Bryan Sams, a self-described "concerned citizen" from Westminster, grabbed a stack of leaflets last week and headed to a community meeting where the use of drug-sniffing dogs in county high schools was to be discussed. The meeting, at North Carroll High in Hampstead, was an appropriate place, Sams thought, for handing out documents expressing his views on the importance of civil liberties.
But school officials were unnerved. Two of them threw the offending document on the briefcase of school board attorney Edmund J. O'Meally. A North Carroll assistant principal, Jeff Rodgers, confronted Sams. "This has got to be pre-approved, all literature that is going to be handed out on school property has got to be pre-approved," he said.
"That's censorship," Sams argued.
"No, that's policy," Rodgers said.
The school board lawyer advised officials to leave Sams alone. After all, he was passing out copies of the Bill of Rights, "pre-approved" 204 years ago.
Oops
An incorrect number slipped into Monday's column on Governor Glendening's shortsighted decision to abolish Maryland's Disability Assistance and Loan Program. The state, in a report issued to members of the General Assembly last week, said about 61 percent of disabled adults who receive the $157 monthly DALP grants eventually are found eligible for federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Other DALP recipients, who seek SSI with the help of the Maryland Disability Law Center, are successful about 90 percent of the time -- not 99 percent of the time, as stated here Monday. This columnist regrets the error. Too bad the governor doesn't regret his.
As for the lieutenant governor, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, perhaps she is having regrets of her own. She is hooked up with a man who, in one of his first acts as governor, cut a large hole in the state's safety net for the disabled poor. If the $34.7 million for DALP goes -- the General Assembly could restore it only by cutting something else in the state budget -- Maryland will become one of eight states without this kind of public assistance. (The others are Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming.)
The other day in Annapolis, when she was hounded by advocates for the homeless and the disabled while trying to defend the indefensible DALP cut, Townsend might have resisted wishing (and offending) everyone with a "Happy Valentine's Day." She might have been better off promising to be the governor's conscience, a voice for the helpless even if it goes unheard.
Brag at your own risk
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is mailing a new bumper sticker that goes: "Newt May Be The Speaker But He Doesn't Speak For Me!" But literate Democrats might take "acception" to the enclosed note: "Thank you for your generous support and please except this bumper sticker."
On another matter regarding bumper stickers, John S. White of Stewartstown, Pa., reports that his tolerance for a particular theme has been exhausted, and addresses this frustration in an epistle sure to delight gushy parents everywhere:
"Am I the only one out there who resents seeing 'My Kid Is An Honor Student At Blah Blah Blah High School'? Can you imagine the feelings of a motorist whose kids went to jail, or who are addicted to drugs, or were no better than losers all the way through school? Do you think they are pleased to know that the car in front of them is being operated by someone whose children did very well in school? Do you think that makes them feel better? I am just waiting for news that a parent of underachievers rammed his car into that of a bragging parent. People used to be modest about their accomplishments, but now it has become fashionable to boast outrageously about them. . . . I don't do bumper stickers but I agonized over one I saw in a store [and] came close to buying: 'My kid beat up your honor student.' . . . I suspect this is a subject that might strike a responsive chord." I suspect you're right, White.
Speaking of striking chords . . .
Most of the readers responding to my prompt said a Maryland driver who leaves keys in an unattended motor vehicle should pay a fine -- especially if the vehicle is stolen as a result. I hate to tell Rick Arnold this -- he seems like such a swell fella -- but there isn't much more than a mug full of empathy out there for him. Rick is the plumber a city cop tried to ticket for leaving keys in his truck. At the time, the truck had been stolen. Rick groused about that; he thought the cop should have been hunting for the truck instead of nagging him with the ticket business. Eventually, Rick was told he would not be ticketed. Though it is against the law to leave keys in an unattended vehicle, cops hardly ever cite people in Rick's situation. But most readers think the police should. You folks are tough.
Get ready to smile
A priest who takes daily walks through Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens -- "It's quiet there," he says -- encountered an elderly woman feeding the ducks at the pond. "Father," she said, you should see the great blue heroin over by the whippin' willow tree." . . . This Just In: A package from Jack "The Cheapest Guy In Town" Luskin -- with postage due! . . . Monday, 8:58 a.m., Beltway near Charles Street: Woman driving an aqua Dodge Shadow convertible, with the TOP DOWN! Luvya, baby, luvya!