City's golf links operated well by local group
Since 1985 the city municipal golf courses have been intensely investigated. Every known golf association was invited discuss and make recommendations needed for the improvement of city municipal courses.
This resulted in the development of the Baltimore Municipal Golf Corporation, which consists of a volunteer board of governors. It manages golf courses better than any other corporation currently in existence.
Rounds played have doubled since 1985, and green fees are less than any other golf program in the United States. Meanwhile the courses are groomed and conditioned to match or exceed the best country clubs in America. Weed covered fairways are now weed-free, broken water systems have been repaired, old power carts have been replaced with new, club houses have been renovated or replaced.
Teeing areas have been expanded and cart paths installed, eliminating erosion and permitting handicapped golfers access throughout most of the year.
On an individual level, inner-city children's programs are funded and provided. Senior and women's golf leagues and tournaments are supported and encouraged.
The BMGC also hosts the Maryland Amateur Stroke Play Championship, which attracts the finest amateur golfers from across the state.
The lesson to be learned here is that responsible, dedicated and talented employees and volunteers, city and county residents, men and women, black and white, are all working for a common goal and demanding the best.
William F. O'Donnell
Towson
Poppy seeds show tests are poppycock
Kudos to Dan Rodricks for highlighting Oct. 19 the poppy seed imbroglio that denied a registered nurse a job because her bagel-loving ways led to a positive urine test for morphine.
American industry's passionate but misguided embrace of drug testing is costing millions in return for a laughably false sense of security.
What's wrong with workplace urine drug testing? Plenty.
It's inaccurate (witness our nurse friend), degrading (ever had to urinate in front of watchful eyes?), costly (currently a $600 million dollar drain on American industry), and an infringement of civil liberty (should our employers dictate what we put into our bodies off hours, if it doesn't affect our work performance?).
It is also discriminatory (that puff of marijuana -- the safest recreational drug currently available -- at a Saturday party will show up in the urine of even the most conscientious worker months later), deficient (a urine test is designed to detect illicit drug use, it does not identify alcohol -- the most widely abused drug in the work place -- or over-the-counter prescription drugs that can affect performance) and totally useless (since it gives absolutely no information about whether an employee is under the influence of a drug at any time other than the time of the urine testing).
To guarantee a productive, drug-free work place, what's an employer to do? Performance testing has proven to be a simple, cost-effective and timely means to determine an employee's fitness to work.
Satisfactory performance on a video "game" requiring proper reflexes and judgment before punching in on a time card guarantees a worker isn't currently under the influence of any drug or hangover that could affect job performance.
Unlike urine drug tests, performance testing gives useful information about here and now.
Does our nurse friend have any legal recourse? I fear it will take some one more indignant, more angry and with much deeper pockets to challenge the impropriety of urine testing. But if this woman wants to pursue it, my checkbook is open to help out.
Terry Dalton Hadley
Towson
People, not guns
First they banned "Saturday night specials," which were labeled the weapons most used by criminals. Then they banned assault weapons, labeled most-used by criminals. Now Toys-R-Us is banning toy guns, claiming toy guns teach violence and turn children into criminals.
Again, it's not the guns. It's the people behind them.
I grew up playing with toy guns. My role models were persons like Audie Murphy, most decorated soldier in World War II, and John Wayne, for portraying famous war personalities ranging from World War II to Vietnam.
I grew up not wanting to use guns to kill citizens or commit crimes but to protect my rights and my country.
I grew up loving my country and looking up to my country's heroes who fought for my rights in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
I always had a toy gun, as did most of my friends. We often played war (even though my father told me that war was a very horrible thing), always winning against the evil empire and marching through the neighborhood with the American flag waving proudly.
Toy guns don't make children violent; lack of leadership, values, role models and family guidance makes children violent.
If we are going to start blaming toys for our social problems, maybe we should ban little girls' baby dolls. Don't they promote unwanted pregnancies?
Let's stop making excuses for crime and start teaching what's right. A good start would be at a local national cemetery or in a history book.
How did toy guns affect me? I'm currently a seven-year veteran with the Baltimore County Police Department and a staff sergeant in the Maryland Army National Guard with 13 years of service.
Charles J. Bury Jr.
Baltimore
Wrong step
Baltimore City recently implemented a municipal ordinance placing a curfew on city residents 16 and under.
The law, requiring children to remain inside after 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends, may be viewed as an imprisoning of the innocent rather than the guilty.
The office of the City Council states that the purpose of the law is to protect minors from the recklessness of others by getting them "out of the line of fire."
Limiting the freedom of innocent minors is, apparently, their solution to reducing the number of injuries and deaths in this age group.
Additionally, it is ironic that the law designed to protect innocent potential victims is the same law that could possibly convict them of a crime.
Failure to abide by the ordinance is considered a misdemeanor juvenile offense with fines levied against the parents.
The children picked up by the city police are currently taken home, but in the very near future they will be taken to a detention center while the parents are contacted.
Children of this age should not be on the streets until all hours of the night. However, it is the responsibility of the parents, not the police department, to supervise these children.
With efforts of the police department now directed toward roaming and loitering children, less emphasis will obviously be placed on addressing and arresting the true criminals.
Clearly, a step in the wrong direction has been taken by keeping the innocent potential victims locked inside while the guilty offenders are free to come and go.
Susan Martin
Baltimore
Unbelievable pact
On Sept. 27, Rep. Newt Gingrich and 149 other Republican congressmen marched on the Capitol to offer a new "Contract with America."
The contract was only 24 pages long, and the press would be performing a good service for the American people by printing it.
Like President Reagan's "You ain't seen nothing yet," the contract tells the American workers how they stand to lose more jobs if they vote Republican: tax cuts for the rich (at the expense of the middle and working class), a trillion dollars' worth of budget cuts over a five year period, a 50 percent capital gains tax cut, etc.
The trillion dollars would undoubtedly come from Social Security, Medicare, education and environmental funds. . .
rank Augustine
Baltimore