The Washington Post - USA (2021-12-25)

B4 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25 , 2021

necessary to run a managed time

to thin their population because

they will breed and then “spill into

the surrounding areas” where

they disrupt the habitat, serve as

hosts for Lyme disease and pose a

hazard to motorists.

Eyler said wildlife experts esti-

mate the deer population is about

225,000 in Maryland and has been

steady at that level for a decade.

Regulations that allow hunters to

harvest more deer and extend the

hunting season have helped to

keep the population in check.

He said deer “consume every-

thing in a forest,” a pattern that is

“detrimental to all the other wild-

life.”

Eyler said one of the main rea-

sons that the deer population has

become so large is a lack of preda-

tors.

“Man is the only efficient preda-

tor anymore of deer,” he said, add-

ing that hunting was the best con-

trol tool. “Bears, coyotes and bob-

cats may take fawns, but humans

are by and large the only preda-

tors of deer.”

[email protected]

years since a deer reduction plan

has been in place, officials said.

Brian Eyler, a game mammal

section leader at the Maryland

Department of Natural Resourc-

es, said the hunters are well

trained and approved to shoot the

deer, and since hunting deer is

prohibited in national parks, it is

tree seedlings that would help in

the forests’ regeneration.

Since the national park system

has implemented its deer man-

agement programs, it said it has

had a reduction of deer numbers.

At Catoctin Mountain Park, there

has been a 13-fold increase in

seedling density over the past 12

every single day, 365 days a year, so

any donation means less protein

we would have to purchase.”

Plus, she said, this year it is par-

ticularly helpful with supply chain

disruptions and higher food prices.

Maryland Food Bank spokes-

woman Joanna Warner said her

organization expects to get some

of the venison culled in the com-

ing year during the Park Service’s

operations.

“Proteins are typically the most

expensive and hardest food item

to come by,” she said, and with

giving down from pre-pandemic

times, the donation of venison is

helpful and appreciated.

For parklands, officials said the

managed removal is necessary be-

cause deer damage crops that are

“a key component of the historic

setting in historical and battle-

field parks.”

Megan Nortrup, a spokeswom-

an for the Park Service’s deer man-

agement, said white-tailed deer

are having a big impact on forests

in these states because they eat

DEER FROM B1

Park Service: Deer cull will manage growing herds

KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST

Without predators, white-tailed deer become so numerous that

their grazing threatens plant diversity and other animals’ survival.

Transportation services

l Metrorail runs from 7 a.m. until midnight with reduced service levels. On the Red Line, the Rockville and Shady Grove stations are closed and

serviced by shuttle buses. Metrobus is on a Saturday schedule. MetroAccess has regular service but subscription trips are canceled. For

information, go to wmata.com.

l Ride On and DASH are on a Sunday schedule.

l Fairfax Connector is on a Saturday schedule.

l ART is running Routes 41, 42, 45, 51, 55 and 87 only on a Sunday schedule.

l CUE, TheBus (Prince George’s), PRTC OmniRide, Loudoun Bus, MARC and VRE are not running.

l MTA Commuter Bus is running Route 201 only on a holiday/weekday schedule.

Christmas closings

Banks: Closed.

Federal government offices: Closed.

Post offices: No mail delivery except for Express Mail.

Courts: Closed except for adult arraignments and juvenile referrals in the District.

Varied restrictions

District^ Maryland^ Virginia

Traffic, parking No parking enforcement. Rush-hour

restrictions lifted.

No parking enforcement in Montgomery

and Prince George’s counties except at

National Harbor.

Meters not enforced in Arlington County

and the city of Alexandria. HOV

restrictions lifted.

Trash, recycling No collections. Fort Totten transfer

station closed.

No collections. Landfills and

Montgomery transfer station closed.

No collections. Landfills closed.

Liquor stores Open at owner’s discretion. Montgomery ABC stores closed;

elsewhere at owner’s discretion.

Closed.

Schools Closed. Closed. Closed.

Libraries Closed. Closed. Closed.

Local

government

offices

Closed. Closed. Closed.

BY PAUL SCHWARTZMAN

A health-care “disaster” was
declared at two Maryland hospi-
tals Friday as coronavirus cases
have skyrocketed more than
450 percent in the past month at
the facilities, University of Mary-
land Upper Chesapeake Health
announced.
The medical provider’s an-
nouncement came as Prince
George’s County Executive An-
gela D. Alsobrooks (D) an-
nounced on Twitter that she had
tested positive for the coronavi-
rus and was “experiencing mild
symptoms.”
“To keep my parents and family
safe, we have cancelled Christmas
dinner at my house and will be
gathering virtually this year,” she
tweeted. Maryland Gov. Larry
Hogan (R) announced earlier in
the week that he had tested posi-
tive. Both said they were fully
vaccinated and had received
booster doses.
With the highly transmissible
omicron variant spreading across
the region, the emergency decla-
ration by the Maryland health-
care provider allows the Upper
Chesapeake Medical Center in
Bel Air and the Harford Memorial
Hospital in Havre de Grace to
modify surgical schedules and
redeploy staff to meet a surging
demand for care.
Hospital officials described the
measure as “unprecedented” for
its organization.
“We did not take this decision
lightly,” Fermin Barrueto, an Up-
per Chesapeake Health senior
vice president, said in a telephone
interview. “The demand for our
services has outstripped our re-
sources, which includes staffing.”
He said the emergency meas-
ure is expected to last “days,
weeks, but your guess is as good
as mine.”
Martha Mallonee, a spokesper-
son for Upper Chesapeake

Health, said in an email that the

system does not release its case

count “because they change too

much hour by hour.”

However, she added that the

statistic that remains consistent

is that 75 to 80 percent of patients

admitted to the facilities for

covid-19 are unvaccinated.

Between the two hospitals, cor-

onavirus cases have increased

458 percent in the past month,

according to the statement. At

Upper Chesapeake Medical Cen-

ter alone, the caseload has in-

creased 733 percent.

Barrueto said surging cases

have coincided with a staffing

shortage in the hospitals’ inten-

sive care and emergency depart-

ments. As has been the case in

medical facilities across the coun-

try, Barrueto attributed the de-

crease in staff to “burnout” and

“moral distress” among hospital

workers.

“It has been a challenge,” he

said.

Across the region, coronavirus

cases are climbing, with Mary-

land on Thursday reporting 6,869

new positive tests, its highest

single-day count since the pan-

demic’s start.

With Maryland’s covid-19 hos-

pitalizations rising above 1,500,

medical centers were required to

institute their pandemic plans.

That includes reducing the num-

ber of non-urgent or elective pro-

cedures and surgeries, transfer-

ring patients to other sites, and

increasing the number of beds

available.

Hogan said in a statement

Thursday that he expected “rec-

ord levels” of hospitalizations in

coming weeks, with the unvacci-

nated “driving the strain on our

health care system.”

Meanwhile, D.C. has been re-

porting its own unprecedented

number of cases, with a single-

day record of 1,904 new cases on

Thursday.

Virginia, which is the only one

of the three jurisdictions to up-

date numbers Friday, had 8,756

new cases. The state’s seven-day

average of new cases per 100,000

is now up to 60.16, a level not seen

since January’s surge.

[email protected]

MARYLAND

‘Disaster’ declaration at

2 hospitals follows surge

Spike in covid-19 cases

prompts centers to enact

emergency measures

BY JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV

Four months after launching
his Amazon delivery franchise,
former Baltimore Raven Jason
Murphy realized a significant
obstacle to hiring drivers for his
50-van fleet called Delivery 101.
Many potential recruits — he
estimates a third — could not be
hired because they failed a re-
quired background check and a
drug screen.
That’s when he decided to find
new ways to make them eligible,
including working to get their
records expunged.
“Obviously, we can’t hire
someone who’s had multiple DUI
convictions or serious theft
charges, because the nature of
the job is driving and handling
merchandise, but there’s no rea-
son why we can’t be a place to
open as many doors as possible
for returning citizens because we
know that stable employment is
a big part of breaking the cycle of
poverty,” said Murphy, a Balti-
more native and retired offen-
sive lineman who finished his
playing career with the Ravens
in 2011.
Murphy, 39, used the same
resilience and grit that made him
a workhorse on the playing field
to solve the problem. The Owings
Mills resident now staffs the
table at employment fairs that
also offer to expunge the records
of potential employees. For po-
tential hires who still cannot
pass Amazon’s background
check, Murphy tries to bring
them on for jobs at one of his
other businesses. (Amazon
founder Jeff Bezos owns The
Washington Post.)
“We’re finding a way to re-
move a barrier. We’re making
sure we’re staying compliant,” he
said. “There’s always a side door.
Or there is a fence.”
Murphy believes in giving
people a second chance. He re-
members a high school English
teacher allowing him to retake a
failed test as a turning point in
his life.
“That changed my life and
helped me,” he said. “I turned my
grades around and I was able to
go to college and receive a [foot-
ball] scholarship to Virginia
Tech.”
Murphy also believes helping
the formerly incarcerated is good

business. More than 10 percent

of his delivery business’s 87 em-

ployees have had their records

expunged. None of those employ-

ees have been terminated, Mur-

phy said.

Alicia Wilson, the vice presi-

dent for economic development

at Johns Hopkins University and

Johns Hopkins Health System,

has known Murphy for five years

and has worked with him for the

past year at various expunge-

ment fairs.

At these fairs, individuals with

criminal records meet with attor-

neys to prepare petitions for the

court to permanently remove

criminal charges or convictions

from their record.

Wilson said she was struck by

the fact that Murphy personally

attends these fairs.

“He talks to individuals who

moments ago had a weight lifted

off their lives. He embraces them

in a way of welcoming them back

to work in our society in a

meaningful way,” Wilson said.

During the most recent ex-

pungement fair held in Septem-

ber at Johns Hopkins at Eastern,

Murphy hired 10 attendees to

work at his Amazon franchise.

Amazon appears to be moving

in the direction of loosening its

background requirements,

which include a criminal-back-

ground check, motor vehicle rec-

ord check, and a four-panel drug

test. The company announced in

June that it would exclude mari-

juana from some of its preem-

ployment drug screening.

“Preemployment marijuana

testing has disproportionately

affected communities of color by

stalling job placement and, by

extension, economic growth,”

Amazon spokeswoman Emily

Hawkins said in an email.

Medical marijuana use is legal

in Maryland, but full legalization

is several steps away. Maryland’s

General Assembly will consider a

bill in its next session early next

year to put the matter to voters in

a referendum next fall.

One of the people Murphy has

hired is Craig Smoot, who was

convicted of armed robbery in

the late 1980s when he was in his

20s. He served 2^1 / 2 years in prison

and is no longer on probation.

“That was a spot on me. People

look at that,” said Smoot, 55.

“You’re still going to judge me for

that. I can still be questioned

about my past. We are people,

too.”

The Edmondson Village resi-

dent credits Murphy with mak-

ing him financially sound this

holiday season. He plans to use

the money he’s making to pur-

chase gifts for his three daugh-

ters and eight grandchildren.

“It’s knowing that I can cel-

ebrate Christmas. It’s about giv-

ing back,” he said as he loaded up

the back of his van for his day’s

deliveries. “My family has helped

me so much.”

With an attendance incentive,

new employees at Murphy’s de-

livery franchise make $20.50 an

hour, well above Maryland’s min-

imum wage of $11.75 an hour.

Troy Taylor, a 23-year-old

Rosedale resident, spent two

years working temporary jobs

and delivering food to make ends

meet. A past drug distribution

conviction made him essentially

unemployable. That was until he

met Murphy, who hired him after

meeting him at an expungement

fair.

“It makes a big difference,”

Taylor said about the job with

Murphy’s company. “I’m begin-

ning to enjoy life. It was frus-

trating, but I got through it.

Everybody deserves a second

chance.”

Taylor said he enjoys the work

and drives “hundreds” of miles a

day, delivering as many as 70 to

100 packages along the way.

Murphy’s franchise delivers

packages throughout Maryland,

primarily from Ellicott City and

Woodbine in Howard County to

parts of Carroll County and

Gaithersburg in Montgomery

County.

Murphy, who was born the

youngest of five children and

raised in Southwest Baltimore’s

Uplands neighborhood, played

six years in the NFL — including

three years with the Tennessee

Titans and one with the Ravens

— before retiring and switching

his attention to business endeav-

ors. He owns five businesses —

including the delivery franchise

— that range from a construction

company and a sports gaming

technology company to hosting

football camps.

He graduated from Edmond-

son High School, where he now

works with the school’s automo-

tive mechanic program to help

service some of his delivery vans.

His mother worked for a glass

manufacturer, and his father

worked as a diesel mechanic for

Baltimore City. His current office

is in City Garage, the same

building where his father

worked in Port Covington.

Murphy, a first-generation col-

lege student, has a bachelor’s

degree in real estate and proper-

ty management. He attributes

his entrepreneurial spirit to

knowing that his football career

would not last forever.

“The whole time I was playing,

I knew it was temporary. My goal

was to reinvent myself,” said

Murphy, who spent family vaca-

tions during his professional

playing career reading autobiog-

raphies and books written by

successful Black entrepreneurs

such as the late Baltimore busi-

nessman Reginald F. Lewis, mu-

sic mogul Jay-Z and Robert John-

son, the founder of Black Enter-

tainment Television. “I always

understood that football was go-

ing to be a springboard.”

Nick Mosby, president of the

Baltimore City Council, has

known Murphy for five years. He

said that having business leaders

like Murphy is essential to Balti-

more’s success.

“His story is fascinating,” Mos-

by said. “He’s a kid who grew up

in Baltimore and did well. He

played in college and became

drafted in the NFL and returned

to this hometown to give back.”

Following Murphy’s example

of working to expand the hiring

pool is important for the city,

Mosby said.

“How do we change the nega-

tive outcomes that we see on a

regular basis in Baltimore? It is

through a paradigm shift,” Mos-

by said. “Hopefully it will lead to

employment with these types of

jobs. As we continue to empower,

it provides an overall better out-

come for the city.”

Murphy is not limited to as-

sisting others when it comes to

employment.

Murphy, who is the former

president of the Maryland chap-

ter of the NFL Players Associa-

tion, also has championed the

Amazon Delivery Service Part-

ner Program to other retired

players. Murphy has mentored

and helped former players navi-

gate the process of buying a

franchise.

Bart Scott, a former Ravens

linebacker and current ESPN

host, has owned an Amazon

delivery franchise in New Jersey

for a year. He credits Murphy

with helping him navigate the

process of owning his own fleet

of delivery vans.

“I respect the hustle. He was

always resourceful. You feel bet-

ter when you talk to each other.

He’s a wholehearted person,”

Scott said. “Him coming to me —

and he vetted it — means a lot.”

Scott said he applauds Mur-

phy for helping those with rec-

ords, which is something he is

exploring with his franchise.

“These things shouldn’t stop

people from getting a job,” Scott

said.

Murphy said he has helped

four other retired players apply

for and receive Amazon franchis-

es and advised three others on

the process.

“It’s a long process. It’s coach-

ing them up,” he said. “I’ve seen

people getting skipped over and

having a missed opportunity. It’s

about giving someone a chance

that can change their life.”

— Baltimore Sun

MARYLAND

Former NFL player’s mission is to deliver a second chance to ex-convicts

JERRY JACKSON/BALTIMORE SUN

Jason Murphy, a retired NFL player, is working to eliminate obstacles keeping ex-criminals from jobs.

“There’s no reason why we can’t be a place to open as many doors as possible,” he said.