Road Rage

Good people still exist To the editor: At about 9 p.m., on the evening of Dec. 3, I was driving along a dark and narrow country road just north of Waynesboro, Pa., when suddenly my right rear tire deflated. Not wanting to use the almost nonexistent shoulder, I was forced to drive with the flat for about a mile until I found a suitable place to pull off of the road. Following normal procedures, I loosened the tire lugs and jacked up the wheel a bit. As I was beginning to raise the wheel in order to remove the flat, a vehicle pulled up behind me with its headlights outlining the rear of my pickup, and allowing me to better see what I was doing.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Two people in their 60s injured during a scuffle at War Memorial Park two summers ago have sued the others involved in the scuffle, seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory damages. Martinsburg attorney Laura Rose filed the lawsuit Aug. 20 on behalf of Robert Everhart, now 70 years old, and Elizabeth James, now 68. Those named as defendants are: Danny Lee Wise, of Martinsburg, who was 18 years old at the time; his girlfriend, Tracy Workman, who was 16 years old at the time; Wise's mother; and Workman's parents, listed as John Doe I and John Doe II. Rose said she was not sure of their names.

Violence in society By ANDREW SCHOTZ / Staff Writer On-the-job homicides, road rage and school shootings aren't new phenomena in the United States. They may not even be on the rise. But each time there's another incident, many people wonder if society has gone over the edge. There's probably no single cause provoking these acts of anger. But we might start by looking at fax machines, beepers, pagers and e-mail - anything that makes us addicted to instant results and gratification, said John Witmer, a clinical social worker at Brook Lane Health Services in Hagerstown.

After finding Harold Elmer Rice Jr. of Hagerstown guilty of second-degree assault in a 1998 "road rage" case, a Washington County Circuit jury learned Monday that he was convicted earlier this month of a similar incident in Frederick County, Md. Rice was returned to the Frederick County Detention Center Monday where he will await the results of a pre-sentence investigation ordered by Judge Frederick Wright. Last March, another jury was unable to reach a verdict in the Washington County incident of Oct. 11, 1998.

A road rage incident last December resulted in an 18-month suspended jail sentence Thursday in Washington County Circuit Court. Jeffrey Owen Jacobs, 20, of 13318 Unger Road, pleaded guilty to destruction of property and reckless driving before Judge Frederick C. Wright III. Assault charges were dropped in exchange for the pleas. In addition to the suspended sentence, Jacobs was placed on probation for one year and ordered to pay $611 in restitution to the victim, court records said.

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.

MYERSVILLE, Md. - A Dalton, Wisc., man has been charged with assaulting a Hagerstown man on Wednesday during a case of "road rage," Maryland State Police said Friday. Shawn D. Jerome, who was driving a tractor-trailer, was charged with first- and second-degree assault, reckless driving and failing to remain at the scene of an accident, police said. He was being held at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center on Friday on $25,000 bond. According to police, David J. Wolfe was headed west on Interstate 70 near Myersville at about 12:20 p.m. on Wednesday when he became involved in a dispute with the driver of a tractor-trailer in the other lane.

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.

Editor's note - Please be as brief as possible when calling Mail Call, The Daily Mail's reader call-in line. Mail Call is not staffed on weekends or holidays so it is best to call Mail Call weekdays at 301-791-6236. Readers are welcome to leave their recorded message on any topic they choose, but some calls are screened out. Here are some of the calls we have received lately: "I have a lot of magazines that I would like to get rid of and if anyone is interested in them please call Mail Call and leave a number and I will get back to you. " "What happens after all the bombing?"