Those days & These days.

2009-05-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Alicyn Ames
5/12/09
Final/Tipping

HANOVER,Md. – With desperate times in the new economy, restaurants send out more coupons leaving waiters and waitresses with fewer tips in their pocket to pay the bills.
“Check averages are down because of the different promotions, but we hope it will get people to come back,” General Manager of T.G.I. Fridays, Kevin Phillips, said. “Tips should be based on service.”
The new economy makes going out to eat more difficult. Business is down 10 percent from two years ago, Phillips said.
Check averages dropped from an average of $50 to $40 a person because of coupons. People tend to tip the discounted price, a waitress at Stony River Legendary Steakhouse, Trang Nguyen, said.
“I don’t use coupons, but my boyfriend does,” Patricia Bernhard, a T.G.I. Friday’s customer, laughed.
Other restaurant goers such as Susan Howard still tip the same even in hard economic times.
“I still tip 20 percent, I just don’t go out as much,” Howard said.
Full service restaurants’ sales have decreased by $713 from January to February, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Service Sector Statistics website.
More people are sharing food, a waitress at T.G.I Fridays, Nicole Rounsevelle, said.
“If you can’t afford to tip then don’t go out to eat,” she said. “Go to McDonalds.”
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Annapolis Capital Article

2009-04-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

An 18-year-old is dead after hitting another car head-on Saturday.
Police says 18-year-old Courtney Marie Smith's car had been crossing the double yellow line on Solomons Island Road when it crashed into 72-year-old Mary Rose Deright's car.
Capt. Debbie Bowen, a county Fire Department spokeswoman, says the two women had been trapped for 25 minutes before being taken by helicopter to Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
Police says Smith had died of her injuries just before 8 p.m. that day.
Deright is in serious, but stable condition as of yesterday.
Police says they believe operator error is the cause of the accident.

Jesse's Story

2009-04-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

Alicyn Ames
4/22/09
Jesse Billauer

Jesse Billauer, a quadriplegic surfer, encourages students at Anne Arundel Community College to go for their dreams.
Today, Disability Awareness Day, Billauer shares his story of the surfing accident that left him paralyzed a month before going pro.
Billauer continues to follow his dreams and helps others with the Life Rolls On Foundation he began.
He encourages never giving up and remembering how precious life is.
Billauer says –quote— “As long as you try, you can feel good about yourself.”
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Maryland CASE

2009-04-23T08:02:00.000-07:00

The repercussions of the death penalty, no matter the circumstance, are forever, Jane Henderson, executive director of Maryland Citizens Against State Executions, said at a press conference at Anne Arundel Community College on Friday.
“It is not reversible,” Henderson said.
A bill, limiting capital punishment by requiring biological or DNA evidence, videotaped confession, or videotape of crime, was passed March 26 by the General Assembly in place of repeal of the death penalty.
None of the evidence from the bill is applicable to four out of the five inmates currently on death row. There is one person on the row who maintains his innocence, she said.
“The problem is we can never be 100 percent sure,” Henderson said.
It took Baltimore County 10 years to acknowledge Kirk Bloodsworth, a white male sentenced to death for rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl, was innocent. DNA does not always correctly determine who is guilty, she said.
Some victims wish to get rid of the death penalty. Most victims’ families are thinking about how to get through the day rather than the death penalty, Henderson said.
“It [the death penalty] does not deter murder,” she said.
Capital punishment costs three times as much as life without parole, she said.
If resources used towards the death penalty were instead put into communities in which the murder happened, grief counselors could be brought into counties, such as Baltimore County, and murders could be prevented, Henderson said.
Maryland CASE was established in the 1980’s in effort to ban execution for juveniles and the mentally retarded, and is still fighting today to repeal the death penalty, she said.
“My personal position is if you give the state the power to kill…it is going to be abused,” Henderson said.

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Fire Chief

2009-04-18T13:55:00.000-07:00

Alicyn Ames
Fire Chief
4/20/09
(80 words)

Officials say Volunteer Fire Chief Charles “Buck” Clough Jr. of Sudlersville is dead after his car slammed into a tree Wednesday night while driving to put out a small appliance fire.

Spokesman for Queen Anne’s County emergency management office says 41-year-old Clough volunteered for 26 years.

Judy Leonard, co-owner of Parkside Deli says –quote –"Everyone just thought the world of him. He was a great father and really involved in the community… We're just all pretty tore up about it.”

-30-

Virginia Tech

2009-04-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

Alicyn Ames
Virginia Tech
4/20/09
(79 words)

Today marks the second anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings.

Katelyn Carney and Derek O’Dell, two survivors, join over four thousand people, running the
3.2-mile race, in honor of the 32 people killed, by student Seung Hui-Cho.

The last two victims' families sued the state over the killings instead of agreeing to an eleven million-dollar settlement.

The event began by releasing thirty-two white balloons, followed by hundreds of the school colors, maroon and orange, while chanting "Let's Go, Hokies."

-30-

When stress was addition and subtraction.

2009-04-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

I Hate Change
Before Sidekicks & iPods.
Before LIL WAYNE
Before PlayStation3 or X-BOX360.
Before the 5 hours(5min) of homework you put off every night.
WHEN LIGHT UP SNEAKERS WERE COOL.
When you rented VHS tapes, not DVDs.
When gas was $0.95 a gallon & Caller ID was a new thing.
When we recorded stuff on VCRs & paid $3.50 for a movie.
When we called the radio station to request songs to hear off our walkmans.
When 2Pac and Biggie where alive.
When Spice Girls dominated "Girl Power"

Way back..........
Tag.
Hide-n-Go Seek at dusk.
Red Light, Green Light.
Heads Up 7 Up.
Playing kickball & dodgeball until your porch light came on.
Hopscotch.
Slip-n-Slides.
Tree Houses.
Hula Hoops.
Skip-its.
Reading R.L. Stine's Goose Bumps.
The annoying Nano Pets & Furbies.
Running through the sprinklers.
Crying when Mufasa died in the Lion King.
Happy Meals where you chose a Barbie or a Hot Wheels car.
Getting the privelage to sit in the front seat of the car.
Drinking Sqeeze It "Squeeze The Fun Out Of It."

But wait....
Watching Saturday Morning Cartoons in your PJ's still wrapped up in your Garfield comforter.
Hey Arnold, Doug, Rugrats, Recess.
The original Power Rangers
Or what about....
The Secret Life of Alex Mac.
Ren & Stimpy.
Full House.
Rocko's Modern Life.
AAAHH!! REAL MONSTERS.
Boy Meets World€
Clarissa Explains it All.
Step by Step.
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
The original cast members of All That.
Kenan & Kel.
The Magic School Bus.
City Guys
Pete and Pete.
Legends of the Hidden Temple.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Dinosaurs.
Pinky and the Brain.
Blossom.
Hangin' With Mr. Copper.
Wishbone.
Bill-Nye the Science Guy.
Who could forget Snick? & Nick @ Nite with Bewitched, I Dream of Jeanie, The Facts of Life, & I Love Lucy.
Where everyone wanted to be in love after watching The Wonder Years.
Or Nick Jr. with Face.
Gulah-Gulah Island.
Little Bear.
The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Kool-Aid was the drink of choice.
Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school.
Class field trips.
When Christmas was the most exciting time of year.
When $5 seemed like a million, & another dollar a miracle.
When you begged to go to McDonalds for dinner everyday.
When Toys 'R' Us overuled the mall.

Go back to the time when.....
Argument's were only started when it came to who was gonna be the pinkranger.
Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'.
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming 'do over!'
'Race issue' ment arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was banker in 'Monopoly'.
It wasn't odd to have two or three 'best' friends.
Being old referred to anyone over 20.
A chance to skate as a couple at the local roller rink was like winning the lottery.
Scrapes & bruises were kissed & made better.
It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the 'big people' rides at the fair.
When playing Nintendo was the hardest thing ever.
When Ninja Turtles ruled the world.
When Lisa Frank was the coolest thing ever.
When a candy bar at the grocery store was the highlight of your day.
When coupons got you a trip to Chuck E Cheese
When the only thing you cried over was your mom being late to pick you up.
When stress was addition and subtraction.
When friendships were as complicated as who's house to sleep over.
When shaving cream was just meant for play.
When a first kiss only lead to cooties.
When Valentines Day meant cards for all.
When birthdays were a class event.
When a friend moving away was the saddest day of your life.
When the summer lasted forever.
When time didn't matter.
These were the days we hadn't realized escaped us until it's all brought back.