20060515 KDDC Immigration Reform White House Fact Sheet

White House Immigration Reform Fact Sheet

Below please find the Fact Sheet on President Bush’s Immigration reform address Monday, May 15^th, 2006, and some links to the White House page to obtain additional information:

Video: President Bush Addresses the Nation on Immigration Reform

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/05/20060515-7.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/immigration/

http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=2260

_________________

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 15, 2006

Fact Sheet: Overview: Comprehensive Immigration Reform

President Bush Addresses the Nation on Immigration Reform

In Focus: Immigration

Tonight, President Bush Discussed His Vision For Comprehensive Immigration Reform. The five clear objectives of comprehensive immigration reform are securing our borders, creating a temporary worker program, making it easier for employers to verify employment eligibility and continuing to hold them to account for the legal status of workers they hire, dealing with the millions of illegal immigrants who are already here, and honoring the great American tradition of the melting pot.

• The President Believes America Can Be A Lawful Society And A Welcoming Society At The Same Time. We will fix the problem of illegal immigration, and we will deliver a system that is secure, orderly, and fair.

1. The United States Must Secure Its Borders

Securing Our Borders Is The Basic Responsibility Of A Sovereign Nation And An Urgent Requirement Of Our National Security. President Bush's proposals to better secure our borders include increasing the number of Border Patrol agents, ending the practice of "catch and release" along the southern border, eliminating bureaucratic obstacles to returning illegal immigrants to their home countries, and sending National Guard members to the border for temporary assignment to assist the Border Patrol during the transition as new Border Patrol agents are added and new technology comes online.

Since President Bush Took Office, We Have Increased Funding For Border Security By 66 Percent And Expanded The Border Patrol From About 9,000 To 12,000 Agents. Over the past five years, we have apprehended and sent home more than 6 million people entering America illegally.

By The End Of 2008, We Will Have Increased The Number Of Border Patrol Officers By An Additional 6,000. When these new agents are deployed, we will have more than doubled the size of the Border Patrol during the President's Administration.

We Launched The Secure Border Initiative, The Most Technologically Advanced Border Enforcement Initiative In American History. We will construct high-tech fences in urban corridors and build new patrol roads and barriers in rural areas. We will employ motion sensors, infrared cameras, and unmanned aerial vehicles to detect and respond to illegal crossings.

The President's Plan To Increase Border Security Will Take Time To Fully Implement, So The President Is Announcing Several Immediate Steps To Strengthen Border Enforcement During This Transition:

• In Coordination With Governors, Up To 6,000 National Guard Members Will Be Sent To Our Southern Border. The Department of Homeland Security, and specifically the Border Patrol, will remain in the lead. The Guard, which will be deployed in shifts, will assist the Border Patrol by operating surveillance systems, analyzing intelligence, installing fences and vehicle barriers, building patrol roads, and providing training. Guard units will not be involved in direct law enforcement activities -- that duty will be done by the Border Patrol.
• This Initial Commitment Of Guard Members Would Last For One Year. After that, the number of Guard forces will be reduced as new Border Patrol agents are added and new technologies come online. These 6,000 troops account for less than 2 percent of the total National Guard force of more than 440,000. We have enough National Guard members to secure our border while continuing to respond to natural disasters and to win the War on Terror.
• The United States Is Not Going To Militarize The Southern Border. Mexico is our neighbor and friend. We will continue to work cooperatively to improve security on both sides of the border, confront common problems like drug trafficking and crime, and reduce illegal immigration.
• We Will Increase Federal Funding For State And Local Authorities Assisting The Border Patrol On Targeted Enforcement Missions, And We Will Give Them The Specialized Training They Need To Help The Border Patrol And Other Federal Officers Apprehend And Detain Illegal Immigrants.

We Will Work To Ensure That Every Illegal Immigrant We Catch Crossing Our Southern Border Is Returned Home By Ending The Practice Of "Catch And Release." For many years, the government did not have enough space in our detention facilities to hold illegal immigrants while the legal process unfolded. Most were released back into society and asked to return for a court date, but did not show up when the date arrived.

• To End "Catch And Release," We Will Continue Expanding The Number Of Beds In Our Detention Facilities And Continue Expediting The Removal Process To Cut The Average Deportation Time. We are making it clear to foreign governments that they must accept back their citizens who violate our immigration laws. As a result of these actions, we have ended catch and release for illegal immigrants from some countries. The President will ask Congress for additional funding and legal authority to permanently end catch and release at the southern border once and for all.

2. To Secure Our Border, We Must Create A Temporary Worker Program

President Bush Supports A Temporary Worker Program That Would Create A Legal Path For Foreign Workers To Enter Our Country In An Orderly Way, For A Limited Period Of Time. This program would match willing foreign workers with willing American employers for jobs Americans are not doing. Every worker who applies for the program would be required to pass criminal background checks, and temporary workers must return to their home country at the conclusion of their stay.

• A Temporary Worker Program Would Meet The Needs Of Our Economy, Ease The Financial Burden On State And Local Governments, And Add To Our Security. A temporary worker program would give honest immigrants a way to provide for their families while respecting the law, would replace illegal workers with lawful taxpayers, and would enable us to make certain we know who is in our country and why they are here.

3. We Need To Hold Employers To Account For The Workers They Hire

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Must Include A Tamper-Resistant Identification Card For Every Legal Foreign Worker So Businesses Can Verify The Legal Status Of Their Employees. This card should use biometric technology, such as digital fingerprints, to make it tamper-proof. This would leave employers with no excuse for violating the law, and it would help us enforce the law.

4. We Must Deal With The Millions Of Illegal Immigrants Already Here

The President Opposes Amnesty. President Bush opposes giving illegal immigrants an automatic path to citizenship because it would be unfair to those who are here lawfully, would compromise the rule of law, and would invite further waves of illegal immigration. The President supports increasing the annual number of green cards that can lead to citizenship, but for the sake of justice and security, the President is firmly opposed to amnesty.

President Bush Believes That Deporting Every Illegal Immigrant Is Neither Wise Nor Realistic. There is a rational middle ground between granting an automatic path to citizenship for every illegal immigrant and a program of mass deportation.

President Bush Believes Illegal Immigrants Who Want To Stay Should Have To Pay A Meaningful Penalty For Breaking The Law, Pay Their Taxes, Learn English, And Work In A Job For A Number Of Years. The President also believes that there are differences between an illegal immigrant who crossed the border recently and someone who has worked here for many years, and has a home, a family, and an otherwise clean record. Those who meet our conditions should be able to apply for citizenship but approval will not be automatic, and they will have to wait in line behind those who played by the rules and followed the law.

5. We Must Honor The Great American Tradition Of The Melting Pot

The Success Of Our Country Depends Upon Helping Newcomers Assimilate Into Our Society And Embrace Our Common Identity As Americans. Americans are bound together by our shared ideals, an appreciation of our history, respect for the flag we fly, and an ability to speak and write the English language.

The House And Senate Must Pass A Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill

All Elements Of This Problem Must Be Addressed Together. The House has passed an immigration bill. The Senate should act by the end of this month so that the House and Senate can work out their differences and send the President a comprehensive bill to sign.

America Needs To Conduct This Debate In A Reasoned And Respectful Tone. Feelings run deep on this issue and as we work it out, all of us need to keep some things in mind. We cannot build a unified country by inciting people to anger, or playing on anyone's fears, or exploiting the issue of immigration for political gain. We must always remember that real lives will be affected by our debates and decisions, and that every human being has dignity and value no matter what their citizenship papers say.

# # #

Immigration Reform

20060514 KDDC Water and Growth Issues in Carroll Co

Water and Growth Issues in Carroll County

Kevin Dayhoff

April 3^rd, 2006 – May 14^th, 2006

Update May 14^th, 2006: I wrote the piece pasted below as one of those free-association exercises that writers go through as they are trying to organize and fathom an issue.

Sometimes pieces such as this are refined and become columns. More often than not they could become a “diary entry” if one had the time to collect them properly in a body of work.

This piece merely got lost in my computer filing system, until I reconvened working on this week’s Tentacle column and rediscovered it.

… I’d like to write a piece about the future of “Smart Growth” in Maryland….

Every time I begin such a piece I get distracted by the results of the recent election in Mount Airy and what those results indicate, if anything, for the future of managed growth discussions.

Then I get distracted by water allocation and appropriation issues.

And Adequate Public Facilities Ordinances (APFO) and what that means for the future of managed growth issues.

Or the results of the bitter and contentious discussions over municipal annexation that took place in the recent session of the Maryland General Assembly.

Then there is the study recently released by the University of Maryland National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education about APFOs and Smart Growth issues.

Reality Check Plus (www.realitycheckmaryland.org) is conducting a series of exercises on growth issues…

I cannot ever remember getting ‘writers-block.’ I usually get ‘writer-overwhelmed.’

Meanwhile, as I sort all of this out. Below is a piece I wrote on April 3^rd, 2006, as I tried to find some bearing on some of the growth issues in Carroll County.

I hope that most of the text below will get refined and re-appear in a future column. The again, it would appear that some of the words and concepts will get jettisoned like so much of the flotsam and jetsam of contemporary conversations as to how to proceed with growth issues in Maryland.

Meanwhile, it appears below in its unedited stream-of-consciousness first draft.

_________________

Water Issues in Carroll County

Kevin Dayhoff

April 3^rd, 2006

Water and wastewater treatment has always been in issue in Carroll County since the first settlers came here in the early 1700s.

And one thing is for sure, water and all the accompanying issues are sure to continue to be complex, contentious and difficult.

All water in Maryland is owned by the state. All uses of water, including safety, distribution, rate setting, use of, discharge into and just anything else that is remotely associated with water is by state permit.

A never-ending alphabet soup of complex byzantine federal, state and local regulations, laws, special commissions, committees and authorities regulates the permits.

Some of which are conflicting and all of which have spawned a cottage industry in Maryland for the full employment act of bureaucrats, lawyers, hydrologists, lawmakers, environmental groups, special interests groups and engineers. All of which, in many cases know a piece of the elephant but haven’t a clue as to what an elephant looks like.

The subject is awash with the pollution of misunderstandings, political rhetoric, outrage, conspiracy theories and misinformation.

Not a week goes by when an article in the newspaper does not appear about secret meetings, intrigue, ethics violations, fraud, misconduct, complicity and conspiracy. It reminds one of a giant gerbil, churning out news items as if it is twirling around in its own wheel of self-importance and inflated delusions of influence.

Ay caramba.

Sadly, the reactionary conversation - often involving unpleasant public hearings, uninformed conspiracy theories, political spinelessness and personal attacks - distorts and polarizes the collective discourse to such an extent that it renders many citizens skeptical about any discussion over growth and development.

Indeed, I have no anxiety over a publication, an advocacy group or a candidate for elected office taking a position; I just hate it when they pretend to be impartial. Or better yet, couch their panderings on the mantel that they are not “no-growthers”, with no plan that has any relationship with rules, regulations or laws – or reality.

In the next 25 years, the population of Maryland will increase by 1.5 million.

Not all 1.5 million need to live in Carroll County. Nevertheless, as much as I would like to live in a Westminster with the simplicity and population density of 1958, that is just not possible.

Usually the news items spewing-forth from this never-ending well of rhetoric result because someone has decided that they are all the sudden an “expert” – read: self-involved know-it-all.

They disagree with a public official who has worked tirelessly for peanuts, away from their family and loved ones, to try and negotiate the byzantine complexity of water laws and regulations for the greater good of a community they love.

It is okay to disagree, confine your disagreement to the issues or increase your dosage.

Then the citizen-experts and the sycophant elected officials in their pocket, leak to the newspaper misleading information that only tells a portion of the story. Many of the newspaper reporters in the area are young, new on the job and it never seems to dawn on them to ask follow-up probing questions or give an issue context and perspective. The articles are short and have become derisively known as “McArticles.”

Many of these newspaper items are written by a reporter or an editor that has all the wisdom or knowledge of a Monday-morning quarterback, who makes ten-times the amount of money the public official makes and works half the hours.

More often than not, the news reporters are like sea gulls, who visit a small town newspaper long enough to knock all the pictures off the wall and soil all over the floor and then leave town for a better job. The public official is often personally and financially invested in the future of his or her community and is hear to stay and clean up the mess.

The folks who produce this fish wrap ought to consider that they need to maintain and honor a public trust to the very same citizens for whom we all serve.

In the words of Dan Rodricks in a similar commentary, these public officials “should be thankful for one small blessing – (they live in Carroll County in 2006,) not Salem 1692. In Salem, they hanged you or crushed you under stone. Here they just humiliate you and raise doubts about your integrity.”

Thankfully, in Carroll County we have some of the state’s leading experts hard at work, to lead us into the future. Folks such as Hampstead town manager Ken Decker; Sykesville town manager Matthew Candland and Sykesville mayor Jonathan Herman; Westminster’s public works experts Tom Beyard and Jeff Glass; Union Bridge mayor Bret Grossnickle, Mount Airy council president John Medve and councilwoman Wendi Peters and Carroll County hydrogeologist Tom Devilbiss and Jim Slater, who runs the county environmental department.

There’s more, but I just wanted to assure you that all is not despair.

Water will never ever be as cheap as it is now. Just in the City of Westminster alone, in order to keep up with recent new federal and state regulations, a new water treatment plant to the tune of $5 million dollars or so, and a upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant may cost as much as $11 million, are in the works. All of this expense will barely add one more drop of additional water capacity.

As a result of recent droughts, the pressure is on the Maryland Department of Environment to scrutinize, to the letter of the law, all water allocation permits for municipalities.

Meanwhile, no one wants any more developments (in the middle of a corn field,) and anti-sprawl public policies dictate that future development occur in a municipality where the various public infrastructures, including water and sewer capacity are located.

Only, the recent interpretations of the water allocation permits, in many cases, will not allocate enough water for municipalities, for their present needs, never mind, any future growth for community employment of economic development.

And, perhaps most importantly, there are huge numbers of the municipal populations that have no interest in any more houses anywhere near their municipality – period.

Having grown up in Carroll County in the 1950s and 60s - when we had quality of life - I could personally care less if not one more house is ever built in Carroll County. But that is simply not a practical or realistic position. So, if growth is inevitable, how can it be managed as well as possible so as to ensure some quality of life?

Having said that, we can’t take away a person’s property rights by plebiscite or angry mob, so if the houses come, I want the developer to donate ball fields, school sites and upgrades in the roads and water and sewer capacities and keep taxes low.

Besides, if you grew up in Carroll County before all the growth and accompanying congestion – and you are still here, you have learned to roll with it and change what you can and learn to deal with what you can’t change.

It has been called to my attention that behind my house in Westminster was once one of the larger and oldest farms in Carroll County. It has long since given way to a housing development with loud mechanical cows that eat the grass with a roar.

More that once I have been asked if this turn of events has made me unhappy.

“Do I miss the cattle and open space?”

To which I enjoy responding: “Yeah, it’s just terrible. I once had fields and cows out back. Now I have friendly neighbors, with children playing and laughing. Folks who throw parties, in which I often feel the need to call – and ask them to turn up the volume when they are playing heavy metal.”

A community is like a box of crayons, there are sharp ones and dull ones, short ones and tall ones, some colors I like and some with names I don’t understand, but they all fit in the box well with a little negotiation. All it takes is a little patience, benefit of doubt, a little humility and humanity.

Let’s come together and agree or disagree graciously as we explore what is best for our greater community and our children. Gracious gets gracious in return. Leave the personal pollution out of it.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.

E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org

####

20060514 KDDC May 16, 2006 is the Carroll Non Profit Center Dedication

Tuesday, May 16, 2006 is the dedication the Carroll Non Profit Center

May 10^th, 2006 by Kevin Dayhoff ©

My column in this week’s Westminster Eagle is: “Celebrating the dedication of the county's splendid new guinea pig: Carroll's Non-Profit Center .” Please be aware that the Westminster Eagle does not use permalinks, so if you may need to find the original column in news archives: http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?show=archivelist&pnpID=978&om=1

Below please enjoy the unedited, album-cut long version of the column:

After more than four years in the making, the “Carroll Non Profit Center” in Westminster will have a grand opening dedication on Tuesday, May 16, 2006.

Many have wondered about the $4 million, 40,000-square-foot three-story brick building built by Anverse, Inc., that is located on a 3.15-acre parcel on Clifton Boulevard (near Wal-Mart and the Westminster Post Office.)

Once again, Carroll County, Maryland is on the cutting edge.

The idea seems simple enough; however, multi-tenant nonprofit centers like the Carroll Non Profit Center (Center) are a new concept. There are only one or two other such centers in the country.

As a matter of fact, Marty Sonenshine, the executive director of Anverse calls the project “our guinea pig.”

According to the “Nonprofitcenters Network,” multi-tenant centers increase visibility, lower overhead costs, enable cross-organizational collaboration and synergy and create new hubs of economic activity in the community.

Audrey Cimino, Executive Director of the Community Foundation of Carroll County, Inc. one of the grateful tenants of the Center, expressed it this way:

“The gift that Anverse, Inc. has given our community will have ramifications far into the future. They have provided a platform for growth, enrichment, cooperation and partnerships that we are only beginning to realize. The clients who receive services and benefits, the donors who support our various projects and the general public of Carroll County are the beneficiaries of a most extraordinary good deed.”

Many of the non-profits that are located in the Center receive support for their operations and work in the community from the Community Foundation of Carroll County, Inc.

If you would like to contribute to this great community based organization or learn more about the Center, please call (410) 876-5505 or visit their Web-site at: http://www.carrollcommunityfoundation.org/.

Anverse Inc., a Cartersville Georgia-based foundation was formed in 2000 and purchased the property in 2002 for $690,000. According to published accounts, the foundation reported $871,317 in expenses on its 2002 tax return “for the purchase of land and initial planning for a ‘non-profit center in Westminster.’’’

However, much of this story begins when in around 1984, Prestige Communications began a new era in the quality of life for a coach potato and cable television service in Carroll County was born.

After sixteen years of operation, the company “and its 118,250 subscriber accounts in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland were sold to Adelphia for about $700 million.” (This, according to a 2003 Baltimore Sun article written by Mary Gail Hare and Jennifer McMenamin.)

Wanting to give back to the community from which it had so profited, Anverse, “the country's eighth-largest grant-making operating foundation in 2001;” was formed from “4,000 shares of stock in Prestige Communications, valued at $191.1 million, according to Anverse's 2001 tax return.” (Baltimore Sun 2003.)

Once the decision to build the Center was made, Anverse hired Mark Krider, who had worked for Anverse family for a number of years to be the mid-wife for the project.

“Mark Krider has been patient, hard working, diligent and effective in making this innovative community investment happen,” complimented Ms. Cimino. “Our community owes Mark a debt of gratitude.”

The Carroll Non Profit Center broke ground in November 2004 and opened its doors to approximately 20 tenants in January 2006.

Some of the tenants include: Carroll Technology Council; Catastrophic Health Planners; Child Care Choices; Community Foundation of Carroll County; Habitat For Humanity; Head Start of Carroll County; Carroll County Branch # 7014 of the NAACP; United Way Community Partnership of Carroll County; and the Joanna M. Nicolay Melanoma Foundation.

The non-profit organizations in Carroll County are the conscious of our community and play a vital functional and leadership role in the social fabric of our society.

Like many areas of the country, non-profits in Carroll County have an increased presence in our community for various reasons including decreased public support for services.

According to an article in the Daily Record, last fall by Kara Kridler: “Maryland nonprofits added more than twice as many jobs as their for-profit counterparts in 2003, part of a five-year run during which the nonprofit sector has largely kept the state's job market afloat, according to a new study.”

“A Johns Hopkins University report found employment growth among nonprofits was nearly 2 percent in 2003, the latest year for which data is available. Meanwhile, the larger for-profit sector, which employs nearly 1.8 million people, grew just 0.1 percent,” wrote Kara Kridler.

Carroll County has always been a generous community and in the past. Much of the generosity was the result of individual community stepping up to the plate to extend a helping hand.

Examples of individual generosity in difficult times are numerous and the stuff of legend in Carroll County.

In the very early 1950s, when the Ward Avenue apartments in Westminster, burned to the ground, local business leader and Westminster city councilman, Scott Bair Sr., let it be known to the displaced tenants that they could go to Mather’s on Main Street and buy clothes - and he paid the bill.

In days gone by, many of the community leaders that were members of the service clubs or the fire company, for example. They were also the captains of local industry and elected officials.

Increasingly, many elected officials, not all to be sure, are disconnected with the rest of the community as they squabble over issues of “inside baseball” and bitter partisan politics which has little relevance to the day-to-day quality of life of Carroll Countians.

“Who said what to whom and when,” “white hats” and “black hats, accusations of “secret meetings” and who has the latest version of some bizarre conspiracy theory fills the pages of the local papers as local families struggle to raise their children, put food on the table, pay their utility bills and provide meaning to their lives.

Ay caramba.

Meanwhile a new leadership class is evolving in Carroll County. It is the folks like the executive director of the Community Foundation of Carroll County, Audrey Cimino; Jeff Sprinkle, director of the Carroll County YMCA; Carroll County Children’s Chorus director, Diane Jones; president of the local NAACP Branch President Charles Harrison, Virginia Harrison, with Carroll Citizens for Racial Equality, the local scout leader, and PTA/PTO president...

But getting back to more of the positive and Carroll’s experiment with a multi-tenant nonprofit center; often real estate is not a core competency for non-profits. Most do not own their own space, which leaves them vulnerable to the vagaries of the real estate market. This eats away at financial resources and impedes the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization.

According to Nonprofitcenters Network, “more than 80% of nonprofits do not own their own space. These organizations typically must allocate 20% (second only to personnel) of their expense budget to rent, thereby exposing over 1/5 of their cash assets to the profit driven fluctuations of the real estate market.”

Carroll County United Way director Pam Zappardino agreed, “In terms of importance, not only does it give the non-profits low cost space for their offices but this allows the organizations plow more money back into the community where it is needed.”

“And the center also gives the non-profits a chance to work together, network and be more effective in delivering even better services to the community. “For the United Way the center provides a much more visible place for us to do our work,” elaborated Dr. Zappardino.

Dr. Zappardino said that she “expected to enjoy the better space but has found it fun to be there.” Instead of being in an isolated office all to herself, she “enjoys talking with the other folks in the hall.” Recently she stayed late into the evening to help another organization. “The people here are just great.”

Charles Harrison, president of the CC Branch of the NAACP #7014 called the Center:

“Terrific. This unifies our efforts. Because we are all volunteers, for many years the local branch operated out of homes and we had meetings where we could. Now we have one place to maintain our files, records and documents. This provides stability and community focused point of contact.

“Everyone in the community knows where we are. This provides credibility as a viable part of the CC community this is evidence by increased memberships community based inquires.

“Being in the Center allows us to network to be around other nonprofits and community leaders who have the same concerns. The NAACP’s issues are the community’s issues. Diversity continues to be a hidden asset in our community and the NAACP is taking a leadership role in exploiting this asset to move the community forward.”

Not only does the Center provide stability, it also facilitates all the advantages of one-stop shopping for targeted populations, increases visibility and allows individual organizations the strength of numbers to work together and accomplish more than they could by themselves.

The Center serves as one big incubator of ideas, efforts and cooperation in order to help other nonprofits throughout the county and ultimately serve the community better.

A written statement provided by Ms. Cimino highlights that “Anverse’s commitment to the nonprofits of Carroll County is not limited to the occupants of the Center.”

“Anverse maintains both the building and the property on which it sits and has provided a Project Manager and Maintenance Engineer who are available daily to the tenants.

“Seminars on various non profit topics are being planned and will be offered to tenants and other Carroll County non-profits as well, to build and improve skills,” wrote Ms. Cimino.

Everyone interviewed for this column raved about the two thousand square foot meeting room and the grant research library for organizations that typically have little access to professional advisers, accountants and lawyers.

The resource library and meeting room are available to all Carroll County non-profit organizations and are already being widely used.

A recent Harvard Business School article discussed “the factors that contribute to successful high-performance social enterprises.” It established “a connection between enterprises that link economic value with social value.”

To take a picture of this success, one need look no farther that the Carroll Non Profit Center at next Tuesday’s dedication - the guinea pig that could.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.

E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org

####

20060514 KDDC May June 2006 Downtown Wster MSN

May/June 2006 issue of the Downtown Westminster Main Street News

Stan Ruchlewicz, the administrator of economic development for the City of Westminster has just posted the May/June 2006 issue of the Downtown Westminster Main Street News. You can retrieve it here: http://www.westgov.com/assets/MainStNews051206.pdf

20060514 Water and Growth Issues in Carroll County

Water and Growth Issues in Carroll County
Kevin Dayhoff
April 3rd, 2006 – May 14th, 2006

Update May 14th, 2006: I wrote the piece pasted below as one of those free-association exercises that writers go through as they are trying to organize and fathom an issue.

Sometimes pieces such as this are refined and become columns. More often than not they could become a “diary entry” if one had the time to collect them properly in a body of work.

This piece merely got lost in my computer filing system, until I reconvened working on this week’s Tentacle column and rediscovered it.

… I’d like to write a piece about the future of “Smart Growth” in Maryland….

Every time I begin such a piece I get distracted by the results of the recent election in Mount Airy and what those results indicate, if anything, for the future of managed growth discussions.

Then I get distracted by water allocation and appropriation issues.

And Adequate Public Facilities Ordinances (APFO) and what that means for the future of managed growth issues.

Or the results of the bitter and contentious discussions over municipal annexation that took place in the recent session of the Maryland General Assembly.

Then there is the study recently released by the University of Maryland National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education about APFOs and Smart Growth issues.

Reality Check Plus (http://www.realitycheckmaryland.org/) is conducting a series of exercises on growth issues…

I cannot ever remember getting ‘writers-block.’ I usually get ‘writer-overwhelmed.’

Meanwhile, as I sort all of this out. Below is a piece I wrote on April 3rd, 2006, as I tried to find some bearing on some of the growth issues in Carroll County.

I hope that most of the text below will get refined and re-appear in a future column. The again, it would appear that some of the words and concepts will get jettisoned like so much of the flotsam and jetsam of contemporary conversations as to how to proceed with growth issues in Maryland.

Meanwhile, it appears below in its unedited stream-of-consciousness first draft.
_________________

Water Issues in Carroll County
Kevin Dayhoff
April 3rd, 2006

Water and wastewater treatment has always been in issue in Carroll County since the first settlers came here in the early 1700s.

And one thing is for sure, water and all the accompanying issues are sure to continue to be complex, contentious and difficult.

All water in Maryland is owned by the state. All uses of water, including safety, distribution, rate setting, use of, discharge into and just anything else that is remotely associated with water is by state permit.

A never-ending alphabet soup of complex byzantine federal, state and local regulations, laws, special commissions, committees and authorities regulates the permits.

Some of which are conflicting and all of which have spawned a cottage industry in Maryland for the full employment act of bureaucrats, lawyers, hydrologists, lawmakers, environmental groups, special interests groups and engineers. All of which, in many cases know a piece of the elephant but haven’t a clue as to what an elephant looks like.

The subject is awash with the pollution of misunderstandings, political rhetoric, outrage, conspiracy theories and misinformation.

Not a week goes by when an article in the newspaper does not appear about secret meetings, intrigue, ethics violations, fraud, misconduct, complicity and conspiracy. It reminds one of a giant gerbil, churning out news items as if it is twirling around in its own wheel of self-importance and inflated delusions of influence.

Ay caramba.

Sadly, the reactionary conversation - often involving unpleasant public hearings, uninformed conspiracy theories, political spinelessness and personal attacks - distorts and polarizes the collective discourse to such an extent that it renders many citizens skeptical about any discussion over growth and development.

Indeed, I have no anxiety over a publication, an advocacy group or a candidate for elected office taking a position; I just hate it when they pretend to be impartial. Or better yet, couch their panderings on the mantel that they are not “no-growthers”, with no plan that has any relationship with rules, regulations or laws – or reality.

In the next 25 years, the population of Maryland will increase by 1.5 million.

Not all 1.5 million need to live in Carroll County. Nevertheless, as much as I would like to live in a Westminster with the simplicity and population density of 1958, that is just not possible.

Usually the news items spewing-forth from this never-ending well of rhetoric result because someone has decided that they are all the sudden an “expert” – read: self-involved know-it-all.

They disagree with a public official who has worked tirelessly for peanuts, away from their family and loved ones, to try and negotiate the byzantine complexity of water laws and regulations for the greater good of a community they love.

It is okay to disagree, confine your disagreement to the issues or increase your dosage.

Then the citizen-experts and the sycophant elected officials in their pocket, leak to the newspaper misleading information that only tells a portion of the story. Many of the newspaper reporters in the area are young, new on the job and it never seems to dawn on them to ask follow-up probing questions or give an issue context and perspective. The articles are short and have become derisively known as “McArticles.”

Many of these newspaper items are written by a reporter or an editor that has all the wisdom or knowledge of a Monday-morning quarterback, who makes ten-times the amount of money the public official makes and works half the hours.

More often than not, the news reporters are like sea gulls, who visit a small town newspaper long enough to knock all the pictures off the wall and soil all over the floor and then leave town for a better job. The public official is often personally and financially invested in the future of his or her community and is hear to stay and clean up the mess.

The folks who produce this fish wrap ought to consider that they need to maintain and honor a public trust to the very same citizens for whom we all serve.

In the words of Dan Rodricks in a similar commentary, these public officials “should be thankful for one small blessing – (they live in Carroll County in 2006,) not Salem 1692. In Salem, they hanged you or crushed you under stone. Here they just humiliate you and raise doubts about your integrity.”

Thankfully, in Carroll County we have some of the state’s leading experts hard at work, to lead us into the future. Folks such as Hampstead town manager Ken Decker; Sykesville town manager Matthew Candland and Sykesville mayor Jonathan Herman; Westminster’s public works experts Tom Beyard and Jeff Glass; Union Bridge mayor Bret Grossnickle, Mount Airy council president John Medve and councilwoman Wendi Peters and Carroll County hydrogeologist Tom Devilbiss and Jim Slater, who runs the county environmental department.

There’s more, but I just wanted to assure you that all is not despair.

Water will never ever be as cheap as it is now. Just in the City of Westminster alone, in order to keep up with recent new federal and state regulations, a new water treatment plant to the tune of $5 million dollars or so, and a upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant may cost as much as $11 million, are in the works. All of this expense will barely add one more drop of additional water capacity.

As a result of recent droughts, the pressure is on the Maryland Department of Environment to scrutinize, to the letter of the law, all water allocation permits for municipalities.

Meanwhile, no one wants any more developments (in the middle of a corn field,) and anti-sprawl public policies dictate that future development occur in a municipality where the various public infrastructures, including water and sewer capacity are located.

Only, the recent interpretations of the water allocation permits, in many cases, will not allocate enough water for municipalities, for their present needs, never mind, any future growth for community employment of economic development.

And, perhaps most importantly, there are huge numbers of the municipal populations that have no interest in any more houses anywhere near their municipality – period.

Having grown up in Carroll County in the 1950s and 60s - when we had quality of life - I could personally care less if not one more house is ever built in Carroll County. But that is simply not a practical or realistic position. So, if growth is inevitable, how can it be managed as well as possible so as to ensure some quality of life?

Having said that, we can’t take away a person’s property rights by plebiscite or angry mob, so if the houses come, I want the developer to donate ball fields, school sites and upgrades in the roads and water and sewer capacities and keep taxes low.

Besides, if you grew up in Carroll County before all the growth and accompanying congestion – and you are still here, you have learned to roll with it and change what you can and learn to deal with what you can’t change.

It has been called to my attention that behind my house in Westminster was once one of the larger and oldest farms in Carroll County. It has long since given way to a housing development with loud mechanical cows that eat the grass with a roar.

More that once I have been asked if this turn of events has made me unhappy.

“Do I miss the cattle and open space?”

To which I enjoy responding: “Yeah, it’s just terrible. I once had fields and cows out back. Now I have friendly neighbors, with children playing and laughing. Folks who throw parties, in which I often feel the need to call – and ask them to turn up the volume when they are playing heavy metal.”

A community is like a box of crayons, there are sharp ones and dull ones, short ones and tall ones, some colors I like and some with names I don’t understand, but they all fit in the box well with a little negotiation. All it takes is a little patience, benefit of doubt, a little humility and humanity.

Let’s come together and agree or disagree graciously as we explore what is best for our greater community and our children. Gracious gets gracious in return. Leave the personal pollution out of it.

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

20060514 KDDC As West Wing Leaves Office

As 'West Wing' Leaves Office

Last Will and President

As 'West Wing' Leaves Office, a Last Chance to Debrief the Staff

By Jennifer Frey - Washington Post Staff Writer

May 14, 2006

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/interactives/galleries/westwing/gallery.html

"C.J., Josh, Toby, Sam - the men and women of TV’s "West Wing" arrived in 1999, and Washington greeted them like rock stars. We tried to elbow into their entourage; we yearned to get inside their faux-D.C. bubble. We even managed to make it a bipartisan event.

"Rep. Tom DeLay crowed about plans to add a House majority whip to the cast. Madeleine Albright made a late-night visit to a taping in Georgetown. Alan Greenspan professed his addiction to the program. And Mayor Anthony Williams managed to get his name linked to "The West Wing" by announcing that the show had "pumped $2.6 million into the local economy" in its first season."

Read the rest of the article at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/interactives/galleries/westwing/gallery.html

It is worth going to the article on the Washington Post web-site for the character descriptions it has available…

More informationon the "West Wing" series can be found here:

http://www.tv.com/west-wing/show/189/episode_guide.html

20060514 KDDC As West Wing Leaves Office

As 'West Wing' Leaves Office

Last Will and President

As 'West Wing' Leaves Office, a Last Chance to Debrief the Staff

By Jennifer Frey - Washington Post Staff Writer

May 14, 2006

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/interactives/galleries/westwing/gallery.html

"C.J., Josh, Toby, Sam - the men and women of TV’s "West Wing" arrived in 1999, and Washington greeted them like rock stars. We tried to elbow into their entourage; we yearned to get inside their faux-D.C. bubble. We even managed to make it a bipartisan event.

"Rep. Tom DeLay crowed about plans to add a House majority whip to the cast. Madeleine Albright made a late-night visit to a taping in Georgetown. Alan Greenspan professed his addiction to the program. And Mayor Anthony Williams managed to get his name linked to "The West Wing" by announcing that the show had "pumped $2.6 million into the local economy" in its first season."

Read the rest of the article at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/interactives/galleries/westwing/gallery.html

It is worth going to the article on the Washington Post web-site for the character descriptions it has available…

More informationon the "West Wing" series can be found here:

http://www.tv.com/west-wing/show/189/episode_guide.html

20060512 The latest edition of the Westminster Main Street News

Extra! Extra! Read all about it. The latest edition of the Westminster Main Street News, by Westminster Economic Development Administrator Stan Ruchlewicz.

Always informative and well written - click here: "Downtown Westminster Main Street News!"
to download the latest edition.

http://www.westgov.com/assets/MainStNews051206.pdf

20060512 The latest edition of the Westminster Main Street News

20060512 Our 2006 Fair Book Ad

20060512 KDDC 2006 CC Fair Weigh In Day Pictures

2006 CC Fair Weigh In Day Part 1 Pictures

Friday, May 12^th, 2006

20060512 KDDC 2006 Carroll County Fair Weigh In Day

2006 Carroll County Fair Weigh In Day

Friday, May 12^th, 2006

Today was the Carroll County 4-H and FFA Fair weigh-in day at the Carroll County Agriculture Center in Westminster, Maryland.

Caroline and I always like to attend the weigh-in to see the animals and especially to spend some time with the 4-Her’ers.

This year we also had to go in to feed the 4-H Therapeutic Riding Program of Carroll County horses. Feeding the horses was relatively uneventful, but they were a bit wary of the all the commotion, especially with all the loud commentary coming from the sheep, pigs and goats.

This year the 109^th Fair will take place July 29 through August 4, 2006 at the Carroll County Agriculture Center, 706 Agriculture Center Drive, in Westminster, Maryland. The Web-site for the Fair is www.carrollcountyfair.com. You can also get Fair information by calling (410) 848-FAIR [(410) 848-3247.]

Last year 80,000 visitors enjoyed the Fair, but the work of the Fair goes on year round. At the goat, sheep and pig weigh-in, the 4-H’ers’ animals are registered, identified and weighed, in anticipation of participating in the upcoming Fair.

There are over 400 volunteers in the Carroll County 4-H Youth Development program working with over 1,000 young adults and future community leaders enrolled in 4-H in Carroll County. Carroll’s 4-H program is the most successful in the state.

Last year, there were over 11,000 entries, from almost 800 youth exhibitors at the Fair; which makes the Fair a much-anticipated event attracting folks from all over the mid-Atlantic region.

The Carroll County Fair is free and the star attractions are the 4-Hers themselves. Many volunteers come together each year to make the Fair a success. The Fair is supported by a raffle, food and concession sales and the annual cake auction. In 2005, the cake auction raised almost $64,000.

The weigh-in is the beginning of a summer full of work for the 4-H’ers’, as they learn life skills that will serve them throughout their lives.

See ya this summer at the Fair.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.

E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org

####

20060512 KDDC Mothers Little Helpers

20060512 KDDC Mothers Little Helpers

May 12^th, 2006

Kevin Dayhoff

My most recent Tentacle column is up on the Tentacle website. It is titled: “A Tale a Double Standards.”

Portions of the following introduction was edited out of the piece to bring it under word limit…

_________________

“Mothers Little Helpers”

Recently, two well-known national personalities were in the news for suffering the consequences for misuse of prescription medicines. The two events had different outcomes. You be the judge as to why.

Often when we think of “drug addicts,” visions of either the 1960s hippies or down and out derelicts from lower socio-economic backgrounds come to mind.

The idea of the upper middle class - upwardly mobile white-collar professions from the house next door is not the picture of a drug addict.

The concept of a housewife, a professional or a pillar of the local community being drug dependent did not originally surface into the consciousness of society until the Rolling Stones released “Mothers Little Helpers” on July 2, 1966.

Who can forget: “What a drag it is getting old; Kids are different today; I hear ev'ry mother say; Mother needs something today to calm her down; And though she's not really ill; There's a little yellow pill; She goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helper; And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day.”

The popular song explained the plight of a housewife who abuses prescription drugs to "get her through the day."

There are conflicting explanations as to what drug was referred to when the Stones sang of: “There's a little yellow pill.”

When the song came out, reports out of England were that the drug being misuse by housewives was an amphetamine - Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine.)

However, others insist that the drug was a reference to 5 mg. valium tablets, which are colored yellow to distinguish them from other dosages.

Until this song reached number eight on the chart in 1966, there was very little recognition of the abuse of prescription medicine in the medical community. Most of the concern was with misuse of cannabis and even that phenomenon was relatively new at the time.

Nevertheless, fast forward to last several years and the attention of white collar drug abuse prevention professionals has been re-focused on steroids among professional athletes and prescription drugs . These drugs are opioids such as Percodan, OxyContin and Vicodin; central nervous system depressants such as Valium and Xanax; and stimulants such as Ritalin and Adderall.

….

The rest of the piece is relatively intact and can be found at: http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=1598

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.

E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org

####

_________________

Lyrics for: Mother's Little Helper

By the Rolling Stones

Released in 1966

"Things are different today,"
I hear ev'ry mother say
Cooking fresh food for a husband's just a drag
So she buys an instant cake and she burns her frozen steak
And goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
And two help her on her way, get her through her busy day

Doctor please, some more of these
Outside the door, she took four more
What a drag it is getting old

"Men just aren't the same today"
I hear ev'ry mother say
They just don't appreciate that you get tired
They're so hard to satisfy, You can tranquilize your mind
So go running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
And four help you through the night, help to minimize your plight

Doctor please, some more of these
Outside the door, she took four more
What a drag it is getting old

"Life's just much too hard today,"
I hear ev'ry mother say
The pusuit of happiness just seems a bore
And if you take more of those, you will get an overdose
No more running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
They just helped you on your way, through your busy dying day

####

20060512 A Memorial Tribute to Jeff Graham

20060512 A Memorial Tribute to Jeff Graham

© Kevin Dayhoff

May 12^th, 2006

Jeffrey W. Graham

May 2, 1962 ~ September 14, 2005

Your memory is our keepsake, with which we’ll never part. God has you in his keeping, we have you in our heart.

Jeff Graham Memorial Ride and Picnic

Sunday, May 21, 2006

####

20060512 Re-elect Gov Ehrlich Open the door to another 4 yrs

20060512 ReE Gov Ehrlich Open the Door
(c) Kevin Dayhoff
May 12th, 2006

Re-elect Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich and open the door to another four years of quality of life in Maryland.

20060512 KDDC 20060507to10 AgFirst Dist. RAAW Conference

20060508 Loews Thomas Point
(c) Kevin Dayhoff
20060507 to 10 AgFirst District RAAW Conference Annapolis - Loews Hotel

20060506 Baugher's Restaurant

"The Apple Waitress"
(c) Kevin Dayhoff
May 6th, 2006

20060509 KDDC Kennedy Mills and Limbaugh

A Tale of Double Standards

May 8^th, 2006

_________________

Rush Limbaugh Turns Himself In on Fraud Charges, Reaches Settlement

“Friday, April 28, 2006 WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —Rush Limbaugh and prosecutors in the long-running painkiller fraud case against him have reached a deal calling for the only charge against the conservative commentator to be dropped if he continues treatment, his attorney said Friday.

“Limbaugh was booked on a single charge that was filed Friday, said Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County Jail. He left about an hour later, after Limbaugh was photographed and fingerprinted and he posted $3,000 bail, Barbera said.

“The radio giant's agreement to enter a diversionary program ends a three-year state investigation that began after Limbaugh publicly acknowledged being addicted to pain medication and entered a rehabilitation program.”

Read the rest at: Rush Limbaugh Turns Himself In on Fraud Charges, Reaches Settlement

_________________

KENNEDY/RUSH DOUBLE STANDARDS

By Michelle Malkin May 08, 2006 09:43 PM

_________________

What's in a Name? Plenty If It's Kennedy

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 8, 2006; C01

“

It's hard to imagine that Patrick Kennedy would have gotten elected to Congress a dozen years ago without his last name.

It's equally hard to imagine that the media would be going wild about his late-night car crash and prescription drug addiction if he weren't a Kennedy.

The only lingering mystery is why national news organizations didn't pounce earlier on the Rhode Island Democrat's long history of alcohol and drug abuse, depression and a series of downright embarrassing incidents.

The answer in large measure is that Kennedy hasn't been a very important House member. But given the journalistic obsession with the Kennedy family and its tragicomic soap opera, he does seem to have gotten an easy ride -- except in the New England press, which has chronicled his every misstep.

While Kennedy, the 38-year-old son of Ted Kennedy, was widely reported to have held a news conference Friday, it was nothing of the sort. He read a statement designed to elicit sympathy, saying he was going into rehab, and took no questions. This amounted to an age-old damage-control technique: changing the subject.

”

Read the rest: What's in a Name? Plenty If It's Kennedy

_________________

Patrick Kennedy & Double Standards

05/05 04:37 PM

By Mark Levin on the Mark Levin Blog, National Review Online

“I don't wish anyone ill, except our nation's enemies. It's a good thing that Patrick Kennedy is going back into rehab. But I am very angry.

“For nearly three years we witnessed the persecution of Rush Limbaugh, who became addicted to painkillers resulting from back and neck problems. We witnessed leaks by prosecutors who spread lies about him being involved in money laundering, drug rings, and doctor shopping. But the media happily repeated them. Some mocked him.”

Read the rest at: Patrick Kennedy & Double Standards

_________________

PATRICK KENNEDY SHOULD RESIGN

By Michelle Malkin May 05, 2006 04:33 PM

Nope, I didn't say it. Here's the call from a commenter at--yes, it's true--The Daily Kos:

_________________

KENNEDY PRESS CONFERENCE

By Michelle Malkin May 05, 2006 03:04 PM

_________________

The Baltimore Sun does not use permalinks. Pasted below is the entire article by Annie Linskey, which appeared in the Baltimore Sun on May 5^th, 2006:

“

Ex-sportscaster Mills sentenced to house arrest

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/crime/bal-mills0505,0,2460455.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

He pleads guilty to stealing prescription painkillers from neighbor

By Annie Linskey

Sun Reporter

Originally published May 5, 2006, 9:58 PM EDT

Former WMAR sportscaster Keith Ross Mills was sentenced Friday to nine months of house arrest for stealing prescription painkillers from his next-door neighbor in Linthicum, a woman with cancer.

Mills, 48, pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary before Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Joseph P. Manck.

At Friday's hearing, the neigbhbor, Ladye Parsons, testified that Mills' actions had disrupted her sense of security. "I haven't beaten cancer," she said. "I'd like to know that I can die at home and pain-free."

Afterwards, she said the sentence was "more than fair."

Mills, who has been battling addiction to prescription drugs for several years, apologized to Parsons in court, saying he did not mean to make her feel unsafe and adding: "If I need to move out of my house, I will."

After his arrest in January, Mills lost his job at Channel 2, where he had worked for 18 years. Addressing the judge Friday, he said: "I have been humbled by this experience -- embarrassed, humiliated, but humbled more than anything."

Drew Berry, WMAR's general manager, did not return repeated phone calls Friday.

Parsons went to the police in early January to share her suspicions that someone had been stealing money, jewelry and medications from her home since October 2003, according to charging documents.

Parsons said she initially dismissed her own concerns, believing that her treatment for cancer was making her absentminded. She has lost a breast and a kidney to the disease.

After consulting friends and family members, she had a surveillance camera installed in her home and on Dec. 6, 2005, the camera recorded Mills sneaking into the house, emptying pills from a bottle, leaving and the returning to apparently wipe his fingerprints from the bottle, ac cording to Assistant State's Attorney Scott Messersmith.

Police set up a sting, hiding in her bedroom on Jan. 25. They arrested Mills when he entered the house and took nine pills, including OxyContin.

Addiction to prescription pain medications is one of the fastest growing reasons for which abusers are seeking treatment in Maryland, said Bill Rusinko, research director for the Maryland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration.

Almost a third of people seeking treatment for painkillers in Maryland come from Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties, and 92% of those in treatment for abusing the drugs are white, Rusinko said.

Immediately after his arrest, Mills attended a monthlong drug treatment program at the Cross roads Centre, an inpatient facility located on Antigua. He is attending sessions at Partners in Recovery, an addiction center affiliated with the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital. He said he attends five Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week.

"I can't promise that I won't relapse. I can promise that I will work every day and every second to stay on top of this problem," he said in court.

His sentence also included a five-year suspended prison term, five years of probation, random urine tests and no contact with Parsons. Mills may leave his house to seek employment and attend counseling.

In September 2004, Mills was charged in Baltimore County with forging a prescription for a cough medicine that includes the narcotic Hydrocodone. Two months later he received a criminal summons from Anne Arundel County for obtaining prescription drugs by fraud. The cases were consolidated and a Baltimore County judge sentenced him to one year unsupervised probation.
annie.linskey@baltsun.com ”

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