Christ in Baltimore
I find it sadly ironic that Tom Composto, who probably lives the gospel message more completely than most clergy in town, has been expelled by the Jesuits (news story, Dec. 4).
If Christ came to Baltimore, would he feel more at home on Whitelock Street or in Roland Park, where the Jesuit provincial lives?
I wonder.
Anne R. Brusca
Baltimore
Unbuilt pass
It is gratifying to see The Sun ("Breathing Space on Transit Tax," Dec. 4) taking a statewide editorial view of transportation needs and recognizing the importance of the Salisbury bypass as one of six priority projects for the Maryland Department of Transportation.
Gov.-elect Parris Glendening has said he wants the U.S. 50 bypass built.
That certainly helps, as does the state's announcement of an expected $150 million surplus in the transportation trust fund.
The U.S. 50 bypass has been talked about for 20 years. In two specific instances, in 1987 and again in 1992, Eastern Shore civic leaders and legislators were promised that revenues from gasoline tax hikes adopted in those years would be used to fund the U.S. 50 bypass construction.
Each time, however, the new revenues ended up going to other projects. To this day, the vital missing link in the U.S. 50 corridor remains unbuilt.
This isn't just another case of a bunch of locals who want a fancy new road. The construction of a divided, limited access four-lane highway to divert U.S. 50 traffic around Salisbury is of statewide importance.
Not only is U.S. 50 the chief transportation corridor for beach-bound vacationers and east-west commerce, it is also the only major road that can quickly handle mass coastal evacuations during a hurricane or other natural disaster.
That's when the current bottlenecks would cease being merely infuriating and instead become catastrophic.
Planning, engineering and environmental work for this project is virtually complete. The right-of-way has been identified and critical portions of it secured.
All that remains is for a commitment of construction funds. It is simply time to do it.
Edward G. Banks Jr.
Salisbury
H
The writer is chairman, Greater Salisbury Committee Inc.
Missed Moment
In regard to Genie Weidel's letter to the editor Dec. 3, what a wonderful opportunity was missed on behalf of the classroom teacher and the class mother of that sole Jewish classmate.
Would it not have been an opportune moment to introduce to the majority of Christian students the holidays and traditions of another religion?
Would not these same children have enjoyed hearing the story of Hannukah, lighting the candles and sharing the special foods?
Shame on the parent for choosing to squelch the pleasures of everyone at such a joyous time of year and shame on that classroom teacher for not embracing a perfect teaching
opportunity.
S. I. Zucker
Baltimore
What Heritage?
I think it's interesting that in his Dec. 3 letter, Paul H. Wragg portrayed Thomas Jefferson as a spokesperson for this country's "Judeo-Christian heritage."
Along with Ben Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Paine, Jefferson was a deist, not a Christian. The deists believe in a divine creator, but not the teachings of the Bible.
Anyone who thinks that all of the Founding Fathers were Christians should read Paine's "The Age of Reason." It might prove to be an enlightening experience.
John Clayton
Columbia
Goodbye Elders
In announcing the firing of Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, a local TV news anchorman allowed that the controversial surgeon general had "finally gone too far" when she suggested in a response to a question posed at a U.N. AIDS conference that masturbation should be taught in public schools.
The next morning (Dec. 10) The Sun provided a more detailed report, including the question that prompted Dr. Elders' ill-fated response:
"It seems to me," a conference participant posed, "that there still remains a taboo against discussion about masturbation. And please forgive me for trying to do my tiny bit by announcing that I masturbate, and I do want to ask you what you think are the prospects [of] a more explicit discussion and promotion of masturbation?"
Explicit discussion and promotion of . . . masturbation? What kind of conference was this?
Why is the United Nations, an international organization created to promote world peace and funded heavily by the U.S. taxpayers, encouraging a group of elitists to sit around and toy with the loony idea of promoting masturbation -- rather than promoting the concept of tolerance and peaceful coexistence?
Most Americans have long been exasperated with this surgeon general's inappropriate comments on sex, condom distribution, the Catholic Church and drug legalization.
Ms. Elder seems to take great pride in being shocking and unpredictable. Like most Washington insiders, she doesn't (or won't) understand that a public official must reflect the values of the American middle class, who just happen to pay her salary.
On Nov. 8 the American public proclaimed loud and clear that government meddling in our private lives was not acceptable and that politicians, programs or institutions that undermine traditional cultural values would be rewarded with our contempt and deprived of our support.
The Democratic congressmen and senators who were fired in November now know how far voters will go to get these points across.
Finally, the message has trickled up to the Clinton administration. To Joycelyn Elders and all the other cultural elitists who believe they know so much better than the people how we should live our lives, teach our children, run our businesses and spend our money -- goodbye and good riddance.
Patricia Rybak
Glen Arm
Give New Auto-Emissions Tests A Chance
Robert N. Cadwalader's letter (The Sun, Dec. 6) rejecting Maryland's new air quality testing requirements for personal automobiles offered such an unbalanced viewpoint, I felt a need to respond.
The reduction of vehicle emissions is sorely needed. I run outdoors for exercise, and regularly get assaulted by the acrid tailpipe gases of passing cars (and especially trucks). The freedom to pollute the air with their engine exhaust should be curtailed where pedestrians are choking on the fumes. With cleaner air, we will reduce the unusually high cancer rate here in Maryland and the number of people with lung problems, which costs all of us millions of dollars in health care and lost productivity.
Mr. Cadwalader, the state employee who operates your car becomes "faceless," as you so coldly put it, only when you treat him that way. Referring to trained operators as "some ham-handed, lead-footed idiot" reflects poorly on your understanding of the state's plans. The article stated clearly that the testing facilities will have large observation windows, so you can keep your eyes glued on your precious automobile, and easily avoid seeing any educational material that may be available in the waiting room.
How much do you really know about the emissions of "often noxious industrial pollutants" you see from inside your cozy, air-conditioned aircraft cabin passing by at hundreds of miles an hour? Could that be steam you see? Was that stuff only coming out for a few minutes in some sort of cleansing cycle, like my heat pump? Thank you for your on-high observation, but I prefer to place my trust in earth-bound scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency and in the Maryland Department the Environment, with advanced degrees in science and calibrated data from in-situ measurements.
One more thing, Mr. Cadwalader: Don't believe everything you read, such as the statistics on the number of vehicles that "may" need repairs. Obviously the average repair cost, which the vast majority of Maryland cars won't need, will be much lower than the allowable maximum. Let's wait and see just how bad the repair costs are and how clean the air becomes before we so rebelliously reject the new testing system.
Dan Helfrich
Elkridge
In response to the letters to your paper complaining about the new emissions program. I for one will happily comply with the new enhanced program. After all, the "inconvenience" of a 20-minute test is nothing compared to the inconvenience of a child's asthma attack or the crop loss from pollution. This test is a small price to pay for the privilege of having a car.
We all must recognize the contribution our driving habits make to the poor air quality in the region. Cars pollute. If we want to continue to drive as we do today, then we must make sure we are driving as cleanly as possible. The improved test will be more accurate than the old program and will get the biggest polluters fixed or off the road. Well-maintained, cleaner cars will be sent on their way for another two years. Clean air for all should not be sacrificed for the convenience of a few.
While individual car owners are being asked to do their part, Mr. Cadwalader and the others should also be assured that the smoke-stack industry is getting more stringent emission standards, too. We all contribute to air problems so let's be fair and all help solve it.
Dru Schmidt-Perkins
Baltimore
The writer is Maryland Director of Clean Water Action.
Inconvenience is now a reason to ignore the law, at least according to Robert Cadwalader's complaint about the new automobile emissions testing system.
Mr. Cadwalader exerts no effort to look into the reasons we need a new system. Instead he devotes his time to whining about how regulation of his automobile is an offense worthy of civil rebellion.
Automobile emissions are the single largest source of the air pollution afflicting people in the Baltimore area. However, Mr. Cadwalader's letter expresses no concern about the 600,000 Marylanders with lung disease, the rising rate of children with asthma or the damage auto emissions cause to the Chesapeake Bay. He just doesn't want to be bothered. Cleaner automobiles would help reduce health care costs, attract more employers to the region and improve the quality of life for millions of people, but Mr. Cadwalader's vision never extends beyond his own garage.
Reducing automobile emissions requires that we all share in the responsibility. Unfortunately, taking individual responsibility can be inconvenient, and people like Mr. Cadwalader seem to prefer invoking their individual rights as they pour toxins into the public domain. Now might be a good time to remind him of the old saw, "Your right to swing your fist ends where your neighbor's nose begins." The great irony with Mr. Cadwalader is that the nose he aims to break is his own as much as it is yours and mine.
Any new system will initially have some bugs in it, but that does not make the public need for a new system disappear. It does not absolve Mr. Cadwalader from upholding his end of the social contract. Instead of calling for civil disobedience and trashing the new testing system before it has even started, his energy would be better spent pitching in and helping to find constructive solutions to the problems.
Mr. Cadwalader tries to portray himself as a noble figure railing against the system, but thoughtful people know what he truly is, just another irresponsible polluter.
Michael Calvin
Annapolis
More Than Speed to Counting Votes
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors of Elections would like to thank The Baltimore Sun's reporters for their thorough and thoughtful investigative questions and writing during this strenuous election process.
Because they did such an excellent job, neither board members nor administrators felt compelled to respond to the sudden, and now prolonged, process of inquiry into our election procedures brought about by Ellen Sauerbrey, her lawyers, Republican National Committee lawyers, private investigators and numerous volunteers.
I feel compelled to write now in response to an editorial (The Sun, Nov. 30). It made light of tremendous planning and execution processes by Maryland's elections offices.
The writer of this editorial exhibited a complete lack of knowledge of election processes, ignorance of election law, unawareness of the politics involved and disregard for the roles and expertise of county election
boards and administrative staffs.
The editorial began by comparing our election process to being as slow as a horseback ride by Paul Revere from Boston to Maryland. The writer is apparently more acquainted with Revere's equestrian abilities than with Maryland elections.
It is grossly unfair to compare the slowness of a horse in conveying news to tallying election results in a county of 405,000 registered voters. Our election day procedures went smoothly and normally. Our ballots were tallied and reported by 12:30 a.m.
Montgomery County is the only jurisdiction in Maryland that normally counts its absentee ballots the day following election day.
Our normal procedure is to begin at 9 a.m., when absentee ballots are prepared for the canvass that begins at 4 p.m. The count is normally completed by 8:30 p.m. that same evening.
At 10:30 a.m., the state board notified our office to halt our preparations for the absentee canvass and secure all ballots and election materials, which we did immediately.
Our entire absentee ballot preparation, canvassing and tallying processes were disrupted when an assortment of lawyers, political types, spokesmen, various television and radio reporters necessitated that we take extraordinary measures to accommodate them.
With extreme diplomacy, graciousness, and uncompared expertise, our administrator Carol Evans, deputy administrator Richard Goehler and board attorney John Diuguid advised the board of a plan to allow the visitors to observe our process.
At a time when there would normally be 25 people involved in preparation and tallying of absentee ballots, there were more than 65 staff and observers of the 8,500 absentee ballots.
There was no panic or collapse of the system. The Sauerbrey people observed that in such circumstances we were able to bring about order, and they complied with our need for precision and respect for the laws of Maryland.
We were finally able to canvass our absentee ballots late Sunday evening, November 14.
In The Sun's editorial, the writer assumed that all efforts zero in on only two days. What two days could this be? Might I presume the writer means only primary election day and general election day?
These two days are the culmination of many milestone days. In a county of 405,000 registered voters, there are myriad responsibilities other than counting votes. A staff of 15 to 20 people works year-round.
This year we dealt with the complexities of redistricting brought about by the 1990 census; new district maps were drawn; polling place locations for Montgomery County's 218 precincts were reviewed and thousands of new voters were registered or changed their address or party affiliation with our office.
State takeover is not an ideal solution. Besides the cost to the state, there could be serious legal and administrative problems. Local control means a responsive, flexible election office in each jurisdiction.
No elections office in the state operates independently of the State Administrative Board of Election Laws.
All of us operate under the same state laws and regulations. When any directive is issued from the state board, we comply.
As for the idea of training all 9,000 election judges statewide, each jurisdiction in the state has its own voting system.
This necessitates that training be done by local elections offices, so that the judges will be familiar with their tasks on Election Day. Each of our 2,300 judges receives a detailed instruction manual at their training session.
As for higher pay, we agree wholeheartedly, but it is costly. Our current costs are over $190,000 each election.
We should also note that in a federal general election such as this, no local board can certify the results until the overseas absentee ballots are counted.
By Maryland law, this count cannot be undertaken until after 4 p.m. on the second Friday following the election.
Paul Revere knew the importance of an independent, well-run government. Our elections office follows in his footsteps (hoofprints).
Susan E. Bratten
Rockville
The writer is president of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors of Elections.