Do you have a problem younger driver in your household? Do you cringe every time you had him/her the car keys? Do you worry about your teen’s safety and the safety of others while your teen is behind the wheel?

A new LOCAL Web Site wants to help you keep an eye on your kids even when you’re not in the car with them.

Myyoungdriver.com “because you can’t always be in the passenger seat” wants you to apply online for a sticker to place on your young driver’s car. Other motorists who then witness your child talking on the cell phone, text messaging, hanging out the window, playing mailbox baseball or robbing a liquor store can then go online, fill out some information and report your child’s good or bad driving behavior.

MyYoungDriver.com was created to encourage safe and responsible driving.  There are more distractions than ever before for a young driver on the road today.  While we teach our young drivers good driving habits, we can’t always be there to watch.  Cell-phones, text messaging, ipods, blackberries, portable DVD players and other hand-held devices all contribute to non-attentive driving.  By purchasing and placing a MyYoungDriver.com decal on your car, you can rest assured that there will be thousands of eyes on your young driver, and an outlet for other drivers to let you know should they observe negative or positive driving behavior.Our goal at MyYoungDriver.com is simple: “We wish to encourage the inexperienced driver to drive safely and responsibly; our hope is to get every driver to their destination safely.”  By applying for an ID to your registered vehicle, the driver might be inclined to not engage in reckless behavior that could lead to losing their license or being involved in an accident that could result in injury or death.

How would your kid’s feel when you plaster this sticker all over their brand new Dodge Viper? Is it a good idea? Maybe. Anything would help in terms of protecting our children. But, I echo the sentiments of callers to this morning’s radio program. The parent still ultimately has to have good enough judgment to sift through the phony claims.

Will it help or is it just wishful thinking. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think. www.Myyoungdriver.com 

    

Todd McCabe owns his own school bus, and is contracted to drive students in the Indian River School District.  Wednesday he took his bus to the inspection lane of DMV.  His bus was deemed safe and in good working order with one exception;  he could not pass his DMV inspection because he had an American flag sticker on the back of his bus. He had to get razor blades and scrape off the 5” x 8” sticker before he could pass at the DMV.  This is a revolting moment for freedom and liberty in the United States.  The DMV explained that Ron Love of the Department of Education dictated that stickers including the American flag should not be allowed on the bus.  Ron Love explains that “administrative code” limits lettering or symbols on busses, although no specific rule prohibits flags, no rule allows it, so it is not allowed.  Follow?  Mr. Love of the DOE admits that flags, and “support our troops” ribbons have been allowed “temporarily” since 9/11, but that time is up.  Sadly Todd McCabe has had his rights trampled on, and sadder still is the trampling of America by the Delaware bureaucrats. I urge Delawareans and all Americans to call Governor Ruth Ann Minner and ask if she supports her Department of Education and DMV removing American Flags from our school children’s busses!   Call Ruth Ann and ask her to stop the trashing of our flag, 1-800-292-9570.

Delaware blogger Hube at The Colossus of Rhodey, does a great job dissecting the News Journal’s ridiculous policy of withholding race descriptions of wanted criminals.  One of my favorite soap box topics.  Read it here. 

We have speculation, wishful thinking, and supposition in the air when talking about Sussex County politics.  Here I am conjuring up all the secret and not so secret information using my magic “old time” microphone.

State Representative George Carey retires and Sussex County Councilman Lynn Rogers runs for his seat against the “heir to the throne” Dale Carey. Advantage: Rogers.

The seat vacated by Rogers makes Judson Bennett salivate for another shot at the County Council seat, but will he face a republican primary from Recorder of Deeds John Brady?  Maybe; it depends of what happens with Pete Schwartzkopf’s bid to be chosen by Jack Markell to run as Lieutenant Governor.  See, if Schwartzkopf runs for LG Brady will want the 14the district seat.  Advantage: Judson.  Disadvantage: Brady. Even: Pete Schwartzkopf.  (It looks like he’ll stay put as State Rep., the field is too thick for Lt. Gov) 

Brady wants Insurance Commissioner when Matt Denn runs for Lieutenant Governor and Clerk of the Peace George Parrish runs for State Treasure when Markell jumps to Governor.

State Senator George Bunting will step down after a great career and State Representative Gerald Hocker will jump to take his seat.  A lot of “wanna-be’s” will want to be State Rep replacing Gerald.  The rumor list includes mortgage broker Walt Lydic, the queen of the inland bays Shirley Price, and even an ex radio host.  (All Democrats we presume)

 

Whew, so much more to tell, but I’m getting a headache.  More later…..

You might know someone who blames the weatherman for some of the harsh weather that people have experienced. Others say, “When are they ever right?” Well, more complaints are likely to surface about the weatherman’s predictions considering the delay in declaring Delaware as an agricultural “disaster area.” One caller to WGMD wanted to know why Delaware waited so long after Maryland declared. Here is Delaware Agriculture Secretary Michael Scuse’s explanation as to why that was the case.

“Maryland didn’t start the process until a couple of weeks prior to Delaware starting. The week they started, we were supposed to get significant rainfall that week. Had we got the rain that was predicted, they did not believe they would reach the economic threshold of a loss of 30% or greater to be able to request the disaster declaration. When we did not get those rains that week as predicted, then they realized that the corn crop in all probability would be lost, and that is when the request was made for the Farm Service Agency to start collecting the data.”

Should they just wait and see if the weatherman’s predictions come true? Or should they start the process right away in case? Either way farmers impacted by the drought can now receive assistance, and I am sure they are quite relieved!

You’ll never call me an Orioles fan – I’ll be a NY Mets fan till the day I die, but living here on Delmarva it’s hard to avoid everything orange and black during the spring, summer and fall.  But I will admit to watching a few O’s games in my day – especially when it came to some of the bigger games – like championship games and Cal’s streak, but now, the era of Orioles’ Magic is truly over.
 
While Orioles’ Magic generally refers to the team’s glory years in the 1970s and 1980s, the man who was as well known to O’s fans as Cal Ripken and Jim Palmer has given fans their last spelling lesson.  William “Wild Bill” Hagy has died at the age of 68. 
 
Hagy ruled Section 34 at the old Memorial Stadium – and with his long beard, beer belly and wearing his straw cowboy hat - led cheers spelling the Orioles team name – using his body to create the letters. 
 
In a statement on the Orioles website –

“The Orioles organization is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of “Wild Bill” Hagy. While leading cheers from “The Roar from 34″ at Memorial Stadium, Wild Bill became a Baltimore institution. He was one of the great characters of the Baltimore sports landscape and was a true die-hard Orioles fan, supporting the club year in and year out. He will be missed by everyone who knew him and by everyone for whom he led the “O-R-I-O-L-E-S” cheer. All of us in the Orioles organization extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.”

 Hagy was a cab driver until his retirement a few years ago.  He was found dead Monday morning at his home in Arbutus by his roommate – and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
 
Hagy did make the transition to Camden Yard, but didn’t lead cheers any longer as he said he was not happy with the ‘new breed’ of O’s fans who talked on their cell phones through games.  However during the playoffs – he did bring his cheering back in the mid-1990s when the O’s were contenders for a few years. 
 
Like Max Patkin, the clown prince of baseball, Hagy was one of a kind and though he’s not been around Camden Yard much, preferring to watch the games on TV, he will be missed.
 
 
 Tribute to “Wild Bill’ Hagy

 

The News Journal ran the obligatory annual story about how much money teachers “have to” spend out of pocket each year.  It started in an odd way:

 

No one told teacher Barbara Finnan she had to buy $50 worth of chewing gum for her pupils at Baltz Elementary School. She even has a policy of no gum chewing in class, and the school also does not permit it.But she read somewhere that chewing gum helps children think. And so, for a week’s worth of testing, she bent the rules a little and bought the gum with money out of her own pocket. To her delight, the scores did go up a little, although she’ll probably never know if the gum did it.Gum is an unusual example of a “school supply,” but it illustrates how some teachers will spare no expense — especially at their own expense — on trying to help their students.

And now my obligatory smarmy comments: 

I “read somewhere” that methamphetamine helps children study.  I hope Ms. Finnan doesn’t read the same thing next year!  Gum is not a “school supply”, it’s a fanciful experiment that a teacher wanted to conduct; hardly a good example of teachers who really do need to supplement the classroom with books and supplies.  

I also wonder what other school rules she helps her students violate?

  

       One headline reads..

There’s a cadre of evil operating in Sussex County… Cronyism… Good Ole Fellas… Liars, Hypocrites, Backstabbers…. People who are making, under the seams, life a very ugly thing in Sussex County. If you look deep enough below the surface, these people will present themselves…. They’re the ones that have little secret meetings, gossips, whiners…and are just generally unpleasant…. Could the current sheriff and his minions be amongst this select group? According to former sheriff deputy and candidate for State Representative, Kirk Pope, Yes.

The Neuberger Firm sent a letter out today claiming that Kirk Pope was fired from his post as sheriff for running for office against Pete Schwartzkopf, for being a republican, and for supporting former Sheriff Reed.

They claim Schwartzkopf blackballed and “put the word out” against Pope. They claim Sheriff Swanson belittled Pope’s military service and told him that there were going to be some changes because “I know you were loyal” to Sheriff Reed. They claim Sheriff Swanson told other Sheriff’s Office employees that they should vote “better,” meaning vote democrat.

Attorney Thomas Neuberger says that Swanson “believes he is above the law.” Attorney Stephan Neuberger calls Swanson a “renegade public official.”

So why does this apply, you thought Delaware was a hire-at-will state… Apparently, that doesn’t apply to elected officials… According to the Neuberger Firm:

Thirty-one years ago, the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment barred the newly elected Democratic Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois from firing his Deputy sheriff’s because of their political affiliations and activities.

Stephan Neuberger says that if it applied to Cook County, it applies to Sussex County.

I talked to Stephen Neuberger today to explain the details around this potential lawsuit… For everyone interested in the future of Sussex County, I urge you to listen to the below interview.

ATTORNEY S. NEUBERGER DISCUSSES POPE AND SWANSON (08-15-07 10:35am)

READ the Press Release and Complaint HERE.