Latest Poll of Local Attitudes: Economy Biggest Concern and Bush Approval Drops

The Anne Arundel Community College 's Center for the Study of Local Issues, regularly surveys the attitudes and opinions of county residents. The latest results are available at: www2.aacc.edu/csli/CSLI/PressRelease/2008/CSLI_SA_S08PR.pdf

It should come as no surprise that our embattled President George Bush's approval ratings have dropped...again. Only 28% of county residents approve of his performance. Gee...I wonder why that could be? Iraq? Iraq? Iraq? Iraq? Lies? Lies and more lies? Katrina? Corruption? Untrustworthy appointees? Mortgage crisis? Wiretapping? Firing Federal Attorneys? Torture? Record deficits?

Fool me once.....er ......fool me twice...er I mean shame on me...duhhhh...whatever!

In Memory of Peg Wallace

Peg Wallace was a "fixture" in Eastport for decades. Known for her sense of humor, warmth and fine spirit, she was also the driving force for many years behind the creation of the Annapolis Maritime Museum. I think she was just one of the neatest ladies I have ever known. We met in the early 80's at which time the Maritime Museum was known as "The Barge House" and the Eastport Historical Committee.

She appreciated old things and what they represented, like her 1981 car for example. One always knew when Peg was coming as we could hear her giant, old Mercedes diesel chugging up the street. Her license plate read "Ditzey." Peg lived in a lovely, Victorian home full of antiques and surrounded by a pleasant landscape. I felt as if I stepped back into time in her home.

About 18 years ago, we helped put on a fund-raiser party for the growing Eastport Historic Committee that featured an antique doll exhibit. We presented Peg, our leader, with a bouquet of flowers in appreciation for her efforts and I told her she was my favorite antique doll. I'm not sure she appreciated my well-intentioned comment, but as I think back, she was a spry and youthful woman in her late 60's. She stayed active and productive well into her elder years.

Peg was our realtor when we bought our present home and she made that a pleasant experience. She had forgotten more about real estate in Annapolis than most local realtors ever knew. When we first took possession of our new home, I was poking around in the attic and found one piece of a newspaper, an old section of The Capital. You can imagine my surprise and puzzlement when I found the remains were basically a full-page ad for Champion Realty with a photo and quote from Peg. It was the only thing left behind in an otherwise empty house.

You may wish to visit http://rememberingpegwallace.com/ to read about Peg and to add your own memory of her as well.

Crime On Line...It's About Time

In a major step toward improving law enforcement, fighting crime, improving police and community relations, the Annapolis Crime Statistics are now available online. It seems to me that this has come about because of widespread and mounting pressure on our mayor and police department to make this information available to us. It's about time. CP urges citizens to study these data and stay informed and stay involved. Let's hope this is a step toward developing real community policing.

Here is where you can find the reports:
http://www.annapolis.gov/info.asp?page=12647

Citizens can now view a monthly accounting of Part One crimes via the internet. Previously this reporting was made available in the form of a paper copy upon request and distributed at the department's monthly Neighborhood Watch meetings. The Department follows crime reporting
protocol as established by the FBI under the Uniform Crime Reporting Standards. Part One Offenses include the following crimes:
Murder Rape Robbery - Armed Robbery - Unarmed Aggravated Assault
Larceny ( Theft) Burglary - Commercial Burglary - Residential Auto Theft

For Additional Information Contact:
Officer Hal Dalton (410) 268-9000 ext. 7305 ( 410) 919-7188
Lt. Brian Della (410) 268-9000 ext. 7250

It's Midnight. Do You Know Where Your Children Are?

In the wake of the recent shooting murder of an eleventh grader in The Robinwood public housing project at about 11 pm on a Sunday night, we are hearing calls for a curfew for young people. Many people ask what was he doing out at that time on a school night? This is a legitimate question to ask about an eleventh grader. I think so as a parent, and I believe many parents would agree. If you read the many comments online at the Capital, you'll see that some people take offense at such a question and seem to think that nobody should even dare ask about why all this violence occurs in public housing. www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/readne/2008/03_17-36/TOP

The Baltimore Sun reports pros and cons on the issue, including Carl Snowden, who is identified as a "local civil rights" activist, curiously leaving out his title as a special assistant attorney general for Maryland in charge of civil rights--that's for MARYLAND, not Annapolis. This was a major error on the part of The Sun's Nicole Fuller.

What say ye? Is a curfew on youngsters a desirable thing for Annapolis? With our understaffed police already spread so thinly, can we even do this effectively? Will we start hearing of a new offense to be called "DWY" or "OLATWU-19" (Out late at night while under 19)? What kind of ID do youngsters even have until they get their driver's licenses?

CP can't help but think that once again, this is about parental responsibility. If an irresponsible parent allows a youngster out late and he or she is in trouble or is picked up by police, what will the police do? Release the child to the parent? That may have been the problem in the first place. Do we start criminalizing young people because they were taking a walk? Visiting friends? Coming home from a dance? What if they are hanging out in front of a neighbor's house together, but they come from nearby houses?

The problem is the despair, poverty and segregation of public housing!!! That's where the violence is happening. The problems is drug dealing in and around public housing and the people in public housing who don't legally belong there. That's where the resources and programs and commitments need to take place. We can go on and on and make pronouncements and wring our hands. We can throw money and resources at it but what we must do is discuss the long term transformation of public housing into something that is good for everyone and uplifts everyone. It cannot and must not remain anything like the way it has been for years. It only hurts those who live there and those who are affected by its negative aspects.

All other discussions about crime, violence and the problem of our youth are secondary.

Councilman Cohen on Impact Fees

If impact fees are your thing (and they really are everybody's "thing") you may want to check in at Councilman Josh Cohen's blog http://cohenbulletin.blogspot.com/ . Cohen was known as a skilled and willing communicator when he served as City of Annapolis Alderman. This helped propel him to his current status as County Council member, where, among other things, he maintains this blog to explain his stand on legislative issues of concern to residents.

"Are We Teaching and SELLING Creationism/Intelligent Design at Annapolis High School...and other schools?

"Are We Teaching and SELLING Creationism/Intelligent Design at Annapolis High School?"

On Sunday, March 16th CP reported the following:

"3. A MESSIANIC SCIENCE TEACHER AT ANNAPOLIS HIGH.....We read with little more than a raised eyebrow about this one in today's paper until we came to the part where this supposed science teacher said he considers his teaching "to be one form of ministry." Uh oh. CP promises to look into this more...."

Unfortunately, The Capital's article is not available on The Capital's web-site, but the story gets weirder.

Annapolis High School Science Teacher Neill Russell, a self described Messianic Jew, which likely means he considers himself Jewish but views Jesus as the messiah and the New Testament as the divinely revealed word of God, is teaching science to our children in our public schools....or is he teaching "creationism" and "intelligent design"? He has just published a book called, "Newton's Riddle. The Psalm 83 Conspiracy Revealed" which The Capital describes as a "Bible based thriller..."...and it gets weirder....

This is a concern not because of the teacher's personal religious beliefs, but because he is making them quite well known to the public as evidenced by the book, and this article in The Capital which states that he considers his teaching "to be one form of ministry." Creationism and so-called "intelligent design" is nothing more than a pseudo-intellectual game, a smokescreen for fundamentalist beliefs cloaked in the rhetoric of science.

Mr. Russell is putting his books into the hands of students and staff at AHS and using them to sell his book!

Let me make this very clear. CP has no objections to a person of faith practicing or teaching science. The concern is whether his beliefs, which are profound enough to lead him to publish about them, are spilling over into the classroom. And read on, because you'll see how he has brought them into his classroom.

There may be more of this going on. No less than two science teachers at nearby South River High School extol the book in The Capital. One is named Debie Lesko and the other is Linda Lamon.

It gets yet weirder....
Annapolis High Principal Don Lilley says he likes "the way Mr. Russell connects Biblical stories to the modern day...." but seems to have no concerns otherwise. Lilley was at a conference and unavailable for comment as of Monday morning. A call was not returned by late Monday afternoon.

It gets yet weirder....
The Capital says, "Mr. Russell sees no conflict between his firm grounding in science and his faith.....said he believes in intelligent design and has a Web site devoted to explaining how God could have created the universe in 'six days and 15 billion years.' "

Oh yeah. I could have graduated in high school in four years or a billion years and maybe never attended classes as well.

I believe that School Superintendent Kevin Maxwell needs to look into this matter and consider it carefully. It's not just one teacher and one book.

Visit www.newtonsriddle.com to see a video about the book or at http://www.godtube.com/neill which describes the book as, "More thrilling than the Da Vinci Code.....Find out for yourself what God does not want you to know...Satan's Prophetic Plan for planet Earth". This video shows a student wearing an Annapolis High School sweatshirt extolling the book in an AHS school science classroom. In other scenes, also filmed in Annapolis HS, shows more students AND STAFFERS holding up the book saying, "Read this book".

These videos used AHS students and staff-members in Annapolis High School classroom's, hallway and an office. So he is using his students to promote his book for his commercial, religious and even his political (see it for yourself...) gain. Imagine the conflicts--including asking students to promote your own book!

In a web-site about his wife's "miraculous" recovery from liver cancer, a picture shows Jesus in the hospital operating room. In the video on that site, he tells his daughters that "Jesus healed momma." www.cindysmiracle.com

Remember, this is what The Capital said on March 16:

"...he considers his teaching 'to be one form of ministry' and his book another."

Superintendent Maxwell and Principal Lilley, we need you to weigh in on this one and quickly please. Again, the teacher's beliefs are not the concern. It's that he is using students to promote them in the school. There are plenty of private religious schools in this area. Creationism and other pseudo-science based on theology belong there, if they choose, but not in our public schools. Let's get to the bottom of this and make sure that Mr. Russell, and these other science teachers, are teaching science, and not their religious beliefs.

Interviewed on a Bible prophecy radio show, Russell was asked about the reactions of students to his book and said

“I truly believe that this is again God. I teach in a public high school and to have a book that’s loaded with Biblical prophecy and scriptures read by students is that’s God. It has to be. Umm, every student that has actually read it has come up to me and said I’d like to share this with other people. How can I get a copy? See students, one thing, we have sanitized God out of the public arena especially in the public schools and students at that age, especially around 16 to 18 years old they’re looking for their future. They’re looking for that type of, uh, of foundation that uh, you know, that we had-- that’s truth and it’s not being found at the public school. When they read the truth, they get excited and that’s what’s happening these kids are really excited they’re coming up to me, they’re hearing about the book and they want to buy it.”

Go here to listen to the full interview:
www.sidroth.org/site/News2?abbr=rad_&page=NewsArticle&id=7115&news_iv_ctrl=1121

Fourth Homicide of the Year....That's One Every 19 Days....

While we debate the merits of creating a National Sailing Hall of Fame, we are on our way to becoming Murder Capital USA. The fourth murder of year on day 76, or about one per every nineteen days, means we are on track for 18 or 19 for the year, or more than double last year's record!

Annapolis Police Department
Public Information Office
Media Release


For Additional Information Contact:
Officer Hal Dalton
(410) 268-9000 ext. 7305 ( 410) 919-7188
Lt. Brian Della (410) 268-9000 ext. 7250


Released on March 17th, 2008 at 7:00 AM
HOMICIDE

On March 16th, 2008 at 11:21 PM, Annapolis Police Dispatch received several calls for shots fired in the 1300 block of Tyler Avenue. A male victim was found lying on the ground near 1368 Tyler Avenue suffering from gunshot wounds. Paramedics pronounced him as deceased. He was identified as a local 17 year old, but not a resident of the immediate neighborhood. (Robinwood). His identity is being withheld pending suitable time for family notifications. 1368 Tyler Avenue has no known association with this crime except as a point of reference as being the nearest physical address to where the victim was found. There is no known motive or suspects at this time, and investigators are still seeking witnesses or other people with knowledge of the circumstances.
This is the fourth homicide in the City of Annapolis in 2008.
(08-001550)

A Few Disturbing Things in Today's Capital

Aaaaah.....the Sunday paper. Lots of ads. The comics. And controversy.

1. FOR THIS WE HAVE THE FIRST AMENDMENT???? The Capital now has the local hospital writing, laying out and paying for the "Health and Fitness" page. Editor Tom Marquardt admits he is "not entirely comfortable with the arrangement" after stating that, "We don't have a health reporter to write about medical issues..."

Tom, that's the problem! Get a health reporter! Oh, that would cost money while the new arrangement makes money. Hmmm. Maybe they should try this model in the entertainment section. The restaurants could write their own reviews. What about with government? Fire the local government reporters and just have the mayor and county executive's staff send in a report every day with a check.

After that, we'll just change the name of the newspaper to more accurately reflect the collusion between the state and the media. We'll call the paper PRAVDA. It means "truth"

On the other, the paper is considering welcoming columnist Amy Goodman as a regular contributor. That would be a most welcome and interesting development.

2. WHEN THE SCHUH IS ON THE OTHER FOOT....
In a guest editorial, Delegate Steve Schuh of elitist, gated Gibson Island protests that "...Maryland is dominated by the Democratic Party". That's because the people elected them Delegate Schuh. Poor Mr. Schuh is upset about partisanship. I guess those folks on Gibson Island who have been used to owning everything for so long now think the system is unfair once it starts allowing for other to compete with them to own a piece of the big pie. He notes how 73% of General Assembly members are Democrats. Yeah--well that's because the people elected 73% of them as Democrats. He is upset that leaders of both houses of Maryland's legislature, as well as cabinet members and judges are Democrats. That's the system Mr. Shuh and it was done just the opposite way when Mr. Ehrlich was governor. Did you complain about partisanship control at that time?

I don't recall Mr. Schuh complaining about this when George Bush Inc. owned the White House and both houses of Congress. Nor did he complain when both houses of Congress conspired to keep Bill Clinton from being more effective. Mr. Schuh failed to mention how our county is headed up a Republican and the majority of the County Council is Republican as well. Does that not reflect a Republican majority? Nor did he mention that until recently, our governor was a Republican. I guess it's too bad for Mr. Schuh that Gibson Island cannot be a state. That would certainly guarantee a Republican majority.

3. A MESSIANIC SCIENCE TEACHER AT ANNAPOLIS HIGH.....We read with little more than a raised eyebrow about this one in today's paper until we came to the part where this supposed science teacher said he considers his teaching "to be one form of ministry." Uh oh. CP promises to look into this more....