By Kenneth C. Rossignol

ST. MARY’S TODAY

LEONARDTOWN --- What should a visitor to the high-security District Court Building located across from the Leonard Hall Governmental Center do when getting off of the county-run STS bus service if that person is carrying a bag?

This past Wednesday a man who had business in the Carter Building Courthouse and Social Services Center didn’t want to have to take his suitcase into the building due to the time it would take for screening. He couldn’t leave it at the bus stop as he knew it would be stolen. Therefore he walked up to the front door of the county office building and asked the "greeter" if he could leave his bag there, where it would be safe. Had the man gotten off the county bus at Wal-Mart and asked the same question, he would have been instructed by a sign to leave all packages at the "courtesy desk" when entering the store, and therein lies the difference for visitors on business with the St. Mary’s County government.

The Sheriff’s public information officer, Deputy Cindy Allen reports that on March 5, 2008 at approximately 1:30 p.m deputies from the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office responded to the St. Mary’s County Governmental building for a report of a suspicious package. Upon arrival deputies learned a man contacted the receptionist of the Governmental Center and asked her if he could leave his suitcase at the front door of the Governmental Center while he went into the Carter Building across the street. The receptionist told the subject no. She did not think it appropriate for him to leave the suitcase outside of the building. The subject left the suitcase anyway. The receptionist, concerned, contacted the Sheriff’s Office.

The receptionist provided deputies with a description of the man and stated he was last seen entering the Carter Building. Deputies located the suitcase and contacted SDFC. Stephen Simonds and K-9 Kyra. Kyra is the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office Explosive Detection K-9. As SDFC. Simonds and Kyra were responding to the Governmental Center, other deputies arrived, and as a precaution, began evacuating the front part of the Governmental Center as well as the St. Mary’s County STS bus stop located just outside of the Governmental Center. Additionally, deputies were sent inside of the Carter Building in an attempt to locate the subject.

SDFC. Simonds and Kyra arrived and scanned the suitcase. Deputies located and identified the subject, male, 50 from Morganza, Maryland. K-9 Kyra did not alert on the suitcase and the subject was interviewed. It was determined the suitcase contained the subject’s personal belongings and clothing. The subject stated he needed to go into the Carter Building to conduct personal business. The subject knew all persons and packages are searched going into the building. He did not want to carry his large suitcase into the building causing the security personnel unnecessary time and trouble searching suitcase so he left it outside. Although the subject increased concern and caused a law enforcement response, he had not committed a criminal offense. Deputies obtained his information and sent him on his way.

For all of the police officers involved in this cluster-search of the suitcase, the officials ought to know that their STS system offers no package storage for transit users even though it is trying to increase ridership to offset the rising cost of fuel. At least the incident this past week didn’t result in the deputies surrounding the Carter Building and sending in an armored vehicle to find the man and then when the did, to shoot him. Even though our local cops, far from the real threats of homeland security, decided to evacuate part of the building, we should all be thankful that they didn’t close down Rt. 245 like the cops did when they found a dead man in a shopping center on Rt. 5 in Charlotte Hall. The man had been dead for hours when the main highway into the county was shut down but, golly, someone thought it was a good precaution to jam up traffic flow, maybe it would give them more spectators.

The 1998 Board of Commissioners are the ones who installed the "greeter" at the front door of the Governmental Center when an estranged boyfriend of an employee caused troubles for the office workers. That incident triggered a knee jerk response from then Administrator Al Lacer, who had no experience as an administrator prior to being hired by that commissioner board. Lacer’s response was to install a glass-enclosed booth with an armed guard to intimidate all visitors. This private security guard, with no known training, was expected to be able to use that sidearm even though at least 50 cops are across the street in the Sheriff’s Headquarters on most work days when the county office building is open for business. For decades, one could enter the county office building by multiple doors, just sneak in the side door, go down the side stairwell and creep in to the Treasurers Office to buy dog tags or pay your taxes. But Lacer and the Board of Commissioners decided that all doors to the building must be locked and everyone must enter through one door and be confronted by an armed but ill-trained guard.

The Board elected in 2002 got rid of the armed guard but kept all the rest of ‘unwelcoming center’.

Could the waste brought about by this incident been prevented by some training? Could the commissioners simply return to the former courtesy booth staffed by the nice old ladies who knew everything, knew where to get anything, would sell you a recipe book put out by a local fraternal group and at the same time functioned as the county’s telephone switchboard instead of the infernal voice mail system that county staff uses to keep from answering their phones.

The stores won’t let you bring in a package and will watch it for you.

The security personnel with the big scanners who make everyone empty their pockets and purses of knives and guns don’t bother scanning packages entering the courthouse, they simply wave through the UPS drivers. It was package delivered by a UPS driver to a Western Maryland Circuit Courthouse which severely injured a judge when it blew up.

Even though the "greeter" at the front door requests folks to sign in, there is no law that requires it, and signing in ‘Donald Duck’ works as well as any other name.