ELKTON â The branches are bare on a recently-erected, stainless steel tree that stands on a concrete pedestal in the Unity Garden Courtyard fronting the Cecil County Circuit Courthouse on Main Street in Elkton.
But on Friday, during a low-key ceremony, that tree will sprout its first few leaves in the form of padlocks â each engraved with the name of a Cecil County resident who was killed at the hands of another. The victimâs birthdate and date of death also will be inscribed on the padlock.
It is The Tree of Love, a permanent memorial for the sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts and so forth who were murdered or were killed by drunk or drugged drivers.
ELKTON â Kickball is a kidsâ game.
But on Saturday, dozens of adults gathered on the softball diamond behind Pine Grove Market along Oldfield Point Road, southwest of Elkton, and played that very game â numerous times, in fact â with the gusto and glee of children.
Some fielders laid out for balls kicked in their general direction. There were slides into bases, albeit seemingly unintentional ones. There were some circus catches worthy of the highlight reel, including one in which a ball kicked into the air bounced off a shallow left-fielder, looking like a sure error â until an alert nearby player somehow snagged the ball before it hit the ground.
ELKTON â In December 2004, Pennsylvania State Police Det. John J. Comerford swore out an arrest warrant charging former Port Deposit-area resident Joseph Dwayne Griest with first-degree rape and related sexual assault offenses in that state.
Comerford did so even though Griest, who was 33 at that time, already was serving a 65-year prison sentence in Maryland in a related 1999 kidnapping case that had been handled in Cecil County.
His decision to secure that Pennsylvania arrest warrant more than 16 years ago loomed large on March 16.
Thatâs when Griest, now 49, received a 35-year prison term after pleading guilty to kidnapping and carjacking in his latest successful appeal of that dual-jurisdiction case relating to a 1999 abduction that started in Elkton and ended several hours later in Pennsylvania.
Danielle Hornberger
ELKTON â County Executive Danielle Hornbergerâs fiscal year 2022 budget proposal calls for a 1.3 percent property tax cut.
If approved, it would be the first reduction in property taxes since the charter government was established in 2010.
âWhen I was talking to community members, the number one issue people struggled with was high taxes,â said Hornberger, who made tax cuts a cornerstone of her campaign in 2020.
The tax reduction comes with a decrease in the year-over-year growth of the general fund. General fund expenditures are set to increase by 1.6 percent in 2022 compared to the 2021 budgetâs 2.4 percent increase. Hornberger said this reduction does not represent a decrease in services as much as reduction in spending on capital projects, as well as the consolidation of contracts to be more efficient and enable better use of federal funds.
ELKTON â County Executive Danielle Hornbergerâs fiscal year 2022 budget proposal calls for a 1.3 percent property tax cut.
If approved, it would be the first reduction in property taxes since the charter government was established in 2010.
âWhen I was talking to community members, the number one issue people struggled with was high taxes,â said Hornberger, who made tax cuts a cornerstone of her campaign in 2020.
The tax reduction comes with a decrease in the year-over-year growth of the general fund. General fund expenditures are set to increase by 1.6 percent in 2022 compared to the 2021 budgetâs 2.4 percent increase. Hornberger said this reduction does not represent a decrease in services as much as reduction in spending on capital projects, as well as the consolidation of contracts to be more efficient and enable better use of federal funds.