More humane solutions than killing deer
As a taxpayer of Howard County for nine years, I feel very strongly that I should now add my voice to that of Animal Advocates of Howard County in vehemently protesting any proposed deer hunts for the fall/winter of 1998-99.
I read in the Washington Post on Aug. 13 about a survey that revealed a big herd of deer in Howard County and the county considering another fall hunt. This action is reprehensible. Animals deserve a chance to live among us. There are many other ways to control them.
Look at the creative things Gaithersburg in Montgomery County did last year to control deer after a developer built townhouses on a large parcel. The city built a tunnel under Frederick Road (Route 355) and directed the deer, by the use of fencing, through the tunnel to fields on either side of the busy highway. It also installed along parts of the road a series of Strieter road reflectors, proven to be effective in keeping deer out of highways at night.
Research has shown other successful methods implemented by creative counties and states, such as contraception and more street lights, especially on narrow, winding roads where drivers can't see far ahead. Deer whistles attached to bumpers of cars is an experimental, cheap way of protecting the driver and the animals.
Have home owners use nearly invisible netting on shrubs. There is no reason to kill deer simply because home owners are annoyed that deer are eating their plants. That is absurd and ridiculous. It is reasonable to assume that homeowners would realize that buying a lot in a wooded area exposes them to wildlife.
Deer hunts are not the answer to preventing road accidents, Lyme disease, shrub damage, deer starvation, etc. Deer hunts are expensive to organize and implement (using taxpayer money). They are dangerous to deer and humans, as humans have been killed accidently by overzealous and/or inexperienced hunters. It is tragic to kill an adult deer who has fawns (left orphaned) and it can be destructive to the environment.
Debra Christner
Columbia
History lesson in order on racism
This is in response to Harold Jackson's column Sept. 13 in The Sun in Howard regarding the county's efforts to hire more black teachers. While his comments are generally positive in regard to the NAACP's efforts to focus the attention on the hiring practices of the school administration, his comments on timeworn tactics used by the organization seem offbase.
If you are new to the county and to Maryland, a history lesson on the practices of hiring and education of blacks here is in order.
Howard County has had a long history of discrimination as it relates to blacks. This has carried over into all the areas of government. The 1996 defeat of Donna Hill Staton for a judgeship is one indication. The hiring by the school administration of a police officer with a questionable past is another. The platform against affirmative action by county councilman Charles C. Feaga is still another. The list goes on.
Let me remind you of a statement that I heard sometime ago and that is appropriate today: "People do not do what is expected. People do when inspected." If not for the NAACP keeping a watchful eye on the activities in this country in regards to potential discrimination, we would not be where we are today.
Nat Alston
Columbia
Investigation of school hires overdue
Both Harold Jackson's column of Sept. 13 and a Sun editorial Sept. 14 ("Bias in Howard school hiring?") take the NAACP to task more for the way it made its argument than for the facts. Admittedly, the use of statistics relating hiring and staffing of African American teachers to the percentages of African-American students may not be the most appropriate statistic.
The danger in tying African-American jobs to any number is that the number becomes a ceiling rather than a floor. African-American teachers who apply should be hired even if there were no African American students. However, any statistic can be refuted with another statistic. What is more important is that where there is smoke, there is fire.
An investigation of the board's hiring, promotion and utilization practices is long overdue. Many qualified African-American countians are hired by neighboring jurisdiction after being denied employment, not even being interviewed, or told that their application was lost.
Also, there is the issue of lack of career mobility opportunities: jobs are filled that are not announced. Some non-African Americans have been hired for jobs even when they did not apply; interviewees are failed for spurious reasons; assignments are made to the so-called "black schools" because of the comfort level. The only door out of the classroom is to become a school-based administrator, regardless of one's education and certification. Finally, many African-American non-teaching personnel have been demoted or had their roles reduced through reassignment, reorganization or reclassification.
This county deserves a Board of Education that is answerable to the people. Attacking the NAACP reminds me of the adage, if you can't win on the issues, attack the person or slay the messenger if you don't like the message.
Delroy L. Cornick
Columbia
Ask to see child care license
As a licensed child care provider for nine years, I can count on one hand the number of times new clients have asked to see my license.
It is posted on the refrigerator, but I must admit, it gets lost in the artwork. It only takes a second to check, and knowing your provider is licensed saves you the worry about smoke detectors, past criminal activity of residents and a myriad of other safety rules.
Parents looking for child care, however, must also do their part. Do not ask a provider to take "just one more." Some providers cannot say "no," they're too nice, which is maybe why they are in this business. If you have a child in daycare, become pregnant and know in advance that your caregiver has no infant slots available, you have approximately eight months to find new care.
It is hard work. Maybe you love your current situation. But the minute you ask that the rules be broken for "just one more," you put your children and others in jeopardy of losing their care, not to mention the safety issues.
Connie Swedberg
Elkridge
Dashing the hopes of seniors -- again
I read with interest news of the demise of plans for relocation of the Ellicott City Senior Center in the historic and vacant firehouse on Main Street ("Parking lot halts senior center plans," Sept. 9).
The seniors have been gathering for 10 years in the "temporary" quarters of Emory United Methodist Church, also in the historic area. The relationship between the senior center and the Emory congregation has been a blessed and joyful one which the church is willing to continue.
However, the facility is not adequate to the needs of the group without the installation of a lift to the meeting space. A handicapped ramp goes to the sanctuary level only. We have been informed that a ramp to the lower level is not feasible.
Our seniors have been promised a new center with several proposals over the years, only to have their hopes dashed and their emotions stomped on by bureaucracy.
As much as Emory would regret losing the seniors, we recognize that often love means loving enough to let go. Is there a leader somewhere who recognizes that love also means caring enough to do what is right by the seniors of Ellicott City?
L. Katherine Moore
Ellicott City
The writer is pastor of Emory United Methodist Church.
Childishness about 'lies' and 'sex'
The politically charged spectacle we are witnessing is frequently distilled into one or two three-letter words, "lie" or "sex."
How childish. As young children, we typically learn that a lie is "bad" and that sex is "bad." As we mature, we learn that lying can be appropriate when the truth is blatantly unkind and sex is not always a dirty word.
We also realize that the most private part of our lives, our sex lives, is the one area in which disclosing details of our actions is often surrounded by lies, whether overstated boasts of the locker room or coverups of embarassing indiscretions.
Today, we have to reconcile these learnings with living in an expose-filled society which believes the public "needs to know" every detail, regardless of subject matter. Let's encourage our representatives in Washington to start acting like mature adults.
Should a "lie" about "sex" be turned into a "high crime and misdemeanor against the state"? Would such a decision be the action of mature, thinking leaders?
Elaine Mills
Ellicott City
Longing for the good, old days
What happened to statecraft? In the Second World War and in the '50s, people who ran the government actually cared about not ruining the country.
Now we have a president who thinks the Oval Office is a waiting room to a brothel; an independent prosecutor who could learn taste from the National Inquirer, and a Congress bent on producing days of X-rated daytime C-SPAN.
The situation calls out for a compromise, probably including a resolution of censure, a promise of transactional immunity and a quick end to the turmoil now rapidly shrinking the stature and credibility of our country in the world.
Philip L. Marcus
Ellicott City
'GOP stalwarts' behind Schrader
Harold Jackson's Sept. 20 column, "Contracting for Howard County's next executive," included a comment that characterized the "same GOP stalwarts who recruited Democrat Chuck Ecker to run for executive as a Republican" as having "no qualms about voting for the right Democrat this time."
Nothing could be further from the truth.
We are the GOP stalwarts who recruited Chuck Ecker in 1989, and we are supporting Dennis R. Schrader for county executive in 1998. We recruited Chuck Ecker because he was smart, honest and a great administrator -- the same reasons we back Mr. Schrader today.
Carol A. Arscott
Darrel Drown
Del. Robert H. Kittleman
Columbia
The writers are, respectively, Republican Party chairwoman 1986-1992; Howard County Council member in District 1, and minority leader in the Maryland House of Delegates.
Pub Date: 9/27/98