Kevin Dayhoff - Soundtrack Division of Old Silent Movies - www.kevindayhoff.net - Runner, writer, artist, fire and police chaplain. The mindless ramblings of a runner, journalist, and artist: National and International politics. For community see www.kevindayhoff.org. For art, writing and travel see www.kevindayhoff.com
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
BALTIMORE FIRE CHIEF WILLIAM GOODWIN RESIGNS.LISTEN TO WBAL RADIO FOR CONTINUING DEVELOPMENTS. UPDATES AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AT http://wbal.com
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
WBAL Radio
Baltimore's Fire Chief William Goodwin Jr. will step down December 31, bookending a tough year that included the death of a fire department recruit during a training exercise.
Goodwin, a 32-year veteran of the department who has been fire chief since February 2002, submitted his resignation to Mayor Dixon during a meeting Tuesday, said the mayor's spokesman, Anthony McCarthy.
Dixon did not ask Goodwin to step down, but "the mayor was not surprised that the chief decided to retire," McCarthy said.
[…]
The mayor will conduct a national search for his successor, McCarthy said.
[…]
Dixon had expressed lukewarm support for Goodwin since the February training exercise that killed recruit Racheal Wilson, 29, whose foot became trapped during a live burn in a vacant rowhouse.
Dixon fired the head of the department's training academy and suspended two lieutenants after Wilson's death. A state agency cited the department for "intentionally" and "knowingly" violating safety rules, and an independent investigation concluded that 50 safety standards were violated, including setting several fires when only one was allowed.
The two unions that represent city firefighters had called for Goodwin to resign, accusing him of failing to accept responsibility for Wilson's death and hurting department morale.
"We're elated," said Richard G. Schluderberg, president of the union…
[…]
Said Stephen Fugate, president of the fire officers' union…
[…]
Mayor Dixon Accepts Resignation of Fire Chief William Goodwin
Baltimore, MD (November 13, 2007) – Mayor Sheila Dixon has accepted the resignation of BaltimoreCity Fire Chief William Goodwin. Chief Goodwin informed the Mayor in a meeting this afternoon of his decision to retire in late-December after 32 years with the department. Goodwin became Chief of the BaltimoreCity Fire Department in 2002 after having served in every rank in the department.
"Chief Goodwin has served the City of Baltimore and the Fire Department with distinction. On behalf of the citizens I want to thank him for his years of sacrifice and commitment over an extraordinarily long and successful career," said Mayor Dixon. "The last year has been difficult for the department and Chief Goodwin has provided the steady and consistent hand that was needed."
Mayor Dixon will immediately begin a national search for a new chief.
Disabled woman wants to keep pony in apartment to pull wheelchair
Photo by TOBY TALBOT / Associated Press
Patty Cooper sits in her wheelchair with her miniature horse, Earl, last month in Warren, Vt.
By DAVE GRAM ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Patty Cooper's landlord normally welcomes tenants who use animals to help them get around, such as guide dogs for the blind.
So after the disabled woman bought a 32-inch-tall miniature horse to pull her wheelchair, she asked to keep the animal in her home. When her landlord rejected the request, she filed a human rights complaint.
Cooper, 50, paid $1,000 for the 1-year-old gelding named Earl, expecting to use it for trips to the bus stop and into town. The agency that owns the apartment complex in Waitsfield denied her proposal, citing concern about horse droppings, hay storage and lack of grazing space.
Cooper insists the 100-pound tobiano pinto can be house-trained and said it "just makes me so happy whenever I'm around him. I'm not lonely anymore."
[…]
The case has drawn national attention since it was reported last month as an example of disabled people using animals other than guide dogs for the blind.
Cooper, 50, has celiac disease, a disorder in which exposure to a protein called gluten destroys the ability of the small intestine to absorb nutrients and can cause brittle bones. Cooper, who broke her back for a second time four years ago, uses a wheelchair most of the time.
Preston Jump, executive director of the CentralVermontCommunityLand Trust…
Former justice gives keynote speech at 2-day conference
Monday, November 12, 2007
By Michael Woyton Poughkeepsie Journal
Photo by Denise DeVore/For the Poughkeepsie Journal
Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor gave the keynote address during “The Presidency and the Supreme Court” conference on Sunday, at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park.
HYDE PARK - Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, speaking on "The Presidency and the Supreme Court," focused on four historic moments "in which the two large offices (the executive and the judiciary) have intersected, overlapped and even clashed," she said.
The first two involved Thomas Jefferson and the establishment of judicial review by the court and Abraham Lincoln's suspending habeas corpus, or the right to petition for relief from unlawful detention, during the Civil War.
The third centered on FDR and his desire to pack the court with his justice picks.
"He was more than a little annoyed that the justices were giving thumbs down to his legislation," O'Connor said.
The final example took place during the Korean War, when Harry Truman was prevented by the Supreme Court from taking over the steel mills to prevent a strike.
O'Connor was the keynote speaker at the conference organized by the presidential libraries and held at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park.
Norman Mailer, the pugnacious prince of American letters who for decades reigned as the country's literary conscience and provocateur with such books as "The Naked and the Dead" and "The Executioner's Song," died of acute renal failure on Nov. 10. He was 84.
Mailer built and nurtured an image over the years as bellicose, street-wise and high-living. He drank, fought, smoked pot, married six times and stabbed his second wife, almost fatally, during a drunken party.
He had nine children, made a quixotic bid to become mayor of New York City on a "left conservative" platform, produced five forgettable films, dabbled in journalism, flew gliders, challenged professional boxers, was banned from a Manhattan YWHA for reciting obscene poetry, feuded publicly with writer Gore Vidal and crusaded against women's liberation. (AP/Kathy Willens)
"The Naked and the Dead" 1948 "The Barbary Shore" 1951 "The Deer Park" 1955 "Advertisements for Myself" 1959 "The Presidential Papers" 1963 "An American Dream" 1965 "Why Are We in Vietnam?" 1967 "The Armies of the Night" (National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize) 1968 "Miami and the Siege of Chicago" 1968 "Of A Fire On the Moon" 1971 "The Prisoner of Sex," essay, 1971 "Existential Errands" 1972 "St. George and the Godfather," 1972 "Marilyn" 1973 "The Fight" 1975 "Some Honorable Men" 1975 "Genius and Lust" 1976 "A Transit to Narcissus" 1978 "The Executioner's Song" (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) 1979 "Of Women and Their Elegance, Pieces and Pontifications," essay, 1982 "Ancient Evenings" 1983 "Tough Guys Don't Dance" 1984 "Harlot's Ghost" 1991 "The Gospel According to the Son" 1997
This year Veterans Day is also the 25th anniversary of the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, in ConstitutionGardens adjacent to the National Mall in Washington. The Memorial, well known as “The Wall,” was dedicated November 13, 1982.
“Remembering Vietnam – The Wall at 25,” is the subject of a stunning original Smithsonian Channel Documentary. The program will be simultaneously web-streamed on the Smithsonian Channel Website (www.smithsonianchannel.com) with its on-air broadcast to DirecTV subscribers on Channel 267 this evening at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Heidi Schroeder, my colleague at The Westminster Eagle, and I were provided an advance copy of the documentary. We had been contacted for research information by Lynn Kessler-Hiltajczuk last summer.
Ms. Kessler-Hiltajczuk is a writer-producer for Alexandria-based LK Productions and served as an independent producer for the program. She was looking for additional information on Lance Cpl. Muriel Stanley Groomes, a Carroll Countian who was killed in Vietnam November 2, 1968.
[…]
Veterans such as CarrollCountyState’s Attorney Jerry F. Barnes, a former FrederickCounty assistant State’s Attorney who choose to forego what would have been an easily available draft deferment in May 1968 and joined the Army.
It was in that month that the 1966 WestminsterHigh School graduate received his draft notice. According to a biographical sketch written by former Maryland State Delegate Carmen Amedori, Mr. Barnes joined a number of draftees from Carroll County “on a school bus at the (Westminster) Post Office downtown,” and headed to Fort Holabird in Baltimore – and then promptly to Fort Bragg, NC.
There Mr. Barnes opted to eschew being drafted for two years and enlisted for three years. At first he wanted to be a helicopter pilot, but after a series of events, he signed up for Special Forces – the Green Berets.
Mr. Barnes’ Vietnam experience was one of a number of sketches by Ms. Amedori which appears in a new publication from the Historical Society of Carroll County: “Tours of Duty – CarrollCounty and the Vietnam War,” by Gary D. Jestes and Jay A. Graybeal.
Lisa O’Hare stars as Eliza Doolittle with Christopher Cazenove as Professor Henry Higgins in the Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theater presentation of “My Fair Lady.” (Photo by Joan Marcus)
Dear Governor O’Malley, The Guinness Book of World Records lists Teflon as the slipperiest substance on Earth. In a few short months Maryland’s citizens will witness that you are the slipperiest governor in the United States; because nothing will stick.
(Editor's Note: Columnist Kelly recently toured Russia. This is her third of three parts recounting her adventure.) Our senior guide in St. Petersburg, Masha, was the daughter of intellectuals. During Soviet times, her parents traded their historic, central apartment for a Khrushchev apartment farther out, so that they could send Masha to kindergarten without a 6-year wait. Apartment developments are named after the leader of the time they were built. Stalin’s were the best.
Of late, I have gotten responses to my columns that fall into two camps; some have told me they were a nice, condensed view of facts surrounding issues and others have said I need to lighten up and write to a lower level of education. While I appreciate receiving input, (good or bad) it is this latter perspective I would like to tackle.
Most Americans prefer personalized war. They need heroes to admire; but most of all they want villains to hate. Hitler was a perfect example. He was a demon long before the United States entered World War II.
With their eyes firmly fixed on the next (2009) elections, four Frederick aldermen stepped backwards on the noise issue. They let be known their views that neighbors could judge when someone gets too loud.
Christmas season, my favorite time of the year, is about to begin. This also means the start of another fast and furious season of shopping madness. I guess that it takes all of that pain and suffering to achieve a memorable holiday, but rarely is "getting there half the fun" when it comes to preparing for Christmas or finding those presents to buy.
This weekend I am attending a conference on the Presidency and the Supreme Court – November 11th and 12th, 2007 at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
The Presidency and the Supreme Court conference brings together a wide range of speakers, including scholars, policymakers, and journalists to deliberate on the complex relationship between the Court and the Presidency and the impact of that interaction on American society. Panels focus not only on the political process of Supreme Court nominations and confirmations, but examines the Court's influence on social issues, civil rights and governmental power in times of crisis. The conference also includes a keynote address by former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
This conference is sponsored by the nation's twelve Presidential Libraries, their foundations, the National Archives, the Foundation for the National Archives, and the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute with generous support from:
Thomson West, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP, Frederick P. Furth, Wiley Rein LLP
Professor Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States;
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Co-Chair,
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute;
Former President George H. W. Bush (via video).
1:15 - 3:00 p.m.
Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt and the 1930s Supreme Court
The consequential Supreme Court decisions, appointments, and presidential politics of the 1930s.
Chair: Alan Brinkley, Provost, ColumbiaUniversity; Professors William E. Leuchtenburg and G. Edward White; Author and Newsweek Senior Editor Jonathan Alter.
3:00 - 4:45 p.m.
Shaping the Modern Court: Presidents Truman through Clinton
Insider accounts of Supreme Court appointments and how the appointment process has changed over the past sixty years.
Chair: Allen Weinstein; Ambassador C. Boyden Gray; Professors Douglas Brinkley and Laura Kalman.
5:00 p.m.
Keynote Address: The Honorable Sandra Day O'Connor
Monday, November 12, 2007
9:15 a.m.
Welcoming Remarks
Sharon Fawcett, Assistant Archivist for Presidential Libraries;
The Hon. Judith S. Kaye, Chief Judge of the State of New York.
Moderator for the day: National Public Radio Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg.
9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
The Presidency, the Supreme Court and Civil Rights
The interactions of Presidents and the Supreme Court on topics relating to race, discrimination, equality and civil rights.
Civil rights leader and former Assistant Attorney General Roger Wilkins; Professor David A. Nichols; former Secretary of Education the Hon. Shirley Hufstedler; Professor and former President of the American Civil Liberties Union Norman Dorsen; National Public Radio Senior Correspondent Juan Williams.
Lunch Break
12:45 - 2:45 p.m.
The Presidency, the Supreme Court and the "Culture Wars"
Presidential and Supreme Court concerns and decisions relating to abortion, the death penalty, gay rights, religion and other topics of societal division.
The Hon. Michael W. McConnell; Professors Heather Gerken and Michael C. Dorf.
3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
The Supreme Court and Presidential Power
Supreme Court adjudication of the limits of executive power under the Constitution, especially in times of war and crisis.
Professor John Q. Barrett; former White House Counsel John W. Dean; Author and New York Times Columnist Anthony Lewis; former White House Counsel Beth Nolan.
5:00 p.m.
Concluding Remarks
Ambassador William J. vanden Heuvel, Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute.
Senate OKs slots plan Referendum proposal on gambling devices goes to House http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.slots09nov09,0,1274286.story?coll=bal_tab01_layout The Maryland Senate approved last night a referendum on slot machine gambling, moving the legislature one step closer to asking voters in November 2008 whether to allow up to 15,000 of the devices across the state. Senators worked late into the night on a $1.4 billion package of tax increases, and a final vote on the tax plan was expected today.The Senate's 31-15 vote to approve a referendum on Gov. Martin O'Malley's slots proposal came hours after backers fended off efforts to change the planned locations of slot p arlors and to have an up-or-down vote on allowing them. In the House, delegates planned to begin taking formal committee votes on the tax legislation today, but preliminary meetings held yesterday suggested that they might try to restore some of the measures that senators stripped out of O'Malley's income tax proposal and establish a mechanism that proponents say would prevent large corporations from hiding their profits out of state. Several Republicans objected to using the state constitution as a vehicle for the slots debate, arguing that the General Assembly has the authority to legalize slots gambling and that the referendum is a political tool. "It's a sacred document, not a weather vane," said Sen. David R. Brinkley, the minority leader from FrederickCounty. "You don't need to go in and tinkerwith the constitution." Earlier yesterday, Republicans failed to amend the bill to take out the Worcester C ounty location at Ocean Downs and instead include Rosecroft Raceway in Prince George's County. Sen. J. Lowell Stoltzfus, an Eastern Shore Republican, said that many officials in WorcesterCounty oppose slots, and that the gambling facility would draw tourists away from OceanCity. "That glitz is going to pull a lot of people," he said, "and existing businesses [will] die."
Slots bill goes to House http://www.examiner.com/a-1038430~Slots_bill_goes_to_House.html With votes to spare for a three-fifths supermajority, the Maryland Senate on Thursday night approved Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to allow voters to decide next year whether to put up to 15,000 slot machines at five locations. The measure could raise about $500 million for education by 2012. It's now up to the House of Delegates to approve a key component of the governor's revenue-raising package with a similar supermajority, despite the House's long reluctance to embrace the gambling scheme. Sen. Lowell Stoltzfus, whose LowerShore district includes the ocean resort, said businesses and elected officials in WorcesterCounty all opposed slot machines at Ocean Downs racetrack. "Rosecroft would generate another $200 million" over OceanCity, Stoltzfus said. Putting the slots operation in Prince George's "does not cannibalize existing businesses," as putting slots near a resort does. But he said, "I can understand why Prince George's does not want the site in their county."
Voters likely to have final say on slots http://www.examiner.com/a-1038133~Voters_likely_to_have_final_say_on_slots.html The Senate moved a step closer Thursday by su p porting Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to install 15,000 slot machines at five locations but also allow voters to give the final say to the gambling measure on the 2008 ballot. It could raise about $500 million for education by 2012.
Senate Removes Landscaping From Sales Tax; Tax Vote Today http://wbal.com/news/story.asp?articleid=65445 Members of the Maryland Senate chose not to stay in session all night last night, and are returning this morning to take a final vote on a revised tax bill which Governor Martin O'Malley and other supporters say is needed to eliminate an up to $1.7-billion structural deficit. Senate President Mike Miller told senators before adjourning last night's session that he hoped today's session would be brief, so that the measure can get to the House of Representatives which has scheduled sessions for 2 pm and 5 pm today. Senate Minority Leader David Brinkley says Republicans are still planning to filibuster the tax bill to prevent a vote from taking place. Republicans need five Democrats to prevent the vote. Brinkley says his party is close to getting that support. Both Brinkley and Senate Minority Whip Allan Kittleman tell WBAL News they have been approached by several Democrats, who have expressed an interest in joining the filibuster effort. Brinkley says the vote to cut off debate will be "indicative" of the support the tax plan has in the Senate.
Governor looks to House after Senate alters plan Anne Arundel would lose $20 million under proposal http://www.capitalonline.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/11_08-42/TOP A litany of Senate amendments pushed Gov. Martin O'Malley's deficit proposal into a more cons e rvative posture, and now Maryland's chief executive is looking to the House of Delegates to bring it closer to his original vision. The Senate plans to take full votes today on legislation to cut spending and raise taxes, and on bills to legalize slot machines if approved during a 2008 referendum. Democratic and Republican lawmakers grilled the budget committee for hours when the amended bills were introduced yesterday. Their comments included how the public didn't get a chance to testify against the new services placed under the sales tax, and how language about locations in the slots proposal appears to telegraph where the machines will be placed even though there's supposed to be an open bidding process. "You got Democrats questioning (the plan) just like the Republicans," said Sen. John Astle, D-Annapolis, following the full Senate hearing. "There is a lot of dissension (among Democrats) about aspects of it."
O' M alley tax package faces Republican filibuster http://www.examiner.com/a-1038134~O_Malley_tax_package_faces_Republican_filibuster.html The Senate was close to giving tentative approval Thursday night to its reworked version of Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to increase sales, income and corporate taxes that would raise $1.5 billion. But the plan faces a filibuster to talk it to death Thursday night or Friday morning by 14 Republicans and at least one Democrat.The Senate resisted many attempts to make changes to bill by both Republicans and Democrats. In a letter to House Speaker Michael Busch, Comptroller Peter Franchot objected to the new computer taxes. "I am frustrated by the seemingly random and arbitrary manner in which these industries have been targeted for taxation," Franchot said.
Senate Votes to Put Slots On Ballot Md. Tax Package Clears Hurdles http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/08/AR2007110801171.html A bill to ask voters whether to place slots at five sites in Maryland passed 31 to 15, two votes more the supermajority required for approval. Putting the issue to a public vote was cast as a compromise to an issue that has paralyzed Annapolis for years. Other procedural votes forced by Republicans suggested that Democratic Senate leaders were likely to win the votes needed today to pass other parts of a revenue package that includes raising the sales, tobacco, corporate income and vehicle titling taxes, as well as overhauling the state's income tax brackets. The Senate agreed late last night to invest up to $50 million over five years in the financially troubled Prince George's County h o spital system if a still-elusive agreement on a long-term solution for the system is reached by state and county leaders or by the General Assembly. The breakneck pace drew protests from Republicans and even some Democrats, who said legislation was being muscled through the Senate without vetting by lawmakers and the public. "What is so special that we have to stay here all night to pass this?" Sen. E.J. Pipkin (R-Queen Anne's) asked his colleagues. "We've done a year's worth of work in a day." Although several more long days await them, some lawmakers said they can envision the session coming to a successful close.
All eyes are on the Senate Solutions begin to take shape http://www.gazette.net/stories/110907/polinew14300_32371.shtml A marathon Senate session on Thursday addressed slots and health care expansion a n d sought to answer the question of what's in a sales tax. The solution to the state's projected $1.5 billion budget deficit began to take on a clearer outline during the second week of the General Assembly's special session as the Senate moved forward with its ideas. Republicans spent Wednesday and Thursday making their point that new taxes are unwanted. Their discontent did not change as the debate over taxes dragged into Thursday evening. ''It went from apoison pill to a poison bowling ball, and they're asking the voters to swallow it," said Senate Minority Leader David R. Brinkley (R-Dist. 4) of New Market.On Wednesday, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. predicted the session could last another week. ''I think we'll be out of here by next Wednesday, I hope," said Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach ''If we aren't able to get out of here by Wednesday, I'm ready to wave the white flag."
Heat from lawmakers' tax jockeying is burning leadership on all sides http://www.gazette.net/stories/110907/polinew14246_32368.shtml After a week of testimony and then the first week of bill mark-up, the General Assembly's leadership was taking hits from all sides over the process of the special session. Republicans on Thursday called for an end to the special session. Renegade Democrat Del. Luiz R.S. Simmons complained that the legislature's reputation had been ''stained." On Tuesday the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee removed health clubs, tanning salons, property managers and massage therapists from Gov. Martin O'Malley's sales tax plan. The four services, like virtually all other services in Maryland, are untaxed. The panel substituted three others - landscaping, computer services and arcades. Lawmakers had not signaled the services woul d be considered for taxation during the week of legislative hearings on O'Malley's tax plan. That's when the volume on the complaints went to 11. ''It was their unlucky day. They lost Tax Lotto," said Sen. E.J. Pipkin (R-Dist. 36) of Stevensville. ''It's not enough [Democrats have] got control of the House, the Senate and the governor's mansion. Now they're going against the democratic - lowercase d - process."''We call for an end to the special session because we believe it is out of control," House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Dist. 29C) of Lusby said. ''The governor talks about cost of delay. Here's the cost of haste." ''The reputation of the Maryland General Assembly will be stained by the arbitrary and capricious way this process is being conducted," said Simmons (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville. ''There are people here for whom the ends justify any means."
Bump for slots operators a bad bet, some po l s say http://www.gazette.net/stories/110907/polinew14244_32367.shtml Lawmakers on both sides of the gambling debate are bristling over a maneuver this week to sweeten the pot for slots operators who will be competing with existing parlors in Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia.The Senate Budget & Taxation Committee boosted the share of gross revenues that will be directed to slots owners from 30 percent to 33 percent, a $72.6 million bump in the first three years of the slots program. One Republican suggested voters will see the additional money as an unfair payday for the wealthy slots operators, haunting Democrats in the next election. ''That's pouring out a gallon of poison instead of a half-gallon," said Del. Richard B. Weldon (R-Dist. 3B) of Brunswick. ''Every policy position that gets rushed through ... strengthens the message that we carry back right now and in two years." The Senate measure makes a bad bill even worse because it doesn't bring any immediate revenue into the state, said House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Dist. 29C) of Lusby. ''To give these licenses away and to propose to give them more of the keep is not a good deal for the citizens of Maryland," he said.
Senate overrides police gun veto http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.guns09nov09,0,6111225.story?coll=bal_tab01_layout The Maryland Senate voted unanimously yesterday to override Gov. Martin O'Malley's veto of a bill that would let police departments dispose of their guns by selling them to a manufacturer. The bill was approved unanimously this year in both the Senate a nd the House of Delegates. No one testified against it during a Senate committee hearing. State law requires police departments to either destroy the guns or sell them only to another police agency or an active or retired officer. O'Malley stated that "police weapons should not be potentially made available outside of the law enforcement community." The House of Delegates would need to get a three-fifths' vote for the General Assembly to override the veto.
Smoking-ban talk: waivers, buffers 15 percent loss could get business off hook temporarily http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.smoking09nov09,0,1046638.story Less than three months before the state's sweeping smoking ban will go into effect, supporters and opponents of the ban tackled the details of the p roposed regulations at a public hearing yesterday, focusing on a provision allowing for temporary waivers. The waivers would give bars and restaurants that prove financial hardship a three-year extension to comply with the smoking ban. State officials are proposing that, to obtain a waiver, businesses would have to show that the first two months of the smoking ban caused gross sales of food and beverages to decline at least 15 percent compared with the same period over the two previous years.Some parts of the state -- such as Charles, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's and Talbot counties -- have instituted their own bans. Baltimore passed a ban to make the city smoke-free early next year, helping prompt passage of the state leglslation.
Health plan costs questioned 2 council members raise concerns about the program's eventual bill http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/howard/bal-ho.chamber09nov09,0,463627.story Howard County Executive Ken Ulman's much ballyhooed health access plan has been widely praised, but two County Council members raised questions yesterday about the plan's eventual costs. The eventual goal is to enroll up to 12,000 uninsured adults in the program, and Councilman Greg Fox, a western countyRepublican, and Councilwoman Courtney Watson, an Ellicott City Democrat, said they don't know what the eventual costs will be. "If we need $700,000 for 2,000 people, will we [eventually] need $5 million a year?" Fox asked. He wondered if that much in donations could be raised annually in the future.Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, the county's health officer, said later that he is working to reduce the costs for prescription medicines and specialty care, but "the whole point of the 2,000 in the first year is so we can answer [cost questions] befo r e expanding. The first year is a pilot."
Online versions http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.vozzella09nov09,0,2075462.column The state GOP issued a "Tax Hike Alert" that urged citizens to raise hell with their delegates and senators. It included a link to a state Web site where tax protesters could look up their elected officials. Then the messages started coming in to the GOP, saying the site was down. "Apparently, we overwhelmed the server with angry citizens looking up their legislators online," said the state GOP's executive director, John Flynn. State archivist Edward Papenfuse confirmed the site was down for several hours Wednesday, but he said the problem was routine maintenance, not high traffic. "We figured the day after an election would be a good day to refresh the data, " he said. Flynn wasn't buying it. "What did they have to update? The incumbents won."
EDITORIALS/OPEDS
Contact senators, scream NO! http://www.examiner.com/a-1038105~Contact_senators__scream_NO_.html Come on, senators, stand up for Maryland. You can save us from Gov. Martin O'Malley's $1.5 billion sneak-a-tax plan today (unless he slipped it to us in the dark of night). Now is the time for citizens to SCREAM at their senators about this bogus tax plan, the largest single tax increase in Maryland history.Why? Because we just found out Thursday that, guess what? Contrary to O'Malley's smooth lie when he called the special session and said that 83 percent of us would pay less, almost all of us will end up paying more. This is the standard fast-sh u ffle politicians of all parties at all levels of government play. We can't let them get away with it. Now is the time to tell those who represent us that we are angry at being tricked and taxed.Our senators must stop the tax hikes now. Surely at least four of them have the courage to do the right thing.
Keeping score on taxes no easy task http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.marbella09nov09,0,4546489.column?coll=bal_tab01_layout For those of you keeping score at home, health clubs and real estate property managers -- they're good. No new sales tax on them. But landscapers, computer service providers and video arcades -- not so good. The grass-cutters, the geeks, the guy, as one legislator imagined, who offers the coin-operated bouncy horsey outside the store -- they should start boning up on the times-six multiplication table. Surely no one expected, or even necessarily wanted, O'Malley's tax package to come out unscathed. But what's on the table, now that the Senate has had a crack at it, is quite another beast. Some bits have ended up on the cutting room floor, other parts have been amended beyond recognition. Nothing is final, of course. The House of Delegates still has to speak, for one thing. Somehow, though, it seems as if there has to be a better way to decide who gets taxed than who happens not to have gotten enough warning and couldn't get someone to Annapolis fast enough to talk their way out of it.
Survey didn't touch on biggest question about slots http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/11_01-34/OPN The governor must know that the majority support for slots shown in polls might evaporate once people visualize slots emporiums near at hand. So his current idea for a slots referendum is to tie three things voters presumably want - the property tax cuts, expansion of the Medicaid program for childless adults, and $300 million for school construction - to their approval of slots. A slots referendum shouldn't have that sort of blunt coercion. And it should be written so that slots cannot go into any jurisdiction where they are rejected by the voters. If there's really majority support for slots, what's so unfair about that?
A bum's rush for the taxpayer http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071109/EDITORIAL/111090005 Even as Gov. Martin O'Malley and other Democratic Party leaders do everything they can to attract illegal aliens to Maryland, they seem to be competing with one another to see who can do the most to ram through new taxes as rapidly as possible. A broad-based package of tax increases is moving rapidly through the General Assembly during the current special session; in all likelihood, it is possible that a final tax-increase package could be on the governor's desk sometime this weekend or early next week, barring surprise developments like a successful Senate filibuster. The legislation is now before the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates, which appear to be racing to pass some version of the O'Malley tax-increase package before Marylanders realize the damage that tax increases will do to their livelihoods. Right now, the goal seems to be sending some bill - any bill - to the governor's desk so he can declare "victory." Once again, Marylanders are reaping the "benefit" of the one-party liberalism they voted for in November.
The Smithsonian Channel is airing a special block of programming ‘America’s War Stories’ (on Direct TV) featuring both ‘The Men Who Brought Dawn’ and a new documentary ‘Remembering Vietnam – The Wall at 25’ that Jan Scrugg (Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund founder and president) calls “the best documentary about the wall I’ve ever seen”. After reading your post I thought you might like to check it out.
Remembering Vietnam will be streamed live on the Smithsonian Channel website (www.smithsonianchannel.com) concurrent with its High Definition premiere on Veterans Day, Sunday, Nov. 11 at 9pm EST / 6pm PST. You can get all the information about it here.”
A big thank you to Paull Young, the Smithsonian Channel Community Administrator, for being in touch.
Please note that unfortunately this link is not a permalink.A permalink will be assigned to the article after the piece is placed in archives.So if you are reading this post several weeks after it is published, please go to The Westminster Eagle, and look for the article in archives.
For more information on Lance Cpl. Muriel Stanley Groomes, a Carroll Countian who was killed in Vietnam on Nov. 2, 1968, please read my column in The Sunday Carroll Eagle, this Sunday, November 11, 2007.
And my Westminster Eagle column for Wednesday November 7th, 2007 is Jerry Barnes: county state's attorney and veteran : “As Veterans Day fast approaches -- it's this Sunday, Nov. 11 -- it's appropriate to remember that service to our country is a cherished tradition in Carroll County.And so it was that in May 1968, Jerry F. Barnes joined the U.S. Army.Today, we know Mr. Barnes as CarrollCountyState's Attorney....”[Read full story] [Again - - Please note that unfortunately this link is not a permalink.A permalink will be assigned to the article after the piece is placed in archives.So if you are reading this post several weeks after it is published, please go to The Westminster Eagle, and look for the article in archives.]
Finally, my column in this Sunday’s The Tentacle will also be on CarrollCountyState’s Attorney Jerry Barnes and the Remembering Vietnam: “The Wall at 25” by the Smithsonian Channel:
“Remembering Vietnam - The Wall at 25,” is the subject of a stunning original Smithsonian Channel Documentary.The program will be simultaneously web-streamed on the Smithsonian Channel Website - www.smithsonianchannel.com with its on-air broadcast to DirecTV subscribers on Channel 267 this evening at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.
My colleague at The Westminster Eagle, Heidi Schroeder and I were provided an advance copy of the documentary.We had been contacted for research information by Lynn Kessler-Hiltajczuk last summer.
Ms. Kessler-Hiltajczuk is a writer-producer for Alexandria-based LK Productions and served as an independent producer for the program.She was looking for additional information on Lance Cpl. Muriel Stanley Groomes, a Carroll Countian who was killed in Vietnam on Nov. 2, 1968.
Ms. Schroeder writes that in “addition to a history of The Wall's construction and interviews with veterans, the documentary provides a sneak peek into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection, which features over 100,000 items that have been left at The Wall.”
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund founder and president Jan Scruggs calls the program "the best documentary film about the wall I've ever seen."After reviewing it several times, I could not agree more.
A stirring, surprising and emotional history of a national shrine devoted to remembrance and reflection. The famous “Wall” celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
Remembering Vietnam: The Wall at 25 goes back in time to tell the story of the memorial through the eyes of those who conceived it, those who were instrumental in pushing it through bureaucratic and political resistance, those intimately involved with its 25-year history, and those it honors. Above all, the documentary tells the story of a place that is more than a memorial – it is a place where old wounds are healed.
'Remembering Vietnam - The Wall at 25,' Original Smithsonian Channel(TM) Documentary, to be Streamed on Smithsonian Channel Website on Veterans Day (Sunday, Nov. 11)
Wednesday October 31, 11:00 am ET
NEW YORK, Oct. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- "Remembering Vietnam - The Wall at 25" - - an original documentary about the history of the famous monument in Washington, D.C. -- will be streamed on www.smithsonianchannel.com, the Smithsonian Channel website, concurrent with its premiere on Veterans Day, Sunday, Nov. 11 at 8 pm and 11 pm ET/PT.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund founder and president Jan Scruggs calls it "the best documentary film about the wall I've ever seen."
"We felt this documentary was so powerful that we wanted to make it possible for this moving and important program to be seen by all Americans as we honor the soldiers who have fought for our country this Veterans Day," said Tom Hayden, General Manager, Smithsonian Networks.
The one-hour documentary is produced by filmmaker Lynn Kessler, and is part of a package of original programs to be shown in honor of Veterans Day beginning Friday, November 9 and continuing through Sunday, November 11.
Smithsonian Channel is currently available on DIRECTV's Channel 267.
ABOUT SMITHSONIAN NETWORKS:
Smithsonian Networks (SN) is a joint venture between Showtime Networks Inc. and the Smithsonian Institution. It was formed to create new channels that will showcase scientific, cultural and historical programming largely inspired by the assets of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum complex. The networks will feature original documentaries, short- subject explorations and innovative and groundbreaking programs highlighting America's historical, cultural and scientific heritage. Visit them on the internet at www.smithsonianchannel.com
