(CRISFIELD-SOMERSET COUNTY TIMES)
Plan is nearing completion with the consultants from Smith
Planning and Design “very happy” with the public’s response
during the year-long process.
Michele King said the website https://www.plansomersetmd.org
has been seeing a lot of traffic and “getting a lot of comments”
with the public survey yielding over 360 responses.
(View news article:)
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| Alice Davis |
CRISFIELD -- Seven people were arrested and three more are sought on warrants in connection with drug trafficking in Crisfield and Pocomoke City.
Hearts are heavy in many local communities upon hearing of the recent death of one of Christopher Lee McCready of Crisfield and an employee of Eastern Correctional Institution."Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it's one
day further from the last time you saw each other, it's one day closer to the
next time you will."
~~Author Unknown~~
PRINCESS ANNE --An audit of Somerset County government's boat slip account was turned over this week to an outside prosecutor investigating allegations of employee theft at the office of County Commissioners. The county last week began advertising the position of executive secretary in the office of County Commissioners, a job starting at $30,213 with duties included oversight of boat slip fees.
Somerset County State's Attorney Daniel Powell said Wednesday that he referred the case to his counterpart in Worcester County, Beau Oglesby. Powell, a former county administrator who once supervised the employee under investigation, turned the case over to the Worcester state's attorney to avoid a potential conflict of interest.
Oglesby was not available for comment.
Powell confirmed that more than $6,000 was allegedly taken from the boat slip account between Sept. 2, 2008, and July 7, 2010. Powell also acknowledged that he was county administrator in early September 2008 when one of the alleged thefts took place, based on audit data. The second incident was March 17, 2009, when the late Sam Boston was county administrator.
"There were several occasions, and I was county administrator when one of the alleged incidents occurred," Powell said. "It will be up to Mr. Oglesby whether to press charges."
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PRINCESS ANNE -- Somerset County officials are asking for outside help in their investigation into how computer files from the State's Attorney's Office were deleted.County Commissioners made the announcement Wednesday, the day after they held a closed-door meeting with their attorney, Kirk Simpkins.
"After preliminary review, the ... County Commissioners has agreed to seek guidance from outside counsel on whether adequate evidence is present to proceed with an investigation," County Administrator Cindy Ward wrote in an e-mail.
Ward said help was being sought "outside the county," but would not comment on whether it would come from public or private sectors.
Although the problem with the computers was discovered Jan. 3, County Commissioners were at a Maryland Association of Counties meeting last week and did not have time to discuss the case or meet with their attorney until this week.
Staff members realized files had been deleted from office computers the same day new State's Attorney Dan Powell and his assistant prosecutors were sworn in.
The county's two computer system specialists ran a program to recover the deleted files, but Powell said this week that some of the recovered files were in binary code, making them unreadable.
Most of them were forms used by the office, of which Powell said he was able to get copies e-mailed to him from another county.
The files had not been deleted as of late Dec. 30 when the office closed for the New Year's holiday weekend.
Part of the investigation has included looking into who logged on to the office computers during the weekend.
None of the current employees in the office logged on during that time, Powell said.
The Sheriff's Office also reviewed courthouse surveillance tapes from the same time period.
Powell -- who previously served as an assistant state's attorney in Baltimore, Somerset and Dorchester counties -- beat incumbent Kristy Hickman in the Nov. 2 election.
Hickman is now working in the Dorchester County State's Attorney's Office.
Karen Dean, the former deputy state's attorney, recently resigned to accept a similar post in Wicomico County, and Joe Riley, an assistant state's attorney, was fired by Powell the week before Christmas.
Riley said last week that he has been in Anne Arundel County since then.
This week, he started a new job in the Caroline County State's Attorney's Office.
REVOKED LICENSE. David Alan Widdowson, 48, of Pocomoke City was issued a citation for driving on a revoked and suspended license on Oct. 5 by Somerset deputies. Deputies rersponded to the area of Whitehaven Ferry road regarding a car in the ditch, and found Widdowson to be the driver. Widowson was released after signing citations.FAILURE TO APPEAR. Richard Nathaniel Armstrong, 42, of Salisbury was taken into police custody on Oct. 5 by Somerset deputies on a warrant for failure to appear in court. Armstrong was later held on a $500.00 bond.
FAILURE TO APPEAR. Ernest Wells, 40, of Princess Anne was taken into police custody on Oct. 6 by Somerset deputies on a warrant for failure to appear in court. Wells was held on a $500.00 bond.
DRUGS. Robert William Handy, 48, of Crisfield was taken into police custody on a Circuit Court indictment for drug possession - not marijuana and narcotics possession with intent to distribute on Oct. 11 by Somerset deputies. Handy was later held on a $75,000 bond.
DRUGS. Clifton Ricardo Fields, 34, of Crisfield was taken into custody on a Circuit Court indictment for drug possession - not marijuana and narcotics possession with intent to distribute on Oct. 11 by Somerset deputies. Fields was later held on a $75,000 bond.
FAILURE TO APPEAR. Quinton Jerome Bailey, 27, of Princess Anne was taken into police custody on Oct. 12 by Somerset deputies on a warrant for failure to appear in court. Bailey was later released on a $10,000 unsecured bond.
PROBATION VIOLATION. Gregory Davis Sterling Jr., 28, was taken into custody by Somerset deputies on Oct. 12 on a bench warrant for violation of probation. Sterling was later held without bond.
FAILURE TO APPEAR. Kenneth Martin Stachowski Jr., 45, of Princess Anne was taken into police custody on Oct. 13 by Somerset deputies on a warrant for failure to appear in court. Stachowski was later released after posting a $500.00 bond.
SUSPENDED LICENSE. Larry Kefford Linton, 40, of Pocomoke City was issued a citation for driving on a suspended out of state drivers license on Oct. 13 by Somerset deputies. Linton was later released after signing citations pending trial.
SUSPENDED LICENSE. Stacey Paulette Holden of Withams Virginia was issued a citation for driving on a suspended out of state license on Oct. 13 by Somerset deputies. Holden was later released after signing citations pending trial.
SUSPENDED REGISTRATION. Elizabeth Anne Cullen, 31, of Marion was issued a citation for driving on a suspended registration on Oct. 13 by Somerset deputies. The Maryland Motor Vehicle placed a police pick up order on the tags for insurance violations. Cullen was later released after signing citations pending trial.
WESTOVER — A man who was wanted by three police agencies on drug possession and credit card theft shot and killed himself Friday morning as Somerset County deputies tried to take him into custody.Deputies arrived at the home of Ronald John Melcher, 60, of Marumsco Road, Marion, around 8:30 a.m. and saw Melcher exit the front door and walk toward a vehicle in the driveway, according to Maryland State Police.
Melcher refused to obey the deputy’s verbal commands to stop and he continued toward the vehicle, all the while yelling that he was not going back to jail, police said.
Deputies then used a Tazer on Melcher, who fell into the passenger compartment of the vehicle.
As the deputies attempted to take Melcher into custody, they saw him pull a .38-caliber revolver from within vehicle.
A deputy ordered Melcher to put the gun down, but he shot himself in the head and was killed instantly.
None of the Sheriff’s Office personnel at the scene were injured.
Melcher was wanted by Maryland State Police in Salisbury for drug possession, Baltimore City for drug possession and Virginia State Police for credit card theft charges.
He was also a suspect in a criminal investigation being conducted by the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office.
The state police Princess Anne barrack, along with MSP homicide unit, crime scene and IAU personnel, were asked by the sheriff’s office to investigate the case which is continuing.
Crisfield Police have arrested 20 year old Virgil Dashields on child sex abuse charges. Police say he sexually assaulted a 14 month old child at the Somers Cove Apartments last Friday. Dashields faces numerous charges and is being held at the Somerset County Detention Center in default of $50,000 bond.VIRGIL ERIC DASHIELDS
157 SOMERS COVE APARTMENTS
B/M/3-8-1990
(See Attached Photo)
On 9/20/2010 at 9:52 pm Virgil Eric Dashields was arrested by the Crisfield Police Department for a Sexual Child Abuse charging him with sexually abusing a 14 month old child. The sexual child abuse occurred in the Somers Cove Apartments located in Crisfield on 9/17/2010. Dashields was located at 59 Somers Cove Apartments and placed under arrest. The following charges were placed on Dashields:
Sex Abuse of a Minor
Sex Offense 4th Degree
Sex Offense 4th Degree
Assault 2nd Degree
Child Abuse
Sex Offense 3rd Degree
Assault 2nd Degree
Attempt Sodomy
Dashields was placed on $50,000 bond by Somerset County Court Commissioners. He is currently residing in the Somerset County Detention Center.
SMITH ISLAND-- U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., was scheduled to tour Smith Island on Sunday to meet with residents and tour federally funded projects as a kickoff to a three-day visit to the Eastern Shore.It was his first trip to the island.
"I know he's really looking forward to it," Susan Sullam, the senator's communications director, said last week.
Upon arrival in the morning, Cardin was scheduled to see Army Corps of Engineers erosion management projects by boat before attending Sunday services at Rhodes Point United Methodist Church, Sullam said.
After that, he was expected to tour the new Rhodes Point pump station which has been online since December.
Last year, the Rhodes Point Southern Water Works was awarded federal stimulus funds, with Cardin's support, through the Maryland Department of the Environment, Sullam said.
"It's something the senator worked hard on and supported," she said.
In addition to a new well and pumping station, the federal grant paid for new water lines.
After touring Rhodes Point, Cardin was to head over to the neighboring village of Ewell for a chicken barbeque and a meet-and-greet with residents.
Accompanying him on the trip were his wife, Myrna, and Somerset County Commissioners Mike McCready and Paul Ward.
Cardin did not have a public schedule on Monday, but on Tuesday, morning, he was scheduled to tour the NASA Wallops Flight facility. to see the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and the U.S. Navy's Surface Combat Systems Center.
After that he was to travel to the Salisbury-Wicomico Senior Service Center to discuss the new health care law and how it will affect seniors with members of the senior advocate and health care communities.
Later in the afternoon, he also was scheduled to visit the Choptank Community Health System's Cambridge Dental Center and Fassett Magee Health Center, which recently received a grant award of $1 million in recovery funds that to expand dental services.
