Call me a pack rat. I keep a folder on my desk filled with news clippings, reports and notes that I'm sure will one day be indispensable for an insightful editorial or stimulating column.
After four months in this job, the folder has become fat with musings that haven't quite managed to become full-fledged ideas. March is approaching and it's time for spring cleaning. Here are a few observations I've been saving:
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Maybe I'm just squeamish. But if Anne Arundel County's animal control officers have no place other than the backyard of the animal shelter to whack off the heads of cats and dogs suspected of having rabies, then I say it's time to build a new facility.
Animal Control officers complain that the current facility is completely inadequate. Sometimes animals have to be put two to a cage. There's no quarantine room when disease breaks out. Good animals have to be destroyed because there simply isn't room for them.
Most gruesome of all is that when the shelter workers collect brain tissue samples from animals, they must cut off their heads with a guillotine in the back yard. The animals first are humanely destroyed, of course, but I'd hate to happen by when workers are placing an animal's neck on the chopping block.
County Executive John G. Gary says his capital budget will fund a new shelter. Good idea.
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In the category of "What's this younger generation coming to?," James E. Rzepkowski, the 23-year-old delegate from District 32, was subjected to some good-natured ribbing from his colleagues in the county legislative delegation meeting recently. Mr. Rzepkowski was questioning Susan Gearing, president of London Town Foundation, about her group's request for a $275,000 bond to make repairs at the historic London Town Publik House south of Annapolis.
After he complimented the organization for its fine building and gardens, Mr. Rzepkowski, a capitalism-loving Republican, wanted to know if the foundation had thought about taking advantage of the property's waterfront location to raise money. "Have you thought of something like a hot dog stand?" he asked.
The image of a hot dog stand with day-glo signs advertising the prices of regular and foot-long wieners in front of the 18th century inn struck most in the delegation as amusing. Even Mr. Rzepkowski laughed once he realized how foolish it sounded. Goodness, if we allowed hot dog stands at London Town, the next thing you know someone would want to put up a sno-cone stand in Historic Annapolis!
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Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke is a multi-millionaire and, from what I've read, a crotchety old man, yet I can't help but feel a little sorry for him these days. He's had no end of troubles since he announced he wanted to build a new football stadium. First, Virginia rejected his offer, then an Anne Arundel hearing officer ruled against his plan to build a stadium in Laurel.
Mr. Cooke is appealing that decision, but he might be in a Catch-22. If he changes his plan to remedy the problems the hearing officer found, his case might be thrown out. A Circuit Court judge ruled in another matter last August that a developer appealing a hearing officer ruling cannot significantly alter the plans when he goes before the Board of Appeals. Instead of making changes to overcome the objections, a developer must submit a new plan to the hearing officer.
But while the court may determine that the revised plan is too different from the original, the hearing officer may rule that the plan is too similar. If that happens, he could require Mr. Cooke to wait 18 months before applying again for an administrative hearing.
I'm no big fan of the Redskins' stadium, but the plan they are taking to the Court of Appeals either is or isn't the same as the old one they first submitted. It can't be both.
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If Mr. Gary thought he saw fireworks when he decided to proceed with a new jail on Ordnance Road in Glen Burnie, he will be in for a full artillery bombardment if he goes along with the recommendations of the Planning Advisory Board.
The board thinks it's a waste of money to renovate the jail on Jennifer Road in Parole and suggested that two jails ought to be combined and put in Glen Burnie. No doubt this sounds good to the folks in Annapolis who hate that the U.S. 50 gateway to their beautiful city is now marred by the sight of razor wire, but I think the county ought to give Glen Burnie a break. After all, it already has to put up with more than its share of car salesmen.
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Crofton once was so trendy that it had its own mental health counselor. But lately it has started to seem more like an old-fashioned New England town. The community fired its psychologist and changed its bylaws so that taxes cannot be raised without approval from the majority of property owners. Now that's local government.
Liz Atwood is The Baltimore Sun's editorial writer in Anne Arundel County.