Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label Newspapers Baltimore Examiner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Newspapers Baltimore Examiner. Show all posts

Sunday, March 08, 2009

The Investigative Voice


The Investigative Voice

Hat Tip: Bryan Sears – Stephen Janis and Luke Broadwater, former Baltimore Examiner reporters, have started their own news site in the wake of the demise of their former paper….” (My hyperlinks to the staff page of the “Investigative Voice.”)

http://www.investigativevoice.com/

The web site is well designed, however the content is awesome.

20090308 The Investigative Voice
Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

Monday, February 16, 2009

MD Senate Republican Caucus Mourning the Examiner



MD Senate Republican Caucus Mourning the Examiner

I especially appreciated Baltimore Examiner reporter Len Lazarick and he and his work will be sorely missed...

The last edition of the Baltimore Examiner was published today.

The Examiner's news coverage and editorial voice provided a much-needed conservative perspective on Maryland political affairs. It is a voice that will be sorely missed.

See our tribute to the Examiner and its State House reporter, Len Lazarick, at our website:
www.mdsenategop.com.

The Incredibly Shrinking State House Press Corps

Maryland Senate Republican Caucus http://www.mdsenategop.com/

February 15, 2009

It is with sadness and regret that we report on the passing of the Baltimore Examiner newspaper from the media scene in Maryland.

The Maryland Senate Republican Caucus offers its best wishes to Len Lazarick, who as of today is a former journalist of the State House press corps. Over the past three years, he has been one of the best in his coverage of political affairs in Maryland.

Unlike much of the media in Annapolis, Len would frequently profile opposition voices to the Administration and the Democrat leadership in the legislature. A Republican legislator might be featured in a Lazarick article, instead of being relegated to paragraph 15 of a 16-paragraph article as in other media outlets.

Len also did not allow himself to be manhandled by the Governor's press corps. When an "internal" Department of Budget and Management memo about looming budget cuts was released as an "exclusive" to the two major dailies in the state, Len questioned in his "Life on the State Circle" column why this document was selectively released and whether it was actually a memo written by the Administration specifically to "spin" the press?

The basement quarters of State House press corps were once a crowded and vibrant place. But, as the newspaper industry has declined over the past decade, cutbacks have affected the number of assignments to Annapolis.

Traditionally, local dailies (such as the Hagerstown Herald Mail, Frederick News Post and Carroll County Times), sent reporters to Annapolis full-time during the legislative session. Now, local reporters infrequently visit Annapolis while legislative reporting is mostly handled through Associated Press wire stories.

The larger metropolitan newspapers (Baltimore Sun, Washington Post, Washington Times) and the specialty press (The Daily Record, The Gazette of Politics and Business) have also trimmed their State House positions.

The end result is a significant loss to Maryland's citizens. A diminished capacity of Annapolis media coverage means less transparency in government and fewer opportunities for investigative reporting.

Moreover, the closing of the Baltimore Examiner greatly reduces the diversity of opinion on state affairs - a diversity that in Maryland is already sorely lacking.


20090215 MD Senate Republican Caucus Mourning the Examiner
Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

Friday, December 07, 2007

20071206 Robert Ehrlich Jr.: State leaders deceived Maryland taxpayers

Robert Ehrlich Jr.: State leaders deceived Maryland taxpayers

December 6th, 2007


I received a heads-up about this column by former Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich – in an e-mail earlier in the day yesterday, Thursday, December 6th, 2007. And I can readily agree with the e-mailer’s comments…

In case you missed it in today’s paper, pasted below is the link and copy of Governor Ehrlich’s editorial that provides a retrospective of the special session.

I think he is absolutely correct that the media has failed to report, analyze or evaluate the long-term ramifications of the steep increase to the tax burden on our citizens and businesses – and that the loss of competitiveness will “mean more Marylanders will do their Christmas shopping in Delaware, visit the race track in West Virginia, move their small businesses to Pennsylvania and choose to make Florida their legal residence.”

Below is a link to: Robert Ehrlich Jr.: State leaders deceived Maryland taxpayers. (The highlighting belongs to me…)

BALTIMORE

T he just-concluded special session of the Maryland General Assembly has brought us the largest and most regressive tax increase in our history. With it, of course, was a dramatic increase in new spending, an important but generally ignored aspect of the session.

Maryland’s tax and spending habits, however, are overshadowed by something far more troubling: The heavy-handed and over-reaching manner the new administration and the legislative leaders used to accomplish their goal. Consider these four characteristics of the not-so special session of the General Assembly.

[…]

Deceitful: The alleged purpose of the special session was to fix a projected budget shortfall. Yet, before the session’s first gavel, the spending trough was opened. Brought back to Annapolis to address an alleged budget deficit, the legislature deepened the hole by approving more than $1.5 billion dollars in additional spending, while passing massive tax hikes behind closed doors and in the middle of the night. Public participation was stifled; debate was curtailed.

[…]

Cynical: The new administration asked Marylanders to believe that 83 percent of taxpayers would pay less in state taxes despite their proposed tax increase of nearly $2 billion dollars, a notion since proved misleading at best.

[…]

Depressing: After decades of building and fighting for a reputation as a business-friendly state, Maryland has now taken a giant step backward. Let’s face reality: A 20 percent increase in the state’s sales tax and an 18 percent increase in the state’s corporate tax are not, as some in Annapolis tried to suggest, positive competitive moves. Instead, they send a chilling message to the business community and present a significant marketing advantage to nearby states to recruit additional employers away from Maryland. Not surprisingly, recent studies show that confidence among small and mid-sized Maryland business owners is declining for the first time in years.

Destructive: The across-the-board tax increases mean more Marylanders will do their Christmas shopping in Delaware, visit the race track in West Virginia, move their small businesses to Pennsylvania and choose to make Florida their legal residence.

[…]

There has been a real public outcry over the actions of our representatives in Annapolis. But life has taught us that this anger will be short-lived. Perhaps that will be true again.

Read the entire column here: Robert Ehrlich Jr.: State leaders deceived Maryland taxpayers

####

Monday, October 29, 2007

20071026 Len Lazarick: County officials back tax package

County officials back tax package


Len Lazarick, The Examiner, 2007-10-26 07


BALTIMORE


Elected county officials from across Maryland came to the State House on Thursday to support the governor’s entire revenue-raising package, including slots machines, but none of them would say whether they would accept slots in their own jurisdictions.


They were adamant in their opposition to anything like the $866 million in local funding cuts Gov. Martin O’Malley said he would make if his tax increases fail to pass.


“Those cuts will have serious consequences,” said Frederick County Commissioner Jan Gardner, president of the Maryland Association of Counties. “That pain will be very real. ... Families will suffer, the elderly will suffer, the children will suffer, the future will suffer. It will not be a pretty picture.”


[…]


Carroll County Commissioner Julia Gouge, one of two Republicans at the event, worried about the effect on senior citizens if counties had to raise property taxes to make up for aid county. “We cannot continually afford not to be getting our fair share.”


Read the entire article here: County officials back tax package


Related: Len Lazarick - The Examiner watch

October 29, 2007

Voters say 'No new taxes' - 10/29/2007
Their cry was loud and unified: “No new taxes.” A series of demonstrations by taxpayer, conservative and Republican groups around the State House on Monday lead the way for Gov. Martin O'Malley's call for a special session of the General Assembly where he was to give a short pep talk before legislators are to act on a series of taxes hikes.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1017112~Voters_say__No_new_taxes_.html

Spotlight’s on governor tonight - 10/29/2007
It’s showtime for Martin O’Malley. When the governor comes to the podium tonight to address the 188 members of the General Assembly, his soliloquy raises the curtain on the second act of the make-or-break performance of his first term.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1015807~Spotlight_s_on_governor_tonight.html

County officials back tax package - 10/26/2007
Elected county officials from across Maryland came to the State House on Thursday to support the governor’s entire revenue-raising package, including slots machines, but none of them would say whether they would accept slots in their own jurisdictions.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1011259~County_officials_back_tax_package.html

O’Malley proposes more to be spent on uninsured - 10/26/2007
Gov. Martin O’Malley is proposing the state spend as much as $250 million more each year to offer health insurance to 100,000 uninsured people by adding them to the Medicaid rolls and subsidizing very small businesses that begin offering health insurance to workers.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1011260~O_Malley_proposes_more_to_be_spent_on_uninsured.html

O’Malley starts outreach program - 10/25/2007
“No Americano extra” is what Gov. Martin O’Malley told a group of Hispanic business people when they taught him the Spanish version of one of his signature lines — “There is no such thing as a spare American.”
http://www.examiner.com/a-1008909~O_Malley_starts_outreach_program.html

Poll: Support up for slots, but down for O’Malley - 10/25/2007
Gov. Martin O’Malley’s approval rating has declined among Maryland voters, but those voters overwhelmingly support the governor’s plan to bring slot machines to the state, according to a new statewide poll released Wednesday.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1008938~Poll__Support_up_for_slots__but_down_for_O_Malley.html

O’Malley unveils big budget cuts - 10/24/2007
Big cuts in aid to counties, libraries, schools, universities, health care, state police and dozens of other programs will be needed if the legislature doesn’t pass tax increases next month, Gov. Martin O’Malley said Tuesday as he unveiled his own version of a “doomsday” budget.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1006600~O_Malley_unveils_big_budget_cuts.html

Poll: Support for slots is up, down for O’Malley - 10/24/2007
Support for slots among Maryland voters is up, but it's down for Gov. Martin O’Malley, according to a new statewide poll. The poll also found overwhelming backing for a referendum on slot machine gambling.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1006485~Poll__Support_for_slots_is_up__down_for_O_Malley.html

The 3-minute interview: Warren Deschenaux - 10/23/2007
Warren Deschenaux is the director of the Office of Policy Analysis for the Department of Legislative Service in Annapolis. He and his staff will play a key role in analyzing the governor’s deficit-cutting tax changes.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1004461~The_3_minute_interview__Warren_Deschenaux.html

Plucky O’Malley needs luck of the Irish - 10/22/2007
In Martin O’Malley’s visit to Dublin this weekend, he was perhaps able to pick up an extra portion of the luck of the Irish. That’s what many legislators think he needs to get what he wants out of the special session he’s ordered next week, a call seen as a risky roll of the dice.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1002528~Plucky_O_Malley_needs_luck_of_the_Irish.html


Wednesday, October 24, 2007

20071023 Dan Gainor Watch

Dan Gainor Watch

October 23rd, 2007 – Dan Gainor in The Examiner

Dan Gainor: Brewing up a contest to mock tax tricks

23 hrs ago - Trick or treat?

OK, in Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Maryland, we only get one choice — more than $1 billion in new taxes. That’s not exactly a treat. Two days before Halloween, the governor will knock on every door in the state demanding goodies.

[…]

Since the governor is holding his session at such an ironic time, let’s take advantage of it. I want you, the readers of this column, to come up with suggestions for the right costume O’Malley should wear presiding over such an epic abuse of power during Halloween.

I’ve used a lot of metaphors for our good governor during the past year. Jesse James was my favorite. Forrest Gump got me an e-mail complaint from the state Democratic Party. And I personally saw the governor in what I think was a War of 1812 officer’s costume at a Ravens charity event a couple of years ago.

So you have to do better than those. The idea should be fun and humorous, and tweak the nose of a man leading his state down the path to tax suicide. No overly mean comments will be allowed. (I get to make all of those.) Send your entries to gainorcolumn@gmail.com. Deadline is Saturday at the witching hour — midnight.

[…]

Read the entire column here: Dan Gainor: Brewing up a contest to mock tax tricks

Dan Gainor: Commuters need to question MARC

7 days ago - On your MARC. Get set. Go. See you in 28 years.

Dan Gainor: Gov. O’Malley can’t get a handle on state’s slots issue

14 days ago - Pull the handle and watch the pictures fly by in a blur of excitement — bars, cherries, oranges and more. As the lights flash, you scream for a winner. Then the rows of images begin to slow.

Dan Gainor: Finding a Realtor who really moves you

21 days ago - When we get married, the people who stand by us are called the best man or maid of honor — respectful titles and well deserved. When we go house hunting, we call those people Realtor or agent.

Dan Gainor: The James gang approach to taxes

28 days ago - There’s a new Brad Pitt film out called “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.” It should star Gov. Martin O’Malley, because he’s robbing us blind.

Dan Gainor: Finally, money none of us really wants

35 days ago - Coin of the realm is a phrase that conjures up pirates and “pieces of eight.”

Dan Gainor: Today shouldn’t be like any other day

42 days ago - Six years, and the horrifying images are still seared in our brains.

Dan Gainor: Region’s politicians hooked on speed

49 days ago - I have a quick confession.

Dan Gainor: Workers still laboring to do their best

55 days ago - It’s my own personal Labor Day tradition to remind people and businesses that talented, skilled employees are the best asset of any company. This is my last column before the holiday, so I wanted to pay tribute to the men and women who keep this and every business going.

Dan Gainor: Poorly called strike at Camden Yards

63 days ago - The great labor battles are written in large type across American history — the Haymarket riots, the railroad strike of 1877 — even the battles between miners and mine owners in Harlan County, Ky.

Dan Gainor: Downside of the serve-less industry

70 days ago - You’ve heard it before.

Gainor: Survey says we want less government

77 days ago - I have stunning survey results: Most people would rather someone else pay their taxes.

Dan Gainor: House-hunter to homeowner

83 days ago - Deciding to buy a house is one thing. Actually finding one is another.

Dan Gainor: Eight is enough for Baltimore

91 days ago - When the singer Prince decided to change his name to a funky little drawing, he became a symbol.

Dan Gainor: It’s not time to chew the fat — let’s cut it

98 days ago - It’s time to tighten the old belt.

Dan Gainor: O’Malley explores the nuclear option

105 days ago - No nukes? Maybe no more.

Dan Gainor: A song of freedom with many verses

112 days ago - I’ve got a song in my heart.

Dan Gainor: The economy is on fast-forward

119 days ago - Call it the tale of the tape. In it, we find a lesson about the U.S. economy you seldom see taught. Not too long ago, I was at the York Road Best Buy looking for a tape recorder so I could write and drive simultaneously. Those who know me well know this is good because I seldom actually shut up.

Dan Gainor: Losing birds drag down attendance

125 days ago - Remember when the word “Orioles” was followed by the word “magic”?

Dan Gainor: A good idea can be your ‘secret’ weapon

126 days ago - I’ve got The Secret.

Dan Gainor: This isn’t your land anymore

133 days ago - “This land is your land, this land is my land.”

Dan Gainor: The conspiracy of lower gas prices

140 days ago - Gas man.

Dan Gainor: Business must play ball with base plan

147 days ago - When you first hear the term BRAC, you aren’t sure if it’s the sound you make after too many crabs and too much beer or one of the Cartoon Network’s oddball characters. (That one’s Brak.)

Dan Gainor: Legislators ready to gas up taxes

154 days ago - Gas prices have continued to climb.

Dan Gainor: Where’s there’s smoke, there’s stupidity

161 days ago - It appears likely that as of Feb. 1, 2008, Marylanders will no longer be allowed to smoke in bars and restaurants. Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley appears poised to sign the bill as early as this week and join legislators by making an ash out of himself.

Dan Gainor: There’s no place like home

168 days ago - The online world gives you the ability to find exactly what you want in a relationship. You can pick age, size and appearance without ever leaving your home.

Dan Gainor: Tanks for the memories of cheap gas

Dan Gainor: Imagine a Baltimore without cars

Dan Gainor: We are not at the end, my friend

Dan Gainor: Politicians out of control

Readers should believe it’s been a great year for the paper

Dan Gainor: ‘People’s lawyer’ a threat to business

Dan Gainor: Subprime problems could be prime reason to buy

Dan Gainor: Solution to tax woes rises like dough

Dan Gainor: There ought to be a law

Dan Gainor: Seat hikes prove Ravens have what counts

Dan Gainor: Wide screen is not box-office silver

Gov. O’Malley can’t see forest for treats

Love of profit is at the holiday’s heart

Homeowners should reconsider adjustable rate mortgages

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

20070611 Recent local newspaper coverage of the proposed airport expansion

A listing of recent local newspaper coverage of the proposed airport expansion

June 11th, 2007

For more posts on “Soundtrack” about Carroll County Regional Airport go to: Carroll County Regional Airport

Kelsey Volkmann coverage in the Baltimore Examiner:

Airport’s night-light, fuel pump broken - 06/12/2007
Commissioners are scheduled to vote today on whether to lengthen the runway at Carroll County Regional Airport in Westminster. But a source familiar with airport operations questions whether an expansion is appropriate when it can’t seem to keep up with basic maintenance.
http://www.examiner.com/a-775756~Airport_s_night_light__fuel_pump_broken.html

Airport meeting disappoints - 06/08/2007
Residents opposed to the lengthening of the runway at the Carroll County Regional Airport said they were disappointed by their meeting with county commissioners Thursday.
http://www.examiner.com/a-770037~Airport_meeting_disappoints.html

Residents against expansion petition county lawmakers - 06/05/2007
It was a two-pronged attack.
http://www.examiner.com/a-763822~Residents_against_expansion_petition_county_lawmakers.html

Carrie Knauer coverage in the Carroll County Times:

Airport expansion: Impact of proposal examined

The much-debated airport expansion plan, which is part of the Carroll County Regional Airport Master Plan, includes a longer runway, new hangars and other amenities to attract more business to the airport and nearby business parks. But some residents... Jun. 11, 2007; scored 775.0

Residents share mixed feelings

On Tuesday, the Carroll County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote on the Carroll County Regional Airport master plan, which includes recommendations to build a new 6,400-foot runway north and west of the existing runway. While residents who ... Jun. 11, 2007; scored 775.0

More ire for airport

Protesters seek injunction against commissioners After failing to receive an injunction to prevent the Carroll County Board of Commissioners from voting on the airport master plan today, members of Concerned Citizens United took their protest from th... Jun. 12, 2007;

Runway in need of funds

Airport expansion opponents who met with Carroll County commissioners Thursday walked away from the table discouraged, saying they believe the commissioners have already made up their minds to go forward with the expansion. Ron Buczkowski, Cheri Grub... Jun. 8, 2007;

Westminster Eagle coverage of the airport expansion matter:

Neighbors decry impact of airport expansion 05/30/07 - By Katie V. Jones

The deterioration of quality of life -- whether by pollution, traffic or lack of security -- was the biggest concern presented last week to the Board of County Commissioners at a public hearing re...

Issues related to airport proposal need clear review

05/24/07 - Guest Opinion by Cindy Parr — Chief of Administrative Services for Carroll County Government In recent months, much has been written about the Carroll County Regional Airport's (CCRA) proposed expansion effort.

This letter is intended to serve as a clarification of the facts as they...

News Briefs 05/23/07 - CCPS cuts $8.9 million from requested budget

As the Board of County Commissioners wraps this year's budget process, the public school system acted last week to trim $8.9 million from its initial...

Letters 05/23/07 - Airport debate hasn't been as open as it should be

I appreciate The Westminster Eagle's attestation that the nuances of the proposed airport master plan may perhaps be too much to be adequately ...

Airport options face public

05/16/07 - By Jim Joyner

To build or not to build ... or maybe to build a little or a lot.

Those are the questions being posed for the future of the Carroll County Regional Airport, and they are also the subject of ...

Airport master plan needs to circle the field before landing 05/16/07 - EDITORIAL

Next week's budget hearing on the proposed master plan for Carroll County Regional Airport promises to be high-flying -- the options for upgrades at the airport already have a followin...

Letters 04/11/07 - Residents will see airport expansion impact in taxes

Raise your hand if you own a corporate jet. I rest my case -- so much for an expansion of the airport directly benefiting local citizens.

W...

Dropping a hot potato in the commissioner's laps

04/11/07 - By David Grand

That's how I'd describe the dilemma the commissioners find themselves in, having to choose between expanding the airport's runway for the county's financial gain -- by being able to handle larger ...

No happy landing for Sage study 04/05/07 - By Katie V. Jones

Local residents took the opportunity on Monday to sound off on a recent study on the economic impacts of a proposed expansion of the Carroll County Regional Airport.

Many in the large crowd that...

News Briefs 03/28/07 - Sage to present findings of county airport study

Anirban Basu of the Sage Policy Group will host a public meeting next Monday to discuss the findings of a study on the economic impact of Carroll...

Saturday, May 26, 2007

20070525 Examiner editor arrested on assault charges

Examiner editor arrested on assault charges

May 25, 2007

This is certainly a fine kettle of fish.

Although I was not there and do not know what happened… And I understand that the story was written by Examiner reporters - - but the Frank Keegan being depicted in this story is not consistent with the gentleman with whom I had lunch with several months ago.

Then again, as many understand, an unpleasant neighbor dispute can cause a bishop to kick out a stained glass window…

More often than not, unfortunately, it is just the nature of the beast that when the police get involved at this juncture in a neighbor dispute, everyone loses.

The police lose. And the two antagonists lose. Everybody is right and everybody is wrong…

And there will be no end to the pissing contest. Folks who do not like the police will blame the police. Some folks will adamantly blame the Examiner editor and others will come to his defense.

And no one will ever really know what really happened. Folks who have ever watched or read “Rashomon” will readily see how this will play out.

The 1950 Japanese classic movie “Rashomon” directed by Akira Kurosawa, tells the story of a crime event in 12th-century Japan. Old notes in my files, without a source cite, reveal that the movie is based upon a story by Ryunosuke Akutagawa in which a famous bandit ambushes a wealthy merchant and his wife.

The crime is retold from four separate points-of-view: that of the bandit, the wife, the dead man, and a lowly peasant, with each character offering a very different version of the same story.

All four characters recount the same story, but each tells a different “truth.”

Bias, perception, and the ability to recall are “primary source” material for an historian, but are obviously problematic. The ‘true history” of the event has become relative and there are as many truths as there are eyewitnesses.

And if the liberal Maryland media, who has been consistently threatened by the very existence of the Examiner in the Maryland market gets involved… No one will ever know the truth, but everyone will believe they know what happened and who to blame…

Examiner editor arrested on assault charges

Luke Broadwater and Stephen Janis, The Examiner

May 25, 2007 3:21 AM

BALTIMORE

City police arrested Baltimore Examiner editor Frank Keegan early Thursday morning after a neighbor, complaining of cigarette smoke, accused Keegan of pointing a shotgun at him.

Keegan, 58, of Baltimore, is charged with misdemeanor second-degree assault and gun violations against neighbors David and Christine Ayers and their 3-year-old daughter, who, according to the police report, was being carried by her father as he confronted Keegan.

At 11:29 p.m. Wednesday, police were called to Keegan’s Federal Hill residence. Ayers told police he is involved in an “ongoing dispute” with Keegan regarding cigarette smoke “seeping” through to his home from the Keegan residence and causing respiratory problems for his daughter, Sophie.

Ayers attempted to confront his neighbor about the smoke by “pounding” on Keegan’s door, according to police. From inside the house, Ayers said he heard Keegan yell, “You [expletive] lunatics, get away from my door.”

Ayers, holding his daughter, shouted back at Keegan, “Look what you’re doing to my daughter,” according to police charging documents.

Ayers claims Keegan “racked” a shotgun while inside his house — a charge Keegan disputes — whereupon Ayers told police he said, “Whoa, whoa” and backed away from the house.

You may read the rest of the story here if you must…Examiner editor arrested on assault charges

####

Monday, March 19, 2007

20070319 African orphans make special visit

Mar 19, 2007 3:00 AM
by Kelsey Volkmann , The Examiner

Bel Air, Md. - They watched Disney on Ice, shopped at a mall and rode escalators for the first time.

Maryland, after all, is far away from the girls’ home in Namibia, Africa the Children of Mount Zion Village, an orphanage established by Mount Zion United Methodist Church in Bel Air and still operating thanks to donations and volunteers from churches throughout the state.

“It’s a lot for them to take in,” said Sarah Dorrance, a seminary student and missionary advocate at Calvary United Methodist Church in Mount Airy, one of the orphanage’s sponsors.

Read the rest of the article here.

Disclosure: I volunteer with the 4-H Therapeutic Riding Program of Carroll County and I kinda know the volunteer whose image appears in the photograph…

####

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

20070313 Maryland’s Taney stained nation with Dred Scott ruling


“Frank Keegan: Maryland’s Taney stained nation with Dred Scott ruling”

March 13, 2007

In case you missed it - - I had until the other day, Baltimore Examiner editor Frank Keegan penned an informative opinion in the March 5th, 2007 edition of the paper on Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney that is a great companion piece for the article that Kelsey Volkmann wrote the same day.

The two pieces can be found here:

“Frank Keegan: Maryland’s Taney stained nation with Dred Scott ruling”

Remembering the Dred Scott decision on its 150th anniversary

For other posts about Chief Justice Roger Taney and the Dred Scott decision – go here: Taney - Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney

####

Monday, March 05, 2007

20070305 A discussion about the legacy of slavery in Carroll County


Many Rivers Crossed

A discussion about the legacy of slavery in Carroll County

March 5th, 2007

Kelsey Volkmann, writing for the Baltimore Examiner has three great articles in today’s edition of the paper that are compelling “must reads.”

Carroll County, free at last?

A mystery that can be solved

Remembering the Dred Scott decision on its 150th anniversary

Kudos to Ms. Volkmann for once again working hard to bring alive yet another important issue that needs to be further discussed in Carroll County. It is community journalism at its best.

In “Carroll County, free at last?,” I am quoted:

“Explaining (the legacy of slavery in Carroll County) away by saying it was a practice of the times is unacceptable,” former Westminster Mayor Kevin Dayhoff said. “Slavery was wrong, plain and simple.”

Carroll’s future, Dayhoff said, lies in embracing its diversity.

“In order to go forward, we need to meaningfully address old wounds,” he said. “Done correctly, it can bring us closer together. A meaningful portion of the quality of life we enjoy today in Carroll County was built on the backs of African-Americans in bondage.”

The column that I have already filed with my editor for the Westminster Eagle for this coming Wednesday will also explore the subject of the legacy of slavery in Carroll County… and among my ancestors… Paradoxes and surprises abound… More on that later in the week.

On the issue of the Dred Scott decision; if you will recall this was the subject discussed between Maryland Blogger Alliance members Crablaw, Maryland Conservatarian, Soccer Dad and I last November 2006:

20061115 Taney Taneytown and Tupac Shakur” and “20061120 Crablaw’s stand-up mea culpa.” and “20061122 Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney” and “Thank You to Kevin Dayhoff and MD Conservatarian for Taney Correction.” and “Crablaw’s reflection on Chief Justice Taneyand never mind that Taneytown history stuff…, we got that solved… here and here.”

On March 12th, 2007 there will be a public presentation on the subject of the legacy of slavery in Carroll County:

“Many Rivers Crossed”

Sponsored by the Carroll County Human Relations Commission

In Partnership with

the Carroll County Public Library and

The Enoch Pratt Library

Carroll Citizens for Racial Equality

Carroll County NAACP

Carroll County Public Schools

With Special Guest appearance by Dr. Jesse Glass

A presentation by Enoch Pratt Library regarding:

v Collecting and Organizing Family papers

v Examples of Documents

v Slaves Census

v Immigration Records

v Vital Records

v Preserving Family records

v What to think about when collecting documents

v The role of informal oral history

v Where the library can help

March 12, 2007

7-9 pm

At the Board of Education Office Building

Board Room

125 North Court Street

Westminster

####

Sunday, March 04, 2007

20070226 Tapscott on Internet and government transparency

Tapscott on Internet and government transparency

Internet and government transparency

February 26th, 2007 – Posted March 3rd, 2007

I had missed it – but just came across a fascinating commentary by Mark Tapscott, the editorial page editor of The Washington Examiner and a member of The Examiner Newspaper’s national editorial board.”

_____

Mark Tapscott: They aren’t laughing now about the Internet and government transparency


Mark Tapscott, The Examiner


Feb 26, 2007 3:00 AM

WASHINGTON - There were more than a few skeptical chuckles seven years ago when I first wrote in a Knight Ridder column that posting federal contracts and other spending documents on the Internet could restore public confidence in government by making it more transparent.

They aren’t laughing anymore. Using the Internet to foster greater transparency and accountability in government has not only become one of the few points of agreement between liberals and conservatives, it has even become official government policy.

Exhibit A here, of course, is passage last year of Coburn-Obama, aka the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, co-sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and enthusiastically signed into law by President Bush.

Coburn-Obama directs the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to establish a Google-like searchable database of most federal spending by 2009. You can view the preliminary Web site at FederalSpending.gov. You can also get a good idea of the benefits to come by checking OMB Watch’s superb Fedspending.org, a precursor to the Coburn-Obama database.

Read the rest here. More great links and this informative commentary is well worth the time.

####

Kevin

Saturday, March 03, 2007

20070302 Carroll unprepared to attract new jobs


Carroll unprepared to attract new jobs

Growth and Development

March 3rd, 2007

Kelsey Volkmann, writing for the Baltimore Examiner has an article in the March 2nd, 2007 edition of the paper about Carroll County’s current inability to attract jobs and commercial tax base.

Attracting meaningful jobs and employment and tax base in Carroll County is critical to Carroll County’s future. Yet getting the public policy in Carroll County to chart a different course that takes into consideration the importance of attracting jobs and employment is like changing the course of the Titanic in our county - considering the present level of rampant NIMBYism.

And zoning laws in Carroll County are tantamount to that acronym, something to the affect of BANANAS – “Build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything.”

Hardly a month goes by when folks do not rally against any new business and economic development in a negative contagion that has its roots in a sea change of public opinion against any new housing development.

As much as I have personally had enough of the new houses folks must begin to understand that there is a difference between economic development and residential development.

If that understanding does not develop soon, we will never be able to pay the necessary property taxes to keep the ever-increasing level of services in Carroll County.

Not to mention the enormous “transportation tax” Carroll County citizens are paying to commute to meaningful employment outside of the county.

See my post from December 9th, 2000: 20001209 Transportation 2nd Biggest Family Exp.

A report released November 30 by the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP) finds that households in the Baltimore region spend, on average, 14.7 percent of their budget, or more than $5,000 per year, on day-to-day transportation. That places transportation costs higher than health care, education, food, or any other household expenditure except shelter.

The report, "Driven to Spend," compiled data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and found that the poorest fifth of Americans pays a significantly larger percentage of income -- 36 percent—on transportation.

_____

Carroll ‘unprepared’ to attract new jobs

Kelsey Volkmann, The Examiner

Mar 2, 2007 3:00 AM

Carroll County - Carroll “is wholly unprepared to take advantage” of opportunities to attract new jobs, a new study reveals.

“Despite its size, location [and] educated and affluent population, Carroll’s economic performance is still that of a rural residential suburb,” according to a report from consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff…

“Carroll’s current inventory of zoned industrial land is in the wrong places, too broken up and outside existing sewer and water services areas.”

Consultants presented their findings Thursday to the Economic Development Commission.

Read the rest of her article here.

####