Hey guys.  Check out some pictures I took recently when I was on the Eastern shore this past Friday.  This newsplex easily puts anything in Washington, let alone Baltimore, to SHAME!    Draper Holdings, owners of CBS Affiliate WBOC-TV (Channel 16) in Salisbury, Maryland broke the bank to bring a major market, first class facility to a small market.  The Salisbury-Ocean City Market is Nielsen Market No. 147 when compared to No. 9 Washington, DC and No. 24 Baltimore, MD.

Check this thing out: http://picasaweb.google.com/pkbnews/TheWBOCNewsPlex

Forgive me for pointing out an old story, but when WYPR (88.1FM) management decided to s-can Marc Steiner, the management wanted something that was not so Baltimore centric in order to attract an audience on the Eastern Shore and Frederick.  Well, we all know that “stellar” talk show host and wimpy Baltimore Sun Columnist Dan Rodricks is just as Balto-centric as Steiner, but today’s edition (which I admit I have yet to hear) is very Baltimore centric.

In the first hour, Dan’s guest is Baltimore City Police Commissioner Fred Bealefeld.  In the second hour, Harvard professor Peter Moskos who I heard on The Ed Norris Show last week as I was heading to Aberdeen for my weekly hit on WAMD.

Congratulations to WYPR, they have an unspectacular generic public radio show.

It’s coming to a point that I had to make a category whenever Jam Donaldson knocks one out of the park (as is the case normally when she writes something that I agree with 100 percent.)

I’m just glad that I wasn’t the only black person to think that watching CNN’s Black in America would be a waste of time.

This guy is 19-year-old Ronnie White.  He was arrested in late June, charged with first degree murder of a police officer, Cpl. Richard Findley of the Prince George’s County Police Department.  Findley was allegedly ran over by White who suffered head injuries as a result, and later dying from them.  White was later arrested and then two days later he died in his jail cell.  His death was ruled my the Maryland Medical Examiner, a homicide.  The circumstances questionable…very questionable.

White was buried this week at the Washington National Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland this week following his funeral held at The Tabernacle Church here in Laurel.  The pastor of the church, the Rev. G. Randolph Gurley said something so rarely stated.

From The Washington Post:

“A Laurel minister told mourners for Ronnie L. White yesterday that they all bore some responsibility for the destructive road his life took and urged his friends to turn their lives around so they would not follow him to an early death.”

Fully knowing that a few selected quotes in the newspaper never does justice to a whole sermon, I still must say that the few selected quotes in the article are ones I am very much in agreement with.  I should also note that I have been to The Tabernacle Church on a couple of occasions and it is a good church and I respect what they do here in the Laurel area.

Little did I know that this was the sixth young person in his flock to have died.  The first five were killed from gunshot wounds while White died of asphyxiation.  “I wish I could speak of a long and prosperous life, how he had lived life to the fullest, of his wife and children . . . and how finally . . . he had succumbed to a death of natural causes,” Gurley said. “Unfortunately, that is not the case.”

Here are some of those quotes.  Some are exclusively quotes from Gurley, others include parts of the article with the quote to give context:

“When did it all start? Who all has a part in this tragedy? We all know someone took his life, but it goes beyond that. We know that Ronnie didn’t wake up that day and say, ‘Today I’ll participate in some activity that will result in someone’s life being lost and later lead to the loss of my life.’ His family, his friends, the school system, certainly the faith community . . . maybe we all have a part in this.”

Gurley told the young people to “wear the T-shirts in love” for White, but to remember that they represented death. “How long will it be until your face will be on one of these T-shirts?”

“This is not the time to threaten or be threatened,” Gurley said. God, he said, would ensure that justice is done.

“Pour out a little Hennessy [cognac], drink some 40s, smoke a bag of weed, hit a dipper or two if you want to . . . but that won’t bring him back,” he said. “Get as drunk or as high as you want and do it in his honor if you want to, but that will not bring him back.”

Gurley then challenged the mourners to use White’s death as motivation to improve their own lives.

“Come in my life today,” Gurley prayed on behalf of the hundreds who flocked to the altar at his invitation to give their lives to Christ. “Come into my heart. Change me. Save me. Let me be blessed.”

According to The Washington Post , hundreds flocked to the altar call where Gurley invited the mourners to give their lives to Christ.  I pray that the message was accepted and that they do improve their lives.