St. Mary's THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020
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FREE St. Mary's THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020 County TimesWWW.COUNTYTIMES.SOMD.COM ALSO INSIDE Inside! T- Bo n e & Heather Local Radio 2 The County Times Thursday, November 12, 2020 CONTENTS LOCAL 3 COMMUNITY 10 ON THE COVER 16 COPS & COURTS 15 T-Bone and Heather are the face of Southern Maryland radio. FEATURE 16 EDUCATION 19 SPORTS 22 LOCAL 6 COMMUNITY 12 Burch Oil Company has sold its Burchmarts. St. Mary’s has top logger. CALENDAR 23 “SINCE LAST WEEK, MOST OBITUARIES 26 OF OUR KEY METRICS HAVE CONTRIBUTING WRITERS 29 WORSENED CONSIDERABLY.” GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN ON THE PANDEMIC. BUSINESS DIRECTORY 30 WEEKLY FORECAST FUN & GAMES 31 DO YOU FEEL CRABBY WHEN YOU GET YOUR INSURANCE BILL P.O. Box 250 • Hollywood, Maryland 20636 301-373-4125 ● www.countytimes.net IN THE MAIL? CountySt. Times Mary’s County Calvert County GIVE US A CALL.BRYANS ROAD YOU’LL BE GLAD YOU DID. LEONARDTOWN Burris’ Olde Towne Insurance Auto • Home • Business • LIFE LEONARDTOWN BRYANS ROAD As of November 11 301-475-3151 301-743-9000 WWW.DANBURRIS.COM 1724 60 AN INDEPENDENT AGENT REPRESENTING ERIE INSURANCE GROUP Information provided by St. Mary's Health Department Thursday, November 12, 2020 The County Times Local News 3 In-person Learning Put on Pause By Dick Myers, Editor and in each county school want them back in Guy Leonard, Staff Writer some kind of classroom learning. The return to in-person learning in St. Smith told the St. Mary’s County Board Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) of Education about parental stances at was abruptly halted this week due to in- the Nov. 4 board meeting. “It varies from creased incidents of COVID-19 in the school to school but it’s over 70 percent community. of parents… who want their child back in School Superintendent Dr. Scott Smith in-person learning,” Smith said. “In some sent the following notice to the commu- schools its 80 percent.” nity late last week: “Due to the increased At that meeting he said, “Today we have rate of COVID-19 cases in our area, 5,500 students in Phase 2 who are coming there will be no in-person instruction for back to in-person instruction,” Smith said the week of November 9-13, 2020 for all St. Mary’s County Superintendent of Schools Scott Smith Wednesday. SMCPS students.” has not seen since July, with a Maryland exposed, and using quarantine to contain According to the system’s recovery Starting Nov. 4 students in Pre-K, Kin- statewide positivity rate nearing 5 percent the spread. plan, by Nov. 16, students at all grade lev- dergarten, 1st grade, 6th grade and high and a new case rate per one hundred thou- “St. Mary’s County Public Schools and els were to return to alternating days of school freshmen and seniors returned to a sand of over 18. He has called this a ‘piv- all those whom we employ have worked classroom discussion. hybrid A-and-B-Day class schedule with otal moment’ and we agree. tirelessly over the past eight months to “We’ll have about 6,500 students in Nov. 6 dedicated to on-line learning. “St. Mary’s County has been well be- support our children and provide the best school on one day, and we’ll have 6.500 That was halted this week. low the state in both metrics – positivity possible instruction in the worst possible students on the other,” Smith said. “By the In a letter sent to staff and families, rate and case rate per 100,000, but in the time. We have followed CDC guidelines time we work our way through November Smith said: “I regret to inform you that as past three days, the county has added 60 of masking, social distancing, and hy- we’ll have 13,000 kids coming to school a result of the community spread of CO- new cases resulting in a total of 95 new giene. We have put our students first and every single day and interacting with VID 19 in St. Mary’s County, we will be cases for the past week. This is the high- sacrificed much to get where we are right their teachers two out of the five days per canceling all in-person instruction for the est one-week case rate since May. Many of now and the last thing we want to do is week.” upcoming week, November 9-13, 2020. these positive cases can be traced back to move backward but being able to continue This student scheduling will continue As I am sure you are aware, COVID 19 social and family gatherings held over the in-person instruction requires the entire through December, Smith said, until Win- cases are surging across the nation and our Halloween weekend. Pausing in-person community to be committed to this goal. ter Break. state. On Thursday evening, November 5, instruction for the upcoming week will The numbers from the last three days, There has been no word as of this Governor Hogan held a press conference provide the St. Mary’s County Health De- show that our community is moving in the week’s press deadline whether schools detailing the current surge and emphasiz- partment the time needed to go through wrong direction.” will resume in-person learning next week. ing the importance of taking every pre- the essential process of contract tracing Smith said last week that a vast major- [email protected] and dick- caution to contain the spread of COVID – isolating those positive, testing those ity of parents surveyed who had students [email protected] 19. The state is recognizing rates that it THANKSGIVING STUFFED HAMS FOR SALE NOW! Order Your Stuffed Hams by Noon November 20th OPEN for Business By the Pound, Half or Whole Hams Available! Shop Local H H H Shop Leonardtown! SMALL BUSINESS Nov. 28, 2020 SATURDAY 10 am - 5 pm VisitLeonardtownMD.com LOCATED IN OLD DOWNTOWN LEXINGTON PARK OUTSIDE BASE GATE 2 PAX NAS WED.- SUN. 7 A.M. - 2 P.M. CLOSED MON.-TUES 301-862-3544 4 Local News The County Times Thursday, November 12, 2020 Medicare St, Mary’s Voters Part D Followed National Trends Open Enrollment is Here! October 15-December 7 St. Mary’s County Department of Aging & Human Services Trained counselors available to assist you with your prescription drug needs for 2021! By Dick Myers date Joe Jorgensen. That represents a Editor 73.7 percent turnout of the 73,818 reg- The same voting patterns that istered voters, believed to be one of Financial assistance helped propel former vice president the highest for a presidential election. Joe Biden to the presidency were seen The voter trends were similar in programs are available to help! this year in St. Mary’s County, only the contest between Democrat Steny the outcome was different. Hoyer and Republican Chris Polumbi On Election Day, Republicans over- for U.S. House of Representatives, whelmingly outnumbered Democrats. although the margin of victory in St. But by mail, Democrats far surpassed Mary’s was higher for Polumbi than *New* for 2021 Republicans. The big difference and for Trump. Hoyer easily was reelected the data point that propelled Presi- to another term with the votes from Reduced co-pays for insulin! dent Trump to an easy victory in St. Charles and Prince George’s. Mary’s was the margin by which Re- The counting of the mail-in ballots publicans early voted. beginning Nov. 4 did not change the The final county tally has Trump outcome of the school board races, with 30,246 and Biden with 22,511 or as all three incumbents prevailed. In Advantage plans will NOT be 55.6 percent to 41.4 percent. the at-large race, Cathy Allen easily available in St. Mary’s County in 2021 At the polls on Election Day, Re- bested challenger Deforest Rathbone publicans outnumbered Democrats, with 83 percent of the vote. 9,068 to 3,193. By mail, Democrats In the District 2 seat, Jim Davis bested Republicans, 13,431 to 7,270. defeated Heather Earhart with 53.2 But Republicans liked the early vot- percent of the vote. Mary Washing- Give us a call to schedule ing option and tallied 13,907 to the ton was unopposed. There were 645 Democrats 5,887. write-in votes and she received 98.5 a phone appointment In all, 54,431 voted for president, percent of the vote. including 1,086 for Libertarian candi- [email protected] 301-475-4200, ext. 1064 Thursday, November 12, 2020 The County Times Local News 5 Your Safety is our Utmost Concern! Come Play with us! VisitLeonardtownMD.com Face Coverings: Residents must wear Physical Distancing: Residents should continue masks or face coverings in indoor public practicing physical distancing of six feet or more areas and stores and on public transportation. outdoors and inside public places. It is required to wear masks or face coverings Visit www.open.maryland.gov /back to business in outdoor public places where physical for more detailed information distancing is not possible. 6 Local News The County Times Thursday, November 12, 2020 Family-Owned Convenience Stores Sold Lexington Park, MD Since 1977, Navmar Applied Sciences Corporation has provided engi- neering services and innovative solutions to the Department of Defense, federal research institutions, and commercial markets. Our specialized products, support, and services are currently being used in multiple operational theaters around the world. 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