On October 28th, 2007 the publication for which I write, The Westminster Eagle and The Eldersburg Eagle, (which is published by Patuxent Newspapers and owned by Baltimore Sun); took over the Carroll County section of the Baltimore Sun.
“The Sunday Carroll Eagle ” is inserted into the newspaper for distribution in CarrollCounty.For more information, please contact:
Beginning with next Sunday's editions, our Carroll County readers will be getting a new publication with expanded coverage of the news, people and events in one of Maryland's fastest-growing counties.
This new tabloid publication will be called the Sunday Carroll Eagle. It will be delivered with your Sunday Sun, and it also will be included in editions purchased at retail locations throughout CarrollCounty.
The Sunday Carroll Eagle will provide our readers with new and deeper local coverage than is currently contained in The Sun's Carroll section. It will be produced by Patuxent Publishing, part of The Baltimore Sun Media Group, which already publishes the weekly Westminster Eagle and Eldersburg Eagle newspapers.
With the arrival of this new publication, we will no longer publish the current Carroll section in the Sunday Sun.
Of course, our readers can continue to follow news about CarrollCounty in the pages of The Sun and on baltimoresun.com. We value your readership of The Sun, and we hope you enjoy this new publication.
Note: I write for the Westminster and Eldersburg Eagle…
baltimoresun.com: October 21, 2007
Beginning with next Sunday's editions, our Carroll County readers will be getting a new publication with expanded coverage of the news, people and events in one of Maryland's fastest-growing counties.
This new tabloid publication will be called the Sunday Carroll Eagle. It will be delivered with your Sunday Sun, and it also will be included in editions purchased at retail locations throughout CarrollCounty.
The Sunday Carroll Eagle will provide our readers with new and deeper local coverage than is currently contained in The Sun's Carroll section. It will be produced by Patuxent Publishing, part of The Baltimore Sun Media Group, which already publishes the weekly Westminster Eagle and Eldersburg Eagle newspapers.
With the arrival of this new publication, we will no longer publish the current Carroll section in the Sunday Sun.
Of course, our readers can continue to follow news about CarrollCounty in the pages of The Sun and on baltimoresun.com. We value your readership of The Sun, and we hope you enjoy this new publication.
“Thank Goodness It’s Friday” will be arriving a day early this week as I am on the road much of Friday this week…
This is something right up the alley of Attila over at the Pillage Idiot, but then again considering the amount of talent in the Maryland Blogosphere, I can only imagine – worry – what many of ya will come up with as for suitable caption for the photo above.
The photo was e-mailed to me by “King Harold II” of Westminster.This gentleman, who is otherwise a pillar of the community, great husband, and family man, is otherwise a rather sick and depraved individual.But that is the fodder for another column – at another time.I do not know whom owns the photo – or the circumstances.
“Happy Anniversary Attila! Luv ya man,” praised an effusive Ms. Couric as news of the Pillage Idiot’s third anniversary was received with accolades from all over the globe.
According a newly-leaked top-secret document published in The New York Times ‘Classified’ section today, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has employed controversial methods to extract information from terror suspects, including threats to put the detainee in front of a Senate committee for further interrogation.
If true, it means that U.S. agents may be using a technique “tantamount to torture,” an unnamed source told the Times.
“I’ve seen those Senate hearings on TV,” the source said. “I’d rather be waterboarded, slapped about the head and assaulted with high-volume Britney Spears music while confined to a meat locker.
I just watched it again and I’m still shaking my head…If you missed the Worcester Right’s post the first time around, here’s a second chance – don’t blow it.
It reminded me of a photo - posted above - that made the e-mail rounds a number of years ago.I have it in my files from September of 2000 – and I just found it: “Winner of the Not My Job Award.”
Recently folks around town have taken notice of one of the several talented writers for the Carroll County Times - Kathryn Leiter.
I’d post her web site picture, but when I had a chance to talk with her at a community function some time ago, she told me she hates the picture…
I just checked the web site and the same photo she hates is still up on the site…
If I am not mistaken, I was told that she is a former copy editor.Which may explain why her pieces are written so tightly?As opposed to that of an old short story writer such as myself, who all too often goes rambling-on in this and that direction.(There’s a reason I write columns – and only a few articles…)
And – as an added bonus, she is from the area - Catonsville, so she knows the lay of the land and has some insight into our community traditions – and history…
I’m not quite sure when she first started writing articles, but recently many appreciated her articles on disaster preparedness, local governments’ web sites becoming more customer-friendly, the Monarch butterflies, or the non-profits – a subject near and dear to the hearts of many Carroll Countians.
And who can forget the great piece on the vaccination clinic at the Ag Center:
“It’s raining cats and dogs and ferrets. The Carroll County Agriculture Center’s riding barn was filled with hundreds of cats, dogs and ferrets, as owners took advantage of the Anti-Rabies Vaccination Clinic Sunday….”
But her recent “Sunday package” published in the Sunday, September 30th, 2007 edition of the paper, on our youngest generation beginning to assume leadership roles in the community, really caught the attention of the community.
Ultimately, if one is not academically schooled in the matter of “community leadership succession”; even the most unsophisticated in our community understands that our youth are the folks who will need to take over the reins one day.
If not for any other reason than the fact that at some point, us older folks want to retire and let someone else take on the responsibilities (read: headaches and opportunities) of maintaining our community as a great place to live – and grow old.
Personally I have had the pleasure of working with Manchester town councilmember Ryan Warner for several years and it is about time he got the attention that he deserves.Whether one agrees with him or disagrees with him – and I have done both over the years – he is a perfect gentleman and always has what is in the best interests of the community at heart.
And what else can be said about Dr. Herb Smith, he has now been selflessly tutoring future leaders for several decades and it was nice to see him get the attention he deserves.
So the next time you go to the Carroll County Times web site or pick up a copy of the newspaper at the newsstand, be sure to look for her byline, along with my other favorites these days, Ryan Marshall, Carrie Ann Knauer and Jordan Bartel – to mention a few.
Alexander Hamilton hadn’t even reached 20 when he first showed interest in politics. James Madison and Edmund Randolph joined the political arena in their early 20s. Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth held political office in their early 30s....Sep. 30, 2007;
Many CarrollCounty council members are retired from their careers, giving them the time to put in to the community. When Ryan Warner was 24, he decided he didn’t want to wait until he retired. Warner was first elected to the Manchester Town Co...Sep. 30, 2007;
Herb Smith has been a political science professor at McDanielCollege in Westminster since 1971 and has been involved in politics since he was 14 years old. Q: What do you think attracts younger people to politics? A: Well, there’s always the a...Sep. 30, 2007;
Hampstead residents will be able to save their stamps the next time their water bills arrive as the town becomes the first in the county to allow residents to pay their water bills online. The addition to the town’s Web site launched Tuesday, a...Oct. 1, 2007;
It’s raining cats and dogs and ferrets. The CarrollCountyAgricultureCenter’s riding barn was filled with hundreds of cats, dogs and ferrets, as owners took advantage of the Anti-Rabies Vaccination Clinic Sunday. “It’s a g...Oct. 1, 2007;
When life handed them lemons, even the Victorians made lemonade. At the CarrollCountyFarmMuseum’s final Learning Lunch for the year, food historian Pat Reber gave a group of 17 the history on the summertime drink. The British or European ver..Oct. 2, 2007;
The carnival rides don’t open until Thursday, but Westminster Fall-fest starts today with a fundraising event. Festivities officially begin with Dine Out Westminster, an event where 10 percent of all food sales benefit four Fallfest groups: Car...Sep. 25, 2007;
Jennifer Jaco delicately handles a monarch butterfly, placing it on the tip of a child’s nose. As the butterfly flutters away, children cheer and parents take pictures. However, this isn’t your average butterfly. This butterfly has a smal... Sep. 24, 2007;
As fall approaches, residents will delve into their wardrobes and don warmer clothes. With the switch from shorts to jeans, residents are cleaning out their closets and donating more to area charity organizations, according to Wayne Hatcher, director...Sep. 20, 2007;
Public input sought for emergency plans The public will soon get an opportunity to weigh in on county plans to prevent and manage disasters. A public hearing on a revised Emergency Operations Plan and new Hazard Mitigation Plan is expected to be sche...Sep. 26, 2007; scored 249.0
Sixty years ago, on October 5, 1947, an American president delivered a speech live on television.
History reflects that the speech delivered by President Harry S Truman was hardly memorable. According to an article on the event in "American Heritage," by Christine Gibson, "the October 5 broadcast did have a large effect on the free world, just not in a way Truman, or anyone at the time, could have predicted."
Today, most people take for granted a world dominated by cell phones, instant messaging, computers, and cable TV. News and entertainment travels around the world in minutes, if not seconds; but in 1947 much of the news was disseminated by way of the radio or newspapers.
Ever since, television has played an integral role in politics, especially presidential politics. By around 1960, more people got their news from television broadcasts than newspapers - or the radio.
It has only been as recent as the 2000 presidential election that television's stranglehold on maintaining the dominant narrative which shapes much of public opinion on national politics has been slowly but surely replaced by the Internet.
In a parallel dynamic, television and the Internet - and newspapers - are slowly but surely merging. However it was President Truman's 1947 speech which set the political landscape on its head.
A funny thing happened on the way to the Editorial Store. I got replies to my inquiries and did not have to make a purchase. No really, there is an Editorial Store! But they are expensive and have terrible business hours.
The place is like walking into a hospital. It is soooooooo clean. There is a hefty fine for depositing a piece of paper or cigarette remains. One cannot buy chewing gum. Drug runners receive the mandatory death sentence.
One of the perquisites of being hors de combat for many months is preoccupation with what ails you. Henry David Thoreau would have penned his musings in solitude - not an option here. Somehow the recovery room's Zenith found the Frederick County Board of Commissioners on COMCAST.
The end of September brings a lot of excitement to major league baseball fans for the long (162 game) schedule is coming to an end. Wishful hopes abound that their team will win the division or capture the wild card slot. Their team would then make the play-offs with a chance to win the Fall Classic in Sports, the World Series.
This evening is the "All-American Presidential Forum" at MorganStateUniversity, hosted by Tavis Smiley and broadcast on PBS. Outside of those of us directly involved with this production, and the students at Morgan, the anticipation of the event is like waiting in line for a viewing at a funeral home.
Here we go again with the issue of race surfacing over the last couple of weeks. It is not enough that much attention was given to shock jock Don Imus and his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team. The outrage that those comments garnered caused Mr. Imus to lose his national morning radio program.
It has certainly been an interesting week for the exercise of our sacred right to freedom of speech in the United States. Various recent developments in this most cherished of rights provided a rich target environment for the news media, constitutional scholars, and pundits alike.
Our blue-eyed, blonde-hair culture becomes more antagonistic as our numbers decrease as a proportion of the population. There are those among us who hate all those darker-hair, brown-eyes who are popping up everywhere.
Global Warming, Global Cooling, Climate Change, et al are the headlines of the crisis de jour. Most people do not involve themselves in this debate as it seems too complicated and all the scientists agree, so it must be true.
I really wanted to write about the Great Frederick Fair, but Patricia Kelly did such a great job on last Thursday's Tentacle, I wouldn't pretend to try.
Mary Katherine Ham to Alicia Silverstone: Go Hunting
October 3rd, 2007
Although I have spent a large portion of my life as a vegetarian; as I grew older and life got particularly hectic, I gave it up – for now anyway.Who knows, tomorrow, I may go back.Whatever.
A number of years ago, as I was attempting to reason with an unreasonable person and losing miserably, a colleague said to me:
“You know what your problem is?”
“Ugh.”I really did not need advice at that particular moment; however, I prized his friendship and sheepishly asked: “What?”
“It's a dog eat dog world out there, and you're a vegetarian!"
We solved that by going out to a sub shop where I gave up the anorexic bliss of salads and voraciously scarfed down a cheese-steak sandwich.
It was a road to Damascus experience
I still lose miserably with folks who accept narcissistic fiction as fact, however, I am bigger now and I figure that if I am to be eaten alive, I might as well give folks a flavorful super-sized meal.
Then again, to be candid, I was never good at being a vegetarian.I never stopped eating animal crackers and every once and awhile at Moms, I’d dive into a steak – and I can rarely remember missing turkey at Thanksgiving.
I have a number of colleagues and some family members who are, at the moment, practicing vegetarians - and I respect that choice. Besides, I really like vegetables.Then there are folks who don’t like vegetables or are otherwise broccoli intolerant.To them I say, ya really ought to “give peas a chance.”
A member of my family, who is an avid vegetarian, recently gave some seafood a try.
Bold.
Writing for the Washington Post, Joel Achenbach says:
“Certain kinds of seafood, such as lobster, clams and crabs, are honorary forms of meat, but a small filet of a low-fat white fish should be viewed as essentially a vegetable. Raw oysters are manfood, as is any fish served with the head on and the mouth gaping in horror.
Me, I could live off of Dr. Pepper, coffee and grits.Hey, don’t knock the cooking with Dr. Pepper book.There are some great recipes in there.
I never tried the “vegan” approach.I often wondered how the term came about.When I was quite young I had a great deal of confusion over the term “vegetarian.”If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
Mr. Achenbach calls to our attention a savior for vegans, who every once in awhile, go Jonesing for a milkshake – “soy cows.”
In the column he was initially singing the praises of his new “Fabulator 5000.”
What is a “Fabulator 5000?”I am so glad you asked.I was fascinated about this development since I am still using the Fabulator model No. 1953.
I’ll let Mr. Achenbach ‘splain:
“I love my new food printer, the Fabulator 5000, which makes the previous food printers look not just clunky but positively medieval. There's no more click-and-point nonsense on the screen, no more waiting five or six interminable minutes for the food to print. You just tell the Fab 5 what you want. The food comes out in about three or four seconds, complete with garnish and a complementary wine.”
Oh, the “soy cows?”Apparently Mr. Achenbach recently “took the kids … to Homewood Farm to see a good old-fashioned agricultural enterprise…”
“I got a look at the new soy cows, grazing in the large field just north of the orchard. The USDA apparently felt that soy milk could be produced much more efficiently if it came from cows made of soy. These cows are so green they nearly blend into the landscape. They say the soy milk is a lot better tasting (not as beany, somehow) than the stuff derived from plants, and the soy burgers are more tender. But you've probably read about how the soy cows dry up badly in drought conditions -- they literally wilt -- and even catch fire. Bored teenagers have been blamed for setting some of the cow fires.”
There is much to be appreciated by the vegetarian lifestyle; nevertheless my goal was to not be evangelical about it all.
But – and ya know there was going to be a “but” in here soon – I’ve never been fond of PETA’s Strindbergian gloom and bleakness approach to advocacy.
When I was a practicing vegetarian, invariably, some folks would suggest some linkage to me, a vegetarian, with PETA’s in-your-face humorless lactose intolerant militancy. An approach which often seems more oriented to being obnoxious and annoying instead of being compelling and persuasive to what is otherwise, a perfectly fine lifestyle, vegetarianism, for which PETA routinely does an injustice....
At a local government - social event, a local elected official’s wife was horrified that I was a vegetarian.“How can a big strapping former Marine be a vegetarian,” she gasped.
I solved that in quick order.She was a dog lover and the owner of a huge dog.I mean huge – about the size of a water buffalo.
I asked her if she had ever eaten dog.When I was in the Marines, a South Vietnamese ranger once cooked-up a mess of dog.
It tasted like chicken.
I suggested to my scowling friend that her St. Bernard could feed an entire village…And one wonders why I lost my last election?
Recently Alicia Silverstone did an ad for PETA that has garnered a great deal of attention.I can’t believe that it is winning over any converts to vegetarianism, but it has attracted attention to PETA.
Whether it is really the sort of attention that an advocacy organization wants is a bigger issue for which there is not right or wrong, it just isn’t my cup of tea.
Nevertheless, in age of so much strife and discord, I yearn for a time when peas will rule the planets, and love won’t be such a fuss.I long for the dawn of the age of asparagus.
Enter stage right, Mary Katherine Ham.Ms. Ham has done a spoof on the Ms. Silverstone ad that is a real crack-up.
Fiscal Year 2008 Howard CountyArts Council Grant Awards Announced
It is with all due respect that I venture to row in HowardCounty’s pond. We certainly have great bloggers in HowardCounty who cover the territory quite well. Nevertheless, it appears that the arts are alive and well in HowardCounty.
I have written about the enormous positive economic impact of the arts. The social, cultural, and economic return for every dollar a community spends on the arts is unexpectedly high – and it is a critical economic indicator of a thriving community…
Many years ago I participated in a group show in HowardCounty under the auspices of the Howard County Arts Council and was quite impressed with the organization…
_____
PRESS RELEASE --- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 10, 2007 – Received Tuesday, October 2, 2007 1:27 PM
Contact: Coleen West
Phone: (410) 313-2787
E-mail: coleen@hocoarts.org
FISCAL YEAR 2008 HOWARDCOUNTY ARTS COUNCIL GRANT AWARDS ANNOUNCED
Ellicott City, MD - On Friday, September 7, 2007, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman announced that 38 arts and cultural organizations will receive $361,017.31 in matching grants from the Howard County Arts Council for Fiscal Year 2008. Senator James N. Robey, Joyce Leviton representing Senator Ben Cardin, Howard County Council member ' s Calvin Ball, Jennifer Terrasa, Greg Fox, and Jay Dick of Americans for the Arts supported Mr. Ulman in presenting the awards to grantees.
The awards were announced at the Arts Council's annual meeting and reception on September 7, at the HowardCountyCenter for the Arts. These matching grants will be used by 19 HowardCounty organizations; 11 HowardCounty public schools; and 8 key BaltimoreCity organizations to support general operations, artist residencies, and special projects in the arts. Over 300 HCAC members and friends joined state and local politicians at the grant award ceremony.
Community Arts Development Grants fund day-to-day activities for HowardCounty arts organizations as well as special projects in the arts; $205,605.65 was awarded to the following 19 organizations for FY2008:
Blossoms of Hope ... The Howard CountyCherry Tree Project Project
$339.65
Candlelight Concert Society
Operating
$30,000.00
Chesapeake Shakespeare Company
Project
$3,000.00
ColumbiaCenter for Theatrical Arts
Operating
$23,618.00
Columbia Community Players
Project
$1,800.00
Columbia Concert Band and Jazz Band
Project
$3,000.00
Columbia Festival of the Arts
Operating
$50,465.00
Columbia Orchestra
Operating
$18,800.00
Columbia Pro Cantare
Operating
$24,154.00
Harmony of the Sol
Project
$3,000.00
HowardCounty Ballet
Project
$340.00
HowardCounty Poetry and Literature Society Operating $11,515.00 Hua
Operating $8,775.00 Little Patuxent Review Project $1,800.00 Misako
Ballet Company Project $1,500.00 Rep Stage/HCC Educational Foundation
Operating $14,999.00 Showtime Singers Project $3,000.00 Sundays at
Three Project $2,500.00
The Jim Rouse Theatre (JRT) Subsidy Program assists community arts groups by partially underwriting theatre rental fees; $14,370 was awarded to the following 6 organizations for FY2008:
Columbia Orchestra
$5,478.75
Columbia Pro Cantare
$3,641.25
HowardCounty Ballet
$1,355.00
HowardCounty Poetry and Literature Society $827.50 Hua Sha Chinese
Artist-in-Education Project Grants are a partnership between the Arts Council and local Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) to place professional artists in residence at Howard County Schools to help students foster creative expression; $17,841.66 in funding was awarded to the following 11 schools for FY2008:
BollmanBridgeElementary School PTA
$1,133.00
ElkridgeLandingMiddle School PTA
$2,000.00
FollyQuarterMiddle School PTA
$674.00
GuilfordElementary School PTA
$2,025.00
HammondElementary School PTA
$1,333.00
Harper ' s Choice Middle School PTA
$1,773.33
JeffersHillElementary School PTA
$1,831.67
LongfellowElementary School PTA
$725.00
PatapscoMiddle School PTA
$1,333.33
RunningBrookElementary School PTA
$2,513.33
SwansfieldElementary School PTA
$2,500.00
Baltimore City Arts and Cultural Grants provide funding to key BaltimoreCity organizations that provide significant services to HowardCounty residents; $123,200 was awarded to the following 8 organizations for FY2008:
BaltimoreMuseum of Art
$27,300.00
BaltimoreMuseum of Industry
$6,625.00
Center Stage
$16,750.00
Maryland Historical Society
$5,000.00
MarylandScienceCenter
$10,500.00
Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
$9,250.00
National Aquarium
$25,125.00
The WaltersArt Museum
$22,650.00
Howard County Arts Council grants are awarded on the basis of artistic merit, ability of the applicant to carry out the project, and level of service to the community. Grantees are selected through a competitive process in which applications are reviewed by an advisory panel made up of academics and artists representing a variety of disciplines. Grant award recommendations are then reviewed and approved by the Howard County Arts Council Board of Directors.
The Arts Council ' s grant program is supported through grants from the HowardCounty government and the Maryland State Arts Council as well as through the Howard County Arts Council ' s own foundation, corporate, and individual giving initiatives.
# # #
The Howard County Arts Council is a non-profit organization whose mission is to serve the citizens of HowardCounty by fostering the arts, artists and arts organizations. The Howard County Arts Council receives major grants from the Howard County Government and the Maryland State Arts Council and sustaining annual support from corporate, foundation and individual sponsors. Howard County Arts Council offices are located at the HowardCountyCenter for the Arts, 8510 High Ridge Road, Ellicott City, MD21043. The HowardCountyCenter for the Arts is a handicapped accessible facility and full participation of individuals with disabilities is encouraged. For information, call 410.313.ARTS (2787), fax 410.313.2790, or email info@hocoarts.org.
And here; The last one might not be about a spider, taxonomically speaking, but the Harvestman father is particularly devoted to its offspring. Neat little critter.
