THAT'S US!

What a spectacular video from the International Space Station!   In this Vine video posted to the space station’s account, the aurora borealis glows over the northern hemisphere as the space station flies up the East Coast of the United States… and the sun rises over Greenland.   And what is that down there, below… easily recognizable in the beginning?  None other than a sleeping Delmarva peninsula.  Gorgeous!

Astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore posted the video on Feb 4th from 250 miles above the earth… at 17,000 miles per hour… and it’s not even blurry.

(Image and text courtesy of DelmarvaLife.  See the video at: http://www.delmarvalife.com/show/delmarva-cameos-spectacular-aurora-sunrise-video-clip-space/ )

TIME MACHINE ... This Sunday's Preview

1857.. Worcester feeling affects of a dry winter; 1946.. Pocomoke City gets new street lighting; 1904.. A new Peninsula General Hospital opens;  1888.. Renovations to Girdletree church.

What's this popular Eastern Shore destination from the 1930's to the 1950's?

And ACROSS THE USA.. 1993 brings a new late night host to TV.

It's this Sunday right here at The Pocomoke Public Eye!  

Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about?  It can be just a line or two, or more if you wish. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting! 

Would you consider helping The Pocomoke Public Eye as one of the contributors of current local items of interest?  Please contact pcitypubliceye@gmail.com

Hometown Heroes Tax Relief

Governor Hogan: Repeal The Rain Tax

'Open for business' in Md.

Op-ed: What will it take to improve Maryland's business climate? Realism and willing legislators.

By Jay Steinmetz

The political momentum exists to make the changes everyone wants to improve Maryland, and now is the time to come together to make that happen. But it will take more than highway signs and campaign slogans to turn that momentum into policy changes needed to make Maryland economically competitive. We need to define our own success, and this election helps us do that.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-hogan-business-20150204-story.html

Suspect Charged with Attempted Murder in Worcester County

SNOW HILL, Md.- A Fruitland man is facing attempted murder and related charges following a weekend shooting in Worcester County.

Detectives with the Worcester County Bureau of Investigations said that at around 1 a.m. Saturday, they were notified of a shooting victim at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury. The victim was reportedly shot twice near the intersection of Whitesburg and Five Bridges road in Worcester County.

Detectives responded to the hospital where they made contact with the victim as well as witnesses of the shooting. Detectives learned the victim, and two other people were driving down Whitesburg Road when they stopped near the intersection of Whitesburg and Five Bridges road to assist with someone who had struck a deer with their vehicle.

It was reported that an argument started between both parties.
Investigators said that is when Kenny George White, of South Camden Avenue in Fruitland, picked up a shotgun and fired at the victim standing in the roadway.

The victim turned to flee and was shot at again by the suspect, police said.

The victim sustained injuries below his torso. The victim made it back in the vehicle and was able to get a partial license plate number. That number assisted police in finding the suspect.
The victim returned to his home in Eden and called for an ambulance. The Wicomico County Sheriff's Office initially responded to the home, where it was later learned that the shooting had occurred in Worcester County.

The Fruitland Police Department located the suspect vehicle on South Camden Avenue in Fruitland.

Detectives from the WCBI made contact White and had the opportunity to interview him. White was subsequently charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault, and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

After a search warrant was obtained for his home, detectives said they found a shotgun and shotgun shells. They were recovered and seized as evidence.

Police searched the area on Whitesburg Road, where the reported shooting had occurred. Their search revealed two “spent” shotgun shells matching the description of the shotgun shells found at White's house, investigators said.

White was taken to the Wicomico County Detention Center for processing.
SOURCE [WBOC.COM]

Pocomoke Elementary School

Best Public Elementary Schools in Maryland

 Best Public Elementary Schools ranks 40,403 elementary schools based on key student statistics and 4.6 million opinions from 280,000 students and parents. A high ranking indicates that the school is an exceptional academic institution with a diverse set of high-achieving students and faculty, and the students are very happy with their experiences.

An additional 8,824 schools received a grade but were not eligible for ranking. For more information, read the full methodology.

 

Pocomoke Elementary School

Overall
Niche Grade

• Grades
  PK, K-3
• Students
  389
• Type
  Public
• Ranking
  94th in MD
  
   Pocomoke Elementary School is a public school in Pocomoke City, Maryland. It has 389 students in grades PK and K-3. According to state standards, 95% of students at this school are considered proficient in math and/or reading.

Reptile Festival

A Night of Music With a lot Of Food and Wine

Are you planning any special events or promotions surrounding Valentine's Day?

Are you planning any special events or promotions surrounding Valentine's Day?

Any special deals you want people to know about?

Contact Debbie at the Chamber so the word can get out!

Call 410 957-1919 OR

Email: pocomokechamber@gmail.com 

Submit your information by COB each Thursday

Maryland Chamber of Commerce Legislative Report

The following information is provided by the

Maryland Chamber of Commerce Legislative Report

January 29, 2015

Hogan Budget Unveiled 

Governor Larry Hogan unveiled his budget proposal on Thursday, January 22. The simple white on black cover was as stark as the budget challenge within. For the current fiscal year ending on June 30, the state has a total shortfall of $423 million. The estimated budget gap for the following fiscal year is $802 million. Thus, according to Hogan's budget proposal, the cumulative FY 2015 and 2016 budget challenge is $1.25 billion.

By all accounts the Governor's FY 2016 budget is structurally balanced. Proponents praise the bold action necessary to get spending under control while others question whether the proposal is too aggressive given the timeline. The proposed budget does however, reflect promises made during the campaign; there are no new taxes or fees, no layoffs and no furloughs.

The largest single contributor to this fiscal year's shortfall is Medicaid. The Medicaid shortfall is largely attributed to higher than budgeted enrollment due to the Affordable Care Act, higher costs of new Hepatitis C drugs and a decline in the cigarette tax revenue. To help close the FY 2015 budget gap, Hogan proposes cutting in half an increase in the rates paid to Medicaid healthcare providers, using funds from another insurance program to fund Medicaid, as well as, a 2% agency reduction. FY 2016 solutions include reducing healthcare provider rates to the FY 2014 levels, employee compensation adjustments and aid to education. State spending on education would increase in FY 2016 but at a rate less than educators and county leaders would like.

Generally speaking economic development programs fared well. The Biotechnology, CyberSecurity, and Research and Development Tax Credits along with the Stem Cell Research Fund were all level funded or received very modest reductions sending a clear message that "Maryland is open for business". For more information on how the budget could impact Maryland's business climate contact Mat Palmer at mpalmer@mdchamber.org.

The  Chamber (Maryland) recognizes the Governor's budget proposal included some tough choices and the Chamber (Maryland) supports the Governor's efforts to align state spending with state revenues breaking the cycle of having to deal with midyear cuts and structural deficits. The House Appropriations Committee will act first on the Budget and has already begun to have briefings on the Hogan Administration's budget actions.
  

For more of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce Legislative Report, visit the For Immediate Release section on pocomoke.com.

Whoever said “beggars can’t be choosers” never met Somali Muslims

Whoever said “beggars can’t be choosers” never met Somali Muslims in Minnesota. These Muslim imports in Minneapolis are now demanding a tax-funded “halal” non-pork food shelf at a free food pantry for the poor. As if it’s not bad enough that nearly all the “American” Muslims who have joined ISIS have been Somalis from Minneapolis, their relatives here are demanding that Americans adhere to the same Sharia Laws the Islamic State fighters are trying to impose throughout the Middle East. A group of first-generation Somali Americans says they need help in developing a food shelf that specializes in healthy foods that do not contain pork or pork byproducts. “It’s about human rights also, basic human rights to get the proper food and also healthy food,” said Imam Hassan Mohamud.

“Human rights”? Seriously? Their arrogance and self-entitlement has to be unprecedented for a group on the public dole. Tens of thousands of Somalis settled in Minneapolis/St. Paul after Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and later Barack Obama imported them and funded massive “refugee” centers there. Welfare, schools, hospitals and social services have been crushed by the burden of immigrants who lack the most basic skills to live in a modern society.

This is hardly the first demands Somalis have made on the good people of Minneapolis. When the influx of Somali thugs naturally resulted is a massive increase in crime a decade ago, Somalis demanded a $48 million Sharia-compliant “youth center” to keep Somali gangs “out of trouble”.

We have read for several years now how Muslim cab drivers in Minneapolis and several airports have kicked out blind passengers with guide dogs (dogs are “unclean” in Islam), or customers transporting alcohol. They came here, taking advantage of American generosity, and returned it by enforcing their own brand of Sharia Law upon us.

Liberals in Minnesota have bent over backwards for them, setting up foot-washing basins in their airport and even at a university, in response to their demands.

But as with most appeasement, these refugees keep making more demands. Now it is for “halal” products (meat slaughtered with Islamic prayers and a ban on pork).

The Imam leading this protest actually claimed that there were beans with pork in it and this was a “literacy” issue that required more government funding and special halal-compliant beans. But one commenter on the article from Minneapolis wrote:

As someone who made use of the foodshelf recently, I can tell you that most of the food doesn’t contain pork. I hear what they are saying about a literacy issue, but can’t the food shelf people just point out the cans of pork and beans? Besides, the food shelf is based on donations!

This is not about Muslims “making do” or getting help on what to eat. The Koran demands that Muslim make any country they live in adapt to them and Sharia Law. The last thing they plan to do is assimilate.

One blogger added:
How long until they demand separate entrances to the food pantry for men and women and separate entrances for Muslims who don’t want to see any Christmas or holiday food or decorations?
The state of Maine has also been crushed by Somalis that Obama has forced upon them. The Governor of Maine, Paul LePage has valiantly been trying to cut off cash aid to Somalis – nearly all of whom are on welfare – since Obama has purposely dumped thousands of them in Lewiston and Portland.
America got Black Hawk Down and 18 dead Americans. Somalis got 90,000+ “asylum” slots in America, free housing, Sharia-compliant facilities, and a lifetime of welfare. How do you say “chumps” in Somali?

TIME MACHINE ... 1967, 1899, 2004, 1966-67, 1989

(Reader-friendly viewing of news archive/historical archive material)

July, 1967
The  Daily Times (Salisbury)

(Excerpts)  

Kindergarten Plan Ok'd For Worcester in '67-68

SNOW HILL -  A full program of free kindergarten classes will be provided in all Worcester County schools in 1967-68 accodomg to Robert W. Gaddis, superintendent of education.

Over 500 children are expected to attend.

Mr. Gaddis said that the board of education decided to give full support to the new kinddergarten program which is partially financed by state funds. The state will pay 37 1/2 percent of the cost, with the remainder financed by county and federal money.

Worcester County has had a kindergarten program in four county schools previously, but it has been under a tuition system, where the parent paid $20 per month for each child. This teaching for pre-schoolers was started at a PTA project in 1958.


March, 1899
The Gaffney Ledger (Gaffney, S.C.)

BIG LUMBER MILL BURNED

Entire Town of Salisbury, Md., Was Threatened With Destruction

SALISBURY  MD.,  March 14.-  At 4 o'clock this morning fire broke out at Jackson's mill, located at the lower end of Main St., and spread rapidly.  A high wind scattered the sparks in every direction and increased the violence of the flames.

The fire department worked heroically, but the flames got beyond their control and help was asked from Wilmington, Crisfield, and Pocomoke City.

The mill and the big lumber yard, containing millions of feet of lumber, were soon reduced to ashes. The flames spread to adjoining property and there was great apprehension that the entire lower part of the town would go.

The fire was got under control about noon, with assistance of fire engines from Wilmington, Del., and Pocomoke City, Md. No estimate of the damage can yet be made. 


October, 2004
The Somerset Herald (Princess Anne)

(Excerpts)

Courthouse marks 100th year

PRINCESS ANNE-  A building that has long been at both the literal and figurative center of town -the Somerset County Courthouse- will mark its 100th birthday Friday with a rededication ceremony and an open house.

The event will be an opportunity for the public to see the inside of a building they might never have a reason to visit.

"The courtroom's the best part of it," said attorney Jack Willing, Jr., one of the organizers. "There's a lot of heritage there that people can see."

While the present building is marking its 100th anniversary, the court system in Somerset County dates back 338 years, according to attorney Tony Bruce, who conducted research for the rededication.

The sign reads as follows:

SOMERSET COUNTY CIRCUIT COURTHOUSE

1904

THE COURTHOUSE WAS DESIGNED IN THE GEORGIAN REVIVAL STYLE BY ARCHITECTS FRANK E. AND HARRY R. DAVIS OF BALTIMORE, AND WAS BUILT BY W. P. PUSEY AND SON OF SNOW HILL. THE RED BRICK STRUCTURE IS ENRICHED WITH INDIANA LIMESTONE FEATURES AND STANDS ON THE SITE OF THE 1833 COURTHOUSE WHICH HAD REPLACED THE FIRST ONE OF 1747 AFTER IT BURNED. THE SCALE AND STYLE OF THE COURTHOUSE REFLECT THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY PROPERITY AND THE COLONIAL HERITAGE OF SOMERSET.

ACROSS THE USA ..  

July, 1966
Hazelton Standard-Speaker (Hazelton, Pa.)

(Excerpt)

KANSAS CITY (AP) -  The AFL-NFL championship football game probably will be played on a neutral site, with the Rose Bowl probably having the best chance, Lamar Hunt said Sunday.

Hunt, owner of the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League, was quoted by the Kansas City Star as saying the special three-man committee from the AFL and the National Football League will meet soon to work out a number of the details.

"I think one of the first things we'll consider is the site of the Super Bowl - that's my term for the championship game between the two leagues." 


October, 1966
The Troy Record (Troy, N.Y.)

(Excerpts)

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -  Pasadena in effect shut the door of its famed Rose Bowl yesterday for the proposed superbowl championship game Jan 8. between the National and American Football Leagues.

Fear of losing its long association with college football people, notably the Athletic Association of Western Universities and the Big Ten and their annual New Year's Day Classic, was a prime reason for backing off from the professional people.

The Pasadena Chamber originally contacted the two leagues about the possibility of staging the so-called super bowl here. The city controls the big bowl 11 months of the year while the Tournament Of Roses has the stadium in December and through the New Year's Day game.


November, 1966
The San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, Calif.)

(Excerpt)

WASHINGTON (AP) -  President Johnson signed into law yesterday a bill giving the merger of the American and National Football Leagues limited immunity from anti-trust laws.

Under the merger plans, the leagues will play a Super Bowl game in January pitting the AFL champions against the NFL winners, will hold a common draft, and will plan a schedule for inter-league pre-season games next summer.

Two new cities will join the combined league to eventually be formed by 28 teams.

On Nov. 1 the NFL made New Orleans the 16th franchise, to begin operations in 1967. The new club will participate in the January draft. The AFL's 10th club is expected to begin operation in 1968. Two more teams are expected to be added after that.


January, 1967
The Bonham Daily Favorite (Bonham, Texas)

(Excerpt)

LOS ANGELES (UPI) -  The war of words between the American and National Football leagues is on the verge of being settled Sunday when the Kansas City Chiefs meet the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl for the world championship of pro-football.

"It's been a war of words for seven years and now we'll settle it on the grass," Coach Hank Stram of the AFL champion Chief's said in his final press conference.

Coach Vince Lombardi said there wasn't a chance in the world that his NFL champion Packers would fail to take the challenge of the Chief's seriously when they meet Sunday in the Memorial Coliseum before a crowd of around 70,000 fans. An estimated 60 million persons also will be watching the game on two television networks (CBS and NBC.)

"It's the first time its been played, so I don't know," Lombardi commented on his personal reaction. "It seems like a game should have some tradition before you can tell what it means."


The Super Bowl match-ups and winners, 1967-2014:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/superbowl/history/winners


It's" Bud Bowl I" from 1989!

See this and other vintage Anheuser Busch commercials. 
http://archive.org/details/dmbbvt00302

(Courtesy of Duke University Libraries Digital Collections)



Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about?  It can be just a line or two, or more if you wish.  Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!




PPE remembers JMMB