Sniper

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorneys for sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad plan to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to stop next week's execution. Muhammad is scheduled to die by lethal injection Nov. 10 at a Virginia prison. Attorneys for the 48-year-old have said they planned to file the appeal Tuesday. They asked Gov. Timothy M. Kaine for clemency last month. Muhammad is to be executed for the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas, Va., gas station during a three-week killing spree in October 2002 that left 10 dead in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

marlob@herald-mail.com Carolyn Smith said she doesn't know half of the things her son is doing until after they're all over. "It's better that way," said the mother of the first law enforcement officer on the scene Oct. 24 when two sniper suspects linked to 10 shooting deaths in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., were taken into custody at a highway rest stop off Interstate 70 near the Myersville, Md., exit. Members of the Smithsburg Volunteer Fire Co. on Monday night honored Carolyn and Steve Smith's son - Maryland State Police Trooper 1st Class D.W. Smith, who is also a 22-year member of the fire company.

Nov. 10 execution date set for D.C. sniper Hagerstown man gets 12-plus years for drug trafficking Kellick resigns after 22 years as South High head football coach Fire at Pa. upholstery shop destroys furniture, antiques Sniper's execution scheduled for 9 p.m.

Civil War soldier's remains head to N.Y. Woman wounded in Martinsburg; police seek man Hagerstown man arrested in home invasion Nov. 10 execution date set for D.C. sniper Stuck truck jams Waynesboro traffic

Lance Cpl. Michael W. Cline, son of Tammy and Rick Carter of Maugansville, and Brent and Kimberly Cline of Winchester, Va., recently deployed in support of Operation Freedom. He is assigned to Marine Company Bravo Mojave Viper, 4th LAR, 4th Mar Division. Cline is a 2006 gradaute of North Hagerstown High School and joined the Marine Reserves in July 2006. Pvt. Ricky Burnett, grandson of Brenda Burnett and nephew of Charles Burnett, both of Hagerstown, recently completed Basic/AIT Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga., on Sept.

photo: KEVIN G. GILBERT / staff photographer enlarge MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - As a sniper, Sid Sponaugle learned to take careful aim at his targets. "I can still shoot. My eyesight is starting to go a bit. But I still rank among the top snipers in the state police," said Sponaugle, 40. Today, Sponaugle becomes the district commander of the West Virginia State Police, overseeing Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties. He will give up his position as sniper for the Eastern Panhandle because his new duties will take up too much of his time.

"I am calling on behalf of all the special education children of Washington County and their parents. I am reading in the paper where the school board has OK'd $30,000 for an arts pilot program. I would like to know what the School Board is doing for our children that have special needs in Washington County? My son is 14 years old and so far, they have done absolutely nothing. " "Congratulations to the lady who said she is tired of seeing the dog business being picked up at Fairgrounds Park.

State employees should be suspicious To the editor: I would like to inform the state employees, if they don't already know, that their health benefits open enrollment, usually held in October to November, is being delayed until Nov. 11. The reason we're given is that they don't know what the cost will be. Funny, but I have worked for the State of Maryland for 23 years and this has never been the case. It has been said that the increase will be 17 percent, but we don't get any increase in pay. Very odd and coincidental that this is an election year and our lieutenant governor is running for governor, but we will not be getting our health benefits information until after the election.

There is an old newspaper saying: If a dog bites a man, that's usually not news, but if it's the man who bites the dog, that's a big story. Trouble is, we've had almost too many stories lately that bite into our spirits. Some are heartily sick of bad stuff in print and on TV. We hear about a prosecutor in Montgomery County, Md., trying in a Maryland court the sniper already under a death sentence in Virginia. Our state will pay out a lot of money and require families of Maryland victims to revisit the pain John Allan Muhammad and his friend inflicted.

The rest stop off Interstate 70 near Myersville, Md., has been renovated since two of this century's most notorious serial killers were captured there 10 years ago Wednesday. Retired Maryland State Trooper 1st Class D. Wayne Smith said the parking area is bigger and larger buildings have been constructed to replace the former welcome center. Despite the changes, Smith said he remembers where the Chevrolet Caprice with New Jersey tags was parked. The car was used by Beltway snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, whose shooting spree terrorized the Washington, D.C., area for 21 days in 2002.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Convicted D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malvo tells actor William Shatner on a cable TV special that he and his partner tried to recruit fellow shooters for their 2002 spree and that his accomplice killed one man for backing out, according to the program set for airing Thursday. In a telephone call from a southwest Virginia prison, Malvo told Shatner two men planned to join in the attacks to make them more deadly but reneged. Malvo said his fellow shooter, John Allen Muhammad, killed one of the men in retaliation.

SMITHSBURG -- A brief moment in time on Oct. 24, 2002, changed the course of Maryland State Police Trooper 1st Class D. Wayne Smith's life forever. On routine patrol in the early-morning hours that day, Smith was called to the westbound Interstate 70 rest area near the Washington-Frederick county line, where he found himself at the center of a nationwide manhunt for two snipers who had been terrorizing the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area. Smith, 46, positioned himself at the exit, standing alone with a shotgun outside his cruiser in case the occupants of the car tried to leave.

Nov. 10 execution date set for D.C. sniper Hagerstown man gets 12-plus years for drug trafficking Kellick resigns after 22 years as South High head football coach Fire at Pa. upholstery shop destroys furniture, antiques Sniper's execution scheduled for 9 p.m.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- The execution was set Tuesday night for John Allen Muhammad, the mastermind behind three weeks of sniper attacks in 2002 that left 10 dead and beset such fear people were afraid to go shopping, cut grass or pump gas. The killing spree in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., was carried out with a teenage accomplice who is serving life in prison without parole. Muhammad, 48, was to die by injection at 9 p.m. after he exhausted his court appeals and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine denied clemency.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorneys for sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad plan to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to stop next week's execution. Muhammad is scheduled to die by lethal injection Nov. 10 at a Virginia prison. Attorneys for the 48-year-old have said they planned to file the appeal Tuesday. They asked Gov. Timothy M. Kaine for clemency last month. Muhammad is to be executed for the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas, Va., gas station during a three-week killing spree in October 2002 that left 10 dead in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Lance Cpl. Michael W. Cline, son of Tammy and Rick Carter of Maugansville, and Brent and Kimberly Cline of Winchester, Va., recently deployed in support of Operation Freedom. He is assigned to Marine Company Bravo Mojave Viper, 4th LAR, 4th Mar Division. Cline is a 2006 gradaute of North Hagerstown High School and joined the Marine Reserves in July 2006. Pvt. Ricky Burnett, grandson of Brenda Burnett and nephew of Charles Burnett, both of Hagerstown, recently completed Basic/AIT Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga., on Sept.

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) -- The attorney for convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad says he plans to ask for clemency for his client, who's scheduled for execution next month. Jonathan Sheldon plans to file the request next Thursday with Gov. Timothy Kaine, according to an announcement on his law firm's Web site. Sheldon also plans to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. Kaine previously has said he's unlikely to grant clemency but would review Muhammad's request. Muhammad was sentenced to death for the October 2002 slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas gas station during a string of shootings that left 10 people dead and three wounded in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Monday he can't think of any reason he would stop the execution of Washington, D.C.-area sniper John Allen Muhammad. Muhammad is scheduled to be executed Nov. 10 for the October 2002 killing spree that left 10 dead in the nation's capital, Virginia and Maryland. "I know of nothing in this case now that would suggest that there is any credible claim of innocence or that there was anything procedurally wrong with the prosecution," Kaine said on his monthly call-in radio show on WTOP.

Civil War soldier's remains head to N.Y. Woman wounded in Martinsburg; police seek man Hagerstown man arrested in home invasion Nov. 10 execution date set for D.C. sniper Stuck truck jams Waynesboro traffic