Beginning July 9, 2013 the Naval Air Station Patuxent River’s commissary will be closed on Tuesdays.

The commissary employs 57 federal workers who keep the store open six days a week, closing only on Mondays. These workers are subject to furloughs which will require the store to close a second day a week during “furlough season,” reports Connie Hempel of The Tester.

The two-day, Monday-Tuesday closures will begin July 8 and continue through September 30.

Other than the furlough day, there are no other changes planned for store operation hours.

“Throughout sequestration, we’ve done our best to try and reduce the impact on our patrons, and we will continue to do so when furloughs are implemented,” said Debbie House, the Pax River commissary store manager.

The commissary manages more than 30,000 customer transactions a month, Ms. House said. Although the store will be closed two days instead of one, customers can still expect to have the same quantity and selection of products whenever it is open, she said. But, like any retail operation, commissaries are subject to potential marketplace supply fluctuations.

As with all other federal employees subject to the 11 furlough days, Kevin Robinson, Defense Commissary Agency public affairs specialist, said the commissary’s federal employees will also lose 20 percent of their pay during the furlough period; these employees do not include baggers or the contract workers who staff the deli and bakery.

Source: The Tester

The latest version of a Lexington Park development plan has begun making the rounds of impacted government agencies and is scheduled to go before the St. Mary’s County Planning Commission July 8, 2013 and the St. Mary’s County commissioners July 16, 2013.

Older concept designs are posted, hosted by the Land Use and Growth Management office of the county.

LPBCA Sponsored by:

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the Internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Leader’s owners or staff.

Small Tactical UAS makes first East Coast flight from Webster Field, reports Defence Talk.

Chair of Senate panel briefed privately on F-35 wants to make developments public,  tomorrow, reports Defense Daily. (Paywall)

Russian engineers create motorcycle helmets using fighter jet augmented reality, reports Wired.

DoD  report on item by item impact of sequestration in 2013 budget headlines reports linked to Defense Industry Daily. DoD now preparing report, due July 1, on sequestration impacts in 2014, reports Defense News.

Thirty Rosie-the-Riveters returned to a hulk of a building where they’d helped manufacture a B24 bomber every 55 minutes during WWII. The Navy Times posts Detroit Free Press’ Nathan Bomey’s story of their visit.

All VA regional centers now converted to paperless processing, reports Next Gov.

V-22s garnering purchasing interest as the 2013 Paris Air Show opens, reports Defense News.

DoD to release today plans for opening more combat jobs to women, reports CNN Security Clearance. the Navy will be the first to open to women opportunities to serve in elite combat units, reports DEFCON Hill.

Naval Academy football players may face sexual assault charges, reports CNN Security Clearance.

Navy releases  RFPs with specs for UCLASS design to four firms, reports Flight Global.

Despite recent audit, Boeing says P-8 Poseidons still on production track, reports Defense Tech.

Arming Syrian rebels unpopular reports poll, says CNN Security, which also reports Al Qaeda in Syria  is today’s best armed terrorist group. Sen. Tom Udall warns against intervention, reports The Hill.

President Obama defends NSA surveillance programs, reports The Hill from Mr. Obama’s interviews with Charlie Rose and BuzzFeed transcript.

Names of Guantanamo detainees released, reports CNN Security Clearance.

Robin Finnacom received last week the first Public Servant award created by St. Mary’s Chamber of Commerce.

Ms. Finnacom, the CEO of the St. Mary’s County Community Development Corporation, is credited with keeping revitalization efforts in Lexington Park Maryland on track and moving forward. She was praised for her tireless efforts on behalf of the community. The Chamber also emphasized Ms. Finnacom’s continued efforts to keep the business community informed on government projects that impact this central business area of the Southern Maryland region.

Surprising Tom Jarboe, COO of TSA, Inc. and the head of the Businessperson of the Year awards committee, he himself was named the recipient and through a committee-wide code of secrecy did not know he’d been selected until the Chamber’s 2013 annual dinner. Mr. Jarboe completes the Chamber’s first father-son recipient. His father, Dr. J. Patrick Jarboe received the award in 1995.

Also, stepping up for her term as Chamber presidency was Kim Oliver of Amelex.

Bay Leader

St. Mary’s City, MD—The Board of Trustees of St. Mary’s College of Maryland, a public liberal arts college, named Ian Newbould  interim president for the 2013-14 academic year.

Mr. Newbould will take office Aug. 1, 2013. He most recently served as interim provost at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA.  In a career spanning more than three decades in higher education, Mr. Newbould has served as president of Richmond, the American International University in London; North Carolina Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, North Carolina; and Mount Allison University, New Brunswick, Canada.  He will succeed Joseph Urgo, who served as president from 2010 to 2013.

“We are extremely pleased to have a distinguished academic leader and scholar on board to provide leadership during such an important period in our College’s history,” said Gail Harmon, Board of Trustees chair and partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg, LLP.  “Dr. Newbould has a clear appreciation of and commitment to St. Mary’s special mission as a public liberal arts college; he is proud to serve the designated honors college of the State of Maryland.”

“I am honored to have been selected as interim president of St. Mary’s College and look forward to joining this extraordinary institution,” said Mr. Newbould.   A graduate of the University of Western Ontario, he received his M.A. from the University of Guelph in Canada and Ph.D. in History from the University of Manchester in England. He has won numerous honors and awards, including a visiting fellowship at Wolfson College Oxford.

Charles “Chip” Jackson, vice president for business and finance, will serve as acting president from the end of June, when current college president Joseph Urgo leaves the post, until Mr. Newbould’s arrival August 1. Mr. Jackson has worked at St. Mary’s for 27 years and played a leadership role in campus initiatives such as master planning, sustainability, and student housing expansion.

St. Mary’s College is one of only two public honors colleges in the nation.  Dedicated to providing an affordable liberal arts education for a diverse student body, the college has the highest graduation rate of any public college or university in the state. Within five years of graduation, 70% of its alumni pursue a graduate and/or professional degree. The Chronicle of Higher Education named St. Mary’s a top producer of Fulbright Scholars for 2011-2012. U.S. News & World Report 2012 ranked St. Mary’s College of Maryland in the top five public liberal arts colleges in the nation.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland, designated the Maryland state honors college in 1992, is ranked one of the best public liberal arts schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. More than 2,000 students attend the college, nestled on the St. Mary’s River in Southern Maryland.

Pax II

California, MD — Commercial aviation experts addressed last week challenges facing commercial aviation in  St. Mary’s County and Maryland at an MEDA conference held here.

Speaking at the 2013 Maryland Economic Development Association’s conference on the future of aviation in Maryland at the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center, the experts foretold of a state “poised for explosive growth” in commercial aviation.

“Maryland’s airports are tremendous economic engines for their communities, and they are poised for explosive growth in the future,” said Lawrence F. Twele, CEcD, President/CEO of Howard County Economic Development Authority and MEDA’s President.  “We will be examining the economic impact of the state’s airports, their workforce needs, and how to capitalize on their potential.”

Bonnie Marie Green, Executive Director of the Patuxent Partnership moderated a panel focusing on the workforce challenges presented by this growth and on ways to attract those workers. (Video below.)

Panel members included Rich Brasel, Director of Navy Programs, AAI Corporation; Bernard Adams, Director of Hagerstown Branch Campus, Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics; Bryan Burrows-McElwain, ABD, CFI-I, Aviation Coordinator, UMES; and Douglas Williams, Ph.D., ATP, CFI/II, Avation Program Director, The Community College of Baltimore County.

According to Mr. Brasel, some of the main challenges are with testing autonomous flight projects. In order to test products AAI Corp. often has to conduct testing out of  state due to an abundance of restricted air space.

Anther challenge facing general business aviation in Maryland is in keeping the workforce within the industry. Pittsburg Institute of Aviation graduates trained aviation mechanics, however according to FAA predictions, only one skilled worker will be entering the workforce for every three leaving.

According to Mr. Burroughs-McElwain many of the skills that technicians learn in the UMES Aviation program are transferable to other industries. These graduates are being offered jobs in less strictly regulated industries and offered competitive pay rates, taking them away from aviation.

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the Internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Leader’s owners or staff.

The Hill reports: CIA to arm Syrian rebels, not the Pentagon; UN calls further arming “not helpful”; US warplanes and missiles in Jordan now.

The Senate Armed Services Committee approved a $625.1 billion defense authorization bill for FY14, reports Inside Defense. (Paywall.) Final Senate budget panel to address JSF this week, all service chiefs called to testify, reports The Hill.

Barring surprises, Pentagon procurement official expects JSF to ramp up production in 2015 and 2016, reports Defense News.

The House-passed defense bill takes aim at sexual assault, leaves intact chain-of-command prosecution, reports The Hill. Free internet in combat zones and other details in the House defense policy bill, reports Navy Times. Late in the process procurement reform makes it into the defense authorization bill as welll, reports FCW.

Senate panel’s defense authorization bill matches administration’s, setting the stage for a showdown with the different House version passed the previous week, reports Defense News. One area where the budgets do not agree is over the amount of the military pay hike, reports Gov Exec. Pentagon’s 2013 sequestration analysis shows budget cuts by the service, says Defense News’ Intercepts.

Pentagon IG wants more testing before accepting production of the Navy’s P-8A Poseidon, reports Defense Tech.

US created demand, but China may get the international drone sales, says Breaking News. Defense Tech says, some companies will rent drones to the armed forces.

Russian video shows of spin-testing without a chute, otherwise there are similarities to F-22 & F-35 testing at Pax and Edwards, says Dewline.

A Chinese stealth bomber? Not only knock-offs, says Dewline.

Pakistan defense budget up 10 percent, reports Defence Talk.

Defense Daily reports, House-passed defense budget, requires a jet sale to Taiwan. (Paywall.)

Breaking Defense reports, Paris Air Show 2013 probably mostly about commercial aviation although military overlaps will be there. One example: the “look and shoot” helmets, reports Defense Industry Daily.

Republicans keep chaplain corps free of “nontheistic” chaplains, reports The Hill.

DOD establishes repository for brain tissue in effort to learn about traumatic brain injuries, reports Defense.gov.

EADS CEO and former Navy secretary suggests government may overreact to the NSA Prism security breach, reports Defense News.

Google’s Project Loon could have the rest of world’s unlinked 5 billion on-line with balloons, reports Wired.

CIA gives boost to Amazon in cloud contract, reports Next Gov. IBM protests the contract, reports FCW.

Chesapeake Technology International Corp., California, Md.,  awarded a $9,849,647 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III contract under Topic N101-019. “Algorithms for Dynamic 4D (3D space with time) Volumetric Calculations and Analysis” is to develop innovative software capabilities to calculate the optimal flight path given the terrain data, aircraft position, flight characteristics, and positions of known threat emitters.  This effort supports EA-6B Improved Capability III and EA-18G training and simulation products.  Work will be performed in California, Md. (50 percent); Cherry Point, N.C. (20 percent);Whidbey Island, Wash. (10 percent); Point Mugu, Calif. (10 percent); and Denver, Colo. (10 Percent), and is expected to be completed in July 2018.  Fiscal 2013 Aircraft Procurement Navy contract funds in the amount of $408,992 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-5(a)(2)(i).  The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif., is the contracting activity (N68936-13-D-0006).

The Brome Slave and Tenant Quarter during the Transition from Slavery to Freedom

St. Mary’s City, MD  –  On June 20, Michigan State University Ph.D. candidate and HSMC Special Projects Researcher Terry Peterkin Brock will offer a lecture about his recent archaeological, historical, and architectural research on the Brome Slave Quarters.

By the Civil War, the area that was once the first capital of Maryland was home to almost 60 enslaved African Americans. With names like Biscoe, Butler, Whalen, and Gough, these families worked the fields of John Mackall Brome, one of the largest producers of wheat and tobacco in Maryland’s First District.  They lived in a row of slave houses on the property.  After Emancipation, some former slaves went elsewhere to investigate their newfound freedom.  Others remained. Discover how the African American laborers who stayed experienced Emancipation.

Find out about current efforts being taken by Historic St. Mary’s City to preserve and interpret the quarter and the history of these families–through a digital exhibit  and social media (@walktogethr on Twitter) and the preservation and interpretation of the duplex quarter that remains.

This free lecture will take place at 7 p.m. in the Historic St. Mary’s City Visitor Center auditorium (18751 Hogaboom Lane).

Historic St.  Mary’s City is a museum of living history and archaeology on the site of Maryland’s first capital in beautiful, tidewater Southern Maryland.  For more information about this program or the museum, contact the Visitor Center at 240-895-4990,  800-SMC-1634, or info@stmaryscity.org.

Top Row Left to Right: Brandon Zickefoose CPO, Coral McLean PO3, Darryus Jackson PO3, Teddie Delehanty PO2
Seated: Justin Cutchin ENS, Katie Burrough CPO

Calvert High School Naval Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps Cadets are fundraising to accept their invitation to represent Maryland and the USS Maryland in the Dec. 7, 2013 Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade.

The USS Maryland was one of seven ships on battleship row on Pearl Harbor attacked in 1941. Damaged by Japanese bombs, the Maryland  returned to service and fought in seven key battles in the Pacific as a flag ship.

The NJROTC  program promotes patriotism, orderliness, and precision. Cadets develop a strong degree of personal honor, self-reliance, and goal accomplishment through teamwork and education. They are taught military tradition, service and discipline through classroom instruction, team activities, community service, and  field trips.

The cadets are fundraising to assure the greatest number can attend the parade. The required minimum is 50 cadets and 10 chaperones, which will cost the unit about $75,000. To take all 115 Cadets and required chaperones it will cost the unit approximately $195,000.

Donations can be made  to CHS NJROTC and are fully tax deductible. You will receive a thank you letter/receipt plus an appreciation plaque for donations of $500 or more. For tax purposes, federal tax identification number is 526000897. If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact (410) 535-7349. Send e-mail inquiries to kletterd@calvertnet.k12.md.us.

Community Builder

Camp Greenwell begins Monday, June 17 at Greenwell State Park. For nine weeks, hundreds of local children will enjoy kayaking on the Patuxent River, sitting with new friends under the shade of a tree, meeting a horse for the first time, and creating adventures — all part of the planned and spontaneous fun at camp.

Camp Greenwell is an inclusive camp which means all children participate and all belong. Children with and without disabilities play and learn from each other, make friends, and create memories that often last a lifetime. Greenwell follows the American Camp Association accreditation standards to create a safe environment for all children to have a fun camp experience. After all, fun is the ultimate goal.

Openings remain in some of our camps including Camp Greenwell, Jr. and Sr. Adventure Camp, Nature Time Camp, and Volunteer Camp. Before and after care is available for most camps. Visit www.greenwellfoundation.org for dates, rates and registration information.

Camp fees support all of the inclusive programs offered by the Greenwell Foundation, an independent entity that receives no state or federal funding. The Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization dedicated to providing accessible and inclusive programs, services and facilities for all community members, with and without disabilities, in Southern Maryland. In addition to Camp Greenwell and its specialty camps, the Greenwell Foundation offers an equestrian program with therapeutic and recreational riding lessons, nature programs, kayaking, accessible site rentals and veterans’ programs.