Chauffeur

A chauffeur for Michael Jackson has said in a sworn deposition that the entertainer instructed him to take a suitcase and briefcase from Mr. Jackson's Los Angeles apartment on the same day that investigators searched the property for evidence of sexual molestation, sources close to the case said Wednesday in Los Angeles.The chauffeur, Gary Hearne, was questioned by lawyers for more than five hours Tuesday, and some details of his statement were relayed to investigators Wednesday. The statement was videotaped, and a court reporter transcribed the session.

Since I actually work for a living, I did not get around to reading the March 2 article "Overtime costing schools millions" right away. But how exactly is a chauffeur for Baltimore schools CEO Andrés Alonso is making ... oh hold on a second, I am still in shock ... over $154,000 to drive a car? Oh, they can say all they want about his being available 24/7. So be it. But that does not wash with me, and I am sure with anyone else who has to work to earn a buck. I have done IT support 24/7 for all the VA hospitals, being blasted out of bed at 3 a.m. to get systems on line because someone may die. Even with overtime - oops, I didn't get any - the most I ever made was in the $70s.

William J. Chestnut, a retired chauffeur and gospel singer, died of renal failure Sunday at Union Memorial Hospital. The Northeast Baltimore resident was 72. Mr. Chestnut was born and raised in Green Sea, S.C., and moved to Baltimore in the 1950s. He was a meatpacker for Albert F. Goetz Inc. and Dukeland Packing Co. Inc. before going to work as a chauffeur for Frederick P. Winner Distributing Co. in 1981. He retired in 1992. For more than 20 years, Mr. Chestnut, a tenor, had been a member and served as manager of the CBS Trumpeteers, a gospel group.

With the Baltimore City Schools continually operating in the red, I find it outrageous that CEO Andrés Alonso's chauffeur managed to make $154,000 last year, $78,000 of it in overtime! First of all, if our former state schools superintendent, Nancy Grasmick, didn't have a driver, why does Mr. Alonso require one? This chauffeur has the best deal going, but let's face it, his compensation package needs to be re-negotiated. The fact that the city schools allowed this to go on and City Hall claims to not know about it shows how rampant the corruption is in these two systems.

Michael Valentine Davis, a former chauffeur and retired estate caretaker, died of heart failure Friday at Carroll Lutheran Village in Westminster. He was 92. Mr. Davis was born and raised in County Galway, Ireland. He left Ireland in 1928 and traveled to America on the White Star Liner RMS Baltic, arriving at New York's Ellis Island. He found work as a chauffeur for the wealthy raconteur Harvey S. Ladew, then living on his family's estate at Glen Cove, Long Island. Mr. Davis moved with Mr. Ladew to Monkton in 1929, after his employer purchased a 250-acre farm there - part of which was transformed into the Ladew Topiary Gardens.

In the ranks of Baltimore's municipal work force, it pays to be a chauffeur for a handful of top city officials.Of the dozen city-employed drivers assigned to department heads and members of the Board of Estimates, five significantly increased their annual salaries last year by amassing thousands of dollars in overtime, shuttling their bosses from City Hall to community gatherings, neighborhood events and professional meetings at the end of a regular work...

Edward Ailor Jr., a retired jewelry salesman and chauffeur for city officials, died of cancer Sunday at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 98 and lived for many years on Payson Street. Born in Baltimore and raised in Sandtown-Winchester, he was among the first students to transfer from the old Colored High School to Frederick Douglass High School, which opened in 1924. While in school, he played football, baseball and basketball. "Cab Calloway was one of his classmates," said his son, Edward Ailor III. "He believed it was an honor for black people to get a high school of their own."

James Wilbert Pulley -- a D-Day veteran who drove five Baltimore mayors as their chauffeur, friend and sometime confidante -- died Monday at Union Memorial Hospital of complications from a stroke. He was 91. "I was at his 90th birthday party. He was terrific. He always had a smile on his face. He was like part of our family," recalled Thomas D'Alesandro III, who knew "Pulley" both as a young student when his father Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., known as "Tommy the Elder" was mayor, and when he himself became mayor in 1967.

PEARLY BLUE JR. certainly was busy this past summer and fall. While holding down a full-time, 40-hour a week city sanitation job, he also spent his days and nights acting as chauffeur for state Sen. Larry Young, who said he personally paid the driver for his services. When the sanitation job ended, Mr. Young persuaded a fellow legislator in his West Baltimore district to put Mr. Blue on her state payroll -- even as the driver continued to transport Mr. Young to his numerous appointments.This latest revelation from Sun reporters Walter F. Roche Jr. and Scott Higham raises new questions about Senator Young's activities and the apparent lack of a firm dividing wall between his duties as a powerful state legislator and his personal business enterprises.

George Matthews Howard, who was a chauffeur for topBaltimore City officials for 26 years, died in his sleep Thursday at Irvington Knolls Care Center. He was 95."He was a fixture at City Hall and especially in the comptroller's office," said Thomas J. D'Alesandro III, who was mayor from 1967 to 1971.His father, the late Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., who was mayor from to 1959, was occasionally driven by Mr. Howard."He was a very, very distinguished-looking man who always carried himself with an impressive bearing.

After a steep decline in 2008, the cost of overtime pay for city school employees is rising again, and that's cause for serious concern. But school officials are going to have an even harder time coping with the problem if they also have to fight the perception that city schools CEO Andrés Alonso is part of it. Last year, the police sergeant whose duties include providing security for Mr. Alonso as well as driving him to appointments around town...

The state troopers who drive Martin O'Malley around can be trusted to know where they're going, but not to flip on the windshield wipers when it rains. So it seems from the specs for a new SUV the state is thinking about buying. In a bid solicitation for a 2008 Chevy Suburban 3LT for the governor's office, the state says it can do without the optional OnStar navigation system (which, incidentally, is free for the first year). But bring on the "Rainsense" wipers and heated wiper fluid.

Known for driving groups of neighborhood kids to games and practices and helping off the field, soccer moms have decided they want to get in on the action. So, on Friday nights at the Soccerdome in Harmans, they will play in a league. There are four divisions -- for varying levels of ability -- of Friday night leagues for the soccer moms. League coordinator April Walker said about 350 women participate. And, she said, the program is so popular there is a waiting list. "Moms spend a lot of time taking their kids from activity to activity," Walker said.

James Franklin Moss, a retired Eastern Shore construction worker, died of cancer Feb. 22 at Christiana Hospital in Wilmington, Del. The longtime Chestertown resident was 72. Mr. Moss was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, and raised in Valley Stream, N.Y., and Newport, Del. After graduating from high school, he was an agricultural and construction worker. In 1953, he married Elease Cotton, and during the 1960s the couple worked as housekeeper and chauffeur for members of the du Pont family in Greenville, Del. Mr. Moss took a job in the early 1970s with Ernest DiSabatino & Sons Co., an Eastern Shore construction company.

When Joanna Fridinger accepted a job at Ascot Limousine, she had never driven one. Although she likened maneuvering a stretch limousine to driving a Mack truck, she quickly mastered it. In addition to being a professional chauffeur, she was training other chauffeurs, washing cars, answering the phone and writing contracts. She stuck with the job for about a year before finally thinking, "Why don't I do this for myself?" she said. After that she traded in the family van, purchased a used Lincoln Town Car and opened for business as All Around the County Transportation Services Inc. Eight years later, she owns a fleet of three cars: one black and one white stretch limousine and a Lincoln Town Car. And despite entering the predominantly male field, she's made a name for herself as a professional chauffeur.

William DeWitt Meggett, a centenarian who had worked as a mail carrier, chauffeur and landscaper, died in his sleep April 13 at St. Elizabeth Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. He was a 103. Mr. Meggett was born and raised in Columbia, S.C., the son of sharecropper parents. He attended public schools in Columbia and moved to Baltimore in the 1920s. "He taught himself how to read by studying the Bible, and he learned to read music as well," said his daughter, Letha W. Willene of Baltimore.

With the Baltimore City Schools continually operating in the red, I find it outrageous that CEO Andrés Alonso's chauffeur managed to make $154,000 last year, $78,000 of it in overtime! First of all, if our former state schools superintendent, Nancy Grasmick, didn't have a driver, why does Mr. Alonso require one? This chauffeur has the best deal going, but let's face it, his compensation package needs to be re-negotiated. The fact that the city schools allowed this to go on and City Hall claims to not know about it shows how rampant the corruption is in these two systems.

The Burn Brae Dinner Theater is the first area buffet house to do ''Driving Miss Daisy,'' the off-Broadway play that made history as a movie. It starred Jessica Tandy as the Atlanta matron who agreed, grudgingly, to allow herself to be driven about town by a chauffeur.The Burn Brae production is a very respectable one. The pace may be slow, but it is very even, and at two hours and 10 minutes (that includes the usual intermission), the evening is a very manageable, pleasant one.The company adds to the running time with delayed scene changes, but the time is well spent.

Edward Ailor Jr., a retired jewelry salesman and chauffeur for city officials, died of cancer Sunday at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 98 and lived for many years on Payson Street. Born in Baltimore and raised in Sandtown-Winchester, he was among the first students to transfer from the old Colored High School to Frederick Douglass High School, which opened in 1924. While in school, he played football, baseball and basketball. "Cab Calloway was one of his classmates," said his son, Edward Ailor III. "He believed it was an honor for black people to get a high school of their own."

William J. Chestnut, a retired chauffeur and gospel singer, died of renal failure Sunday at Union Memorial Hospital. The Northeast Baltimore resident was 72. Mr. Chestnut was born and raised in Green Sea, S.C., and moved to Baltimore in the 1950s. He was a meatpacker for Albert F. Goetz Inc. and Dukeland Packing Co. Inc. before going to work as a chauffeur for Frederick P. Winner Distributing Co. in 1981. He retired in 1992. For more than 20 years, Mr. Chestnut, a tenor, had been a member and served as manager of the CBS Trumpeteers, a gospel group.