20050907 If technology Available Why Not WiFi?

If technology available, why not Wi-Fi?

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Westminster Eagle

09/07/05 By Kevin E. Dayhoff

I've been fascinated with public Wi-Fi and all the possibilities it can provide Carroll County.

On Aug. 15, Silver Spring, in Montgomery County, announced that it now has public Wi-Fi - this put my random access memory into overdrive.

Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) is a wireless high-frequency local area network that provides Internet access.

In June 2004, Newsweek previewed a sampling of 10 places in the world that are currently utilizing Wi-Fi. What caught my attention was the example of Hermiston, Ore., where the service covers 600-square-miles for a population of 13,200.

Can you imagine what it would be like to be anywhere in Carroll County and be able to go online for directions, restaurant menus or just to have access to information about all the exciting shops and businesses in the area?

Or download the latest corrections to your PowerPoint presentation from Bangalore, India, just before a meeting - just by powering up your laptop, Web browser enhanced cell phone, PDA or even a hand-held game device?

With the talent we have in Carroll, I would say that if it can be done in Hermiston, Oregon or Montgomery County, we could do it too.

Montgomery County is in the middle of an aggressive Wi-Fi initiative. The county is starting with the higher population areas first and then steadily expanding the coverage. The same approach would work in Carroll.

Alisoun Moore, Montgomery County Department of Technology Services Chief Information Officer, said that in Silver Spring, 10 unobtrusive antennae located on traffic signals, light poles and buildings provide the Wi-Fi service. This serves all downtown Silver Spring, (which is larger than the Main Street area of Westminster from Washington Road to McDaniel College).

Remember years ago when Silver Spring was a nondescript stretch of bypassed suburbia? Not so anymore. Go visit www.silversprung.com/home.html and see for yourself.

An Aug. 15, a Montgomery County press release stated, "The redeveloped Downtown Silver Spring, known as a hotspot for entertainment, dining and shopping, now is also a hotspot for wireless internet accessÉ

"The Community Wi-Fi initiative is designed to É (provide) no-cost community Internet access where it currently does not exist - in our open-air public places. É This endeavor demonstrates Montgomery County's commitment to the substantial benefits that broadband information access bringsÉ"

When I asked Moore how Montgomery County did it, the first words out of her mouth were music to my ears: "It's a private-public partnership. The county has very little money in it."

Atlantech Online provides the technical component in return for a $1,700 per year fee from the county. Atlantech is a local Internet Service Provider and for them it's a marketing piece.

Moore noted that, "Montgomery County did not want to get anyway near É competing with the private sector." This service is for public areas only.

Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan said in a release, "The successful revitalization of downtown Silver Spring is a national model for urban redevelopment. After years of delays, I am proud that we were able to break the gridlock and get this project moving.

The area is now an arts and entertainment destination in the Washington, D.C. region, and our Wi-Fi agreement ensures that Silver Spring will remain on the cutting edge."

The consensus of an informal survey conducted locally was, yeah, there are questions to be answered; but let's roll up our sleeves and do it.

Wi-Fi presents unlimited opportunities for Carroll County.

Since the initiative would need to start in Carroll's municipalities, I contacted the Carroll County Maryland Municipal League Chapter President, Hampstead Mayor Haven Shoemaker.

Haven put it best: "I have many questions, but I'm willing to investigate any cost-effective private-public technology initiative that will stimulate economic development and quality of life for our citizens."

Taneytown Mayor Pro Tem Darryl Hale agreed, and Mount Airy Council President John Medve added that, "anything which enhances communication and access to government is a good thing."

I couldn't agree more.

Opportunities multiply once they are seized. The future is here, and Wi-Fi is a great opportunity for Carroll County.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org.

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20050828 Politics fills space around judicial vacancy by David Nitkin and Jennifer Skalka

Some say Ehrlich wants friend on list of nominees; Allegany seat empty since 2004

Politics fills space around judicial vacancy

Criminal cases are piling up in Allegany County, where a political standoff has left the District Court operating with one full-time judge since late last year.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who selects judges, was given the names of three candidates for the county's judicial vacancy by a nominating panel in December. But nine months later, he has yet to interview any of the finalists. As a result, Allegany County now has the longest-standing judicial vacancy in the state.

Some Republican leaders and court officials in Western Maryland say the holdup isn't because of who was nominated but who was not. The list does not include the name of Kevin Kelly, a Democratic state delegate from Allegany County and a longtime Ehrlich friend. Kelly applied for the position, but his candidacy was rejected by the panel.

[…]

John N. Bambacus, a former Republican state senator who teaches political science at Frostburg State University, called the District Court situation "a circus."

[…]

The episode provides a glimpse into the often-hidden world of judicial politics. On one side is a local power structure that has coalesced around a favored candidate. On the other is a first-term governor who does not back away from fights and rarely demonstrates a taste for compromising or deal-making.

Stuck in the middle are the users of the court system in Allegany County. The criminal docket is being scheduled into January, when normally cases would be heard in November, court officials say.

"The governor's first responsibility is to serve justice, not his friends," said Del. Kumar P. Barve, the House majority leader from Montgomery County. "He needs to appoint someone qualified very quickly. If he's delaying appointing somebody because he wants Kevin to be a judge, that's wrong. I can't think of any other reason why he hasn't appointed somebody by now."

[…]

"It would appear that Governor Ehrlich has lost control of the judicial nominating commission," said Bambacus, the Frostburg professor.

[…]

Sun staff writer Jennifer Skalka contributed to this article.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.judge28aug28,1,6997695.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

20050828 Politics fills space around judicial vacancy by David Nitkin and Jennifer Skalka

20050831 A New Hospital for Carroll County Westminster Eagle column

“A New Hospital for Carroll County”

August 31, 2005 by Kevin Dayhoff (656 words)

I recently came across an old “Program of Dedication” for “Carroll County General Hospital”. It is dated “Two o’clock in the afternoon, Sunday, August 27^th, 1961.”

We all take for granted our local hospital, but I remember a time when we didn’t have a local hospital.

The idea for a local hospital in Carroll was first discussed after the First World War. It was not until the 1950s, that the idea of raising money to build Carroll County General Hospital became a reality.

I asked Mr. and Mrs. Babylon about what they remember about the community coming together to build the hospital. Mrs. Babylon gave me an old file from the 1950s marked “Hospital.”

There were a number of wonderful “finds” in the file. One “find” was a very neat, carefully typed multi-page information packet entitled, “An Invitation To David Babylon To Help Provide The Hospital We All Need” from “Scott S. Bair Campaign Committee… Headquarters… 6 E. Main St… Phone # Tilden 8-8521.” It appears that it was individually typed. I wonder how many of these were produced? It must have been quite an effort. Unfortunately, the document is undated.

In this column, I’ll share with you some of excerpts from this campaign package. It gives us great insights of Carroll in the 1950s. Eight pages outline: “Everyone in Carroll County knows that we need a hospital of our own! Three things point out the need day after day! * our ever growing population ** our distance from other hospitals *** our ever increasing use of hospitals…It is inconceivable that a county of our size and progressiveness should continue any longer without a hospital of our own!”

“We need the hospital because of population growth. Our present population is close to the fifty thousand mark! Conservative estimates predict that… by 1970 it will be at least 62,000. According to United States Public Health Department standards a population of 50,000 needs 225 hospital beds. WE HAVE NONE!”

Our current population is 160,000.

“We need a hospital in Carroll County because all others are so far away. In emergencies or in maternities minutes can be important. Here is how far we have to go over heavily traveled highways…Gettysburg Hospital 25 miles Frederick 30 miles Hanover 20 miles Baltimore 32 miles. THEY ARE ALL TOO FAR AWAY IN ANY EMERGENCY!”

I was born in Frederick Memorial Hospital in 1953. Many of my friends were not born in a hospital or were born in Gettysburg, Hanover or Baltimore.

“We need a hospital because… In Carroll County in a single year physicians admitted [to other hospitals] the following types of patients. Maternity 1122 Surgery 2115 Medical 615 Extra-ordinary 231 Total 4083 …”

“To meet this urgent need and after careful study a fifty-bed general hospital is proposed as the first step…twenty-five beds for surgery. Twenty-five beds for maternity and medical cases. An emergency service department. Operating, Delivery, X-Ray…

“What will this cost? The first step – the fifty bed unit can be built for approximately one million dollars. It can be built for this relatively modest amount because: the site has been provided by the county without cost to the hospital…”

“Where will the money come from? From the county Tobacco tax funds and accumulated gifts $300,000. From the Federal Government Hill-Burton Hospital Construction Funds 350,000. From you and the other people of Carroll County 300,000. The campaign for 300,000 is now under way.”

Clip this column for reference because in the future I’ll gather some of the current statistics of the Carroll Hospital Center (as Carroll County General Hospital is now known) for some compare and contrast. I’ll share with you more of the great “finds” from this file and I’ll provide you with more pre-1961 history of Carroll’s forty years of work to build a hospital. In addition, as many folks have reminded me, I still owe you a column on the fascinating life of Dr. Theodore E. Woodward.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr DOT org

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