Honoring a Vietnam Veteran

By Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 13, 2007

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D) visited his Southern Maryland district Saturday, meeting with area veterans, touting legislation that Congress has passed this year and awarding medals to a Vietnam War veteran from St. Mary's County.

Hoyer hosted a luncheon at VFW Post 8810 in Waldorf and was joined by U.S. Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. Hoyer honored Ronald Drinks of Mechanicsville with medals commemorating his service on active duty during the Vietnam War.

"Mr. Drinks served this country valiantly during a grueling military campaign in Vietnam," Hoyer said in a statement. "I am honored today to personally present him with these medals of valor, which are a tribute to his brave service to our nation."

Hoyer and Filner highlighted federal legislation that supports veterans, including an increase in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs and the largest health-care increase in decades.

"Already, in the first eight months of the 110th Congress, the new majority has followed through with our pledge to honor the nation's commitment to our veterans," Hoyer said in a statement. "For the first time in years, the Congress has provided the VA with the requisite funding to fulfill our nation's obligation to America's servicemen and women, their families and our veterans."

The congressman continued, "These proud men and women to which we owe so much have fulfilled their duties bravely and honorably, and they deserve nothing less than the support of a nation that recognizes the heroic deeds they have undertaken to protect and promote the freedoms all Americans enjoy."

Calling veterans "heroes," Filner said they "deserve all the care and dignity that this nation can bestow." In a statement, he said, "Members of the House have routinely come together in this Congress to send a clear message to America's servicemen and women that we recognize the sacrifices of our veterans."

Those at the luncheon received a presentation on the Veterans History Project, an initiative of the Library of Congress aimed at collecting oral histories, memoirs, letters, diaries, photographs and other original materials from veterans of foreign wars. Hoyer sponsored legislation to create the project.

Seeking Input on Tests

The State Board of Education will seek public comment on the Maryland High School Assessment program during a hearing in Waldorf on Tuesday.

One of five forums scheduled this month statewide, the hearing for the southern region will be at North Point High School, 2500 Davis Rd. It begins at 7 p.m., and the maximum speaking time will be three minutes. Anyone wishing to speak must sign up beginning at 6:15 p.m.

Written testimony may be submitted the evening of the hearing or by mail, to the Maryland State Board of Education, 200 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore, Md. 21201; by e-mail to stateboard-hsa@msde. state. md. us; or by fax to 410-333-2275. The deadline is next Thursday.

Accommodations for people with disabilities will be provided if requested 48 hours before the hearing, as will interpreters if requested 96 hours beforehand if they are available, the board said. For special arrangements, contact Deneice Yarborough at 410-767-0469 or 410-333-3045 (TTY).

Trustees Elect New Officers

At its 2007 annual meeting, the St. Mary's College of Maryland's Board of Trustees elected officers for the 2007-08 academic year. They are James Muldoon as chair, Ben Bradlee as vice chair, Molly Mahoney as secretary and Patrick Hervy as treasurer.

The Board of Trustees also announced the recent approval of seven new trustees by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D). They include Sherrie Robinson Bailey, '81, of Randallstown, a Baltimore County public defender; Cindy Broyles, '79, of Tall Timbers, a Booz Allen Hamilton vice president; Gail Harmon of the District, a partner with the law firm Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg; Neil Irwin, '00, of the District, a Washington Post journalist; Katharine Russell of Baltimore, president and owner of RWWR Associates; Carmen Shepard of the District, a former Maryland deputy attorney general and counsel at the D.C. law firm Buc & Beardsley; and John Chambers Wobensmith, '93, of New York, Genco Shipping and Trading's chief financial officer.

In addition, the governor reappointed G. Thomas Daugherty, '65, Thomas Penfield Jackson and Robert Waldschmitt to a second term on the board.

Trustees are responsible for the governance of the college, including finances, personnel, curriculum and fundraising.

Retiring from the board with 12 years of service are June Weiner Auerbach, '49, and retired governor and state comptroller William Donald Schaefer. Both were awarded trustee emeritus status for their long service to the college. Trustees Thomas Kreidler and Vinaychandra Shah also retired this year after serving six-year terms.

Spanning the Watershed

National Park Service Director Mary Bomar and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced last month that the Alice Ferguson Foundation's Bridging the Watershed environmental education program will be expanded throughout the Potomac watershed as part of the National Park Service's Centennial Challenge.

Bridging the Watershed is a partnership of the Alice Ferguson Foundation and the National Park Service for high school students and teachers. The program aims to advance understanding and stewardship of natural resources and public lands, with a focus on the ecology of the Potomac River and its tributaries.

"The Centennial Challenge is a critical element in the National Park Centennial Initiative," Bomar said in a statement from the Ferguson Foundation. The effort is a funding mechanism to match up to $100 million a year of public money over 10 years with $100 million a year for 10 years in private donations. Financial commitments to the first round of proposals exceeded those targets, with about $370 million in proposals and $216 million committed in private donations, Bomar said.

Through Bridging the Watershed, high school students learn hands-on science in 10 national parks within the Washington region.

"This very dynamic public-private partnership with the National Park Service allows us to bring thousands of students and teachers throughout the Potomac watershed to these amazing parks and conduct innovative hands-on education programs," Tracy Bowen, executive director of the Alice Ferguson Foundation, said in the statement.

The foundation is an educational nonprofit organization founded in 1954 that operates the Hard Bargain Farm Environmental Center, a 330-acre working farm and native woodland on the shore of the Potomac River south of Washington.

More than 10,000 students from throughout the Potomac River region visit Hard Bargain. The foundation also coordinates the annual Potomac Watershed Cleanup and is spearheading the initiative Trash Free Potomac by 2013.

Bridging the Watershed was developed by the foundation and the National Park Service in 1998 through a grant from the National Park Foundation as a model in the Washington area for the outdoor education of high school students, an underserved population in national parks.

Cardin Skeptical on Iraq

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) was one of those questioning the two top U.S. officials in Iraq during congressional hearings this week.

Cardin is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Gen. David H. Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker testified before the panel Tuesday regarding the Bush administration's military strategy and policy in the war in Iraq.

The Maryland senator questioned the "surge" strategy, whereby an additional 30,000 U.S. troops have been deployed to Iraq since the spring. Cardin noted that several recent reports to Congress have said that Iraq remains wracked by sectarian violence.

"I applaud Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker's efforts," Cardin said in a statement issued after Tuesday's hearing, "but I think the facts are the facts -- U.S. troops remain in the midst of a civil war and Iraq remains a deadly place for both U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians."

Cardin has called in the past for an international effort to stabilize Iraq and for a change of policy -- in his words, "one that will remove U.S. troops from a civil war."