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Wednesday, December 17, 2014
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WE DNE SDA Y
SMAC falls
in all-star
showcase
St. Mary’s County, Maryland
Man from
St. Mary’s
killed in Calif.
nn Walter
B. Dorsey III shot near L.A.
By JOHN WHARTON
Staff writer
Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN
Successful shopping
Six-year-old Deangelo Brown of California shows his mom Saturday the new gear he received shopping with Alexa Brown of the U.S. Coast
Guard during the annual Shop With a Cop program at Walmart in California. About 97 kids were assisted by 80 officers, including Maryland
State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office, Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police and
parole and probation officers.
Woman, 91, injured in house fire
nn St.
Clement Shores
blaze started on stove
tion and will be receiving assistance
from her family, state investigators
report, after she unsuccessfully tried
to douse a grease fire Saturday on the
stove of her home.
Forty Leonardtown, 7th District,
Hollywood and Mechanicsville volunteer firefighters responding to a
7:56 p.m. alarm battled the blaze at
By JOHN WHARTON
Staff writer
A 91-year-old St. Mary’s woman was
treated at a hospital for smoke inhala-
Ruth Stewart’s home in the St. Clement Shores community for more than
half an hour to bring it under control,
according to county dispatch reports
and the state fire marshal’s office.
The accidental blaze in the home’s
kitchen kept burning after Stewart
See FIRE, Page A-9
A former St. Mary’s resident died last Thursday night
after he was shot in Inglewood, Calif., according to
authorities, in a homicide
that remains under investigation.
Walter Bryant Dorsey III,
a 26-year-old descendent of
generations of well-known
attorneys in Leonardtown,
suffered “multiple gunshot
wounds,” a medical examiner said, at an intersection in
Los Angeles County.
“He was found collapsed
on a sidewalk,” according
to Ed Winter, assistant chief
with the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.
Dorsey, who lived in the
nearby Venice community,
was pronounced dead about
45 minutes later at a hospital.
Winter said at midday
Tuesday that Dorsey’s death
was being investigated by
detectives with the Inglewood Police Department.
Dorsey had been living in California for years
and attending college there,
according to Tiffany Lococo,
a cousin whose grandmoth-
er was married to Dorsey’s
grandfather, Walter B. Dorsey, St. Mary’s state’s attorney
for five terms, leaving office
before his death in 2009.
“He reminded me a lot of
his grandfather,” Lococo said
Tuesday. “He could always
make everyone smile, and
laugh.”
She remembered him as “a
very happy kid” during their
childhood, playing together.
“We used to go swimming
all the time,” she said, at the
Leonardtown home where
her grandmother, Brenda
Dorsey, also spoke fondly of
him. “He would come over,
and I thought he was really
nice,” Brenda Dorsey said in
the living room of the house
overlooking Breton Bay. “He
played, and [would be] dancing around.”
Philip H. Dorsey III went
to California after his son’s
death, according to the staff
at his law office in Leonardtown.
Services for Walter Dorsey
III had not been announced
at midday Tuesday. “Here,
right before Christmas. It’s
terrible,” Brenda Dorsey said.
jwharton@somdnews.com
Hewitt says go slow on jail and library renovations
nn Previous
board of commissioners rejected building two new facilities
By JASON BABCOCK
Staff writer
St. Mary’s County Commissioner
Mike Hewitt (R) this week advised
his colleagues to go slow with plans
to renovate the county jail and
Leonardtown library.
The previous commissioner
board decided to renovate both
facilities rather than build new ones.
Some of the new commissioners
indicated during the election campaign that they would reconsider
both decisions.
Design work continues on those
Battling the blues
nn WARM
See RENOVATE, Page A-7
estimates serving at least 120 during coldest months
By NICOLE CLARK
Staff writer
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more than 3,000 citizens.
Hewitt said it would be a disservice to citizens to have the Leonardtown library closed and possibly
operating out of a mobile facility
while its building is renovated.
The Leonardtown library building was built in 1954 as a National
Guard armory before the library
‘Let’s see what needs to be done to help people’
Counselors and police
deal with some of
the holiday season’s
less joyful realities
Inside
renovations, but there are no construction contracts immediately
pending.
At a budget meeting Monday,
Hewitt suggested “holding up on
the library and the jail until we’ve
had a chance to look at our [office]
space needs.”
A space needs study for St. Mary’s
County government is underway
and Hewitt said he wanted to see
“who needs space, who doesn’t
need space.”
He noted the St. Mary’s County state’s attorney’s office is seeking more room and he said he was
interested in moving up the design
of a new Garvey Senior Activity Center by two years, as requested by
From cold
to comfort
Libraries collecting
hats, scarves, more
for distribution
A-2
Vol. 116,
No. 101
3 sections
Copyright 2014
Southern
Maryland
Newspapers
The Wrapping Arms
’Round Many program started its season Nov. 9, offering
homeless St. Mary’s countians
each night a bed and a hot
meal in one of a rotating group
of churches during the year’s
coldest months.
More than 40 faith-based
groups are helping out, turning fellowship halls into makeshift hostels, designating
monitors to keep watch over
the guests, cooking, cleaning
or just playing a few games of
cards with guests after dinner.
WARM estimates that some
120 to 150 people, some regulars and others seeking only
brief respite, may spend the
HOMELESS
FOR THE
HOLIDAYS
Last of three articles
night during its 22-week season. According to Three Oaks
Center, five of this year’s
WARM guests are now in their
own apartments after working
with case managers.
Gatekeepers are orchestrating all of these activities
and more, with a lofty goal to
ultimately end homelessness
here. In the meantime, program leaders say, the next best
thing is to meet needs of the
homeless, as best as possible
for one individual at a time.
But, it’s not always easy.
“Some people haven’t followed their goals. And they
were in WARM for season
five and they’re in WARM
for season six. And, the community is saying, ‘What are
you doing about that?’” said
Patrice Campbell, emergency
program coordinator at Three
Oaks. “It’s insulting. They ask,
‘What are you guys here for
if you have homeless [people
still] in the community?’”
Campbell works with those
in crisis, who are sleeping in
the woods, abandoned houses, or in their cars and need
immediate housing. But dealing with the putdowns, from
those who might not underSee WARM, Page A-9
Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN
Patrice Campbell, who leads emergency shelter
efforts at Three Oaks Center, visits Lexington
Park Elementary on Tuesday night to raise
awareness about homelessness.