Road Rage

pepperb@herald-mail.com Because a Waynesboro, Pa. man who pointed a gun at another car on the highway last October had no prior adult criminal record and had held a job, a Washington County Circuit judge said Monday he would suspend his sentence and place him on probation. Tony Lee Frye Jr., whose last address before his arrest was 8586 Capitol Hill Road in Waynesboro, pleaded guilty in January to charges of second-degree assault and carrying a handgun. He was charged in an October road rage incident in which a gun was pointed at a car carrying three passengers on southbound Interstate 81. Following a tip from one of the car's passengers, police found Frye at Prime Outlets and recovered a .22-caliber pistol loaded with seven live rounds, police said.

HAGERSTOWN - An accident in Frederick County, Md., that killed two people who reportedly exchanged obscene gestures with a man in another vehicle has local motorists worried. Almost two weeks after Harrisburg, Pa., residents Christian Michael Luciano, 28, and Lindsay L. Bender, 25, died in the accident on Interstate 270, 1st Sgt. Chris Sasse said Maryland State Police in Frederick continue their search for the other driver. Sasse said Monday that police at the Frederick barrack might get as many as 100 complaints about aggressive driving on busy travel days, but police in Washington County said they only occasionally investigate incidents involving road rage.

A Washington County Circuit Court jury convicted a man of two counts of second-degree assault Thursday in a road rage incident that happened in downtown Hancock last November. Gary G. Nutter, 56, of the 13500 block of Locker Road, also was found guilty of reckless driving and failure to drive right of center, court records said. Judge John H. McDowell ordered sentencing delayed pending the results of an alcohol and drug evaluation. Crystal Hensley, of 14607 White Oak Ridge, Hancock, was driving a 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier around 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 24, 1998, when she came to a yellow light on Pennsylvania Avenue at Main Street, according to her testimony.

Of all the entries in our latest letter-writing contest, two stand out. The first came from Donna Mongan, who complained about a driver who pulled out in front of her in a shopping center parking lot, then stopped, sat in his truck and shook his head. She gave him the "no-harm, no-foul" wave, then was surprised as he made a U-turn, blew his horn and made an obscene gesture at her. "I don't know if he wanted me to know his I.Q. or his mental age, but he was holding up one finger.

Tea party stands for fiscal management and morals To the editor: After reading the op-eds in your newspaper degrading the tea party, I ask; Why are many against what the tea party stands for? First, it stands for government responsible to the people. Many elected officials are self-serving, untruthful and deaf to their constituents input. Second, it stands for sound fiscal management. Third, it stands for morality in our society, like we had in the '50s.  Can anyone argue that the decline in Ten Commandant-based law and biblical morals has benefited us?

The other day I was driving through town when I came upon a construction crew that was partially blocking the road. I slowly maneuvered around the crew as carefully as I could. Apparently, I was maneuvering too slowly and too carefully for the car behind me, which quickly and carelessly whipped around the other side of my van. That car took off before I knew what happened, but not before I saw the fuming look on the driver's face and the not-so-nice gesture he flipped in my direction.

A Middletown, Md., man faces a minimum of five years in prison after a Washington County Circuit Court jury convicted him Thursday of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a violent crime in a 2009 road rage incident. Marc Lee Weinstein, 55, also was convicted of two counts each of first- and second-degree assault and one count of reckless endangerment. The weapons charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, Assistant State's Attorney Brett Wilson said.

Road rage blamed in Frederick confrontation FREDERICK, Md. - A road-rage incident is being blamed for a Sunday afternoon confrontation between two motorists on southbound Md. 85 at Spectrum Road, Maryland State Police in Frederick said. As a result, Jeffrey Lee Kinley, 22, of Frederick, was charged with first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment in the 3 p.m. incident, police said. Kinley was released on a personal recognizance bond, officials said.

Two gunshots fired at a car Wednesday evening in the 500 block of Mitchell Avenue near the railroad underpass narrowly missed a toddler in a child safety seat, Hagerstown City Police said in a press release. The driver and passenger were also uninjured in the 7:13 p.m. incident, police said. Police said an unknown subject shot at the victim's car twice, striking the driver's side door as a result of what appears to be a road rage incident. One round penetrated the door and back seat, narrowly missing a 17-month-old child in a child safety seat on the rear passenger side of the vehicle.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A Fayetteville, Pa., man who last month pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for a road-rage incident in which he shot a vehicle driven by his nephew was sentenced to five years on probation Wednesday in Franklin County Court. The sentence for 73-year-old Max Eugene Goshorn includes six months of intense supervision and a $300 fine. Judge Carol Van Horn also ordered him to pay $385 in restitution to Clarence E. Goshorn of Chambersburg for damage to his vehicle.

HAGERSTOWN - An accident in Frederick County, Md., that killed two people who reportedly exchanged obscene gestures with a man in another vehicle has local motorists worried. Almost two weeks after Harrisburg, Pa., residents Christian Michael Luciano, 28, and Lindsay L. Bender, 25, died in the accident on Interstate 270, 1st Sgt. Chris Sasse said Maryland State Police in Frederick continue their search for the other driver. Sasse said Monday that police at the Frederick barrack might get as many as 100 complaints about aggressive driving on busy travel days, but police in Washington County said they only occasionally investigate incidents involving road rage.

HAGERSTOWN - A Baltimore man convicted in February of attempted second-degree murder in a June 19, 2006, road rage incident on Interstate 70 was ordered Monday to spend 30 years in prison. Jimmie Lee Johnson, 36, also was convicted of first-degree assault, reckless endangerment, carrying a handgun in a vehicle, use of a handgun during the commission of a violent crime and possession of marijuana. Washington County Circuit Judge Donald E. Beachley sentenced Johnson to 20 years for the attempted murder conviction, 10 years consecutive for using a handgun during a crime of violence, two years concurrent for transporting a handgun in a vehicle and one year concurrent for possession of marijuana.