Helping history survive
at Mount Carmel
Weekend
Mollusk mania
takes over at
oyster festival
N. Point golf wins district
Sports, Page B-1
Friday, October 17, 2014
n
Charles County, Maryland
75¢
Police say man ran
over wife with car
That’s a great pumpkin
nn Victim
called
911 minutes
before body found
By ANDREW MICHAELS
Staff writer
Staff photo by R.C. DOWNS
Conner Garner, 10, right, and Austin Garner, 7, of Mechanicsville pick out a Halloween pumpkin on
Tuesday at Howard Farm’s stand on Route 5 in Forest Park.
District 2 race
dealt Holland
write-in wild card
nn Contest
is one of two to
feature off-ballot challenge
Charles County sheriff’s
officers arrested Brian Patrick Weyhenmeyer, 32, of
Waldorf on Wednesday and
charged him with the homicide death of his wife, Jennifer Lynn Weyhenmeyer, 36,
after police said he ran her
over with a car on Oct. 12
behind a shopping center in
the 3200 block of Crain High-
nn Despite
efforts,
number grows
just 0.7 percent
By JEREMY BAUER-WOLF
Staff writer
Staff writer
Bakir
Business alliance
hosts meet and
greet with
election looming
Business
B-4
CommunityB-5
Editorial
A-8
ObituariesA-10
Police news
A-6,7
Sports
B-1
Davis
gather to give
one-stop
convenience
By REBECCA J. BARNABI
Staff writer
Homeless
Resource
Day connected 95 people
with community services
Wednesday at the Jaycees
teachers put in long
hours after classes
Charles scores
high in survey
Potomac group
rates jurisdictions
on land use rules
A-9
Vol. 144,
No. 84
5 sections
Copyright 2014
Southern
Maryland
Newspapers
See DEATH, Page A-12
ity hires, members of the board of
education and school officials say they
feel they can explore other avenues to
attract and retain minority teachers.
The school system hired 38 black
female teachers and 12 black male
teachers for the 2014-15 school year,
approximately 17.8 percent and 5.6
percent, respectively, of the overall
213 hires.
Forty-three more teachers were
hired than the previous school year,
said Dean Brooks, human resources
specialist with county schools.
Other races are represented less:
The system brought in four women
Asian teachers, four Hispanic women
teachers, two Native American women
and one Hispanic man.
The number of minorities hired
increased 0.7 percent overall.
More than half of the new hires are
white women, 131, or a total 61.5 percent of the total.
See HIRING, Page A-12
center in Waldorf and nearby Health Partners offices.
Hosted by the Charles
County Homeless and
Emergency Shelter Committee, Homeless Resource
Day has been held six
times, said Dayle Hadden,
communications director
for United Way of Charles
County. The first was held
in 2010.
Mark and Cathy Huffer
said they found themselves
homeless in July after trying to make a not-so-good
living situation work. The
couple have been together
for 11 years and married for
nine years, and Mark Huffer
said they were doing fine
until 2010 when he suffered
an injury and lost his job.
“[Homelessness] doesn’t
define who I am,” Mark
Huffer, 51, said. “This is just
the situation I’m in.”
The couple were living
in the Thunderbird Apartments in Newburg when
Mark Huffer lost his job.
They found themselves
homeless for most of 2013.
Mark Huffer, born and
raised in Prince George’s
County, works part time at
the Wal-Mart in La Plata,
and Cathy Huffer receives
disability payments. Mark
Huffer said he was a fireSee SERVICES, Page A-13
So. Md. educators chafe over salary issues, respect
nn Administrators,
A-4
Inside
Charles County Public Schools
employed more than 200 new teachers for the 2014-15 school year, and
though 27 percent of them are minor-
nn Providers
Holland
Candidates meet voters
with blaring music, refusing
to let her out of the car.
As the couple was driving near Fun Haven Golf in
La Plata, the charging documents state, it was approximately 7:34 p.m. when the
police heard Jennifer Weyhenmeyer state that her husband was jealous of her and
“p---ed off” at her. The police
report said the communications office continued to have
some difficulty understanding Jennifer Weyhenmeyer
over the loud music in the
background. She then said
they were driving to Waldorf.
Special day unites homeless folks, services
2014
See RACE, Page A-6
way in Waldorf.
A
t
approxim a t e l y
7:24 p.m.,
the sheriff’s office
commuWeyhenmeyer
nications
received a
call from Jennifer Weyhenmeyer, who said she was
arguing with her husband in
a white Ford Edge while he
was driving north on Crain
Highway, according to the
police report. Jennifer Weyhenmeyer also said her husband was driving erratically
School system sees slight uptick
in minority hires, mulls options
By JEFF NEWMAN
In one of two Charles County commissioner
races featuring a notable write-in candidate,
Commissioner Debra M. Davis is vying to overcome challenges
from Republican nominee
E LECTIO N
Mike Bakir and
her runner-up
in the Democratic primary,
Melanie B. Holland.
Davis (D) won the five-way primary in District 2 with 39.7 percent of the vote, but Holland
finished a close second with 36.5 percent, or
459 votes fewer than Davis.
Despite Holland’s strong showing, Davis
said she is not “overly concerned” about losing
Democratic votes in the Nov. 4 general election.
“I feel that the Democrats have spoken, and
FRIDAY
Established 1872
Community, Page B-5
By JEREMY BAUER-WOLF
Staff writer
Sean Sayers, a teacher at Spring
Ridge Middle School in Lexington
Park, teaches 140 children each day.
That’s 140 names and personalities, with outside interests that Sayers
will memorize, and 140 students who
possess unique academic strengths
and blind spots. That’s 140 sets of
parents who fuss about their children’s grades, to whom Sayers must
answer. And likely, each of those
140 will at some point during the
10-month school year have a bad day,
fail a test or grapple with a problem
at home. And it’s Sayers’ job to know
and help.
For his time, which often bleeds
far past the nearly eight-hour school
day at Spring Ridge, Sayers said he
is compensated approximately $600
a week, after taxes. He has taught for
more than seven years.
Sayers often stays after school for
hours tweaking lesson plans. Some
of his colleagues with children gather
their materials to work from home
and continue far into the night, only
to rise and be at school at 6 a.m. to
prepare for the students’ arrival.
“I’ve gotten emails at midnight or
1 in the morning,” he said.
Sayers’ story is one echoed among
teachers across Southern Maryland. The unions and teachers peg
the blame on school officials, whose
leadership earns six figures, and
elected policy makers, whom they
decry as unsupportive and unwilling
to furnish more funding.
See TEACHERS, Page A-11
Staff photo by R.C. DOWNS
Teacher Holly Walsh leads her class in a lesson at Mount Hope/Nanjemoy Elementary School in Nanjemoy.