The Cecil County Council heard a strong pitch from an outside expert on the county’s bond rating on Tuesday (8/21/2018) to demonstrate fiscal responsibility on the county’s sewage funds, which have been running a deficit for years. In response, Council members indicated support for a compromise to give the county executive his request for...
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The Cecil County Health Department is considering creation of a “clean” needle exchange program for intravenous users of illegal drugs, as a way to prevent HIV and Hepatitis C infections and reach addicts with treatment options. The idea was first broached to the County Council three years ago but no action was taken by...
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NEWS ANALYSIS Jeffrey Lawson is a familiar face in local government circles, as a nine-year veteran of the county public schools’ administrative staff. But that experience was like being an exercise rider at the racetrack before a recent elevation to the top jockey position: Superintendent of the Cecil County Public Schools. In his first...
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NEWS ANALYSIS The three water-filled jugs placed in front of the witness table at the Cecil County Council worksession on Tuesday (7/17/2018) were a graphic show-and-tell representation of what has been described in the past as a “holy crap moment” in the long and politically torturous saga of providing and paying for adequate sewage...
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Al Miller ousted incumbent Cecil County Councilor Dan Schneckenburger on Tuesday, as George Patchell retained his Council seat and Bill Coutz won the Republican nomination for an open seat in District 2. In all three contests, the winners also scored major victories over candidates aligned with the ultra-conservative Campaign for Liberty group. In Districts...
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Making a strong comeback, Allyn “Lyn” Price Nickle won a commanding victory in the hotly contested race for Register of Wills, unseating Michael W. Dawson who had scored an upset victory over Nickle four years ago. This year’s fight was on different political turf: Nickle ran as a Democrat last time but switched her...
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Amanda Bessicks, a first-time political candidate who promised to shake up the State’s Attorney’s office and make it more responsive to crime victims, won in a three-way contest in Tuesday’s Republican primary. There was no Democratic candidate in the race. Bessicks, 34, has been prosecuting cases involving crimes against children since January and was...
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Judge William W. Davis, Jr., known locally as “Will” in his work with youth groups and charities to aid troubled children, won election to a 15-year term on the Cecil County Circuit Court bench on Tuesday, as voters confirmed Gov. Larry Hogan’s choice of Davis for an appointment to the bench in 2016. To...
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CECIL CHATTER: TODDLER TERRORISTS INVADING CECIL COUNTY IN COUNCIL RACE? Another local campaign by Dan Schneckenburger, another pitch against “illegal immigrants”—despite Census data showing minimal foreign-born population, including legal residents and citizens, in Cecil County—in his campaign flyers orchestrated by a Harford County political consultant. In his latest campaign for re-election to his District...
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A CECIL TIMES SPECIAL REPORT Karl.H. Fockler, a candidate for Cecil County State’s Attorney in the June Republican primary, is under court-ordered garnishment of his salary as a prosecutor due to court judgements for millions of dollars in unpaid debts. If elected state’s attorney, he would get a major pay boost and would be...
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The Cecil County Council unanimously resisted demands from the county schools for a last-minute nearly $1 million boost in its budget on Tuesday morning (6/5/2018), setting the stage for the intact adoption Tuesday night of the Fiscal 2019 budget proposed by County Executive Alan McCarthy. In a letter from Dr. D’Ette Devine, the Cecil...
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NEWS ANALYSIS It took a last minute impassioned appeal on Tuesday by Cecil County Executive Alan McCarthy to defend his budget and his track record on improving the county’s economy, and an independent consultant’s endorsement of McCarthy’s budget, to deflate a belated effort by one Council member to trim a few budget items. As...
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Al Miller, a Republican candidate for the Cecil County Council in District 3, is the apparent top fundraiser in this year’s races for three Council seats, raising more than $24,000 so far in his bid to unseat an incumbent in the June 26 GOP primary. In three races with candidates aligned with the local...
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Republican candidates for the Cecil County Council faced off this week in a polite question-and-answer session sponsored by the county’s Chamber of Commerce, with three challengers aligned with the Campaign for Liberty ultra-conservative group taking more mainstream positions than their social media presence. The event, held at Cecil College on 5/14/2018, also included a...
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NEWS ANALYSIS Cecil County Executive Alan McCarthy has withdrawn his proposed major increase in sewer user fees as part of his Fiscal 2019 budget, saying he wants to review alternative rate structures to give small users a break. But the action may signal a setback for McCarthy’s overall budget plans to end policies to...
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