County Sheriff Timothy Cameron

Former Director of Public Safety and current St. Mary’s County Sheriff, Timothy Cameron has been serving the county as the sheriff since elected over David Zylak in November of 2006. Cameron recognizes that there are many problems he is faced with in the county with anything from drug related crimes to escalating violent crime.

Raised on his grandparent’s farm in St. Inigoes, Cameron first became involved with the St. Mary’s County Sheriffs Office in 1980. After promoting through the ranks and becoming the Division Commander he received a Bachelors degree in Management at John’s Hopkins University’s Police Executive Leadership Program.

After becoming the Director of Public Safety for St. Mary’s County, Cameron was elected county sheriff in whom he is now. Through his wide ranging career in law enforcement, high educational background, and executive command experience Cameron has and will continue to serve St. Mary’s County to the best of his ability, making the law enforcement agency responsible and accountable.

Community Foundation of Charles County

By Staff Writer Daniel Gross

With a vision for making Charles County the best place to live and give, the Charles County Community Foundation firmly rooted itself and became incorporated in December of 2005. Francis Chaney and Dick Gregory were the originators at this point, and were the first to seed money into the organization.

Now in mid 2007, the community foundation has expanded and is more functional in the community than ever. Through executive director Gretchen Heinze, who stepped in the towards the end of last September, the foundation has developed a Grants Committee, Marketing Committee, Community Relations Committee, and Development Committee - each committee reports to the Board of Directors.

A community foundation is an organization in a specific county or community that creates a plan of action for the betterment of the community. A community foundation starts with a needs assessment on the specific area to find what the greatest needs are first. The Charles County Community Foundation is a non-profit organization, as with any community foundation, so with being a public charity, the foundation strives to develop unique forms of giving. They work towards creating solutions that fit every solution to a problem in a community.

This year in Charles County, a funder has agreed to pay for this year’s country-wide needs assessment and after interviewing four companies, the foundation has selected Health Management Consultants of Columbia, Maryland to conduct the needs assessment study. This study is projected to complete by the fall of 2007 and will cover the following areas: Arts and Culture, Environment, Education and Scholarships, Health and Wellness, General Community Improvements - Transportation, Housing, Recreation and others, and Youth Initiatives. The Charles County Community Foundation is the 11th community foundation in Maryland. The other counties in Southern Maryland, St. Mary’s and Calvert, are on their way to and close to opening Community foundations in their own communities.