Casa D'ice Restaurant in North Versailles , PA. (near Pittsburgh )
The government doesn't like this man very much.
He changes the signs when he gets another idea.
He just wants to make a [political] statement and WOW!
AMEN!!!!!!
Family friendly and striving to be a worthy choice for your Internet browsing. Comments and material submissions welcome: tkforppe@yahoo.com . Pocomoke City-- an All American City And The Friendliest Town On The Eastern Shore.
One town literally walls off the public from much of the ocean with a protective stone seawall, and offers virtually no parking for miles along it.
Beach access has become a long drawn-out court battle in many coastal states. And now in New Jersey, the state Department of Environmental Protection is bowing to complaints from some local governments and private property owners that state access rules are too strict.
The department is letting each shore town decide for itself what level of public access is appropriate, though the state agency will still have to sign off on each plan. The new policy has some beach advocates fearing towns will become even more restrictive.
"This is extremely frustrating," said Ralph Coscia, who co-founded Citizens Right to Access Beaches, or CRAB, after the beloved Point Pleasant Beach was bulldozed to make way for oceanfront luxury homes about a decade ago. "This sets us back 15 years. Everything we've tried to do all these years is falling apart."
The department says its goal is to maintain public access while applying common sense to beach access rules and giving towns and property owners latitude to take local conditions into account.
"We believe the Jersey shore and the coastline should be open to everyone," said department spokesman Larry Ragonese. "But there can't be carte blanche to go anywhere, on anyone's property you want."
Under the Public Trust Doctrine, a legal concept adopted by New Jersey that dates back to the Roman Emperor Justinian, the public has the right to swim in coastal waters and walk along their shores. Courts have held that the public has the right to walk or sit on the sand up to the mean high water mark -- even on beaches where most of the sand is privately owned.
But many oceanfront homeowners either don't know or don't care, and routinely call the police when someone sets up a beach chair or a towel too close for their liking.
Battles over who rules the sand are being fought all over the country. It's not just about unbroken ocean views, either. In New Jersey, tourism is a nearly $40 billion industry and its beaches are a primary draw.
The U.S. Supreme Court last week ruled that Florida can undertake beach-widening projects without compensating beach-front property owners who lose exclusive access to the water.
California fought for years to mediate public demands for access to some prime beaches when wealthy homeowners tried to block them. The city of Dana Point disagrees with the state on who should control beach access through a large gated community of multimillion-dollar homes.
In Hawaii, a new law prohibits property owners from using vegetation to block beach access. In North Carolina, state officials are trying to balance competing demands over the use of a popular Outer Banks beach between fishermen and outdoor enthusiasts who want to drive their vehicles on the sand, and environmentalists who want to protect coastal wildlife.
Texas voters in November decided that the right to public beach access should be part of the state constitution, even as homeowners feared erosion of their property rights.
Under the previous administration of Gov. Jon Corzine, New Jersey required public access points every quarter-mile and bathrooms every half-mile on any beach that received public money for beach replenishment.
But an appeals court overturned those rules in 2008, deciding that the state had no right to order towns to allow 24-hour access to their beaches or to require bathrooms there. Stone Harbor Mayor Suzanne Walters said her town already provides plenty of access, bathrooms and ample parking to beach-goers.
"The biggest change with the DEP seems to be their willingness to listen," she said.
Stone Harbor and nearby Avalon fought the rules, particularly the 24-hour access requirement, on the grounds that it exposed the borough to lawsuits from people who might enter the water after drinking, and drown.
Robert Dinerman owns a summer house in Bay Head, N.J. -- a town that legally restricted its beaches to residents only, until a landmark 1984 court decision said public beaches must be open to anyone. The 73-year-old Cincinnati resident acknowledges many Jersey shore towns have tricks to keep outsiders away. Bay Head offers no public restrooms and bans food from the beach.
In neighboring Mantoloking, where Dinerman was enjoying the surf view from atop a wooden staircase, police zealously enforce a two-hour parking limit on most streets so beach-goers can't park in one spot for two hours, then move their car. This makes it impractical for anyone but residents to use the beaches, some of which charge hundreds of dollars for a seasonal badge.
"All these towns have their little idiosyncrasies to try to keep people off the beach," Dinerman said. "I have no objection to making it more public.
The DEP says it will consider arrangements like Bay Head's ban on toilets and food, Mantoloking's restrictive parking and lack of an affordable daily badge, and miles of inaccessible beaches on Long Beach Island blocked off by private homes, when it considers what to approve under the new rules.
Allison, 9, a student at Freeman's Mill Elementary School, had an assignment to write a poem with the subject, "Beauty Is."
Allison wrote the following, arranging it in the shape of a Christmas tree:
Beauty Is
Salty air
A quiet marsh
On a secret island
Crashing waves
An Egret's nest
Muller's Ice Cream Parlor
On a hot summer night
A bike ride through mini Africa
A long hike up the striped lighthouse
My friends don't know this place
My teachers don't know this place
This secret island called Chincoteague
But I know
My Pop knows
The ponies know
That is what Beauty is....
Allison's poem won first prize at Freeman's Mill Elementary School and went on to win first place in a countywide competition in Gwinnet County, Ga.
Allison presented the poem to her "Pop," Walter Bulmer, as a Christmas gift last year.
Allison presented a framed copy of the poem to the Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce last week, while she was on vacation with her parents and grandparents.
Authorities have arrested a Pennsylvania man who allegedly tried to smuggle more than four pounds of cocaine through Dulles International Airport using powdered soup packets.
Customs and Border Protection officers arrested Jose Acevedo, 41, after he arrived on board a flight from El Salvador on Thursday.
Authorities say a customs dog identified Acevedo, of Carlisle, Pa., as carrying drugs. When authorities opened the soup packets, the drugs were hidden inside some of them.
It isn't the first time authorities at the airport have seen creative smugglers. Last year officers found heroin in juice boxes and cocaine in cooked chicken.
“We need to bring the rule of law to all of Virginia,” Stewart said. “As long as the federal government shows no interest in securing the border and no interest in internal enforcement to promote self-deportation, then states and localities will have to pick up the slack.”
Prince William’s own law on illegal immigration requires that police officers inquire about the immigration status of all people arrested on suspicion of violating a state or local law. The Arizona law, signed in April, gives police wide latitude to check the residency status of anyone who they have “reasonable suspicion” is an illegal immigrant.
A spokesman for Gov. Bob McDonnell said the administration will review the proposal.
“The governor is a strong proponent of reforming our current immigration system to ensure that the laws of this nation are obeyed and upheld, and lawful immigration is encouraged and facilitated,” spokesman Tucker Martin wrote in an e-mail.
Nancy Lyall of the immigrant advocacy group Mexicans Without Borders called the proposal “irresponsible.” There’s a need for reform, Lyall said, but it should come from the federal government.
“This type of legislation targeting people who have been a productive part of society for most of their lives is just unheard of and unjust,” Lyall said.
Stewart said he is pursuing the issue now because the 2011 General Assembly session is the last before statewide House and Senate elections next fall, he said. He plans to choose a sponsor for the measure in the House of Delegates and the state Senate in the near future.
“I am very hopeful about it,” he said. “I think if it’s ever going to pass, this is the time.
Like so many in the service industry, Sohail Kahn forgot that tipping is supposed to be for exemplary service. It's a show of respect and gratitude, not an automatic tax. But he apparently neglected that notion when he picked up a woman in New Orleans...
The 57-year-old businesswoman from Bellaire, Texas needed a ride from the Intercontinental Hotel to the airport. Before she got in, she asked cabbie Kahn if she could pay by credit card. He said yes.
But when they arrived at the airport, Kahn told her that he would be adding a $10 tip to her $33 bill. Since custom would have it that the tipper makes this call -- not the recipient -- the woman refused. She demanded Kahn process her card and get her bags.
That's when Kahn tried to grab her purse, she says. He waved his fist in her face, telling her "You will pay me my 10 percent tip, or I will not let you go," according to the police report.
Then he cut the engine, hit the automated door locks, and proceeded to hold her hostage until she forked over the tip.
They apparently argued for a half-hour before the woman, who was becoming increasingly hysterical, called 911 from her cell phone. A deputy arrived to find her sweating and shaking.
Kahn, being a moron, tried to tell the deputy that he wasn't extorting a tip; he just needed an extra $10 to cover the credit card transaction fee. But the good deputy quickly realized that story was bullshit. Drivers are supposed to cover their own card fees.
Kahn was charged with extortion, false imprisonment and simple assault. He also had his cabbie license seized.
VIA: Trurecrimereport
Let me first say I'm all for helping someone that will help themselves. Watch this video interview and take notice at 1:27 mins into the video this lady is holding a cigarette.
Since the new tax on tobacco has taken place a pack of cigarettes in Michigan cost around $6.50 per pack, so I'm just guessing here that cigarettes in Michigan would cost $60.00+ per carton. The average smoker will smoke a carton per week so that's over $3000.00 per year.
I say this lady needs to stop crying for a handout, quit smoking and sell that pistol to help pay her medical bills. She could afford a nice medical insurance policy with the 3 grand she'd save from the cigarettes alone.
NILES, Mich. (WOOD) - The pain in her right shoulder was unbearable and, without health insurance, Kathy Myers was desperate.
So, she sought .25-caliber relief.
In her basement bedroom on Thursday, the 41-year-old woman shot herself in the same shoulder with a .25-caliber handgun, hoping it could get her the medical help she said she needs.
Instead, she's back home, still in pain, and could face criminal charges.
Myers showed 24 Hour News 8 how she did it. She was lying in her bed in the basement, put pillows in front of and behind her right shoulder, along with an ice pack. Then, she fired a single shot through the front pillow.
The bullet pierced the front of her shoulder and exited the rear, lodging in the ice pack. She said she didn't feel any pain, just burning.
"It just felt warm. That's all," she said.
Myers, 41, said she told her girlfriend's mother to call 911.
Myers said she hurt her shoulder about a month ago when her 80-pound golden Labrador went after one of her little dogs. She tried to stop the dog, which jerked her right shoulder.
"I felt it pop in three places in my collar bone," she said.
Doctors gave her some anti-inflammatories, but couldn't do much more than that, she said. "I didn't have insurance, so I couldn't get a CT-scan or MRI."
Myers is among the 1.2 million uninsured people living in Michigan -- a number that has remained steady for about three years, state health officials said.
The pain, she says, is so excruciating that she can't sleep. She said she couldn't afford to see a neurologist. Myers says she lost her job with a hazardous-waste removal company in southern Indiana months ago.
She said she hasn't qualified for disability or Medicaid.
It was Thursday, she said, when she came up with the idea of shooting herself. "I figured if I did something that would not necessarily make it life-threatening but make it imminent danger that something would be done," she said. "I wanted them to fix me. I just wanted to be fixed."
She hoped the bullet would force doctors to treat what she believes is a rotator cuff injury. Instead, emergency room doctors at Lakeland Hospital treated only the bullet wound and sent her home.
On Friday, Niles Police said they would talk to prosecutors to determine what, if any, charges to file against Myers.
Now, she's having second thoughts.
"It didn't take the pain away," she said. "I figured it would take the pain away from the rotator cuff, where at least I could focus on something else, and maybe they would fix me, you know. I guess I should have shot a little lower and got the bone and the artery."
VIA: WoodTV.com
POCOMOKE CITY — Shore Bank has donated $1,000 to the Delmarva Discovery Center, an award that supports programming and exhibits at the Lower Shore’s relatively new museum of local culture and natural heritage.
Discovery Center Executive Director Brian Garrett along with members of its board of directors were on hand in early June to accept the donation from Shore Bank’s branch staff in Pocomoke City and its advisory board.
Donna Weaver, bank vice president, called the 16,000 square-foot Discovery Center “a wonderful resource.”
The center features a 6,000-gallon freshwater aquarium and a Native American exhibit and sponsors tours along a nature trail through the cypress swamp. The center also has a museum store, showcases local artisans through live presentations and exhibits, and sponsors special events for adults and children.
Cuccinelli says the warning comes in light of recent admissions by Google that the company has collected personal data from unsecured wireless networks while mapping out its Street View service.
He says Google acknowledged gathering information from networks while driving around the country.
Cuccinelli is working with Google find out about any activity conducted in Virginia and is asking the company disclose the nature of any data collected from Virginia residents.
The attorney general's office says that computer users should install and maintain antivirus software on their computers and set up password protections.
Hundreds of police officers massed around the Staples Center before Game 7 of the NBA finals on Thursday night, aiming to prevent a repeat of the violence that accompanied the Lakers' victory last year. But despite their massive presence, scattered pockets of violence erupted in neighborhoods near the arena. No major incidents were reported in the rest of the city, police said.
At least 20 people had been arrested late Thursday and that number was expected to rise, Los Angeles police Lt. John Romero said. Most of the arrests were for public intoxication, while others were for vandalism and inciting a riot.
Television news footage showed several people jumping on a taxi as it attempted to leave the area near the arena after the Lakers beat the Boston Celtics 83-79. Someone opened a rear door of the vehicle, while others rocked it back and forth. The taxi eventually made its way through the crowd and out of the area.
Television footage also showed a man being beaten and a car set on fire. And there were scattered reports of windows being broken at several businesses.
Some men ran shirtless in the street, while other people revved car engines and honked their horns in celebration. Broken glass and burnt debris lined the roads.
Jazmine Rodriguez, 24, lives in an apartment building not far from Staples Center. She said every car on her street had its windows smashed.
"When we came down here, only one window was smashed. The cops told us to go back inside, and they (revelers) smashed the other one," Rodriguez said.
Delmi Ramos tried to salvage what she could from her car, which was filled with shards of broken glass.
"We just wanted to see the celebration and be part of the Lakers' win. We never thought this would happen," she said. "It's these young people who don't know how to behave. They cause damage to people, to the community, because they don't know how to celebrate in a healthy way."
Los Angeles city firefighters responded to 37 incidents within a half-mile radius of Staples Center in a three-hour period following the game, spokesman Brian Humphrey said. There were 15 rubbish fires, one vegetation fire, three vehicle fires and 18 medical aid requests for people ill or injured, Humphrey said. Eight people were transported by ambulance to hospitals. Humphrey didn't know the nature or extent of the injuries, but said some were "quite serious."
One police officer suffered a broken nose after someone threw an object at him, Police Chief Charlie Beck said.
Shortly after the game, police declared an unlawful assembly, urging people to immediately disperse.
Revelers honked horns and yelled while emergency vehicles and police cars with sirens going moved through the area. Some people set off fireworks.
Hundreds of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were deployed to East Los Angeles, where crowds were growing, but no major problems were reported, sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker said.
DRAPER, Utah - A Utah inmate facing a firing squad execution has been moved to an observation cell adjacent to the death chamber, the place where he will spend his final hours. Prison officials are monitoring the activities of 49-year-old Ronnie Lee Gardner and all units at the prison are under lockdown until the execution is carried out at 12:01 a.m. Friday morning.
"There will be people constantly monitoring his activities," said Steve Gehrke, spokesman for the Utah Department of Corrections. "At some point closer to the actual execution time, he will be moved to the execution chamber itself."
FOX 13 News has learned Gov. Gary Herbert has denied a second request from Gardner's attorneys to temporarily halt the execution. The 10th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Denver has also denied Gardner's request to halt the execution. And finally the petition with the U.S. Supreme Court.has also been denied, sealing Gardners fate to face the firing squad.
Gehrke was informed during a press conference at about 9 p.m. Thursday night that "there are no pending issue in front of the courts right now."
Gehrke said the mood among other inmates at the prison is now somber. He also said correctional staff at the prison has been in contact with Gardner.
"He's reading a book called Devine Justice, it's a sort of spy thriller novel; he's watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy," said Gehrke.
"Yes there are certain correctional staff here that have spoken with Gardner and have been in contact with him," Gehrke said. "Last night when they moved him, they characterized his mood as reflective."
Officials said Gardner had his last meal Wednesday, which consisted of a lobster tail, steak, apple pie, ice cream and a 7-Up and is now going through a self imposed 48-hour fast leading up to his execution.
Holes in this wall are where the executioners will position their rifles.
Gardner had his last meeting with family members at the prison Wednesday night. The prison has invited witnesses from the government, the families of the victims, Gardner's family and the media to attend the execution.
Gardner has chosen to die by firing squad for killing attorney Michael Burdell during a 1985 courthouse escape attempt. He was in court for the murder of Melvyn Otterstrom during a robbery. On his way out of the courthouse, Gardner also shot and wounded deputy Nick Kirk, who died years later. Kirk's widow believes the gunshot wounds eventually killed her husband.
Throughout the legal proceedings leading up to the execution, the families of Gardner's victims have been divided on the issue of the death penalty. Burdell's fiancée, Donna Nu, said she opposes executing him; the Otterstrom and Kirk families want Gardner put to death.
The debate over the method of execution has sparked international interest. News media from across the globe are expected to arrive at the Utah State Prison to cover the execution. Utah officially did away with the firing squad as a method of execution in 2004, but several inmates are "grandfathered in."
The execution is also drawing protests. The group Utahns for Alternatives to the Death Penalty held a prayer vigil at St. Mark's Cathedral at 5:30 p.m., then a rally was held at the state capitol at 9 p.m.
Army Spc. Gary Sharpen was home on a two-week leave from his unit in Iraq. Melodie Sharpen said her husband was welcomed home by his family and even strangers.
“People were honking and waving,” Melodie Sharpen said. “One lady even stopped her car and said, ‘Thank you for your service.’”
The time flew by and before she knew it, Melodie Sharpen was dropping her husband back off at Bush Intercontinental Airport to fly back to the desert.
“He was wearing his army fatigues,” Melodie Sharpen said. “He had his backpack, which is Army regulated and he had his luggage.”
Gary Sharpen showed up with one 64-pound duffel bag, which is normally 14 pounds overweight. He wasn’t worried because he knew that American Airlines waived fees for active-duty military personnel.
The airline's policy says “military personnel on orders are allowed one bag in the free allowance up to 100 pounds.”
Sharpen's mother, Laura Lee, said not only was her son charged $50 in overweight fees, but the ticket agent was rude to him.
“I couldn’t imagine anyone treating one of our soldiers like that, telling them “so what” that they’re going back to Iraq,” Lee said.
Airline officials said they waive the fee only if a passenger shows military travel orders, and Gary Sharpen didn’t. His family argued that he wasn’t asked.
Melodie Sharpen said her husband had nothing he could take out of the bag to get it 14 pounds lighter.
“Did they want him to take out the pictures of our family? The toothbrushes that he was bringing over? The extra toothpaste he was bringing over? Deodorant,” she said.
American Airlines officials have agreed to refund Sharpen’s money if they see his travel orders.
However, his family said it’s not about the money, but about common courtesy for an American soldier.
ONLEY -- Four men -- none of them particularly strong -- lifted a Ford Contour off of a 19-year-old man trapped under it on Memorial Day Sunday, likely saving his life with a feat they say could not be repeated under normal circumstances.
I have heard about things like this, but never experienced anything like what happened that day," said Mark Williams, 53, of Onley.
Williams and Greg Lee, 33, who weighs about 160 pounds, were driving north on Redwood Road on May 30 near Onley when they saw a woman in the middle of the road waving for them to stop.
"She was pointing to the field and saying a car was overturned," said Williams, who said the accident occurred about a mile from the turn to enter Nandua Middle School. "From the direction we were driving, we would never have seen it."
When Williams arrived at the scene of the accident some 75 feet off the road, he saw a young woman frantically screaming that her boyfriend was trapped under the car.
"By this time a man who looked to be in his 70s and a Hispanic man, smaller than me -- and I only weigh 150 pounds --were there," said Williams. "I could see the shoes of someone sticking out from under the car. The elderly man said, 'OK, boys, let's lift this car up.' And in one fell swoop, we lifted that car up on its side. I was afraid I was going to see something that would take me a long time to get over."
Under the car was Deshawn Ames, 19, of nearby Melfa, who was pulled gently away from the smoldering car.
"He was gasping for breath, and you could tell he was hurt," said Williams.
Later that day Ames would be transported to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital by Nightingale Air Ambulance. He had suffered a collapsed lung, cracked ribs and a broken pelvis.
Ames, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the car after his girlfriend, Joanna Sturgis, 19, lost control of the vehicle after a rear tire blew out.
"I was driving when all of a sudden the car swerved to the right, and I couldn't control it. The next I knew we hit the ditch and the car starting tumbling," said Sturgis, who was told by an eyewitness to the accident that the car flipped three times before coming to rest on its roof.
Sturgis was wearing a seat belt and trapped in the driver's seat when she heard a woman telling her to crawl out.
She told me to unbuckle my seat belt and then helped me to crawl out," said Sturgis, who suffered some facial abrasions and lost some teeth but was otherwise uninjured.
"She asked me if there was anyone else in the car. That's when I couldn't find Deshawn and started screaming. I then heard him yelling, from under the car," said Sturgis.
Ames said he doesn't recall anything from the accident.
"I don't remember the car flipping over. I don't remember being under the car," said Ames Sunday at his home, the day after returning home after a lengthy stay in the hospital.
"I do know I will always wear a seat belt from now on. Tell everyone they should wear a seat belt. I am lucky to be here, and I can thank those men who lifted the car off of me," said Ames.
Once the car was turned on its side to free Ames, someone suggested the men flip the car again to get it upright.
We couldn't budge it," said Williams. "It was one of those situations where adrenaline took over and allowed us to do what was needed to help that man. I don't think we could have moved that car in a normal situation, but it just wasn't his time to go," said Williams, a real-estate agent with Coldwell Banker Harbour Realty.
Sturgis said Onley Fire and Rescue arrived about three minutes after Ames was freed by the good Samaritans.
"It was amazing how quick they responded," said Sturgis. "I couldn't believe they could get there so fast."
"Everyone who helped melted away when the rescue squad got there," said Williams. "No one got names. I don't know the names of the two men who helped Greg and me."
Sturgis said she doesn't know the name of the elderly woman who helped her out of the car nor the woman who flagged down passing motorists.
"I just want to thank everyone who helped. I am so grateful to them all."
Williams, who visited Ames at his home on Sunday, received a big handshake and a hearty thank you. Getting around with the aid of walker, Ames followed Williams outside, where the crumpled car was in the back yard.
Three good-sized friends of Ames, who were also visiting, attempted to lift the car. The tires never cleared the ground.
A 26-year-old woman from Fauquier County who came to see the Phish concert on Tuesday and got separated from her friends has been found safe, the Fauquier County Sheriff's Office said.
She was found in the Washington area and was following the band, authorities said.
Laura J. Pepe traveled to Portsmouth with a group of friends for the Tuesday night show at nTelos Pavilion. After getting separated from her friends and not being found, they returned home to Fauquier County without her.
Lt. James Hartman of the sheriff's office said he spoke with Pepe's father on Thursday morning, and she has been found safe. Her mother reported her missing at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday after Pepe did not return her mother's cell phone calls, Hartman said.
The Pocomoke City resident and local business owner has served two nonconsecutive terms -- the first in the mid-1990s and the second starting in 2006. Being a commissioner has become a full-time commitment, Cowger said, and between running his paving and site development business, he can't put in the hours needed.
"I've just got a lot of other things going on right now," he said. "I'm not saying I won't run again two or three terms down the road, when I'm retired."
Cowger is set to be the only commissioner to step down at the end of this term. However, two others, Commissioners Linda Busick and Virgil Shockley -- both of whom have announced their intentions run -- have not yet filed their candidacy. The deadline to do so is July 6.
Looking back at his time in office, Cowger said he is pleased that the renovations of Pocomoke High School were kept on track and that the three land use departments -- Develop-ment Review and Permitt-ing, Environmental Programs and Compre-hensive Planning -- had been consolidated, streamlining the process for development and home and business improvements.
Cowger, a Democrat, was perhaps most known for his concerns over the county's budgeting process and his calls to run local government more like a business. He was the sole vote in opposition to the 2010-11 spending plan.
"You've got to make your cuts and stay within your means, and I don't think the county did a good job of that," Cowger said, adding that government itself needs to shrink to keep up with falling revenues. "I predict large tax increases over the next term."
Whether that happens will be up to the next set of commissioners, and three men have already stepped forward to fill the District 1 seat. Jimmy Schoolfield, a local business owner and ordained minister, will likely face the winner of the Republican primary between Larry F. Ward and Merrill W. Lockfaw, Jr.
Ward, a Worcester County native, is the proprietor of Ward's Tree Service.
"I'm dead-set against raising taxes because there can be cuts made all over the place," Ward said. If elected Ward plans to push for a four-day, 10-hour work week for all nonessential employees, eliminating energy and maintenance with keeping buildings open an extra day and better serving citizens who cannot make it to county offices during conventional work hours.
In addition, he would institute cross training requirements for county employees to prevent breaks in service and would push for incentives for jobs, especially those that produce environmentally friendly energy and products.
Lockfaw declined to comment for this story. He is currently the superintendent of Worcester's roads division, although is retiring later this month. Until then, Lockfaw said, he is focused on leading his department.
Schoolfield is currently the only Democrat to have filed for the seat.
"I have decided to run for commissioner in District 1 to be a strong voice for the people," he said. "My focus will be on the crime rate in the district, more activities for our youth, educating our youth with after-school programs and more affordable housing."
Schoolfield, an army veteran, was born in New Church but has long-standing family ties to Pocomoke City. As well as being involved with the local NAACP and Democratic Central Committee, he owns Jae's Electric Company and serves as a minister at Georgetown Baptist Church.
Three incumbent City Council members --Raymond Anderson, Barry Dize and Kim Lawson, who were elected with Purnell in 2006 as part of the Clean Sweep Team -- also appeared to be the winners for their at-large seats.
Lane said Wednesday night he was not ready to concede to Purnell.
"It's not over until they count the absentee and provisional ballots," he said.
City elections officials said they mailed out 51 absentee ballots, but the number returned was not immediately available Wednesday night. They will be opened this afternoon.
There also were 17 provisional ballots, as well as some people who were turned away because they were not on city voter lists.
Some of Lane's supporters said they planned to challenge the outcome of the mayor's race.
"We'll take it to the highest court," one woman shouted at reporters. "Put that in the paper."
Lane said he knows of one woman who registered to vote last month, but whose name was not on the list given to city elections officials.
"I'm sure there's going to be some examination of the process," he said.
In the City Council races, Anderson and Dize were clear winners with 513 and 465 votes, respectively, but Lawson, with 422 votes, was only 44 votes ahead of challenger Pamela Whittington, with 378 -- a lead that could change with today's absentee vote count.
Purnell said he was happy with the outcome so far.
"I think it's reassuring at this level of a challenge," he said.
Just before the polls closed, Clean Sweep Team supporters, who had camped outside City Hall all day, predicted it would be a close mayor's race.
"It was hard to tell," said Frederick B. "Fritz" Gerald, a former mayor and city manager. "This morning it was a little bit lopsided, but this evening it evened out."
Mayor
James Lane -- 408
Percy Purnell (I) -- 455
Richard Scott -- 14
City Council (3 seats)
Raymond Anderson (I) -- 513
Barry Dize (I) -- 465
Robert Hooks -- 35
Jordan "Bo" Joyner --139
Kim Lawson (I) -- 422
Carolyn Marquis -- 240
Greg Sterling -- 145
Pamela Whittington -- 378
Rosecroft had been struggling for years as it saw a revolving door of owners, stopped running live racing and then lost the right to broadcast simulcast thoroughbred races. Earlier this year, the state legislature rejected a bill sought by the track to legalize poker and table games there.
Meanwhile, the horse racing industry is eagerly waiting for slot-machine profits to revive a sport declining in popularity and losing gamblers to neighboring states. The slots program has had a rocky start as a large casino proposal in Anne Arundel County got caught up in legal battles and the sole bidder for the Baltimore City parlor was tossed out. The first slots parlor in Cecil County is set to open in September.
With Rosecroft's license set to expire in two weeks, Kelley Rogers, president of Rosecroft owner Cloverleaf Enterprises Inc., said Wednesday that he could not vouch for the track's financial viability before the Maryland Racing Commission. The track has been operating essentially as an off-track betting site for the past two years.
Rogers delivered the news Tuesday in a memo to standardbred horsemen and others. In a phone interview, Rogers said most of the racetrack's 200 employees will finish work on Saturday with a skeletal crew remaining to shut down the operations. Rogers blamed the track's demise on an untenable financial arrangement with the state's larger thoroughbred industry.
"Our long struggle is finally over and we have come to an end," Rogers wrote in the memo, which has been posted on the website of the Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners' Association, the parent of Cloverleaf Enterprises. "Unfortunately, despite all of our best efforts we could not escape the unreasonable demands of the thoroughbred industry and they have succeeded in putting us out of business."
Rosecroft's closure leaves Ocean Downs, which plans to open a small slots operation later this year, as the state's only harness track. Pimlico Race Course, which hosts the Preakness Stakes, and Laurel Park are thoroughbred tracks.
"It's never good news when a racetrack closes when you're in the racetrack business," said John Franzone, a longtime member of the racing commission.
Rosecroft has been mired in a bitter fight with the thoroughbred industry — namely the Maryland Jockey Club, the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and the Maryland Horse Breeders Association — over an agreement that required the track to pay $5.9 million a year to receive simulcast signals for thoroughbred racing. At the time of Rosecroft's Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing last June, the racetrack owed $1.8 million.
Alan Foreman, attorney for the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, flatly rejected Rogers' characterization of the arrangement. Foreman said Rosecroft breached the agreement when it stopped making payments. As a result, the racing commission revoked Rosecroft's right to receive thoroughbred racing simulcast signals.
"We made no demands on the harness industry. Zero. ... Their situation is totally self-inflicted," Foreman said. "We would have been happy to work with them had they come to us in the beginning. Here we are. It's sad."
For the standardbred horsemen, breeders and others in the harness industry, the track's closure is a bitter ending for a once-popular venue for live racing. The track's bankruptcy protection will convert to a Chapter 7 liquidation, Rogers said.
Betsy Brown, a standardbred horsewoman, trainer and driver who has lived at Rosecroft and stabled her horses there for 20 years, was preparing Wednesday to move her 10 horses to the fairgrounds in Woodstock, Va.
"We were hoping for a miracle to the end. It just didn't happen," said Brown, who saw her income drop by half when Rosecroft suspended live racing in 2008. "It's really sad. Some of the people don't know where they're going and time is running out."
Rogers said all stable occupants will leave by June 28.
Horse racing and slots have been a political hot button for many years as lawmakers, racing interests and others sought to find ways to revive the industry.
Gov. Martin O'Malley, who used to visit Rosecroft with his father and brother, said there was never any chance slots would have been approved for the Fort Washington racetrack because Prince George's County's elected officials opposed it.
He added that state officials would "do everything we possibly can to help people displaced."
Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who is seeking to unseat O'Malley in a rematch this November, characterized Rosecroft's closure as the end of an era in Maryland racing and called it a "sobering reminder of state government's failure to design a viable gaming program."
Rosecroft opened in 1949 and has had a history of financial troubles and owners who have come and gone.
The track saw some deals fall apart because prospects for legalized slots in Maryland never materialized until 2007. That year, Penn National Gaming, which owns the Cecil County parlor, dropped its bid to buy Rosecroft when the track was not designated as a site for slot machines. And the family of Peter G. Angelos pulled out of a deal in 2005 when chances for legalizing gambling at tracks dimmed.
Rosecroft wasn't designated a slots site in legislation that legalized such gambling and sent the issue to a November 2008 referendum, which voters approved. Under the program, slots proceeds would be dedicated to horse racing purses and track improvements, but that revenue hasn't yet materialized.
It seemed as though things would turn around for Rosecroft when real estate developer Mark Vogel, a former owner of the harness track, stepped up last year and agreed to buy the financially beleaguered property. But while stockholders of Rosecroft approved the track's sale to Vogel, a Delaware bankruptcy judge rejected the deal.
Vogel said Wednesday that he wanted to keep the track operating, but he said "the real issue is Rosecroft has no revenue source."
"We don't have live racing and thoroughbred turned off the simulcast signals," he said.
For the three months ending March 31, Cloverleaf lost $520,712, according to financial documents submitted to the racing commission. The company reported a net loss of $1.39 million in 2008, the most recent annual financial report submitted to the racing commission. The company also reported losses in 2007 and 2006, according to financial documents.
Earlier this year, the track pushed efforts to allow poker, blackjack and other table games, but the legislation did not gain enough traction in the General Assembly, despite the backing of Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller.
"We moved heaven and earth to save the Preakness a couple of years ago, which I'm fully supportive of, yet when it comes to saving 200 jobs in the African-American community in Prince George's County, nobody seems to give a damn," Rogers said.
But Vogel is not giving up on the possibility of a state bailout or another last-minute rescue.
"We are hoping that we have political leaders in Maryland who don't want Rosecroft closed and 200 jobs to evaporate," he said. "And what we're looking for is a simulcast agreement.
Losing Rosecroft is like losing a friend. Tsk. Tsk.... Maryland. It's a shame you didn't work a little faster to help those 200 hundred people keep their jobs AND save Rosecroft. Those people will find jobs eventually.......maybe......but horse racing in Maryland will be changed forever. ........At least that's the way I see it.