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

Sunday, June 03, 2007

20070602 Saturday morning roof fire at Classico Pizzeria




Saturday morning roof fire at Classico Pizzeria College Square Shopping Center

Classico Pizzeria, (410) 751-7600 College Square Shopping Center, 444 W.M.C. Drive, Unit 102, Westminster, MD 21158


June 2nd, 2007 by Kevin Dayhoff


Westminster, MD – 4:00 AM - - Shortly after a thunder and lightning storm rolled through Westminster late Friday evening, Mike Bareford, the manager of the College Square Liquor Store smelled smoke just as he was leaving his store.


As he walked out of his store to continue to investigate the source, he discovered smoke rising from the roof over Classico Pizzeria, a popular Italian restaurant at Suite 102, College Square Shopping Center, 444 WMC Drive, at the intersection of WMC Drive and Route 140 in Westminster.



He called the Carroll County Emergency Operations Center at 00:55 (12:55 AM.) Fortunately Mr. Bareford was working late and thanks to his quick thinking and a sprinkler system; a fire in the restaurant next door to his store was quickly extinguished.



Approximately 25 Carroll County firefighters from Westminster, New Windsor, Pleasant Valley, Reese, and Union Bridge responded. Westminster City Police also responded.


Westminster Fire Department Chief Jeff Alexander arrived on the scene first at 12:57 AM and assumed command. The first units arrived on the scene at 1:01 AM.


The owner of the restaurant, Giuseppe Como was at home at the time of the fire. He had left the restaurant at approximately 11 PM. Mr. Como and his brother, Nunzio Como, also arrived quickly as did at least one employee of the restaurant.



Smoke was found coming from the air handler unit on the roof and that the sprinkler system had discharged below the air handler in the restaurant.



Chief Alexander reported that the sprinkler system put the bulk of the fire out and shortly after firefighters gained access to the restaurant, they quickly established a 1-3/4-inch water line and extinguished what remained of the fire.


The fire was placed under control at 1:16 AM.

Units remained on the scene for clean up until 2:05 when Chief Alexander terminated command but remained on the scene until 3:05 awaiting the arrival of BGE to check the electrical system, and further consultations with the owners of the restaurant and a representative of the shopping center.


It was preliminarily determined that the fire was accidental (- a possible lightning strike.) No damage estimates were immediately available.


Nuzio Como said that he was impressed at how careful the firefighters were to make sure that the damage to the restaurant was as minimal as possible. The firefighters had carefully covered up much of the kitchen area with large tarps.



Giuseppe Como did not have an estimate as to how long it will take for the restaurant to re-open except he hoped that it would not be long.


The Como brothers are well known as to how fastidious they are about keeping the restaurant spotless and as the firefighters were leaving the restaurant, he and his brother and an employee were already hard at work mopping-up the floor and cleaning up what little mess that resulted from the fire.

####

Classico Pizzeria, (410) 751-7600 Classico Pizzeria, College Square Shopping Center, 444 W.M.C. Drive, Unit 102, Westminster, MD 21158 http://tinyurl.com/cpv9hj

Kevin Dayhoff Art: www.kevindayhoff.com (http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/)
Kevin Dayhoff: www.westgov.net Westminster Maryland Online www.westminstermarylandonline.net http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/

20070528 Variety: ABC gives 'i-Caught' six-week run

Variety: ABC gives 'i-Caught' six-week run

Hat Tip: The Digital TV Weblog: i-Caught – or see post on Soundtrack: 20070531 The Digital TV Weblog: I-Caught to begin test on ABC August 6

Posted on Soundtrack June 3rd, 2007

Anyone who reads Soundtrack, know by now how much I like movies and videos… and TV commercials…

Commercial TV these days leaves me flat. I’m not much on game shows, situational comedy, and certainly not a fan of reality TV.

But I hope to catch this program – “ABC I-Caught” - when it comes out – as I have so enjoyed much of YouTube… This seems like a pretty good match-up. We’ll see.

ABC gives 'i-Caught' six-week run

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117965899.html?categoryid=1300&cs=1

Network launches user-generated video show

By MICHAEL LEARMONTH Posted: Mon., May 28, 2007, 8:00pm PT

ABC is hoping to reinvent the newsmagazine for the YouTube generation with a show produced by ABC News but based on user-generated video.

Hourlong skein "i-Caught" will get a six-week run on the network starting Aug. 6 at 10pm on Mondays with an eye toward a midseason return if it performs as well as the network hopes.

Amateur video will form the basis of the show's segments, but ABC News correspondents will build news stories and features around video captured on cell phones or digicams and uploaded to a companion Web site.

Exec producer David Sloan said the show will take on a wide breadth of potential stories, including breaking news; celebrity journalism; investigations; and stories of politics, crime, Internet hoaxes or just the moments of everyday life.

"The watershed event that changed newsgathering was the London terror attack in 2005," Sloan said. "There were people on that subway who did not know if they would live or die, but they got out their cell phones and started shooting."

Read more: ABC gives 'i-Caught' six-week run

20070603 YouTube on Soundtrack

June 3rd, 2007

To view posts on Soundtrack which include videos on YouTube go here.

For posts on Soundtrack that include videos from my YouTube accountgo here.

For additional commentary and other related material on YouTube – go here.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

20070602 Jack just wants his toast

Jack just wants his toast

“Five Easy Pieces”

Released September 11, 1970

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wtfNE4z6a8

The movie's most famous scene takes place in a roadside restaurant (a Denny's, just south of Eugene, Oregon), where Bobby tries to get a waitress (Lorna Thayer) to bring him toast with his breakfast, which is not on the menu.

Despite appeals to logic and common sense, the waitress adamantly sticks to the rules of the restaurant, so Bobby comes up with a plan of his own:

Bobby: I'd like a plain omelet. No potatoes, tomatoes instead. A cup of coffee and wheat toast.

Waitress: No substitutions.

Bobby: What do you mean? You don't have any tomatoes?

Waitress: Only what's on the menu. You can have a number two — a plain omelet. It comes with cottage fries, and rolls.

Bobby: Yea, I know what it comes with, but it's not what I want.

Waitress: Well I'll come back when you make up your mind.

Bobby: Wait a minute, I have made up my mind. I'd like a plain omelet, no potatoes on the plate. A cup of coffee and a side order of wheat toast.

Waitress: I'm sorry, we don't have any side orders of toast. I'll give you a English muffin or a coffee roll.

Bobby: What do you mean "you don't make side orders of toast"? You make sandwiches, don't you?

Waitress: Would you like to talk to the manager?

Bobby: You've got bread. And a toaster of some kind?

Waitress: I don't make the rules.

Bobby: OK, I'll make it as easy for you as I can. I'd like an omelet, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce. And a cup of coffee.

Waitress: A number two, chicken sal san. Hold the butter, the lettuce, the mayonnaise, and a cup of coffee. Anything else?

Bobby: Yeah, now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules.

Waitress: You want me to hold the chicken, huh?

Bobby: I want you to hold it between your knees.

The waitress then indignantly orders them to leave, to which Nicholson knocks the drinks off the table with a sweep of his arm.

Back in the car:

Hitchhiker in the back seat: Fantastic that you could figure that all out and lie that down on her so you could come up with a way to get your toast. Fantastic.

Bobby: Yea, well I didn't get it, did I?

Hitchhiker in the back seat: No, but it was very clever. I would've just punched her out.

_____

Chopin Prelude No 4 via Five Easy Pieces

And the bonus video… (If ya knew the movie, you’d understand…)

tammy wynette stand by your man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwBirf4BWew

####

20070531

“Five Easy Pieces”

20070602 Nope This is not Hobson

Nope - This is not Hobson.

June 2nd, 2007

You say, “Who is Hobson?”

“But that is not the question. Why are we here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come.”

Samuel Beckett – “Waiting for Godot”

So, - Where the Hell WAS Matt?

For more in the “Hobson” series, click here.

Meanwhile – How do you fold soup? And just what is the meaning of “math potatoes?”

####

20070602 19670602 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

June 2nd, 1967 – June 2nd, 2007

Hat Tip: Crablaw

Today in history, the Beatles released their eight album, “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band” in the United States.

For more in depth information on this album – click here. For the youngsters out there, who are no familiar with the album, technologically and musically, the album is of historic proportions.

YouTube: “Sgt. Pepper 's Lonley (sic) hearts Club band Part One.”

Note: The YouTube poster wrote:

Here is Sgt.Peppers lonely hearts club band. I am posting the whole album in parts this is part one and it contains:"Sgt. Peppers lonely Hearts Club band" "With A little Help from My Friends" and :Lucky In the Sky With diamonds"

Note: Songs no video footage.

Part two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrMOct...

Part Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33VwYy...

Part Four: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hcKUl...

Part Five: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY21Zl...

####


20070529 “Duly Noted” by Martin Marty in “The Christian Century Magazine”

“Duly Noted” by Martin Marty in “The Christian Century Magazine”

June 1st, 2007

Fairly hilarious commentary on the use of footnotes in contemporary writing. I like footnotes, however the over-use of footnotes is a challenge, and I have come to not like footnotes that are aggregated in the back of the book or the very end of the article. I like footnotes at the bottom of the page.

Nevertheless. Prepare to smile:

“Duly Noted” by Martin Marty in “The Christian Century Magazine”

May 29, 2007

M.E.M.O.: Duly noted

by Martin E. Marty

article printed from:

The Christian Century Magazine

http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=3403

Herewith,1 an2 essay3 on4 footnotes.5 Quote6: "Lomborg's7 book,8 The Skeptical Environmentalist,9 is10 carefully11 researched12 (2,93013 footnotes14!15)." So reads a line in a letter to the editor that criticized author Bill McKibben for basing his environmental concerns on "bad science which results in equally bad theology" (Century, May 1). The "good science," to this letter-writer, is exhibited in Bjørn Lomborg's "carefully researched" (2,930 footnotes!) book. The right theology, writes this reader, is "one of abundance, not scarcity." Nature has a "resilient capacity to replenish itself. We ought not be anxious, but rather consider how nature arrays (and cares for) itself."16

Now read the entire commentary here: “Duly Noted” by Martin Marty in “The Christian Century Magazine”


20070602 Quote of the Day: I am an old man

Quote of the Day – I am an old man…

Saturday, June 2nd, 2007

"I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened."

Mark Twain.

For some context; I found this quote in a wonderful piece by Carroll County Times Youth Correspondent Samantha Bare, a senior at Delone Catholic High School in McSherrystown, Pa. Her column, “A final farewell” can be found in the “Synergy” section of the Friday, June 01, 2007 edition of the paper.

The subject of her column, a Delone English teacher, Mr. Byrne, brought back memories of one of my writing mentors, Mike Eaton, who taught for so many years at Westminster High School – and part of the reason my wife and I married…

20070531 The Digital TV Weblog: I-Caught to begin test on ABC August 6

The Digital TV Weblog: I-Caught to begin test on ABC August 6

i-Caught

The Digital TV Weblog

Filed in archive Business Trends by martino on May 31, 2007

ABC will test an hour-long user generated news show i-Caught on TV for six weeks from August 6 in an attempt to get the YouTube generation interested in TV news. I suppose that the main distinction to make is that this might be 'news' but it is not journalism.

[…]

… Good Morning America weekend co-anchor Bill Weir will host…

More… i-Caught

20070601 Words of Wisdom from Don Surber

Words of Wisdom from Don Surber

Words of Wisdom from Don Surber that are indeed, as one of the commenters on his post suggested - suitable for framing.

I don’t mean to disillusion you, but …

June 1st, 2007 by donsurber

Your car is not silver; it’s gray.

Your spouse’s car is not champagne; it’s beige.

Global warming isn’t science; it’s paganism.

Drug companies aren’t the enemy; bacteria are.

Food stamps are a subsidy, not a ration.

No one questions your patriotism; it’s your sanity we wonder about.

We can deport 12 million people; it’s the will that’s lacking.

Polar bears aren’t endangered; they’re thriving.

Self-esteem isn’t the problem in schools; ignorance is.

Barbie dolls don’t give girls poor body images; other girls do.

I ain’t your Daddy; taking what I blog personal is your problem, not mine.

Minimum wage was never meant to pay for a new car, a computer, a cellphone, an iPod, and food and shelter for a family of four.

God doesn’t need the government’s help; it’s the other way around.

Man isn’t encroaching on deer habitat; it’s the other way around in West Virginia.

Buckwheat didn’t say “oh-tay”; Porkie did.

Bush didn’t kill Kyoto; Clinton did.

Actually, I do mean to disillusion you; it’s my job.

####

20070531 May 2007 Maryland Governor O’Malley press releases

May 2007 Maryland Governor O’Malley press releases

Press Releases

For past posts on Soundtrack listing Maryland Governor O’Malley’s press releases go to:

http://www.gov.state.md.us/press.asp

May 31, 2007

May 31 Governor O'Malley Announces New Secretary of Maryland State Police

May 30 Governor and Lt. Governor Hold First BRAC Subcabinet Meeting

May 29 Statement from Governor Martin O'Malley on the Passing of Congressman Parren J. Mitchell

May 25 Governor O'Malley Appoints Members to County Boards of Education

May 25 Governor O'Malley Appoints Two New Members to Baltimore County Board of Education

May 23 Statement from Governor O'Malley's Office on Today's Public Service Commission Ruling

May 22 Governor O'Malley Calls for National, Bi-Partisan Inquiry Into Gasoline Prices.

May 17 Governor O'Malley Vetoes Three Bills

May 17 Governor O'Malley Signs Legislation to Improve Maryland Health, Public Safety

May 16 Governor O'Malley Vetoes Two Bills.

May 16 Governor O'Malley Announces 50% Cut to Governor's Office Fleet

May 16 Governor O'Malley Swears in Cabinet Secretaries

May 15 Governor O'Malley Vetoes, Decides not to Sign Two Bills

May 15 Governor O'Malley Issues Executive Order to Prohibit Discrimation in State Hiring

May 10 Governor Directs Cabinet to Make $200 Million in Cuts

May 8 Governor O'Malley Signs Legislation to Protect Maryland Families

May 7 Governor O'Malley Announces New Secretary of Veterans Affairs

May 3 O'Malley Speaks to Students About Affordable Higher Education

May 3 Governor O'Malley Announces New Special Secretary of Minority Affairs

20070601 TimesWatch Tracker

20070601 TimesWatch Tracker

TimesWatch TrackerDocumenting and Exposing the LiberalAgenda of the New York Times

TimesWatch Tracker: Our Latest AnalysisFriday, June 1 , 2007

CNN host Lou Dobbs fought back on the Wednesday edition of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" against David Leonhardt's Wednesday column, which slammed the anchor as a paranoia-spreading "nativist" for warning of the dangers of illegal immigration.

Here's an excerpt from the conclusion of Wednesday's show (transcript courtesy of the MRC's Brad Wilmouth):

Lou Dobbs: "Now, if I may, a personal note tonight that I'd like to share with you. I've been, over the years, because of our reporting on controversial issues and my strongly held beliefs on those issues, attacked -- and usually pretty vigorously -- by both the left wing and the right wing of this nation's media, both mainstream and otherwise, and of course the politicians that form the extremes of our political spectrum. As a matter of fact, I am regularly attacked by the right wing -- the biggest business lobbyists in the country, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Bush administration -- for my criticism of so-called free trade policies and outsourcing.

"I'm regularly attacked by the left wing as well -- the Southern Poverty Law Center, The New York Times, The Nation, MALDEF and MEChA -- for my opposition to illegal immigration. Today, The New York Times published a column that picks up where an advertisement, a paid advertisement in The Times, paid for by the Southern Poverty Law Center, left off two weeks ago. Today's New York Times column is primarily a personal attack on me, focuses on an ad-lib on the set of this broadcast uttered more than two years ago by Christine Romans on the number of cases of leprosy in this country. An unscripted ad-lib, not a report -- by the way, we've never done a report on leprosy until we had to set this record straight a couple of weeks ago. That's over four and a half years of reporting on that issue."

[…]

"But today's scurrilous personal attack from The New York Times columnist David Leonhardt, carrying the water of the Southern Poverty Law Center, also has the facts wrong.

"He wrote that I said, quote, that 'One-third of the inmates in the federal prison system are illegal immigrants.' That isn't what I said. I didn't say anything close to it.

"We reported that one-third of the federal prison population three and a half years ago were non-citizens. The columnist said the number was 6 percent. The exact number of the year in question was 29.3 percent for fiscal year 2001. And by the way, we're putting up links on our Web site,
loudobbs.com, so you can check the numbers for yourself.

"I introduced that report three and a half years ago by saying the number of illegal immigrants in our prisons was increasing and the financial burden rising. Well, we had to go back and check, and because our correspondent no longer has his notes to support that statement, that the number of illegal immigrants within a prison population of non-citizens, I have to retract it here tonight, and I apologize to you for the necessity of doing so. But like I said, I do make mistakes."

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the liberal Supreme Court justice, took the unusual step of reading from the bench her dissent against the Court's recent 5-4 ruling in a case against pay disparity in the workplace. The Times' Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse celebrated Ginsburg's activism in her Thursday "Supreme Court Memo," "Oral Dissents Give Ginsburg a New Voice on Court."

"Whatever else may be said about the Supreme Court's current term, which ends in about a month, it will be remembered as the time when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg found her voice, and used it.

"Both in the abortion case the court decided last month and the discrimination ruling it issued on Tuesday, Justice Ginsburg read forceful dissents from the bench. In each case, she spoke not only for herself but also for three other dissenting colleagues, Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter and Stephen G. Breyer.

"But the words were clearly her own, and they were both passionate and pointed. In the abortion case, in which the court upheld the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act seven years after having struck down a similar state law, she noted that the court was now 'differently composed than it was when we last considered a restrictive abortion regulation.' In the latest case, she summoned Congress to overturn what she called the majority’s 'parsimonious reading' of the federal law against discrimination in the workplace….Some might say her dissents are an expression of sour grapes over being in the minority more often than not. But there may be strategic judgment, as well as frustration, behind Justice Ginsburg’s new style. She may have concluded that quiet collegiality has proved futile and that her new colleagues, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., are not open to persuasion on the issues that matter most to her."

Whatever happened to the idea of Supreme Court justices simply interpreting the Constitution, whether or not the "issues" matter to them or not politically?

Greenhouse let Ginsburg's liberal allies play up the gender card:

“Professor Liu said that when he read the dissent on Tuesday, it occurred to him that in recounting the workplace travails of the plaintiff, Lilly M. Ledbetter, Justice Ginsburg was also telling a version of her own story. 'Here she is, the one woman of a nine-member body, describing the get-along imperative and the desire not to make waves felt by the one woman among 16 men,' Professor Liu said. 'It’s as if after 15 years on the court, she's finally voicing some complaints of her own.'

“Another of the justice’s friends, Prof. Judith Resnik of Yale Law School, noted that throughout her legal career, Justice Ginsburg has been deeply concerned about questions of access to the courts and the remedial powers of federal judges, themes she has explored in both majority and dissenting opinions.”

Ed Whelan wrote at "
Bench Memos" at National Review Online that Greenhouse's article "is quite comical, though unintentionally so…Greenhouse’s article centers on the fact that Ginsburg has twice this term read her dissents from the bench -- first in April’s partial-birth ruling, then in this past Tuesday’s Title VII ruling (in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire ). As Greenhouse puts it, 'To read a dissent aloud is an act of theater that justices use to convey their view that the majority is not only mistaken, but profoundly wrong.'

"I can imagine how a fierce partisan of abortion like Ginsburg could mistakenly regard the Court’s partial-birth ruling as 'profoundly wrong.' But can the Court’s Title VII ruling come anywhere close to meeting that standard? Not even the Washington Post thinks so. In its house editorial today, the Post agrees with Ginsburg’s policy views. But, even without taking note of the precedents on which the majority relied, it regards the statutory question in the case as 'a difficult question' and forms no opinion on who 'had the better reading of the statute.'"

And James Taranto's "Best of the Web"
mocked Greenhouse's mind-reading of former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Elsewhere on the Web

NYT staffers gripe about their new building -- Gawker has the scoop. See Article

Check out our website today at www.timeswatch.org!

Click here to support TimesWatch.org!
####

20070601 Farmers struggling with high fuel prices

Farmers struggling with high fuel prices

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=60830

Originally published June 01, 2007, By Pamela Rigaux, Frederick News-Post Staff

People who believe paying $40 for a tank of gasoline is bad might think twice if they considered what farmers spend.

The money they drop on fuel for diesel equipment would blow the top off of most household budgets.

[…]

Dairy farmers have their own share of chores requiring equipment fueled by diesel. Filling empty feed bins with silage periodically involves chopping and hauling it twice a day, Page said. Then there is the harvesting of crops, which comes later in the season.

Farmers are constantly looking for ways to reduce fuel consumption, sometimes with more or less success.

[…]

Five years ago, diesel averaged about $1.30 a gallon; now it's $2.82, according to data collected by the U.S. Energy Information Agency, said Doug MacIntye, an EIA oil analyst. Even adjusting for inflation, prices are up almost 100 percent in five years.

"You can't offset fuel costs farming," (Frederick businessman Eddie) Mercer noted. "The market sets the price of commodities."

Read the entire article here: Farmers struggling with high fuel prices


Friday, June 01, 2007

20070601 Hillary wants a job tomorrow

Hillary wants a job "tommorrow"

June 1st. 2007

Hat tip: about half the blogosphere, including where I first noticed it, on Michelle Malkin who credited Free Republic.com. I also noticed it on David Wissing’s Hedgehog Report, who credited Wizbang

I can’t spell so I have no interest in throwing stones from my glass house. And as it happens, “tomorrow” is traditionally one the words spell check in my computer frequently calls to my attention.

However, what bothers me is what is bothering many – and that is media bias.

And it was said best by one the Hedgehog Report’s commenters, “Photoshop Dan Quayle into that picture and it would be a media event. Comment by jones”

Or worse yet, if President George W. Bush were to have been a part of this gaffe, it would have been a lead story with much of the mainstream media, who has unfortunately been very successful at spinning the president as not very scholarly.

Never mind that the academic record of President George W. Bush is fairly equal, if not indeed, slightly better with that of his previous opponents: Vice President Al Gore and Senator John Kerry. (See: 20050610 Comparing the academic record of Al Gore, John Kerry and George W. Bush.)

Carla Marinucci wrote on The “Politics Blog” on the San Francisco Chronicle:

The Spin Cycle: And on the night a new national spelling champion was crowned....

Jobs for what day, senator?

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was in Silicon Valley announcing her high tech innovation agenda Thursday, but maybe her campaign staff first needs to spring for a spell check on their computers.

Read the rest of her post here: “Jobs for what day, senator?

####

20070531 Creating the Carroll County Community Association

Creating the Carroll County Community Association

May 31st, 2007

SUBJECT: Creating the Carroll County Community Association

PLACE: Westminster Library

DATE: Monday 6/11/2007

TIME: 7:30 - 9:30 PM

Carroll County has experienced rapid growth, similar to Baltimore County; however, Carroll County has experienced unbridled, irresponsible development. This association wants members who are willing to step up and be involved, express their concerns about questionable zoning, development and regulations and follow through with action.

This is a totally volunteer organization and we seek and urge area property owners (the stakeholders in our area) to make their voice known by joining. Membership dues and/or fund raising events will financially support its activities. Members are expected to be a diverse group of business and legal professionals, small business owners, active and retired, and homemakers joined by a common passion to preserve the quality of our life in Carroll County.

We ARE for responsible, well-conceived and executed land use. We are all property owners who are concerned about property values, growing congestion, traffic safety and, where at all possible, the preservation of open spaces. We seek the opinions of members and other directly effected residents in order to develop an effective strategy to deal with issues.

We need your participation!

This meeting is open to the public. The purpose of this organizational meeting is twofold:

1) Keynote speaker: Rick Stanley will discuss the Chesapeake Terrapin Alliance. His power point audio-video presentation concerns the Maryland Diamondback Terrapin, state reptile and mascot of the University of Maryland. 7:30 to 8:15

2) Organizational meeting for the Carroll County Community Association for residents who are interested in their community, land preservation, and to unite in a coordinated effort to prevent, limit or modify unwise and improper land use. 8:30 to 9:30

####

20070601 Quote of the Day Remedy This

Quote of the Day: “Remedy This”

Friday, June 1st, 2007

Remedy this

"For some of the large indignities of life, the best remedy is direct action. For the small indignities, the best remedy is a Charlie Chaplin movie."

Carol Tavris Educator and psychologist

Thanks TC

20070524 Issues related to airport proposal need clear review by Cindy Parr

Issues related to airport proposal need clear review

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

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 relate to the proposed expansion of this facility.

First and foremost, it is critical to note there are four components that are associated with the proposed expansion of the Carroll County Regional Airport.

They are: safety, noise, airport status and funding.

The first issue is safety. Safety has always been at the forefront of this proposed plan. The plan, if accepted, would allow the runway to be expanded by 1,300 feet. A longer runway enhances the ability to reduce noise by thrust reduction for take off and landing. This also provides for a much safer operating environment as aircraft have more space to gain speed for departure and more distance to brake when landing.

Another benefit of the longer runway is noise reduction. Decreasing engine thrust results in lower noise levels. Turbine engine thrust produces the sound that is associated with jet engines. In essence, a longer runway translates into less thrust which means less noise.

Carroll County Regional Airport has been designated as a reliever facility since 1994. The responsibility of a reliever airport is to provide an alternative for corporate and general aviation aircraft to operate in a non commercial environment.

CCRA is not a commercial airport that offers scheduled flight services. There are four major commercial flight facilities -- BWI- Thurgood Marshall, Dulles, Reagan National and Harrisburg International -- that offer these types of services. Their proximity to Carroll County precludes the CCRA from becoming a commercial facility.

Funding has been another contentious subject surrounding the proposed airport expansion. The Carroll County Regional Airport is an enterprise fund. Basically, this means the airport generates its operating dollars from user fees, fuel sales and hangar rentals.

Fiscal years 2003, '04, '05 and '06 show revenues exceeding expenditures. User fees include tie-downs, overnight aircraft parking and landing charges. In addition to these fees, the CCRA collects a fuel flow fee and rent from seven corporate hangar clients. The CCRA also receives rental income from properties that are contiguous to the airport.

Each year, the airport is given $150,000 from the Airport Improvement Program, a trust fund managed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

This trust fund generates these trust fund dollars through user fees from all airports nationwide. These funds are not generated by local, state or federal tax payer dollars.

The Airport Improvement Program is the source for FAA airport construction funding. It is this trust fund that would supply the monies to fund 95 percent of the proposed airport expansion.

The Maryland Aviation Administration (MAA) would fund 2.5 percent and the remaining 2.5 percent would come from the Carroll County Airport Enterprise fund. The dollars from the County's Enterprise Fund are generated from user fees, not county taxpayer dollars.

In conclusion, understanding and recognizing the facts of the proposed airport expansion; whether they support a specific agenda or not, is critical.

####

20070531 Neighbors

Neighbors

May 31st, 2007

Hat Tip: CJ

I received this in an e-mail. It is, as noted in the e-mail, a “true story.” If it isn’t it doesn’t matter, because it illustrates a great point: It has often been said that the pursuit of world peace begins with getting along with your neighbors…

Yeah, we’ve all been there – although for the past several years, I’ve been very fortunate to have a great group of neighbors…

Once upon a time, in a previous life when I was an elected official, playing referee with the neighbor disputes in the community was quite time consuming and often profoundly unpleasant…

Anyway:

This is a true story, it happened in Utah and was on the news!

No doubt, each of you could use a little comic relief today.

Here's the story.

A city councilman, Mark Easton, lives in an upscale neighborhood. He had a beautiful view of the east mountains, until a new neighbor purchased the lot below his house and built.

Apparently, the new home was 18 inches higher than the ordinances would allow, so Mark Easton, mad about his lost view, went to the city to make sure they enforced the lower roof line ordinance. Mark and his new neighbor had some great arguments about this as you can imagine - not great feelings.

The new neighbor had to drop the roof line - no doubt at great expense.

Recently, Mark Easton called the city and informed them that this same new neighbor had installed some vents on the side of his home. Mark didn't like the look of these vents and asked the city to investigate. When they went to Mark's home to see the vent view, this is what they found...


20070531 This cartoon is for Mr. and Mrs. Smurf


This cartoon is for Mr. and Mrs. Smurf

May 31st, 2007

Hat Tip: Grammy

(For more great cartoons by Jeff Stahler go here.)

20070601 Out of the mouths of today’s future leaders

20070601 Out of the mouths of today’s future leaders

Out of the mouths of today’s future leaders

© June 1st, 2007 by Kevin Dayhoff

See also: 20050713 Today’s Youth – They are Fantastic

Graduation season is upon us and this is when many of us get some emersion exposure in the values and contemporary protocols of our youngest generation who is about to assume future leadership positions.

Of course, each and every graduating generation is hyped as the “next great generation” and everyone’s family member is the brightest and all our friends are quick to call to our attention to the multitudinous accomplishments and awards of their son or daughter.

Nevertheless, I am profoundly impressed with the current generation donning caps and gowns and tepidly dipping their toes in the perilous waters of the future unknown.

In a number of experiences in the last month I have been in the company of many young folks of which we can all be proud. At every opportunity possible, I attempted to “interview” young folks about a wide range of topics.

Yes, it was unscientific and most of the “interviews” were undocumented and your impressions from your interactions with the current crop of future leaders may very well be different.

Of particular interest for me, although beyond the focus of this column - are the numbers of Iraq veterans with whom I have had the honor to socialize and also gather their take on the future of our great nation.

It will be interesting to see how this current generation shapes our world. I was thunderstruck by the negative view of many with whom I “interviewed,” of the mainstream media and the information dissemination systems older generations take for granted.

In our current era of hype and hyperbole in which the word “outrage” is the bandied about carelessly, it causes one to pause to value old age and the commensurate ability to recognize media silliness. For some of our younger generation, they have not needed the advantage of advancing years to recognize the silliness.

To be somewhat polite about it, my experience was that much of the younger generation does not take traditional media very seriously. All too often their independent investigation has caused them to understand that “(liberal) media bias” is real.

In today’s world it is far too easy to “fact check” a newspaper article that is slanted and misleading. Today’s internet allows one to easily read the “rest of the story.”

Curiously enough, many young folks commented that they are impressed that much of the mainstream media “seems hell-bound to throw itself off a cliff and has lost any credibility…” One young man, after a reflective pause, continued by saying that his generation “did not revel in the slow suicide of the media” but viewed “it as a tragedy.”

But what really caused many younger folks I “interviewed” to go from zero into some sort of a NJ Turnpike toll collector stare, was a discussion about politics. Many expressed that they understood that the “red” – “blue” politically partisan view of the world is not real.

Although, to be certain, some identified with one or the other political party but a majority spoke of being disillusioned with both parties – and the explanation will amaze you.

Several examples come to mind. On a positive note, most of the young folks were very concerned with the environment but disillusioned with the current politicalization of the environment.

But one example of disillusionment was brought up in a discussion of the “Kyoto Accord.” Remember, the “Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change” was an amendment proposed December 11, 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, to the international treaty on climate change. The protocol proscribed mandatory emission limitations for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The mainstream media would have you believe that the Bush administration is the reason for not only the greenhouse affect on the environment and global warming, yet several young folks are confused as they have learned that it was the Clinton - Gore administration that rejected the Kyoto Protocol.

When it came to a discussion of the advocacy over global warming, several young folks called to my attention the excesses of the residence of Al Gore as compared to the progressive approaches of President George W. Bush’s Texas ranch.

Of course, this explanation is obviously meaningless to those who practice professional partisan outrage. However, this came from one young lady who identified herself as “liberal” on the environment but refused to identify herself as a Democrat, explained that although she firmly believes that “personkind” is negatively impacting the environment (and causing global warming;) she wishes Al Gore “would shut-up about it because he is way too arrogant, a hypocrite and too preachy.” And she “doesn’t believe anything Hillary says…”

She placed no faith in either party adequately addressing the need for “environmental reform.” She explained that both parties, but “especially the Democrats pull that toy rabbit around a track to give the righties some exercise by running in circles, chasing it.”

When my “interviews” delved into the war in Iraq, it was brought up that in (December 16) 1998, when then-President Bill Clinton ordered air strikes on Iraq, he expressed a belief that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq harbored a terrorist threat to global stability.

(Of course, this explanation is obviously meaningless to those who practice professional partisan outrage.) “Yet Democrats explain that when President Bush said that Iraq had WMDs, he lied. I wonder who is telling the lies and who is telling the truth.”

This, from a young woman who wants the war in Iraq to end “yesterday,” but is worried about how the Democrats “are going about it.” She has “friends who are over there and other friends who are going there” and she doesn’t want harm to come to them by the “Democrat approach.”

One gentleman, as did a number of Iraq veterans, remarked that they may never trust the mainstream media as they have witnessed the inconsistencies of what they saw is happening in Iraq with how it is being portrayed in the major media outlets… “Some of which seem to have a grudge dating back to the reign of Caesar.”

In an attempt to present as neutral, I shared that I have private reservations about the progress of the war in Iraq. To which he explained his position with a simple question: “would you rather have a home game or an away game?”

When I asked as to how I may appropriately express my reservations, he said “carefully.” And as he continued (erroneously) conclude that I did not support the war on terrorism, he “unceremoniously” explained to me that most of his colleagues in uniform do not believe that “you #!@&^*! liberals support the troops when you give aid and comfort to the enemy…”

As I pulled out my reporters pad to take some notes, he, like many said that they did not want to be a part of my columns… “The military’s job is to protect democracy, not practice it.” He then added “you folks certainly have been well trained to bark on cue…”

Realizing when in a hole – stop digging. I thanked him for his service and went about my business…

Many do not identify with the excesses and lack of values or sense of personal responsibility represented by Hollywood-types such as Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Britney Spears.

Indeed, if much of the younger generation with whom I spoke is not simply “annoyed” with the current pre-occupation of older folks with these bad role models, they are certainly “amused” with the older generations pre-occupation...

It has been said that “Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences.” It would appear that much of our older generation may not appear to be very wise in the eyes of the 18 to 25 year olds out there observing our public discourse and leadership – with disdain. One young man explained that he has come to realize that our “spin” is not his “reality.”

If maturity is qualified as an acceptance of responsibility and not as a function of age, it could be said that that our current crop of young future leaders may very well be far more mature than those of us in leadership positions today.

####

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.

www.kevindayhoff.net

E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr DOT org or kevindayhoff AT gmail DOT com

His columns and articles appear in The Tentacle - www.thetentacle.com; Westminster Eagle Opinion; www.thewestminstereagle.com and Winchester Report.

Labels: Art Writing Essays and articles, Children Parenting and Intergenerational studies