The County Times 2007.06.28 A Section

By Guy Leonard and Andrew KnowltonStaff Writers

St. Mary’s County lost one of its most well known citizens Sunday when Thomas Webster Bell, Jr. of Leon-ardtown died after a brief bout with thyroid cancer.

He was 70 years old.

Three of his four sons, Gary, Mark and Andrew Bell were busy Monday afternoon going through their father’s affects in his business office at Bell Motor Co. and remembered their father not only as the leader of the family business but as a leader and supporter of the community.

With his passing, the motor company is entering into its fourth generation of family leadership.

As a 47-year member of the Leonardtown Volunteer Fire Department, he would often run calls with his sons on the fire engine, even up to the point where he was diagnosed with cancer.

Andrew Bell said his last call was April 17 to the re-port of a chimney fire; he was admitted to the University of Maryland hospital April 24.

“Many times the first truck to leave the fire house was all Bells,” Andrew recalled of his father.

Their father would listen to the fire and rescue scan-ner while he was in his office and would often go out on calls even if it was in the early morning hours.

“It was his passion,” Gary Bell said.Near the end of his battle with cancer, “Tommy” Bell

was transferred to the St. Mary’s Nursing Center by the Leonardtown Volunteer Rescue Squad June 19, of which he was a charter member, but not before the volunteers took him by to see his mother, who is 96, and the family farm in Breton Bay, the brothers said.

The volunteers also took him by the fire station and the family business.

“That was really important to him,” Mark Bell said. “To see [him and] his mother was touching.

“She even got into the ambulance with him.”

Thursday, June 28, 2007 • St. Mary’s County, Maryland

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Established 2006 • Volume 2 • Issue 26 • FREE

By Adam RossStaff Writer

A task force assigned by the St. Mary’s Board of County Commis-sioners to evaluate alternative forms of government in St. Mary’s County voted in favor of switching to a Char-ter, a measure that if implemented would dramatically transform the county’s political process.

The straw poll – an informal vote used to gauge the opinions of the 15-member task force – was given two weeks ago, determining that out of

Storm Brewing in County Government

Thomas Bell, President Of Bell Motor Co., Dies

By Guy LeonardStaff Writer

Sheriff’s deputies have stepped up their patrols in Golden Beach after a suspected arson destroyed a cottage there last week.

Lt. Edward Willenborg, com-mander of the Special Operations Di-vision, said more deputies are aiding the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the State Fire Marshal’s office in tracking down those responsible for the blaze.

“We have some leads we’re following up on the arson,” Wil-lenborg said. “[After the blaze] it became very apparent there was an issue in Golden Beach.” The morning of the blaze, June 18, there were also reports of multiple car break-ins, and thefts from those break-ins.

Tuesday morning emergency re-sponders also pulled a stolen vehicle out of the water at Benson’s Pier in Golden Beach that residents believe was used to mow down several mail boxes on Golden Beach road.

Residents reported that the car’s front end was damaged and that the

Deputies Increase Presence in Golden Beach

See Task Force page A-7

See Tommy Bell page A-6

Local Track Will Host Olympics Of Motocross

See MX of Nations page A-6

See Golden Beach page A-8


The man who fired a shotgun into a crowd during a brawl at a con-venience store in Oakville last year was found guilty on seven counts of first and second degree assault, one count of reckless endangerment and carrying a weapon with the intent to injure last week in St. Mary’s Coun-ty Circuit Court, according to court documents.

Three people were shot and wounded in the August altercation but no fatalities occurred.

Dempsey Wayne Herring, 26, of Mechanicsville is now incarcer-ated at the St. Mary’s County Adult Detention Center pending a pre-sen-tencing investigation.

Herring avoided conviction on attempted murder charges.

The circumstances of the shoot-ing go back to August 8, 2006 after a local softball game when one team that was sponsored by Boatman’s Mini-Mart -- where the shooting oc-curred -- returned there for a post game celebration.

Scott Boatman, owner of Boat-man’s Mini-Mart, said he was sad for both Herring’s being found guilty on multiple charges and for the vic-tims he hurt.

“I feel numb about the whole situation,” Boatman said. “I feel for their families.”

During the celebration, a physi-cal altercation ensued between Herring and his friends and mem-bers of the softball team, the Lady Cardinals.

Police reports said that Herring

Man Convicted in Shooting

See Conviction page A-7

Photo by Andrew Knowlton

Photo by Guy Leonard

A black cloth lies draped over the marquis at Bell Motor Company in honor of its president Thomas W. Bell, Jr. who died June 24. Bell was well known for his community involvement and volunteer efforts.

Thomas W. Bell, Jr.

John Beasley looks out over his track at Budds Creek that will host the Motocross of Nations event September 22 and 23.


Ever since he saw the first Mo-tocross of Nations Race held in the United States, in Unidalla, New York in 1987, John Beasley had his heart set on bringing the race to Budds Creek.

Now, after years of preparation, Beasley is getting his wish. The Mo-tocross of Nations, which brings in racers from nearly 30 countries from

around the globe, is coming to his race track in September.

“It’s a big race,” Beasley told The County Times. “September is the Olympics of motocross.”

Beasley said that for the last 10 years he has worked to get the track noticed by international racing pro-

By Adam RossStaff Writer

The St. Mary’s Board of County Commissioners approved the latest transferable development right pro-posal Tuesday, which should go in

County Approves TDR Proposal, Marking Historic Change for Land Use

See TDR Approval page A-7

SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,June�8,�007

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ByAdamRossStaffWriter

TheSt.Mary’sBoardofEducationappointedonenewprincipal,sixassistantprinci-pals,adirectoroftransporta-tionandadirectorofmainte-nanceduringtheboard’sJune13meetingduetoreorganiza-tionandattrition.

TheboardnamedTenninaFlemingthenewprincipalofOakville Elementary School,

replacing Debra Bowling,who had been principal forfouryears.

“When the superinten-dentlooksatwheretheyneedpeople, theyhave theauthor-ityandresponsibilitytoplacepeoplewheretheythinktheywill be most effective,” saidDr. Edward Weiland, direc-torofhumanresourcesforSt.Mary’sCountyPublicSchools(SMCPS).“Ms.Bowlinghaddoneanexcellentjob,andwas

movedtothevacancyatBen-jaminBanneker [ElementarySchool].”

Weilandsaidthenewap-pointments were a “dominoeffect,” started by the retire-ments of Greenview KnollsElementary School PrincipalJack Hazuda and LexingtonParkElementarySchoolPrin-cipalRudellJones.

Hazudawastheprincipalat Greenview Knolls for 27years,andaMarylandeduca-

tor for 40years,while JonesservedthreeyearsasLexing-tonParkMiddleSchool’sprin-cipaland29yearsinthecoun-ty’spublicschoolsystem.

“Iplantotakelifeeasy,”Jones said, “and do a littletraveling.”

Susan Fowler will re-placeJonesnextyear,andshecomeswithtenyearsexperi-ence as principal of JeniferElementarySchoolinCharlesCounty.

“She will be a perfect fit for the school,” Jones added.“She’sdealingwithasimilarstudentpopulation.”

SandraOliverwasnamedassistant principal at Let-tie Marshall Dent Elemen-tarySchool;sheisnewtothecounty, serving currently asan art educator in the New-portNewsPublicSchoolSys-teminVirginia.

Carrie Smith was addedto Lexington Park Elemen-

tary School as an assistantprincipal. Smith joined theschool system in 2001, andjust finished the year as an English teacher at MargaretBrentMiddleSchool.

Mary Moreland was ap-pointed as assistant principalatGreenviewKnollsElemen-tary School after servingas an instructional resourceteacheratLeonardtownMid-dleSchool.

Leonardtown MiddleSchool’snewassistantprinci-palwillbeKhaleelDesaque,who joins the system fromCity Lights Public CharterSchool in Washington D.C.,where he served as dean ofstudents.

Wendy Zimmerman wasnamed assistant principalat Great Mils High School.Zimmermanjoinedtheschoolsystemin2002,andcurrentlyserves as a substitute assis-tantprincipal,mentorteacher,leadteacherforSmallLearn-ingCommunitiesandbiologyteacher at Great Mills HighSchool.

DonaldHollawaywillbeanother new face on the ad-ministrative roster at Leon-ardtownMiddleSchoolasanassistantprincipal.Hollawayjoined the school system in1996 as a social studies andphysical education teacherat Margaret Brent MiddleSchool.

Allofthenewlyappoint-ed assistant principals andprincipals either hold or areworking towards a master’sdegree.

The appointment of Jef-freyThompsonasdirectoroftransportationintheDivisionofSupportingServicescomesas DSS is reorganized, ac-cordingtoWeiland.

Thompson is a graduateofLeonardtownHighSchoolwhohasrecentlyservedasatransportation broker/logis-tics analyst for Allen LundCompany,Inc.

Meanwhile, director ofmaintenance for all countyschools, a previously vacantposition, was filled by Steven Whidden,whoservedasase-niorcommissioningspecialistwith an engineering consult-ing firm based in Minnesota. He has more than 19 yearsofexperienceincommercial,institutional and governmentoffice building maintenance management.

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The showcase of paint-ball guns and other gear at Sure Shot Paintball in Calla-way is a little low these days, not because of great sales, but because of thieves that have left their mark on one of the few dedicated paintball shops in Southern Maryland.

Luther Duncan, owner and operator of Sure Shot, said the thieves made off with about $10,000 in mer-chandise after breaking into his store the morning of June 21.

The thieves broke out the bottom glass of the doors to his establishment to get in, Duncan said.

While making off with his merchandise, Duncan said, the thieves also dropped and crushed pink paintballs all over his store, staining the carpet and walkway of his store.

He added that this was the first time his store has ever been broken into.

“You don’t know how upset I am,” Duncan said as he looked over a list of the stolen merchandise he’d have to replace. “I hope I find out who did it… if I don’t, I’ll go bananas.”

Duncan said many of the items stolen were high-dollar goods. The thieves took 18 paintball guns, some that cost more than $1,000 each, four cases of paint that can cost around $50 each, three safety masks, six packs of batteries, six pairs of paintball gloves and a $129 hi-tech paintball hopper for feeding ammuni-tion into the gun.

Duncan asked the tri-county paintball commu-nity that patronized his store to be on the lookout for the culprits.

“It’s just devastating,” Duncan said. “I hope they’ll help us try and find these ig-norant people.

“You try and do some-thing [special] … and this is how some ignorant people repay you.”

The day of the crime the thieves apparently left some clues behind, though.

“They left a trail of bread crumbs,” said Wendy Dun-can, Luther’s wife. “That shows me they’re not too smart.”

The thieves apparently left a trail of paintballs that led all the way through the woods behind the shopping center into a nearby housing development. One of the ap-parent perpetrators also left a pink paint shoe print on the walkway as they made off with the stolen merchandise.

Duncan said the thieves ripped the packaging off of the stolen merchandise and left it in the dumpster behind the shopping center.

The manager of the shopping center, Bill Calla-way, said the recent break-in happened after several other incidents hit the Callaway

shopping Cen-ter in about the past three to four months.

About two weeks before the Sure Shot inci-dent, security cameras caught vandals breaking into two business vans parked there. Prior to that, a hair styling es-tablishment and a nail salon were broken into, Cal-laway said.

The perpetra-tors of the latter break-ins were able to skillfully remove glass from the front of the store to gain entry without destroy-ing it, Callaway said.

The thieves destroyed a candy

machine at the hair stylist shop and then got a little un-der $20 in loose change from the cash register at the other business, he said.

These crimes were like-ly perpetrated by someone other than those who broke into the vans and vandalized them, Callaway said.

“These were people who didn’t know doodly about breaking into cars,” Calla-way said. “I don’t believe it was the same ones who re-moved the glass.”

Despite the setback to his business and concerns that other break-ins will oc-cur at the Callaway center, Duncan said he would keep the compressed carbon di-oxide and paintballs flowing to the action gamers in St. Mary’s, Charles and Calvert counties.

“Sure Shot will stay and we’ll continue to serve our community,” Duncan said.

Thieves Steal Nearly $10 K From Paintball Merchant

Photo by Guy LeonardLuther Duncan, owner and operator of Sure Shot Painball in Callaway looks over his store after it was broken into and burglarized for nearly $10,000 in merchandise last week.

SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,June28,2007

Editorial&Opinion

LetterstotheEditorIf you wish to send a letter to the editor, please include your name, address and phone number for confirmation purposes. We will only publish your name and city of residence. We can withhold your name by request if circumstances merit it. We must receive all letters by Monday morning for publication in the next issue. Any letter received later than Monday will be held for the following issue.

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To the editor:

On May 19th, the St. Mary’s County Juvenile Drug Court celebrated National Drug Court Month. The ac-tivities included a softball game, cookout and awards/graduation ceremony. Again this year, the Mechanicsville Order of the Moose allowed us to hold the activities at their facility. In attendance to lend support were Commissioner President Jack Russell and Commissioner Thomas Mat-tingly. Sheriff Tim Cameron and school Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano were there to also receive special awards for their agencies continued support for the program. Del-

egate John Wood presented each graduate with a state citation from the Maryland Legislature recognizing each of their accomplishment. Del. Wood has been a long time supporter of drug courts in the state legislature.

There are now more than 1,700 drug courts across the country. In Maryland there are 36inoperationandmoreintheplanning stages. Drug Courts have been shown through in-dependent evaluations to have an impact on drug abuse and criminality that produce bet-ter results than traditionalcriminal justice practices. In St. Mary’s we are fortunate to have the foresight in local leadership tounderstand that

we as a community need toaddresstheyouththatbecomeengaged with drug abuse and criminal activity. If they are not confronted in a mannerconducive with motivating change, many of these young people will go on to develop increasingly worse drug and alcohol addictions and have repeated involvement with the criminal justice system.

In St. Mary’s County, Drug Court Works! As we stood and observed the gradu-atesonthisday,youcouldseethe marked change from when they entered the program. The smilesbestowedbythefami-lies can not be put into words. This is what drug courts can do. They help facilitate the

individual and family’s move forward from a point of de-spair to one of hope. Does everyone make it through this tough eight to twelve month regimen of drug testing, court appearances, case manage-ment and substance abusetreatment? Absolutely not. If they did, the program would be too easy with little long term effects. It is a difficult program, more so for some participants than for others,but it tests everyone. For those whocompletetheprocess,asthose graduates on this day did, they can be secure inthe knowledge they have ob-tained about themselves, that this hard found knowledge will help them prevail without

the oversight of the program. We wish each one of them and their families continued suc-cess in their life endeavors. As the Program Coordina-tor, I would like the commu-nity to know that the Juvenile Drug Court is in the very ca-pable hands of Judge Michael Stamm. The program’s suc-cesscanbedirectlyattributedto many different agencies that are members of the drug court team. Dan Schaidt and his dedicated staff at the Depart-ment of Juveniles Services, Rob Prince and the insightful staff at Walden‑Sierra, State’s Attorney Richard Fritz and his Office, DR. Icenhower of the Health Department and his staff, the Office of the

Public Defender, the school system and sheriff’s depart-ment staff, are all involved in the program.

Thanks to all that have contributed to the success ofthe program in the last year. There are far too many to mention all individually. Be sure the smiling faces on this day are why you do it.

Sincerely,Pete CucinottaProgram CoordinatorLeonardtown

CountyCommissionersSetToStartNewSpendingYearBeginning July 1.14 Million taken from County reserves to balance budgetA glimpse at County revenues and expenses:

Property Taxes $70,984,169 $64,018,123 10.90%

Income Taxes 65,207,074

Other Revenues

New Solid Waste Fee

New Budget Last Budget

Revenues: 2007-2008 2006-2007 Change

Property Taxes $70,984,169 $64,018,123 10.90%

Income Taxes 65,207,074 60,941,191 7.00%

Other Revenues 27,867,416 27,268,892 2.20%

New Solid Waste Fee 2,375,520 0

--------------- ---------------

Total Revenues excluding grants 166,434,179 152,228,206 9.30%

Use of County Reserves 13,979,802 5,460,366 156.00%

Capital Construction Projects 51,051,413 39,121,102 30.50%

--------------- ---------------

Total Spending: 229,089,874 196,809,674 16.40%

Who gets the money:

Dept. of Information Technology 2,087,704 2,115,752 (-1.3%)

College of Southern Maryland 2,516,000 2,490,000 1.00%

Health Department 1,155,528 1,141,845 1.20%

Dep. Of Aging 1,673,110 1,405,923 1.90%

County Treasurer 360,632 353,141 2.10%

County Commissioners 1,131,076 1,092,429 3.50%

Dept. of Economic Development 2,778,953 2,643,174 5.10%

Dept. of Public Safety 3,862,302 3,669,010 5.30%

Dept. of Finance 1,382,473 1,305,677 5.90%

Curcuit Court 939,664 859,303 9.40%

Office of States Attorney 2,051,887 1,873,412 9.50%

Dept. of Recreation and Parks 3,937,192 3,595,270 9.50%

Dept. of Human Resources 1,703,629 1,555,167 9.60%

Marcey Halfway House 473,881 431,198 9.90%

Dept. of Land Use and Growth Mgt. 2,902,834 2,614,549 11.00%

Library Board of Trustees 2,250,746 2,015,100 11.70%

Board of Education 76,000,000 67,811,488 12.10%

Non-County Agencies 1,720,473 1,496,934 14.90%

Dept of Public Works

including Solid Waste 17,357,036 15,091,597 15.00%

Office of County Attorney 598,857 519,351 15.30%

Who gets the money:

In 1945 Bing Crosby starred as Father Chuck O’Malley and Ingrid Berg-man starred as Sister Mary Benedict in the Oscar award winning film “The Bells of St. Mary’s”. It truly was a great story about saving a catholic school called St. Mary’s Acad-emy from financial failure.

For St. Mary’s Coun-ty, our story of the Bell’s of St. Mary’s begun in 1918. Ours is a story of a St. Mary’s County family, the Bell family. This past week, St. Mary’s County lostanotherpartofthatstorywith the passing of Tommy Bell.

Going back to 1918 when J. Earnest Bell and T. Webster Bell founded an im-plementsandappliancestoreto now, the Bell Family each and every year make a posi-tive difference for many peo-ple in St. Mary’s County.

From business to politics to volunteer service, from sports to education tocommunity involvement, the Bell family has always played a role in what was good for our community.

With the passing of Tommy Bell, one of the mod-ern day elder statesman’s of the Bell family, we are all morning not just the family’s lost, we morn the county’s lost as well.

But even the pain of knowing that Tommy will no longer be around into the future to offer his wisdom,counsel and service to our community cannot take away from the joys and blessings St. Mary’s County has since 1918 received and undoubted-lywillcontinuetoenjoyfromthe Bell’s of St. Mary’s.

TheBell’sofSt.Mary’sA Great Story


Photo by Adam Ross

Ramblings of a Country Girl

Come Fly With Me

Terri Bartz Bowles

Recently, I had to travel on business, and you frequent flyers out there know what I mean when I say just one thing about air travel – grrrr! I’m not afraid to fly or nervous about flying; it’s just that fly-

ing is such a chore. There in absolutely nothing pleasant about it anymore. From be-ginning to end, it’s an exer-cise in frustration and aggra-vation. It’s tiring and wearing and odious, even.

It all starts with the self-service check-in. I detest

self-service anything. I don’t know exactly when or how the whole self-service thing became the fabric of our ev-eryday lives, but I don’t like it. I dislike pumping my own gas, I dislike getting my own soda in a fast food joint and I dislike self check-outs. Guess

how I feel about airline self check-in? That’s right. I like customer service and that’s one reason I don’t enjoy fly-ing anymore – there’s darn little good customer service associated with the airline industry. What happened to the days when a professional

assisted you and made sure everything was correct? I did not come in contact with one friendly or pleasant or helpful airline employee from here to Dallas to California. That’s a long trip to run into nothing but grumbly, surly, smart-al-eck employees.

The self check-in machine did not print out a checked baggage tag. I stand and wait, but no airline employee was within 20 feet of me. Oh, they saw me, but they weren’t go-ing to walk that far so I had to take my bag to them. When I explained the problem, auto-matically I was an idiot who didn’t know how to use the machine. Attitude was what I got from her along with the baggage tag. So I proceed to security where I did run into one nice TSA employee. Then to the gate where I found out my flight was already delayed an hour. Great, I was already getting into my final destina-tion pretty late for a morning person such as myself, so the delay was really great news. When it’s time to board, they tell us to hurry along and they’ll get us out 15 minutes early (early, when they’re al-ready late!) It does no good because we just sit on the runway for 25 minutes. Grrr. Finally we take off. Now I’m worried about making my connection in Dallas, which can be dicey under the best

conditions. We land after my connecting flight SHOULD have taken off, but of course, it had been delayed.

Okay, so that delay worked in my favor. It was delayed an hour and a half so I got something to eat. Then there’s a maintenance delay – that makes you feel good. We get the go-ahead to board. Again, they tell us to hurry. Grrr! We’re not the ones causing the problem, stop tell-ing us to hurry when you can’t get a plane off the ground on time! For an entire day, they can’t get a plane off in time – all their flights were run-ning behind. We troop on and sit and sit and sit. We finally take off. So now we’re two hours late getting to my final destination. Just to top the day off, it takes FOREVER for the baggage to come out. Small airport, late at night – I guess there was only one guy unloading baggage? Grrr.

Not one ticket agent, gate agent, flight attendant or other air crew behaved in a pleasant or friendly manner. It’s to the point now where apparently none of us want to get on the plane, passenger or crew. Fly the friendly skies. Come fly with me. Yea, right.

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SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,June28,2007

moters to allow the race tocometoBuddsCreek.

After hosting severalworld championship eventsathis track, thoseauthoritiesdeemedhimworthy,hesaid.

“Wehadtodoallthatjustto show them we could dothis,”Beasleysaid.

The expense of bringingtheracetoSt.Mary’swasalsoconsiderable,Beasleysaid.

Beasley already hostedthe AMA Toyota Motocrossnational championships June17 and he said that the Sep-tember race will cost muchmore.

“I can’t tell you howmuch,”hesaid.“But it’sbig,it’sseventimeswhattheAMAnationalscosttobringin.”

Beasley is looking for-

ward to the race bringingmore notoriety to the track,else he could be in financial

trouble.“Nobody else in the

country was willing to riskbankruptcytohost therace,”Beasleysaid.

Beasleymustalsopickupthetabforbringingthreerid-ers fromeachcountry,alongwithbikesandequipment,toSt.Mary’sCounty.Theserid-ersarepickedbytheirnation’smotocrossfederation.

The countries that arelikely to come and competeat Budds Creek include theUnitedKingdom,France,Bel-gium,Italy,Germany,Estoniaandahostofsmallernations.

RidersfromLatinAmeri-cancountriesarealsoexpect-ed tocompete inwhatBeas-leycallsinhisadvertisements“thegreatestshowondirt.”

It’s a lot of effort, butBeasleywaswilling toput itintoensurethatBuddsCreekwould be only the secondtrackinthenation,andthe72yearsoftheMotocrossofNa-tionsrace,tobethehost.

“It’s a big deal for thecountry and the track,”Bea-

sleysaid.Valerie Gaghan, Beas-

ley’sadministrativecoordina-tor, said support staff at thetrackhaveworkedhardsinceNovembertoensurethetrack

isreadytogoinSeptember.Coordinating ticket sales

and making sure vendorscome through for the eventhave taken up a lot of hertime.

Theworkhasleadtosomelongdaysandsomesleeplessnights,shesaid.

“We’ve been extremelybusy,” Gaghan said. “Ticketorders are going all over theworld,it’samazing.”

Beasley,whoisoncrutch-es after sustaining multipleserious injuries in an all ter-rainvehicleaccidentjustthreeweeksbeforehosting thena-tionalchampionships,praisedhishardworkingstaff.

“We have a very goodstaff, everybody’s pitched inaboveandbeyondthecallofduty,”Beasleysaid.

Beasleyhadtositoutmostofthepreparationsforthena-tional championships, whichbroughtinabout18,000spec-tators this past Father’s Day,buthesaidhisbrokenpelvis,hip fractures, three brokenribs and injured left knee

won’tkeephim fromgettingthetrackreadyforperhapsthebiggesteventit’severhosted.

“It was the most painfulthreeweeksofmylife,”Bea-sleysaid.“I’lljustgiveitan-

othermonthtohealandthenI’llgetbacktowork.”

Beasley hopes to bringin 30,000 people to watchtheraceandoneofthem,14-year-oldTylerWebber,who’sbeenracingatthetracksincehe was five, will be watching intentlywithdreamsofracinginitsomeday.

Webberwonthestatemo-tocross championships twicefor the10 to11yearoldagegroup riding a65 cubic cen-timeter engine back in 2003and2004.

“It’s really cool,” Web-ber said of the race comingto what amounts to his sec-ondbackyard.“It’smyhometrack; I live just five minutes away.”

Beasley just hopes thattheweatherholdstomakehisdreamraceamemorableoneinreality.

“Ifitdoesn’traininSep-tember,we’llget through it,”Beasley said. “We just hopemother nature shines kindlyonus.”

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The brothers said theirfathereschewedmoderntech-nology in running the fam-ily business, instead usinghissharpmind tokeep trackof details and important in-formation stored in stacksofbinders in his office.

They remembered theirfatherfondlyasapackratwhoonly used his office computer toplayvideogames.

“Thisdeskisamesstousbut he could find anything on it,”MarkBellsaid.“Thatwashissystem.

“Hekepteverything.”Solitairewastheirfathers

preferred computer game,theysaid.

“That’stheonlythingthatcomputerwasusedfor,”MarkBellsaid.

TommyBellalsoenjoyedplayingandcoachingsoftball,a county pastime, watchingfootball games, NASCARracesandboating.

While running a promi-nent family business and ac-tively serving as a fireman in his old age, Tommy Bellalso supported Little Leagueteams, high school footballteams and awarded scholar-ships to top students in thecounty,hissonssaid.

TommyBellalsoprovid-edbusesforthetransportationof St. Mary’s County publicschoolstudents.

Tommy Bell worked asthegeneral servicesmanagerof Bell Motor Company un-tilthedeathofhisfatheranduncle,T.Webster andErnestBell in 1987 and 1988, andthenheandhisbrotherFrankBell,Sr. tookoverleadershipofthecompany.

While they were young,TommyBell’ssonssaid,theyworkedtheirwayupthroughthecompanytoleadershippo-sitions;owingtotheirfather’sinsistenceininstillinginthemastrongworkethicwithoutfa-voritismorspecialtreatment.

“Hemade sure eachoneof us worked for what we

had,”GaryBell said. “Noth-ingcameeasy.”

Jack Candela, a closefriend of Tommy Bell whoservedwithhimintheLeon-ardtown Volunteer Fire De-partment and in the Leonar-dtown Lions Club, said thatwhat defined his friend was his dedication to volunteer-ism and his concern for thecommunity.

Tommy Bell joined bothorganizations in 1960, Can-delasaid.

“He was very seriousabout what he did,” Candelasaid. “First and foremost inhismindwaswhatwasgoodforthecommunity.”

TommyBellwouldoftencomment on political issuesand candidates for office but never ran for political office himself,Candelasaid.

“And if there was an is-sue that come up he wasn’tbashful about expressing hisopinion.”

While he could be seri-ousinhisbusiness,familylifeandinservingthecommuni-ty,TommyBellhada lighterside,hisfriendsaid.

“He always had that drysense of humor, he wasn’t astand up comedian or any-thingbuthealwayshadsomekind of one liner or a punchline,”Candelasaid.

Tommy Bell is survivedby hiswifeDorothyGibson,andfourchildrenThomasW.Bell,III,J.AndrewBell,GaryBellandMarkBell.

He also leaves behindninegrandchildren.

TommyBellwasremem-bered by family and friendsat a fireman’s funeral at St. Aloysius Catholic Church inLeonardtownWednesdayandwas laid to rest at Queen ofPeaceCemeteryinHelen.

TommyBellContinued from page A-�

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Photo by Andrew Knowlton

Photo by Guy Leonard

Gary Bell (left) and Mark Bell, sons of Thomas Webster Bell, Jr., who passed away June 24 after battling cancer, go through their father’s things in his office at the Bell Motor Company in Leonardtown.

John Beasley owner of Budds Creek race track takes a break while two young riders practice on their dirt bikes.

Thursday, June 28, 2007 The County Times Section A - 7

the 13 members present, eight favored some form of Charter government.

“The county finances and governances are becom-ing more and more sophisti-cated,” said Patrick Murphy, chairman of the task force. “I’m not sure commissioner is the best form to quickly react to change in the future.”

The task force was de-signed and approved by the commissioners in March, in part because of what they deemed as the bureaucracy of sending small or local is-sues to a state delegation, at times, disconnected from the county.

Task force members had five choices to vote from dur-ing the vote: no change, unde-cided, Charter with a county manager, Charter with a county executive, or Code Home Rule. Five members voted in favor of Charter with a county manager, three for Charter with an Executive, two for Code Home Rule, two for no change, and one was undecided.

Doug Ritchie, a member appointed by Commissioner Lawrence Jarboe (R- Golden Beach), was the most pes-simistic regarding a Charter

government in the county. It would be a huge mis-

take,” said Ritchie, “that would “[Prince George] the county before it’s over with.”

Prince George’s County was granted its charter in 1970, and has experienced massive amounts of growth over that time, a hot but-ton issue for residents in St. Mary’s.

As part of a Charter, resi-dents could have a more di-rect say in the inner workings of government expenditures, taxes and policies.

“Charter is the only form of government that permits citizens to limit government,” Murphy said. “The only pow-ers it has are those expressly written in a charter.”

The task force is sched-uled to take its final and bind-ing vote at the end of July. If the results follow suit to the straw poll, four commission-ers would have to approve the recommendation, which would then go to a county-wide referendum.

“They got their majority,” said Ritchie of the task force’s early voting indications, “it would take a miraculous en-lightenment to change their minds now.”

St. Mary’s County has twice before held referen-dums to switch from a com-missioner form of govern-ment to charter - both times the idea has been voted down by county residents – once in 1972 and another in 1980. In order to pass, county resi-dents would have to approve the change by a two-thirds majority.

The measure could be voted on as soon as the 2008 presidential election or as late as 2012, depending on when and if the commissioners ap-prove the recommendation, and how long it takes to write the charter.

Although, it should take 18 months to write the Char-ter, Murphy said.

The task force is made up of different categories of citi-zens to give a wide perspec-tive of the county’s priori-ties. Each commissioner ap-pointed three members to the committee. Commissioners Jarboe and Thomas A. Mat-tingly Sr. (D-Leonardtown) both expressed disinterest in changing from a commission-er form of government, but were open to the discussion.

“Be prepared for a war,” said Ritchie, “because there is a storm brewing.”

Task ForceContinued from page A-�

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struck one of the victims and after the initial brawl went back to his nearby home and retrieved a 12-gauge shot-gun. When he returned he fired several rounds into the crowd.

One victim suffered gunshot wounds to the back and legs, while another was wounded in the hand.

The third victim was wounded in the right arm.

Boatman said that he was right next to one of the vic-tims when they were shot by Herring and that he just wants to put the whole memory be-hind him.

“I just saw a man snap,”

Boatman said of the shooting that day. “I saw someone get shot three feet in front of me.

“That makes you rethink things.”

Boatman was still con-fused about the events of that day and why they happened. He was acquainted with all those involved, he said, and had never thought they would be involved in something like this at his establishment.

“I knew them all, every one of them were my custom-ers,” Boatman said. “[Her-ring] lived across the street and he would come in all the time to buy stuff.

“He was always nice to

me.”The shooting incident

scarred him, Boatman said, even though he was fortunate enough to avoid being shot himself.

“I was numb for about three days after the shooting and when I started talking to my lawyer I started crying,” Boatman said. “It was a bad day for everybody.

“It was a sad day for Oakville when something like this happens.”

He said he wanted the families of those hurt to heal in the aftermath of the shoot-ing and for Herring to turn his life around.

“I hope the best for ev-erybody involved,” Boatman said.

ConvictionContinued from page A-�

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effect July 24 despite dissen-sion between board members over the exclusion of an af-fordable housing initiative.

Commissioner Lawrence Jarboe (R- Golden Beach) delivered the lone nay vote in response to what he deemed too many “mini mansions” in the rural preservation district, and not enough “affordable workforce housing.”

“If we adopted a TDR program that didn’t take into account affordable housing,” Jarboe said, “there would be no incentive to build that small cottage. The very peo-ple who live on those farms [won’t] be able to live there in the future.”

Under the approved plan, property owners can receive up to one TDR per five acres of land not impacted by sen-sitive areas such as wetlands and steep slopes.

There has been an ongoing community concern in recent public hearings and informa-tion sessions between prop-erty owners who might wish to convey land to part of their family, a common practice in the county. Before Tuesday, the TDR proposal did not al-low family conveyances with-out the purchase of TDRs, but Land Use and Growth Man-agement Director Denis D. Canavan modified the propos-al to be more accommodating to such circumstances.

Currently, property own-ers wishing to convey land to children or other family mem-bers can do so without buying TDRs, if they have purchased their land before May 13, 2002.

No more than two lots can be conveyed to family without TDRs, and those requests will only be afforded seven years to obtain a record plat.

Changes were made to the family conveyance policy just

minutes before the TDR text amendment was approved.

Canavan had allowed for up to three lots to be created for conveyance to children, but only five years in which to do so. Commissioner Thomas A. Mattingly Sr. (D-Leonardtown) suggested changing those numbers to two lots, at seven years, which was later approved with-out significant discussion. “I’ve had some thoughts in the last week or so to start over,” said Mattingly, relenting on his positions that appeared more futile than originally thought. “But we are not there, we are at the end.”

Commissioners Daniel Raley (D- Great Mills) and Jack Russell (D- Point Look-out) promised Jarboe that af-fordable housing would be addressed under the TDRs ongoing dialog, which is now set to factor in adequate public facilities and a county growth policy.

The Rural Preservation District Task Force lead by Robin Hahnel has already broached these topics, but a decision is still hanging in the balance. Whatever rec-ommendations the RPD task force makes will certainly be a critical factor of whether the community achieves the goal it originally intended to achieve when beginning the TDR initiative: preserving open space and the rural in-tegrity of St. Mary’s County.

“St. Mary’s County is re-ally at a crossroads here,” Ral-ey said. “The public is more and more seeking and urging us to put methods forward to achieve the goal of preserving land in the rural preservation district in essence so we can keep and maintain a good part of what makes the county so special.”

Jarboe remained uncom-

fortable with putting off the affordable housing concept for latter discussion, saying “if you don’t do it now, I’ve witnessed too many times that it gets put off.”

Both Raley and Mattingly expressed reservations about approving the text amend-ment, but did so in hopes of bringing tangible answers to the many complicating ques-tions that the issue presents.

“Every time you try to resolve one problem, “ Mat-tingly said, “something else goes wrong.”

Land uses in the RPD af-ter TDRs have been severed include, animal husbandry, aquaculture, crop production and horticulture, farmer’s markets, auction houses, road-side stands, silviculture, burial grounds, day care, rural medi-cine practices, bed and break-fast, personal improvement to residence, extractive indus-try uses, production industry uses, communication tow-ers, regional flood and storm water management facilities, utilities and various accessory and temporary uses.

Any sale of TDRs, under the plan, will have to be sub-mitted to the commissioners for final approval, similar to the way government conducts public hearings for the sale of county owned land.

In lieu of purchasing de-velopment rights from a send-ing parcel for use in devel-opment, developers or land-owners may pay a fee in lieu, which will be 120 percent of the average fair market value paid for TRDs.

Meanwhile, the commis-sioners will determine the cost of a single TDR at a later time, Canavan said.

TDRs allow property owners to sell their land’s de-velopment rights to develop-ers who wish to use them in other areas, namely the devel-opment district, where land use is often more difficult to come by.

TDR ApprovalContinued from page A-�

Photo by Adam RossThe TDR proposal approved Tuesday will be apart of the St. Mary’s County Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, which was adopted in 2002 but has been modified a number of times.

SectionA-� The County Times Thursday,June2�,2007

HelenC.Allston,7�

Helen C. Allston, 78, ofHughesville, Md. died June20,2007atherresidence.

Born September 21,1928inGreatMills,Md.shewas the daughter of the lateGeorgeP.andSarahAdams.She was the loving wife ofHugh Allston, Jr. whom shemarried on November 23,1947inSt.MichaelsChurch,Md.andwhoprecededherindeathonDecember23,2001.

She is survived by hersons Keith Allston, Sr. andKenneth Allston, both ofHughesville,Md.andhersib-lings;JosephAdamsofGreatMills,Md.,MaryThompsonofCalifornia,Md.,andBettyDavis of Hyattsville, Md.,five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.ShewasalsoprecededindeathbyherbrotherGeorgeR.Adams.

The family receivedfriends for a visitation/view-ingonFriday,June22,2007from 5-8 p.m. in Matting-ley-Gardiner Funeral Home,Leonardtown, Md. whereprayers were said at 7 p.m.A Funeral Service was heldon Saturday, June 23, 2007at10a.m.inChristEpiscopalChurch, Chaptico, Md. withFr. Jessee Neat officiating.

Intermentfollowedinthechurch cemetery. PallbearerswereRaynerBlair,JerryMat-tingly, George Heinze, JoeyGoldey,KeithAllston,Jr.andCurtis Grice. Arrangementsprovided by the Mattingley-GardinerFuneralHome,P.A.

MaryBeatriceArm-strong,�1

Mary Beatrice Arm-strong,81,ofClements,Md.,diedJune16,2007in theSt.Mary’sNursingCenter,Leon-ardtown,Md.

Born Dec. 4, 1925 inClements, Md., she was thedaughter of the late WilliamScanlonHerbert,Sr.andGer-trude Butler Herbert. Mrs.Armstrong had worked as adomesticworker.

She is survived by herhusband, John Henry Arm-strong of Clements, Md., adaughter, Sharon V. Arm-strong Clinton, Md., twosons, Stanley E. ArmstrongofHollywood,Md.,RobertE.ArmstrongofClements,Md.,10grandchildren, threegreatgrandchildren, three sisters,HeleneHoltofClements,Md.,BarbaraWhalenofCharlotteHall,Md.,MaggieArmstrongofLeonardtown,Md.andtwobrothers, William ScanlonHerbert, Jr. of Ventura, Ca.andJosephLeeSomervilleofLoveville,Md.Inadditiontoher parents, she was preced-ed indeathbyabrother, JoeCharlesHerbert,Sr.andfoursisters,TheresaParker,BettyBray,DorothyBushandGer-trudeMedley.

The family will receivefriends on Friday, June 22,

2007 from 9 a.m. until 10a.m. in St. Joseph’s CatholicChurch, Morganza, Md. AMassofChristianBurialwillbe celebrated at 10 a.m.TheReverend Keith Woods willbe the celebrant. IntermentwillfollowinCharlesMemo-rial Gardens, Leonardtown,Md.

Serving as pallbearerswill be Frankie Herbert, Ty-rone Medley, Paul Stewart,EdArmstrong,GeorgeArm-strongandFrancisCarter.

Arrangements by theBrinsfield Funeral Home, P.A. inLeonardtown,Md.

MargaretPriscillaDent,52

Margaret Priscilla Dent,

52, of Mechanicsville, Md.diedJune18,2007atherresi-dence.BornJune10,1955inSt. Mary’s County, Md., shewas the daughter of the lateGeorgeHooverandMargaretLucilleDent.

SheissurvivedbyhersonBryantL.DentofMechanic-sville, Md. and her brotherGeorgeFrankieDentofChap-tico,Md.

A lifelong residentofSt.Mary’sCounty,MargaretwasagraduateofChopticonHighSchool, “Classof1972.”Shewasemployedasahousekeep-er for Chesapeake PotomacRegionalCancerCenter.

All services are private.Arrangements provided bythe Mattingley-Gardiner Fu-neralHome,P.a.

MaryAnnDorsey,64

MaryAnnDorseyYoung,64,ofAbell,Md.diedJune18,2007 in St. Mary’s NursingCenter,Leonardtown,Md.

Born on February 19,1943 in Leonardtown, Md.,she was the daughter of thelateLeonBarnesandLillianMilburn.

Mary Ann graduatedfrom Banneker High SchoolinLoveville,Md.in1961.Shewas employed at St. Mary’sHospitalasaUnitSecretary/Nurseforover20years.MaryAnn, known for wantingto take care of other familymembers inneed,served thesickandillasacaregiveruntilshecouldnolongertakecareofherself.

Throughout the com-munity she had made manyfriends in every walk of herlife. MaryAnnwasknownfor her stern sense of humorbut she also enjoyed givingeveryoneahard time. MaryAnn loved spending timewithherthreegrandchildren,LaQuan, DanVontraz andKendrah. She also enjoyedswimming,watchingbaseballespeciallytheBaltimoreOri-oles. But her fondest sport-ing events were those wherehergrandchildrenwereontheteam. Mary Ann truly en-joyedspendingtimewithspe-

cialfriendsandfamily,espe-ciallyhertwodaughters,An-gela andMary. Her favoritepast timewaswatching tele-visionwithheryoungersister,LadenaeSmallwood and go-ingtolunchwithherlongtimefriend,EvelynHolland.

She is survived by herbeloved daughters, Angelaand Mary Young of Lexing-ton Park, Md., adopted-son,Clarence Beachum-YoungofVirginia, 3grandchildren,LaQuanWoodland,DanVon-traz Ball and Kendrah Bow-manofLexingtonPark,Md.,3 godchildren, Carlos Chewof Richmond, Va., LatonyaMilburn of Leonardtown,Md. and SharikaMilburn ofLexingtonPark,Md., sisters,DonnaMilburnandLadenaeSmallwood,bothofLeonard-town, Md., Francis Milburn,Hope Milburn, Lillian Be-ander, Brenda Barnes, PamBarnes and Darlene Barnesof Lexington Park, Md.and Lisa Barnes of CharlesCounty, brothers, WilliamMilburn,BruceOwens,Wil-liam Barnes, David Barnes,Timmy Barnes, GregoryBarnes and Jeffrey Barnes,all of Lexington Park, MD,Fred Milburn of Leonard-town, Md., Vernon Milburnof Hollywood, Md., DexterMilburn of Waldorf, Md.,Lord Milburn of Annapolis,Md.,ThomasMilburnofAv-enue,Md.,andChrisBarnesofCharlesCounty,Md.,spe-cial, longtime friend, JamesWoodland of Loveville, Md.and a host of aunts, uncles,nieces,nephewsandfriends.

Inadditiontoherparents,shewasprecededindeathbyhergreat-grandmother,LucyBennett, adopted-daughter,Melody McRae, sister, Lo-lia Jean Dorsey and brother,DennisMilburn.

The family receivedfriends onMonday, June 25,2007 from 9:30-11 a.m. atSt. Matthew’s Free GospelChurch of Christ, Leonar-dtown, Md., with a Funeralservice conducted at 11 a.m.Pastor Daniel S. Jones con-ductedtheservice.IntermentfollowedinCharlesMemorialGardens, Leonardtown, Md.Serving as pallbearers wereWesley Hebb, Quincy Fen-wick, Claude Queen, PerryWoodland, Frederick Mil-burn, and Lord Milburn.Servingashonorarypallbear-ers were Thomas Milburn,Keith Smallwood, CarlosChew, Joe Armstrong, Sr.Sylvester Wills, Bruce Ow-ens and Brandon Sherrell.Arrangements by the Brins-field Funeral Home, P.a. in Leonardtown,Md.

KateEmmaHarris,70

Kate Emma Harris, 70,ofHollywood,Md.diedJune12, 2007 at her daughter’sresidence.

Born June 7, 1937 inChaptico, Md., she was thedaughter of Alice Louise(Higgs)LyonofChaptico,Md.andthelateHensonLyon.

Inadditiontohermother,she is survived by her son,GeorgeWilliamHarrisofHol-lywood,Md.,threedaughters,JoyceA. Johnson ofCalifor-nia, Md., Barbara A. Tross-bachofGreatMills,Md.,andAnn J. Shifflett of Hollywood, Md., siblings,RobertaKeen-anofHollywood,Md.,TeenyLaceyofBushwood,Md.,Al-exander“Thummy”LyonandShirley Morgan of Chaptico,Md., ten grandchildren, andtengreat-grandchildren.

In addition to her father,sheisprecededindeathbyherhusband, George W. Harris,daughter,RoseMarieHarris,

andbrother,TrumanLyon.The family received

friends on Thursday, June14, 2007 from 5-8 p.m. inthe Brinsfield Funeral Home Chapel, Leonardtown, Md.Prayerswererecitedat7p.m.A Mass of Christian Burialwas celebrated on Friday,June15,2007at10a.m.inSt.John Francis Regis CatholicChurch,Hollywood,Md.Fa-therRaySchmidtwasthecel-ebrant.Intermentfollowedinthechurchcemetery.

Memorial contributionsmay be made to AmericanCancer Society, St. Mary’sCounty—Unit 350, P.O. Box1032, Lexington Park, Md.20653.


RobertHartshorn,7�

RobertHartshorn, 78, ofHollywood, Md. died June

17,2007inSt.Mary’sHospi-tal, Leonardtown, Md., fromcomplicationsduetoadebili-tatingstrokesufferedinApril2006.

Born Aug. 3, 1928 inKensington,Md.,hewas thesonofthelateGeorgeErnestand Essie Johnstone (Mc-Cutcheon)Hartshorn.

Mr.Hartshorngraduatedfrom Dartmouth College in1950, with a BA in History.HeservedintheUnitedStatesAir Force. He continued hiseducation at Northrop Insti-tute of Technology in Cali-fornia and earned a BS inElectronic Engineering. In1966hemovedhis family toSt.Mary’sCountyandbeganhis career at Patuxent RiverNaval Air Test Center. Heretired after twenty-five years of dedicated service to ourcountryasanElectronicEn-gineeratNATC,Departmentof Electronic Warfare andReconnaissance.

His passions were avia-tion, history, genealogy andworkingonhissmallfarm.

He passed away on Fa-ther’sdaytobewithhisHeav-enly Father. We love you,Dad, and will miss you, butweknowwe’llmeetagain.

He is survived by hisloving wife, Mary D. Harts-horn and daughters, Susan-nahLynchandSarah“Sally”Brown both of Hollywood,Md.andBethBeardallofHal-tonHills,Ontario,theirspous-es,sixgrandchildrenandtwobrothers, William HartshornandEldenHartshorn.

The family will receivefriends on Friday, Aug. 3,2007 from 5-8 p.m. in theBrinsfield Funeral Home Chapel, Leonardtown, Md.;where a Memorial Servicewill be conducted at 7 p.m.Inurnmentwillbeprivate.

In lieu of flowers, me-morial contributions maybe made to HOSPICE of St.Mary’s, Inc., P.O. Box 625,Leonardtown, Md. 20650and/or CareNet PregnancyCenterofSouthernMaryland, P.O. Box 31, Lexington Park, Md. 20653.

Arrangements by the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A. in Leonardtown, Md.

PaulMartinMillham,73

PaulMartinMillham,73,of Leonardtown, Md., diedJune 23, 2007 in Maryland

University Medical Center,Baltimore,Md.

Born June 14, 1934 inPhiladelphia,Pa., hewas theson of the late Edmund L.MillhamandMaryS.(Pacht-mann)Millham.

Mr. Millham earned aBachelor’s and Master’s de-gree while attending Penn-sylvania State Universityand University of Maryland.He was employed by PrinceGeorge’sCommunityCollegeasaprofessor inengineeringtechnologyfor34yearsbeforeheretired.Hewasamemberof the Rotary Club of Leon-ardtownandSouthernMary-landWineSociety.HewasalifetimeBoyScoutandScoutleader.HemarriedRhodessaLeeMillhamonAug.3,1963.

His hobbies includedreading, traveling, theater,gardening, fishing, cooking, spending time with his fam-ilyandfriends,do-it-yourselfprojects,andwoodworking.

In addition to his wife,he is survived by two sons,EricP.Millhamandhiswife,Jacquelyn of Great Mills,Md. and Keith A. MillhamofChestertown,Md.,brother,EdmundR.Millhamandhiswife,GeraldineofRonks,Pa.,andthreegrandchildren,SeanE. Millham, Ian J. Millham,andJ.SiobhanMillham,allofGreatMills,Md.

The family will receivefriendsonSaturday,June30,2007 from 12-2:30 p.m. inSt. Paul’s United MethodistChurch, Leonardtown, Md.,where a Memorial Servicewillbeconductedat2:30p.m.Inurnmentwillbeprivate.

Memorial contributionsmaybemadetotheRotaryIn-ternationalFoundation,14280Collections Center Drive,Chicago, Ill. 60693, Collegeof SouthernMaryland Foun-dation,c/oofCindyBowling,Dev.,P.O.Box910,LaPlata,Md.20646-0910orHOSPICEHouse c/o HOSPICE of St.Mary’s, P.O.Box625,Leon-ardtown,Md.20650.


LillianPeggSmith,�5

LillianPeggSmith,85,ofHollywood,Md.diedJune17,2007inWashingtonHospitalCenter,Washington,DC.

Born June 24, 1921 inGreatMills,Md.,shewasthe

daughterofthelateWilliamF.PeggandDrucyGattonPegg.

After graduating fromGreat Mills High School in1939andsomeadditionalsec-retarial training at FrostburgCollege,shebeganhercareerat Bell Motor Company. Af-ter leaving Bell Motor, shewent toworkwith thenewlyformedKirbyMotorCompa-nyandfromthereworkedforCapps Real Estate Companywhile Town Creek was be-ing developed. Most peopleremember her for her manyyears at First National BankinLeonardtownand

later inHollywood. Sheretired in 1987. She mar-ried Donald Edward Smith.He preceded her in death in2002.

During her working ca-reer, she was a wonderfulmother and later on grand-mother. Herhomewasusu-allyfulloffamilyandfriendsand always full of uncondi-tionallove.Shewillbegreat-lymissed.

She is survived by twodaughters, Donna Lee Knottand her husband Johnny ofHollywood, Md. and JoanNeshat and her husband,Amir of Asheville, N.C., five grandchildren,MichaelElyofNashville,Tenn.,MarkElyofRichmond,Va.,AmyNeshatPhillips of Asheville, N.C.,BobbyNeshat ofCharleston,S.C., and Darby Neshat ofJohnson City, Tenn., great-granddaughter,HaleyPhillipsofAsheville,N.C.,andsister,RubyMorganofHollywood,Md..

Inadditiontoherparentsandhusband,sheisprecededin death by her granddaugh-ter, Patricia Ely, two sisters,Helen Strickland and LeonaSanner, and three brothers,Charles, Ralph, and RichardPegg.

The family receivedfriends on Friday, June 22,2007 from 5-8 p.m. in theBrinsfield Funeral Home Chapel, Leonardtown, Md.Prayers were recited at 7p.m. A Funeral service wasconducted on Saturday, June23, 2007 at 10 a.m. in theHollywood United Method-ist Church, Hollywood, Md.ReverendSheltonReesecon-ductedtheservice.IntermentfollowedinJoyChapelCem-etery,Hollywood,Md.

Serving as pallbearerswereMichaelEly,MarkEly,DarbyNeshat,DonaldStrick-land, Ronald Strickland andBruceStrickland.

Memorial contributionsmay be made to HollywoodVolunteer Rescue Squad,P.O.Box79,Hollywood,Md.20636, Hollywood UnitedMethodist Church, 24422Mervell Dean Road, Hol-lywood, Md. 20636, or St.Mary’sNursingCenter,21585PeabodyStreet,Leonardtown,Md.20650.


Obituaries

ToPlaceAMemorial

AnniversaryNoticeCall

301-373-4125

vehiclewasalmostcompletelysubmergedintheriver.

All these incidents oc-curred within just two days,Willenborgsaid.

“Therewasalothappen-inginashortperiodoftime,”Willenborgsaid.

JanetSullivan,alongtimeresident of Golden Beach,said thieves broke into herdaughter’s car and stole theCDplayerandsomecountrymusicrecordings.

“They took the country

musicandlefttheChristian,”Sullivansaid,addingthattheChristian CDs were thrownaroundthecar.“TheyneedtolistentotheChristianmusic.”

Carolyn Livingston, anactivememberoftheGoldenBeach/Patuxent Knolls CivicAssociation, said residentsof Golden Beach are still onedgeaftertheblazeandsomeofthesubsequentcrimes.

“There’s not a whole lotwe can do except be alert,”Livingston said. “People are

locking things up that theydidn’t lock before. You justhavetokeepyoureyesopen.”

Livingston said hiringsecurity was not an optionandthatthecitizenshadtobemore alert in stopping crimeintheircommunity.

“We don’t have themoney to [hire extra secu-rity],”Livingstonsaid.“Everydone down here is done byvolunteers.”

And getting those resi-dentstohelppatroltheirownstreetsmaybetough,Livings-tonsaid.

Shesaidtherewereabout

900familieslivinginGoldenBeachbutonlyabout30peo-pleeverattendthecivicasso-ciationmeetings.

Andthenthere’sfearthatthere might be a backlash ifresidentsstanduptocrime.

“Peopledon’twanttogetinvolvedbecause of [fear of]retaliation,”Livingstonsaid.

Golden Beach is oneof two communities in St.Mary’s thathas itsowndep-uty assigned to the area aspartofacommunityservicesprogram.

ThesecondtobeapartoftheprogramwastheCountry

LakescommunityinMechan-icsvilleaftercommunitycom-plaintsofvandalism,speedingand illegal drug trafficking prompted the sheriff’s office tosendaidthere.

But there is only onedeputy assigned to the twoareasandresidentsinGoldenBeach.

“Things have been get-ting better [until the arson],”Livingstonsaid.“Butthat’salargeareatocover.”

The arson was the mostserious crime that has oc-curred in Golden Beach inrecentmemory,Sullivansaid,

andithadpeopleupanddowntheblocktalking.

“I’ve been here for 15years and this is the worstdamage I’ve seen,” Sullivansaid. “It’s got people reallyupsetbecausewehavesuchanicecommunity.”

Residents, she said, areunsure who committed therecent spate of crimes, butwanted to get some answersquickly.

“They don’t know butI’m sure they’d like to,”Sul-livan said. “I certainly hopethat whoever set that fire they catch.”

GoldenBeachContinued from page A-�


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50th AnniversAry PArAdeJune 30th, 2007

Parade, Music, and Fireworks

Parade-starting at 3:30 p.m.Free Music at the Fire house after the Parade

Bythe Kings of Classic rock

Great Train Robberysponsored by G & h Jewelers

Fireworks at dusk on the Fire department Groundssponsored by Guy distributing and dean Lumber Company

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Superintendent Mends Communication Lines with CountyBy Adam RossStaff Writer

Superintendent Michael J. Martirano squared off with the St. Mary’s Board of County Commissioners Tuesday for budget approval, while simultaneously renew-ing tattered communication lines with county government that gave way last month to an additional budget cut of $193,000.

Martirano praised the commissioners for their sup-port of a historic budget in-crease, and their loyalty in the capital improvement plan, vowing to keep dialog omni-present and ongoing.

“We are building solid relationships between [my-self] and county administra-tor [John Savich],” Martirano said, “talking about where we

are and where we are going.” With nearly the entire

board of education just behind his right shoulder and schools’ Chief Financial Officer Daniel Carney to his left, Martirano reminded the commissioners of the new initiatives public schools’ are undertaking and the successes its achieved through his tenure.

“Our budget has been defined on needs,” Martirano said, “and continues to allow us to achieve high levels of performance.”

Strengthened Maryland State Assessment scores indi-cate Martirano’s vision for St. Mary’s County pupils is well on its way toward meeting No Child Left Behind goals, and can be used as a bargain-ing instrument for next year’s budget process, although next year is considered largely un-

predictable as the state pre-pares to hand down additional funding priorities to local governments.

But the lesson learned this time around was that the school board can never have too much representation at budget work sessions, nor can communication lines afford obstruction.

Martirano said he is now meeting with Savich on a reg-ular basis, something Com-missioner Daniel Raley (D- Great Mills) praised the two colleagues for doing.

“I think [the dialog] has been started,” Raley said. “It’s been a learning process for me, we need to do that now, rather than four weeks before the budget is due.”

The commissioners had criticized the school board and Martirano for not show-

ing up to a May budget work session, and failing to supply adequate information about $200,000 for employee hires. So, the commissioners cut the money on top of $2.5 million that had already been stripped from the school board’s initial budget request.

On Tuesday some of the hiring questions were fi-nally answered for the public record.

The school board allo-cated funding to 73.8 new positions, with 5.7 of those positions rolled over from last year.

Carney said three out of four of the 73.8 positions were not considered administra-tive, but rather, services for students either in the form of the office of the principal, nursing or instruction.

“Administration as per-

cent of budget and percent of full time employee has gone down very single year since we started the bridge to excel-lence,” Carney added. “We are aware of the sensitivity of that issue and are addressing it.”

Meanwhile, Commis-sioner Thomas A. Mattingly Sr. (D- Leonardtown) remind-ed the public and superinten-dent that per pupil spending is not an accurate indicator of school achievement.

Community members passed out a graph at a May public hearing for the school budget that outlined St. Mary’s County school spending from its total operating budget had declined over the last 13 years. Those results correlate into less per-pupil funding.

“I would hope that’s not the attitude of the [Parent

Teacher Associations] and people who support you all,” Mattingly said. “I think it was a lack of understanding because we are providing a complete budget to the entire [county].”

The commissioners unan-imously approved Tuesday the largest increase in county his-tory of $8.3 million bringing the county’s funding level up to approximately $76 million. The state increased its fund-ing by $10 million, and board of education’s total budget al-location was $169.9 million for fiscal 2008.

Mattingly made the mo-tion to approve the St. Mary’s County Public Schools bud-get, and it was seconded by Commissioner Lawrence Jar-boe (R- Golden Beach).

SectionA-10 The County Times Thursday,June28,2007

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The County Times 2007.06.28 A Section

Documents

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president of bell motor

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