Maryland has a problem with run-off
An extensive study of herbicides in drinking water, released on Oct. 18 by the Environmental Working Group and Physicians for Social Responsibility, found that 14 million Americans in 14 states are drinking water contaminated by five cancer-causing herbicides.
The states include the District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Most of these herbicides enter water supplies in agricultural run-off from land used to raise animals for human consumption.
Unfortunately, herbicides and other pesticides are only one category of pollutants carried by agricultural run-off.
Others are dissolved solids (primarily sodium chloride, which raises water salinity), suspended solids (solid particles that settle to the bottom, smother fish eggs and silt up waterways), organics (crop debris, which promotes growth of micro-organisms that deplete oxygen and kill fish) and nutrients (nitrates and phosphates, which promote growth of oxygen-depleting algae).
In fact, agricultural run-off contributes more pollution burden to America's waterways than all other human activities combined.
Until current Administrator Carol M. Browner took over, the federal Environmental Protection Agency had largely ignored the agricultural run-off problem for both economic and political reasons.
Blocking the flow would be very costly because of the enormous areas involved. Ms. Browner's efforts to overhaul the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act were killed in the 103rd Congress by meat industry opposition.
The good news is that concerned citizens can help repeal this massive assault on the public and environmental health by demanding effective water-pollution control legislation and by reducing their consumption of meat and other animal products.
Since 90 percent of agricultural land is used for growing animal feed, even a small reduction in the national consumption of animal products would allow producers to plant the most erosion-prone land with erosion-resistant trees, shrubs and grasses.
The only other option is to give up drinking water and practicing water recreation.
Jack Norris
Baltimore
Glendening ads
Parris Glendening's TV commercials regarding Ellen Sauerbrey say a great deal about Mr. Glendening.
It is difficult to imagine that anyone would believe that any legislator at the local, state or federal level (including Parris Glendening, Ellen Sauerbrey, William Donald Schaefer, Mike Miller, etc.) is in favor of providing guns to criminals. Yet the recent ultra-negative TV political commercials of Mr. Glendening are appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace in order to gain votes to obtain political power by attempting to portray Ms. Sauerbrey as desiring to provide guns to criminals.
The dictionary defines a demagogue as one who attempts to obtain power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace. Clearly, Mr. Glendening's own TV commercials brand him a demagogue. Apparently, Mickey Steinberg's primary campaign assessment of Mr. Glendening is correct.
Having previously noted The Evening Sun's many efforts to condemn mud-slinging, negative political commercials and political demogogy, I am sure the paper must have written an editorial condemning the Glendening TV commercials regarding Mrs. Sauerbrey. But it seems that I missed The Evening Sun's condemnation and request that it be reprinted.
Robert L. Kondner
Parkton
School bus bill
At the end of the first day of school this year, one of the mothers in my community was greeted with the news that her son had been hit by a car after getting off of his school bus.
He had been unaware that in Baltimore City cars do not have to stop for school buses while they are loading and unloading.
In most of Maryland, including the surrounding counties, the law does require vehicles to stop for school buses when their lights are flashing.
Although this does not guarantee that all vehicles will stop, it is still much safer than the existing practice in the city.
The Baltimore City Council is scheduled to hear Bill 265, which would change the Maryland law requiring vehicles to stop for buses with their lights on so as to include Baltimore City.
Parents from our local school, Hamilton Elementary-Middle, will be attending the hearing.
I hope that other city residents will attend or let their council members know of their support for this bill, so that our children can be a bit safer on their way to and from school.
Karen Elliott Hudnet
Baltimore
Tough job
It is fashionable these days to be critical of teachers. As a grandfather who picked up his grandchildren from school last week, I was reminded how seldom we pay tribute to these dedicated people.
Whether it is 15 or 30 children with boundless energy -- some of it directed in the right way and some of it not -- teachers deserve every penny that they receive and much more commendation than we give them. I was merely an observer for 20 minutes, and I was tired.
Alfred Buls
Baltimore
The public needs pay phones
Baltimore City Council President Mary Pat Clarke may have a phone in her automobile, as well as her home and office, but a large number of Baltimore's poor citizens do not.
I question her motives in sponsoring a bill that would eliminate certain public telephones from Baltimore street corners.
Does she realize that in some cases a telephone on a corner can be a lifeline? Not only do drug dealers use these phones, but law-abiding citizens patronize them also.
In cost-cutting moves a few years ago, fire alarm boxes were removed from our streets. At 4 a.m., when someone's house is ablaze and he or she does not have a phone, the convenience of a corner pay-phone is immensely valuable.
Unfortunately, crime in the city's poorer areas is alarmingly high. In these same areas, a telephone in a home is sometimes a luxury, not something that everyone has.
The percentage of drug dealing by public telephones in urban areas is very low.
Besides that, a drug dealer often has personal access to car phones and home phones. Do not make the law-abiding people suffer more, while politicians placate themselves.
I am all for a war on drugs; just be sure to get the enemy, not the innocent. Legislation should be presented to keep these same phones in working order.
Try again, Ms. Clarke, and remember we need a mayor for all the people.
J. R. Armstead Jr.
Baltimore