Month: June 2010

Dad you are the best Dad ever! I remember all the great times we shared while growing up. You were there with me at my softball practices, my games. I remember pitching those balls across home plate and seeing you behind the plate calling balls and strikes. You were the best umpire a daughter could ask for. You were always fair with your calls. I will always cherish our bicycle rides, training for the Cycle Across Maryland, and at the age of 15, the first of three years participating in the event, having the experience of a lifetime spending a week bicycling across the Maryland countryside, up mountains, down hills where I felt like I was soaring in the air with you challenging me to be the best I can be. I remember having an extra 10 miles added mysteriously appear on our bicycle tour. I will never forget when we rode our bikes across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. You have supported me in both the good times and the bad times. I remember you walking me down the aisle n my wedding day. I will never forget us dancing together at my wedding reception. You are the greatest! I love you very much Dad!

Here is a picture of the Bay Bridge

Continue reading “Happy Fathers Day, Happy Cycling Memories”

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland: Jure Robic won the Race Across America for a record fifth time Friday, completing the transcontinental bicycle race in nine days, 1 hour, 1 minute.
The Slovenian averaged 13.85 mph over the 3,004 miles in the 29th annual RAAM. He is the only solo man to win the race more than three times.
Gerhard Gulewicz of Austria was about 180 miles behind, leading a pack of 14 solo males still on the course.
Twenty-five men started the race in Oceanside, Calif., on June 9.
Barbara Buatois of France was about 380 miles out, leading the three solo females still riding out of the five who set out June 8. – AP
Continue reading “Jure Robic wins 5th Race Across America”

By Andrea Noble – The Gazette
The Prince George’s County police department has formed a unit that will exclusively handle traffic enforcement in an effort to reduce the number of car accidents in the county.
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"What we’re finding in a lot of accidents is, speed is a contributing factor, and also lack of an occupant wearing a seat belt," Tippett said. "In a lot of fatal accidents, they wouldn’t have been fatal if a seat belt had been worn."
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Last year, 549 people were killed in car accidents in Maryland. Preliminary data show that at least 91 of those fatalities occurred in Prince George’s; of those fatalities, 21 involved pedestrians, Buck said.
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Prince George’s also has the highest 12-year average of pedestrian fatalities in the state, accounting for an average of 24 percent of the deaths, Buck said. Baltimore City and Baltimore County rank behind Prince George’s, each accounting for 15 percent of pedestrian deaths. [FARS ranks MD the 6th highest pedestrian fatality rate.]
"You do have a unique situation sometimes in Prince George’s, where you have Route[s] 4 and 5 that are very high speeds, but you do have a fair amount of pedestrian activity as well," Buck said of the challenges of lowering the number of pedestrian fatalities.
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Continue reading “Prince George’s County police unit to focus on efforts to reduce car crashes”

By Nathan Carrick – Gazette
A Gaithersburg man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for a drunken-driving crash that injured a former judge, who had spared him jail time years before.
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Mothers Against Drunk Driving Vice President for Public Policy J.T. Griffin said crashes such as Fernandez’s are a tragedy in several ways.
"First, any time a drunk driver crashes it’s a tragedy because it could have been prevented," he said. "Sadly there’s a pattern in what we’re seeing not just in Maryland but across the country."
Experienced defense attorneys often are paired against inexperienced prosecutors, who are outmatched, he said.
Kudel’s website touts him as the "best DWI lawyer in the Washington metropolitan area."
According to Montgomery County Police, about 3,600 arrests for driving under the influence and driving while intoxicated were made each year between 2005 and 2009.
The number of convictions from these arrests was not available by Tuesday afternoon.
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Continue reading “The moral of the story: if you repeatably drink and drive don’t hit the judge that let you off”