLeonardtown.

He is also survived by16 nieces and nephews,James R. Anthony, Jr.,Mary P. Anthony Barbee,JohnP.Anthony,RalphA.Anthony,ElizabethAntho-ny Rubenstein, MariettaAnthonySaunders,Rebec-ca Anthony Davis, RalphAndrew Johnson, StephenAbell Johnson, LawrenceMarshall Johnson, MarianJohnsonWasem,RobertS.Dixon,LydiaDixon,DavidAllen Dixon, John Mac-Donald,Jr.,andEllenMac-DonaldAllen.

He was predeceasedby another nephew, LesterDeanJohnson.

FamilyreceivedfriendsOct. 13 from 5 – 8 p.m.in the Brinsfield FuneralHome, Leonardtown, withprayers recited at 7 p.m.withFatherThomasG.La-Hood leading. A Mass of

Christian Burial was beoffered Oct. 14 at 10 a.m.in Our Lady’s CatholicChurch, Medley’s Neck,Leonardtownandthecele-brantwasFatherJohnMat-tingly. Interment followedin St Aloysius CatholicCemetery, Leonardtown.Pallbearers were JohnMacDonald,RalphAntho-ny,JamesAnthony,PatrickAnthony, Steve JohnsonandLawrenceJohnson.

Memorial contribu-tions may be made to theLeonardtown VolunteerFireDepartment,Inc.,

P.O. Box 50, Leonard-town,MD20650

Condolences to thefamily may be made atwww.br insf ield f unera l .com.

Arrangements by theBrinsfield Funeral Home,P.A.,Leonardtown.

David“Scott”Bennett,49

David“Scott”Bennett,49, of Ridge, formerly ofValley Lee, died Oct. 7 inRidge.

Born July 8, 1959 inOlathe,Kan.hewasthesonofDonaldandClara“San-dy” Bennett of Waynes-boro,Va.

He is survived by hisex-wife Denise Lang Ben-nett, whom he marriedin St. Michael’s Church,Ridge; his children JoshuaBennett and Melissa Ben-nett,bothofValleyLeeandhissisterDonnaWagnerofCalifornia,Md.

Scott graduated fromGreat Mills High School,Class of 1977. He workedasadraftsmanandenjoyeddeerhunting.

The family receivedfriends Oct. 10 from 5–8p.m.intheMattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home,wherePrayersweresaidat7 p.m. A Funeral ServicewasheldOct.11at10a.m.intheMattingley-GardinerFuneralHomeChapelwithFr. Joseph Sileo officiat-ing and Pastor Elbert W.Colston co-officiating. In-termentfollowedinCharlesMemorial Gardens, Leon-ardtown. Pallbearers wereJames Shaw, James Wag-ner, David Sides, Rich-ard Lang, Jacob Lang andWayne Wiley. HonoraryPallbearers were StevenLang,LucasLang and JayAmadio.

Arrangements provid-ed by the Mattingley-Gar-dinerFuneralHome,P.A.

FrederickGeneBusch-ing,�0

Frederick Gene Bus-ching, 80 of Colton Pointpassed away Oct. 8 inWashington HospitalCenter.

BornSept. 18, 1928 inFort Wayne, Ind., he wasthesonofthelateWilliamFrederick and Cecil Pau-lineMettlerBusching.

Mr. Busching was aWelder forGeorgeF.War-ner, Company, and retiredafter35yearsofservice.

Mr. Busching is sur-vivedbyhischildrenBob-bi-GeneSchmitzofColtonPointandSharonEverettofVirginia;hissister;JoanneSettle of Fort Wayne,Ind.; and also survived byfive grandchildren and 11great-grandchildren.

In addition to his par-ents, he was preceded indeathbyhiswifeMargaretMorgan Busching and hissonKellyW.Busching.

All services will beprivate.

In lieu of f lowers me-morial contributions maybemadetoHospiceHouse,c/o Hospice of St. Mary’s,P.O. Box 625, Leonard-town,MD20650.


Arrangementsprovidedby the Brinsfield FuneralHome,P.A.,Leonardtown.

JohnDouglasClark,�1

John Douglas Clarkpassed from this lifeSept.17 at the age of 81 after alengthy and debilitatingillness.

JohnwasbornJune27,1927tothelateMaryWad-dell Clark and Dr. FredHarlowClark.

He was preceded indeath by his brother FredHarlow Clark, Jr. and hisparents.

John is survived byhis brother Myrick Can-field Clark and sister inlaw Mary Savage Clark,both of Raleigh, N.C.; Heisalsosurvivedbyhisonlyniece Laura Clark HamillandherhusbandBurleyG.Hamill, III of Wake For-est, N.C., four nephews,GregoryHarlowClarkandhis wife Heather of Kent,Wash. and Myrick Can-fieldClark,Jr.andhiswifeLorraine of Glen Burnie,Md., Christopher MauryClarkandDouglasStephenClark both of Raleigh,N.C., great-nieces Heath-er Viens Barber and herhusband Shane of GardenCity,S.C.,AlyssaClarkofRaleigh, N.C. and Victo-riaHamillofWakeForest,N.C.; great-nephews Adri-enneClarkofKent,Wash.,Michael Clark of Raleigh,N.C. and Myrick C. ClarkIIIofGlenBurnie,agreat-great niece Natasha ClarkofGlenBurnieandagreat-

great-nephew Lucas PaulBarber of Garden City,S.C.

John, like his brotherFred,livedfrombirthwithCerebral Palsy, throughwhich they touched manylives. John had a lifelonglove of anything from theold west; movies, pic-tures and songs. He hada complete collection ofRoy Rogers & Gene Au-trymovieswhichhewouldwatch over and over withgusto and enthusiasm asif he were watching it forthe first time and lovedevenmore to sharewatch-ing those movies with hisbrothersandfriendsatRedGate Home where he re-sided.He had a great loveofhorsesanditwasalwaysa special treat for John toride to the country to seethe horses galloping andgrazing in the field. ThestaffattheRedGateoftenarranged for up-close andpersonalvisitsfromhorsesfor John’s birthday partieswhere he could actuallypet them. He also had hisowncollectionof“guns&pistols”alongwiththehol-sters thathe loved towearonoccasionandbea“showoff.”

John was a great peo-ple person with a warmand funny personality anddelighted in visitors andgoingoutonvisitshimself,andhealways lovedgoingon tripswith the staff andother residents from theRedGate.

The Clark Familywouldliketoexpresstheirdeepest gratitude to theARCofSouthernMarylandand to thestaffof theRedGateGroupHomeonPointLookout Road in Leonar-dtown, where John resid-ed for 25 years. The highstandards, care, compas-sion and love provided bythe staff was unsurpassedandshouldbehighlycom-mended.Hecametoknowthe staff as family, as didhis brother Fred who alsoresided at the Red Gatewithhimuntilhisdeathin2004.

A Memorial Servicewill be held Oct. 18 at 3p.m. in Grace & PeacePresbyterianChurch,Cali-fornia,Md.

Contributions may bemadetoTheARCofSouth-ern MD, P.O. Box 338,Leonardtown,MD20650.

Arrangements provid-edbyMattingley-GardinerFuneralHome,P.A.

CharlesHenry“Char-lie”Clements,�1

Charles Henry “Char-lie” Clements, 81, of Cali-fornia, Md. and formerlyofLeonardtown, diedOct.9inhisresidence.

Born Jan. 9, 1927 inLeonardtown he was theson of the late CharlesReginaldandLillianMaryRussell Clements. He wasthe loving husband of Ag-nesLouiseAngleClementswhomhemarriedApril19,1947inHolyAngelsCath-olicChurch,Avenue.

Inadditiontohiswife,Mr. Clements is survivedby his children, CharleneElliot and her husbandNormanofCalifornia,Md.,ReginaLewisofLexingtonPark, Tony Clements andhis wife Janet of Holly-wood, Md., Earl Clementsand his wife Rebecca ofFortMeyers,Fla.,MichaelClementsandhiswifeKimof Waldorf, Md., YvonneReintzell of Lexington

Park, Mark Clements andhis wife Kristy of Lusby,Md., Ann Ratliff and herhusband Mark of Califor-nia, Md. and Denise Cle-ments of Richmond, Va.He is also survived by 20grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren and his sib-lings; Walter Clements ofVirginia, Nora Fabin ofWashington, D.C., JohnClements of England andPatricia Niles and MaudeClements,bothofTexas.

He was preceded indeath by his daughterMargaret Ann, his grand-daughter Stacey MichelleReintzell, his great-grand-son Seth Joshua Morganand his siblings William,Joan, Paul, Scott and Al-bertClements.

A lifelong resident ofSt.Mary’sCounty,CharliewasasupervisoroftheDe-partment of Public Worksfor U.S. Naval Air Sta-tion Patuxent River, retir-ing May 31, 1975. He wasenlisted in the U.S. ArmyfromApril5,1945 toMay19,1946.

The family receivedfriendsOct.12from2–5p.m.intheMattingley-Gar-dinerFuneralHome,Leon-ardtown, where prayerswere said at 4 p.m. A fu-neralservicewasheldOct.13 at 10 a.m. in the Mat-tingley-Gardiner FuneralHome with Fr. Jack Ken-nealy officiating. Inter-mentfollowedinSt.Aloy-sius Catholic Cemetery,Leonardtown. PallbearerswereJasonReintzell,Dan-iel Clements, Bill Jarboe,Shawn Elliot, AndrewRatliff andRalphMorgan.HonorarypallbearerswereCharlesClementsandShayTiger.

Contributions may bemadetoLeonardtownVol-unteer Rescue Squad, P.O.Box 299, Leonardtown,MD 20650 and/or HospiceofSt.Mary’s,P.O.Box625,Leonardtown,MD20650.


EleanorP.“Elli”Cole,70

Eleanor P. “Elli” Cole,70,ofMechanicsvillediedOct.7inBayviewMedicalCenter,Baltimore,Md.

Born April 6, 1938 inPerryville, Md. she wasthe daughter of the lateMelvinandJanePatterson.ShewasthelovingwifeofRichardW.Cole,Jr.whomshemarriedDec. 26, 1963inPerryville,Md.

In addition to her hus-band, she is also survivedby her children ShannonHolleyandRickColebothofMechanicsville,andhersiblings Duffy Pattersonand Peggy Phillips, bothof Perryville, Md.; MarySchweers of Port Deposit,Md. and Sue MorningstarofIjamsville,Md.andtwogranddaughtersMeganandNicole.

Mrs. Cole graduatedfrom Wilmington HighSchool in Delaware, Classof 1956, and Capitol CitySchool of Nursing, Classof1964whereshereceivedherRNDegree.Shemovedto St. Mary’s County in2002 from Waldorf, Md.,andwasemployedatCivis-taHospitalinLaPlata,Md.for 20 years before retir-ing in 2000. She belongedto St. Anne’s Church inCharlotte Hall and en-joyedvisitingwithhertwogranddaughters.

A Mass of ChristianBurialwascelebratedOct.

13 at 9 a.m. in St. Anne’sAnglicanCatholicChurch,Charlotte Hall, with Rt.Rev. William McClean of-ficiating. Interment fol-lowed in St. Mark’s Cem-etery,Perryville,Md.


MargaretEllenHall,51

Margaret Ellen Hall,51,ofLexingtonParkdiedOct.5inherresidence.

BornFeb.19,1957,shewasthedaughterofElnora(Roberts) Branson and thelate Irvin J. Branson, Sr.She worked as a paralegalfor the U.S. Governmentfortwenty-nineyears.

Margaret is survivedby her husband, JamesLeroy Hall, Sr. whom shemarried Aug. 1, 1995; herchildren Chandra D. Hall,Krista R. Hall, and Shan-tell L. Hall; step-childrenSheronda Sciber (Pat),JamesLeroyHall,Sr.,andKimberlyM.Green(Mike)allofLexingtonPark;sib-lingsJohnH.Branson,Sta-cey L. Branson, and Ver-nonT.Branson(Yvette)ofAbell, JoyceSmith (Odell)of Woodbridge, Va., OthoM. Branson of Fort Wash-ington, Md. and Irvin J.Branson, Jr. (Constance)of Chaptico, Md. and tengrandchildren.

FamilyreceivedfriendsOct. 11 from 9 – 11 a.m.in the Brinsfield FuneralHome,Leonardtown.Afu-neralservicewasconduct-ed at 11 a.m. by ThomasBart Timothy Hall of theWhole Heart DeliveranceChurch located in CalvertCounty,Md.Intermentfol-lowedinCharlesMemorialGardens,Leonardtown.


Arrangements by theBrinsfield Funeral Home,P.A.,Leonardtown.

ThefamilyofTravis“T”Saltsmanwouldliketothankeveryonefortheirheartfeltcondolences.Wegreatlyappreciatethecardsandgiftsof flowers and food.Yourkindwordsandhelpfulofferingshelpedmakethisalittlemorebearableforusall.Wearethankfultohavesuchastrongcommunitytohelpusgetthroughthishardtime.Traviswillbedearlymissedbyeveryonewhoknewhim.

Kindly,TheSaltsmanFamily

ThankYou


Rainin’ Blues Band Coming Home to Southern Maryland

Shows and Rating Provided By Yahoo Entertainment. Check Local Listings For Show Times.

301-997-0091

IT’S CHILLIN TIME!!!Smoothies • Slushies • Blue Bunny Hand Dipped

Ice Cream • Soft Serve Ice Cream • Pizza

Most Affordable Ice Cream Parlor Prices In Town!

Bring This Ad In For a

Free Soft Serve Cone

With a Purchase Of

a Large Smoothie

Reservations For Parties Accepted!

22745 Washington Street

Leonardtown, MD 20650

Call For More Info: Open

6:30am-8pm Mon - Fri

10a-6p Sat - Sun

Wii games for public

use on HDTV’s

Fried Shrimp, Steamed Shrimp, Fried Oysters, Steamed Oysters, Crab Balls, MD Blue Crabs (when available)

and Black Diamond Steak.

Captain Pat’s Kitchen

Full Menu

Available

North of Hollywood Fire Dept.

Thursday - Saturday: 11am - 9 pmSunday: Noon - 8 pm 301-373-6789

Capt. Pat’s “Feed Your Beast”

All You Can Eat Feast$2995

*Add Snow Crab Legs for $10

All Patrons at Table Must Purchase

Carryout Orders Welcome

Open for Lunch

- Dinner

Daily Lunch Specials $699

*Crabs & Beer *

Body of Lies High School Musical

Eagle Eye

Shows and Rating Provided By Yahoo Entertainment. Check Local Listings For Show Times.

AMC Loews Lexington Park 6Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Rated PG, 1 hr 25 min Showtimes: 5:15, 7:35

Body of Lies Rated R, 2 hr 8 min

Showtimes: 4:05, 7:05

Eagle Eye Rated PG-13, 1 hr 58 min


Express, The Rated PG, 2 hr 9 min


High School Musical 3: Senior Year Starts on Friday, Oct. 24

Lakeview Terrace Rated PG-13, 1 hr 50 min


Nick & Norah s Infinite Playlist Rated PG-13, 1 hr 30 min


The Express

www.raininbluesband.net

RJ (Lead Vocals)Freddy Long (Guitar/vocals)‘J’ Nichols (Bass/T-Bone/vocals)Neil Tracy (Drums/percussion)

Last Show In Maryland This Season

Oct 25th at the Green Door

SPECIAL APPEARANCE OF

STUDIO BAND MEMBER:

William “HOWIE” Nowlan”

on Harp & Vocals

COSMIC Symphony, under the direction of world renowned conductor, Maestro Vladimir Lande, proudly presents two performances of the Nutcrack-er Ballet. The production fea-tures extraordinary dance by Donetsk Ballet, National Ballet of Ukraine, local dance compa-ny Ballet Caliente, vocals by the local Huntingtown High School Chorus and live music per-formed by COSMIC Symphony, your local Southern Maryland community orchestra. The performances are on Decem-ber 7, 2008 at 2 pm and 6 pm at Huntingtown High School in Huntingtown, MD. Tickets are on sale now for $25.00 and will increase to $30.00 at the per-formance. Tickets are avail-able online at www.cosmicmu-sic.org, in St. Mary’s County at Allegro Music in Hickory Hills Shopping Center and Steven’s Studio, and in Calvert County at Educate and Celebrate in Prince Frederick. Both perfor-mances of the Nutcracker Ballet are usually sold out and seats are limited, so get your tickets early. For more information visit our website at www.cos-micmusic.org, or contact us via e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at (301) 373-5277.

Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Ballet” Is Coming To Southern Maryland


Musically speaking, Rainin’ Blues Band defies categorization, and RJ Campbell would not have it any other way. “I’m not a mimic man,” he insisted, “I’ve worked my whole life to sound like nobody else.”

Though they call themselves a blues band, their influences range from hard rock

to jazz to southern rock to clas-sic rock, encompassing many other genres along the way. Still, the soul of the music remains consistent. “We try to do music that I think falls lyrically and melodically in the blues genre,” said RJ, who sings lead vocals with Freddy Long on lead guitar, “J” Nichols on bass guitar and trombone, and Neil Tracy on drums.

“When Freddy & I first began in ‘98 we worked as a duo, and eventually ‘J’ and Neil were located and found to be a great fit,” said RJ. “A few months later…we began ‘Open Jams Wednesday’ at a local Lexington Park Bar & Grill.” What fol-lowed were several years of live performances on the local music scene, as well as shows to benefit community programs like Christmas in April, and 4th of July concerts in St. Mary’s County. Even after RJ retired to Florida, he and the original band members still make an effort to perform at least once a year in St. Mary’s County, where all four of them first came together in 1991.

This year’s reunion performance will be at the Green Door Bar in St. Mary’s County on October 25, and RJ said he is looking forward to getting together with their fifth band member, William “Howie” Nowlan, who will be playing harmonica and singing backup vocals. Nowlan will be just one of many guests expected at the show, which,

as is typical for this group, will run for about 5 hours. “We try to make the show non-stop, and I know some people might hate me for it,” said RJ, explaining that the band will typically play four sets of music, performing between 40 and 50 songs, often playing several songs together without breaks. “Sometimes we’ll have to do really long leads so people can take bathroom breaks,” RJ said, laughing.

That kind of stamina only serves as a testa-ment to the band’s work ethic. They have recorded songs for independent films, and they have re-cently finished a CD, “Oth’a Peeplz Muzik,” which includes audience favorites collected during their shows. RJ explained that during each performance they collected suggestions from audience members for which songs they would like the band to record. “We had somewhere between 500 and 1,000 sug-gestions,” said RJ, adding that the band chose the songs they would record randomly from a jar.

All of this in addition to their marathon performances make for a unique experience for au-dience members, and RJ said he could not be hap-pier to travel north for the next homecoming. “We started there, we have our roots there,” he said. “So we always love coming back.”

Don’t miss the 42nd annual St. Mary’s County Oyster Fes-tival on October 18th & 19th, at the St. Mary’s County Fair-grounds, just south of Leon-ardtown, MD. Celebrate the opening of oyster season on the Chesapeake Bay with oysters any way you like them. There will be constant entertainment, kids activities, food for every taste and the National Oyster Shucking Championship. Gates open 10-6 on Saturday and 11-6 on Sunday and admission is $5.00. For more information go to www.usoysterfest.com.

42nd Annual St. Mary’s County Oyster Festival

Folk-rock artist Matthew Smith will be playing with his band, Indelible Grace, at Cor-nerstone Presbyterian Church on Thursday, October 23 at 7 pm. The event is open to the public and a love offering will be taken at the concert. Corner-stone is located at 23075 Town Creek Drive in Lexington Park, Maryland. For more informa-tion please call the church at 301-862-5016 or visit the web at: www.cornerstonepca.org.

Matthew Smith & Indelible Grace Fall Tour

SectionA-10 The County Times Thursday,October16,2008

Serving Southern Maryland’s Window, Siding & Soffit Need For Over 30 YearsServing Southern Maryland’s Window, Siding & Soffit Need For Over 30 Years

ARE YOU TIRED OF PAINTING WINDOWS? ARE YOUR WINDOWS HARD TO OPEN AND CLOSE AND A NIGHTMARE TO CLEAN?BOTH SASHES TILT IN FOR CLEANING!

Our Services Include:

• Vinyl Replacements Windows• Insulated Vinyl Siding • Soffit & Fascia Covered• Custom Bow and Bay Windows• Vinyl Sliding Patio Doors• Seamless Guttering• Custom Window

Shutters• Roofing

CAMELOTCONTRACTORS

301-870-8791 • 1-800-988-1425

CAM

EL

Waldorf, MDLicensed-Bonded- Insured

MHIC#28292

THOUSANDS OF SATISFIED CUSTOMERS ARE OUR BEST REFERENCES!

FREEESTIMATES

FREEESTIMATES

NOWSERVING

YOUR ROOFING NEEDS!

OVER 45% of home’s energy loss is through

windows and doors

U.S. DEPT. OF ENERGYAccording to the

CUT YOUR AIR CONDITIONING & CUT YOUR AIR CONDITIONING & HEATING BILLS UP TO 40% HEATING BILLS UP TO 40% WITH OUR CAMTECH WITH OUR CAMTECH VINYL WINDOWSVINYL WINDOWS

AndreaShiellStaffWriter

MaryAnnChasensighedasshesatdowninthehotsun,farenoughawayfromtheantiqueauc-tiontoenjoyamomentofquietasshefannedherselfandsmiled.Aroundherwas60,000squarefeetofexhibitscapturingthehistoryoffarminginthearea,aswellasanumberofvendersofferingfood,drinks,andallmannerofproducts,fromjewelrytoquiltstohomespunyarn.Allweregatheredthatdayforthe11thAnnualSouthernMarylandFarmLifeFestival.

“Canyoubelievethisissomebody’shome?”exclaimedChasenasshecaughtaneyefuloftentsinthedistance. “Thisissomebody’sfarm,KittyPar-lett,andsheletsusrunraggedalloverit,”shesaid,laughing.

TheParlettfamilyfirstlenttheuseoftheirfarmtothecauseofraisingmoneyforChristmasinApril11yearsago,beginningwithaone-dayfestivalthatdrewsomanypeoplethatiteventuallyhadtobefleshedoutintoaweekendevent.“Atthattime,JohnParlettSr.wasalive…itwashisandhiswife’sidea,andtheywantedtodosomethingtobenefitChrist-masinApril,”saidChasen.“Theyknewweneededthehelpandmoneyformaterials,sotheysetupthisfestival.”

Thisyear’sfestival,asusual,washeldattheParlettFamilyFarminCharlotteHall,andfeaturedantiques,acraftmarket,anauthentictractorandgasengineshow,apettingzoo,aparadeofpowertrac-tors,auctions,demonstrations,andfarmlifeexhibitsfeaturingthousandsofitemscollectedbyJohnParlettSr.,whohadstartedhiscollectionyearsago.

“FromwhatIunderstand,itwasahobbyofMr.Parlett’s,” saidChasenwhen talkingaboutParlett’scollection of farming equipment,“because he had been a farmerformanyyears.”ChasensaidthatMr.Parlett’scollectionoftractors,plows,andotherfarmingtoolshadeveninspiredmuseumandarchiverepresentatives from all over thecountry tocome to the festival toview the items. “One year therewas a representative from theSmithsonian,” said Chasen, “andoneyearhesaid toMr.ParletthewishedtheSmithsoniancoulduseallofitthemselves.”

Chasen said that theannual Farm Life Festival helpsraiseasmuchas25percentofthemoney needed for Christmas inApril,whichisthelocalchapterofRebuilding Together, a volunteercommunityprojectthatrepairsandrebuilds houses for low-incomefamiliesinthearea.ThelastSat-urdayofAprilculminatesinablitzofhomerepairsforneedyfamilies

intheregion,bringingoutsponsorsfromlocalbusi-nesses and community organizations to repair asmanyhomesaspossibleeachyear.

“Wehaveotherfundraisers,butnothingcomesclosetothis,”explainedChasen,addingthatmuchofthetotalfundingneededforeachyear’srepairswouldgoformaterials,forwhichtheybarelyhaveenoughwarehousespace.“Lastyearweraisedalotofmon-ey,”saidChasen,“Ithinkweclearedsomethinglike$40,000, and that’s an amazing amount of money,andwe’rehopingtodothesamethisyear.”

Chasensaidseveraldignitariesthathadalreadystopped by for the opening ceremonies, includingDelegate John Wood and Rep Steny Hoyer, whocouldbeseeninthedistancetalkingtovisitors.

Volunteers were also handing out applicationsfor families interested in receiving help from thisyear’sChristmasinAprilevent.“We’regoingtobestartingourhomevisitssoon,”saidChasen,whosaidthatthedeadlineforapplicationswouldmostlikelybeextended inorder to includeasmanypeopleaspossible.“Wedon’twanttoturnanyoneaway,”shesaid.“There’ssuchaneedoutthere…IknowwhenIgethometheansweringmachinewillbefullagainfrompeoplewhoneedhelp.”

Also in the distance were the vendors, all ofwhichhadmadedonationstoChristmasinAprilastheirrentforthespace.“Theycameattheirownex-pense,”saidChasen,smilingwarmly.“Theybringtheirownequipment,andtheyaskfornothing.Theyjustwanttobeabletoparticipate.”

Itwashardnottomarvelatthesightoftheday’sactivities,withthevendorsandthevolunteerschip-ping in with a wide-eyed enthusiasm that almostechoedachild’sfaceonChristmasmorning,extend-ingthegivingseasonyetagain.

Farm Life Festival

2 0 t h a n n ua l

C a lv e r t M e M o r i a l h o s p i ta l F o u n dat i o n

Chesapeake Harvest Balls a t u r d ay, n o v. 8 , 2 0 0 8

C o l l e g e o Fs o u t h e r n M a r y l a n d

p r i n C e F r e d e r i C k C a M p u s

7 p. M . t o M i d n i g h t

4 1 0 - 5 3 5 - 8 1 7 8 / 4 1 0 - 4 1 4 - 4 5 7 0 w w w. C a l v e r t h o s p i t a l . o r g

p r o C e e d s t o b e n e F i t e i C u ® t e C h n o l o g y

a n o n y M o u s

Associates in

Radiation Medicine, P.C.

Photo by Andrea ShiellParticipants put on a yarn making demonstration for visitors at the Farm Life Festival.

Hornets Drop First To Patuxent Drug Bust Nets

Documents

Transcript of Hornets Drop First To Patuxent Drug Bust Nets