Va. ACLU Urges Localities to Ignore Cuccinelli's Opinion

Richmond, Va. --

The ACLU of Virginia urged Virginia police chiefs and sheriffs today to ignore a recent opinion from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that says police officers can question individuals about their immigration status during a stop or arrest.

Rebecca Glenberg, ACLU's legal director, said the Cuccinelli opinion cited no Virginia law to back it up. Attorney Generals' opinions are advisory and do not have the force of law.

She said the Cuccinelli opinion likely would lead to racial profiling.

Cuccinelli addressed the possibility of racial profiling Wednesday in an interview with CNN.

"Being in Virginia, I can tell you that given our race history, we're very sensitive to not allowing for racial profiling, not allowing the kind of abuse of the legal process as happened in the '40s, '50s, '60s [which] we had to work our way out of frankly, through the '70s and on," Cuccinelli said.

"The way we avoid it in this situation is we apply the same rules to everybody."

Cuccinelli noted that the new Arizona immigration law required law enforcement officers to inquire about immigration status. Cuccinelli's opinion said that Virginia's law enforcement officers may make such inquiries, but they are not required to do so.

He said he expects that local governments around the state will devise their own policies for how their police and sheriffs should proceed.

Also today, Corey A. Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, said he is asking Congress to subpoena Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for information about criminal illegal aliens that ICE is no longer taking into physical custody.

Stewart's inquiry follows a car crash in Prince William County that killed one nun and critically injured two others.

Carlos A. Martinelly Montano is charged in the crash with third-offense driving under the influence, involuntary manslaughter and driving on a revoked license.

The three nuns were less than 4 miles from their spiritual home at the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia monastery near Manassas when their car was struck head-on by a vehicle driven by Montano, a native of Bolivia and an illegal immigrant.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security opened an investigation Tuesday into how an illegal immigrant managed to avoid deportation, even after repeated arrests before Sunday's crash.

www.timesdispatch.com

Phone Scam In Worcester County

WORCESTER COUNTY, Md. - The Worcester County Sheriff's Office is warning the community to be aware of a phone scam. They are currently investigating incidents where phone calls have been made by people who have represented themselves as Law Enforcement officers and requesting money. Police say the calls are being made to parents claiming that their children have been arrested and are in jail, usually for drug violations. A list of charges is given to the caller and police say the calls appear to sound official. The suspects then request the parent to wire money to "Bail Bondsman Acct." The parents are advised that the child will be released from custody upon receipt of the money.

Police say this is a fraudulent account used for the purpose of defrauding people.
They also say a legitimate Law Enforcement agency will not ask you to send money anywhere to secure the release of a person.

If you receive a call of this type, you are advised to ask for the name and call back number for the alleged agency. Then call your local law enforcement agency to help you verify whether or not this is a legitimate call or someone trying to commit a crime.

www.wmdt.com

Pocomoke: Community Meeting With Police

Here's your chance Pocomoke residents to let the Pocomoke City Police Department know how you feel about the crime in Pocomoke.

POCOMOKE CITY -- On Saturday, Aug. 7 at 10 a.m., all are invited to attend a community meeting at Bethany United Methodist Church, 205 Second St.

The Pocomoke Police Department is prepared to help residents become united to help them fight crime in the community.

There have been two other meetings with various suggestions.

Siren Testing On Saturday For Worcester County

SNOW HILL -- On Saturday, Aug. 7, Worcester County emergency alert signals will sound from area fire sirens. The signals are tested the first Saturday of each month. A steady alert tone will sound at 10 a.m. for approximately one minute.

In the event of an actual emergency, the sirens would be used as additional means to warn the surrounding communities of imminent danger and the need to tune to either radio, television or the internet for information.

Off-Duty Federal Officer Fatally Shoots Dog In Dog Park

The off-duty federal police officer who fatally shot a Siberian husky in a Severn dog park has been placed on administrative leave while county police investigate the incident, but through his lawyer maintains that he fired his gun in defense of his pet, his wife and himself.

Citing their investigation, Anne Arundel County police still have not named the officer, who they said fired his personal weapon in the shooting Monday of Bear-Bear, a brown-and-white husky who died a few hours later.

Police, who did not provide a report, said they initially closed the incident amd there was no evidence of criminal activity. They did not respond to questions about other circumstances surrounding it.
The officer's attorney, David Putzi, declined to identify him, citing online threats made against him and his family. However, Putzi provided some information about his 32-year-old client, who he said fired his weapon only when faced with an aggressive dog whose handler "could not or would not" step in to stop an attack on the officer's dog, a German shepherd named Asia.

The account is very different from the one offered by Rachel Rettaliata, the husky's owner, whose brother had taken 3-year-old Bear-Bear for their daily trip to Quail Run community dog park.

The investigation into the dog park shooting was reopened Wednesday on the demand of County Executive John R. Leopold.

On Thursday, the Humane Society of the United States joined the investigation after offering to lend its expertise and resources to the county police department. Justin Scally, a Humane Society investigator, expects to begin Friday morning with what he called a "very difficult investigation" into the only fatal shooting of a dog at a dog park that he knows of.

Meanwhile, thousands of online posts from people across the country and two Facebook pages have expressed support for the owners of Bear-Bear, and a gathering in was held at the park Thursday evening.

Earlier in the week, some had speculated that Asia, the German shepherd, may have been a police dog, but county police said Thursday that that wasn't the case.

Putzi said his client served about two years in the Army and is a sergeant in the Army Reserves who has completed two tours in Iraq totaling 26 months, and has worked for about three years as police officer.

"There is absolutely no history on him being some sort of renegade or flying off the handle," Putzi said. Rather, he received the Army achievement medals and two Army commendation medals, and was nominated for but did not receive a Bronze Star, Putzi said.

Maryann Hodges, a spokeswoman for Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, the Army and Marine base in Northern Virginia, said the civilian police officer was placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure, because of the Anne Arundel County investigation.

Putzi said his client's dog, Asia, is a pet adopted through a rescue group. The man came to the park with his wife, who had the dog on a leash.

Bear-Bear and Rettaliata's brother were the only others there, according to his account. The couple asked if Bear-Bear was friendly, and after being told yes, they allowed the dogs to interact, Putzi said.

The dogs played briefly, then separated. But when Bear-Bear approached again, Putzi said, the situation changed.

"This dog was trying to get the dog down by the neck, the jaws of the husky were around the German shepherd's neck," the lawyer said. When the couple tried to intervene, the dog became aggressive toward them as well, Putzi said.

When Rettaliata's brother did not take control of the husky, Putzi's client shot the dog, the attorney said.

In responding to the officer's account, Rachel Rettaliata said, "If I were in his shoes, I probably would tell them the same thing."

Her pet, also a rescue dog, has a history of being friendly, she said. Her brother told her that the dogs began to play roughly and that the off-duty officer asked him to call off the dog. But before he could move, the officer shot Bear-Bear, she said.

"In my personal opinion, a firearm never had to come into the picture," she said.

Both sides said they welcomed the addition of the Humane Society to the investigation.

Scally, the investigator, said the organization regularly helps police departments with cases involving animals. Scally said he also hopes to do some work with Quail Run dog park.

"Working with the community is a big part here," he said. "We hope to help them make the park safer."

When word of Bear-Bear's fatal shooting became public Tuesday, police said the matter was closed and there was no evidence of a crime, evoking public criticism. On Wednesday, County Executive John R. Leopold, saying he was "deeply troubled" to hear of the shooting, said he contacted Chief of Police James Teare to insist on a full investigation.
www.baltimoresun.com

Using "Noah's Ark" To Save Sealife

PANACEA, Fla. (AP) - On the chance that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill threatens some sea creatures with extinction, naturalist Jack Rudloe hopes his laboratory can save them.

Rudloe has launched Operation Noah's Ark, using his four-acre facility an hour south of Tallahassee to preserve more than 350 different specimens — everything from sharks to starfish, shrimp and batfish — in an environment that includes a grassland and duplicates high and low tides. And he's not doing it two-by-two. The fiddler crabs, for instance, number around 50,000.

"We have this endless supply of critters and water out there," said Rudloe, 67, whose enchantment with the Gulf and its inhabitants date back some 40 years. "We have to get as many animals in there as we can and then if the conditions permit, be able to put some of them back and get some things started."

Though the broken oil rig has been capped since mid-July and little heavy crude is visible on the Gulf, Rudloe said he's still committed to the project.

"I don't believe that the oil is gone," Rudloe said. "It's still out there in cold water, little tiny droplets that could come spilling up here in the wrong conditions of one or two hurricanes."

Rudloe's Dickerson Bay laboratory is about 20 miles from the easternmost point where oil has been reported on Florida's Panhandle. Still, he worries about oil fouling his 50 tanks, which use saltwater pulled through an 800-foot pipeline from the Gulf. He is installing filtration systems just in case.

"If everything is dead, the marshes are black, the water is foul ... we still want to keep the place going," Rudloe said. "We would have to have live support systems where we can keep things alive."

Rudloe estimates the project could cost $1.2 million. He can't afford that kind of financial hit, coming at a time his wife — noted marine biologist Anne Rudloe — is battling a serious illness. The nonprofit, licensed facility, which attracts about 18,000 visitors annually, depends on admission fees, memberships and donations.

"We're bleeding green," Jack Rudloe said.

Rudloe said he hopes BP PLC will help fund the project; BP said it couldn't provide information on Rudloe's claim.

"If anybody should come to anybody, BP should be coming to him and say 'OK,'" said Robert Seidler, a Sopchoppy, Fla., filmmaker who has observed the Rudloe's operation for decades. "Nobody has the collective knowledge of the area like the Rudloes do. Every trend, storms, floods, red tides. He knows all of that."

Rudloe, who provides specimens for university and medical research, is well known nationally among marine biologists.

A New York native who moved to Florida in his early teens, Rudloe, who is self-taught, has joined with his wife to write books on the Gulf ecosystem along with articles for National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and other publications.

Rudloe has gotten some outside help since the spill. Pennsylvania-based Martin Marine shipped a $25,000 water-oil separator that Rudloe said could save the day, sifting out petrochemicals.

"We have a way to fight back. We can clean our water and go on living."

He will also use roughly 50 large water tanks to store "healthy seawater" to maintain hundreds of other critters, including sea urchins, sea cucumbers, sponges, sea horses and spinybox fish.

The BP spill isn't his first clash with oil companies.

In 1989, Rudloe cut his Exxon credit card in half and put it inside a plastic sandwich bag filled with oil to protest a spill created when the Exxon Valdez tanker dumped an estimated 32 million gallons of crude oil into pristine Alaskan waters after it grounded on a reef.

But that doesn't come close to the disaster threatening the Rudloe's lifetime of work.

"Where are the protections these companies were supposed to build in?" Rudloe asks. "I don't think anything really has been learned. We're just as dumb now as we were then."

www.wavy.com

Thomas J. Leggs, Jr. Convicted of Burglary In Ocean City

SNOW HILL -- A Worcester County judge sentenced Thomas J. Leggs Jr. to three years in prison on fourth-degree burglary charges, ending a court case that began months before authorities arrested him in connection with the murder of an 11-year-old Salisbury girl.

Leggs stood accused of breaking into the apartment of a woman who turned him down for an overnight stay after a boozy cab ride home.

Pamela Sima, 24, testified in Circuit Court that Sept. 11, 2009, she awoke at about 4 a.m. to find Leggs standing over her bed -- shirtless, undoing his belt and taking his pants down to his knees.

"After it happened, it really affected my life," she told Judge Thomas C. Groton III prior to Leggs' sentencing. "For the rest of my time there, I slept with a knife by my side and a phone in my hand."

Sima also testified she had rejected his romantic advances on a date one week earlier.

A Worcester County Circuit Court jury deliberated for 20 minutes before reaching a guilty verdict Thursday. The jury found Leggs not guilty on a related charge of property destruction.

Worcester County State's Attorney Joel Todd sought the maximum sentence of three years incarceration on the burglary charge, citing Leggs' criminal record and his being on the Maryland and Delaware sex offender registries.

Sima said she was unaware of any of his criminal history while they were dating. Leggs was not accused of committing any sex offenses against her.

They first met in late August 2009, Sima said, and had gone on at least one dinner date before meeting for drinks Sept. 2 at Pickles Pub. That night, Leggs walked her home.

She later told police the two kissed, but he had come on too strong and was trying to take her clothes off "with me saying no plenty of times."

According to Sima's testimony, a week later they ran into each other at the Cork Bar. Leggs apologized for his behavior. When she flagged a taxi home, Leggs joined her in the car, uninvited.

Once at her house, he asked to stay over, repeatedly telling her that his roommates weren't letting him stay at his place, she testified. She said no, went inside and locked the door behind her.

Hours later, when she found him at her beside, she yelled at him to get out. She heard the front door open and close. But when she got out of bed to make sure he was gone, she found him standing in her living room.

"The fact that he would try to trick her into thinking he had left shows just how criminal his intentions were," Todd said. "The defendant is a dangerous individual. The best the criminal justice system can do is warehouse (him) for as long as we can for the good of the citizens of the state of Maryland."

When Leggs did leave, Sima called 911. Responding police officers found two window screens removed outside the first-floor apartment, one of which was bent out of shape.

A wooden window frame was damaged, police said, as if someone had pried away the screen. They also found scuff marks on the exterior beneath one of the windows. This evidence was the basis for a charge of malicious destruction of property, police said.

A warrant was issued for his arrest Sept. 29. He was arrested Oct. 29, and posted $10,000 bond the same day.

In the courtroom, Leggs wore a lime-green polo shirt, blue pants and black sneakers. He sported a bushy goatee and short-cropped hair. He often turned to comment into the ear of his attorney.

Leggs wore no handcuffs or leg braces of any kind because Todd wanted the jury to decide the case on the facts presented, not on the biases that shackles inevitably bring, he said.

Wicomico County sheriff's deputies escorted Leggs to the Snow Hill courtroom from Salisbury, where he is being held on charges of kidnapping, abusing and killing sixth-grader Sarah Haley Foxwell.

Her family reported her missing Dec. 22. Leggs was arrested Dec. 23. After a search that involved thousands of volunteers, her burned remains were found Dec. 25 in a wooded area by a team of investigators.

Leggs was indicted on murder and sex offense charges in February in Wicomico County, where the killing took place. In May, court officials announced his death penalty trial on those charges will be moved to Cecil County.

Leggs did not testify during Thursday's trial. At sentencing, he declined to make any comments to the judge following the vigorous advice of his attorney, Arch McFadden.

McFadden, in his closing statement, said prosecutors lacked evidence to show that anyone else had been in the house that night.

"Where's the corroborating evidence?" he said. "I submit to you: zero. Were there fingerprints taken? Was there eyewitnesses?"

McFadden -- who declined reporters' requests for comment -- was also critical of a lack of photographic evidence from the scene. He said he would file an immediate appeal.

Ocean City Police Officer Nicole Thornes, who responded to Sima's 911 call, testified that photographs taken at the scene were submitted to the department's forensics unit. However, when prosecutors went to retrieve the photos to be used as evidence, "they were misplaced somehow," according to Todd.

Ocean City Police spokesman Mike Levy said "there could be any number of reasons for that," and any cause would not be clear unless an internal investigation was conducted.

www.delmarvanow.com

Guess The Picture

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Study the picture and try to determine what it represents.

"Back To School Supply" Drive For Accomack County Students

ACCOMAC --Today, students are facing a tremendous number of obstacles when it comes to completing their education. Not having the necessary school supplies is an obstacle in which we all can help.

The Salvation Army -- Accomack County Service Unit is conducting a "Back to School Supply" drive for students in Accomack County Public Schools during the month of August.

School supplies collected will be donated to each elementary and middle school classroom.

Persons wishing to help, may drop off school supplies at the Salvation Army office located at Calvary Bible Church, 22344 Front St. in Accomac on Thursdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Some of the items needed are: pencils (regular & colored), ink pens, pocket folders, scissors, spiral notebooks, glue (liquid & stick), pencil sharpeners, protractor rulers, notebook paper (wide ruled), compasses, pencil erasers, pencil pouch crayons (8 and 24 count), highlighters, backpacks, hand wipes, paper towels, subject dividers, graph paper and composition books

For a complete list of supplies by grade level, call 757-787-7995.

Monetary donations for this project may be mailed to Salvation Army at P.O. Box 342, Onley, Va. 23418. For additional information, call Earline Washington at 757-787-8321, Jesse Poulson at 757-87-1311, Ann Bonniwell at 757-442-9478 or Ann Dowden at 757-665-5094.

To learn more about other Accomack County Salvation Army projects, contact Julia Spickofsky at 757-302-9077 or Brenda Holden at 757-787-8590.

http://www.easternshorenews.com/

Worcester Co. Sheriff's Officer Lt. Michael McDermott Temporarily Stripped Of Police Powers

SNOW HILL -- Worcester County Sheriff's Office Lt. Michael McDermott has been temporarily stripped of his police powers while the Sheriff's Office investigated a September 2009 incident involving a service weapon, according to his lawyer. McDermott is the mayor of Pocomoke City and a Republican candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 38B.

Worcester County Sheriff Charles T. Martin confirmed Wednesday that McDermott's power to arrest was taken away July 22 and said the lieutenant is now on administrative office duty. An incident involving McDermott is being investigated, Martin said, but he declined to comment on the specifics of the case because it is a personnel matter.

"Those powers remain suspended until they are reinstated by me or the case is adjudicated," Martin said. "It's something that is going to be adjudicated within the system, and he knows the system as well as I do."

The investigation has nothing to do with McDermott's run for the legislature, Martin said. The sheriff, a Democrat, will step down at the end of his fourth term in November because of health reasons.

According to Michael Davey, McDermott's lawyer, the suspension stems from a 2009 incident concerning the location of a service weapon assigned to the lieutenant. The gun was in McDermott's office, Davey said.

"I'm guessing it should have been secured in a better location than his locked office," Davey said, adding that the situation leading to the charges against his client are still unclear. "We are assuming that is the basis for his suspension."

On July 27, the emergency suspension board -- comprised of members of the Sheriff's Office -- reviewed the charges and recommended that McDermott's powers be reinstated, Davey said. However, their decision is not binding, and final say in the matter will come down to Martin.

"At this point we are trying to get his police powers returned by the sheriff based on the recommendations of his own staff," Davey said. "We are trying to determine what the basis of this suspension was because we just don't know at this point."

www.delmarvanow.com

This Weekend At The MarVa Theater

Here's what everyone has been waiting for!!!

Friday and Saturday night August 6th and 7th

Showtime: 7 p.m. Admission: $5.00 Rated G

Be there for a chance to win a Toy Story 3 toy!

NASA Rocket Launch A Success

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. (WAVY) - The NASA Black Brant X sounding rocket successfully launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore Wednesday.

The rocket launched at 5:15 a.m. It's mission, according to NASA, was to "flight qualify the new production Nihka rocket motor, the third stage in the Black Brant X."

The next mission from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility is expected no ealier than August 23.

To view rocket launch from NASA click below.

NASA - NASA Sounding Rocket Launched August 4

www.wavy.com

Guess The Picture

Don't rush.

Study the picture and try to determine what it represents.
 

This one is easy

Anyone Interested In Buying Some Beer?

Burglars can't find beer buyers.

WEST POINT, Miss. (AP) - Three people have been arrested after they were found passed out after drinking 11 cases of beer allegedly stolen from a club.

Clay County Chief Deputy Eddie Scott tells the Commercial Dispatch that Barbara Dewberry; her son, David Hurst and her 17-year-old grandson, all of Mantee, are accused of burglarizing the County Line Club near West Point last week. Scott says cash and 20 cases of beer went missing.

Scott says dispatchers were tipped that people were trying to sell beer to neighbors shortly after the burglary.

He says deputies found the three passed out at one of their houses in Mantee. He says they apparently drank more than 11 cases of beer after they failed to find buyers.

He says the remaining beer and some cash were recovered.

www.wavy.com

Cases Heard In Accomack County Circuit Court

Accomack County Commonwealths Attorney Gary Agar reports the following cases were heard in Accomack County Circuit Court:

Daniel Mains, 24 of Norfolk, was found guilty of driving while being a habitual offender.

Carl Wingender, 40 of Belle Haven, was sentenced to two years imprisonment with all time suspended for credit card fraud and credit card theft.

Davon Davis, 21 of Painter, was found guilty of armed burglary, attempted robbery and possession of a sawed off shotgun.

Gil Byrd, 59 of Onancock, was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with all but 60 days suspended for felony shoplifting.

Brittany Edwards, 20 of Hallwood, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with all but four days suspended for burglary and grand larceny.

Rahiam Hope, 21 of Tasley, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with all but one year suspended for eluding and leaving the scene of an accident.

Lavar Crawford, 24 of Norfolk, was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment with all but 5 years suspended for eluding, reckless driving and driving without a license.

Joseph Davila, 22 of Onancock, was sentenced to 30 days imprisonment with all time suspended for writing bad checks.

Tony Linton, 48 of Sanford, had probation revoked for burglary and grand larceny.
www.shoredailynews.com

From the National Weather Service

SEVERE WEATHER ALERT: HEAT ADVISORY / SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR ALL DELMARVA COUNTIES UNTIL 1 AM THURSDAY. THUNDERSTORMS CROSSING THE PENINSULA WILL CONTAIN POTENTIALLY DAMAGING WINDS AND LIGHTNING. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ALSO ISSUED A HEAT ADVISORY FROM 11 AM TO 7 PM THURSDAY FOR DORCHESTER, SOMERSET, WICOMICO, WORCESTER, AND ACCOMACK COUNTIES; AND FROM 11 AM TO 10 PM THURSDAY FOR KENT, SUSSEX, QUEEN ANNE'S, TALBOT, AND CAROLINE COUNTIES...A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF HOT TEMPERATURES IS EXPECTED...THE HEAT INDEX IS EXPECTED TO REACH THE UPPER 90S TO LOWER 100S...THIS COMBINATION OF HEAT AND HUMIDITY WILL CREATE A SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE POSSIBLE...DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS, STAY IN AN AIR-CONDITIONED ROOM, AND STAY OUT OF THE SUN IF POSSIBLE.

www.wboc.com

Pocomoke Mayor Mike McDermott Stripped Of Police Powers In Worcester County

SNOW HILL — Worcester County Sheriff’s Lt. Michael McDermott was temporarily stripped of his police powers while the department investigates a Sept. 2009 incident involving a service weapon, according to his lawyer. McDermott is the mayor of Pocomoke City and a Republican candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 38B.

Worcester County Sheriff Charles T. Martin confirmed that McDermott’s power to arrest was taken away on July 22, and said McDermott is now on administrative office duties. An incident involving McDermott is being investigated, Martin said, but he declined to comment on the specifics of the case because it is a personnel matter.
“Those powers remain suspended until they are reinstated by me or the case is adjudicated,” Martin said. “It’s something that is going to be adjudicated within the system, and he knows the system as well as I do."
See continuing coverage in Thursday’s The Daily Times.
www.delmarvanow.com

Pocomoke; Armed Robbery

DATE & TIME: August 4, 2010
Case # 10-0124
LOCATION: Goose Creek Store (Stockton Rd. Pocomoke, MD)
Pizza Hut Restaurant (Linden Ave. Pocomoke, MD)
CRIME: Armed Robbery
VICTIM: Goose Creek Store - Pizza Hut Restaurant - Pocomoke City MD.

NARRATIVE:

On June 9, 2010 at approximately 2335 hours the store clerk of Goose Creek Store located 2322 Stockton Rd. Pocomoke was attempting to close the store for the
night, when she was confronted by three masked men who had just entered the store.

One of which was brandishing a handgun. All three were demanding money, while one was pointing a handgun at the clerk.

The suspects were able to get an undisclosed amount of currency and fled the
area on foot.

During the investigation, it was also learned that approximately 30 minutes prior to the robbery at Goose Creek Store, The manager at Pizza Hut Restaurant (located on Linden Ave Pocomoke, MD) contacted the Pocomoke City police Department, advising that three masked men had just attempted to rob him at gun point, while he was exiting and closing the business for the night.

The clerk advised he was able to enter his vehicle and drove away. Nothing was
taken by the suspects reference the Pizza Hut.

The Worcester County Bureau of Investigations was asked to investigate these two
Robberies in Pocomoke, City.

From the information obtained by the restaurant manager matched the same description, such as physical description, clothing as the given by the clerk at
Goose Creek.

During the investigation information was learned that the three suspects listed
below were involved in the robberies.

The Investigations are continuing.

The First Suspect: Dorian Rashawn Johnson, age 19 – (Pictured Below)
originally from Baltimore,MD and now residing in Pocomoke, MD.
(Arrested & held at the county jail on $250.000.00 Bond)

Second Suspect: Decarlo Marcus White, Age 19 from Pocomoke, MD. WANTED & believed to be still in the Pocomoke City area.

If located call Pocomoke City police 410-957-1600 or The Worcester County Bureau of Investigation (410) 352-3476

Third Suspect: Dexter Barthelamew Wise, Jr. Age 23 (From Laurel Delaware)
(Located)

Each have been charged with a total of 23 Criminal Offenses, to include Armed
Robbery, Assault First Degree, Reckless Endangerment, Conspiracy to commit
robbery.

"The Rollover"- From Sunday July 25, 2010- Crisfield Mud Hop

Crisfield Mud Hop

The entire day of the Crisfield Mud Hop was an exciting and challenging day for everyone. Some trucks never made it through the muddy trench (most getting stuck near the 100ft. marker) and required the cable for pulling them out.

Most of the trucks with the larger motors, bigger tires, etc. had very little difficulty with the attempt and gave all of us some scary moments by going side to side in the pit, racing to the other end. There had been some close calls during the day that made everyone ooh and aah.

But it wasn't until the Unlimited Class took their turn that we really got our scare for the day.

The driver was not injured in this accident.

Accomack County Circuit Court

Accomack Commonwealths Attorney Gary Agar reports the follow trials and sentencings in Accomack County Circuit Court:

Richard Copes, 31 of Withams, was found guilty of robbery, grand larceny and abduction.

Christopher Barcroft, 21 of Cheriton, was found guilty of 2 counts of burglary and 2 counts of grand larceny.

Elmore White, Jr., 44 of Mappsville, was found guilty of possession of cocaine and was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with all but 3 suspended.

Wilbert Watson, 47 of Bloxom, was found guilty of 3rd offense shoplifting.

Steve Kilgore, 24 of Exmore, was found guilty of armed burglary, attempted robbery, use of a sawed-off shotgun and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Douglas Bragg, 26 of Painter, was found guilty of possession of cocaine and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with all but 3 suspended.

Kerwin Mears, 25 of Accomac, was found guilty of 2nd offense possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, 2nd offense possession of marijuana.

Edward Trader, Jr., 28 of New Church, was found guilty of credit card larceny and obstruction of justice.

Charles Shields, 51 of Painter, was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment with all but 7 months suspended for distribution of cocaine.

Charles Miller, Sr., 61 of New Church, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with all but 5 years and 1 month suspended for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm while in possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

Martese Creekmore, 20 of New Church, was sentenced to a youthful offender program for robbery, grand larceny and abduction.

Dashon Scarborough, 25 of Atlantic, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with all but 6 years suspended for burglary, grand larceny and 2 counts of uttering.

Christopher Philips, 27 of Parksley, was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment with 7 years and 3 month to serve for grand larceny and 5 counts of obtaining money by false pretense.
www.shoredailynews.com

Guess The Picture

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Study the picture and try to determine what it represents.

Odd Looking Reptile Is Captured By Teen Fishing In Patapsco River

I knew this young fisherman would be back for the "big" catch!

In the end, it was chicken on a string that brought a wayward "alligator" out of the Patapsco River.

A two-hour search on Monday evening by Natural Resources Police failed to find a trace of the critter. But Eric Hammack Jr., the 16-year-old fisherman who first reported the reptile on Sunday, returned to the pond off Belle Grove Road in Patapsco Valley State Park on Tuesday. He had decided to try luring the gator with a hunk of chicken on a string.

"It was a chicken wing," said Hammack, who lives nearby in Pumphrey and fishes in the park often. He pulled the meat off the bones and tied a string and a fishing hook to them. Then he tied the string to a tree, and threw the chicken bones into the river.

"I fished for, like, an hour and a half," he said. Then he had to leave for a while. And when he came back, there was a 21/2-to-3-foot caiman on the line. Caimans are close relatives of alligators.

The critter was hooked. Hammack had come with a net and a container to put it in, but the animal by then was snagged under a fallen tree.

"He couldn't move," Hammack said, and he couldn't get to him.

So Hammack called the Department of Natural Resources Police and Anne Arundel County animal control officers, who were on the scene in about 45 minutes.

"They used the kind of pole they use to catch animals, and got it over his body and pulled him up," Hammack said. "Then they cut the line and put tape around his mouth, and they walked out."

The animal control folks "are looking for somebody to take control of it, either a zoo or someone who has the proper permits to take care of it," said Sgt. Art Windemuth, a spokesman for the DNR Police.

Possession of an alligator or a caiman is illegal in Maryland. It's also against the law to release any nonindigenous species into the wild.

Even so, DNR officials say they encounter one or two cases like this each year. Travelers acquire a caiman or a small alligator somewhere, bring it back to Maryland and then release it when it grows too big to handle.

"I'm sure he'll have a better location in a zoo, and get the three meals a day, or whatever they get fed," Windemuth said. "And he'll get protection and when winter comes, he'll be able to survive."

And Hammack can go back to regular fishing. Still, it was pretty exciting along the Patapsco for a while, he said. "It was fun. I could do it again."

www.baltimoresun.com

Oh, Good Grief!! MORE Palin DRAMA!!!

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston have called off their second engagement after he told her he may have fathered a baby with another woman.

Palin declined to identify the woman to People magazine, but a pregnant ex-girlfriend of Johnston has publicly denied he is the father.

Palin, the 19-year-old daughter of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, said Johnston told her about the baby on July 14, the day the couple announced their re-engagement. Bristol Palin and the 20-year-old Johnston have a toddler son together, Tripp.

Representatives for Palin and Johnston did not immediately return requests for comment Tuesday.

Palin had said she didn't have her mother's full support over reconnecting with Johnston. She said both her mother and father worried she would get hurt again.

Palin said the "final straw" was when Johnston told her he was going to Hollywood to see a hunting show, but actually went there to star in a music video mocking her family. In the video being shot this month in Los Angeles, Johnston will play a lover whose romance is thwarted by his girlfriend's disapproving mother. The project is based on the song "After Love" by singer-songwriter Brittani Senser.

"He's just obsessed with the limelight, and I got played," Palin told People.

Relations between the Palins and Johnston and his family have been strained since the couple broke off their first engagement soon after Tripp was born in December 2008. Bristol Palin later became a public advocate for abstinence.

The relationship later devolved into a messy tabloid drama as Johnston posed nude for Playgirl and trashed Sarah Palin in interviews. The sudden re-engagement marked a rapid turnaround for the couple that just months ago was fighting over child support and Johnston's criticism of her family.

Sarah Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, told People that she hopes her daughter will "move forward in life with her same forgiving, gracious, optimistic spirit, but from henceforth she'll know to trust but verify."
www.baltimoresun.com

Nandua High School Student Fatally Hurt in Car Crash

TASLEY — A rising Nandua High School senior was fatally injured Saturday night while attempting to cross U. S. Route 13 on foot.

Shaqeel Marquette Hellins, 15, of Daughterty Road, died after he was struck by a northbound 2009 Nissan truck driven by Carolyn Marie Morgan of Eden, Md., State Police spokeswoman Michelle Anaya said.

No charges were filed against Morgan.

Hellins apparently was crossing the highway from the west side after he got off work. The accident was reported at 9:23 p.m.

Nandua High School Vice Principal George Parker said Monday morning that students at the school for football practice were mourning the loss of Hellins, who Parker described as “a very genuinely sweet kid” who was known for being active in his church, Macedonia A.M.E. Church in Accomac.

Trooper J. J. Renas is the investigating officer.

http://www.delmarvanow.com/

Three Indicted For Painter Area Break-ins

ACCOMAC — A grand jury in Accomac Monday indicted 15 people, including three Painter men who police say have admitted involvement in a string of break-ins in that town in March and April.

James Phillips Johnson, 37, and Spencer Lee Sample, 53, both were indicted on eight counts of burlary and grand larceny related to a string of break-ins in March and April at two Painter residences and the Gravities Light clothing store.

Michael Lee Sample Jr., 25, was indicted on six counts related to break-ins at the residences.

An investigator with the Accomack County Sheriff’s Office interviewed the men in June, beginning with Johnson, who according to a criminal complaint filed in the case admitted his involvement and implicated the other two men.

Johnson told the investigator the three entered a home on Big Pine Road last spring and stole a television, lockboxes, a gun and some jewelry.

He said he and Spencer Sample also broke into the Gravities Light store in April, knocking out aair conditioner to enter through a window. They took items including pocketbooks and shirts, he said.

All three men also broke into a house on Hickman Street, Johnson said.

Some of the stolen items were later recovered in a wooded area on Indian Trail Road, according to the complaint.

Michael Lee Sample when interviewed the following day admitted involvement in the break-in at Big Pine Road but denied he participated in the one on Hickman Street.

Spencer Lee Sample admitted involvement in two of the incidents, but denied breaking into the Hickman Street residence a second time and also denied breaking into Gravitys Light.

Also indicted were:

Troy Wayne Beacham, 43, of Cheriton, maiming.

Storm Carter, 59, of Keller, grand larceny.

George G. Gaskill Jr., 45, of Onley, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

Keenan S. Goodwine, 18, of Atlantic, robbery and use of a firearm.

Leroy Handy, 63, of Bloxom, grand larceny.

Shawn Lamont Harmon, 24, of Onancock, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm while in possession of a controlled substance.

Wanda D. Stratton, no age or town given, seven counts welfare fraud.

Keith Leander Parker, 41, of Onley, grand larceny.

Victor Manuel Scott, 20, of Bloxom, carnal knowledge.

Devric Jamar Hinmon, 25, of Temperanceville, attempted burglary, felony property destruction, maliciously shooting at an occupied dwelling.

Jennie Net Tumblin, 58, of 25241 Estate Lane, Parksley, shooting at an occupied dwelling.

Joseph Lamont Washington, 33, of Exmore, grand larceny.

www.delmarvanow.com

The Other Side of the Arizona Law

I'm Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen. I want to explain SB 1070 which I
voted for and was just signed by Governor Jan Brewer.
Rancher Rob Krantz was murdered by the drug cartel on his ranch a month ago.
I participated in a senate hearing two weeks ago on the border violence,
here is just some of the highlights from those who testified.

The people who live within 60 to 80 miles of the Arizona/Mexico Border have
for years been terrorized and have pleaded for help to stop the daily
invasion of humans who cross their property . One Rancher testified that 300
to 1200 people a DAY come across his ranch vandalizing his property,
stealing his vehicles and property, cutting down his fences, and leaving
trash. In the last two years he has found 17 dead bodies and two Koran
bibles.

Another rancher testified that daily drugs are brought across his ranch in a
military operation. A point man with a machine gun goes in front, 1/2 mile
behind are the guards fully armed, 1/2 mile behind them are the drugs,
behind the drugs 1/2 mile are more guards. These people are violent and they
will kill anyone who gets in the way. This was not the only rancher we heard
that day that talked about the drug trains.

One man told of two illegal's who came upon his property one shot in the
back and the other in the arm by the drug runners who had forced them to
carry the drugs and then shot them. Daily they listen to gun fire during the
night it is not safe to leave his family alone on the ranch and they can't
leave the ranch for fear of nothing being left when they come back.

The border patrol is not on the border. They have set up 60 miles away with
check points that do nothing to stop the invasion. They are not allowed to
use force in stopping anyone who is entering. They run around chasing them,
if they get their hands on them then they can take them back across the
border.

Federal prisons have over 35% illegal's and 20% of Arizona prisons are
filled with illegal's. In the last few years 80% of our law enforcement that
have been killed or wounded have been by an illegal.

The majority of people coming now are people we need to be worried about.
The ranchers told us that they have seen a change in the people coming they
are not just those who are looking for work and a better life.

The Federal Government has refused for years to do anything to help the
border states. We have been over run and once they are here we have the
burden of funding state services that they use. Education cost have been
over a billion dollars. The healthcare cost billions of dollars. Our State
is broke, $3.5 billion deficit and we have many serious decisions to make.
One is that we do not have the money to care for any who are not here
legally. It has to stop.
The border can be secured. We have the technology we have the ability to
stop this invasion. We must know who is coming and they must come in an
organized manner legally so that we can assimilate them into our population
and protect the sovereignty of our country. We are a nation of laws. We have
a responsibility to protect our citizens and to protect the integrity of our
country and the government which we live under.

I would give amnesty today to many, but here is the problem, we dare not do
this until the Border is secure. It will do no good to forgive them because
thousands will come behind them and we will be over run to the point that
there will no longer be the United States of America but a North American
Union of open borders. I ask you what form of government will we live under?
How long will it be before we will be just like Mexico, Canada or any of the
other Central American or South American countries? We have already lost our
language, everything must be printed in Spanish also. We have already lost
our history it is no longer taught in our schools. And we have lost our
borders.

The leftist media has distorted what SB 1070 will do. It is not going to set
up a Nazi Germany. Are you kidding. The ACLU and the leftist courts will do
everything to protect those who are here illegally, but it was an effort to
try and stop illegals from setting up businesses, and employment, and
receiving state services and give the ability to local law enforcement when
there is probable cause like a traffic stop to determine if they are here
legally. Federal law is very clear if you are here on a visa you must have
your papers on you at all times. That is the law. In Arizona all you need to
show you are a legal citizen is a driver license, MVD identification card,
Native American Card, or a Military ID. This is what you need to vote, get a
hunting license, etc So nothing new has been added to this law. No one is
going to be stopped walking down the street etc.. The Socialists who are in
power in DC are angry because we dare try and do something and that
something the Socialists want us to do is just let them come. They want the
"Transformation" to continue.

Maybe it is too late to save America. Maybe we are not worthy of freedom
anymore. But as an elected official I must try to do what I can to protect
our Constitutional Republic. Living in America is not a right just because
you can walk across the border. Being an American is a responsibility and it
comes by respecting and upholding the Constitution the law of our land which
says what you must do to be a citizen of this country. Freedom is not free.

Hat Tip; Kack

Guess The Picture

Don't rush.

Study the picture and try to determine what it represents.

Cosmic Tsunami Tonight

Earth is bracing for a cosmic tsunami Tuesday night as tons of plasma from a massive solar flare head directly toward the planet.

The Sun's surface erupted early Sunday morning, shooting a wall of ionized atoms directly at Earth, scientists say. It is expected to create a geomagnetic storm and a spectacular light show -- and it could pose a threat to satellites in orbit, as well.

"This eruption is directed right at us and is expected to get here early in the day on Aug. 4," said Leon Golub of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "It's the first major Earth-directed eruption in quite some time."

The solar eruption, called a coronal mass ejection, was spotted by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which captures high-definition views of the sun at a variety of wavelengths. SDO was launched in February and peers deep into the layers of the sun, investigating the mysteries of its inner workings.

"We got a beautiful view of this eruption," Golub said. "And there might be more beautiful views to come if it triggers aurorae."

Views of aurorae are usually associated with Canada and Alaska, but even skywatchers in the northern U.S. mainland are being told they can look toward the north Tuesday and Wednesday evenings for rippling "curtains" of green and red light.

When a coronal mass ejection reaches Earth, solar particles stream down our planet's magnetic field lines toward the poles. In the process, the particles collide with atoms of nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere, which then glow, creating an effect similar to miniature neon signs.

The interaction of the solar particles with our planet's magnetic field has the potential to create geomagnetic storms, or disturbances, in Earth's magnetosphere. And while aurorae are normally visible only at high latitudes, they can light up the sky even at lower latitudes during a geomagnetic storm.

Fortunately for Earth-bound observers, the atmosphere filters out nearly all of the radiation from the solar blast. The flare shouldn't pose a health hazard, Golub told FoxNews.com.

"It's because of our atmosphere," he explained, "which absorbs the radiation, as well as the magnetic field of the Earth, which deflects any magnetic particles produced."

The radiation "almost never" makes it to ground, he noted, though pilots and passengers in airplanes may experience increased radiation levels akin to getting an X-ray.

The solar particles also could affect satellites, though scientists think that possibility is remote. Orbital Sciences Corp. believe a similar blast may have knocked its Galaxy 15 satellite permanently out of action this year.

This type of solar event has both government officials and satellite manufacturers worrying.

NASA scientists warned recently that high-energy electric pulses from the sun could cripple our electrical grid for years, causing billions in damages. In fact, the House is so concerned that the Energy and Commerce committee voted unanimously to approve a bill allocating $100 million to protect the energy grid from this rare but potentially devastating occurrence.

The sun's activity usually ebbs and flows on a fairly predictable cycle. Typically, a cycle lasts about 11 years, taking roughly 5.5 years to move from a solar minimum, a period of time when there are few sunspots, to peak at the solar maximum, during which sunspot activity is amplified.

The last solar maximum occurred in 2001. The latest minimum was particularly weak and long- lasting.

The most recent solar eruption is one of the first signs that the sun is waking up -- and heading toward another maximum.

www.foxnews.com

UPDATE: Vote Clears Way For GROUND ZERO Mosque

NEW YORK — A New York City panel today denied landmark status to a building near ground zero, freeing organizers to build an Islamic center and mosque there.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s decision allows organizers to transform the 152-year-old building into an Islamic community center blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 attacks.

National and New York politicians and the Anti-Defamation League have come out in recent weeks against plans for the mosque, saying it disrespects the memory of Sept. 11 victims. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has supported the mosque.

The commission voted 9-0 against granting landmark status to the building.

Commissioners said the building didn’t meet historic criteria to qualify as a landmark.

A leading Jewish oranization come out against the mosque last week. The Anti-Defamation League said "some legitimate questions have been raised" about the Cordoba Initiative's funding and possible ties with "groups whose ideologies stand in contradiction to our shared values.

www.timesdispatch.com

Our Deepest Sympathy to the Condyles Family

Joan Condyles could often be seen early in the morning walking around her Pocomoke City neighborhood, lost in the Christian music piping through her headphones.

The strolls were one of many parts of Condyles's modest and unassuming life, said Anne Copeland, a friend and neighbor, marked by a love for her family, her work with disabled children, her garden and a devotion to her church.
Condyles was killed in a car accident in southern Worcester County. She was 54.
"She was salt of the earth -- good simple people," said Copeland, who described her as patient and kind. "She lived simply and was not into fancy clothes or make up or anything like that. She was a good Christian woman."
Shortly after 11:30 a.m., a 2005 Chrysler Town and Country Condyles was traveling in on northbound Route 113 was clipped in a rear corner by a 1999 Dodge Stratus as it crossed the highway from the stop sign at the intersection of Betheden Church Road outside of Pocomoke, police said. The minivan swerved and went into the shoulder, rolling over several times before it came to rest upside down on the grass.
Condyles was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband Joe, who had been driving; children Curtis and Christina; daughter-in-law Rebecca; and 22-month-old grandson were taken to Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury. Rebecca Condyles, 25, is still in intensive care with head injuries, said Cpl. Greg Chatfield of the Maryland State Police Berlin Barrack. She had been sitting in the rear passenger seat behind her mother-in-law. Condyles's third child, Tim, was not in the car.
The three people in the Stratus declined treatment at the scene. Charges are pending for the 17-year-old woman driving the vehicle, and police are investigating whether she was using a cell phone at the time, Chatfield said.
Condyles was known for her participation in the Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Parish choir, her support of the Pocomoke High School Band and her work with in the Worcester County Public Schools.

Condyles has been a physical therapist with the school system since 1996, taking a full-time position based at Cedar Chapel Special School in 2003. She worked with physically disabled children to improve their abilities as well as helping to improve the health and fitness of Worcester's entire student body.

"Joan was a wonderful person who was passionate about helping children, especially those with disabilities," said Glen Hammerbacher, supervisor of special education. "As a physical therapist, she believed that every child could physically reach their highest potential. With a kind, encouraging, and no-nonsense nature, she helped turn doubts from her students into positive thinking and action. We will all miss her."
She also helped with the Special Olympics swim team at the Lower Shore YMCA, Copeland said.
When not at work, Condyles spent a considerable amount of time at church, attending Bible studies and singing alto in the choir, Copeland said. She enjoyed music of all types, often going to Salisbury's concerts in the park, and played the guitar -- a trait she passed along to her children who were active in the Pocomoke High School Band.
The family was very close, Copeland added, and spent a lot of time together.
"It was an old-fashioned type family," she said. "They would always get together and support each other."
News of the accident spread quickly around the Pocomoke area. As of last week, more than 275 people had joined a Facebook group in Condyles' memory.
"She is going to be missed thoughout all of Worcester County," Copeland said. "This is going to leave a big hole."

VIA: Delmarvanow.com

Summer Cinema Series Continues On Chincoteague

The Chincoteague Cultural Alliance

Invites you to its second annual Summer Cinema Series of free movies shown outdoors and on the big screen in the downtown waterfront Robert Reed Park.

The series continues this Thursday night - August 5 - with a showing of "The Sting" at 9 o'clock.

Bring your lawn chairs and blankets for an entertaining evening with family and friends. Old-time refreshments at old-fashioned prices will be available with proceeds going to its school scholarship fund.

Muslim Day at Six Flags 09/11 weekend

Muslim Day at Six Flags! Wow!
By Fred DeRuvo
Hey Kids, did you know that the folks at Six Flags are pulling out all the stops to create a Muslim Day at their parks? Wow!

That's right, tell Mom and Dad that you want to head over to the nearest Six Flags Amusement Park to enjoy Muslim Day and guess what? It's going to happen this year on 9/12 - wow, missed 9/11 by THAT much!






My first question is WHY would ANY amusement park feel the need to have special days that celebrate any particular religion? Moreover, though I see a Catholic Family day, I do not see anything labeled "Christian Day." That would probably be intolerant.

At any rate, if you missed it, the day of this year's Muslim Day is only one day AFTER the anniversary of the original 9/11 in which Muslim terrorists flew planes into the WTC buildings. Over 3,000 people were killed (SACRIFICED) by violent members of the Islamic faith. While it is not ON 9/11, it is being advertised as the weekend of 9/11.

So a country that was founded in biblical principles (not Qur'anic principles) now has companies pointedly offering special days for those within the Islamic faith who apparently need to be recognized for all that they gave to this country during its founding years and through to today.

There is something drastically wrong with the way the world is going and we all know where it's heading. Well, if you read and understand Scripture in its plain and normal (literal) sense.

The tragedy is that too many are doing their level best to placate individuals who hate this country. The Muslims who are NOT violent (like their jihadist counterparts) are not a threat to this country, but they are also not a DETERRENT to the more violent members of Islam. They simply either get out of the way, or remain in the shadows. The violent members of Islam are also not taken in by the attempts of companies like Six Flags to be placated.

If it isn't a demand for a mosque at Ground Zero, or now Muslim Day at Six Flags on the weekend of 9/11 anniversary, Muslims continue to push their agenda on the American people. They are not only pushing their agenda, but people and companies are bending over backwards in order to "respect" the Islamic faith. This means that employees of Six Flags are required to wear long pants instead of shorts, regardless of the temperature. Bare legs may be offensive to Muslims. I wonder if they shower in the dark.

For violent Islamic jihadists, there is no such thing as being placated. Will people ever learn? Will companies ever understand? Not until it is way too late.

Facts checked and confirmed. Also, for more information http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/07/six-flags-h...

VIA: ResisTNet.com 

Six Teens Drown In Louisiana River

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - Six teenagers who could not swim drowned in a northwest Louisiana river during a family outing, falling into deep water from the shallows where they were wading.

Officials planned to hold a news conference Tuesday to release more details about the deaths of the six, who drowned Monday in the Red River in an area where sand bars gave way to 20-foot depths. A seventh teen, a 14-year-old, was rescued.

Shreveport Assistant Fire Chief Fred Sanders said he believed the victims, ages 13 to 18, included three brothers from one family and a sister and two brothers from another.

"They were out here with some adults. But unfortunately, neither the children nor the adults could swim," he said.

Sanders said names may be released Tuesday, after the department is sure relatives have been notified.

The teens had started playing in a familiar area but ended up at a spot in the river where the bottom fell suddenly and that's where divers found the bodies, Sanders said.

Marilyn Robinson, a friend of the families, told The Times of Shreveport she watched helplessly as the victims went under. She said a large group of family and friends, including roughly 20 children, were out at the sandbar to barbecue and have a good time. They frequent the area and were familiar with the water, Robinson said.

"None of us could swim," she said. "They were yelling 'help me, help me. Somebody please help me.' It was nothing I could do but watch them drown one by one."

Sanders said he did not know whether one teen fell and pulled down others, or if they were trying to rescue each other.

It took more than three hours to find all the bodies, he said.

"It's devastating," Sanders said. "To my knowledge the city has never experienced an incident of this magnitude."

Only one life jacket was available, Caddo Parish sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Chadwick said.

Rescue crews were delayed a bit because the accident was reported as near the Jimmie Davis Bridge but was nearly a mile away, Sanders said.

The families were in a recreational area of the Red River that has sand bars, Sanders said. The park is a popular picnic and fishing area and some people do go wading.

www.wavy.com

" Sing Along With Mitch" Miller Dies

All those years after "follow the bouncing ball", Mitch Miller still brings a smile to my face. I was just a child (yes, I once was) and remember sitting on the living room floor next to my sister with my mom and dad seated behind us ready to sing along. You didn't have to know the words.......you got to read them.

We loved those songs. Some we already knew because music was very much in our childhood. My father bought his records and I am sure they are packed away still today. When Mitch Miller music went onto CD's I had to have them and if my own children would admit it they too know those songs. I made sure they did.

And if they ever have to listen to it now.....well..... they will.


NEW YORK – Mitch Miller, the goateed orchestra leader who asked Americans to "Sing Along With Mitch" on television and records and produced hits for Tony Bennett, Patti Page and other performers, has died at age 99.

His daughter, Margaret Miller Reuther, said Monday that Miller died Saturday in Lenox Hill Hospital after a short illness.

Miller was a key record executive at Columbia Records in the pre-rock 'n' roll era, making hits with singers Bennett, Page, Rosemary Clooney and Johnny Mathis. As a producer and arranger, Miller had misses, too, famously striking out on projects with Frank Sinatra and a young Aretha Franklin and in general scorning the rise of rock.

"Sing Along With Mitch" started as a series of records, then became a popular NBC show starting in early 1961. Miller's stiff-armed conducting style and signature goatee became famous. The TV show ranked in the top 20 for the 1961-62 season, and soon children everywhere were parodying Miller's stiff-armed conducting. An all-male chorus sang old standards, joined by a few female singers, most prominently Leslie Uggams. Viewers were invited to join in with lyrics superimposed on the screen and followed with a bouncing ball.

"He is an odd-looking man," New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson wrote in 1962. "His sharp beard, twinkling eyes, wrinkled forehead and mechanical beat make him look like a little puppet as he peers hopefully into the camera. By now most of us are more familiar with his tonsils than with those of our families."

Atkinson went on to say that as a musician, Miller was "first rate," praising "the clean tone of the singing, the clarity of the lyrics, the aptness of the tempos, the variety and the occasional delicacy of the instrumental accompaniment."

An accomplished oboist, Miller played in a number of orchestras early in his career, including one put together in 1934 by George Gershwin. "Gershwin was an unassuming guy," Miller told The New York Times in 1989. "I never heard him raise his voice."

Miller began in the recording business with Mercury Records in the late '40s, first on the classical side, later with popular music. He then went over to Columbia Records as head of its popular records division.

Among the stars whose hits he worked on were Clooney, Page, Bennett, Frankie Laine and Jo Stafford. His decision to have Mathis switch from jazz to lushly romantic ballads launched the singer as a superstar. Bennett credits Miller with helping him become a superstar.

"Mitch Miller put me on the map by producing some of my very first million-selling records, and he was a great friend and a magnificent musician," Bennett said in a statement.

Miller had a less rewarding collaboration with Sinatra, whose recording of the novelty song "Mama Will Bark," featuring dog imitations, was considered the nadir of the singer's career. Still, Miller became known for his distinctive arrangements, such as the use of a harpsichord on Clooney's megahit version of "Come On-a My House." He used dubbing of vocal tracks back when that was considered exotic.

"To me, the art of singing a pop song has always been to sing it very quietly," Miller said in the book "Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music."

"The microphone and the amplifier made the popular song what it is — an intimate one-on-one experience through electronics. It's not like opera or classical singing. The whole idea is to take a very small thing and make it big."

Miller and a chorus had a No. 1 hit in 1955 with "The Yellow Rose of Texas," and that led to his sing-along records a few years later.

The years of Miller's biggest successes were also the early years of rock 'n' roll, and many fans saw his old-fashioned arrangements of standards and folk favorites as an antidote to the noisy stuff the teens adored. As an executive at Columbia, Miller would be widely ridiculed for trying to turn a young Aretha Franklin into a showbiz diva in the tradition of Sophie Tucker. She left Columbia in the mid-1960s, signed with Atlantic Records and was soon transformed into the "Queen of Soul."

But Miller was not entirely unsympathetic to rock 'n' roll, or to the counterculture. In 1969, he attended a massive demonstration in Washington against the Vietnam War. In a 1955 essay in The New York Times magazine, he said the popularity of rhythm and blues, as he called it, with white teens was part of young people's "natural desire not to conform, a need to be rebellious."

He added: "There is a steady — and healthy — breaking down of color barriers in the United States; perhaps the rhythm-and-blues rage — I am only theorizing — is another expression of it."

"Miller has often been maligned as a maestro of 1950s schlock ... Yet Miller injected elements of rhythm and blues and country music, however diluted, into mainstream pop," Ken Emerson wrote in his book "Always Magic in the Air."

In the Martin Scorsese documentary on Bob Dylan, "No Direction Home," Miller acknowledged that he was dubious when famed producer John Hammond brought the nearly unknown Dylan to the staid Columbia label in the early '60s. "He was singing in, you know, this rough-edged voice," Miller said. "I will admit I didn't see the greatness of it." But he said he respected Hammond's track record in finding talent.

Miller's square reputation in the post-rock era brought his name and music to unexpected places. In 1993, one of his "Sing Along" records was used by the FBI to drive out the Branch Davidian cult from its Waco, Texas compound.

In recent years, Miller returned to his classical roots, appearing frequently as a guest conductor with symphony orchestras.

In 2000, he won a special Grammy Award for lifetime achievement.

Reuther said her father died of "just old age."

"He was absolutely himself up until the minute he got sick," she said. "He was truly blessed with a long and wonderful life."

Miller was born in 1911, in Rochester, N.Y., son of a Russian Jewish immigrant wrought-iron worker and a seamstress. He graduated from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester.

Reuther said there will be a memorial service for her father in the fall.

www.yahoo.com