Good Guys Isn't Lone 'Bad' Guy
Good Guys Bar and Grill of North Laurel is in serious trouble. A federal judge recently ruled against the club's owner, Behnam Zanganeh, effectively banning the sale of alcohol at Good Guys. Members of the public are clamoring for the closure of this "immoral" institution. Even The Sun came out against Mr. Zanganeh in a Feb. 14 editorial. Unfortunately, The Sun fails to see the hypocrisy of such a position.
There are several reasons why people oppose such establishments. It can be said that places similar to Good Guys are magnets for drugs and prostitution. Generally, that applies only to areas where those problems are already rampant. The odds that this lone building will turn North Laurel into another "Block" are slim.
Additionally, people oppose exotic dancing because it is supposedly "immoral" and "corrupting." Moreover, many claim that this sort of dancing degrades women and is contrary to the growth of the women's movement in America. While all these arguments are valid, the problem is in the consistency of their application.
I think that the majority of people would agree that a certain degree of consistency is a necessary attribute of a fair and equitable community. For example, it clearly wouldn't be right to close down one bar but allow another similar business to operate.
In order for Howard County to be consistent, we can't just close down Good Guys. First, we would also have to shut several of the county's video stores that rent X-rated movies. Second, we would have to close most of our bookstores, because they sell such magazines as Playboy and Penthouse. Next, we would have to shut our movie theaters which show both "R" and "NC-17" movies. I suppose we'll have to eliminate cable in Howard County because people can get lewd films through pay-per-view, not to mention HBO and the other premium channels. This simply isn't reasonable.
It is also unreasonable to differentiate between live dancing and X-rated videos and magazines. As a matter of a fact, when you look at Good Guys in terms of Howard County's other forms of adult entertainment, Good Guys doesn't seem that bad. You have to be 18 to get into Good Guys, while any 5-year-old can call up pay-per-view's automated hot line and order an X-rated movie. Worse, many R-rated movies contain ridiculous amounts of total nudity and explicit sexual acts, though anyone of any age or level of maturity can see them -- at the movies, on video or on cable.
We cannot honestly be justified in closing one bar when we tolerate so many other types of adult entertainment. Personally, I'd rather deal with this one aberrance than go running around the county shutting down dozens of legitimate businesses. Certainly, there are bigger problems in Howard County than Good Guys.
Jonathan Cohen
Ellicott City
Snow Days
The Howard County Board of Education has made a clear choice of quantity over quality in choosing to add excess snow days to the end of the school year. Other counties have chosen to make up the excess snow days during spring break and other scheduled vacation days.
Howard County's decision makes sense only if you assume that all school days are qualitatively equal. Any parent who has been in a classroom after Memorial Day (especially in an elementary school) knows this is not the case. As the school year draws to a close, productivity takes a nose dive. I think most parents would agree that their children learn more in a day in March than they do in mid-June.
Howard County prides itself on the quality of its educational system. I would invite the Board of Education to "walk the talk" and consider an alternate schedule that would assure that the make-up days are qualitatively productive in addition to just meeting state requirements. Clearly, other counties have already done so.
Karen Trudel
Ellicott City
Gov. Kasemeyer?
I just read your Feb. 17 article about Ed Kasemeyer. Ed was a good senator and I did volunteer work for him in his last, losing election effort.
But run for governor? Give me a break. As nice a guy as he is, as capable a legislator as he was and as an incumbent, Ed still lost his Senate seat. Now he's thinking about a far tougher race against candidates with enormous resources. Just as pitching a perfect game in high school didn't qualify him for the major leagues, his local political achievements won't carry statewide.
It seems strange that one of Ed's friends would criticize the campaign of Lt. Gov. Mickey Steinberg when he leads the other candidates in the polls and in fund-raising. I don't know Angela Beltram, but I am surprised that any friend of Ed Kasemeyer would encourage him toward a humiliating defeat.
ruce P. Martin
Columbia
Test Scores
I am writing in response to The Sun editorial (Feb. 11) concerning standout Atholton High student "Cindy" Woo.
One needn't be a rocket scientist to fathom why so many Asian-American students consistently post higher test scores than their non-Asian peers. First and foremost, they tend to work harder to achieve their academic goals. Second, yet no less important, Asians (in general) believe that scholastic shortcoming brings a measure of shame to themselves and their parents.
Self-discipline, a heightened sense of family pride -- these are just two of the more obvious factors motivating the Cindy Woos of the world. You can't "bottle" that mind-set, obviously, yet it's certainly worthwhile emulating.
John C. Orem
Columbia
Year-Round School Experiment Won't Work
I have been following with great interest the proposal to have Howard County schools become proverbial guinea pigs for the state regarding year-round schooling. I can understand and indeed support a need to make our schools more fiscally efficient without sacrificing quality. However, there are a few issues that have not been addressed.
What about those parents who rely on an older sibling to provide day care for a younger brother or sister? Many women work because they have to and the increased financial burden to these families notwithstanding the scheduling problems is patently unfair.
Let's talk about one aspect that the children will have to withstand: Have you ever ridden in a school bus when the outside temperature is 95 degrees plus with a heat index well over 100 degrees? In an effort to save on transportation costs, this county has eliminated bus routes and filled buses to capacity. Can you imagine middle school children, some of whom are about 6 feet tall, sitting three to a seat in those temperatures? Won't there be many cases of heat exhaustion or heat stroke? Will the board be saving money by settling lawsuits? Let's face it: This is the South and heat and humidity are dangerous. There are no air-conditioned school buses.
How about the drivers? How many do you think will be able to stand two to three hours in the blistering heat with the added heat of the engine pouring in on them? There is no way to keep the heat of that engine from entering the bus. . . .
I ask all parents to consider all of the aspects of what year-round schooling will mean to them and their children before lending their support. Let your Board of Education and elected officials know where you stand.
Cynthia Matthews
Columbia
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Since 1981-82, I have happily served as a senior citizen volunteer in an elementary school in Howard County, helping with the Machine Spelling Program sponsored by the PTA. . . . If the year-round school program is put into effect, I will only serve between September and June.
My main objection to this program is that once again the almighty dollar is taking precedence over the health and welfare of the students. Children need time to be just kids and this is depriving them of that opportunity. Anyone who has spent time in the schools, not just an hourly visit or walk-through inspection, feels the anticipation building up in the children for at least two weeks before the end of the term. Under the year-round program, children being children, this will undoubtably happen at the end of each session. How much time will be left for teaching?
Today's children, unfortunately, are under terrific pressures. I am not convinced as to whether the educational system or the parents are most responsible. I had a second-grader tell me she could not study her words because she had had to go to a music lesson, then a dance lesson and then to her grandmother's for dinner.
It is all well and good to say you will air-condition the schools, but what do you plan to do about the homes of the children and staffs? Not everyone has the luxury of air conditioning and it is an accepted fact that a good night's sleep is necessary for an adequate performance.
In reading the results of the last testing program, I wondered how much it is going to cost to provide different versions of each of these tests for the various sessions, and who was going to do it.
I question the report that it takes at least a month to bring students to the point they were at the end of the previous term. In the spelling program, most of the children start many words ahead of where they left off, many of them hundreds of words ahead.
It is very difficult for me to understand how our country has gotten to the place it has in the world today with the doom and gloom reports by the experts of our educational system. I have no fancy education or degrees, only a deep concern for the well-being of our children, and, I hope, common sense.
Francis E. Phillips
Ellicott City
(This is a copy of a letter sent to Gov. William Donald Schaefer.)