Md. editor thanks readers

The following column was written by Ken Rossignol, Founder, Editor and Publisher of St. Mary's Today (www.stmarystoday.com/). Ken has terrorized politicians (including sheriffs), drunk drivers and other miscreants in St. Mary's County, Maryland, for years. Good job, Ken!

"A Message to Our Readers:

"This week marks the anniversary of the founding of ST. MARY’S TODAY and the beginning of our 22nd year serving our readers with news and views. It has been a challenge and an honor to serve our readers in print and online.
"Since the inception of this newspaper, our goals of making government accountable to the citizens, our highways safer and ridding our community of the insidious influence of drugs have never wavered.
"We have seen politicians come and go and thankfully for some of the more wily rascals, it was great to see them go, even if they didn’t go quietly. It has been a privilege to point out the many public officials, law officers, volunteers in fire and rescue service, educators and others who are wonderful cornerstones of our Southern Maryland life. It is virtually impossible to tell all the stories of these newsmakers and to give them their justly deserved credit.
"Heroes abound in this area and often appear without notice and leave without asking for thanks. "We have our share of miscreants who prey on the helpless, the old and the defenseless and relating news of babies stomped to death or victims burned to death such as we have reported on from Lexington Park to Charlotte Hall is a grisly task but the more information our readers have about the world around them, the better they can prepare to safeguard themselves.
"As efficient and professional that law enforcement may become, there is no substitute for being responsible for your own safety and our readers have been warned from the beginning to light up, load up and lock up. Adopt a yappy dog and get a companion and a burglar alarm. Cops take reports, citizens shoot burglars, just don’t shoot family members.
"It is tough to properly recognize the members of this community who have done so much to help others and they abound in our churches, schools and civic groups.
"This newspaper has given more than adequate notoriety to various elected officials and done our share to force judges to resign, politicians to head for the hills and leave office either by deciding not to run again in order to avoid prosecution or simply by having their butt beat in an election. It would have been fine to see some of them jump from the Solomon’s bridge. Good riddance to them.
"Former Sheriff Wayne Pettit was long an adversary of this newspaper for good reasons as he turned over his agency to real bozos in his last term. But the public should never forget that he brought significant professionalism to the department in his first two terms. Congressman Steny Hoyer has long been admired and supported by this newspaper for good reason in recognition for the wonderful job he did for so many years. Now he needs to be canned for going along with the Marxist regime run by Obama. Please throw this guy out! Hoyer is helping to systematically turn this nation into a socialist state and has become a traitor to America.
"We thought we had a big spender in William Donald Schaefer when he boosted taxes to record levels in 1992. Parris $pendening then showed us what real looney-bird spending was all about and Republican Robert Ehrlich managed to spend even more! O’Malley’s administration is still filled with kooks and far-left twits but at least he has a new bridge over the Patuxent River in the works. O’Malley and Hoyer’s promises to bring commuter rail on existing CSX tracks into Southern Maryland have been empty and hollow and neither man has done a damn thing to even attempt to reach that goal. Ehrlich and his incredible country club Republican pals like Tommy “Hambone” McKay, were against Sen. Roy Dyson’s Transportation Study Commission and Ehrlich vetoed the bill, which was then overridden by the General Assembly.
"Dyson has been exactly the Senator that St. Mary’s County needs him to be in order to hold the various clowns who have been elected county commissioner in check and block back room shenanigans like the Hackerman deal.
"We have seen Commissioner Boards attempt to thwart a court ruling on the illegal parceling of land by our illustrious local lawyers who bypassed the law which called for land to be subdivided only by the zoning process. Dyson stood up to the lawyers, the politicians and the good old boy network and blocked their ‘quick fix’ to all the illegal lots and forced the process to be followed.
"Dyson blocked the big spenders who wanted to build a $23 million Judicial Palace in 1995 and has once again blocked Krazy Kenny and the Taxocrats from building a $16 million library.
"Commissioner Larry Jarboe is truly the unsung hero of the county and he has worked hard with Senator Dyson and Leonardtown Mayor Chip Norris to block moving the library out of Leonardtown, moving the courthouse out of Leonardtown and tried hard to block the corrupt and stinky Hayden Farm Deal. Mayor Norris is the hardest working small town mayor in America and has been a blessing to the people of the town and St. Mary’s County.
"Jarboe has formed his own slate to work with him as a team to hold the line on taxes and our readers should support Jarboe’s ‘Town Hall Alliance’ slate. The only other commissioners of note in the past 21 years are Commissioners Frances Eagan and Chris Brugman who worked hard to turn around the SS Good Old Boys and bring about responsible and effective county government. Commissioner Robert Jarboe has done more for the county since he left office.
"This newspaper owes an incredible debt to Barbara “Babs” Thompson, the late Buddy Loffler, Tommy “Hambone” McKay and Joe Anderson and the inane current Taxocrats Jackie Russell, Dan Raley and Tommy Mattingly. If these buffoons were not available to tar and feather each week, we’d have to invent them.
"Arrogant officials in the land use office have also been invaluable as we have skewered them with editorial cartoons over the years as they wheel and deal for the developers and give the citizens the stiff arm.
"The bright and capable St. Mary’s Sheriff Tim Cameron is a home-grown product of this area, who matured as a deputy, was schooled at Johns Hopkins and is a proper antidote to the Keystone Cops antics of Voorhaar and Zylak. That this newspaper played a role in electing Tim Cameron as Sheriff is a credit to the wisdom of our readers.
"Sheriffs Fred Davis and Rex Coffey in Charles County, Calvert Sheriffs Bootsie Stinnett, Rodney Bartlett and now Mike Evans have all made positive advancements in local law enforcement. Col. David Mitchell, Lt. Col. Jesse Graybill, Sheriff Dallas Pope, Capt. Brian Cedar, Capt. Mike Spaulding and Lt. Mike Thompson are Maryland State Police leaders who have been critical in being a positive force for the agency and the public they serve.
"The tainted story of Richard Fritz needs to be ended by the voters and this year offers an opportunity to do just that. The amazing story of the relentless misuse of the law against his opponent in this year’s election shows that the career of Richard Fritz is hopefully over, finally. Fritz placed over 140 criminal charges against his opponent and now the entire case, reeking of political drama, has gone down in flames. No wonder the State wanted to move the case out of the county, for the first time in history because they feared the jury pool would be tainted, not against the accused, but against the prosecutor who has shown himself to be a partisan political hack out to destroy his opponent.
"That Fritz, Voorhaar and six deputies decided on their own in 1998 to deny you the right to read what you wish prior to voting was thankfully outlawed by the United States Court of Appeals when the Court ruled that these yahoos violated the First Amendment rights of us all. The wonderful attorneys with the firm of Levine, Sullivan, Koch & Shultz with chief litigator Ashley Kissinger came to the rescue of the First Amendment rights of this newspaper and our readers and won a landmark decision in Rossignol v. Voorhaar, United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit. Assisted by Washington attorney Alice Neff Lucan, the firm gave vigorous representation on a pro-bono basis.
"Our anniversary would not be complete without noting all those lives lost due to drinking and driving. Our best efforts perhaps have saved lives as approximately 65,000 persons have attained a listing in our DWI Hit Parade. Congratulations to all those who have decided to make better decisions and not drive after drinking.
"This area has been under siege by drug dealers and the morons who buy and use the drugs provide the money to make it all worthwhile for the dealers.
"Our law enforcement efforts in the region have ranged from being ridiculous in the early nineties to enjoying great success lately. But make no mistake about it, those who traffic in drugs make good money and your children are their target, your community is their playground and our society has become a dumping ground for crack whores, addicts and those who sell sex with their children for more drugs. This is a vicious enemy who will not relent.
"Our contributors, Vern Gray, Carlleen Cairns, Chelly and Steve Scala, Steve Uhler, Joyce Bennett, Alan Cecil, Spencer Stevenson, Terrence Greenhow and the late Jack Rue have been entertaining and provocative in providing us images, reports and views.
"Our artists for our toons have been talented in bringing to life the humor and political views of the editor in telling the story of newsmakers. Billy Woodward Jr., Dustin Sullivan, Michael Green, and Don Rourke have captured many scenes of news with their art for our editorial cartoons.
"Our loyal cadre of advertisers compose some of the kindest people in the world and all of us should tell the damn idiots and left-wing dopes in Washington and Annapolis to get off the backs of the small business owners as they are the true spirit of America. Thank you to all who have been our advertisers over the years.
"It is now time for ST. MARY’S TODAY to grow and will continue to be ‘Dedicated to Our Readers’.
"A new publisher has come on board to guide the future of the newspaper into our 22nd year and for the next 20 years. Terry Clarke is assuming control and will put his considerable business abilities to work in adding staff, and investing in advertising opportunities for the vibrant Southern Maryland market. Clarke will be bringing many changes to the newspaper which should please our readers and maintain a determination to find out what is going on around you and tell you what we think about it. I will be assisting Clarke in enlarging the staff and he will be soon opening a new office and 24/7 news will continue to flow to this region and the world from the newsroom of ST. MARY’S TODAY. My new role will be of providing political coverage which ought to be entertaining and fun for us all, given the crowd we have to work with.
"Thank you for your support, especially all those legions of folks who ‘never read that Rag’ but always know what’s in it.
"You all have been a blast and I hope you all get a chance to get a copy of my new book, ‘The Privateer Clause’ on Amazon in paperback or Kindle."
Kenneth C. Rossignol
Founder, Editor & Publisher 1989 – 2010