Citing More Pressing Needs, Calvert Sheriff Shelves Patrol-Car Makeover

By Christy Goodman, Jenna Johnson and Matt Zapotosky
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 8, 2009

The Calvert County sheriff's effort to paint his patrol cars has been put on hold -- again.

Citing potential budget problems, Sheriff Mike Evans (R) said Tuesday that he would not spend the nearly $15,000 needed to paint his department's 22 Ford Crown Victorias black and white starting this summer.

In a news release, Evans said he thinks the contrasting colors would make the patrol cars more visible than the white ones they now operate and increase their effectiveness in deterring crime. But he said he wants to use the money for more pressing needs, such as new employees.

Early last year, Evans sparked a battle with Calvert commissioners when he tried to go around them after they refused to approve funding for the paint job. At the time, board President Wilson H. Parran (D-Huntingtown) and members Barbara A. Stinnett (D-At Large) and Linda L. Kelley (R-At Large) said that the expenditure, $14,960 over five years, was unnecessary in tough financial times.

Evans said the county's lawmakers had no right to tell him how to spend money they had already budgeted for his office. He took the dispute to the state attorney general, winning a ruling that seemed to favor his position. He agreed to put off the paint job until fiscal 2010, when Parran said he would support it.

Now Evans says he will not paint the cars until "the time is right."

A majority of commissioners praised Evans on Tuesday, saying he made the right decision.

"Understanding the economic situation, I can appreciate that," Parran said.

Calvert Seeks to Use Farm As Agricultural Model

Calvert County officials will begin work on a master plan to develop the Biscoe Gray Heritage Farm, with help from a $65,000 federal grant. The grant requires a match from the county, and county commissioners approved those funds Tuesday.

Calvert plans to use part of the more than 200 acres off Grays Road south of Prince Frederick for a farm where schoolchildren can be taught about sustainable living. A manager will show them how to care for animals, raise a garden and preserve food.

The farm was first owned in the 1800s by an African American family named Rice. It was acquired by the county in 1996. A 1930s frame house, known as the George Rice House, along with a chicken coop, meat house and cowshed, are still on the property, as are two tobacco barns and another 19th-century house, which are on the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties. Plans call for restoring many of the structures.

Plans are also in the works to add recreational opportunities, such as bird-watching and trails for walking and horseback riding.

Calvert School Board Members Sworn In

Three new Calvert County Board of Education members were sworn in Tuesday, changing the face of the five-member board. All three are parents of public school students. None of the members they are replacing had children in the system, nor do the other two members.

The Calvert school board race drew considerable interest in November because of a charter school application that was denied by the board last year and a divisive elementary school redistricting issue that preceded the opening of Barstow Elementary School in Prince Frederick in the fall.

The new members are William "Bill" Chambers of Lusby (District 1), Tracy H. McGuire of Huntingtown (District 2) and Rose Crunkleton of Owings (District 3).

Conservation Association Elects Officers for 2009

Andy Hughes was recently elected chairman of the 1,800-member Coastal Conservation Association of Maryland. Hughes, an Annapolis resident, said he plans to focus on oyster-restoration issues during the coming year.

Other officers elected by the association's board of directors are Ed Liccione of Queenstown, vice chairman; Ed Roach of Port Republic, secretary; and Larry Jennings of Silver Spring, treasurer.

Hughes has appointed Scott McGuire of Lexington Park to head the group's Maryland Fisheries Committee. Lew Armistead of Hollywood and Ken Lewis of Baltimore will continue to lead communications and government relations efforts, respectively.

Coastal Conservation Association is a national organization of 100,000 members in 17 states. Its goal is to promote the conservation of marine resources.

SMECO Applies to Build Line in Calvert, St. Mary's

The Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative has submitted an application to the Maryland Public Service Commission for a certificate of public convenience and necessity to build a power line in Calvert and St. Mary's counties.

Austin J. Slater Jr., SMECO's president and chief executive, said the new line is expected to be finished in five to six years and "will have a minimal effect on current rates or the environment if we are able to follow the same route as the current line and stay within existing rights-of-way."

SMECO is a member-owned electricity co-op that serves 142,000 customers in the three Southern Maryland counties and Prince George's County. In the past 30 years, SMECO's customer base has tripled, and the amount of energy used has quintupled, company officials said.

The new line, which would more than triple the capacity of an existing line, would run south from Holland Cliff through Calvert, cross the Patuxent River into St. Mary's and end in Lexington Park.

SMECO has said it will consider alternative routes but said that new rights-of-way are not necessary along the preferred route, with the exception of areas such as the lower Patuxent River crossing. The Public Service Commission plans to conduct public hearings on SMECO's application in April.

For information about the project, visit http://www.smeco.coop.