20060815 KDDC Who are these community leaders?

Who are these community leaders?
August 15th, 2006

The ladies pictured above are two of my most favorite folks in the world today.

Hint: I ran across them as I was researching a future column for which I had to use microfiche.

They were very kind and helpful to an old and aging artist and writer. They are that great mix of professional, knowledgeable and fun. That’s a wonderful way to be when ya wait on the public for over a third of your everyday life and Westminster and Carroll County is fortunate to have them working in our community.

PS: There was a third lady who was also very helpful, but she got really shy for the picture taking part of the program.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.

E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org

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20060815 KDDC Former CCPS employee charged with stealing

Former Public Schools employee charged with stealing school funds
Tuesday, August 15th, 2006

Westminster, Carroll County, MD - - The Carroll County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Charles Ecker announced in a news conference this morning that a former Carroll County Public Schools employee with South Carroll High School has been charged with stealing school funds.

The news conference will be broadcast on Channel 21 at the following dates and times: Wed., 8/16, 11 a.m.; Thurs., 8/17, 5 p.m.; Fri., 8/18, 1 p.m.; Sat., 8/19, 9 a.m.; Sun., 8/20, 5 p.m.; Mon., 8/21, 8 p.m. Tues., 8/22, 10 a.m.

Although not named in the subsequent press release, the Carroll County Times reports, “Wendy Sue Bowers, 39, allegedly stole the money over a period of six years by keeping two sets of books,” according to an article written by Penny Riordan.

The Carroll County Times also ran the above photograph of Ms. Bowers.

A press release further reveals:

A former employee is being charged with stealing significant school funds from South Carroll High School. We estimate the amount stolen over six years to be just over $200,000.

The money taken was raised through athletic events, student fundraisers, vending machines profits, student yearbooks, and other such school-based accounts.

It was not funds provided to the school by the school system’s operating budget to support South Carroll’s instructional program.

How did we find out? In early spring, our Finance Department noticed deficits in South Carroll High School’s balances.

Once we the concluded that theft was a possibility, we immediately contacted the State’s Attorney’s office and requested their guidance.

We fully cooperated with them during the investigation.

Another obvious question is “How could it have happened?” We are still working on that answer. While we thought our controls were sound, they obviously weren’t good enough. We will correct them.

Our new procedures will have to assume that everyone is dishonest. That may seem harsh, but this former employee was a very trusted individual who was also a respected payroll clerk and finance clerk in our central office.

Not long after she arrived at South Carroll, she was able to create an intricate and systematic method of stealing that extended back at least six years and allowed her to pay school bills, but still take significant dollars

The next question is “How will we respond?” Our action plan will respond in four separate, but related ways:

1. Education of Staff: We will work with the State’s Attorney’s office, our auditors, our own legal council, and others to highlight real life examples of employee theft. We will provide specific information about how and why it occurs, we will heighten their awareness that, given the right set of circumstances, theft can and will happen anyplace.

2. Increase in School Account Oversight: We will work with our quality control department to provide for more direct supervision of school-based account. This action will include random visits to audit school records with class and club advisors and provide more oversight of school-based deposits and expenditures.

3. Increase in Audit Staffing: Currently, we only have a single person whose job is devoted to quality control. This staffing is inadequate for a school system our size. I will include in next year’s budget request, additional staffing in our audit department.

4. Revision of School-Based Account Control Procedures: As I stated, we are revising the procedures that provide controls to school-based accounts. While some of the cause of this theft was related to the former employee’s in-depth knowledge of the system and her stellar reputation, we can benefit by several changes in our procedures.

They will include:

(a) Eliminating the use of separate account software by financial secretaries. All financial transaction will be completed using the school system’s centralized finance system.

(b)A redesigned Fund Collection Record. This revised form will place an additional review of the deposit of funds for school-based accounts.

(c) Assign ownership of all school-based accounts. Some accounts such as student parking lot permits, vending machine funds and others are not regularly monitored because they are only deposit accounts that do not have regular expenditures to monitor.

(d) Provide more in-service training for administrators, secretaries, athletic directors, club sponsor, and anyone that collects money for school functions. (Currently we do provide in-service training each year for administrators and secretaries)

The money will be recovered, either through repayment of some or all of the missing funds by the former employee, or by insurance.

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20060814 KDDC Ceasefire Fallout begins

Ceasefire Fallout begins

August 14th, 2006

Now that United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 has been passed and the Israeli are going to depend on the United Nations to defend innocent civilians from being rocketed by Hezbollah, the ceasefire fallout in Israel begins.

First we have been assured that this ceasefire and disarming of Hezbollah will succeed this time because Kofi Annan will require all reports to be provided in triplicate.

I’m certainly reassured and buoyed for the future with that information at hand.

Not widely reported in the main stream media, much skepticism lies just beneath the surface as to whether this is a ceasefire or an opportunity for Hezbollah to re-arm pending round two.

The DEBKAfile reports that already, “Hizballah is filtering reinforcements into South Lebanon among returning refugees. They are taking up positions in the still undamaged bunkers and fortified civilian dwellings.”

(Yes, in Israel “Hezbollah” is spelled “Hizballah.”)

And a debate rages as to just how well the IDF performed. Rumblings about strategy, military preparedness, adequate, timely and adequate intelligence, and performance abound.

Meanwhile the Israelis honor their dead. One account I found in Haaretz was particularly poignant. An account about the first female soldier, Sergeant Major Keren Tendler, lost on active duty since the Yom Kippur War in 1973: “In life and death, she pushed all boundaries.”

In the coming weeks, there will be a great sorting out of what has happened and the implications of the future.

One thing to be sure, much of the media and liberal bias against Israel was once-again brought to the surface.

Read “Don't boycott the BBC,” by Stephen Pollard in the Jerusalem Post:

Switch on the BBC News and, other than the fact that it is in English, you might think that you had tuned in by mistake to al-Manar, Hizbullah's own TV station. The BBC almost always ignores any case Israel might have for taking action against terrorism and concentrates on what it calls, relentlessly, Israel's "disproportionate response" in Lebanon. Israeli spokesmen and women are interviewed, but are quizzed as if they are propagandists for war crimes.

So it's understandable that there have been calls for Israeli officials and politicians to boycott the BBC. Understandable, but wrong.

Read the rest here.

Many were surprised by the lack of support for Israel from liberal Democrats.

In Lebanon, “civilians” – used as human shields by Hezbollah were killed. In Israel, the Katyushas killed “Israelis,” – not “civilians,” mind you, but “Israelis.”

The doctored photograph phenomena will be debated for quite sometime. See the New York Times piece: “Ease of alteration creates woes for picture editors.”

Carolyn Glick says that “The Olmert government must go:”

From all sides of the political spectrum calls are being raised for the establishment of an official commission of inquiry to investigate the Olmert government's incompetent management of the war in Lebanon. These calls are misguided.

We do not need a commission to know what happened or what has to happen. The Olmert government has failed on every level. The Olmert government must go.

The Jerusalem Post carries a story about the political and the military fallout of the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin.

Aug. 14, 2006 2:56 | Updated Aug. 14, 2006 15:30

The countdown for Olmert has begun By ANSHEL PFEFFER

Whatever way you analyze UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and the cease-fire that might have broken out at 8 a.m. Monday morning, and even if you accept the government's claims that it's good for Israel, there is no way that it can be good for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

This was the war that was going to establish him as a bona fide leader. During the first few weeks, his popularity ratings soared sky-high as the public expressed its trust in the government's decision to go after Hizbullah. There was a great deal of disappointment and skepticism regarding the IDF's conduct following the twin kidnap debacles at Kerem Shalom on June 25 and two weeks later at Biranit, but for once the politicians seemed to be calling the right shots.

The rest of the story can be found here.

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