Feel The Love

The Dagger was offline this past weekend, quite literally at a wedding and a funeral. For everyone who’s still with us, a word of note: We received angry, angry emails from The Aegis and The Examiner over the past few days.

The Examiner editor reminded us that he’s worked for The New York Times, etc., and has “more than a dozen major awards to show for it.” The Aegis bristled and issued threats: “you guys are in way over your heads, but at least you have given more legitimacy to institutions like this one.” And, in a more sincere offering from a local newspaperman: “I believed you guys really had your hearts in it. But now I feel like it’s gone right to your heads.”

If we keep posting stories about ourselves, you’re sure to soon agree. And so, back to the election, folks…

The Creature From The Abingdon Basement

Just in time for Halloween come pictures of the now infamous Abingdon Alligator discovered almost by accident in the basement of a local home a week or so ago.

The story, as I heard it, goes something like this: the resident of an Abingdon home was missing for a few weeks and was apparently murdered (that’s a hell of a start for any story about alligators) and the Harford County Sheriff’s Office went to the house with Animal Control Officers to wrangle up a few of the deceased homeowner’s dogs.

It wasn’t until the crew was leaving the house that some neighborhood children asked if they knew about the alligator in the basement. Upon closer inspection, there was indeed an about a four-and-a-half foot long alligator in an aquarium set up in the basement. Animal Control Officers subdued the creature, wrapped its muzzle in duct tape and evidently snapped a few pictures before putting it in a cage and removing it from the scene. Continue reading The Creature From The Abingdon Basement

A Long Lost Friend

What with it being Hell Night (the night before Halloween) and the middle of my honeymoon, I’m off to raise some high Hell. In the meantime, please enjoy this wickedly good feature of mine which was published just last week in EERIE PA Magazine Issue 4 (www.eeriepa.net). In the spirit of All Hallow’s Eve, it examines the reality and belief in witchcraft among some in our society. SPOILER ALERT: It involves murder, magic, me and is pretty spooky. Happy Halloween!

Somewhere in south-central Pennsylvania, a family is worried.

A child has fallen ill and shows no signs of improving.

After a fair amount of hand-wringing and soul-searching, a man enters the house to fetch the remedy – not medicine, not a doctor, but a short passage from a small book. Its pages contain neither the telephone number of a trusted physician nor the recipe for a therapeutic elixir, but nonetheless hold a tried and true method of healing.

Quite simply, it’s faith. Continue reading A Long Lost Friend

Can a Thin Population Bear the Hunt?

In four days 51 black bears were killed in Maryland. With little more than 500 American black bears living in the state and a majority of residents preferring a non-lethal alternative to black bear control, the hunting season for black bears took place last week for a third year in a row. But was the decision to reopen the hunt after a 51-year-old ban too soon for this typically peaceful omnivore?

History of the Hunt

The 51-year-old ban on hunting the state’s largest land animal was lifted in 2004 after the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) claimed to have studied hard on the topic. In the mid-1900’s, the black bear was a highly endangered species in Maryland because of logging and hunting. By 1991 there were only 79 black bears found in the wild according to DNR. During the ban, the black bear began a slow growth back up the ladder, but remained mostly in the western counties such as Garrett and Allegany. Scarcely 300 bears later, DNR granted Marylanders the right to hunt the black bear through a lottery. Continue reading Can a Thin Population Bear the Hunt?

And Now For Something Completely Different…

After keeping tabs on the political articles popping up on The Dagger lately, I came to the conclusion that some entertainment news needs to be inserted to break-up the seriousness of this site That’s why I have chosen to post a movie review. This time around I tackle David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises.

I went to see Eastern Promises with the idea it would blow my mind. What I was left with was a very unsatisfying feeling. Now a days, when I go to the movies, I want a big surprising twist in the movie to awe me. But maybe that’s just asking for too much. Eastern Promises did not live up to the hype, but it was a solid film. Continue reading And Now For Something Completely Different…

When The Going Gets Weird…

Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of
principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary, 1911

Things started turning weird here at The Dagger this past week, and after kicking it around amongst ourselves for a few days, we’ve decided to open the books and let you all take a look.

First things first. A group of local businessmen, the prospective developers of the Wetlands Golf Course, bought a roughly $250, bumper sticker-size ad in The Record newspaper today to promote The Dagger. Continue reading When The Going Gets Weird…

An Offer They Couldn’t Refuse?

Speaking of benefactors, could The Aegis newspaper, Harford County’s community newspaper of record, have been helping the cause of an Aberdeen annexation opposition group behind the scenes last year?

More disturbing details from the testimony of a member of the annexation opposition, as part of the lawsuit that group filed against the City of Aberdeen, indicate the group, formerly known as Say No Annex or unofficially as ‘the redshirts,’ may have had an anonymous “Godfather” pampering them with services, support and cold hard cash – everything the group needed to take on the Wetlands annexation proposal.

It was long speculated such a “Godfather” existed, especially when the opposition group, which consists of Aberdeen and non-Aberdeen resident volunteers, was suddenly outfitted with matching shirts and signs, began distributing information pamphlets and mailers and purchased expensive advertisements in local newspapers. Continue reading An Offer They Couldn’t Refuse?

Elliott’s (Post)Date With Destiny

Ruth Elliott, an incumbent Aberdeen City Councilwoman and former mayor, may have participated in election fraud this March when she allegedly had members of the city’s Board of Elections sign and back-date the official results of a special election held months prior.

Such election fraud, according to the city charter, is considered a misdemeanor and, if prosecuted and found guilty of such an offense, Elliott Ruth Elliottwould have to resign from office immediately upon conviction.

The disturbing details came out recently during depositions and testimony in the lawsuit filed against the City of Aberdeen by a group of annexation opponents.

Even more staggering than the revelation itself are its origins and implications. Continue reading Elliott’s (Post)Date With Destiny

Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off

As of 9 o’clock this morning life is officially back to normal in Aberdeen.

Well, as normal as can be expected in a city where the gun-toting, airplane-flying mayor is being taken on by a 19-year-old college student, the best source of potable water is straight from the Bay and a Hall of Fame baseball player has nearly bankrupt the place.

Ignoring the advice of his lawyer and legal counsel, who still believe his case to be winnable, Steve Johnson, the would-be city council candidate who may or may not live in Aberdeen, has decided to officially abandon his quest to appear on the Nov. 6 election ballot.

That’s right, I said Nov. 6. Because of Johnson’s decision to withdraw his injunction, he believes the election can proceed as originally planned instead of being postponed until February 2008 or later.

“More important than my candidacy is for this election to go off on time,” Johnson said in an interview Sunday afternoon. Continue reading Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off

Show Me The Money

The 13 Aberdeen candidates for mayor and city council have raised more than $40,000 among them, but more than two-thirds of those funds are found in the campaign war chests of just two people – Mayor S. Fred Simmons and incumbent councilman David Yensan.

The duo, which campaigned together two years ago when they were both elected for the first time, has raised more than twice as much money as the other 11 candidates for mayor and city council combined.

Unsurprisingly, Simmons and Yensan, who have been joined at the hip both politically and in their city voting records, share nearly identical campaign finance reports, which show thousands of dollars being donated by entities and individuals with vested interests in the mayor and his right-hand man staying on board for another term.

Get familiar with some of these campaign contributors and political donors. Their names will pop up time and time again. Just like the Matrix (hey, whatever happened to the city’s infamous Matrix anyway?!), the longer you stare at these lists, the better you’ll be able to see the true alignment of the candidates. More so than the color of a T-shirt or which side of the aisle they sit on in city hall, nothing tells the story of an election more than where the money is coming from. Continue reading Show Me The Money

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