By: jackie.sauter
Talk about shock value.
The St. Mary’s Today newspaper has run an ad announcing a “free coffin giveaway” to the first drunk driver to kill himself or herself this holiday season.
Editor Ken Rossignol, whose brother was killed by a drunk driver in 1975, has long crusaded against drinking and driving.
Here’s the text of the advertisement:
Free Coffin Giveaway to the 1st DRUNK DRIVER TO KILL THEMSELVES DURING THIS HOLIDAY DRINKING AND DRIVING SEASON! Tired of all the nagging of loved ones, stupid commercials from MADD, cops, judges and addiction counselors? Throw a final bender this Christmas and get a cheaper funeral by being the ST. MARY’S TODAY Christmas Party DWI Dead Driver Winner! We will throw in a FREE wooden coffin…however, you could just call a cab and save us the pile of scrap lumber.
As you can imagine, news outlets like WJLA, Newschannel 8 and USA Today have expressed interest in the story.
St. Mary’s Today also regularly prints the names of those arrested for Driving While Intoxicated in Southern Maryland.
Thanks to The Law & Lawyers Blog for the tip.
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
By: jackie.sauter
OK, I confess: I’m a law dork. It’s hard not to get sucked into law-dorkdom when you’ve covered Maryland’s legal community for the past couple of years.
Anyway, because of my dork status, I’ve been thinking a lot today about who will replace Judge Joe Murphy as chief of the Court of Special Appeals.
UB law prof Byron Warnken suggested to me yesterday that the governor would probably pick someone who has been on the court a while, but not someone who is too close to retirement. If we’re talking about judges who will reach the mandatory retirement age soon, that eliminates Judges Davis, Salmon and Sharer, all of whom will turn 70 in the next three years.
On the other end of the spectrum, using a three-year cut-off would eliminate only the court’s newest member, Judge Woodward, who was appointed in May 2005.
Warnken also seems to believe that Judge Adkins will likely win the retiring Judge Cathell’s seat on the Court of Appeals, and that Judge Barbera is heavily favored for the Court of Appeals seat that Judge Raker will vacate in April, so he thinks they are not likely candidates for the chief judge spot.
That leaves five possibilities: judges Hollander, the two Eylers, Krauser and Meredith.
Do you agree with this list? Anyone have any guesses about whom the governor might favor? (For the record, Warnken predicts James Eyler.)
-CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer
By: jackie.sauter
Maryland driving instructor Michael Psenicska is suing the makers of the movie “Borat,” alleging that the producers lied to him about the motives for the film.
Psenicska, who is a high school math teacher in Baltimore, has owned a driving school in Perry Hall for 32 years. The lawsuit seeks $100,000 in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages.
From the AP:
Psenicska’s lawsuit says Fox and Cohen fraudulently induced him to sign documents approving his appearance in “Borat” just before he was filmed giving Cohen’s Borat Sagdiyev character a driving lesson.
According to the lawsuit, the film’s staffers had promised they were producing a documentary about the integration of foreign people into the American way of life, a subject that interested Psenicska because he was in the business of teaching foreigners to drive.
Yet, it says, when filming began, Borat did a hugging and kissing routine, struggled with his seat belt like a child, drove on the wrong side of the road, made ethnic slurs, said women had small brains and rolled down a window and offered a female pedestrian $10 for “sexy time.”
Twentieth Century Fox spokesman Gregg Brilliant said Psenicska consented to the filming.
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
By: jackie.sauter
Last week I was asked, “Are you a Maryland political insider?”
The query came from the Observer Media Group in the form of a promotional e-mail for PolitickerMD.com, a new online presence in a modest niche – Maryland government and politics.
The editor, “Wally Edge,” promises “original reporting, analysis, commentary, rumors” and more – covered “from Maryland by Marylanders.”
But here’s where it gets even more interesting: one local blogger isn’t so sure about the “local coverage.”
Adam Pagnucco writes on Maryland Politics Watch that the Observer Media Group, which also operates PoliticsNJ.com, is owned by Jared Kushner, a wealthy 20-something from New Jersey whose family has made a bundle in real estate. Kushner made headlines when he bought the New York Observer in 2006.
And New Jersey and Maryland aren’t the only Kushner-owned political blogs out there.
Pagnucco also notes the many campaign contributions that Kushner has made to politicians, mostly Democratic, especially New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey.
So what do you think? Are you a “Maryland political insider” and will you be checking out this Web site?
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
By: jackie.sauter
A local radio DJ noted this morning that if the government ever decided to do away with waterboarding, the form of torture could easily be replaced by a snowy commute.
I’ve got two and a half hours, from Bethesda to Baltimore – but I know someone out there can beat that.
Did anyone have better luck with public transit?
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
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