Mardela Springs

MARDELA SPRINGS -- Commissioner Anthony Severn knows some of his neighbors are angry about the right-to-life proclamation he's planning to introduce at tonight's town commission meeting. He doesn't think little Mardela Springs can end the national debate on abortion, but if a little publicity gets people thinking, he figures it's worth a few ruffled feathers on Main Street. "A little town like ours certainly has no authority to affect a Supreme Court decision," Severn said. "But if we had avoided everything divisive, we'd still be a British colony, black people would still be slaves, people would still be dying in Vietnam."

One Maryland shore town is deciding whether to create a municipal website. Commissioners of Mardela Springs tell the Daily Times of Salisbury that they're considering a website to promote open government and to keep residents informed about events and meetings. The town currently spreads information by mailing out monthly newsletters. Commission president Stanford Robinson says the town is concerned about possible startup costs. He says it won't be able to start the site if it would cost the town $400 to $500 a year.

MARDELA SPRINGS -- Maryland's first casualty of the war in Afghanistan was returned to the Eastern Shore yesterday as his family and friends made plans for the biggest funeral this tiny Wicomico County town has ever seen -- a spectacle his mother says Marine Staff. Sgt. Walter F. Cohee III would have loved. "He was always such a ham. I know he'd be thrilled with all this attention," said Jeanne Cohee. "It's been a little frustrating not knowing when they'd bring him home." Cohee's body arrived at Dover Air Force Base about 6 p.m. yesterday from Ramstein, Germany, said Lt. Olivia Nelson, a spokeswoman for the Delaware base that houses the Defense Department's largest mortuary.

David A. Stout, A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 1:00 P.M. at his home in Mardela Springs. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in his memory to: Faith Baptist Church, 8843 Cannon Road, Bridgeville, DE 19933. Arrangements being handled by Short Funeral Home, Delmar.

In January, a faraway war in Afghanistan came home to Mardela Springs. The death of Trae Cohee rippled down Main Street and shook the place to its core. But in grieving and remembering and comforting each other, the people of Mardela Springs learned something about themselves. The boy they raised had dedicated himself completely and wholly to values they held dear. He had become a man. He had become a Marine. He had served them with honor. To a traveler barreling down Highway 50 on the way to Ocean City, Mardela Springs looks like nothing but a stoplight and a produce stand.

David A. Stout, A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 1:00 P.M. at his home in Mardela Springs. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in his memory to: Faith Baptist Church, 8843 Cannon Road, Bridgeville, DE 19933. Arrangements being handled by Short Funeral Home, Delmar.

VIVIAN MARIE LEUSCHNER, 74, of Mardela Springs died Thursday, April 8, 2004 at the home of her daughter in Vienna. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, she was the daughter of the late Albion George Hatheway and Marie Grace Wedel Hatheway. She was a member of Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Mardela Springs. She is survived by her husband, Robert Andrew Leuschner of Mardela; two children, Cynthia Majors of Vienna, Robert Leuschner of mardela; seven grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; three sisters, Edna Horn of Baltimore, Lillie Franz of Hurlock and Darlene Hood of Pasadena and eight nieces and nephews.

A 58-year-old Pennsylvania woman died yesterday afternoon after driving through a red light in Harford County and colliding with a pickup truck, seriously injuring its driver.State police in Bel Air said Jean A. Kauffman of Hamburg, Pa., was driving a 1984 Toyota north on U.S. 1 about 1 p.m. when she drove into an intersection at Route 136 in Poplar Grove.The left front side of Ms. Kauffman's Toyota struck the right front side of a 1988 Dodge pickup driven by Ronald Marsh, 52, of Whiteford.

MARDELA SPRINGS -- Norman Christopher, the town councilman who sparked a monthlong controversy by referring to slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. as "Buckwheat," was a conspicuous no-show last night as the council received two petitions for his removal.At the end of a day that also saw 100 people in nearby Salisbury rally against racism, the Mardela Springs council president merely accepted the petitions. Asked what he would do with them, Leland Smith shrugged and said, "We've never gotten one before."

How does a roadside produce stand get its name? That is a question I often ask myself as I ride through the Eastern Shore on U.S. 50. This bit of mental amusement is no substitute for the enjoyment that comes from stopping at a stand and feasting on ripe plums, watermelon, cantaloupes or tomatoes. But it gets me down the road.For years I have guessed at origins of various names. Recently I checked up on my guesswork by interviewing some stand owners. I had figured, for instance, that the Toadvine Farms stand, west of Salisbury on Route 50 just past Naylor Mill Road, got its name from the family that ran it. But then cynicism seeped in and I wondered if produce stands, like so many other parts of American life, had been taken over by large corporations that had purchased the rights to the family name.

VIVIAN MARIE LEUSCHNER, 74, of Mardela Springs died Thursday, April 8, 2004 at the home of her daughter in Vienna. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, she was the daughter of the late Albion George Hatheway and Marie Grace Wedel Hatheway. She was a member of Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Mardela Springs. She is survived by her husband, Robert Andrew Leuschner of Mardela; two children, Cynthia Majors of Vienna, Robert Leuschner of mardela; seven grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; three sisters, Edna Horn of Baltimore, Lillie Franz of Hurlock and Darlene Hood of Pasadena and eight nieces and nephews.

Kenneth L. Childress Sr., a retired pressman for Baltimore newspapers, died of a stroke Saturday at Ivy Hall Assisted Living. The Essex resident was 74. Known as Mississippi, he was born and raised in Hattiesburg, Miss., and moved to Baltimore in 1946. He served in the Army from 1951 to 1953. He trained as a pressman and worked at the old News-Post, The Sun and the Quebecor printing plant in Glen Burnie. He belonged to Local 31 of the Graphic Communications International Union. Services were held Wednesday.

In January, a faraway war in Afghanistan came home to Mardela Springs. The death of Trae Cohee rippled down Main Street and shook the place to its core. But in grieving and remembering and comforting each other, the people of Mardela Springs learned something about themselves. The boy they raised had dedicated himself completely and wholly to values they held dear. He had become a man. He had become a Marine. He had served them with honor. To a traveler barreling down Highway 50 on the way to Ocean City, Mardela Springs looks like nothing but a stoplight and a produce stand.

MARDELA SPRINGS - Two Marine Corps helicopters rumbled over a cemetery nestled among cornfields yesterday in tribute as 26-year-old Staff Sgt. Walter F. "Trae" Cohee III - Maryland's first casualty of the war in Afghanistan - was laid to rest near the little town where he was raised. "He was just a good kid, just a good kid," said his mother, Jeanne Cohee, in a eulogy mixed with tears and laughter, as hundreds of mourners packed the town's volunteer fire hall for the funeral. "God knows I didn't raise an angel, but I want you to know I have one now."

NOT SO LONG AGO, young Trae Cohee served as a volunteer at the Station Street fire house in Mardela Springs, on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Tomorrow he will return there one last time. That's where the visitation and funeral will be for Staff Sgt. Walter F. Cohee III, known to his friends as "Trae" for the roman numerals following his name. The 26-year-old Marine was killed last Sunday in northern Afghanistan when his helicopter slammed into the side of a mountain. The crash happened far from the small town of Mardela Springs where Trae grew up, played soccer and dreamed of seeing the world.

MARDELA SPRINGS -- Maryland's first casualty of the war in Afghanistan was returned to the Eastern Shore yesterday as his family and friends made plans for the biggest funeral this tiny Wicomico County town has ever seen -- a spectacle his mother says Marine Staff. Sgt. Walter F. Cohee III would have loved. "He was always such a ham. I know he'd be thrilled with all this attention," said Jeanne Cohee. "It's been a little frustrating not knowing when they'd bring him home." Cohee's body arrived at Dover Air Force Base about 6 p.m. yesterday from Ramstein, Germany, said Lt. Olivia Nelson, a spokeswoman for the Delaware base that houses the Defense Department's largest mortuary.

One Maryland shore town is deciding whether to create a municipal website. Commissioners of Mardela Springs tell the Daily Times of Salisbury that they're considering a website to promote open government and to keep residents informed about events and meetings. The town currently spreads information by mailing out monthly newsletters. Commission president Stanford Robinson says the town is concerned about possible startup costs. He says it won't be able to start the site if it would cost the town $400 to $500 a year.

Kenneth L. Childress Sr., a retired pressman for Baltimore newspapers, died of a stroke Saturday at Ivy Hall Assisted Living. The Essex resident was 74. Known as Mississippi, he was born and raised in Hattiesburg, Miss., and moved to Baltimore in 1946. He served in the Army from 1951 to 1953. He trained as a pressman and worked at the old News-Post, The Sun and the Quebecor printing plant in Glen Burnie. He belonged to Local 31 of the Graphic Communications International Union. Services were held Wednesday.

MARDELA SPRINGS - Reeling from the news that Maryland's first casualty of the war in Afghanistan was one of their own, family and friends of Staff Sgt. Walter F. Cohee III are planning a hero's funeral at the fire hall where he and his family have volunteered for years. Yesterday, as the body of the 26-year-old Marine who was killed Sunday in a helicopter crash arrived at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, residents of his hometown patiently endured the glare of national attention. Shivering against a wet wind, Cohee's 28-year-old brother, Kris, his uncle Alvin Powell and aunt Coralee Powell told of their pride in the young man they knew as "Trae," a seven-year Marine Corps veteran who had volunteered for combat.

MARDELA SPRINGS -- The warfare in Afghanistan came home yesterday to this tiny Eastern Shore community, where three Marine Corps representatives brought the grim news to the family of Maryland's first casualty -- 26-year-old Staff Sgt. Walter F. Cohee III. Friends and neighbors gathered at the Cohee home on Main Street, bringing food, offering condolences and support, and remembering the young man known as "Trae," who grew up there and played recreational and...