Farewell and Godspeed


President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, left, President George H.W. Bush; President Bill Clinton; Secretary of State Condoleesa Rice pay their respects upon arrival at St. Peter's as Pope John Paul II lies in state.  White House photo by Eric Draper

Statement from President George W. Bush on the passing of the Pope

Statement from President Bill Clinton on the passing of Pope John Paul II

Gone is the only man half the world's population knew as "the Pope"...within two weeks his successor will be picked by the College of Cardinals meeting in the Sistine Chapel.  As the man who traveled further and met more people spreading his message of hope, peace, goodwill, dignity of the human spirit and respect for life, he will go down in history as propelling the end of Communist control over Eastern Europe and the breakup of the Soviet Union, along with Britain's Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan. Pope John Paul II caught the attention of the world and brought relevancy to traditional message in these modern times with his preaching the
Gospel of the Lord.

The Instructions of the Pope to the College of Cardinals on Selecting a New Pope

Donations to support the initiatives of the Catholic Church can be made directly to the Vatican and to assist with the expenses of the Pope's funeral

Biography of Pope John Paul II

Remarks by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick
The Pope Led With A Clear Voice

Commentary
by Daniel Schorr
Two very different lives exposed by the media grip us all


Radio DJ Picked as Nats Announcer

Tax Gap Nears $300 Billion, Says IRS

Tax Shelter Scam 'Son of Boss' Shut Down By IRS

Deputies Round
Up 3 On Warrants
Story

Dyson Bill to Assure Adequate Public Facilities Passes Senate 42-2  

Stem Cell Bill Muddled in Maryland Senate

Senate Votes to Scrap House Budget Story

Motorists Under Arrest for Possession of Nearly Every Type of Drugs
Its a daily buffet line
of drug abuse   Story

No excuse for any more
flab at Coast Guard
Station St. Inigoes

State Senate Nixes
Property Tax Cut Plan

Per Pupil Spending Up in Maryland
Story

Faiths vary on life-or-death care choices

Calvert's Country Flavor Abounds in April  Story

College Can Kill
Get inoculated now to protect against diseases of the Ivory Tower
Story

Maryland tops among higher ed despite local dummies  Story


This was the scene in Great Mills at 1:44 pm on Monday, March 28th, just minutes after three St. Mary's Sheriff's Deputies left after halting traffic for a tow truck to remove a vehicle which had hydroplaned and went off Chancellors Run Road into the creek, due to flood waters washing across the roadway. Without warning signs or road flares in place, another wreck occurred with serious consequences.  ST. MARY'S TODAY photo
Bungled Handling of Road Hazard Traps Unsuspecting Motorists
(March 28, 2005) Deputies Cleared Scene of Flooded Road Without Leaving Flares or Warning Signs, 45 Minutes Later Serious Wreck Took Place, One Vehicle on Fire While Firefighters Struggled to Cut Out Victim...The State Highway Administration knows that this roadway, along with Rt. 244 at Our Lady's Church flood with heavy rains yet neither roadway was marked...Deputies could have stayed on the scene of the Chancellors Run flooding until SHA trucks arrived but they didn't ... SHA trucks arrived on Rt. 244 after flooding subsided, crews then put out signs warning of high water.
Police Say Local Bank Manager Dipped into ATM's for Big Bucks!
Are you missing money from your Community Bank of Tri-county account in past two years? 
Any theft should have been spotted in one week, what in the world was the bank management doing?
A banking expert says bank directors are personally liable for loss..
Take a look, as this dipsy-doodle bank says their Lexington Park manager stole from ATM machine funds, he might have dipped into your account too!  It took the bank two years to find out their manager was allegedly bilking the bank of money, will they worry about your money?  Take a long, hard look!  Remember, its all about your money...exactly how much do they know is missing at this point?  Only The Shadow knows for sure and you can get a peek by clicking here...
Story
Speed and Alcohol End Man's Life
Story

This Flatfoot Fast Enough to Catch Kid; Found Crack in Sock
More news from the Southern Maryland Police Beat


Fail to feed your dog or provide water for it in the backyard of your home and the St. Mary's County Animal Control Wardens will seize your dog, feed it and send Sheriff's Deputies around to arrest you for animal cruelty....at least it is legal for you to put a .38 into your dog's head to put it out of it's misery, if it is terminally ill....Terri is not terminally ill, her husband just wants to get on with his life....
Federal and Florida Courts to Terri:
Drop Dead

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick:
Euthanasia is Wrong     Statement

Open Letter to Gov. Bush
 Bush Should
Save Terri

Police Say Woman Is Career Drunk Driver
 Too Drunk to Stand on Easter Saturday...can she color Easter Eggs in jail?  Story and more from Southern Maryland Police Beat

Wife Dead,
Husband Injured
HUGHESVILLE (March 24, 2005) A Mechanicsville was woman killed and her husband seriously injured when their vehicle went out of control near the Farmer's Market in Hughesville.  Maryland State Police Cpl. Graham of the La Plata Barracks reports that the couple were northbound in the rain on Rt. 5 on Wednesday afternoon when Stewart McArthur, 66, lost control of his vehicle and hit a utility pole, killing his wife, Nellie Adams McArthur, 69.

Ziggy's Latest Piggy!
St. Mary's Sheriff Democrat David Zylak's newest budget busting proposal for the St. Mary's Commissioners calls for 20 new deputies and surges the Sheriff's Dept. budget to over $24 million!  Rush down to Donut Connection today, with 20 new deputies in the county there won't be a donut left in the land of the flask, the fiddle and the dark roasted possum!
Crashtown USA
(March 15, 2005) --- HERMANVILLE Another Rt. 235 wreck has produced injuries, police, fire and rescue are responding to a 2 car collision just north of Hermanville Road.  More later...

Piggy-back
One way to cut down on congestion on La Plata roadways is to double up...the top car ran over top of the bottom one on Charles Street in La Plata on Monday.  No one was hurt, photo courtesy of La Plata Vol. Fire Dept.
Hambone's Folly
Results of St. Mary's
Board Big Junket to
New York City:
Bond Rating Never Changed
story

Traveling in Maryland? Seven toll facilities await your trip across or under Maryland's rivers, bays and harbors, or along I-95...some collect tolls each way while others allow free travel in one direction and charge for the other. 
List of Maryland's toll facilities
and the rates they charge...

Taxing Trouble
 for Tax Preparer
Local woman charged with bad math, at least...story

Coast Guard Puts On Security Show in New York; Leaves Passenger Ferries Unguarded
Story

Still Stuck in Nightmare Traffic Tie-Ups? 
CSX Will Take Rumble Out of Railroad Crossings in
 Southern Maryland
 CROOM--- On the CSX line which runs from Bowie down into Charles County at Aquasco and Morgantown, the railroad will smooth out the ride for commuters who cross the track.  But as commuters know, the Ehrlich Administration continues to oppose any commuter rail operation in Southern Maryland even though the rest of Maryland is served by the MARC system, therefore, the only time commuters are near the railroad track is when they cross it in their vehicles.
 Story



Alter Table with Relic from First Maryland Chapel Almost Tossed on Trash Heap.   Big news at St. Mary's City comes with the discovery of a key part of the first brick Jesuit Chapel at Maryland's colonial capital.  Story in this week's print edition.
Another Fatal Wreck on Rt. 301
WALDORF --- Just north of the Charles County line near Waldorf, a traffic wreck on Tuesday evening took yet another life.  

High Winds May Have Sunk Tangier Island Waterman
Story

200 Rally to Decry Racist Epithet Written in Snow at NAACP Office
HERMANVILLE --- Politicians and church leaders joined NAACP officials in condemning racist remarks written in the snow in front of the offices of the National Association of Colored People (NAACP) located on Rt. 235 in Hermanville.
NAACP members reported that someone had used spray paint to write the words in the snow.
St. Mary’s Commissioners Dan Raley (D. Great Mills), Tommy McKay (R. Hollywood, and Kenny Dement (R. Piney Point) appeared at the Zion United Methodist Church in Hermanville along with States Attorney Richard Fritz and a representative of Sheriff David Zylak to listen to the anti-hate crime rally and promised that the perpetrators of the crime would be persecuted as well as prosecuted, much to the approval of approximately 200 persons who attended the rally.

Buck Knifed Old Man
Arrest made in Sunday murder

Waterfront Real Estate Keeps On Leaping in Value
Story

Armed Robbers in Wild West PG County Close Another Business
Cedarville Country Store to Close Forever.  In the last year the old store on Cedarville Road at Ashbox Road has been robbed four times as the nature and character of Southern Prince George's County has turned from a rural area to one dominated by criminals who are cutthroat and ruthless while the police are led by silly politicians who pretend that there is no crime in Gorgeous Prince George's.  In one robbery at the store, the burglars wrapped a cable around the ATM machine and the safe and hooked it to a truck, ripping them through a wall.   The owner is throwing in the towel and is having an auction on Wednesday, March 9th. Be there early. 

Southern Maryland
Police Beat:
Jail Bird Head Bang

Walking in the road proved fatal; too fast driver couldn't stop, killed man ... and more police beat stories

Did the St. Mary's Board Go To A Broadway Show and Put It On the Bill? Why did Tommy McKay take his girlfriend along on official business while the other commissioners left their wives at home? 
Stay tuned for more on this junket to New York City by the commissioners....

Inmate Killed Self in Charles County Jail
LA PLATA --- The Charles County Sheriff's spokesman has identified the inmate who committed suicide today as Logan Selby Courtillet, 20, of no fixed address. Courtillet was arrested on Jan. 18 and charged with trespassing. He was being held on that charge at the Detention Center on a $1,500 bond.

Clem Tippett Dead at 86
Owner of Tippett's Texaco, US Army Veteran Died Monday
Obituary

A new way to run the schools:
 closed due to FORECAST?
Only The Shadow knows for sure!
Who in cold blazes is the St. Mary's County school superintendent listening to when making the decision to close schools?   Vernon Gray has this to say about it...Snookered

Man's Truck Attacked by Train
MALCOLM --- That is the way much of the national media reports it when a vehicle is placed on railroad tracks and gets hit by a train the way it happened in Charles County last week.  For the record, the trains are supposed to be on the tracks, the vehicles are supposed to cross the tracks when a train is not approaching. But a local man ran out of gas last week, guess where?  Right on the tracks and he went off to get help and didn't push the truck off the tracks and left it there for a train to push for him.  Charles County Sheriff's spokesman Kristen Adkins reports that  On Feb. 25 at 3:08 a.m., Charles County Sheriff's officers responded to the railroad tracks on Poplar Hill Road near Woodville Road in Malcolm for the report of a motor vehicle collision involving a train. Police say Norman Linwood Yaser, 46, of Waldorf, was unable to remove the vehicle from the tracks because of inclement weather and left the area to seek assistance. A southbound train struck the vehicle. No one was injured and no charges were filed. Officer J. Vaino investigated.
Driver Arrested for DWI after Sandgates Crash
Public Takes a Chance With This Driver Loose on Area Roadways
SANDGATES ---  Maryland State Police confirmed today that the driver who was involved in a wreck on Sandgates Road on Friday was charged with DWI.  According to Lt. Brian Cedar, Commander of the Leonardtown Barracks of the Maryland State Police, Dean Chance was locked up on charges of DWI. 

Local Restaurateur & Businessman J. Frank Abell Dead at 94 
For years, motorists rolled down Rt. 5 to stand in line at Frank Abell's Steakhouse in Charlotte Hall.  Slot machines were lined up and the fabulous Friday night buffet packed in folks who gobbled up tons of steamed shrimp and played the slots. Frank Abell was one of ten children.   Story
Two Killed in Waldorf Wreck
PCP Killer on Rt. 301 collision takes two lives in 3:00 am Saturday smash-up, police carted off Crown Royal bottle at scene as evidence.

ST. MARY'S TODAY photo by Spencer Stevenson
The body of one of two persons killed on Rt. 301 in Waldorf Saturday lies covered under a sheet next to one of the vehicles which was involved in the crash.   Story

The Speeding, The Untalented keep up the buffet line of wrecks on area roadways...2 on Friday night in Lexington Park area, one at Park Hall on Rt. 5 and shortly thereafter on Rt. 235 at Chancellors Run Road, barely leaving time for Bay District firefighters to repack their equipment and for Lexington Park Rescue Squads to put out clean sheets in the back of the meat wagons....

Bay District firefighters work to pry people out of smashed car.  Photo courtesy of Bay District Volunteer Fire Dept.
Kid Shot in Head
Another case of Russian Roulette
Accidental self-inflicted Parents not at home
Boy still alive, condition grave....

GOLDEN BEACH  --- A kid who was shot in the head tonight apparently fired the shot himself in an tragic accident, said Maryland State Police Barracks Commander Lt. Brian Cedar.
It wasn't a case of attempted suicide, it wasn't a case of murder, but according to police sources, this latest shooting in Golden Beach was a case of Russian Roulette, with the 12-year old kid who is now near death, playing with a small caliber gun with two other boys, both of them younger than him.  After about 7:23 pm, emergency rescue squad members from Mechanicsville responded to a 911 call for help at a home across from 39520 Terrell Drive in Golden Beach. When rescue volunteers arrived they found the boy to be alive and reported he had a pulse. The bad weather conditions had the helicopters grounded and the boy was transported alive to St. Mary's Hospital. A helicopter was being requested to take the boy to Children's Hospital.  The boy's condition is as about as critical as it can get, prayers from all those willing to say them are warranted.
The joint criminal investigation team of the State Police and the St. Mary's Sheriff's Dept. is conducting an extensive investigation.
At this time, police do know that there were no parents at home at the time of the shooting and that the house was a mess.  The ownership of the hangun is being investigated, along with how the weapon came to be in the possession of the three kids.
Three months ago another 12-year-old in the same neighborhood pulled the trigger on a handgun and killed a man when he was dared to fire the gun.   In this latest shooting, one of the other kids present ran across the street to his home to call for help.
 

Police Beat: Mayhem at large over Southern Maryland    Woman charged with staking boyfriend in chest

Hoyer to Host Town Hall Meeting on Social Security

Black Bandit
Strikes in Waldorf
While some armed robberies in Waldorf lately have been conducted by bandits wearing chartreuse, other more traditional bandits wear black, as if they just came home from a funeral or are trying out for a part in the Little Theatre production of The Grim Reaper....Story

Waldorf Man Killed in
Iraq Led by Example

Man Charged with Rape 
Story

Leader in Real Estate, Civic Activities; Ray Runco Dead at 74  Obituary

ACLU Joins Conservative Groups Urging Reform of Patriot Act     Story

Health Dept. Vows To Clean Out Cat House
First it was streetwalkers being rounded up in Lexington Park over the past year, women selling their bodies to motorists along Great Mills Road in broad daylight, now its a case of an out-of-control cathouse in the heart of Leonardtown....Story

Will Navy Training Sink Bloodsworth Island?

Delegate Deadly:

Del. Tony O'Donnell, a Republican who represents St. Mary's and Calvert, voted against the bill restricting teen drivers despite statistics showing inattentive young drivers crash and die at alarming rates.  See story in print edition this week, now on newsstands...

Southern Maryland Police Beat, latest wrap up of St. Mary's drug arrests as reported by the St. Mary's Sheriff's Dept.:
Driving Backwards Was Tip-Off That Driver Was Drunk

Snow Job Over Civil Rights
The Weak Sisters of the NAACP Ignore Real Discrimination in Hiring and Promotions of Women and Minorities in St. Mary's Sheriff's Dept. While Moaning and Groaning Over Spray-Painted Racist Remarks in the Snow...was rally over snow job just an excuse to take off work? see editorial in this week's print edition.

Letter to the Editor:
SMECO Rates Searing
Working Folks

House passes bill
restricting teen drivers

Carjackers Kidnap Retired Police Official
Story
St. Mary's War Widow Grieves Lost Husband
Story


Charles, PG & State Police Nab Last Call Bandits  Story

PG Teen Car Theft Gang Arrested
Story

Slots Inch Forward in Annapolis
Story

Four Mowed Down in PG Gunfire as Crime Continues to Sweep Rotting County
Four people were shot near a club on the D.C./P.G. County line around
3:05 a.m. Saturday. Two of those shot were in critical condition, including one that was taken to the hospital in cardiac arrest.  Two of those shot were women. Police have a possible suspect in custody.  --- Metro Mania Report by Alan Henney

House Members Host Town Hall Meetings as GOP Goes on Offense to Revamp Social Security
Story

Coast Guard Airlifts Fishing Boat Captain
Story

Four Leaf Clover
Left at Home?
Wreck with 2 vehicles, Rt. 249 and Rt. 5.
ST. MARY'S TODAY photo
Crash-Down Callaway (March 17, 2005) --- Second District Volunteers assisted three State Troopers and three deputies in attending to this crash on Rt. 5 at Rt. 249.
Republicans Oppose Property Tax Cuts in State Budget
Annapolis Newsline
Bozos Reign on Capitol Hill
Ever wonder why Congress passes so many stupid laws?  A visit this week by school children to Capitol Hill featured quiz questions from the kids to the staff of legislators.  Many of the staffers don't have a clue about our constitutional rights and that may explain why our basic rights are so threatened by the ignorant, the unaware and the treacherous...but then you already knew that! Story

Red-Letter Day
for the Navy! 
Army is now in charge of Test Pilot School Story

Sen. Mike Miller Pushes to End Right Wing Republican Election Shenanigans
Annapolis Newsline

Sen. Thomas V. "Mike"   Miller 
ST. MARY'S TODAY photo

Stolen ATVs & Motorcycles in Ridge, Drunk Driver Nabbed etc.
Police Beat

Cops, Cabbies Will Be Out in Force for St. Patrick's Day Revelers

The news direct
from Ireland

The official Irish government site

The Irish Drinking Culture
a study of risky youthful drinkers in Ireland

Going to mark St. Patrick's Day by getting drunk?  It's a tradition that is hurting the people of Ireland.

Seafarer's Jobs Nailed Down for 6 New Navy Ships  Story

Navy's New Command Aircraft Designated
Story




Letter to the Editor:
A drunken driving death is not an accident or one due to natural causes; it is a senseless act of murder.  Letter

E-Filing Jumps Dramatically 

LaPlata Family Works Hard
to Support Our Troops

Attorney Sentenced
to 4 Months Home Detention

NRA Hosts Youth Turkey Hunter Clinic

Maryland Governor Ehrlich Got It Right on Ethics
Commentary by Brad Rourke, Christian Science Monitor
 
Commentary by John T. Plecnik
Speech Free On Campus Only For Liberals


St. Clement's Island activities:
Maryland Day ceremonies on Friday, March 25th at 11 am at the museum.