Friday T-Storms 66° Saturday T-Storms 67° By Emily Finch Contributing Writer By Adam Ross Staff Writer By Adam Ross Staff Writer With healthcare costs skyrock- eting, leaving millions uninsured or underinsured, it was a relief for St. Mary’s County when CareFirst BlueCross-BlueShield offered a healthcare proposal that could save thousands of dollars. Working collaboratively, county government and St. Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) awarded Adam Ross Staff Writer See Preview page B-
By Adam Ross Staff Writer The “to-do” list of the Chesapeake Public Charter School project in Lexington Park is growing, much to the dismay of the St. Mary’s County Board of Education (BOE), which has the final say on whether the elemen- tary school will be running next school year. BOE. member William M. Mattingly said he count- ed 65 steps that need to take place between now and the school’s opening, and 46 of those were related to con- struction of the facility. “If you guys can do that, you’re good,” he added. Meanwhile, during a multilateral meeting Mon- day between the charter school’s governing board, the BOE, and representatives from the transportation com- pany providing school busses, Superintendent Michael J. Martirano made it clear that he is beyond his level of comfort and is one step from “pulling the plug.” The meeting turned somber after Margaret Meringo- lo, a member of the charter’s governing board, revealed the school had only raised $20,000 of its $105,000 target. She and other members said they were unaware that the PRSTD STD US Postage Paid Permit No. 145 Waldorf, MD See Charter School page A-6 Thursday, March 22, 2007 • St. Mary’s County, Maryland Established 2006 • Volume 2 • Issue 12 • FREE Board of Education Prepares to Delay Charter School’s Opening By Adam Ross Staff Writer With healthcare costs skyrock- eting, leaving millions uninsured or underinsured, it was a relief for St. Mary’s County when CareFirst BlueCross-BlueShield offered a healthcare proposal that could save thousands of dollars. Working collaboratively, county government and St. Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) awarded the county’s healthcare contract to CareFirst March 14, saving SMCPS $300,000 in administrative costs alone, according to Mark Lynne, the county’s healthcare consultant. As the county schools’ health- care provider for “many years,” ac- cording to Daniel L. Carney, SMCPS chief financial officer, and the Board of Education’s representative on the joint committee, CareFirst offered the “best value,” not just the best price. The committee, consisting of representatives from the county gov- ernment, SMCPS and Bolton Part- ners, factored network size, size and scope of area doctors and discounts offered, including administrative costs. “CareFirst made it pretty easy because of those three factors,” said Carney at last week’s Board of Edu- cation meeting. “And they sharp- No Changes For County Healthcare Benefits Op.-Ed ..........Page A - 4 Obits .............Page A - 7 Police ............Page B - 5 Classifieds.....Page B - 7 For Continual News Updates Visit: somd.com Local Weather Friday T-Storms 66° Saturday T-Storms 67° Sunday Sunny 62° Tennis B-1 Art A-8 Index Inconsistencies Plague Rural Preservation Task Force See Preservation page A-6 By Emily Finch Contributing Writer The Women’s Club of St. Mary’s County, Inc., in conjunction with the St. Mary’s County School Board, sponsors a “Youth for Art” program every year. “We talk to art teachers from middle and high schools, both pub- lic and private,” said Joan Springer, member of the Women’s Club. “We ask them to have their students sub- mit their best artwork to be judged and possibly win prizes.” Students’ artwork is shuffled into four classes. Class one is mid- dle school artwork, class two, high school artwork, class three is pho- tography and class four is graphic design. The works must be the stu- dents’ original idea, and created no earlier than one year prior to the ad- mission deadline. Students from Esperanza, Mar- garet Brent, and Leonardtown Mid- dle Schools, Great Mills, Chopti- con, Leonardtown and Ryken High Schools, as well as James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center, Holy Angels, Sacred Heart, Little Flower and St. Michaels participated this year. “We had a great turnout this year,” said Springer, “and I’m so proud of all the participants.” Judges came to the Carter Build- ing in Leonardtown where the stu- dent’s artwork has been on display for a month. “Qualified judges come in and rate the students artwork,” added Springer. “They chose three winners from each class, as well as a couple honorable mentions.” All participants received a certif- Youth for Art See Healthcare page A-5 See Art page A- Photo by Emily Finch Photo by Emily Finch Spring Sport’s Preview See Preview page B- Chris Bell Adam Ross Staff Writer The St. Mary’s County Commis- sioners appointed five people March 13 to explore an array of protections for the county’s agriculturally rich land, two of whom served on a com- mittee for transferable development rights and others who might have conflicts of interest once financial disclosure statements are returned. Commissioner Kenny Dement (R- Callaway) selected John K. Par- lett Jr., who served on the Adequate Public Facilities Task Force and an- other that reviewed transferable de- velopment rights (TDRs) despite his own sharp criticism a week earlier over selecting citizens who recently served on other task forces. “You need some new blood,” said the often quiet Dement. “I don’t care who they are, but they need to give some insight and ideas that are maybe a change from what the other committees have already proposed.” Yet Dement followed the lead of his fellow commissioners and nomi- nated a familiar name. When asked about the inconsistency Dement said he “would rather not comment but [he has his] reasons.” “I wasn’t real interested in hav- ing another task force,” added De- ment on Monday. “I waited to see what the other [commissioners] were considering, if they would have went differently, I probably would have went differently.” During the March 6 commis- sioner meeting, Dement said he was “not against having this task force, I just have a concern with the process.” Commissioner Lawrence Jarboe (R- Golden Beach) said it would be appropriate to have “new blood as well as old blood making decisions that are going to impact the future.” Meanwhile, according to the St. Mary’s County ethics ordinance, be- cause the RPD task force is consid- ering land use regulations, financial disclosure statements must be pro- vided from members to avoid con- flicts of interest. Commissioner Thomas A. Mat- tingly Sr., (D- Leonardtown) selected planning commission member Merl Evans, while Commissioner Daniel H. Raley (D- Great Mills) selected attorney and developer Phil Dorsey. Jarboe appointed James “Bubby” Knott, who also served on the TDR task force and is the former president of the local farm bureau. County Administrator John Sav- ich said he did not expect any ethical interest conflicts with the members chosen, but that financial disclosure statements had been mailed and should be returned shortly. “This group will not be looking at specific property,” added Savich, “but county-wide policies, and under those criteria you don’t have the di- rect conflicts as if you were talking about a particular community.” Construction Crews work on the 46 construction related steps that need to take place before the new Chesapeake Public Charter School can open by next school year. CPCS is located on Great Mills Rd. in Lexington Park, and the soon to be renovated building formerly served as the George Washington Carver Elementary School Annex.
Transcript
By Adam RossStaff Writer
The “to-do” list of the Chesapeake Public Charter School project in Lexington Park is growing, much to the dismay of the St. Mary’s County Board of Education (BOE), which has the final say on whether the elemen-tary school will be running next school year.
BOE. member William M. Mattingly said he count-ed 65 steps that need to take place between now and the school’s opening, and 46 of those were related to con-struction of the facility.
“If you guys can do that, you’re good,” he added. Meanwhile, during a multilateral meeting Mon-
day between the charter school’s governing board, the BOE, and representatives from the transportation com-pany providing school busses, Superintendent Michael J. Martirano made it clear that he is beyond his level of comfort and is one step from “pulling the plug.”
The meeting turned somber after Margaret Meringo-lo, a member of the charter’s governing board, revealed the school had only raised $20,000 of its $105,000 target. She and other members said they were unaware that the
PRSTD STD
US Postage Paid
Permit No. 145
Waldorf, MD
See Charter School page A-6
Thursday, March 22, 2007 • St. Mary’s County, Maryland Established 2006 • Volume 2 • Issue 12 • FREE
Board of Education Prepares to Delay Charter School’s Opening
By Adam RossStaff Writer
With healthcare costs skyrock-eting, leaving millions uninsured or underinsured, it was a relief for St. Mary’s County when CareFirst BlueCross-BlueShield offered a healthcare proposal that could save thousands of dollars.
Working collaboratively, county government and St. Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) awarded
the county’s healthcare contract to CareFirst March 14, saving SMCPS $300,000 in administrative costs alone, according to Mark Lynne, the county’s healthcare consultant.
As the county schools’ health-care provider for “many years,” ac-cording to Daniel L. Carney, SMCPS chief financial officer, and the Board of Education’s representative on the joint committee, CareFirst offered the “best value,” not just the best price.
The committee, consisting of representatives from the county gov-ernment, SMCPS and Bolton Part-ners, factored network size, size and scope of area doctors and discounts offered, including administrative costs.
“CareFirst made it pretty easy because of those three factors,” said Carney at last week’s Board of Edu-cation meeting. “And they sharp-
No Changes For County Healthcare Benefits
Op.-Ed ..........Page A - 4Obits .............Page A - 7Police ............Page B - 5Classifieds.....Page B - 7
For Continual News Updates
Visit:
somd.com
Local Weather
FridayT-Storms
66°
SaturdayT-Storms
67°
SundaySunny62°
Tennis B-1
Art A-8
Index
Inconsistencies Plague Rural Preservation Task Force
See Preservation page A-6
By Emily FinchContributing Writer
The Women’s Club of St. Mary’s County, Inc., in conjunction with the St. Mary’s County School Board, sponsors a “Youth for Art” program every year.
“We talk to art teachers from middle and high schools, both pub-lic and private,” said Joan Springer, member of the Women’s Club. “We ask them to have their students sub-mit their best artwork to be judged and possibly win prizes.”
Students’ artwork is shuffled into four classes. Class one is mid-dle school artwork, class two, high school artwork, class three is pho-tography and class four is graphic design. The works must be the stu-dents’ original idea, and created no earlier than one year prior to the ad-mission deadline.
Students from Esperanza, Mar-garet Brent, and Leonardtown Mid-dle Schools, Great Mills, Chopti-con, Leonardtown and Ryken High Schools, as well as James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center, Holy Angels, Sacred Heart, Little Flower and St. Michaels participated this year.
“We had a great turnout this year,” said Springer, “and I’m so proud of all the participants.”
Judges came to the Carter Build-ing in Leonardtown where the stu-dent’s artwork has been on display for a month.
“Qualified judges come in and rate the students artwork,” added Springer. “They chose three winners from each class, as well as a couple honorable mentions.”
All participants received a certif-
Youth for Art
See Healthcare page A-5
See Art page A-�Photo by Emily Finch
Photo by Emily Finch
Spring Sport’s PreviewSee Preview page B-�
Chris Bell
Adam RossStaff Writer
The St. Mary’s County Commis-sioners appointed five people March 13 to explore an array of protections for the county’s agriculturally rich land, two of whom served on a com-mittee for transferable development rights and others who might have conflicts of interest once financial disclosure statements are returned.
Commissioner Kenny Dement (R- Callaway) selected John K. Par-lett Jr., who served on the Adequate Public Facilities Task Force and an-other that reviewed transferable de-velopment rights (TDRs) despite his own sharp criticism a week earlier over selecting citizens who recently served on other task forces.
“You need some new blood,” said the often quiet Dement. “I don’t care who they are, but they need to give some insight and ideas that are maybe a change from what the other committees have already proposed.”
Yet Dement followed the lead of his fellow commissioners and nomi-nated a familiar name. When asked about the inconsistency Dement said he “would rather not comment but [he has his] reasons.”
“I wasn’t real interested in hav-ing another task force,” added De-ment on Monday. “I waited to see what the other [commissioners] were considering, if they would have went differently, I probably would have went differently.”
During the March 6 commis-
sioner meeting, Dement said he was “not against having this task force, I just have a concern with the process.”
Commissioner Lawrence Jarboe (R- Golden Beach) said it would be appropriate to have “new blood as well as old blood making decisions that are going to impact the future.”
Meanwhile, according to the St. Mary’s County ethics ordinance, be-cause the RPD task force is consid-ering land use regulations, financial disclosure statements must be pro-vided from members to avoid con-flicts of interest.
Commissioner Thomas A. Mat-tingly Sr., (D- Leonardtown) selected planning commission member Merl Evans, while Commissioner Daniel H. Raley (D- Great Mills) selected attorney and developer Phil Dorsey. Jarboe appointed James “Bubby” Knott, who also served on the TDR task force and is the former president of the local farm bureau.
County Administrator John Sav-ich said he did not expect any ethical interest conflicts with the members chosen, but that financial disclosure statements had been mailed and should be returned shortly.
“This group will not be looking at specific property,” added Savich, “but county-wide policies, and under those criteria you don’t have the di-rect conflicts as if you were talking about a particular community.”
Construction Crews work on the 46 construction related steps that need to take place before the new Chesapeake Public Charter School can open by next school year. CPCS is located on Great Mills Rd. in Lexington Park, and the soon to be renovated building formerly served as the George Washington Carver Elementary School Annex.
SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,March��,�007
Route 245Hollywood, MD 20636
301-475-2531
Route 246 & Great Mills Rd.Lexington Park, MD 20653301-862-7702
On March 26 at 7 p.m.,Dr.JamesG.Gibb,ahistori-calarchaeologist andadjunctprofessor at Anne ArundelCommunity College, willgiveapresentationaboutwhatlife and death were like inMaryland during it’s found-
ingyears.Entitled“LifeandDeathinSeventeenthCenturyMaryland” the presentationis hosted by The St. Mary’sCountyGenealogicalSocietyandtheMarylandHumanitiesCouncil.ItwillbeheldattheGarvey Senior Center in theSt. Mary’s County Govern-mental complex in Leonard-town.Admissionisfreeandallareinvitedtoattend.
UnderageDrinkingForum
The St. Mary’s CountyGovernment Division ofCommunityServicesisspon-soring an open communityforum focused on the wayssocietyallowsandencourag-es children to drink alcohol,aswellastheeffectithason
our community. This forumwillbeheldintheauditoriumofBuildingAat theCollegeof SouthernMarylandLeon-ardtowncampusfrom7-8:30p.m.onMarch28.
riaoftheschool.Doorsopenat5p.m.,EarlyBirdsstartat6p.m.,andregulargamesstartat6:30p.m.Admissionis$20which includes a book of 20regular games extra booksare$5each. Specialsare$5for 5 games andEarlyBirdsare$3forfourgames.Extraraffles, pull-tabs for baskets and food concessions willbeavailable.Therewillbeaspecialdrawingforadvancedregistration.Tomakeareser-vation,call301-812-0278.Allproceeds benefit the Northern High School Baseball Teamand Avon Breast CancerFoundation.
ChiliCook-offandAuction
Good Samaritan Lu-theran Church of LexingtonPark is sponsoring a ChiliCook-OffandAuctionSatur-day,March24.Chilijudgingbegins at 5:30 p.m., and theAauction will immediatelyfollow. Admission is free.All proceeds will benefit the Habitat for Humanity houseGoodSamaritancongregationmemberswill helpbuild thissummer. Formore informa-tion call the church office at 301-863-4740.
Benefit Dance
There will be a benefit dancefor12year-oldDarnellHoltMarch24from2-6p.m.attheBrassRailBanquetHallinGreatMills.Therewillbetwolivebands,doorprizesforadults and children, conces-sionsforsaleanda50/50raf-fle. Darnell is suffering from Becker’sMuscularDystrophyand Osteopenia, for whichthereisnocure.Theproceedsanddonationsfromthebene-fit dance will help the family willpayfortheoverwhelmingmedicalcosts. Ifyoudonotplan to attend the event, butwouldstillliketomakeado-nation, or for event informa-tion,pleasecontactDwightA.OwensJr.,at240-682-0958
MarylandDay
The St. Mary’s CountyMuseum Division inviteseveryone to celebrate Mary-land’s 373rd birthday at theSt.Clements IslandMuseumwith a commemorative pro-gram honoring the first Mary-land colonists who landed atSt.ClementsIslandMarch25,1634.Theprogramwillbeginat 5 p.m. and will concludewith a wreath-laying by theSt.ClementsIslandhistoricalmarker. Light refreshmentswillbeofferedinsidethemu-seum.Thiseventisfreeandopen to the public. The mu-seumandgroundsarehandi-capaccessible.Thiseventwillbeheldoutdoorssodressfortheweather.Incaseofinclem-entweather,theprogramwillbemovedinsidethemuseumandspacewillbelimited.Formoreinformation,contactthemuseumat301-769-2222.
FishingFair
The Southern MarylandChapter of MSSA will holdit’s 14th Annual Fishing FairatSolomonsVolunteerrescueSquad and Fire DepartmentHall off Route 2 in Lusby.TheeventwillbeheldMarch24 and 25 from 8 a.m. to 3p.m.bothdays.Therewillbemore than 80 vendor tables,30boats,anddoorprizesandraffles drawn hourly. Con-cessionswillbeavailable forsaleincludingbreakfastsand-wiches,hamburgersandbeer.Admission is $2 per person.Visit www.mssasmc.com formoreinformation.
TexasHold’emTournament
AmericanLegionPost255inRidgewillholdaNoLimitTexas Hold’em TournamentonMarch24.Signupbeginsat1p.m.withplayscheduledtobeginat2p.m.Topprizewillbe$2,000basedonalimitof80players.Therewillbea$60buy-in.Interestedplayerscancall 301-904-8244 for moreinformationortopre-register.Concessionswillbeavailableforpurchase.Allproceedsgoto our Community and ourMilitaryFamilies.
ShrimpDinner
The Ladies Auxiliaryof American Legion Post274 in Lusby will sponsor ashrimpdinner from5–7:30p.m. March 23. The costis $10 per person and din-ner includes half a pound ofsteamedshrimp,abakedpo-tato,vegetables,coleslawanda roll. For more details call410-326-3274.
Thursday, March 22, 2007 The County Times Section A - �
Annapolis Buzz
Make sure any technician performing heating or cooling service in your home has passed a criminal background check. It’s for your safety and the safety of your family. A recent bill introduced in the State of Georgia General Assembly (House Bill 620), advocates criminal record background checks on workers entering your home. If its important enough to be considered for legislation, it’s important enough for you to make sure you select a company that REQUIRES complete background checks as well as drug testing of all its technicians who enter your home. At Winters Heating and Cooling that’s exactly what we do. So you can count on us for guaranteed satisfaction as well as peace of mind. In fact, we’ll email you a photo of our technician scheduled to service your home so you’ll know exactly who to expect at the time of your appointment.
enteringKnow who’s
your home
DON’T TAKE CHANCES. PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY. CALL US TODAY FOR YOUR HEATING AND COOLING NEEDS.
Winters Heating Cooling and Indoor Air Quality22100 Point Lookout Rd.Leonardtown, MD 20650 (301) 475-5611
Kelly Weeks, Operations Manager
By Adam RossStaff Writer
Delegate Anthony J. O’Donnell (R- 29C) and Senator Nancy Jacobs (R- 34) led the charge for Jessica’s law during a special session last June, which was stripped of some key elements before it overwhelmingly passed both chambers.Jessica’s Law is named for Jessica Lunsford, a 9-year-old Florida girl who was brutally raped and killed by a registered sex offender in 2005. Florida lawmakers passed a comprehensive package of laws that most contentiously mandated first-degree rape offenders to remain in jail for 25 years, and second-degree offenders for 20 years. The House and Senate passed the bill, 126-0, and 40-5, respectively. Jessica’s law remerged in this year’s General Assembly, as Senate Bill 413, and was introduced to strengthen penalties against convicted sex offenders and eliminate the possibility for parole. This bill enjoys strong bi-partisan support, with 23 co-sponsors, 10 of which are Democrats. However, the bill is opposed by the two committee chairs in the House and the Senate, who ac-cording to O’Donnell hold “great power” over the final vote. Hearings were held in both chambers last week, where many advocates from around the state came to testify. According to the Citizens For Jessica’s Law In Maryland website, they waited over five hours to testify in the Senate, calling it a “total slap in the face to the children of Maryland.”O’Donnell said a similar injustice occurred in the house where people waited well into the eve-ning to testify, and when they finally did, the committees’ Chair, Del. Joseph F. Vallario, Jr., didn’t even stick around.
Senate Bill 8�6
Entitled: Creation of a State Debt – St. Mary’s County – Shelter for Women and Children Committee: Budget and Taxation Synopsis: Authorizing the creation of a State Debt not to exceed $250,000, the proceeds to be used as a grant to the Board of Directors of Leah’s House, Inc. for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, and capital equipping of a shelter for women and children; providing for disbursement of the loan proceeds, subject to a requirement that the grantee provide and expend a matching fund; requiring the grantee to grant and convey an easement to the Maryland Historical Trust; etc.
Senate Bill 849
Entitled: Creation of a State Debt – St. Mary’s County – SMARTCO’s Computer Technology Learning CenterCommittee: Budget and Taxation Synopsis: Authorizing the creation of a State Debt not to exceed $50,000, the proceeds to be used as a grant to Board of Directors of The Southern Maryland Applied Research and Technology Consortium, Inc. (SMARTCO) for the planning, repair, renovation, and capital equipping of the SMARTCO’s Computer Technology Learning Center; providing for disbursement of the loan proceeds, subject to a requirement that the grantee provide and expend a matching fund; estab-lishing a deadline for the encumbrance or expenditure of the loan proceeds; etc.
Senate Bill 885
Entitled: State Ethics Commission – Regulated Lobbyist – FeesCommittee: Education Health and Environmental AffairsSynopsis: Increasing from $50 to $100 the fee that a regulated lobbyist must pay each time the lobbyist files a specified registration form with the State Ethics Commission.
Senate Bill 886
Entitled: Maryland Consolidated Capital Bond Loan of 2005 – Calvert County – Old Wallville SchoolCommittee: Budget and TaxationSynopsis: Amending the Maryland Consolidated Capital Bond Loan of 2005 to change the au-thorized uses of a specified grant to the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Old Wallville School, Inc.
Senate Bill 899
Entitled: Creation of a State Debt – St. Mary’s County – Tudor HallCommittee: Budget and TaxationSynopsis: Authorizing the creation of a State Debt not to exceed $150,000, the proceeds to be used as a grant to the Board of Directors of the St. Mary’s County Historical Society, Inc. for the repair and renovation of Tudor Hall; providing for disbursement of the loan proceeds, subject to a requirement that the grantee provide and expend a matching fund; requiring the grantee to grant and convey a specified easement to the Maryland Historical Trust; establishing a deadline for the encumbrance or expenditure of the loan proceeds; etc.
Senate Bill 904
Entitled: Consumer Protection – Personal Information Protection ActCommittee: FinanceSynopsis: Requiring a business to destroy or arrange for the destruction of records that contain specified personal information in a specified manner; requiring a business that compiles, main-tains, or makes available specified personal information of an individual residing in the State to implement and maintain specified security procedures and practices; requiring businesses that compile, maintain, or make available specified records to notify specified individuals of a breach of the security of a system under specified circumstances, etc.
Senate Bill 98�
Entitled: St. Mary’s County – Board of County Commissioners – Personal Service ContractsCommittee: Education Health and Environmental AffairsSynopsis: Authorizing the Board of County Commissioners of St. Mary’s County to enter into specified personal service contracts for specified non-merit positions; providing that a specified personal service contract shall end within a specified period of time; and requiring a specified personal service contract to include a specified provision.
Senate Bill 10�0
Entitled: Critical Areas – Applications for Variances – Local Jurisdictions Committee: Education Health and Environmental AffairsSenate Action: Motion Rules Suspended for late introduction (Senator Dyson) AdoptedSynopsis: Clarifying that specified provisions of law apply to a local jurisdiction during the con-sideration, processing, and decision on an application for a specified variance notwithstanding any provision, or lack of provision, in the local jurisdiction’s local laws and ordinances; etc.
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By Adam RossStaff Writer
For almost 100 years the Maryland Cooperative Ex-tension (MCE), a non-formal education system within the college of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the Uni-versity of Maryland Eastern Shore, has contributed free educational lessons to the citi-zens of St. Mary’s County.
In front of the St. Mary’s Board of County Commis-sioners Tuesday, representa-tives from MCE showcased its versatile structure, and persis-tence to educate farmers, chil-dren and families throughout
the state. “We engage communi-
ties, groups, associations and agencies to try and achieve good goals,” said Benjamin Beale, extension educator for MCE. “Our motto is, ‘educate people to help themselves.’”
Beale deals directly with the agricultural division of MCE, which reaches out to farmers to solve problems, and provide hands-on training.
Beale works for the bet-terment of the agricultural community through a mixture of twilight tours, trial runs of old and new growing tech-niques, information resources and one-on-one consulting.
But the depth of MCE far exceeds its agricultural de-velopment curriculum. MCE engages the community to exercise better nutrition with its Food, Nutrition and Health program, and teaches families the sometimes lost, but innate interpersonal skills with its Family Life and Community program and 4-H Youth De-velopment program.
“This is not just for the children, it involves the entire family,” said Commissioner Thomas A. Mattingly Sr. of the 4-H program. “I encour-age people if never exposed to go, it’s a great way to learn
Beyond Farming, MCE Offers Learning Tools for County Residents
See Learning Tools page A-5
SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,March22,2007
PatrickDuganO’BrienRealty
Well, well, spring ishere. As of 8:07 p.m. thispast Tuesday we finally left winterandentered intooneofthemostexcitingseasonsthereis.Andwhileayoungman’s fancy may assuredlyturntoloveasweembarkonthesemostpreciousmonths,itisalsotruethatourhomesrequire the same love and
tenderness because of thewinter’streacherousblowand
dampeningscars.I’mnotjusttalkingabout
getting ready to sell either,I am talking about normalmaintenance that will makeyour house last longer, costyou less in repairs, and yes,help your house sell beforethe neglected one down thestreet.
Butbeforewe talkaboutthemaintenance let’s look atwhatwouldreallyhelpusgetready to work. Let’s look atclutter. I always say that the
first thing you should do is THROWSTUFFOUT!
Gointothegarage,attic,crawlspaceandclosets,wher-ever you store that uselessstuff. Askyourself, “Have Iuseditinthelastyear?”Iftheanswerisno,throwitout!Ob-viouslyyouhavetohavesomeitems in storage; once-a-yearholidaydecorations,campinggear,andotherseasonalitemscometomind.
But, do you really needeverything in your house?Probablynot.Byclearingoutthehomeyouaremakingthehousefeel larger.You’realsomakingiteasier tocleanandmaintain that newly foundopenspace.
Aditionally saving your-selfalotoftimeandfrustra-tionlookingforthingsthatgetlostintheclutterofamisman-agedhome.OneMomIknowtoldmeaboutherchildsaid“Ican’t find anything because of allthestuffIhave.”
Now, you may play thejunkdrawercardandpretendyou need that 1987 bustedwalkie-talkie. You may eventrytolietoyourselftomakeiteasier,butitwon’twork.Andwhile it’s easy for me to tellyoutothrowstuffaway,whoam I when it comes to yourstuff.Trythisinstead:
RENT A STORAGEUNITFORONEYEAR.
If after a year you goback to the storage unit andyouagainhavenotneededorused what is in it, THROWITOUT. I know this soundscrazy to some people but itworks.It’stoobadmyadvicedoesn’t come with a moneyback guarantee. Wait, thisnewspaperisfree.
Anyway, it will makeyour life less cluttered aswell as your home. I can’t
offeryoumoney,butIcanof-fer thepromise that this ideawillmake your life easier tomanage.
Next week I’ll share ev-erything you need to knowabouttherepairsyoucannowexecutebecauseall that junkisgone.
Asalways,sendallques-tions and comments to [email protected] put “County Times” inthesubjectline.
Happytossing!
ByAdamRossStaffWriter
You would be crazy toroot against the ChesapeakePublicCharterSchools’open-ingnextyear,andyouwouldbe even crazier to think theBoard ofEducation has any-thingbutitsbestintentionsatheart.
Bottom line, the schoolis attempting the near im-possible, and is immersed inextremely tight deadlines.Dream up any and everybuildingpermit,code,instruc-tionanddetail,rightdowntothecolorofthecarpet,andit’ssomething the Chesapeake
PublicCharterSchoolhas toaddressbeforeopening.
The Board of Educationservesasitswatchfuleye,andyoucan’tblamethemforap-plyingpressuresthathaveev-erythingtodowithfosteringasafe,adequateandproductiveinstitution for learning, andnothingtodowithmoney.
Thecharterwillcomeonline with the county’s otherpublic schools, and althoughsomeoftheteachingphiloso-phiesaredifferent,itspurposeandlinktothecounty’spub-lic school system isvirtuallyindistinguishable.Theschoolwillhelpalleviateovercrowd-ing,albeitbyasmallamount,
butitalsomakesthecountyamore desirable place to raisechildren, offering anotheralternative for families tochoose.
Our elected officials, and superintendent, if nothingelse,wantthechartertobeaflagship enterprise, to prove the capabilities of a countywillingtochangeandofferal-ternativesforthegoodofourstudentswhowillattend.
Therefore, holding theschool to the same rigorousopening day standards asany other school, seems likethe first step in a long line of processes.
If the school does not
openwithoverwhelmingsuc-cess,it isnotthecharterthatisaccountabletothestateandparents; it’s the St. Mary’sCountyBoardofEducation.
Thatsaid,thereisnowaythis charter is opening ontime.Parentswithchildrenallbut signedon thedoted line,and I hate to drive the dag-ger in before the official an-nouncement next month, buttheschoolisnotready,andifthe indications are correct, itwon’t be for at least anotheryear.
The facility might be fin-ished in time, but the fund-raising effort is months be-hind schedule, and if SenateBill 669, which would lowerthe county’sper-pupil cost ispassed, the amount the char-ter group needs to fundraisewill rise out of reach for itsJuly1deadline.
ThemeetingMondaywasacandidslapfestbytheBoardof Education to the charter’sgoverning board. And eventhough it was done politely,withgoodintention,thereal-ityof thisnovicegroup’sex-perience, and the workloadthatispackedintoatight12-monthperiod, are starting tobecomeproblems.
Whenthemanwithexpe-riencetellsyouheis“uncom-fortable,” and that the time-lineistooambitious,youstartlistening.
All along he’s been say-ing this, yet the charter con-tinues to push forward. Butgod knows what is beingoverlooked. When you starttogaugethestepsbeyondtheconstruction; the curriculumand philosophy, integratingthose two vital roles into anonexistenteducationaldirec-tororteacher,theideaisscary.Theschooldoesn’tevenhaveanacademiccalendar.
When Board of Educa-tionmemberMaryM.Wash-ingtonaskedhowthechildrenweregoingtogetexercise, ifthe schoolplanned tohave aplayground, the answer fromthe governing board was“no.”
Instead,theysaidexercisewouldn’tbethefocalpointofplaytime, and that no play-
groundwouldbeinstalled.NowI’mnoexpertinthe
field of child psychology, but because I was in elementaryschool not all that long ago,and I remember my play-ground, if I didn’t have it Iwould have probably run offor lostmyheadrunningintoawall.
Elementary school with-outaplaygroundisliketelevi-sionwithoutcable;it’spracti-callyimpossibletowatch.
Kids aregoing tobe ev-erywhere, keeping them inoneplacewithoutacenterforentertainment is just a crazyidea to me. Not all kids likebasketball or foursquare, butall kids sure love things toclimbon.
There are some inherentinadequacies with this char-terschool,andI,asdomany,hopeitopenssoonerthanlat-er,butithastobesaidthatthisisschoolisnotready.Unlessthereissomedivineinterven-tion that goes on in the nextfive weeks, those who won their spots in the lotterywillneedtowaitaawhilebeforethey cash in their winningtickets.
LetterstotheEditorIfyouwishtosendalettertotheeditor,pleaseincludeyourname, address and phone number for confirmation purposes. We willonlypublishyournameandcityofresidence.Wecanwithholdyournamebyrequestifcircumstancesmeritit.WemustreceivealllettersbyMondaymorningforpublicationinthenextissue.AnyletterreceivedlaterthanMondaywillbeheldforthefollowingissue.
WhentheSupremeCourtof theUnitedStates ruled infavoroftheCityofNewLon-don,Conn.,inacaseregard-ing private property rights,every one of us,whetherwerentorown,wasdoneagraveinjustice.
Wemust all live in con-stant fear now, fear that thegovernment will take awayourhomestogivethelandtoprivateintereststheyfeelwillgeneratemoretaxrevenues.
Forthoseunfamiliarwiththecase,inshort,theCityofNewLondonwantedtoseizepropertyinordertogiveittopharmaceutical giant Pfizer to buildacomplex.Thecityjus-tified the taking of this land throughthepowerofEminentDomain in theFifthAmend-ment to the Constitution ofthe United States. Eminent
Domain allows governmentto seizeprivate land fornec-essary public projects, suchasschoolsandroads,buthasneverbeforebeeninterpretedto include taking land fromone private interest and ced-ingittoanother.
AnotherprovisionofEm-inentDomainisthatlandcan-not be seized without givingjust compensation, anotherpart of the Supreme Law ofthe land thatwas violated inthis case. The entire justifica-tion of taking the land fromthecitizenswasthattheCitywouldseefargreatertaxrev-enues from Pfizer than from those private landowners.That being the case, does itnotstandtoreasonthatthoselandowners are getting theshort shrift? Had they hadthe chance to negotiate with
Pfizer privately, they could well have sold their land forfar more than any value thegovernmentdeemed“fair.”
In simple terms, if thelandowners accounted for ahypothetical$500peryeartotheNewLondonbudget,andPfizer was expected to pro-duce$50,000,thenfairvaluefor that land would have tostart at $50,000, annually,if not more based on futureearning potential. The NewLondon government couldnevergivethosehomeownersanythingclosetotheamounttheyexpectedtotakein,oth-erwise,therewouldbenorea-son tokick themout and setPfizer up.
So that was the first clear violation. But the second iseven more subtle and insidi-ous. For the first time in his-
tory,thegovernmenthasbeenawarded the right to decidewho gets what land. Now,thegovernment,beitfederal,stateorevenlocalSt.Mary’sCountygovernment,cankickanyone out of their home atany time. It could happen toyou.Andalltheywouldneedtodo ispayyoua“fairmar-ketvalue”foryourhomeanddemonstrate that takingyourhome and giving it to Wal-Mart,orTarget,oranyothersupercorporationwouldgen-erate more revenues for thecounty, thus contributing tothe“publicgood.”
Thisprincipleisindirectconflict with what the found-ing fathers intended whentheyrequiredthatanygovern-mentseizureoflandbedoneonlywith just compensation.Theclausewasnotwritteninto protect the government’sabilitytotakelandforpublicprojects, but to protect citi-zens against the governmentseizingtheirland.
And without one of ourmostbasicrights,therighttoproperty ownership, protect-ed,thedooriscastwideopenforgovernmentabuse.Thinkof a case where a person ishighly and publicly criticalof a local government.Whathappens if that local govern-mentdecides to tell thatper-soniftheydonotshutup,theirproperty could be seized fortheso-called“publicgood?”
Perhaps that seems far-fetched,butwith thegovern-menthavingunlimitedpowertoseizeprivateproperty,itisa possibility, and offers an-otherwayforthegovernmentto exercise control over thepopulace.
Aslongasthiscourtdeci-sionsstands,theUnitedStatesisnotafreenation.Assadasit seems,weapparentlyneeda constitutional amendmentto explain what the meaningoftheFifthAmendmentis.
Since that has not hap-pened, and little federal ac-
tionhasbeen taken, thebestwe can hope for now is thatour states will at least passlaws protecting us from thisabusebyamendingtheirownconstitutions. A simple billis not enough to protect ourland,sinceabillissubjecttochangeanytimeasimplema-jorityispresent.Onlybyen-shriningourprivatepropertyrightsinthestateconstitution,a difficult body to amend, can wesleepsafeinourhomes.
Del. Anthony O’Donnellled a charge to do just thisduring the 2006 MarylandGeneral Assembly session,but for political reasons itneverpassed.Thislawisun-der consideration again thisyear, andagainO’Donnell isonthefrontline.Soisourlo-calSenatorRoyDysonwhoisco-sponsoring thebillon theSenateside.Thistimeitmustbe passed so we can all restassured that our homes willnotbe“heretoday,corporatebusinessparkstomorrow.”
DefendingPropertyRights
Big City Boy, Small Town Heart
StrikeThree;You’reOut…
SpringCleaning
Thursday, March 22, 2007 The County Times Section A - �
Lunch Seating fromThursday - Saturday 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
I know your mother taught you to wash your hands before
you ate. And since you were a good little child, you did so. She may have reminded you a bazillion times, but eventu-ally you started doing it on
your own. Then you became all adult and grown-up and stopped washing your hands. How do I know this? I know this because every day I see
people in restaurants and pub-lic bathrooms NOT washing their hands. Ugh.
You know mothers are always right and science and
medical research have proven her wisdom in this area. If you’ve noticed, there are now signs in a lot of public bath-rooms with instructions on how to properly wash your hands. Part of me thinks this is a sad state of affairs, but the practical part of me is glad that there are instructions. Now if only the senseless people would follow them.
My question is – why are there adults not washing their hands after using the bath-room? What possible reason or excuse can you have? Do you not realize the germs you’re picking up and spread-ing? Colds, the flu, norvo vi-rus, gastrointestinal distress. You use the bathroom and don’t wash your hands and then you’re touching all kinds of things that other people have to touch.
You go buy a cup of cof-fee and hand the poor clerk money with your dirty hands. Now you’ve passed on your bad hygiene to this unsuspect-ing person. They give change to someone else and it’s passed on again. Just think about it for a minute.
I am often harassed at work because the guys all
think I’m a germ-a-phobe. I have my little hand wipes that I use when we go out to eat and they think that’s pretty funny. I think the guys are pretty gross. Recently, a group of us were on travel and eight or nine of us went out to dinner one night. At the restaurant, not one of them got up to wash their hands nor did they use a hand wipe (even though I of-fered!). Their reasoning was that they had washed their hands before leaving the ho-tel. Okay, you wash your hands before you leave your hotel room then you touch: your door knob, the front door of the hotel, the car door, the restaurant’s front door, the menu that has been handled by countless other unwashed hands. Yeah, sure, I can see how your hands are clean af-ter all that!
Call me a germ-a-phobe or a clean freak or whatever you want; I’m buying stock in the company that makes my little hand wipes – I have to protect myself from you dirty, germ-ridden people who are too lazy or too stupid to wash your hands. You know, How-ard Hughes wasn’t completely crazy…
Ramblings From A Country Girl
Wash Your Hands!
ened their pencil and actually reduced administrative costs that they are currently charg-ing us.”
The unanimous approval on March 14 marked the end of a yearlong competitive procurement process. Under the new agree-
ment, benefits and costs for county employees, teachers and administrators will not
change, Carney said. The contract was also ap-
proved at the March 6 Board of County Commissioners meeting unanimously for county government employ-ees who receive healthcare benefits. SMCPS’ budget in brief for fiscal year 2008
set aside $2 million for what was an expected increase in healthcare premiums, but now that is not the case, and Carney can increase the bud-get by $1 million, and set up a $1 million escrow account for future hikes.
“I think all of us can be happy to take a million off the budget,” said Cathy Allen, a board of education member, “and that there is no change in coverage for employees.”
One of the advantages of choosing CareFirst is that fu-ture costs rely largely on the actual usage by employees, Lynne said.
“You pay for the health-care usage plus fixed costs,” he added.
However, commissioner
Thomas A. Mattingly, Sr. felt the plan’s advantage was that “it affords employees the abil-ity to do solid preventative care.”
“We certainly moni-tor abuse of the system, and I don’t think we have that,” Mattingly said. “But if we can have a healthy work force, we will be able to keep that number low and see some real savings.”
The contract was award-ed for a period of six years, but must be renewed annu-ally. Either side can opt out of the contract each year, but Carney scoffed at the idea of CareFirst dropping a $20 mil-lion client.
Carney said the renewal option is good for both sides
because it allows CareFirst to look at the county’s usage and trends in the medical indus-try, while the county can hold a competitive procurement each year if it chooses.
“Remember that this is something we are constantly looking at,” said Superinten-dent Dr. Michael J. Martirano. “This is translating into real dollars, and I’m pleased with the results of this report.”
The Board of Education unanimously approved the contract allowing Carney to notify the county’s contract-ing office to release the paper-work for signing.
HealthcareContinued from page A-1
about Southern Maryland and life beyond farming.”
The 4-H program offers a slew of youth programming, from after school care to a livestock auction event.
MCE currently offers af-ter school programs at Lex-ington Park, Green Holly and Carver Elementary Schools.
MCE is also working collaboratively with public schools to implement a Food Stamp Nutrition Program, which provides educational programming to food stamp participants and those eligible
for the stamps to make health-ier food choices, develop skills in food preparation, handle food safely and increase their physical activity.
But the crowning achievement for 4-H was its participation in last year’s St. Mary’s County Fair, accord-ing to Stephanie Guy, a 4-H program assistant.
“More than 1300 exhibits were entered at the fair,” said Guy, “and more than 130 proj-ects in animal, human and en-vironmental sciences.”
Commission President
Francis Jack Russell, fond of the agricultural initiatives of MCE especially those deal-ing with children praised the MCE representatives for their hard work and focus to youth programming.
Aboard his skipjack, Rus-sell too takes part in passing along environmentally impor-tant lessons to grade school students throughout the coun-ty each year.
“I think at least every kid should learn how to milk a cow at least once in their life-time,” said Russell.
Learning ToolsContinued from page A-3
Photo by Emily Finch
Chaptico Chargers 4-H Club makes contribution to the Three Oaks shelter in Lexington Park, Md., on Feb. 21, 2007. Members of the club delivered flashlights, blankets, bed linens, and first aid kits to residents of the shelter.
Carefirst Blucross-Blueshield booklets like these will explain medical benefits to St. Mary’s County and Public School employees. Carefirst won the procurement bid to provide the county’s health benefits by offering a plan that will save the county at least $300,000.
SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,March22,2007
Raley asked whether itwould be a conflict of interest for a committee member liv-ingintheRPDtostudyRPDland value. County attorney Christy Chesser said it would
be advantageous to have a mix of people living in and out of the RPD, and that zoning isbroad enough to eliminate that concern.
Among the issues the
task force will consider are a mandatory or voluntary agri-culture overlay; suggestions to put value on farmland; easement programs; and other techniques to preserve agri-
cultural farmland. The commissioners de-
layed their appointments by a week due to uncertainty of the size and scope of the task force.
“My concern is that thatweareabletogrowinthede-velopment districts, but at the same time those environmen-tally sensitive areas are pre-served,” said Jarboe. “People
who live in the [RPD] should have incentives to maintain that lifestyle.”
entire sum of money had to be raised by July 1, and if not the schoolwouldbeunabletobal-ance its budget and open.
“That’s something we have been saying over and over again,” said Cathy Al-len, a BOE member. “It’s not something we just popped up with right this second.”
Allen said later she ex-pected the school to have raised$75,000to$80,000bynow, and such a small number “was a shock.”
To complicate matters further, legislation filtering throughtheMarylandLegis-
lat u re
would, if passed, decreasetheBOE’sspending per pu-pil from 98 to 86 percent, which ac-cording to DanCarney, SMCPS chief financial of-ficer, levy an addi-tional $300,000 tothe charter’s fund-raising efforts.
“If Senate Bill 669 went through it would make their fundraising effort unrealistic,” added Carney.
On March 8, thecharter school held a formal lottery filling 160 kindergar-ten through fifth-grade school seats,andwasabletosecure100 additional students on its waiting list.
The lottery was an impor-tant step in moving the charter forward, as is the construction of the site, which according to John B. Norris, Jr., a profes-sional engineer for the school, is on target.
Still, many questions re-main unanswered for Marti-rano and the BOE, who feel the project is “down to the wire.”
“I don’t get comfortable until everything is truly in the bank,” added Martirano. “The legislation is the wildcard, if that gets passed than I would recommending the schools’ delay for another year,
minimally.” In the past, Martirano has
had a hand in opening two public schools that needed up to two years to open success-fully, and those institutions didn’t need to fundraise or deal with other variables the first-time Chesapeake Public Charter School group is con-tending with.
“I think another year might be beneficial for all of us…Theworstthingisweareled down the path of thinking things fine, and then we are stuck when we’ve engaged teachers, families and trans-portation,” added Martirano. “We are proceeding with caution, but with risk takingtoo.”
As of Monday, CPCS had not hired an educational di-rector, or any staff, although
a number of teachers through-out the county have applied.
A somewhat dejected Meringolo and CPCS proj-ect manager Stacy Maffei, openly admitted the project isonshakyground,andsaidafter the meeting that even if the opening was delayed they would continue to see theproject through.
“Some days I’m high, and then there are days youlookandittakesthewindoutof your sails,” said Maffei. “There are things when youget down to the nitty-grittythat make me nervous.”
If the BOE decided to de-lay the opening another year, Chesapeake Public Charter School (CPCS) would not lose its charter.
T h eBOE will make a final recom-mendation to move forward or delay thecharter’s open-inganotheryearby the middle of next month, Martirano said.
L o c a lboards of edu-cation act asthe primary chartering au-thority for
char- terschools,whichare held to the same academic standards as the county’s pub-lic schools.
CharterSchoolContinued from page A-�
COME TO AVENUE & COLTON POINT!
Holy Angels Seafood Dinner, March 25th, Noon to 4. (301-769-3332) - Holy Angels Hall 21335 Colton Point Road (RT. 242) Avenue, MDMaryland Day Mass & K of C Living Rosary @ Holy Angels Church - Sun., March 25th. Rosary 9:45 am/Mass 10:30 am – Fr. John BarryMd. Day Ceremony, 5:00pm – St. Clement’s Is. Museum (@Colton Pt.) - Riverfront, with County Officials and Featured Speaker-- Dr. Martirano. April 8th, Easter Sunrise Mass, 6:30am, Colton Point Riverfront - Holy Angels Church Masses for Easter: 8:00 am and 10:30 am (choir)School Registration @ Holy Angels Sacred Heart Pre-K - 8th Grade Registration Needed NOW $3,800 per pupil ($400 less in-parish) Website:www.ha-sh.org , 301-769-3389 busses to L’town/Mech’ville
Directions: Take Rt. 234 (Budds Creek RD.) to 4-way stop in Clements (Pilkerton’s Gas Station), turn on Rt. 242 (Colton Point RD) to Potomac. Go 10 min.to Avenue. School, church and hall are past the post office. Museum/Colton Pt. water-front is five minutes past Holy Angels on 242.
PreservatonContinued from page A-�
Aberdeen, Maryland- Two of Governor Martin O’Malley’s top cabinet secre-taries will be featured speak-ers at the Maryland Economic Development Association’s (MEDA) Spring Conference, “Groundwork for the Fu-ture,” where issues related to Base Realignment and Clo-sure (BRAC) process will be discussed.
The conference will be held Wednesday, April 11, 2007 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the J.T. Daugherty Conference Center in Lexington Park, St. Mary’s County.
Secretary of Business and Economic Development Da-vid W. Edgerley will review his direction for the depart-ment in the keynote speech at 12:30 p.m. Secretary of Trans-portation John D. Porcari will focus on the new administra-tion’s transportation priorities in his presentation at 10:30 a.m.
“MEDA is fortunate to be able to hear directly from two Administration leaders who will shape the state’s eco-nomic development and trans-portation programs over the next four years,” said MEDA President John Savich. “Our
partnerships with state gov-ernment are critical to our ef-forts to bring jobs and capital investment to Maryland.”
The conference also will feature two panels that will fo-cus on the growth expected in Marylandlaterthisdecadeasa result of the BRAC process. At 9 a.m., attendees will hear from a panel of experts who learned valuable lessons from Southern Maryland’s rapid growth in the mid- 1990’s as a result of an earlier BRAC round.
Panel members will in-clude Delegate John L. Bo-hanan, Jr.; Gary V. Hodge, Charles County Commis-sioner; Todd B. Morgan, vice president og Egan McAllister Associates, Inc.; and Timothy S. Smith, director of Technol-ogy Systems & Business So-lutions, LLC. At 11:15 a. m., another expert panel will fo-cus on how the private sector can capture incoming invest-ments and deal with increased competition as a result of the BRAC – related growth.
Panelist will includeJoanne P. Evans, Senior Busi-ness Development Manager, SAIC; Gino Gemignani, Jr., Senior Vice President, The
Whiting- Turner Contracting Company; James Mirabile, Director BRAC Initiatives, BGE; And Catherine W. Ward Senior Vice President, Asset Management and Leas-ing, Corporate Office Proper-ties Trust.
Following the formal program, conference attend-ees can participate in a tour of the Leonardtown Wharf development, sponsored by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development.
MEDA enhances theknowledge and skills of its 460 members and encourages partnerships and network-ing among those committed to bringing jobs and invest-ment to Maryland. In addi-tion to quarterly conferences, members have access to op-portunities, discounts and scholarships for professional development, and can par-ticipate in awards programs that recognize the best eco-nomic development projects or programs, redevelopment projects or programs, and marketing efforts in the state of Maryland.
BRACDiscussionsContinue
Photo by Emily Finch
Photo by Emily Finch
Photo by Emily Finch
Photo by Emily Finch
Workers construct the outer walls of the new CPCS from top to bottom.
Many farms in St. Mary’s County raise animals and crops for personal, rather than commercial, purposes.
There are 244,000 acres of farmland in Southern Maryland, with 61,153 of that in St. Mary’s County.
Thursday, March 22, 2007 The County Times Section A - 7
ObituariesJohn “Jackie” Paul Bell,
Sr., 69
J o h n “Jackie” Paul Bell, Sr., 69, of Leonard-town, Md., died March 17, 2007 at his residence in Leonardtown. Born April 7, 1937 in Leon-ardtown, Md., he was the son of the late Paul A. and Edna Marie Woodburn Bell.
He was the loving hus-band of the late Margaret Loker Bell whom he married June 7, 1958 in Our Lady’s Church, Leonardtown, Md., and who preceded him in death on April 2, 2003.
He is survived by his children; John P. Bell, Jr., William A. Bell, David M. Bell, P. Daniel Bell, all of Leonardtown, Md., and Susan B. Cousineau of Hollywood, Md., siblings; Mary Edna Bowles of Leonardtown, Md., Lois Ann “Potsie” Dement of California, Md. and Mar-gie Quade of Leonardtown, Md.. He is also survived by his 9 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.
Bell was a life-long resi-dent of St. Mary’s County and was employed as a newspaper distributor. He enjoyed farm-ing, hunting, trapping, soft-ball, crabbing, the Baltimore Orioles and belonged to the Farm Bureau and AARP.
The family received friends on Monday, March 19th 2007 at the Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home in Leonardtown, Md.
Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 10:00 AM at Our Lady’s Catholic Church, Leonardtown, Md., with Fr. Thomas LaHood offi-ciating. Interment followed in the church cemetery. Pallbear-ers were Johnny Bell, Billy Bell, David Bell, Danny Bell, Davey Bell and John Leskin-en. Honorary pallbearers were Jay Cousineau, Billy Bell Jr., Daniel Bell, James Goddard, Jake Bell, Scott Cousineau and Gary Quade Jr.
Contributions may be made to the Hospice of St. Mary’s, P.O. Box 625, Leonar-dtown, MD, 20650. Arrange-ments provided by Matting-ley-Gardiner Funeral Home, P.A.
Marguerite “Mocky” Elizabeth Brubacher, 87
Margue-rite “Mocky” E l i z a b e t h Br ubacher, 87, of Med-ley’s Neck Rd. in Leonard-town Md. died March 16, 2007 at her resi-dence in Leonardtown.
Born June 3, 1919 in Medley’s Neck, Md., she was the daughter of the late Walter Aloysius and Clotilda Abell Woodburn. She was the lov-ing wife of Werner “Johnny” Brubacher, whom she mar-ried on September 15, 1940 in Leonardtown Md., and who preceded her in death on Oc-tober 10, 1971 in Leonardtown Md. She was also the loving wife of Harold D. Brubacher, whom she married on Decem-ber 1, 1973 in Leonardtown Md, and who also preceded her in death on August 28, 2000 in Leonardtown, Md.
She is survived by her children; Daniel C. Brubach-er of Alexandria Va., Mary Jane Perigo of Leonardtown Md., Johanna Malone of Mid-land, Va., Agnes Hardcastle of Leonardtown, Md. and Wayne Brubacher of Chey-enne Wy., 10 grandchildren, and 8 great- grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her sibilings; Leonard Wood-burn, Abell Woodburn, Jim-my Woodburn, John Wood-burn, Regina Garner, Agnes Norris, Libby Newton and Suzie Woodburn.
She was a life-long St.
Mary’s County resident and homemaker who liked to play pitch with family and friends, gardening, traveling and was active in Our Lady’s Church. The family received friends on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 at the Mattingley-Gar-diner Funeral Home. A Mass of Christian Burial will be cel-ebrated on Thursday, March 22, 2007 at 10:00 AM in Our Lady’s Catholic Church with Fr. Thomas LaHood officiat-ing. Interment will follow in the church cemetery. Pallbear-ers will be Darren Brubacher, Mathew Brubacher, Brian Malone, Nathaniel Malone, Michael Perigo and Dan Bluntzer. Honorary Pallbear-ers will be Tommy Newton and James Francis Garner.
Contributions may be made to Hospice of St. Mary’s , P.O. Box 625, Leonardtown, MD 20650 or Leonardtown Volunteer Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 299, Leonardtown, MD 20650. Arrangements pro-vided by Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home, P.A.
John Albert “Honey Boy” Combs, 81
John Albert “Honey Boy” Combs, 81, of St. Ini-goes, Md. died March 17, 2007 in St. Mary’s Nursing Center, Leonardtown, Md..
Born September 29, 1925 in Great Mills, Md., he was the son of the late Thomas Leonard Combs and Martha Mary Thomas Combs.
He is survived by his two sisters, Teresa Combs and Ve-ronica Combs Johnson. In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by his wife, Madeleine Agatha Combs and three siblings, Mary Noemi Thomas, Agatha Wildoner and Thomas Leonard Combs, Jr.
The family will receive friends on Thursday, March 22, 2007 from 10 - 11 a.m. in the Brinsfield Funeral Home Chapel, Leonardtown, Md., with a Memorial Service con-ducted at 11 a.m. Reverend Joseph R. Sileo of Holy Face Church, Great Mills, Md. will conduct the service. Inurn-ment will follow in Evergreen Memorial Gardens, in Great Mills, Md.
Condolences to the fam-ily may be left at www.brins-fieldfuneral.com.
Christopher Darron Hayes, Jr., 36
Christopher “Darron” Hayes Jr., 36, of Leonard-town, Md., and formerly of Bethany Beach, Del., died March 14, 2007 in Lexington Park, Md.
Born January 27, 1971 in Prince George’s County, Md., he was the son of Christopher Darron Hayes Sr.of Leonard-town, Md. and Donna Jeanne Hayes of Laurel, Md. He was the loving husband of Christa Marie Hayes, whom he mar-ried on Sept. 22, 2001 in Hol-lywood, Md.
He is also survived by his children; Xan Hayes, Mya Hayes, Allie Hayes, all of Leonardtown, Md., Kayla Hayes of Crownsville Md., his siblings; Lindsey Hayes of Guam, Elliot Hayes and Krys-ten Hayes, both of Edgewater Md., and Terri McLaughlin of Charlotte, NC.
He graduated from South River High School, class of 1989 and moved to St. Mary’s County in 2005 from Bethany Beach. He was a Chef and Kitchen Manager for Bon Ap-petit, and he enjoyed music and gardening.
The family received friends on Monday, March 19, 2007 at the Mattingley-Gar-diner Funeral Home. A Mass of Christian Burial was cele-brated on Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at St. Aloysius Catholic Church with Fr. John Dakes officiating. Pallbearers were Lindsey Hayes, Steven Craw-ford, Greg Richards, John Jen-
nings, Brian MacEnroy and Elliot Hayes. Honorary pall-bearers were Colin Dye and Doug Hayes. Arrangements provided by Mattingley-Gar-diner Funeral Home, P.A.
Paul S. Mattingly, 90
Paul S. M a t t i n g l y, 90, of Hol-lywood Md. died March 18, 2007 at St. Mary’s Hospital.
Born October 26, 1916 in Oxon Hill, Md., he was the son of the late Carroll and Ed-wardina Mattingly. He was the loving husband of Mary M. Mattingly of Hollywood Md.
He is also survived by his children; Dorothy Law-rence and her husband Cal and Gregory P. Mattingly, his stepchildren; Janet Pelle and her husband Rick, and Jean Fram and her husband Frank, and his grandchildren Susan and Katherine Lawrence.
Paul was enlisted in the US Army and moved to St. Mary’s County in 1980, and was employed as a mechan-ic. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus, and loved golf, gardening, and fishing.
The family will receive friends on Thursday March 22, 2007 at the Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home from 5:00-8:00 PM with prayers being said at 7:00 PM and Knights Of Columbus prayers at 7:15 PM. A Mass of Chris-tian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, March 23, 2007 at 10:00 AM in St. John’s Catho-lic Church with Fr. Raymond Schmidt officiating. Interment will follow in the Fort Lincoln Cemetery at 1:00 PM.
Contributions may be made to the St. John’s Build-ing Fund, 43297 St. John’s Road, Hollywood, MD 20636. Arrangements provided by Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home, P.A.
Fr. Robert B. Riedel, 73
Fr. Robert Benedict Riedel, 73, of Lusby, Md. died March 15, 2007 in St. Mary’s Hospital, Leonardtown Md.
Born May 8, 1933 in Maryland he was the son of the late Robert B. and Edna Pulles Riedel.
The receiving of the Body took place on Tuesday March 20, 2007 at St. George’s Catholic Church in Valley Lee, Md. A Mass of Chris-tian Burial was celebrated on Wednesday March 21, 2007 at St. George’s Catholic Church with Archbishop Wuerl of-ficiating. Interment will take place on Thursday, March 22, 2007 at 10:00 AM in St. Jo-seph’s Cemetery, Johnstown, Pa. Arrangements provided by Mattingley-Gardiner Fu-neral Home, P.A.
Roy Mendell Taylor, 57
Roy Mendell Taylor, 57, of Mechanicsville, Md. died of lung cancer on March 15, 2007 at his home surrounded by his family.
Born June 11, 1949 in Nashville, Tenn., he was the son of the late Johnnie Zebe-dee Taylor and Olivia Eudora (Gentry) Taylor.
He was the youngest of three children. He gradu-ated from East Nashville Senior High School in 1967 and joined the Air Force on August 28, 1967. He served four years as an Aircraft Me-chanic, stationed in Thailand during the Vietnam War. In 1975, Roy received his aero-space engineering degree from Saint Louis University, Parks College.
Roy started working for Naval Air Test Center in July of 1975, where he met his wife Leslie Durst, whom he mar-ried on June 14, 1986 in Leon, WV. Roy recently retired after 31 years of government service at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station and pursued a second career with Dynam-
ics Research Corporation. He is survived by his wife
of 20+ years, Leslie D. Taylor, four children; Michael Roy of Alexandria, Va., Philip Anthony of Salisbury, Md., Anthony David of Mechan-icsville, Md., and Beverly Lauren of Mechanicsville, Md., a sister Lenora Jean Taylor Napier of Nashville, Tenn., a brother, John Robert Taylor and his wife Margaret of Nampa, Idaho, and three grandchildren, Charity, Tris-ten and Ian Taylor of Nash-ville, Tenn. He will be sadly missed by his other relatives, nieces, nephews, friends and neighbors.
In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by his brother-in-law, Hilton Napier.
The family received friends on Sunday, March 18, 2007 in the Brinsfield Funeral Home Chapel, Leonardtown, Md. A Christian Funeral Service was conducted on Monday, March 19, 2007 in Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, Laurel Grove, Md. Reverend Phil Ayers conduct-ed the service. Interment will be at Creston United Method-ist Church Cemetery in Ev-ans, WV.
Memorial contributions may be made to the O.P.I.S. Unit, St. Mary’s Hospital, P.O. Box 527, Leonardtown, MD 20650, HOSPICE of St. Mary’s, P.O. Box 625, Leonar-dtown, MD 20650, or Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, 27108 Mt. Zion Church Road, Mechanicsville, MD 20659.
Arrangements by the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A., 22955 Hollywood Road, Leonardtown, MD 20650.
Condolences to the fam-ily may be left at www.brins-fieldfuneral.com.
Eleanor Ross Hendrick Uglow, 83
E l e a n o r Ross Hen-drick Uglow, 83, of Lexing-ton Park, Md. died March 6, 2007 in St. Mary’s Hospi-tal, Leonard-town, Md., following a long illness.
Born September 30, 1923 in Campbell, MO, Eleanor was the daughter of the late John William and Minnie (Perry) Hendrick. She graduated from Holcomb High School, in Missouri in 1942 and then attended Business College in Memphis, Tenn.
It was here that she met her future husband, Norman R. Uglow, of Chambersburg, Pa., who happened to be in Memphis attending a Navy ordnance class. They were married December 3, 1944 in Oakland, Cal.
As a military wife and homemaker, she enjoyed as-signments with her growing family in California, Hawaii, Florida, Maryland, back to Hawaii, back to Maryland, and in between these assign-ments were frequent trips back home to Missouri and Pennsylvania. Their final military move brought them to Patuxent River Naval Air Station in 1957 where they settled down in Ridge. Elea-nor worked at Pax River and jokingly said she was “just a secretary,” though she knew her efforts were truly appreci-ated by the people for whom she worked.
After retirement from civil service in 1989, Eleanor began volunteering at Ridge Elementary School, the same school her children and many of her grandchildren attended throughout the years. She assisted as a teacher’s aide in the first-grade class for 15 years and made many little friends. She took great pride in her volunteer work and loved spending time with the children, whom she loved and cared about very much. Many of the children there that first year have long since gradu-ated from college. In addi-tion to her volunteer work, she also enjoyed watching Jeopardy, working crossword puzzles, traveling, books, and delving into her family his-tory. She was committed to
helping build the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC and contributed much time and money toward that effort.
She is survived by her six daughters; Terry Dunn and her husband, Louis of Lex-ington Park, Md., Kathryn Bridgeman and her husband, Randy of Lexington Park, Md., Susan Uglow of Forest, Va., Sharon Harwood and her husband, John of St. Inigoes, Md., Letty Cyrus and her hus-band, Ray of Ridge, MD and Tracey Uglow and Bob Chap-man of Dameron, Md., eleven grandchildren, twenty-one great-grandchildren, and one sister, Johnnieve Whitmore of Kansas City, MO. In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her husband, Nor-man R. Uglow, who died on January 9, 1992, an infant son, and a brother, Earl Hendrick.
The family received friends on Friday, March 9, 2007 in the Brinsfield Fu-neral Home Chapel, Leonar-dtown, Md. A Funeral Ser-vice was conducted on Satur-day, March 10, 2007 in First Friendship United Methodist Church, Ridge, Md. Reverend Keith Schukraft conducted the service.
Serving as pallbearers were grandsons; Patrick Dean, Kevin Dean, David Goddard, Carl Dunn and nephews; Ken Brunner and Ben Dansberg-er. Honorary pallbearer was littlest grandson, Nicholas Uglow.
Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of St. Mary’s, P.O. Box 625, Leonardtown, MD 20650, First Friendship Methodist Church, P.O. Box 133, Ridge, MD 20680 or Ridge Volun-teer Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 456, Ridge, MD 20680.
The family wishes to thank the many friends and family who assisted in her later years, especially Melanie Sanchez.
Arrangements by the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A., 22955 Hollywood Road, Leonardtown, MD 20650. Condolences to the family may be left at www.brinsfield-funeral.com.
Mary Frances “Fran” Woodall, 88
M a r y F r a n c e s “Fran” Wood-all, 88, of Av-enue, Md. died March 5, 2007 in Avenue, Md..
Born May 26, 1918 in Avenue, Md. she was the daughter of the late John Benjamin and Mary Ro-berta Ellis-Brown. She was preceded in death by her hus-band George Kelly Woodall on October 2, 1969 in Avenue, Md.
She is survived by her chil-dren; Anna Christine Kotows-ki and her husband Ted and Dorothy Ann Faunce and her husband Dickie both of Abell, Md., James Ernest Woodall and his wife Linda of Avenue, Md., Ellen Marie Woodall of Lexington Park, Md. and Mi-chael Anthony Woodall and his wife Edith of Hughesville, Md.; sister Lucy Nelson of Clements, Md., her 11 grand-children, Stacy Kotowski , Christopher Kotowski, David Kotowski, Alex Kotowski, Ritchie Faunce, Kelly Faunce, Jamie Woodall, Chrystal Fin-ley, Michael Woodall, Lisa Stephens, and Katie Wood-all, 15 great-grandchildren, Hunter Woodall, Kayleigh Finley, Caleb Faunce, Josh Faunce, Jake Faunce, Tra-vis Faunce Jordan Faunce, Katlin Thompson, Amanda Kotowski, Emily Kotowski, Jessica Kotowski, Stephen Kotowski, Nancy Kotowski, Christopher Kotowski and Katie Rose Kotowski. She was also preceded in death by her sons John Irvin Mattingly and Clarence Benjamin Mat-tingly; siblings Mary Edith Bowles and Joseph Daniel Brown and great granddaugh-ter Bianca Faunce.
She was a life-long St. Mary’s County resident and graduate of Margaret Brent High School. The family received friends on Friday,
March 9, 2007 at the Matting-ley-Gardiner Funeral Home. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Saturday, March 10, 2007 in Holy An-gels Catholic Church with Msgr. John Brady officiating. Pallbearers were Christopher Kotowski, Alex Kotowski, Ritchie Faunce, Kelly Faunce, Jamie Woodall and Michael Woodall. Honorary pallbear-ers were: Stacy Kotowski, Da-vid Kotowski, Chrystal Finley, Greg Finley, Kayleigh Finley, Lisa Stephens, Billy Stephens, Katie Woodall, April Wood-all, Hunter Woodall, Tina Woodall, Jenifer Faunce, Josh Faunce, Jake Faunce, Caleb Faunce, Travis Faunce, Jordan Faunce, Michelle Thompson, Katlin Thompson, Jessica Kotowski, Amanda Kotows-ki, Emily Kotowski, Stephen Kotowski, Nancy Kotowski, Christopher Kotowski and Katie Rose Kotowski.
Contributions may be made to Hospice House of St. Mary’s, P.O. Box 625, Leonar-dtown, MD 20650. Arrange-ments provided by Matting-ley-Gardiner Funeral Home, P.A.
Anna “Ann” Hyndman Wright, 76
A n n a “Ann” Hynd-man Wright, 76, of Lexing-ton Park, Md., formerly of Alamosa, Col., died March 6, 2007 in Bayside Care Center, Lexington Park, Md.
Born February 21, 1931 in New York, NY, she was the daughter of the late James and Sarah Hyndman.
In 1950, Anna married Franklin K. “Pete” Wright, Sr. and she devoted herself to raising 7 children. Anna spent the majority of her life caring for her family. She enjoyed going to church, traveling the country, bowling, camping, and gardening.
She is survived by her companion of many years, Jack Lacey of Alamosa, Col., three sons, Kenneth B. “Ken” Wright and his wife, Linda of California, Md., Franklin K. “Keith” Wright, Jr. and his wife, Pam of Eldersburg, Md., William W. “Bill” Wright and his wife, Mary “Chris”, of Fort Mill, SC, four daugh-ters; Cheryl A. Wright of Fort Mill, SC, Deborah J. Wright, of Rock Hill, SC, Karen W. Ladner and her husband, Lio-nel “Tony” of California Md., Teresa L. Wright of Lexing-ton Park, Md., nine grandchil-dren; Mark, Lora and Kevin Wright, Katrina Foster Broo-kover, Lauren and Rebecca Ladner, Rhianna and Michelle Miller, and Anaka Wright, five great-grandchildren; Kaylee, Aliyah, Tanasha, Jarred and Jacob, two brothers; Samuel Hyndman and his wife, Joan of Long Island City, NY, and James “Jim” Hyndman and his wife, Jennie of Long Is-land City, NY, two sisters; Florence “Flo” Speedling of Massapequa, NY, and Sarah “Sadie” Brownand her hus-band, Earl of Rockledge, Fla. and a host of nieces, neph-ews, other relatives, and many friends.
In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by a grandchild, Charles and a great-grandchild, Sebastian.
The family received friends on Monday, March 12, 2007 in the Brinsfield Funeral Home Chapel, Leonardtown, Md. Pastor Randy Acord conducted the service.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheim-er’s Association, Southern Maryland Office, P.O. Box 1889, LaPlata, MD 20646.
Condolences to the fam-ily may be left at www.brins-fieldfuneral.com.
SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,March22,2007
ArtContinued from page A-1
Photo by Emily Finch
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Check Out Next Weeks County Times
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Win A 60” Flat Screen Television In
Celebration Of Thompson’s 60th
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icateduringaceremonyheldMarch 19. The winners, inaddition,receivedamonetaryprize:$25forthirdplace,$50for second, and $75 for first.
Thewinningpiecesaretakentothedistrictfestival,andallotherswillremainondisplayon the first floor of the Carter buildinguntilspringbreak.
Photo by Emily Finch
Photo by Emily Finch
Photo by Emily Finch
“Wecallthisoccupationalbootcamp,”saidTracySewellas she described the College ofSouthernMaryland’s“TheReal Deal,” a one-day inter-active employment work-shop held on each of CSM’s campuses to help preparestudents who will soon seekemployment.
“Right now the studentsarepracticingtheir interviewtechniques with differentmembers of CSM’s staff and faculty. This portion of theday’sactivitiesgenerallyrunsovertime. It is suchahelpfulexercise, the students don’twant it to stop,” saidSewell,whowatchedassix“couples”workedthroughnerve-wrack-ing questions such as, “whatdo you know about this po-sition?” and “how do yousee yourself fitting into this organization?”
“Ilikedtheinterviewpor-tionbecausetheinterviewersgavemeimmediatefeedbackon my responses and how Icould tweak my answers tomake them stronger,” saidJenniferWright,whoattendsCSM with her sister Naomi.
“Today’s activities, par-ticularlytheinterviewandthepersonal profile, give the stu-dentsachancetolearnhowtoarticulatewhotheyare.Learn-ing to talk about yourself isawkwardandsomethingmostofusarenotgoodatbutitisakeyskillyouneedtoprac-ticewhenyouarelookingforajob.Goingintoaninterviewyou have to be able to com-municatetheskillsyouhave,”said Lisa Warren, CSM’s ca-reerservicescoordinator.
Part of learning how to
communicateaboutjobskillsis for the students to deter-minewhichonestheypossessandhowtheyapplytothejobbeing sought. The programprovides the students with askillschecklistthatlistsnear-ly 200 transferable job skillsthestudentsmayhave.
The workshop proctorshelp the students whittle thelist of skills to the Top Fiveskills they enjoy using themost. These five, whether knowinghowtomanagepeo-ple,computedataororganizetasks, are the skills studentsshouldlookforwhentheyarereadingjobdescriptions.
“Oneof thebiggestmis-takes you can make is ap-plying fora jobyouhavenointerest in,” said Warren, asshe conducted the StrengthinSkillsportionofthework-shop.“Forexample,ifthejobdescription lists repetitioustasks as a desired skill andthat is something you don’tenjoy,don’tapply.Youarenotgoing to enjoy the position.Instead, use your job skillslisttoscreenforjobsyouwillenjoydoingonadailybasis,”Warrencontinued.
After determining theirskill set, the students par-ticipatedinfourcareerwork-shops focusing on matchingemployee skill sets, recog-nizing strong work ethics,knowingandnegotiatingsal-ary, and developing resumesspecific to the position being appliedfor.
The students then ob-served an interview dem-onstration by CSM Career Services staff. Those whohad been practicing putting
their best foot forward allday, laughed appreciativelyas CSM’s Career Services Specialist Jayne Mignognointerviewedanow less-than-career-ready Warren, whocommitted such interviewfauxpas as showingup late,bad-mouthing her currentand former employers andansweringhercellphone,notoncebutthreetimes.
At the end of the inter-view, the students evaluatedWarren’sperformance.
“She was confident but she did everything elsewrong,”onestudentoffered.
“When she talked nega-tively about her current em-ployer, you could see theinterviewer’s body languagechange,” said another stu-
dent. “Yeah, she lost the jobright there,” another studentconfirmed.
For their final task, the program participants prac-ticed their personal profiles. A personal profile is a com-binationofanemployee’stopfive skills, three work ethics currently possessed, and acombinationofpracticalcom-puter, management or office skills. Together, these createa profile introduction employ-eescanusewhentheymeetaprospectiveemployer.
Awell-practicedpersonalprofile would flow easily such as, “Hi, my name is JohnSmith;I’mcurrentlyawebsitedeveloperwithJaneDoeElec-tronics in Smithville. I haveexperience in ColdFusion,
“You were great. Veryconfident, and obviously ex-perienced,” said Mike Har-rison, a CSM student from Bushwood, to his profile partner. “I’ve held a numberof jobs but today was still alearningexperience.IlearnedthatIneedtogointomyinter-viewsknowingwhatIexpectfromanemployerintermsofbenefits, working conditions and salary and that I havecontrol over how I promotemy job qualifications,” Har-risoncontinued.
“TheRealDealprovidesour students with the oppor-
tunity to explore career de-velopment skills in a hands-on environment and receiveimmediate feedback to theirquestions and observations,”said Sewell, who noted thatthe Career Services Depart-ment is looking to providemoreTheRealDealseminarsinthefuture.
“It’sapplicabletoanyone.Are they changing careers,returning to the job market,a member of the militarymoving into the private sec-toremployment,arecentcol-legegradorsomeonelookingtobe semi-retired?TheRealDeal allows participants toevaluatethemselvesandbreakawayfromthatideathattheirlastorcurrent job isall theyare,”saidWarren.
CSMStudentsGetTheRealDealonCareerOpportunities
Photo by Emily Finch
Photo courtesy of College of Southern Maryland
Top left: Top winners and students who received honorable mentions display their artwork before it is shipped out for judgment at the district level.Top right: Participants in the Women’s Club’s Youth for Art Program from Esperanza Middle School show off their certificates.Bottom left and right: The remaining artwork will be on display until spring break on the first floor of the Carter Building in Leonardtown.
