Paid for by Citizens for Colburn Committee. Authority John W. Phillips, Jr., Treasurer

Colburn hears testimony on Dorchester legislation
By GAIL DEAN
Dorchester Editor - Star Democrat
March 7, 2006

Sen. Richard Colburn, R-Mid-Shore, heard testimony Monday in Cambridge on local Dorchester legislative issues, including liquor laws and school construction.

CAMBRIDGE — Testimony was heard Monday on legislation to increase funding for school construction, request state funds for the Dorchester Family YMCA and ban bottle clubs in Dorchester County during a local legislative hearing held by Sen. Richard Colburn, R-37-Mid-Shore.

Several other pending local bills were also discussed during the hearing by the senator, who explained Monday morning’s hearing was held at the request of the Dorchester County Council to provide county residents the opportunity to testify on Senate Bill 605, a bill Colburn introduced to allow for the sale of beer and wine in grocery and drug store chains as they do in Talbot and other counties in the state.

With no one to testify on the bill Monday, Colburn said he would withdraw the bill because the beer and beverage association plans to lobby heavily against this legislation.

“I thought it was a good Idea,” Colburn said. “Maybe it will have another day in another session in another year.”

The most compelling testimony of the day came from Floretta Williams of Cambridge, in support of Senate Bill 899, which Colburn said, “would prevent bottle clubs from happening in Dorchester County, which I think is a good thing.”

The senator’s sentiments were supported by Williams, who detailed how a private club is disrupting her neighborhood.

“I’ve lived on Schoolhouse Lane for 30 years,” Williams told Colburn, explaining how life there has changed in recent years because of what is now a private club there. Williams said the club was created after the establishment lost its liquor license about a year ago.

Williams said her job requires her to work until late into the night. When she returns home on Saturday evenings when the club is operating, she has to present her identification to Cambridge police to get past road blocks the officers create in an attempt to control activities at the club.

She appreciates Cambridge police monitoring activities outside the club, “keeping our community safe,” and understands “police officers cannot go inside that building to see what’s going on.”

Williams said bottle clubs like this one “create an unsafe environment for people who live in the area, presenting Colburn with photographs of “the things that go in the night” in her neighborhood because of the bottle club. Williams showed photographs of large crowds, parking congestion and empty cans and bottles littering a vacant lot near the property.

Gloria Dolan, a member of Dorchester’s alcohol license commission, told Colburn, “something needs to be done. This neighborhood has been affected by excessive noise, violence and littering by intoxicated patrons.”

The senator welcomed Williams and Dolan to testify in Annapolis this Friday, March 10, when a hearing on the bill is scheduled. But he also told them that he would be able to handle the matter with the information they’d provided, explaining that a full schedule could limit testimony to a few minutes on the proposed legislation.

Colburn offered similar advice to representatives of the Dorchester Family YMCA concerning Senate Bill 767, which would authorize creation of a $1.5 million bond bill to be used as a matching grant, telling representatives of the Y they might only have two minutes to testify at a March 13 hearing on the bill.

The senator also warned that the $12 million to $15 million available statewide through the bond program suggests about $350,000 available on average per county.

Colburn also heard from representatives of the Dorchester County Board of Education in support of Senate Bill 898, which would allow Dorchester County to use revenues from the county’s property transfer tax to pay school building construction and renovation costs.

Dorchester’s property transfer tax was increased through legislation in 1984 to generate funding for an addition to the county courthouse. SB 898 would allow these revenues to be used for school construction projects after bills for maintenance and debt service for the courthouse have been paid.

Acting School Superintendent Fred Hildenbrand provided Colburn with a long-term plan for 10 school construction and renovation projects during the next 10 years with an estimated total cost of $82 million.