47 Year Old Onley, Virginia Man On Trial For Murder Of Camp Counselor In 1991

A trial is underway for a 47-year-old Virginia man long-suspected by police of raping and killing a Poconos camp counselor nearly 20 years ago.

Jeffrey Plishka of Onley, Va., and the son of internationally-known Metropolitan Opera bass Paul Plishka is charged in the sexual assault and murder of 24-year-old Laura Ronning, a St. Petersburg, Fla., woman who was working Camp Cayuga in Wayne County when she was killed in 1991. Testimony in the trial started Monday in Wayne County Court in Honesdale.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case that stymied them for nearly two decades, but they say new DNA testing procedures enabled them to link blood on a gun taken from Plishka's home in 1991 to Ronning. At the time, Plishka lived on a farm in Wayne County near the camp where Ronning worked. His opera-singing father was born in neighboring Lackawanna County in Old Forge.

Ronning disappeared in July 1991 after setting out on her day off to hike at Tanners Falls not far from Camp Cayuga, a 350-acre facility that caters to kids between 5 and 15 from New York City and Philadelphia. When Ronning failed to return to camp that night, state police initiated a search. Her body was found the next morning. Police say Plishka participated in the search and made bizarre statements about her disappearance during the search.

Although prosecutors said DNA evidence found on a gun taken from Plishka's home links him to the crime, Plishka's attorney says the sample could have come from someone else.

Court officials expect the trial, which started with jury selection Aug. 9, to last about two more weeks.

http://www.mcall.com/

To refresh your memory here's an article written last year concerning the trial and charges..............

Last update Jul 31, 2009 @ 05:51 PM

HONESDALE, Pa. — A Virginia man has been arrested for the murder and sexual assault of a camp counselor 18 years ago. The arrest moves one of Wayne County’s biggest murder mysteries a step closer to closure.

The Pennsylvania State Police and the Wayne County District Attorney’s Office on Friday said Jeffrey J. Plishka, 46, of Onley, Va., was arrested for the July 27, 1991, murder of Laura Ronning at Tanner’s Falls in Wayne County.

On July 27, 1991, 24-year-old Laura Ronning, of St. Petersburg, Fla., decided to walk from Camp Cayuga, where she worked as a summer camp counselor, to enjoy some time at Tanner’s Falls, Dyberry Township. She never returned. Her partially clad body was discovered shortly before noon the next day on an embankment on the road leading into Tanner’s Falls. An autopsy determined that Ronning died as the result of a single gunshot wound to the head. She was also sexually assaulted. At the time, Plishka -- the son of renowned opera singer Paul Plishka -- lived near the scene of the murder and was well-acquainted with the Tanner’s Falls area.

Plishka has been a suspect since the early years of the investigation. The home where he lived in Lebanon Township was searched as early as 1995.

“The investigation of this brutal and senseless murder has been a priority of the State Police and the District Attorney’s Office since Laura’s body was discovered on July 28, 1991,” said Wayne County District Attorney Michael Lehutsky. “Everyone involved in this investigation has tried their best to do the right thing at every step over the last 18 years. That has sometimes meant waiting and sometimes meant moving forward. Those same considerations dictate that now is the right time to bring this case before the people of Wayne County so that they can finally pass judgment on it.”

An 11-page affidavit of probable cause led to Plishka’s arrest in Accomack County (Va.) on Thursday. Plishka is being held in the Accomack County (Va.) Jail awaiting extradition proceedings to face charges of first-, second- and third-degree murder, and attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.

According to the affidavit, Plishka was the only person to have seen Ronnning during the estimated time of her murder. He failed to mention seeing her until long after he joined the search for Ronning after she was reported missing. He also had a scratch under his left eye when he was scene in the area before joining the search, and Ronning appeared to have defensive wounds indicating she fought with her attacker.

Plishka has made contradictory and misleading statements regarding his whereabouts and activities and about his “sightings” of Ronning.

DNA tests indicate blood found on the barrel of a gun that uses the similar ammunition to that found near Ronnings body and found during a search of Plishka’s home could be from Ronning, but was not a conclusive match. The tests ruled out that it came from Plishka or his family.

During interviews earlier this year, Plishka told police he hoped they wouldn’t find any DNA evidence from him on Ronning. He also told police, “I hope I didn’t kill that girl.”

Lehutsky said that he would consult with the State Police, his staff and Laura Ronning’s family before he makes a final decision on whether or not to seek the death penalty for Plishka.

“Laura Ronning and her family have been on a long walk in search of justice since 1991,” said Lehutsky. “However, we appreciate that in many ways, today’s announcement is still just a beginning. We are committed to doing all we can to ensure a full, fair trial in the hopes of bringing justice home for Laura and her family.”

Plishka's father had a home in Lebanon Township at the time of the murder and currently has a home in Virginia. Paul Plishka has become known through his performances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where he still performs.

(I think the father has died)

www.newstribune.info

Virginia's Eastern Shore 11th Annual Motorcycle Rally this Weekend

The Virginia's Eastern Shore Annual Motorcycle Rally will be this weekend, August 20 & 21st in Parksley.

There will be bike events, kids events, a bike show, vendors, cold beer, bold drinks and good food.

The gates open on Friday, August 20th at 4:00 PM. There will be live music Friday night with the bands "Mid-Life Crisis" and "Russell Lynch & the Southern Drunken Republicans" playing.

VCW Wrestling will be live and on hand at the Motorcycle Rally. There will also be a European bike hospitality tent with free hot dogs, drinks and cigars for those who have European motorcycles sponsored by Paddock Automotive.

Daily admission is $10, weekend admission is $15, campers for the weekend is $10, tents are $5, tents for rent are $25 and children 10 and under get in free.

Please call (757)665-6977 or visit www.parksleyvfc.org for more information. The event is sponsored by the Parksley Volunteer Fire Company.
www.shoredailynews.com

Four Suspects Arrested For Drugs In Pocomoke City

POCOMOKE CITY — State troopers on patrol in a part of Pocomoke police say is a “high crime/open air drug market” arrested four men for possession of crack cocaine."

The state police officers “approached four loitering suspects,” charging documents state, and “they attempted to walk away when spoken to.” As police were interviewing the men and checking for weapons, police said, “one of the individuals pushed the trooper’s hand away, which led to a full search.” Police said they found crack cocaine “on him and in the immediate area of the other suspects.”

Arrested were James Edward Douglas, 20, of Bank Street in Pocomoke City; Mar-Tel L. Blake, 20; Jarren K. Hinmon, 21; and David D. Dickerson, 19. All four men were charged with crack cocaine possession, police said, and Hinmon also had an outstanding bench warrant for his arrest, issued in May and related to charges of armed robbery and assault. Hinmon was held on $50,000 bond. Court records show Douglas was also charged with malicious destruction of property.

www.delmarvanow.com

O'Malley swears in Judge Michele Hotten

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Gov. Martin O'Malley has sworn in Maryland's first African-American woman appellate judge.

Judge Michele Hotten is now a member of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, the state's intermediate appellate court.

She will represent the court's Fourth Appellate Circuit for Prince George's County.

Hotten fills a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge James Salmon.

She has been an associate judge for Prince George's County Circuit Court for 15 years.

www.wtop.com

Mother Arrested For Posting Picture Of Baby With Bong On Facebook

KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, Fla. (AP) - A central Florida mom who thought it would be funny to post a picture of her baby with a bong on her Facebook page has been arrested.

Nineteen-year-old Rachel Stieringer was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. A Texas resident called Florida's abuse hot line after seeing the picture online of the baby posing with his face in the bong.

Two weeks ago the mom had defended her actions , claiming there were no drugs or tobacco in the bowl, and her child was not breathing in smoke.

But child protection officers from the Florida Department of Children and Families launched an inquiry into her actions.

"We are alarmed that any parent would take pictures of their child next to what is obviously drug paraphernalia," said spokesman John Harrell.

The mother had spoken via the social networking site Facebook, and insisting the pictures were a joke.

She said: "If u look at the picture u can see that there is no bowl in the TABACCO pipe.

"And i took a pic to show one (expletive) person and it was a mistake. I would never ever ever let him get high."

The mom said that as part of the investigation she was ordered to take a drugs test, and her son was being checked by doctors.

She added: "Do you realize how serious this is? i can go to jail and he can be taken away from me. WHY would you do something so (expletive) stupid?

"i know what i did was stupid but i would NEVER put by baby in harm. im so nice to everyone idk (I don't know) why you would do this to me."

Clay County Sheriff's deputies say Stieringer turned herself in July 29 and was released on $502 bond.

A spokesman for the Department of Children and Families said Monday the baby had no injuries and drug tests came back negative.

A message could not be left at Stieringer's home Tuesday morning. The phone number was busy on several attempts.

(The grandparents are now caring for the child.)

www.myfoxorlando.com

Mother Of Toddlers Suffocated Sons Before Driving Car Into River

ORANGEBURG, S.C. - A South Carolina mother who claimed her children drowned when their car careened into a river was charged with murder Tuesday after authorities said she confessed to suffocating the two toddlers and then faking the accident.

Sheriff Larry Williams said 29-year-old Shaquan Duley told investigators she was distraught about money troubles and unemployment and that she killed her children by putting her hand over their mouths after a dispute with her own mother. He says Duley then strapped the children into her car and drove it into a river Monday morning.
"This was a young lady that was in trouble, in trouble in more ways than she realized," Williams said. "She was in trouble and she didn't know where to turn."
Williams said the responsibilities of being a mother were simply too much for Duley, who didn't show signs of remorse during an overnight interview with authorities.
Two-year-old Devean C. Duley and 18-month-old Ja'van T. Duley were dead in their child seats by the time divers got to the car Monday near a rural boat landing on the North Edisto River in Orangeburg, some 35 miles south of Columbia, the state capital.
The Highway Patrol was notified around 6:15 a.m. Monday that a woman needed help getting her children out of a car. Duley, who did not have a cell phone, had walked some distance down the country road by the boat landing and flagged down a passing motorist to call the Highway Patrol.
Duley was to be arraigned later Wednesday.

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

www.startribune.com

Algae Bloom In Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Waters

NORFOLK (AP) -- Huge ribbons of algae blooms have appeared in lower Chesapeake Bay, the result of a scorching summer and recent rains.

The dark veins of algae have been reported from Mathews County south to Norfolk, as well as other areas of the bay. The cranberry-colored algae have lined the beaches of Newport News and seeped into deeper waters, where crabbers work.

Environmentalists view algae blooms as a sign of a Chesapeake Bay in peril.

Christy Everett of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said last week the blooms are yet another sign that the bay's water quality is "out of balance."

The foundation provided to The Associated Press aerial photographs of the blooms taken July 31.

An excessive amount of nutrients washed into the bay by heavy rains help create dense patches of the cranberry-colored algae. Heat hastens the process. As the water cools, the algae decomposes and consumes oxygen while sinking to the sea floor.

If sufficiently dense, algae will remove all the oxygen and leave the water a dead zone.

While not harmful to people, dead zones can kill baby oysters, crabs, underwater grasses and schools of fish.

Margaret Mulholland, an oceanography professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, studies how algae blooms are formed and their environmental effects. She said it is not known if algae blooms have grown more common in the bay.

Species that can avoid the oxygen-depleting algae do, she said.

www.wvec.com

Baltimore Grand Prix Scheduled For Labor Day Weekend 2011

The first Baltimore Grand Prix will be run over Labor Day next year instead of Aug. 5-7, the city and Baltimore Racing Development announced today.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and BRD announced the move today, and also said they will make a series of improvements to the track layout to allow for more fan attractions.

"We are very excited to be able to schedule the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix for the weekend that we originally wanted," Jay Davidson, president of the Baltimore Grand Prix and Baltimore Racing Development, said in a release today. "We have always planned to market the Baltimore Grand Prix as a destination event, and we are expecting race fans from throughout the region and around the world to travel to the race. Having the Grand Prix on Labor Day weekend makes it even easier for fans to make travel plans to attend this action-packed 'three day festival of speed' in downtown Baltimore."

The firm said it worked closely with the city and the IZOD IndyCar Series in order to make the Labor Day weekend dates possible. "I'm very pleased that BRD and IndyCar are now able to accommodate the city's preferred date for the Baltimore Grand Prix," Rawlings-Blake said in a release. "Labor Day Weekend will provide another full day for racing fans to enjoy all that Baltimore has to offer and with any luck, slightly cooler temperatures."

The new design of the course includes moving a pit lane from Russell Street on the west side of Oriole Park to the east side of the complex in the shadows of the historic B&O Warehouse.

With the new pit location, the race track will now circle Oriole Park and open up fan opportunities. Two new turns have been added on Conway Street to slow the cars as they approach pit lane. The new layout also features reconfigured turns 10 and 11, as the previous tight turns become fast, sweeping "S" turns back onto Pratt Street. The first four turns remain unchanged.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/

Govenor's Panel To Help Implement Health Care Law

RICHMOND

Gov. Bob McDonnell, an outspoken critic of the federal health care overhaul passed by Congress, has appointed an advisory council to develop strategies for implementing it.

McDonnell on Monday named the 24 members of his Virginia Health Reform Initiative Advisory Council, assembling a group that includes hospital and insurance executives, business leaders, state officials and legislators from both parties. The group will help chart a plan for implementing the complex federal health care overhaul even as Virginia wages a court battle to overturn a key provision of the new law.

The panel will hold its first meetings this weekend in Roanoke.

Virginia has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a provision of the health care act that will require individuals to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the government. But the court fight could drag on for years. In the meantime, McDonnell said, the health care bill "is the law of the land."

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced Monday that Virginia will get a $1 million federal grant to improve its process for reviewing health insurance premium filings. The state's Bureau of Insurance will conduct targeted audits of insurers with the largest market share or those requesting the largest premium increases to determine whether changes are needed in the existing rate review process. The grant also will pay for technology upgrades.

McDonnell called the federal law "dizzying" and said the state has work to do to prepare for its full implementation in 2014. But the governor also wants the panel to look beyond the federal law and devise state approaches to improving health care services, reducing costs and addressing work force shortage issues.

"I'm hoping that this can be a model that other states can use..." McDonnell said.

One of the council's major tasks will be developing recommendations to contain the rapidly escalating costs of Medicaid, the state and federal program that serves the poor, elderly and disabled. McDonnell said the program has become the second-fastest growing expenditure in the Virginia budget, and spending likely will increase because of new eligibility standards in the federal law.

The group is expected to deliver initial recommendations to McDonnell by December. Secretary of Health and Human Resources Bill Hazel will chair the council.

Other members include Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, a pharmacist and senior member of the House Appropriations Committee; Jim Carlson, the chairman and chief executive officer of Amerigroup, the Virginia Beach-based managed care company; and Chuck Hall, the executive director of the Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board.

Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania County, also a council member, said he hopes the group can craft consensus solutions and "rise above the partisan fray" that clouded debate over the federal health care law.

"This gives us an opportunity in Virginia to take all that partisanship and put it in the closet, lay it aside and come together and work on a common issue that affects all Virginians," Houck said.

www.hamptonroads.com

Days Of 'Legal Pot' Could Be Few In Baltimore County

The Peace of Sunshine store off the main drag in Catonsville has lately been making more than half its weekly sales in K2, a "legal pot" known also as "spice." But owner Lawrence J. Zwick says he has sold his last bag. As soon as he heard Monday morning that Baltimore County might make it a crime to sell the smokable leaf, he says, he packed up his inventory of two boxes and shipped it back to the distributor.

"Oh, I'm going to miss it," said Zwick, a 44-year-old retired Coast Guard warrant officer who for four years has owned the the store specializing in T-shirts, jewelry, incense and hookahs. "But I'd rather run a legitimate business than not running a business at all."

Minutes before, Kevin Kamenetz, a member of the County Council, had wrapped up a news conference across the street announcing his plans to introduce a bill next month making it illegal to sell, distribute, possess, buy or use K2, or any product with chemical compounds that are known to mimic the effects of marijuana. The bill proposes penalties of $500 fine, 60 days in jail or both.

The potpourri-like product appeared in the United States about a year ago, and has already been banned in several states in the Midwest and across Europe. Ocean City Police Chief Bernadette A. DiPino says local shops there have been cooperating with her written request in June to voluntarily take K2 off the shelves.

The product sells in plastic bags for about $20 a gram. That's nearly six times the price of marijuana, according to Agent Donny Moses of the Baltimore Police Department.

Kamenetz, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for county executive, said K2 "has become an issue for parents in this area. … If the state is not going to act, if the federal government won't act, local government" has to step in, he said, to "protect our kids and help our parents do a better job."

A former Baltimore prosecutor, Kamenetz says he got wind of the issue recently when a Catonsville newspaper did a story about K2 being sold in the area. He couldn't say how widespread the product is in stores in the county.

Susan Flaherty of Catonsville was troubled about the newspaper article that focused on Zwick's store, especially because she has two teenage sons.

"For them to be able to go into a local shop and buy this, it's ridiculous," said Flaherty. She said as far as she knows, her sons have not tried K2 — she said they hadn't heard of it until she spoke to them to warn them away from the stuff.

Zwick, who has two children of his own, says he's been selling K2 since January, and it's gotten up to $4,000 and $5,000 a week in sales. He said the customers are from "all age ranges," and he never sells to anyone under 18.

Kamenetz emphasizes reported side effects, including racing heartbeat, high blood pressure, nausea, vomiting and headaches. He called K2 a "fairly dangerous drug."

Jessica Wehrman, a spokesman for the American Association of Poison Centers, says the country's 60 poison centers have received 1,018 calls about K2 this year. As a comparison, in 2008, the most recent year for which complete statistics are available, Wehrman says over-the-counter and prescription painkillers accounted for more than 331,000 calls.

Dr. Bruce Anderson, operations director at the Maryland Poison Center, says the center has received few calls about K2. Anderson said he was not dismissing the potential danger of K2, but he said many of the reports about the ill effects of K2 are "consistent with anxiety" reactions that could have more to do with user's psychological state than the substance itself. It's hard to know, he says, because it's hard to know what the ingredients are.

"It's not even regulated at all," said Anderson. "Who knows what it is?"

www.baltimoresun.com

Two Men Rescued Near Hog Island By Coast Guard

The Coast Guard rescued two men from a sail boat Monday morning after they ran aground near Hog Island.

The Coast Guard received a call at approximately 8 p.m. Sunday from a crewmember aboard the sailing vessel Poco Plus Five reporting that the vessel was aground and taking on water.

A Coast Guard Station Wachapreague rescue boat crew responded and arrived on scene within half an hour. The rescue boat crew could not get within a quarter mile of the sailing vessel because of surf conditions.

An HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., arrived on scene and lowered a rescue swimmer who assisted in hoisting the two men.

The men were then transported to Accomack County Airport, Va.
,
There were no reports of injuries.


www.shoredailynews.com

Bodies Of Two Toddlers Found In Submerged Car

By SEANNA ADCOX, Associated Press ORANGEBURG, S.C. – After the bodies of two toddlers were pulled Monday from a car submerged in a South Carolina river, their mother was arrested and authorities were investigating how it happened — and whether it was an accident.

The two were recovered from the North Edisto River after the car was found near a rural boat landing, Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams said.

County Coroner Samuetta Marshall identified them as 18-month-old Ja'van T. Duley and 2-year-old Devean C. Duley, both of Orangeburg. She would not speculate on a cause of death until autopsies are completed Tuesday.

The boys' mother, whose name was not immediately released, was being held Monday on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, Williams said.

He said the Highway Patrol was notified about 6:15 a.m. Monday about an accident and a woman who needed help getting her children out of the car.

The children were still strapped in their child seats when divers found them and recovered their bodies about 45 minutes after being called to the scene.

"Early in the investigation, the state patrol felt there was not enough indicators to substantiate that there was an automobile accident," Williams said. "We are looking into all possibilities as to what happened."

The woman, who did not have a cell phone, had walked some distance down the country road by the boat landing and flagged down a passing motorist to call the Highway Patrol.

"She showed some emotion, but I can't say she was overly distraught," the sheriff said. "Through her statements, there are some things we think are not believable."

Williams said authorities were attempting to contact the children's father, who did not live with the family.

The sheriff said investigators are considering how a traffic accident could have happened at the boat ramp, about 20 yards upstream from a main road that crosses the slow-moving river. A mobile home, a house and mechanic's shop are a short distance away.

Local residents said they were suspicious.

Shakeyia Baxter said the main road was heavily traveled in the mornings and would have been especially busy on Monday — the first day of school. Baxter stopped by the boat ramp, which is littered with empty beer cases and discarded soda bottles, on her way home from work at a McDonald's to tuck silk flowers into a sign that warns of high levels of mercury in the fish.

"My heart goes out to them," said Baxter, a 30-year-old mother of two. "I would have been doing everything I could to get those kids out of that car seat."

Orangeburg is about 35 miles south of Columbia, the state capital.

The incident was reminiscent of the deaths of two other toddlers in South Carolina.

In 1994, in a case that made headlines worldwide, Susan Smith left her 3-year-old and 14-month-old sons strapped in their car seats as she rolled her car into a lake in Union County in the northwest part of the state.

She was convicted in their deaths and is serving a life prison term.

www.yahoo.com

Off-road Truck Racing Accident In Mojave Desert - 8 Killed

LUCERNE VALLEY, Calif. — Zachary Freeman loved to fish, dirt bike and camp — but most of all, he loved to watch off-road truck racing in the vast Mojave Desert northeast of Los Angeles.

That love would cost the 24-year-old pipe welder and seven other off-road enthusiasts their lives when a truck competing in the annual California 200 careened off the sand track Saturday and into the crowd, instantly killing Freeman and his best friend.

On Sunday, his girlfriend and his stepfather mourned at a simple cross-and-stone memorial set in the thick sand and waited in the blistering heat for a locksmith to arrive to change the ignition lock in Freeman's truck so they could take it home. His keys had been lost in the chaos; the coroner found only a lighter in his pocket.

"I'm just in shock. It's not real yet, it hasn't soaked in," said Randall Peterson, his grieving stepfather.

Freeman's girlfriend, Nicky Carmikle, sobbed as she knelt down and placed her boyfriend's camouflage baseball hat in the center of the stone circle surrounding the wooden cross.

Carmikle recalled how she had stepped away from the race for a few minutes to use the bathroom and returned to find the truck upside down, bodies everywhere and people screaming in panic.

"His shoes are still over there. I can't even look," she said, gesturing to a bag full of abandoned clothing, shoes and blankets, some stained with blood. "It just isn't fair, it isn't right."

Those who witnessed the accident said the crowd pressed close to the track and could almost touch the trucks as they hurtled and bounced over the desert sand.

Shortly after the race began, one driver took a jump at high speed, hit his brakes on landing and rolled his truck sideways into spectators, sending bodies flying on a section of track that had no guardrails or anything else to keep the crowd back. Eight people were killed and 12 were injured. "You could touch it if you wanted to. It's part of the excitement," Carmikle said. "There's always that risk factor, but you just don't expect that it will happen to you."

California Highway Patrol Officer Joaquin Zubieta said Brett M. Sloppy, 28, of San Marcos, was behind the wheel of the truck involved in the crash. Zubieta said alcohol was not a factor in the crash and there were no plans to arrest Sloppy, who the CHP estimates was going 45 to 50 mph at the time of the crash. Zubieta said state vehicle codes don't apply because the race was a sanctioned event held with the approval of the federal Bureau of Land Management, which owns the land used for the race.

The BLM issued a statement saying safety was the responsibility of the race organizer, South El Monte-based Mojave Desert Racing. MDR's permit required racers to travel 15 mph or less when they were within 50 feet of fans, and allowed no more than 300 spectators for the event, the agency said.

BLM spokesman David Briery said the agency would cooperate with the CHP's investigation.

"We followed all our rules," he said by phone. "We don't think we did anything wrong."

Phone and e-mail messages left for MDR were not immediately returned.

Tens of thousands of people were spread out along the 50-mile track, but the site of the crash, a stretch known as the "rockpile," is one of the most popular areas to gather because the trucks become airborne, witnesses said. Some said they got within 4 feet of the unmarked track, watching trucks fly over a series of jumps. Several jagged rocks jut from the rutted dirt track at the bottom of the hill.

The driver "hit the rock and just lost control and tumbled," said Matt March, 24, of Wildomar, who was standing next to the jump. "Bodies went everywhere."

Derek Cox, a friend of victim Andrew Therrien, told KABC-TV in Los Angeles that Theirren, 22, pushed children out of the way as the truck barreled toward them. He was killed in the accident.

"I owe my son's life, as well as many others. They were inches away from him and he saved their lives," Cox said of the Riverside resident. "He's a hero in my book."

March said he and other fans lifted the truck, which came to rest with its oversized wheels pointing toward the sky, and found four people lying unconscious underneath.

It took rescue vehicles and helicopters more than half an hour to reach the remote location, accessible only by a rutted dirt road. Spectators said off-duty police and firefighters in the crowd joined paramedics hired by the race organizer to help the injured and place blankets over the dead.

Six people died at the scene and two others died after being taken to a hospital, authorities said. Most of the 12 injured people were airlifted to hospitals.

Paramedics brought six people — five adults and a child — to Loma Linda University Medical Center, spokesman Herbert Atienza said Sunday. He had no information on their condition.
Officials said Sloppy, the driver, wasn't hurt. It was not clear why he lost control of the truck, a white modified Ford Ranger with "Misery Motorsports" painted on the doors.

A Facebook page that appeared to belong to Sloppy and included a picture of his truck was updated Sunday with a note: "Soo incredibly lost and devistated my thoughts and prayers go out to all the familys and friends involved.. Thank you too all my friends for sticking with me even thru these tragic times I love you all."

Nearly 40 friends responded with messages of support by Sunday afternoon.

The race is part of a series held in the Mojave Desert's Soggy Dry Lake Bed, about an hour's drive from the nearest city, Lucerne Valley.

The course winds through empty desert dotted only with rocky outcroppings and desert shrubs. Several families were still camping Sunday on a dried-up lake bed below the crash site. Buggies and dirtbikes zoomed back and forth, kicking up dust that could be seen for miles.

There were no barriers at the site of the crash. Fans said these races rarely have any kind of safety guards.

"That's desert racing for you," said fan John Payne, of Anaheim. "You're at your own risk out here. You are in the middle off the desert. People were way too close and they should have known. You can't really hold anyone at fault. It's just a horrible, horrible accident."

Briery said he didn't know if the BLM would conduct an internal investigation, and he added it was too early to say if the agency would change its permit rules to ensure stricter enforcement of safety requirements.

The BLM is required by Congress to make public lands accessible to reasonable requests, and the area used Saturday is one of the few available to off-road enthusiasts, he said.

The CHP does not normally investigate crashes at organized events, but took the lead on this probe because of its scope.

Aside from Freeman and Therrin, those killed were Brian Wolfin, 27, Anthony Sanchez, 23, and Aaron Farkas, 25, all of Escondido; Danica Frantzich, 20, of Las Vegas; and Dustin Malson, 24, of Ventura. The name of the eighth victim, a 34-year-old man from Spring Valley, had not been released by Sunday night.
AP Photos
www.google.com

Hundreds Kiss In NYC In Honor Of The End Of WWII

NEW YORK -- Hundreds of couples donned sailor hats and nurse's caps and smooched in Times Square on Saturday to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The couples were re-enacting the famous Life magazine photograph of a nurse being passionately kissed by a sailor at the end of the war. A 26-foot statue replicating the original photo was also erected for the celebration.

World War II veterans and their children on hand for the kiss said they want today's generation to remember the sacrifices of those who fought in the war.

"I want to keep that day alive," said Rocco Moretto, 86, a retired infantry staff sergeant now living in Queens.

Moretto, who stormed Omaha Beach on D-Day and arrived in Times Square in his uniform, kissed his friend Margie Zwick, who served in the Women's Army Corps.

"It was terrific," he said of the kiss. "It's been a long time coming."

The Keep the Spirit of '45 Alive! grass roots campaign was holding a series of events around the country marking the day.

Edith Shain, who said she was the nurse in the original photo, died in June at the age of 91.

www.fresnobee.com

Rap Concert At VCU Raises Some Eyebrows

Richmond, Va. --

Rap artist Asher Roth loves college, but it's the reasons why that are causing controversy ahead of his performance at Virginia Commonwealth University's Welcome Week for incoming freshmen.

Along with fellow hip-hop artist B.o.B., Roth -- whose hit single "I Love College" was all the rage last year -- is set to perform at a Back to School Jam concert Aug. 28 at the Siegel Center.

In keeping with the themes of Roth's other work, "I Love College" extols certain nonacademic portions of the collegiate experience, such as excessive beer consumption, marijuana use and casual sex. At one point, the song devolves into the chanting of the words "chug" and "freshmen."

Event price tag: $100,000, to be paid for through student activity fees from Monroe Park Campus students.

"Having this artist come to the campus normalizes inappropriate, illegal and unhealthy behaviors," said Denise D. Miller, president for the Regional Drug Free Alliance and chairwoman for the Parents Council of Commonwealth Parenting.

"It also lowers the expectations for the students," she said, adding that she was disappointed to see the school spend so much on a performer who condones that behavior.

The performers were chosen by the school's Programming Commission, which consists of 12 student executives from various student activity committees, according to VCU public-relations specialist Tom Gresham.

Gresham added that university staff "provides logistics-related parameters that could preclude a performance, but the decision is the students.'" Staff members who worked with the commission could not immediately be reached.

Karen Khoury of New Jersey, mother of incoming freshman Ally Khoury, 18, was not pleased about the Roth performance.

"I think the message that the college is sending by allowing this performer is one of 'we condone this behavior, but just don't let us catch you doing it,'" she said. "I certainly don't consider myself a prudish parent. But had I seen this earlier, I probably would have written some sort of a complaint."

The "I Love College" video opens with a disoriented Roth awakening amid scantily clad females. It then revisits the frat party the night before, the highlights of which include beer pong, beer funneling, mattress tossing and drawing on and shaving the heads of passed-out partygoers.

VCU has held the Back to School Jam since 2002. The event usually consists of a dance party, and the cost the past three years has been between $15,000 and $23,000.

This is only the second time the event has included a concert; the other was in 2006, when rapper T.I. performed at a cost of $116,000. The following year, T.I., or Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., was arrested and later served 10 months in prison on federal weapons charges.

Adele McClure, president of the Monroe Park Student Government Association, said the programming commission settled on B.o.B. and Roth after soliciting input from students via Twitter, Facebook and surveying.

McClure said she understands the concerns of some parents and administrators but that on a daily basis, students listen to worse music than what Roth puts out.

She said she considered asking Roth not to perform "I Love College" but decided against it since "College" is the only song many students know. "If he was singing any other song, people would be like, 'Who is this guy?'"

Hannah Badawy, a senior at VCU, said she had no serious objections.

"Honestly, I think it's fine. He's an artist. He can sing about whatever he wants, and people should be smart enough not to do all of that and let it get to their grades," she said. "You should know not to do that every single day."

Badawy added: "On the weekends, it's fine."

www.timesdispatch.com

INMATE RELEASED IN ERROR: STILL MISSING

Hmmm....a photo of the inmate would have been nice SINCE HE'S BEEN MISSING SINCE AUGUST 12th!!


August 15, 2010

SALISBURY --- As of late Sunday evening, police are still on the lookout for an inmate released in error from the Wicomico County Detention Center.

Wicomico County spokesman James Fineran, said Trevor Johnson was let out in error around 6:30 p.m. August 12.

He was being held for a narcotics charge and probation violations on $200,000 bond.

The inmate who was intended to have been released was Tyrai Johnson, for whom family members had posted $50,000 bond.

Fineran said the mix up was a procedural error.

Contacted at his home Sunday evening, Wicomico County Detention Center director George Kaloroumakis said the inmate was probably still unlocated.

"Under these circumstances, we’ve had some luck before. Someone talks to them and says it will work out best for them if they turn themselves in," Kaloroumakis said. "Maybe he'll come back to us on his own, but I haven’t heard anything yet. I like to think if he was located I would be the first to know."

www.delmarvanow.com

Mechanicsville, Md. Online 'sextortion' of teens on the rise

Every young girl in America needs to be aware of these activity's it's happening every day. If you do not want a nude picture of yourself plastered all over the internet then don't send ANYONE nude or semi-nude picture. All it takes is one ticked-off boyfriend, I know that young lovers think they will be together always and forever but that seldom happens, very seldom. 


So to all the young ladies out there please keep your clothes on and never, ever send a nude photo to anyone, it may seem fun and exciting at the time but it could very well ruin your life, maybe not at the time, maybe not this year, but picture to yourself 10 years from now applying for a job and the new employer googles your name and viola ... up pops that nude photo you text your first love when you were 18 years old, or better yet, 20 years from now you're washing dishes for the family and your little-one is at the computer and says "mommy is this you?" Think about it, it happens every day, ask Miss America.

The nightmare began with a party: three teenage girls with a webcam, visiting an Internet chatroom and yielding to requests to flash their breasts. A week later, one of the girls, a 17-year-old from Indiana, started getting threatening e-mails.

A stranger said he had captured her image on the webcam and would post the pictures to her MySpace friends unless she posed for more explicit pictures and videos for him. On at least two occasions, the teen did what her blackmailer demanded. Finally, police and federal authorities became involved and indicted a 19-year-old Maryland man in June on charges of sexual exploitation.

Federal prosecutors and child safety advocates say they're seeing an upswing in such cases of online sexual extortion. They say teens who text nude cell phone photos of themselves or show off their bodies on the Internet are being contacted by pornographers who threaten to expose their behavior to friends and family unless they pose for more explicit porn, creating a vicious cycle of exploitation.
One federal affidavit includes a special term for the crime: "sextortion."

No one currently tracks the numbers of cases involving online sexual extortion in state and federal courts, but prosecutors and others point toward several recent high-profile examples victimizing teens in a dozen states:

• In Alabama, Jonathan Vance, 24, of Auburn was sentenced to 18 years in prison in April after he admitted sending threatening e-mails on Facebook and MySpace extorting nude photos from more than 50 young women in Alabama, Pennsylvania and Missouri.

• In Wisconsin, Anthony Stancl, 18, received 15 years in prison in February after prosecutors said he posed as a girl on Facebook to trick male high school classmates into sending him nude cell phone photos, which he then used to extort them for sex.

• A 31-year-old California man was arrested in June on extortion charges after authorities said he hacked into more than 200 computers and threatened to expose nude photos he found unless their owners posed for more sexually explicit videos. Forty-four of the victims were juveniles, authorities said. Federal prosecutors said he was even able to remotely activate some victims' webcams without their knowledge and record them undressing or having sex.

The cases have prompted law enforcement officials and advocates to caution teens about their activities. Privacy is nonexistent on the Internet, and once indiscretions appear online, they are virtually impossible to take back. A nude photo sent to a boyfriend's cell phone can easily be circulated through cell phone contacts and wind up on websites that post sexting photos. Once there, it's available for anyone who wants to trace it back to the person who made it.

"Kids are putting their head in the lion's mouth every time they do this," said Parry Aftab, an attorney and online child safety advocate.
Teens can be more vulnerable to blackmail because they're easy to intimidate and embarrassed to seek help. And the extortionists are often willing to make good on their threats, said Steve DeBrota, an assistant U.S. attorney in Indianapolis who has been involved in sextortion investigations.

"You are blackmailable," said Aftab, " ... and you will do anything to keep those pictures from getting out."

In the Indiana case, the teenage girl's mother called police when she found out about the threats. Authorities subpoenaed Internet service providers to track the chats and e-mails to their source, a computer in Mechanicsville, Md., according to court documents.

According to court documents, the computer's owner, Trevor Shea, told agents he had engaged in similar schemes with about 10 girls, most of them 17 or 18 years old.

His trial is set for Aug. 30. He has pleaded not guilty and his attorney, Michael Donahoe, said he is working on a possible settlement.

VIA: Yahoo news

The HMiC Obama Comes Out in Favor of Allowing Mosque Near Ground Zero

WASHINGTON -- After skirting the controversy for weeks, President Barack Obama is weighing in forcefully on the mosque near ground zero, saying a nation built on religious freedom must allow it.

"As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country," Obama told an intently listening crowd gathered at the White House Friday evening to observe the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

"That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances," he said. "This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."

The White House had not previously taken a stand on the mosque, which would be part of a $100 million Islamic community center two blocks from where nearly 3,000 people perished when hijacked jetliners slammed into the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001. Press secretary Robert Gibbs had insisted it was a local matter.

It was already much more than that, sparking debate around the country as top Republicans including Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich announced their opposition. So did the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group.

Obama elevated it to a presidential issue Friday without equivocation.

While insisting that the place where the twin towers once stood was indeed "hallowed ground," Obama said that the proper way to honor it was to apply American values.

Harkening back to earlier times when the building of synagogues or Catholic churches also met with opposition, Obama said: "Time and again, the American people have demonstrated that we can work through these issues, and stay true to our core values and emerge stronger for it. So it must be and will be today."

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent who has been a strong supporter of the mosque, welcomed Obama's words as a "clarion defense of the freedom of religion."

But some Republicans were quick to pounce.

"President Obama is wrong," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. "It is insensitive and uncaring for the Muslim community to build a mosque in the shadow of ground zero."

Entering the highly charged election-year debate, Obama surely knew that his words would not only make headlines in the U.S. but be heard by Muslims worldwide. The president has made it a point to reach out to the global Muslim community, and the over 100 guests at Friday's dinner in the State Dining Room included ambassadors and officials from numerous nations where Islam is observed, including Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

While his pronouncement concerning the mosque might find favor in the Muslim world, Obama's stance runs counter to the opinions of the majority of Americans, according to polls. A CNN/Opinion Research poll released this week found that nearly 70 percent of Americans opposed the mosque plan while just 29 percent approved. A number of Democratic politicians have shied away from the controversy.

Opponents, including some Sept. 11 victims' relatives, see the prospect of a mosque so near the destroyed trade center as an insult to the memory of those killed by Islamic terrorists in the 2001 attacks.

VIA: FoxNews.com

Judge orders identities of commenters be revealed

Anonymous bloggers beware. You may not be as anonymous as you think.

Forward Township Supervisor Thomas DeRosa has won a court victory in the action that he filed in November to uncover the identities of people who posted comments on an online bulletin board that he said defamed him.

On Wednesday, the ACLU, which had intervened in the case, turned over the Internet Protocol addresses of six individuals who made specific posts that Mr. DeRosa mentioned in his court filings.

That action follows an announcement Tuesday night by West Mifflin Area school director Albert Graham, who vowed to take legal action to obtain the names of individuals who he said had posted threats against his life on the West Mifflin page of the discussion board Topix.com.

Web service providers have protection from comments made by third-party posters under a federal 1996 telecommunications law. But some courts require them to release the names of posters' identities if a strong enough case is made for defamation.

The ACLU's actions in the Forward case followed a July 22 ruling by Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. that information about the individuals who made the postings about Mr. DeRosa be turned over. The ACLU will not file an appeal in the case, said Sara Rose, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

Richard Rattanni, who operates elizabethboro.com, where the comments were posted, said he was disappointed in the ruling.

"I think it's bad for our First Amendment rights to just hand them over," said Mr. Rattanni, who is not facing any legal action in the matter.

"It's going to send a big rippling effect through every discussion board and make people afraid to post."

Neither Mr. DeRosa nor his attorney could be reached for comment on the court decision. But in his filings Mr. DeRosa said the alleged defamatory comments posted to elizabethboro.com related to his actions as a township supervisor and accused him of corruption and damaged his reputation.

While the IP addresses that were supplied to Mr. DeRosa don't immediately identify the individuals, they do identify their Internet service providers and now Mr. DeRosa and his attorneys can petition those providers to release the names.

That process may take a while, Ms. Rose said, since the Internet service providers will likely be required to give the individuals notice that their identities are being sought and allow them the opportunity to take court action to stop the release.

That's exactly what's going on in a case in West Mifflin, where police Sgt. Robert Husfelt is seeking the identity of individuals who he said defamed him on the West Mifflin page of Topix.com -- the same site where the comments about Dr. Graham appeared.

In Sgt. Husfelt's case, a subpoena was served on the operator of the Topix site seeking the identities of the users who posted messages about him, and Topix provided the IP addresses of the posters to him, but did not know their identities, according to court filings. The messages were about an event during which Sgt. Husfelt and his wife were target shooting in a wooded area in West Mifflin, court documents indicate.

In July, a motion was granted for Sgt. Husfelt's attorneys to subpoena Comcast Communications to get the identities of the individuals who made the postings, but the court gave Comcast seven days to notify the subscribers that their identities were being sought and gave subscribers 21 days to file papers contesting the subpoena.

One of the four individuals who received the notice, with the help of the ACLU, filed a motion for protective order because the individual said it was not clear he or she was one of the people who posted the perceived defamatory comments and because the disclosure would violate the right to anonymous speech under the First Amendment.

As a result, Comcast has been barred by the court from releasing any identities until the issue is settled. On Aug. 9, Sgt. Husfelt's attorney filed a motion to file an amended complaint.

Though Ms. Rose is not involved in the case of Dr. Graham, she said there could be an element of immediacy if he files court action and a judge believes there is a true threat to his safety or that of his family.

Dr. Graham became a public target on the Topix website after his name surfaced in late April in an investigative report by the firm Gentile-Meinert, which outlined work alleged to have been done at his home by district maintenance workers during their regular work hours.

Dr. Graham said on Tuesday night that he is afraid to leave his home and he fears for the safety of his wife and three children.

However, West Mifflin police Chief Ken Davies said he did not believe the postings regarding Dr. Graham -- one of which suggested a plastic bag be tied over his head and another that suggested he be thrown into his pool with a rock attached to his foot -- posed imminent danger to Dr. Graham or his family.

"If they were more direct we would have taken action, Chief Davies said.

He said he referred Dr. Graham to the district attorney's office and the FBI's task force on Internet crimes.

The chief said he is interested to see if the identities can be obtained from the Topix site through court action.

Ms. Rose said that most Internet service providers do provide the names of posters if they receive a court order requiring them to do so.

"Unless you go to a public computer where you don't have to set up an account to use it and you absolutely can't be traced, there is always the possibility that someone will be able to uncover your identity," she said.

VIA: Post-Gazette.com

Five Applicant's In The Running For County Judge's Seat

BERLIN – The field of applicants for the recently vacated Worcester County Circuit Court judgeship was made public this week and includes a handful of familiar names including a sitting Circuit Court Master and a few well-known local attorneys.

The Maryland Judicial Nominating Committee late Wednesday posted the list of applicants for the Worcester County Circuit Court seat made vacant by longtime Judge Theodore Eschenberg, who officially retired in late June having reached the mandatory retirement age of 70.

The list includes sitting Worcester County Circuit Court Master Mary Margaret “Peggy” Kent, prominent local attorneys including Brian Shockley, Regan J.R. Smith and Kathryn Westbrook and Baltimore City prosecutor Cheryl Kelley Jacobs.

With the passage of the Aug. 11 deadline to apply for the vacancy, the Judicial Nominating Committee will now interview each of the applicants and pare down a smaller list to present to Governor Martin O’Malley, who will likely make the appointment. The nominating committee will review the qualifications of the applicants on or before its Sept. 28 meeting and forward a condensed list to the governor shortly thereafter.

The governor will then make an appointment from the list forwarded by the committee, which typically includes at least three names. It is uncertain what would happen if the appointment process dragged on beyond the November election.

The qualifications of a judge fall into distinct categories including legal, professional and personal. A qualified candidate has to have U.S. and Maryland citizenship, be registered to vote in state elections at the time of the appointment, be a resident of Maryland for at least five years and a resident for at least six months prior to the appointment in the geographic area where the vacancy exists. Other qualifications include being at least 30 years of age at the time of the appointment and current membership in the Maryland Bar.

Historically, sitting District Court judges apply for nomination and are ultimately appointed to fill vacancies in higher courts, but the sitting District Court judges in Worcester County are conspicuous by their absence from the list released by the committee on Wednesday. Certainly, Kent, who has served as Master in the Worcester County Circuit Court for several years, is an example of a sitting judge who could be elevated to a higher position in the court system.

However, there is plenty of precedent for a private attorney gaining an appointment to a Circuit Court vacancy and the other applicants on the list released this week are clearly qualified. When Eschenberg retired, longtime colleague on the Worcester Circuit Court bench Judge Thomas Groton took over as the administrative judge in the county and Judge Richard Bloxom moved into the position held by Groton.

As a result, the vacant seat will be the Family Law judge for Worcester County, a position with which Kent is very familiar. As the current Master for Worcester County, Kent routinely presides over family law-related cases. Westbrook, a local attorney with a private practice in West Ocean City, is also well versed in family law having spent the last 20 years arguing separation agreements, child custody cases, wills, estates and other family law-related cases. She is currently a mediator with the Lower Shore Circuit and District Courts.

“That has been the focus of my practice for the last 20 years,” Westbrook said yesterday. “When the powers that be decided this was going to be a Family Law seat, I decided I would apply for it because I would very much like to continue in family law and this is a logical step for me.”

Smith and Shockley are both partners in the Ocean City firm Williams, Moore, Shockley and Harrison and each brings a wealth of experience to the table. Smith’s areas of expertise include real estate and corporate law, probate, estate planning and zoning law. He served as assistant state’s attorney in Worcester County from 1989 to 1998 and serves on the Boards of Directors for Atlantic General Hospital and the Bank of Ocean City.

Shockley will draw on similar experiences as he seeks the vacant Circuit Court seat. His focus of his practice has been on civil and criminal law, probate, real estate, corporate law and administrative and zoning law. He serves on the Boards of Directors for Peninsula Regional Medical Center, Worcester County GOLD and the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore.

Little is known about Jacobs, other than she is currently an assistant state’s attorney in Baltimore City. The qualifications are specific about the residency of the prospective nominees including being a resident of Maryland for at least five years and a resident for at least six months prior to the appointment in the geographic area where the vacancy exists. Although the extent of her experience in Worcester is not known, clearly Jacobs must be able to meet the residency qualifications if she applied for the judicial vacancy.

www.mdcoastdispatch.com

Drug investigation 'reaches beyond Worcester'

BERLIN -- A Berlin man is facing federal charges of drug possession and distribution after he was allegedly found with more than 3 pounds of suspected cocaine.

Tyrone D. Lawson, 37, has been charged in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland for allegedly being a major distributor of cocaine on the Lower Shore. Similar charges against him in Worcester County Circuit and District Court have been dropped to allow the federal case to proceed.


According to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore last week, the Worcester County Sheriff's Office Criminal Enforcement Team began an investigation last summer into drug distribution in and around the county. Their work led them to Lawson.


"During the investigation, it was learned that (Lawson) was distributing cocaine from his brother's residence," the complaint reads. In May of this year, police issued a search warrant on the property. There, they found a locked shed containing large speakers.


"Two speakers were removed from inside of the speaker box, and approximately 1.7 kilograms of suspected cocaine was found," according to the documents. Officials also located a scale with suspected cocaine residue and other distribution paraphernalia.


Tyrone Lawson and his brother, Tony Lawson, were arrested around the time of the search. Tony Lawson was later released on bail. At this time, no federal charges have been filed against him.


"The focus of the investigation is not Tony; it was his brother, Tyrone," said Cpl. Nathaniel Passwaters, head of the Criminal Enforcement Team. "We never made any direct purchases from Tony, although the bulk of the drugs that were found were in his shed."


Tyrone Lawson has been incarcerated since May and is in federal custody. Police said they have evidence that links him to the shed. In addition, police are in the process of seizing three vehicles owned by the men.


Passwaters said investigators took the case to federal court to take advantage of longer minimum and maximum penalties for the drug crimes, not an uncommon practice for the Sheriff's Office in drug cases. Recently, two Pocomoke City men were found guilty in federal court on distribution of crack cocaine. They will be sentenced later this year.


"The overall thing is the enhanced penalties," Passwaters said. And in Tyrone Lawson's case, this "is a large scale investigation that reaches out beyond Worcester," he said. The investigation is ongoing.

VIA: DelMarVaNow.com

DR. COPTER: 30 Years On Tangier

Tangier Island, Va.

TANGIER ISLAND For more than 30 years, Dr. David Nichols has piloted a plane or a helicopter across the Chesapeake Bay on his day off each week to provide medical care to this community of 500 that has no resident physician.

He has tended to the islanders in an old building with a leaky roof and holes in the walls, no hot water and outdated equipment held together in some instances by duct tape.

The island will celebrate the opening of a stunningly modern clinic with an official dedication on Aug. 29. The clinic is the realization of Nichols' dream and the culmination of a remarkable fundraising effort that spread far beyond the island.

But the joy of this momentous occasion will be tempered greatly because as the island gains a new medical facility, it braces for an enormous loss.

Nichols.

The island's family doctor is dying. The 62-year-old physician survived melanoma of the eye six years ago, but he learned in July that the cancer had spread to his liver. He said last week that, based on his diagnosis, he could have about four months to live.

"I actually feel very well, but I know it's coming," Nichols said Monday soon after touching down on Tangier following a short flight from the mainland in the family's single-engine Cessna piloted by his son, Davy. Since his diagnosis, Nichols has given up flying.

"I feel very blessed to have lived the life I have," he said. "Tangier is definitely on my short list of things I most appreciate in my life. The people of Tangier are family to me."

As he walked the island's narrow lanes, one islander after another, seeing Nichols for the first time since hearing the news, stopped to shake his hand, give him a hug, share a tear.

"He's been coming here since I was a little girl," said Jamie Bradshaw, sitting in one of the island's ubiquitous golf carts and wiping her eyes after an embrace with Nichols. "I don't know what we'd do without him. I can't even describe in words what he's meant to all of us."

Near Swain Memorial United Methodist Church, whose majestic steeple accounts for much of the Tangier skyline along with the island's freshly painted water tower, Nichols ran into an old friend: Robert Thorne, who was mayor in the late 1970s when the young physician first broached the subject of bringing medical care to the island, asking if Tangier needed help.

"We sure do," Thorne recalls replying.But it took a few years for the islanders, a private, skeptical sort, to believe Nichols meant what he said about making a long-term commitment to the close-knit community of watermen. Other visiting docs had come and gone, but Nichols kept coming week after week.

"He didn't do it for his glory," said Inez Pruitt, the island's physician's assistant and Nichols' longtime sidekick at the clinic. "He's done it for the people of Tangier."

Nichols is a gentle, soft-spoken Canadian who came to Virginia after medical school in large part because his parents had retired to the Northern Neck. He set up his primary practice in White Stone, but Tangier became his defining mission.

Practicing medicine on a shrinking island that has been hit hard by erosion and the changing nature of bay economics has always been a money-losing proposition for him. Yet he thought it important to continue because of its history and beauty -- but mostly its people.

"Paradise" is the word that popped into his mind the other day as he flew over the glassy bay and the island came into view. It's the word that always pops into mind when he thinks of this wisp of a place known for its old English dialect, soft-shell crabs and (mostly) car-less roads. "It's a pretty easy place to be enthralled with if you're so inclined," he said.

Medically, though, Tangier is not easy work. Because of genetics, diet and lifestyle, chronic illnesses are common on the island. Residents have to be evacuated by air to hospitals at a rate of once a week, often for heart attacks and strokes.

Education and empathy have been primary tools of Nichols, who has handled everything from emergencies to house calls on the island, showing up in all kinds of weather.

"He's saved so many lives," Pruitt said. "He's just always been here -- someone to depend on for strength, not only physical but spiritual and mental."

In 2006, Nichols was named Country Doctor of the Year by a national health-care company that honors the work of rural physicians. He was nominated surreptitiously by Pruitt because, she said, Nichols never would have allowed her to submit his name.

Pruitt was a 17-year-old high-school dropout when she first came to Nichols as a patient. Pruitt, whose family has been on the island for generations, later went to work for Nichols as a nursing assistant. He taught her like an apprentice and encouraged her to go to college -- in her late 30s, with her children grown -- to become a physician's assistant. For six years, she commuted by ferry to the Maryland mainland to attend classes.

In 2006, she became what Nichols believes is the first native licensed medical-care provider in the island's history.

"I am," said Pruitt, who sees patients daily, "a reflection of him."

Nichols and Pruitt banter like brother and sister, mentor and protégé. They sometimes call each other Wilbur and Homer, from one of their favorite movies, "The Cider House Rules," a 1999 film based on the novel by John Irving. The story revolves around a physician (Dr. Wilbur Larch) at a Maine orphanage who takes an orphan under his wing (Homer Wells) and teaches him obstetrics. Pruitt even has a lab coat stitched with "Homer."

As new equipment and furniture arrived at the new clinic last week, Nichols and Pruitt led a justly proud and good-natured tour of the place, extolling the facility's many virtues and needling each other all the way.

The new clinic is perhaps five times bigger than the old one, which was constructed in the 1950s, and is as bright as the other is dingy. It was built large so it can accommodate many patients at once since Nichols and the physicians who succeed him have only limited time on the island. It is so well-equipped, with gear such as a digital X-ray machine, because in such a remote place medical care often requires emergency action.

"I honestly believe there's not a more modern clinic for family medicine anywhere in this country," Nichols said.

Aesthetically, the structure fits in with its surroundings, looking from the outside like a well-appointed beach house. The immediate neighborhood is what one might expect on a small island where everything is compressed: The clinic is just a few steps from Swain Church, the island's schoolhouse and its water tower. Next door is the house where Pruitt was born.

Much of the equipment and many of the services were donated or provided at discounted prices, a result of a wide-ranging, four-year effort to raise funds and awareness about the island and the plight of its medical center.

The drive started after Nichols took friend and patient Jimmie Carter to the island for lunch. The Northern Neck real estate developer was appalled by the condition of the clinic and vowed to help Nichols raise the money for a new building.

The public-private venture has included state and federal funds, grants from private foundations and contributions from organizations ranging from Rotary Clubs to Girl Scouts, as well as money from more than 500 individual donors, said Carter, who set up the Tangier Island Health Foundation.

"It's been heartwarming to see such an outpouring of interest and support," Carter said. "If there's one thing we've seen, Tangier's got a lot of friends."

The foundation has raised $1.7 million. The first $1.4 million paid for construction of the clinic. The rest will establish an endowment to pay for upkeep of the building and the equipment and make certain Tangier residents have high-quality health care for years to come, Carter said.

Two years ago, Nichols affiliated his White Stone and Tangier practices with Riverside Health System as a way to carry on his work after he retired. He just didn't count on being gone so soon.

"It's the journey that's counted for me," Nichols said, as he sat in the old clinic. "Sure I'll miss being able to do all those things I'd planned to do, but, gosh, this was so rewarding."

He nodded toward the handsome white-frame Swain Church.

"I want to be buried over at that church, at the graveyard," he said. "Just put my ashes there."

That way, he can keep an eye on things. The cemetery is next door to the new clinic.

Slideshow: Tangier Click here to see the wonderful photos of the new Tangier facility and the wonderful people of Tangier.