Ripple

On November 20, 2004, JAMES W. RIPPLE; beloved husband of Christine (nee Wilson); devoted father of Michael Ripple, Neil Ripple and his wife Sebrina and Patrick Ripple; loving son of Marie Ripple; dear grandfather of Kayla, Evan, Olivia and Mason Ripple; dear brother of Dave, Barry Ripple and Judy Krause. James will be greatly missed. Friends may call at the Connelly Funeral Home of Essex, 300 Mace Avenue, Monday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. Funeral Services Monday 7:30 P.M. Interment private.

A Bel Air company that handled payrolls for many employers in the area is being sued by clients for allegedly stealing years of tax payments rather than sending them on to the tax collectors as required — leaving the companies on the hook. Plaintiffs include DuClaw Brewing Co. and Animal Emergency Hospital, both of Harford County, which are each claiming losses of tens of thousands of dollars in separate lawsuits against payroll firm AccuPay. Stuart Levine, a Towson attorney who represents other businesses that used AccuPay, said he believes the payroll company had as many as 600 clients, most of them in Harford.

On Thursday, November 3, 2005, DOROTHY MAE RIPPLE, of Gaithersburg, MD, formerly of Catonsville, MD; loving aunt of Jean Dorothy Humphries and Nancy Ripple-Fredrick; sister of the late Norma, Everett and Walter Ripple. Services and interment private. Arrangements by Devol Funeral Home, Gaithersburg, MD.

Looming federal budget cuts make a whole lot of Marylanders nervous because a whole lot of Maryland depends on Uncle Sam for a paycheck - directly or indirectly. More than 300,000 Maryland residents work for the federal government, according to the state Department of Business and Economic Development. That's one in every 10 employed adults in the state. And that's just the start. Maryland is one of the nation's top recipients of federal spending on goods and services. Those billions of dollars supported about 230,000 jobs here at federal contractors and subcontractors in 2010, the state economic development agency estimated.

PARK CITY, Utah -- The applause rippled through the Library Center Theatre after Doug Sadler's Swimmers premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Where its echoes spread will decide the movie's fate. "This will launch Doug Sadler," co-producer David Leitner said. But blast-off is no guarantee for the Easton-based Sadler, a writer-director who overcame many obstacles simply to bring Swimmers to fruition. The festival placed his underdog project in a category, American Spectrum, that receives less exposure than the dramatic competition.

Tyrone Lewis had two passions - being a cook and drugs. Hooked on heroin for 15 years, the Baltimore native traces the start of his addiction to a shot of hard liquor given to him when he was 7 by his grandfather. He managed to get and keep - at least for a while - a series of cooking jobs. But he readily admits that "drugs always came first." Now 45, Mr. Lewis has been clean for four years and serves as the kitchen manager for the Dogwood Restaurant in Hampden. He is also the lead apprentice for Chefs in the Making, a culinary training program for recovering addicts, ex-offenders and the homeless started by Dogwood co-owners Galen and Bridget Sampson.

Ace Hardware and Hearth in Glen Burnie was doing a brisk business in high-end barbecues and hot tubs in the midst of the real estate boom. Now Pete Peterson, an owner of the store, is having trouble selling luxury items for the home as consumer budgets are squeezed. "When the value of homes went up quickly, people were able to take the money they didn't work for and spend it on things they wanted," Peterson said, referring to soaring home prices that made people feel richer and allowed some to cash out equity.

A year ago, there weren't enough technicians to maintain corporate computer networks, staff the counters at neighborhood fast-food restaurants or assemble telecommunications gear on the factory floor."

These obituaries were provided by area funeral homes. If informationhasn't been published about someone in your family who has passed away, please call Deborah Toich at 761-1732 or 332-6211 or (800) 829-8000, Ext. 6211. You may also fax your information to us at 332-6677.IDA M. RIPPLEHomemaker, 90Funeral services will take place for Glen Burnieresident Ida M. Ripple at 1 p.m. today at Kirkley Funeral Home.Mrs. Ripple, 90, died of heart failure March 11 at Meridian Nursing Home.A lifetime county resident, she was a homemaker, a member of Glen Burnie United Methodist Church and a former member of Burwood Senior Center.

On November 23, 2003, BERNARD GREEN; beloved husband of the late Gloria Green (nee Matcher); loving father of Donald S. Tucciarella, Carmela T. Ripple and the late Vincent J. Tucciarella; devoted father-in-law of Michael Ripple and Brenda Tucciarella. Also survived by eight loving grandchildren. Services and Interment in the Hebrew Orthodox Memorial Cemetery, 6820 German Hill Road, on Tuesday, November 25 at 10 A.M. Please omit flowers. Arrangements by Sol Levinson and Bros., Inc.

Debbie Hurd sees it in the parking lots along North Point Boulevard — the answer to what life would be like if the steel mill that fueled the tight-knit communities near Sparrows Point never reopens. Fewer cars. Fewer customers for businesses. She gestured in her family's empty bar, Pop's Tavern, and said the days of steelworkers lined up for a drink are long gone. "Everything I see on this boulevard is really, really hurting," Hurd said. "I've told some of my employees, 'Don't get mad at me if I have to let you go.' " No big employer goes down without setting off ripples in the local economy.

Kathie Jones loses more than patience when the mail is late. She also loses customers. As the owner of a small business that prepares bulk mail for delivery by the U.S. Postal Service, Jones hears complaints every time a church newsletter or a political ad she sends arrives late — even if the delays are not her fault. If mail is lost, she has to start projects over, sometimes eating the cost. So Jones is understandably wary about a Postal Service proposal to close the last mail-sorting hub on the Eastern Shore, located a few hundred feet from the Easton Municipal Airport.

The restaurants around Fort Monmouth in New Jersey used to be packed. Now that lunchtime crowd gathers 150 miles to the southwest, in Aberdeen. Javier Rodriguez, who just relocated to Aberdeen Proving Ground last month, was struck by the familiar feeling the mass migration has created in his still-unfamiliar new home. "I went out to lunch with a couple of my co-workers … and it was exactly how I remembered it when I first started at Fort Monmouth," said Rodriguez, 33. The national reshuffling of military bases that has brought thousands of jobs to Maryland hits a key milestone this week: It's officially done.

It is a great notion - cleaning up the rivers that flow through the Queen City of the Patapsco Drainage Basin. Ambitious volunteers, led by a schoolteacher named Brian Schilpp, already have pulled tons of trash and tires out of Back River, long used as a dumping ground for people on the southeast side of the city and Baltimore County. And now, on the other side of town, we'll soon see a new effort to turn the polluted, heavy-metal Patapsco into a clean and swimmable waterway, from its headwaters to the Baltimore harbor.

Dave Rather can't help but fret that his patio will be empty come the second Sunday in September. The day should be one of the most festive and lucrative of the year at Mother's Federal Hill Grille, a time for eight months of anticipation to pay off in a purple-tinged celebration of beer, cheer and most importantly, football. But now that the NFL players union has decertified and the owners have locked the players out, Rather — like millions of fans and interested business owners nationwide — is contemplating a fall without football.

The national wave for Republicans turned into a mere ripple by the time it reached the races for the Maryland General Assembly on Tuesday, as most Democrats perceived as vulnerable defeated their challengers. Democratic House Speaker Michael E. Busch, openly targeted for defeat by Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., won re-election in his three-member Annapolis district. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., whom Ehrlich had said Republicans would "medicate" in order to get along with him better, coasted to re-election in Prince George's and Calvert counties.

In yesterday's editions, a photo caption about the Children Around the Globe Sign Language Group's appearance at Oriole Park at Camden Yards incorrectly identified Tori Ripple as Casey Shellenberger. Shown here is a picture of Casey.The Sun regrets the error.

Services took place for Cape St. Claire resident Paula Kaye Ballweg on May 8 at St. George and St. Mathews Episcopal Church in Dundalk.Mrs. Ballweg, 42, died of cancer May 5 at her home.A 1966 graduate of Dundalk High School, she was a resident of Cape St. Claire for the past five years.She was employed as chief billing clerk at ITO Corp., Dundalk Marine Terminal. One of the first women to join International Longshoreman's Association Local 953, she was chief billing clerk at the new Seagirt Terminal.

The new union contract Baltimore City teachers are voting on Wednesday and Thursday has the potential to radically change the nature of public education not only for city schoolchildren but for students in school districts across the state. It would immediately thrust Baltimore into the forefront of school reform efforts nationally and provide a model for others to emulate that represents a bold departure from the past. A success of that magnitude here would force neighboring jurisdictions to adopt similar changes or risk a brain drain of talented teachers, who would flock to Baltimore for higher salaries and the chance to really make a difference in young people's lives.

The number of homes sold continued to drop in the Baltimore area in September as the market — no longer aided by a federal incentive for homebuying — searched for a bottom. Buyers purchased about 400 fewer houses, townhouses and condos in September than a year earlier, said Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, which runs the region's multiple listing service used to buy and sell properties. The 19 percent decrease represented the third month in a row of double-digit declines after the rise spurred by the federal homebuyer tax credit.