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Weekend
Readers share their best
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Where to
usher in the
New Year
Community, Page B-1
FRIDAY
Best of 2014 Part 1
Sports, Page B-4
Friday, December 26, 2014
Established 1971
n
75¢
Santa visits early
Calvert County, Maryland
Deputy’s speed
cited as factor
in Nov. collision
nn Crash
Calvert Country School student Shawn Brooks, 16, of
Huntingtown received a gift from Santa Claus during his visit Friday. Santa’s visit was hosted by the
Knights of Columbus Calvert Council 7870, which has
hosted the event for 25 years.
Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL
Calvert Country School student Tabitha Hall, 14, of Huntingtown
received a gift from Santa Claus during his visit Friday. Santa’s visit
was hosted by the Knights of Columbus Calvert Council 7870, which
has hosted the event for 25 years.
Calvert Country School student Carly Scrivner, 9, of
Prince Frederick received a gift from Santa Claus during his visit Friday.
injured deputy, two civilians;
incident remains under investigation
By ANDREA FRAZIER
Staff writer
Speed on the part of a Calvert
County Sheriff’s Office deputy has
been identified as one of the contributing factors in a November
motor vehicle collision that seriously injured two Prince Frederick men, according to the report of
an investigation carried out by the
office.
Dfc. Roscoe T. Kreps III was
operating an unmarked sheriff’s
office vehicle before 6 p.m. Nov.
11 when he struck another vehicle
in a T-bone fashion at the intersection of North Prince Frederick Boulevard and Allnut Court in Prince
Frederick.
Lt. Todd Ireland of the sheriff’s
office said Kreps was traveling at
about 48 to 49 mph in a 30 mph
zone at the time of impact.
A press release based on the
findings of the office’s crash reconstruction team was disseminated to
news outlets Dec. 19. The release
states at the time of the crash, Kreps
was attempting to locate a vehicle
that was reportedly operated by an
impaired driver.
Kreps was headed toward Prince
Frederick Boulevard and Dares
Beach Road, as the Calvert Control Center had broadcast a lookSee CRASH, Page A-8
Fire leaves Ches. Beach
home uninhabitable
nn Cause
still under
investigation
Calvert Country School student Dorian Spargo, 8,
of Dunkirk received a gift from Santa Claus. Below,
Calvert Country School student Justin White, 9, of
Prince Frederick received a gift as well.
Calvert Country School student Aaliyah Taylor, 12, of Chesapeake Beach
received a gift from Santa Claus during his visit Friday. Santa’s visit was
hosted by the Knights of Columbus Calvert Council 7870, which has hosted
the event for 25 years.
The Office of the Maryland State
Fire Marshal is investigating a Sunday afternoon house fire in Chesapeake Beach that required 35 firefighters to control but resulted in
no deaths or injuries, according to
a report.
The fire started on a second floor
deck of a two-story wood-framed
house at 4226 Christiana Parran
Road at approximately 1:30 p.m.
Dec. 21, the report states. It took 15
minutes to control. North Beach,
Dunkirk, Huntingtown and Prince
Frederick volunteer fire departments responded to the call.
At least one member of the family was home when the fire broke
out and “called it in rapidly,” said
Deputy Chief Fire Marshal Duane
Svites, meaning that while smoke
and heat traveled freely throughout
the home, responders were able to
contain the fire to the back corner.
The fire caused $70,000 in structural damage and $30,000 worth
of contents lost, the report states.
The house is currently uninhabitable, Svites said, but not completely
destroyed.
The American Red Cross is currently assisting the family.
While the cause of the fire is as
yet unknown, Svites said, investigators have some leads and plan to
talk with the family more after the
holiday season passes.
Nevertheless, Svites cautioned
residents to be extra cautious of the
extra electric cords and appliances
being used in homes around this
time of year. To avoid a fire, he suggested, use circuited buttons and
power cords with reset options that
help regulate overusage.
Chess is the name of the game at Beach
nn School
embraces
game in culture
By SARA NEWMAN
Staff writer
Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL
Beach Elementary School hosted its annual Chess-a-peake Holiday Classic chess tournament
Saturday at the school. The Beddow (Montessori) School second grader Santino Madello, 8, left,
played Wade Elementary School (Charles County) second grader Jeremiah Williams, 7, in the first
round.
Twenty-one young female students gathered in the media center
of Beach Elementary School on a
recent Monday evening all focused
on a game centered around mental strategy, sportsmanship, and
collaboration: chess.
On Dec. 15, the students, ranging in ages from second to fifth
grade, learned the ins and outs of
the game preparing for a tournament held at the school on Saturday. Game strategy, the different
names of chess pieces, and the
rules of the game were the girls’
hot topics. Small, eager hands shot
up in the air during practice to
solve problems and create alternate strategies for different plays.
Each month, interested students practice the game after
school with Mike Shisler, principal of BES, and Andrea Chris
Banks, former BES vice principal,
who retired last year, but returns
to help with practices. Shisler said
he holds co-ed as well as girls only
practices because he found the
girls were more engaged and less
shy to participate when no boys
were allowed.
Many of the older girls have
played the game since they were
in first or second grade, or had an
older sibling who played at BES.
Gayle Henderson, 9, has
played the game since she was 6
and saw her older sister, Grace,
See CHESS, Page A-5
ANDREA FRAZIER
TV listings
Starting Jan. 2, TV listings
will appear in the
Classified section of The
Calvert Recorder
Inside
CommunityB-1
Editorial
A-6
ObituariesA-7
Sports
B-4
Vol. 42, No. 101
3 sections
Copyright 2014
Southern Maryland Newspapers