Jelly Fish In The Inner Harbor Is A Sign Of Drought

Inner Harbor's no place to swim anyway, but now you can add another reason not to go in the water downtown: jellyfish.

Softball-sized, milky white and bell-shaped, with long tentacles trailing, the gelatinous animals could be seen moving slowly about Thursday in the murky water by the Constellation.

Scientists identified them as Chrysaora quinquecirrha — the most common of sea nettles in the Chesapeake Bay. Usually, though, they hang out farther south, where they sting unwary bathers and swimmers.

But the researchers said the lack of rainfall this summer likely triggered the harbor invasion by making the water here just salty enough to attract them. It's been abnormally dry on both sides of the bay, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, with moderate to extreme drought gripping the western end of the state and the lower Eastern Shore.

"What apparently has happened is that the optimal salinity range has shifted up the bay," said Raleigh Hood, a biological oceanographer at the University of Maryland's Horn Point Environmental Laboratory near Cambridge. "Normally, down here, we're sea nettle heaven."

Hood said he's not surprised by their northward migration this year. He and Christopher Brown, a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, developed a system for predicting and mapping their abundance and spread, based on a variety of factors like water salinity and temperature. The computer model shows little likelihood of finding nettles in the Patapsco River, but it does show that salinity levels in the harbor and just outside it are elevated now, right around what sea nettles find most comfortable.

"They're happy as clams in that range," Hood said.

Sea nettles can be found year-round in the middle and lower bay and its rivers, from around Annapolis south, according to the Chesapeake Bay Program's field guide. They're at their peak in July and August, typically in the moderately salty middle of the bay, according to Denise Breitburg, senior scientist with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater. But they can remain abundant as late as October, she added in an e-mail.

While the harbor influx of sea nettles is just one more weather-related oddity in a year of extremes, it's hard to say whether it has any broader relevance, Hood says.

"Global jellyfish populations are increasing," he explained. "That's a pretty good indication the world is going out of kilter." Some have attributed the jelly surge to global warming, others to the degradation of coastal waters worldwide.

Here in the Chesapeake Bay, though, it's not clear whether sea nettles are increasing or declining, Hood said. The average water temperature has increased slightly — possibly an indication of climate change — and water quality generally is considered poor throughout much of the estuary.

But Breitburg, who's been studying the bay's jellyfish for years, found that sea nettle densities have actually declined since the late 1980s, according to an article published last year by the Maryland Sea Grant program. She suggested that the dropoff may be related to the swoon of the bay's oysters, despite the bay's pollution and signs of climate shift.

Jellyfish lay eggs in the water, which settle to the bottom and attach to hard surfaces like rocks, pilings and oyster shells. But as oysters have dwindled, their shell-covered reefs have been smothered in silt, depriving jellyfish polyps of places to spend the winter.

Even if the numbers are down a bit, there are still plenty out there to nail folks who spend time in or on the water.

"I got stung by one just the other day," Hood said. "It's annoying but not life-threatening, unless you're allergic to it."

Of course, that shouldn't be an issue in the harbor — Baltimore health authorities warn against swimming there because of potentially disease-causing bacteria in the water.

But the ghostly looking nettles are safe to watch, as long as you stay out of the drink. And if it's any consolation — or motivation to get out to see them — this is likely their last hurrah. The nettles farther south are already starting to die off, reports Breitburg, and these will, too, once it rains enough to lower the salinity level again, or it gets colder.

www.baltimoresun.com

Ocean City Police See Man Break Into Apartment

Yesterday afternoon Ocean City Police saw 29 year old Mark Meekins break into an apartment and leave with a 42 inch flat screen TV. Officers moved in and arrested Meekins – and also found him to be wanted on burglary charges in Delaware as well. He’s being held in the Worcester County Jail in default of $50,000 bond.

NEWS RELEASE: On September 22, 2010, at approximately 4 p.m., Ocean City Police were in the area of 76th Street when they observed a subject identified as Mark Allen Meekins, Jr., 29, of Ocean City, break into an apartment and steal a 42-inch flat screen television. Meekins was arrested and found to be wanted in the state of Delaware for burglary as well.

Meekins has been charged with:
- 1st Degree Burglary
- Theft over $1000 to $10,000
- Held on Fugitive Warrant

Meekins was seen by an Ocean City District Court Commissioner and held on a $50,000 bond. Meekins was transferred to the Worcester County Jail.

www.wgmd.com

Users Of Facebook Get An Apology

Many Facebook users were unable to access the social networking site for up to two and a half hours on Thursday, the worst outage the website has had in over four years, Facebook said in a posting.

The problems were traced back to a change made by Facebook in one of its systems.

The change was made to a piece of data that was called upon whenever an error-checking routine found invalid data in Facebook's system. The piece of data was itself interpreted as invalid, which caused the system to try and replace it with the same piece of data and so a feedback loop began.

The loop resulted in hundreds of thousands of queries per second being sent to Facebook's database cluster, overwhelming the system.

The result for users was a "DNS error" message and no access to the site.

"The way to stop the feedback cycle was quite painful - we had to stop all traffic to this database cluster, which meant turning off the site," wrote Robert Johnson, director of software engineering at Facebook, in a post on the site. "Once the databases had recovered and the root cause had been fixed, we slowly allowed more people back onto the site."

The problem hasn't been entirely fixed. Johnson said Facebook had to turn off the automated system to get the website back up and running. But that system does play an integral role in protecting the website.

Facebook is now exploring new ways to handle the situation so it won't lead to another feedback loop.

"We apologize again for the site outage, and we want you to know that we take the performance and reliability of Facebook very seriously," he wrote.

It's the second day Facebook was brought down for some users. On Wednesday, Facebook blamed a third-party networking provider for making the site inaccessible to some.

www.yahoo.com

US Delegation Walks Out On Ahmadinejad's UN Speech

UNITED NATIONS – The U.S. delegation walked out of the U.N. speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday after he said some in the world have speculated that Americans were behind the Sept. 11 terror attacks, staged in an attempt to assure Israel's survival.

He did not explain the logic of that statement that was made as he attacked the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of Israel and is deeply at odds with the United States and European allies over its nuclear program and suspicions that it is designed to produce an atomic bomb. Iran says it is only working on technology for electricity generation.

The U.S. delegation left the hall after Ahmadinejad said there were three theories about the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks:

_That "powerful and complex terrorist group" penetrated U.S. intelligence and defenses.

_"That some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime. The majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this view."

The Americans stood and walked out without listening to the third theory, that the attack was the work of "a terrorist group but the American government supported and took advantage of the situation."

Mark Kornblau, spokesman of the U.S. Mission to the world body, issued a statement within moments of Ahmadinejad's attack.

"Rather than representing the aspirations and goodwill of the Iranian people," he said, "Mr. Ahmadinejad has yet again chosen to spout vile conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic slurs that are as abhorrent and delusional as they are predictable."

Ahmadinejad, who has in the past cast doubt over the U.S. version of the Sept. 11 attacks, called for establishment of an independent fact-finding U.N. body to probe the attacks and stop it from turning into another sacred issue where "expressing opinion about it won't be banned".

He said the U.S. used the attacks as a pretext to invade Afghanistan and Iraq that led to the killing of hundreds of thousands of people, saying the U.S. should have "designed a logical plan" to punish the perpetrators while not sheding so much blood.

Ahmadinejad boasted of the capture in February of Abdulmalik Rigi, the leader of an armed Sunni group whose insurgency in the southeast of Iran has destabilized the border region with Pakistan. He said authorities did not resort to violence, but captured the suspect after trailing his movements in an operation by Iranian secret agents. Rigi was later hanged.

The Iranian leader spoke of threats to burn the Quran by a small American church in Florida to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Although that church backed down, several copycat burnings were posted on the Internet and broadcast in the Muslim world.

"Very recently the world witnessed the ugly and inhumane act of burning the holy Quran," Ahmadinejad said.

He briefly touch on the four sets of sanctions imposed on his country by the United Nations over Tehran's refusal stop enriching uranium and to prove Iran is not trying to build an atomic bomb.

Some members of the Security Council have "equated nuclear energy with nuclear bombs," Ahmadinejad said.

He accused the United States of building up its nuclear arsenal instead of dismantling it and reiterated his call for a nuclear-free world.

"The nuclear bomb is the worst inhumane weapon which must totally be eliminated. The NPT (Nonproliferation Treaty) prohibits its development and stockpiling and calls for nuclear disarmament," the Iranian president said.

Ahmadinejad hinted that Iran is ready for talks on its nuclear program provided they are based on "justice and respect", suggesting that the U.S. and its allies must stop pressuring Iran through sanctions before Tehran will sit at the negotiating table.

He again rejected the U.N. Security Council sanctions as "illegal," blaming the U.S. as the power behind the measures.

"Those who have used intimidation and sanctions in response to the clear logic of the Iranian nation are in real terms destroying the remaining credibility of the Security Council," Ahmadinejad said.

Ahmadinejad has in the past called the Security Council a "satanic tool" and has called its anti-Iran resolutions "not worth a cent."

http://www.yahoo.com/

Teresa Lewis Is Executed In Virginia

JARRATT — Teresa Lewis died by injection tonight for the murders of her husband and stepson in Pittsylvania County, the first execution of a woman in Virginia since 1912.

Lewis, 41, was pronounced dead at 9:13 p.m., Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, announced outside the prison.

Minutes earlier, given a chance to make a last statement, Lewis said: "I just want Kathy to know I love you and I'm very sorry."

The murders left Lewis' stepdaughter, Kathy Clifton, the only surviving member of her family.
About 8:50 p.m., Lewis' lawyer, James E. Rocap III, and her spiritual advise , the Rev. Julir Perry, the chaplain at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women, entered the witness room after visiting with Lewis.

At 8:55 p.m., after the death warrant was read to Lewis by Chief Warden George M. Hinkle, the door to the execution chamber opened and Lewis, wearing blue prison-issued pants and shirt, was led inside by corrections officers holding each arm.

Lewis appeared serious and fearful. She looked around the room as she was escorted to the gurney, where she lay down.

Her torso and limbs were quickly strapped down by five execution team members, and at 8:58 p.m. a blue curtain was drawn, blocking the view from the witness room as intravenous lines used to administer the drugs were inserted.

At 9:09 p.m., the curtain opened and Lewis was asked whether she had a last statement. She asked if "Kathy" was present, presumably referring to Kathy Clifton, the daughter and sister of the two murdered men.

Clifton had said earlier that she and her husband would attend the execution. Family witnesses view from a private room; corrections officials said they did not respond to Lewis' question.

The first of three chemicals then began flowing. Lewis' left foot had been moving as if she were tapping it, but the movement quickly stopped. She was pronounced dead at 9:13 p.m. and the curtains were redrawn, again blocking the view.

Outside the prison, about a dozen people stood in protest. They were outnumbered by about three dozen members of the media, including reporters from Great Britain and Italy.

Lou Hart, who said he was a Quaker from Charlottesville, said it was his first time to stand outside the prison. "I'm not against every death penalty, but I am against most," he said. "This one bothered a lot of people because of the harshness of the penalty."

Longtime death-penalty foe Annette Blankenship of Colonial Heights said she and Lewis had been corresponding for the past several years.
"I have two sons. And seeing this, I really feel bad — when I saw her son, it just tore me up," she said. Lewis has a grown son and daughter.

After the execution, Lewis attorney Jim Roach said: "Tonight the machinery of death in Virginia extinguished the childlike and loving spirit of Teresa Lewis."

He said she met with both of her children yesterday and wrote letters to both of them.

The execution was just the 12th of a woman — compared with more than 1,200 for men — since the death penalty resumed in the United States in 1977. The rare event drew attention, and criticism, from across the nation and abroad.

Lewis was sentenced to death in 2003 for the Oct. 30, 2002, murder-for-hire slayings of her husband and stepson. Using sex and promises of money, she persuaded two men to kill for her in an effort to gain $250,000 in life insurance.

Julian Lewis, 51, and C.J. Lewis, 25, were hit with multiple shotgun blasts in their beds while Teresa Lewis stood by in the kitchen of the family trailer early that morning. As her husband was dying, she took his wallet, split the money inside it with the gunmen, and then waited 45 minutes to call for help.

Lewis was the secondary beneficiary of her stepson's life insurance policy, which meant both men had to die for her to collect. The shooters, Matthew Shallenberger, who was her lover, and Rodney Fuller, each were sentenced to life. The evidence led the judge to deem Lewis "the head of this snake," and he sentenced her to death.

The European Union's delegation to the U.S., concerned about Lewis' mental capacity, sent a letter this month to Gov. Bob McDonnell asking that he commute the sentence to life. Iranian officials, stung by criticism over a woman convicted of adultery there and sentenced to death by stoning, blasted the West this week for hypocrisy.

The governor's office had no comment on either development.

Those asking that her life be spared included Amnesty International, best-selling author John Grisham, religious and anti-death-penalty groups, and thousands of people who signed petitions asking McDonnell to commute the death sentence.

McDonnell twice turned down clemency pleas, most recently on Monday. He said that after a careful review he found no compelling reason to set aside the sentence and noted that no professional evaluation of Lewis ever found she met the medical or legal definition of mental retardation.

Her lawyers contended that her low IQ, a personality disorder and addiction to pain medication made it impossible for her to have been the mastermind of the crime.

Lewis' lawyers and supporters also argued that she should have received the same sentence as the shooters. They said that Lewis, the mother of two who last year became a grandmother, had no prior record of violence and had been an exemplary inmate since her conviction.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down her appeal and request for a stay of execution.

Lewis spent part of her last day visiting with family, her spiritual adviser and her lawyers, Traylor said.

In an interview Monday, Lewis said she hoped to have a contact visit with her son and daughter on her last day. She also has a 14-month-old grandson by her daughter.
www.timesdispatch.com

Entrance Fee To Assateague Waived For Saturday

ASSATEAGUE -- Assateague Island National Seashore Superintendent Trish Kicklighter announced that in recognition of National Public Lands Day, the entrance fee will be waived for all visitors to Assateague Island National Seashore on Saturday, Sept. 25.

The fee waiver applies at both the Maryland and Virginia districts of the National Seashore.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the National Seashore at a great time of the year," said Kicklighter. "Fall flowers are blooming, the weather is perfect, and the island is less crowded than during the busy summer season."

National Public Lands Day is an annual event celebrating service and recreation at more than 1,600 parks, refuges, and other public lands throughout the nation. Visitors to Assateague and other areas are encouraged to help out during their stay by volunteering in public service projects. Stop by the Maryland District Ranger Station to see how you can participate.

www.easternshorenews.com

Citizens Meeting On Crime In Pocomoke

Here you go citizens of Pocomoke! The door is wide open for all of you to join in next time. Let the city councilmen and your police chief know what YOU expect! They can't read your mind and that won't know how you feel just by sitting at home and texting you best friend about the drug bust YOU just watched from your windown. It doesn't happen like that.

You don't need the Mayor to babysit. You need the people that were present at this meeting to continue to help all of you with your need to fight crime. You need to let your chief know that NONE of you will tolerate this type of community abuse any longer.

There is no need to sit back and let someone else take care of it. It's everyone's problem. You people of Pocomoke know how to work together as a community. You have their attention and it is up to you to help THEM help you as taxpaying citizens of Pocomoke. And one thing for sure, Chief Ervin works for all of you.

The Neighborhood Crime Watch group is only as good as the 2-way participation..........takes the citizens and it takes the city police.

POCOMOKE CITY -- Police Chief J.D. Ervin asked for citizens to step forward and help form Neighborhood Crime Watch groups throughout the city.

Speaking during a community meeting at New Macedonia Baptist Church, Ervin said five sections of the town had been formed some time back as crime-watch zones. All have been active at one time or another, he said, but had been discontinued by the residents involved in them. Anyone who wishes to volunteer can call the chief at 410-957-1600.

Most of the people attending the meeting, including members of the City Council, police, candidates for office and area residents, were in agreement that action needed to be taken to prevent crime. They thought that there would be better attendance at the meetings if residents were aware of the action.

Carroll Overholt, a retired Maryland State Police officer and candidate for sheriff, spoke out in favor of the crime watches, saying that the police can't solve the problems alone. "We don't have enough police," he said.

However, James Jones, an area resident, said that there is talk in the streets about what is going on at community meetings like the one at New Macedonia. "We have their attention," he said.

Dean Guy, a Pocomoke property owner, said that he has called police about the drug problem he sees, and has even offered to allow the police use a vacant house to observe the area. He said he thinks crime levels are getting worse.

But Ervin said statistics show the crime rate is down, and figures on crime compiled by the FBI back up that assertion. The statistics show Pocomoke police took reports on 28 violent crimes occur in 2009, compared to 31 such crimes in 2008 and 29 in 2007. Police in the city recorded 216 instances of property crime in 2009, compared to 239 property crimes in 2008 and 243 such cases of burglary, theft and arson in 2007.

Council member Bruce Morrison called drugs a problem that will never go away. He said that he gets weekly reports about arrests and then sees where the crimes are not processed. "They are let go," he said. He added that he has talked to people in his district about it, and that no one wants to get involved.

The discussion turned to neighborhoods, but Councilman Robert Clarke called the entire town of Pocomoke City his neighborhood.

The next community meeting is planned for Saturday, Oct. 16, at 10 a.m. at New Macedonia Church.

www.delmarvanow.com

Donuts, Cops, And Special Olympics

COPS ON THE ROOFTOPS

Fundraiser for Special Olympics Maryland -- 119th Street Dunkin’ Donuts on Saturday, Sept. 25 through Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010.

As part of a national fundraising effort for Special Olympics, the Ocean City Police Dept.,Worcester County Sheriff's Office and Maryland State Police will be on the rooftop in an effort heighten awareness and raise money to benefit the Law Enforcement Torch Run to benefit the Special Olympics of Maryland.


These brave officers will be on the rooftop of the Dunkin' Donuts waiting for your support in donations so they can come down from the rooftop: Chief Reggie Mason, LT Smack, SGT Andy McGee, DFC Kenny Parr, DFC Dale Trotter, DFC Mike Hickman and many, many more!

Stop by Dunkin' Donuts this weekend and leave a donation towards a worthy cause. Let's see how much in donations these officers above will raise for the worthy cause

They'll be watching and they will be waving to you below....Help them out because when you do you help the Special Olympics of Maryland.

The New State-of-the-Art Forensic Medical Center Opens In Balltimore

The dead won't know the difference.

But the pathologists and technicians who investigate Maryland's 4,000 unexpected deaths each year are said to be "giddy" about the opening of the state's new, $54 million Forensic Medical Center in Baltimore.

The state-of-the-art facility, which fills a city block at West Baltimore and Poppleton streets, will replace the 41-year-old building at Pratt and Penn streets that presently houses the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. It is designed to improve working conditions and speed the autopsy process for families and law enforcement.

The new, six-story building, formally opening today, triples the state agency's floor space, providing state-of-the-art technology to boost efficiency. The old facility was built for 2,000 autopsies a year and now has 16 examiners doing 4,000 annually in a basement room. The new building has enlarged, brightly lit space for up to 23 medical examiners to perform up to 6,000 autopsies a year as the demand grows. The first autopsies in the new space are expected by mid-October.

"The volume of cases downstairs sometimes is overwhelming," said Dr. Mary G. Ripple, the deputy chief medical examiner. When medical students, police academy classes and others come to learn, "there's not a lot of room to move around."

The new center is wired with fiber-optics for digital record-keeping, photography and consultations. There is a full-body CAT-scan to speed autopsies — one of just two in M.E. offices in the U.S. There are bigger and better-equipped labs, six autopsy stations capable of handling some of the most dangerous pathogens, and refrigeration for more than 120 bodies. And, the autopsy space can quickly be tripled in the event of a mass-fatality disaster.

For families of the deceased, there are more-comfortable, private places to speak with pathologists, or to view or post a watch over the bodies of their loved ones, as some faiths require.

Chief Medical Examiner Dr. David R. Fowler, who has worked on the project for years, said the center's opening "really hasn't sunk home yet." But for his staff, the anticipation is keen: "The look on their faces is just lovely to see."

It has been a long time coming. Fowler said it was his predecessor, the late Dr. John Smialek, who began pressing for improvements more than 20 years ago.

In 1985, the Post Mortem Examiner's Commission described the old facility as underfunded, understaffed and insufficiently equipped. By 1988, demoralized employees were threatening to unionize. They complained of crippled heating and cooling systems. Poor ventilation in the basement autopsy areas sometimes allowed nauseating odors to filter into office space.

The state eventually spent about $2 million on upgrades, Fowler said. But "the number of cases we were seeing was increasing," adding nearly 100 cases annually. Maryland's population is growing and aging. And, except during economic slowdowns, vehicle fatalities have also increased. Through three state administrations beginning with Gov. Parris N. Glendening, efforts to design and build a new facility began slowly before being fast-tracked under then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Health Secretary Nelson Sabatini. The contract was finally signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley.

Alvin C. Collins, secretary of Maryland's Department of General Services, which managed the project, called the new Forensic Medical Center "the most modern medical examiner's facility in the United States."

Only the Los Angeles M.E.'s office is bigger, Fowler said. Most states divide up the work by region or by county. Maryland, being small, is able to bring all its cases to Baltimore. And that, he said, provides taxpayers with important economies of scale.

A survey 10 years ago found the average medical examiner's office cost $2 per citizen to run for a year. Maryland's today still costs less than that, about $1.74 per citizen per year, Fowler said.

The new center's showpiece may be its twin autopsy rooms. The old facility had six stations in the basement. The new rooms have eight stations each, set on opposite sides of large, south-facing spaces with 29-foot ceilings and soaring windows.

"We wanted natural light," Fowler said during a preview Monday. Each station is equipped for digital photography, and "even with the lights off, it's bright."

Above the autopsy tables, there are glassed-in galleries for medical students and interactions with police. "That really improves the final outcome with criminal justice cases," Fowler said.

Ripple described the mood among the assistant M.E.'s as "excited trepidation." The move will be "a little chaotic … but extremely, extremely exciting."
www.baltimoresun.com

Audit of VDOT Finds Hundreds of Millions of Dollars In Unspent Funds

An inattentive Virginia transportation bureaucracy left nearly $500 million unspent last year as interstate rest stops were shuttered and maintenance projects deferred by emergency budget cuts, a private audit to be released today shows.

The four-month review of the Virginia Department of Transportation's finances shows that the recouped cash combined with steps to redirect other state funds will add $614 million to backlogged road maintenance and construction projects through June 2011.

And by 2016, the newfound cash, savings and efficiencies available for the state's six-year road building and maintenance master plan will total nearly $1.5 billion, Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton told The Associated Press.

Gov. Bob McDonnell, who ordered the audit in April, plans to release the findings and remedial steps the administration will take at a news conference this afternoon. The Republican unsuccessfully called for a private VDOT audit two years ago, while still attorney general, and pledged one while campaigning for governor in 2009.

The findings depict a VDOT central office where "burdensome internal processes and financial controls" allowed millions of dollars in cash to languish, sometimes for years, after projects it was intended to fund became inactive.

Auditors did not find any fraud or criminal misconduct relating to agency operations.

"The process is broken," Connaughton said. "Even though we have modern technology and a lot of modern practices employed in the actual construction operations, the processes that support those are still in the paper and memo stages. They've never gone back and looked at the processes they have employed for a very long time."

The Richmond-based accounting firm of Cherry Bakaert & Holland found that dwindling state revenues during a sharp recession made VDOT extremely conservative in committing money to projects starting in 2006.

The audit shows the trend worsened over four years when the General Assembly twice rejected then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's appeals to levy new fees and taxes for a growing backlog of highway construction needs, particularly in Virginia's congested Hampton Roads region and its Washington, D.C., suburbs.

In 2009, with Kaine's administration decrying deep fiscal woes, he ordered 19 of Virginia's 42 rest areas closed at a savings of $9 million annually. Other measures included sharply reduced mowing on highway rights of way, reduced freeway motorists' aid patrols and ending the $21,000 annual state stipend for the historic Hatton Ferry on the James River, the last known hand-poled ferry in the United States.

The tight finances led to layoffs at VDOT, and the Commonwealth Transportation Board last year made cuts to its six-year master road projects program by about $4.6 billion.

But in fiscal year 2010, VDOT left $488 million in maintenance allocations unspent and, by this past June 30, the unspent balance had grown to $529 million, the audit found.

Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, would not comment on the audit before seeing its details, spokeswoman Lynda Tran said yesterday.

The audit concludes that by procrastinating for months each year in obligating federal highway funds for Virginia projects, VDOT often pushed contracts late into the calendar year, often missing the prime summer construction season. For instance, the agency in federal fiscal year 2010 received $826 million from the U.S. government, but after six months had obligated only 5 percent of the money.

There was little monitoring of unused federal money for dozens of canceled or dormant projects. It averaged about $130 million a year that could have been redirected elsewhere, the audit found.

VDOT commissioner Gregory A. Whirley said that if a project is completed or canceled and there's still money for it, the money should be moved to another project.

"That money was just sitting there," he said.

McDonnell last year proposed selling the state-owned liquor monopoly to raise about $500 million to jump start deferred maintenance. But as he became aware of the cash and savings the audit was uncovering, McDonnell altered his proposal, recommending that profits from auctioning liquor store licenses be plowed into an "infrastructure bank" to finance new projects, not maintain existing roads.

Other faults found during the audit included: taking months -- sometimes a year -- for VDOT to hire private road design consultants; poor communication between VDOT's district headquarters across the state and the central office; and outmoded criteria for assessing how well the district and central office professionals manage projects.

www.timesdispatch.com

Va. Christian Activist Hopes To Distribute Qurans

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) Florida Pastor Terry Jones canceled his Sept. 11 Quran burning, but what has become of the Islamic holy books since the international controversy has subsided?
The answer rests with the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, a well-known Christian activist from the Fredericksburg area.

Mahoney traveled to Gainesville, Fla., to pray on the grounds of Jones' Dove World Outreach Center in the days before Sept. 11, trying to convince the preacher to cancel the burning.

Facing mounting pressure from politicians and religious leaders, Jones relented.

Mahoney returned to Florida last week and collected some 225 Qurans. He now expects to distribute them to Christian churches and missionary groups as a tool for interfaith dialogue.

"We plan to use them as a physical reminder of how the church is to reach out to our Islamic friends," he said.

Mahoney brought some of them home and had the rest shipped to the Washington, D.C., office of the Christian Defense Coalition, which he leads.

Mahoney, who has prayed with Muslim leaders in Iraq and Morocco, told Jones that Islamic countries wouldn't understand a church acting independently of the government.

"So, to the Islamic world it wasn't just a church in Gainesville, Fla., with 50 members burning a Quran, it was every Christian in America," Mahoney said. "He wouldn't just be burning a book, he would be burning bridges and relationships."

After leaving Florida following a meeting with Jones, Mahoney couldn't stop thinking about the Qurans. Back home, worshiping at Grace Church of Fredericksburg, he had an idea.

"I felt if churches had them, they would be a reminder that once these Qurans would be burned, but now they can be used to build bridges," said Mahoney.

He plans a press conference this morning to announce his plans for the holy books.

This weekend, he hopes to give a Quran to a Fredericksburg-area church.

For Mahoney, rescuing the Qurans is another step in a journey he began several years ago.

He reached out to the Islamic community and has since prayed with Muslim leaders in Iraq and Morocco.

In recent months, with Jones' plans and a controversy over a proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero, Mahoney said the need for interfaith dialogue has grown exponentially.

"These are murky waters we are trying to navigate," he said. "Rarely do any rise to the complex challenges we are facing between the Christian community and the Islamic community here in America."

Mahoney has spoken with several Muslims about his plans and said reactions have been mixed.

"Most are extremely happy that the Qurans won't be destroyed or harmed. Some have reservations about placing them and giving them to churches and Christian leaders," Mahoney said. "All expressed gratitude that they were not being burned."

www.fredericksburg.com

Virginia's Unemployment Rate

Virginia's unemployment rate edged up slightly in August, but still remained well below the national average.

The Virginia Employment Commission said Tuesday its adjusted unemployment rate was 7 percent in August. That's up from 6.9 percent last August.

The agency says August is typically a transition month between summer and fall labor markets.

During the month, the labor force, total unemployment and the number of unemployed normally decline as students quit summer jobs and head back to school and local school districts see their lowest employment levels before school starts back up in the fall.

The agency said more than 61,930 people were receiving regular unemployment benefits in August, down more than 9,430 from July and down more than 30,980 from August last year.

The national rate stood at 9.6 percent in August, up slightly from July. The Labor Department said 27 states saw their unemployment rates rise in August, the largest number in six months, as hiring weakened across the country. The jobless rate fell in 13 states and was unchanged in 10 states and Washington, D.C.
www.shoredailynews.com

MELSON POINTS LISTING

If you haven't been to Melson's Tractor Pull and other motor events yet you had better hurry.

There aren't too many racing dates left.

Below are the current points for driver in their racing class.

Dirt Drag 9/10/10

Street Class

Nick Fulford

Pro Stock Class

1st Place: Barry Wise

2nd Place: Bryan Watson

Modified Class

1st Place: Chuck West

Mud Hop 9/11/10

ProStock Class

1st Place: Bryan Watson

2nd Place: Quinton Timmons

no photo

3rd place: James Bennett

no photo

Modified Class

1st Place: Spence Messick

no photo

Open Class

1st Place: John Littleton

no photo

2nd Place: Chris Lewis

no photo

HUGE Racing day coming October 9th .........more info coming soon !

Indiana Children Died After 10 Hours In Closet

( Sept. 22) -- An Indianapolis woman who's been charged in the deaths of her two young children allegedly locked her five kids in a closet for 10 hours before the two perished.

That's according to a police report released Tuesday that accuses Edyan Farah, 28, of dragging a bed up against the closet to block it shut, then leaving to visit a neighbor. Investigators are awaiting results of a toxicology report, but believe the two children -- a 5-year-old girl and her 3-year-old brother -- died Sunday of asphyxiation. Details were reported by several news agencies.

The children were trapped in a closet about 6 feet by 18 inches for more than 10 hours, and one of the surviving siblings told police they'd been crammed in there before, WRTV channel 6 TV station reported.

Lt. Jeff Duhamell said it was the worst case he's seen in 28 years with the Indianapolis police force. "The bottom line is, animals are treated better than that," he told the station. The police report also alleges that Farah failed to call 911 after she arrived home and discovered her children's lifeless bodies, and tried to prevent neighbors and relatives from doing so.

Her uncle, Mohammad Hersi, peered into the apartment and "saw what appeared to him as a deceased child laying on the couch," the report stated, according to WRTV. When he tried to call police, "Farah grabbed the phone from Mohammad Hersi and threw it," it said. Another friend was quoted as saying Farah wouldn't let anyone into the apartment.

"She didn't look normal. She was not the woman we knew," Hersi told The Indianapolis Star.

The children were in rigor mortis when paramedics arrived.

Farah, a Somali immigrant, will appear in an Indianapolis court today to be advised of her rights, a spokeswoman for the Marion County prosecutor's office, Susan Decker, told The Associated Press. She was charged Monday with two preliminary counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, but prosecutors have asked for 72 more hours to prepare formal charges. Farah remains jailed on a $200,000 bond.

The remaining three children, whom police and neighbors described as looking malnourished, have been transferred to foster care, Duhamell said.

Relatives told the AP that Farah's family had emigrated to the U.S. from Somalia about a decade ago. Her husband, Burhan Hassan, traveled back home to Somalia a few weeks ago to visit his parents, and was still there when his children were discovered dead last weekend, the Star reported. Hassan is now en route back to America.
Meanwhile, neighbors of the Farah family at their two-story apartment complex said they were shocked by the deaths.

"The kids were always at the window waving and saying 'Hi' when you walked by. They were never out playing, but they always seemed happy," neighbor Nicole Felt told WRTV. "My heart goes out to those kids -- the two that passed, certainly, and the three that now have to live with what happened."

www.aolnews.com

Former Navy Lacrosse Player Killed In Afghanistan

Brendan Looney, a former Navy lacrosse player who lived in Silver Spring, was among nine U.S. military personnel killed in a helicopter crash Tuesday in southern Afghanistan.

Looney and his brothers, Billy and Steve, played lacrosse for the Naval Academy. He was a 1999 graduate of DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, where he played varsity football and baseball. All three sons were starters for Naval Academy lacrosse team.

Also surviving are his parents, Kevin and Maureen Looney, and three sisters, Bridget, Erin and Kelly.

The family was expected to receive the body Wednesday afternoon at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Funeral arrangements were incomplete.

www.baltimoresun.com

Virginian's Are Urged To Take Part In DEA National Take-Back Day

Governor Bob McDonnell today announced Virginia's participation in the first-ever U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) National Take-Back Day, a program in which communities will provide collection sites to allow citizens to safely dispose of unused, unwanted or expired medications, to help prevent prescription drug abuse. National Take-Back Day will be held on Saturday, September 25th, from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM in more than 75 communities across the Commonwealth. More information about National Take-Back Day and a list of medication drop off sites in the Commonwealth is available online at www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/takeback/index.html or www.dea.gov.

The DEA is coordinating this one-day effort with the assistance of Virginia's Secretary of Public Safety, the Office of the Attorney General, the Virginia State Police, and local law enforcement agencies.

The Virginia Department of Health Professions, which houses the Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program, is spreading the word about National Take-Back Day with Virginias healthcare professionals, agencies, and members of the General Assembly. Speaking about National Take-Back Day, Governor McDonnell commented, "Drug abuse is directly related to increased crime rates, overdose deaths and emergency room visits. In Virginia, drug deaths are comparable to the number of traffic fatalities each year. We want to change the equation by taking preventative steps, including encouraging Virginians to get rid of old medications. People should not hold on to expired or unused medications, particularly in homes with children, teens and seniors which are especially vulnerable to this danger."

Important information about National Take-Back Day:

The program is anonymous and free
Prescription and over-the-counter medications are accepted
Intra-venous solutions, injectables, and needles will not be accepted
Illicit substances such as marijuana or methamphetamine are not a part of this initiative
Medications may be kept in original containers for disposal on National Take-Back Day
Public health officials and environmental quality experts recommend the following action steps for the ongoing disposal of medications:

Participate in community and national pharmaceutical take back programs
Remove unused, unwanted or expired prescription and over-the-counter drugs from their original container and mix with an undesirable substance such as used coffee grounds or kitty litter then place in nondescript sealable bags or containers such as empty cans or sealable bags for disposal

Public health officials now call prescription drug abuse an epidemic. It is the number 2 category of substance abuse, behind marijuana abuse which is number 1.
www.shoredailynews.com

Some Taxpayers Owe Accomack County ALOT In Taxes

This is a nightmare for Accomack County! How long have these landowners been able to get away with not paying taxes? Is this the only list? Are there more that have not paid taxes with less property? These delinquencies aren't fair to the people of Accomack County. And if these people have been allowed to go more than one year without paying their taxes then I say we have a severe problem and some changes need to be made immediately!


The long-awaited list of the 25 most delinquent taxpayers in Accomack wasn’t exactly what most expected. Instead of providing a tally of those who owe the greatest amount of back real-estate taxes Wednesday night, Treasurer Dana Bundick gave Accomack supervisors an inventory of the parcels for which the most back real-estate taxes are owed.

It’s a little confusing. The grand total for the list is $337,600.21. At the same supervisors’ session, Finance Director Mike Mason reported $3,115,624 in total delinquent real-estate taxes for 2006 to 2009 and the first half of 2010. Bundick compiled her list by running a county program on Sept. 13. Five of the parcels are on Cedar Island, including the one with the largest bill for $28,064.21.

It is unclear how long the accounts have been in arrears. The top parcel is owned by Potomac Spectrum,which has a mailing address of 11501 Skipwith Ln. in Potomac, Md. The county mapping Web site shows Potomac Spectrum owns 15 parcels on the barrier island. Bundick said some owners of Cedar Island tracts have contacted a lawyer who auctions properties in an effort to recoup funds for the county. “Go ahead and sell ’em; we don’t care,” Bundick said attorney Jim Elliott was told.

The landowners complained that their houses are surrounded by water and are not accessible. “One person stopped paying taxes because he couldn’t get to it,” she said. “We’ve got to decide what to do about it. It’s a mess. I don’t know if the houses are there.”

Supervisor Grayson Chesser said properties like those are a nightmare to survey and sales
should be considered “buyer beware.” Still, he added, the parcels were deliberately divided from sea to bay so owners could move houses as erosion occurred. “There’s a very good chance the house might be gone, but the lot is still there.” Supervisor Donald Hart was concerned about where the sewage for some of those structures would go. “There might have been land under it” when the property’s bill first went unpaid, he said. “These people have owed a long time. Go after anything they own. … It’s their responsibility.”

Hart said when a value changes, the landowner should notify the county as he did when house he owned caught fire. Hart said he has seen one name on the list “many, many times. The day before the sale, he pays, then waits 10 more years” to pay again. Hart said action should immediately be taken for those with a history of delinquency. “I don’t think they deserve the right … to wait until the last minute.” Hart didn’t name names. But Bundick’s reference gave the owner’s identity away since she said she promised some actions to attorney David Rowan.

Let’s just say he (the debtor) has two attorneys after him,” she said. Late bills totaling $78,810.50 were referred to Rowan, according to the list Bundick gave to the supervisors. Developer Edward Lunn Tull of Chincoteague was attached to those six parcels. Two of those also list Louise A. Tull as an owner. The mapping site lists 131 properties in Tull’s name.

Bundick’s list also includes Shore tomato growers, Batista and Evelyn Madonia, who own the family business, East Coast Brokers and Packers of Plant City, Fla., and Mappsville. They owe $11,162.83 in back real-estate taxes. The mapping site shows the Madonias own a total of 43 parcels.

Also on the delinquent list are:

• Donna Rae Roeske of Pension Street on Chincoteague, who owes $19,952.93. Her debt was referred to Elliott so the property could be sold. The map site says she owns 10 parcels, referred to as Maddox, on Chincoteague.

• Tammy Lee Taylor of Main Street in Hallwood, who owes $16,890. Her property also was referred to Elliott. The map site says she owns two parcels.

• Chrysler First Financial Service Corp Nations Credit, which owes $16,340.61 in real-estate taxes for a Cedar Island parcel.

• Catherine S. Sparrow of New Church, who owns three lots and owes $14,971.01 for overdue taxes on one parcel. No action has been taken on her case. It is unclear why.

• Adair E. Harmon, who lived in Oak Hall, but is now deceased. He owed $14,247.87. His property was referred to Elliott.

• John J. Cherricks of Chincoteague, who owes $13,912.91. He owns two parcels. His case was referred to Elliott.

• Thomas D. Cook Sr. or Angela Cook, who owes $13,564.97. They own a house on Lankford Highway in Oak Hall. No action has been taken on their case.

• Wilford L. Evans of Temperanceville, who owes $13,361.29. He owns a house in Bloxom. His case was referred to Elliott.

• Tully Parker of Painter, who owns 54 acres. He and owes $12,491.73. His case was referred to Elliott.

• Luvenia Miles of Temperanceville, who owes $11,513.62. She owns a house. Her bill was referred to Elliott.

• Tai M. Le or Tiffany Quyen Do of Springfield, Va., who owes $10,935.28. They own three parcels. No action was taken on their bill.

• Harold and Anna Perau of New Jersey, who own two parcels on Cedar Island and owe $10,851.98 on each.

• Lois Gordon of Main Street on Chincoteague, who owes $10,307.24. She owns two parcels. No action has been taken.

• Lance G., Barbara W. and Charles S. Fisher, who owe $10,030.97. They jointly own 9.83
acres in Hope Woods. Lance Fisher owns another parcel individually and owns six properties with Barbara Fisher. No action has been taken.

• Mary and James Mathis of Glen Arms, Md., who own a lot on Cedar Island. They owe $9,981.66.

• Entrust Mid South LLC FBO Hope E. Mayer, which owns a house and lot on Cedar Island, according to the mapping site. The delinquent tax is $9,356.23 on that property. No action has been taken.

www.easternshorepost.com

Leave Extra Time For Crossing The Chesapeke Bridge This Weekend

SANDY POINT -- The Maryland Transportation Authority is warning travelers to leave extra time crossing the Chesapeake this weekend.

According to the MDTA, due to Sunfest in Ocean City and NASCAR races in Dover, motorists should expect high traffic volumes Thursday through Sunday.

The MDTA will monitor traffic conditions thruoghout the weekend and, weather permitting, implement two-way operations on the westbound span to help alleviate potential eastbound delays.

The best times to travel this weekend, according to the MDTA, are:

Thursday before 2 p.m.

Friday before noon and after 10 p.m.

Saturday before 7 a.m. and between 5 and 10 p.m.

Sunday between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. and after 7 p.m.

Motorists residing north of Baltimore may consider taking northbound I-95 to Route 1 south in Delaware.

www.delmarvanow.com

Locals Speak To Congressional Hopeful Scott Rigell At Town Meeting

Approximately 120 people came to Congressional hopeful Scott Rigell's town hall meeting at the marina in Captains Cove on Monday, September 20. At the event, citizens of the Eastern Shore lined up to ask the candidate questions about issues facing the Eastern Shore, the Commonwealth of the Virginia and the nation.

The overwhelming theme to Rigell's talking points focused around job creation. Rigell several times referred to his experience in small business and said he would use his experience to push for smaller government which will in turn lead to a better environment for investors.

During the questions, Rigell was asked if he would vote to repeal President Obama's healthcare bill. Rigell answered "Yes." He then pointed out that in an earlier debate, Congressman Nye said he would not vote to repeal the bill, though Nye did vote against the measure.

Rigell was also asked if he would vote to impeach President Obama. Rigell responded, "No, the President has not done anything to constitute impeachment." Rigell added later in the town hall "Poor judgment is not an impeachable offense." Throughout the course of questions Rigell stated he would like to reverse the stimulus, support 12 year term limits for Senators and Representatives, downsize the Department of Education and give more rights to state and local governments.

The election to decide the next Congressman for Virginia's 2nd District will be held on November 2nd. Rigell is challenging Congressman Glenn Nye.
www.shoredailynews.com

Supreme Court Will Not Stop Execution

THE US Supreme Court denied an emergency application yesterday that would have stopped Virginia from executing a woman convicting of two killings, clearing the way for the state to execute a female for the first time in nearly a century.

A Court spokeswoman added that Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor voted to stop the execution of Teresa Lewis, who is scheduled to die by legal injection tomorrow.

Lewis, 40, was convicted of taking part in the hired killings of her husband and stepson in October of 2002. Lewis paid two men, one of whom was her lover, and purchased the guns they used in the murders of Julian and Charles "C.J." Lewis. In exchange for the killings, Teresa Lewis planned to split an anticipated $250,000 insurance payment with the shooters, Matthew Shallenberger and Rodney Fuller.

She admitted her role in 2003, pleading guilty to seven overall criminal counts and two counts of murder for hire.

The Supreme Court was Lewis' last stop on the long legal road leading to her execution. She was also denied clemency last Friday by Virginia's governor, Bob McDonnell.

Lewis' lawyers have long argued that she should not be killed because she has tested as low as 70 on IQ tests and the Supreme Court has ruled that killing mentally handicapped people constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. However, the lower courts have continually denied the argument that Lewis qualifies as severely mentally handicapped.

In denying her clemency, McDonnell said last week that since no medical professional has ever concluded that Lewis was mentally retarded, there was no compelling reason for him to intervene on her behalf.

Shallenberger and Fuller both received life sentences for the the murders.

www.heraldsun.com.au

Iran Accuses United States Of Double Standard

Iran accused the US of human rights violations today over plans by the state of Virginia to execute a woman for the first time in nearly 100 years, despite claims that she has severe learning difficulties.

Iran's state-sponsored media has devoted considerable coverage to reports about Teresa Lewis, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday for arranging the murder of her husband and stepson in 2002.

The parliamentary human rights committee said her case reflected "the double standards" of the American government, comparing her case to that of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.

"We will file an official complaint to the international community against the US if the sentence is administered," Hossein Naghavi, an Iranian MP and the spokesman for the committee, told the semi-official Fars news agency. Several Iranian MPs have expressed concerns over Lewis's execution and have asked the US for her sentence to be commuted.

America was one of the several countries to express outrage over Ashtiani's case, which has embarrassed the Iranian government after receiving considerable international attention. Iran has since suspended the stoning sentence, although Ashtiani is still being held in jail and her family fear for her life.

In Virginia, governor Robert McDonnell refused an appeal for clemency for Lewis, who lawyers say has an IQ of 72. The supreme court has ruled that anyone with an IQ below 70 may not be executed. She has one last chance of appealing to the US supreme court ahead of her scheduled execution. The men who carried out the killings – one of whom was Lewis's lover – received life sentences.

Iranian news agencies highlighted similarities between the cases, reporting that Lewis, like Ashtiani, had been convicted of "having an extramarital relationship". MPs criticised the US for sentencing Lewis to death while sparing the lives of the killers – as happened in Ashtiani's case.

The Fars news agency criticised the US media for "being silent in the past seven years Lewis has been kept in jail". "On her execution day she'll wish for a better country whose judiciary would listen to its people rather than intervening in the internal affairs of other countries," it said.

"It's not been a long time since the American media attacked Iran over the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani … Lewis's case has similarities with Mohammadi Ashtiani's case with the difference that Sakineh has been found guilty for the crime she committed but there are lots of ambiguities in Teresa's case. The US and the American media tried their best to make a symbol of human rights out of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani because of the background of their atrocities towards Iran but after seven years, human rights organisations have been silent for Teresa. This shows their double standard in relation to other counties."

Iranian MPs Zohreh Elahian and Salman Zaker also condemned the US over Lewis's sentence which they say is "contradictory to international standards". They have called for a judicial review.

In an interview with ABC last weekend in New York, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied Ashtiani had ever been given a death sentence by stoning.

www.guardian.co.uk

Is The United States Obligated To Make Obama's Aunt A Citizen?

(Sept. 21) -- As Congress prepares to re-initiate the stalled immigration reform debate this week, one very personal immigration issue looks poised to hit the president close to home.

President Barack Obama's aunt, Zeituni Onyango, says she's done nothing wrong by illegally living in the United States for years and is therefore deserving of amnesty.

"If I come as an immigrant, you have the obligation to make me a citizen," Onyango, 58, told Boston's WBZ news.

In her first interview since Obama was elected president, Onyango described how she came to America in 2000 from her native Kenya, fell ill and was hospitalized. Upon her release, Onyango told WBZ, she was out of money. So rather than return to her homeland, she continued to live in the country in violation of immigration laws.
After stints in a Boston homeless shelter, Onyango was eventually put in public housing and began receiving disability payments. In 2004, an immigration judge ordered her to leave the country, but Onyango remained. However, she noted that her story was less about intentionally flouting federal immigration policy and more about its ineffectiveness.

"I didn't take advantage of the system," Onyango said. "The system took advantage of me."

Onyango says that she received no help from Obama as her case was reviewed by Judge Leonard Shapiro, who ruled in May that Onyango could remain in the United States.
www.aolnews.com

Crisfield Man Charged With Sexual Abuse Of 14 Month Old Child

Crisfield Police have arrested 20 year old Virgil Dashields on child sex abuse charges. Police say he sexually assaulted a 14 month old child at the Somers Cove Apartments last Friday. Dashields faces numerous charges and is being held at the Somerset County Detention Center in default of $50,000 bond.

VIRGIL ERIC DASHIELDS
157 SOMERS COVE APARTMENTS
B/M/3-8-1990
(See Attached Photo)

On 9/20/2010 at 9:52 pm Virgil Eric Dashields was arrested by the Crisfield Police Department for a Sexual Child Abuse charging him with sexually abusing a 14 month old child. The sexual child abuse occurred in the Somers Cove Apartments located in Crisfield on 9/17/2010. Dashields was located at 59 Somers Cove Apartments and placed under arrest. The following charges were placed on Dashields:

Sex Abuse of a Minor
Sex Offense 4th Degree
Sex Offense 4th Degree
Assault 2nd Degree
Child Abuse
Sex Offense 3rd Degree
Assault 2nd Degree
Attempt Sodomy

Dashields was placed on $50,000 bond by Somerset County Court Commissioners. He is currently residing in the Somerset County Detention Center.

www.wgmd.com

Sadness On Saxis, Island Today

I have just received word that the beloved and wonderful Mayor of Saxis Island, Virginia, Charles Tull has died.

Funeral arrangements are pending at this time.

Ravens Coach Charged With DUI

State police say a Ravens assistant coach was arrested and charged Saturday with driving while under the influence of alcohol.

Andy Moeller, 46, an assistant offensive line coach, was stopped by a trooper for speeding just before 1 a.m. Saturday on the outer loop of the beltway at Greenspring Ave., according to state police spokesman Greg Shipley.

Moeller showed signs of being impaired and was charged with seven traffic violations, including driving while under the influence. Shipley said Moeller signed the citations and was released to a sober driver.

Moeller will enter a not guilty plea, attorney Andrew I. Alperstein said Monday.

"We'll deal with this [case] as it comes My client's position is that we're going to review the evidence and decide how to proceed," Alperstein said.

Court records show Moeller, of Owings Mills, was charged in May with four counts, including driving while under the influence and negligent driving, and was acquitted in late August.

The Ravens said they knew about the arrest but would not comment further.

"We're aware of the situation," said Kevin Byrne, the Ravens' senior vice president of public relations.
Moeller is in his third season with the Ravens after joining the team from the University of Michigan.

www.baltimoresun.com

United Kingdom Proposes All Paychecks Go To State First

The UK's tax collection agency is putting forth a proposal that all employers send employee paychecks to the government, after which the government would deduct what it deems as the appropriate tax and pay the employees by bank transfer.

The proposal by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) stresses the need for employers to provide real-time information to the government so that it can monitor all payments and make a better assessment of whether the correct tax is being paid.

Currently employers withhold tax and pay the government, providing information at the end of the year, a system know as Pay as You Earn (PAYE). There is no option for those employees to refuse withholding and individually file a tax return at the end of the year.

If the real-time information plan works, it further proposes that employers hand over employee salaries to the government first.

"The next step could be to use (real-time) information as the basis for centralizing the calculation and deduction of tax," HMRC said in a July discussion paper.

HMRC described the plan as "radical" as it would be a huge change from the current system that has been largely unchanged for 66 years.

Even though the centralized deductions proposal would provide much-needed oversight, there are some major concerns, George Bull, head of Tax at Baker Tilly, told CNBC.com.

"If HMRC has direct access to employees' bank accounts and makes a mistake, people are going to feel very exposed and vulnerable," Bull said.

And the chance of widespread mistakes could be high, according to Bull. HMRC does not have a good track record of handling large computer systems and has suffered high-profile errors with data, he said.

The system would be massive in terms of data management, larger than a recent attempt to centralize the National Health Service's data, which was later scrapped, Bull said.

If there's a mistake and the HMRC collects too much money, the difficulty of getting it back could be high with repayments of tax taking weeks or months, he said.

"There has to be some very clear understanding of how quickly repayments were made if there was a mistake," Bull said.

HMRC estimated the potential savings to employers from the introduction of the concept would be about £500 million ($780 million).

But the cost of implementing the new system would be "phenomenal," Bull pointed out.

"It's very clear that the system does need to be modernized… It's outdated, it's outmoded," Emma Boon, campaigner manager at the Tax Payers' Alliance, told CNBC.com.

Boon said that the Tax Payers' Alliance was in favor of simplifying tax collection, but stressed that a new complex computer system would add infrastructure and administration costs at a time when the government is trying to reduce spending.

There is a further concern, according to Bull. The centralized storage of so much data poises a security risk as the system may be open to cyber crime.

As well as security issues, there's a huge issue of transparency, according to Boon.

Boon also questioned HMCR's ability to handle to the role effectively.

The Institute of Directors (IoD), a UK organization created to promote the business agenda of directors and entreprenuers, said in a press release it had major concerns about the proposal to allow employees' pay to be paid directly to HMRC.

The IoD said the shift to a real-time, centralized system could be positive as long as the burden on employers was not increased. But it added that the idea of wages being processed by HMRC was "completely unacceptable."

“This document contains a lot of good ideas. But the idea that HMRC should be trusted with the gross pay of employees is not one of them," Richard Baron, Head of Taxation at the IoD, said in the release.

A spokesperson for Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne was not immediately available for comment.

www.cnbc.com

Norfolk SPCA Begins Rehabilitating Beagles Rescued From Lab

NORFOLK - 31 dogs were rescued from the Professional Laboratory and Research Services lab in Gates County and taken to the Norfolk SPCA in the hopes that they will all be eventually adopted.

Norfolk SPCA spokesperson, Michelle Williams says the dogs need a lot of work.

She says, "They really don't know what's going to happen to them. One of the biggest issues is going to be potty training because they don't know what outside is and they don't know where they're suppose to go to the bathroom. They're just used to going and standing in it basically."


It's unclear to Michelle what abuse these dogs were subjected to at the lab, or if any. But Williams has to assume that there was some abuse based on the undercover video from PETA that shows workers at the lab violently kicking the dogs and spraying them with hoses.

Since the video was released, the lab decided to stop their research operations and the USDA has begun a formal investigation. Yet, even though the Norfolk SPCA was allowed to rescue 31 dogs, no one from the non-profit group was allowed to go inside to see the conditions.

Michelle says, "Nobody was allowed to go in, even in the main building. Only a couple of people were allowed to go in and sign paperwork but that was it."

In fact, NewsChannel 3 went undercover with the Norfolk SPCA and the lab didn't want any of the animal rescue groups on their property. All of the vans and SPCA volunteers were forced to wait in a dirt parking lot across the street.

Everyone with the rescue groups were told by lab officials that they weren't allowed to have cameras, cell phones, or any contact with media near the lab. If they broke the rules, no dogs would be released.

"I understand that they had some sort of rogue employees and it wasn't the whole facility but at that point, it wasn't about them. It wasn't about the media because that video from PETA is already out there. It's about the animals and doing what's best for them," Michelle says.

Helping these dogs is what the SPCA's focus is now as they work to rehabilitate the dogs in order to find them all homes

Two-year-old Ambriel is one of the Beagles rescued from the lab last week. She refuses to bark but the way she trembles in the company of people speaks volumes.

It will take a lot of reassurance for Ambriel to trust people again. She's getting an exam and shots today, but what's most important to the folks at the Norfolk SPCA is her mental health.

Michelle says, "To me, she's saying she's petrified. She's scared to death."

Beagles are notoriously noisy hound dogs. But something happened to these beagles that gave Michelle the creeps when she drove them away from the lab where they lived.

"It was an eerie drive back knowing you had 19 beagles together in a truck and not a sound the whole time," Michelle says.

Now the SPCA is committed to spending their time helping Ambriel and the others learn that there is nothing to fear. She's hoping that soon they'll learn that it is okay to love and that it is okay to play. Volunteer, Elsie Powell spent the weekend petting and playing with the dogs, hoping to give them their spirit back.

"A lot of petting, a lot of rubbing, a lot of brushing and a lot of kissing," is what Elsie says they need.

In a matter of days, Ambriel has gone from scared dog, to playful, tail-wagging dog. The healing has begun.

"Her spirit has been kind of broken and we're going to take the time she needs to get her spirit back for her to run and play and learn how to be a dog," Michelle says. "She's happy. She's sweet. You can see the smile on her face. She's coming around very quickly. She has a great chance at a wonderful life."

All of the rescued dogs at the Norfolk SPCA have to be spayed or neutered before they will be adopted out. If you're interested in one of these dogs, you can come in and get your first peek at the animals starting Friday.
www.wtkr.com