Featured Articles
Double Standard Regarding Shropshire?
The Observer at Eye on Annapolis chimed in on December 4th asking if readers thought justice was served in the Shropshire midshipman case. I was the only person to weigh in and did so with the opinion of thinking it was a witch hunt.
I stand by my comments and now just eleven days later have found a new article that may demonstrate a double standard:
There are not a lot of details, but a female midshipman reported to the Naval Academy that she was sexually assaulted back in June while on summer training in Norfolk, VA.
NCIS investigated and said that there was not enough evidence to charge anyone or take the case to military court. They will not be releasing anymore details out of respect for the privacy of those involved.
Granted, I am willing to admit that there could be a million and one reasons for not pursuing charges against anyone, but we must remember that Shropshire was charged and found guilty based on the mere accusation by a midshipman. As far as I am aware there was zero physical evidence in the case.
I cannot help but wonder if investigators would have shown little to no interest in the Shropshire case had a female accused him of inappropriately touching her. I am left wondering how much the “male on male” angle played into everything from it being a media sensation all the way to him being found guilty.
With Shropshire it seems that the male victim made an accusation without any physical evidence to back it up and he was found guilty.
I cannot find it so I cannot source it, and I may be a little bit (or a lot) off with the numbers so please do not quote me, but the other day I read some statistics saying that something like 4 million people are now registered sex offenders and that the number is double what it was just four or eight (I forget which — I think they said 2001) years ago. What I do remember for sure is that the person did the calculations and that by the end of the century, unless something changes, every single person in the U.S. will be a registered sex offender. Ponder that.
Thoughts? I’d love to hear them in the comments section!
Before anyone jumps on me, I take sexual assault very seriously and know first hand the pain and suffering it causes victims. Having said that, I also believe in a justice system that requires a confession or physical evidence in order for a guilty verdict to be handed down.
Raffle Winner Unloads Home She Won
Karen McHale took a chance and paid $50 each for two raffle tickets in hopes of winning a home.
She won a home in Edgewater that measures over 6,000 SF, has six bedrooms and 4 1/2 baths. It’s original value was $1.2 million.
Karen and her husband live in Colorado and never intended to move to the Mid-Atlantic. She was happy with her win until she was laid off from her job a week later. Then, the burden of the house started to set in: $600 to $800 a month in utility payments and insurance and a potential tax liability of $300,000 in 2009 — all while unemployed!
She set out to sell the house at $799,000 with some interest but no takers. That dropped to $749,000 and they still had no takers.
The story has a happy ending though. She was able to unload the house, make money from it, minimize her tax liability and help out a local church.
Unity By the Bay is a church that outgrew its location in a Severna Park strip mall. They worked out a deal with McHale where they’d buy the house for $650,000, paying $450,000 in cash and then accepting a $200,000 tax deductible donation from McHale. With this deal, McHale was able to cover her tax liability and still walk away with $200,000 in cash.
Both McHale and Unity By the Bay are happy with how things worked out!
Related Articles:
Nice Price: $100 Buys $1 Million House [Washington Post]
$1.28 million home to sell for $50 [The Capital]
Source: Raffle winner sells $1.2 million home at a bargain [Washington Post]
Crofton Family to Sue School System
The parents of Christopher Jones, the 14-year-old boy killed while riding his bike in Crofton, announced that they will be filing a lawsuit against Anne Arundel County Public Schools within two weeks.
The basis of the suit is that the family — and their attorneys — feel that the school system did not do enough to protect Christopher from bullies. His death occurred back in May, a few weeks after he was transferred from Arundel High to South River High in response to the bullying he endured.
The school system will not comment on the suit but says that they have strengthened its policy against bullying.
You can help shape policy further by taking this survey.
In other news, one of the two teens that attached Christopher plead guilty to manslaughter yesterday.
Startling Prince George’s Foreclosure Numbers
I just stumbled across a piece by Danny Jacobs at The Daily Record that made me cringe.
The gist of it is the number of foreclosure filings in PG County — our neighbor — and the numbers included an interesting note (in bold):
- In 2006, the clerk’s office received 4,148 filings. (That’s more than Baltimore County has ever received.)
- In 2007, the clerk’s office in Prince George’s received 7,019 foreclosure filings.
- In 2008, the clerk’s office received 8,237 filings.
All is I can say is WOW! That is a lot of people losing their homes.
When I see big numbers like this, I always compare it to my high school, which averaged 1,000 students when I attended. That would be the equivalent of every family in my school — times 8 of my schools — losing their house in 2008 alone! I went to school in Harford County and am not even sure if there were 8,237 high school students in the entire county in the mid-to-late 90’s!
Something has to be done to stem foreclosures. The Treasury Department recently said that they are going to put increasing pressure on mortgage companies to modify loans, but we’ve heard that before and not much came of it.
In other news, 1 in 8 American’s now rely on food stamps to eat!
Annapolis Homeless Shelter to Expand
With the continued faltering of the economy, coupled with the ongoing housing crisis, it is great and timely news that the Lighthouse Shelter in Annapolis is about to undergo a major expansion.
Located at 206 West Street, the shelter helps those without a home to stay warm during the winter. Last year, it was forced to turn away 500 homeless Annapolitans, 159 of which were children. It is currently housed in a 120-year-old building and has under 5,000 SF of space.
With the help of the community and studious planning on the shelters part, a major $1.4 million expansion is about to get underway. When the expansion is completed in June, 2010, the shelter will be able to help 1,500 homeless people per year.
Here are some details about the project:
- Four separate facilities will be housed in a single 24,000 SF building that is secure and green, which will help to lower operating costs
- The emergency shelter will have beds for 30 men and 15 women, where they can stay for up to 90 days in order to get back on their feet
- Transitional housing in the form of family apartments suitable for 5 adults and 20 children
- A day center providing basic services for the chronically homeless
The mission of the shelter is to empower Annapolis’ homeless population. 75% of the people that pass through its doors leave empowered with a job or income, a place to live and on the path to an independent life.
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that survives through the generous giving of others, they still need help with this major project! Click here to see how you can donate money to the project and what your donation will accomplish!
If you are reading this while sitting in your comfortable home, or at your job, please think about those that are not fortunate enough to have either and donate to a worthy cause right now!
Annapolis Holiday Trash Collection Schedule
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and a lot of people have questions about government trash collection and recycling services on holiday’s so here is the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County schedule for Thanksgiving, 2009:
City of Annapolis:
City of Annapolis government offices will be closed on Thursday (11/26) and Friday (11/27).
There will be no type of refuse or recycling collection on Thursday in the City of Annapolis.
Trash collection and recycling will occur as scheduled on Friday, November 27th.
For those that usually have yard recycling on Thursday, the makeup day will be Wednesday, December 2nd.
Source: Holiday Schedule – Thanksgiving Weekend [City of Annapolis Website]
Anne Arundel County (outside city limits):
The Millersville landfill, Glen Burnie Convenience Center and Sudley Convenience Center will be closed on both Thursday and Friday. Administrative offices will also be closed.
No collection will take place on Thanksgiving Day.
Collections will resume on Friday, November 27 and those that would have had collections on Thursday will have them on Friday and those that are regularly scheduled for Friday will instead have them on Saturday.
Trash and recycling facilities will reopen on Saturday and administrative offices on Monday.
Source: Holiday Collection Schedule – Thanksgiving Week [Anne Arundel County Website]
Have a great Thanksgiving!
Annapolis Pharmacist Robbed at Gunpoint for Drugs
A pharmacist at Annapolis Professional Pharmacy in the 700 block of West Street reported an armed robbery to police.
He said that on Monday (11/23/09), an armed robber came into the pharmacy, pointed a gun at the pharmacist and demanded painkillers.
The pharmacist complied and the robber left and headed towards Taylor Avenue.
Seven Bancorp Under Federal Supervision
Annapolis based Severn Bankcorp, Inc., the parent of Seven Bank, has joined the growing list of banks that are now under federal supervision.
The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) announced that it has supervisory agreements in place and that the bank must revise its policies regarding its problem assets, including revising its allowance for losses and loan modifications, and come up with a better plan to manage risks. The company must provide quality progress reports to OTS.
In the three months ending September 30th, Severn lost $4.4 million (48 cents per share). Last year, during the same period, the bank had a profit of $600,000, which works out to 6 cents per share. The company, which has four branches in Anne Arundel County, had $995 million in assets at the end of the quarter.
Additional Reading: Severn Bankcorp placed under federal supervision [Baltimore Sun]
Firing the ol’ Sweet Home Annapolis Back Up!
Are there any readers left?
Actually, surprisingly, there are — I’ve checked out the visitor stats.
I had to take an extended leave of absence and I apologize for that.
I’m back though and I am going to bring this blog back to life.
In the meantime, I have to update WordPress. There have probably been 15 updates to the WP platform since I last logged in.
Serious Crime Down 50% in Annapolis
The Annapolis Police Department is reporting that serious crime in the city is down 50% in the first 5 months of 2009. The comparison was made to the same period last year.
From January to May, the city only had one homicide. There were six during the same period in 2008. Serious violent crimes fell 44% and serious property crimes fell 53% in 2009.
Most of the crime last year happened around public housing. In response, the police department hired an additional 20 officers. They also added a night commander.
According to the Annapolis Police Department website, they are looking to hire a new officer. The pay is $43,000 to $68,800 annually, with a 3% signing bonus.
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