Growth without planning

I was appalled by your recent editorial concerning the anti-growth initiative in Harford County and the group known as the Friends of Harford County. Though I am not a member of the group, as a lifelong resident of the county I have applauded its opposition to the overdevelopment in Harford County.

Harford County government has facilitated nearly unbridled growth in what had previously been a largely rural county. In doing so, county officials and developers have fueled a steady migration of Baltimore City and Baltimore County residents to Harford County, ostensibly to find a better quality of life.

The people who have moved to Harford County certainly cannot be faulted for their decision, and they would be welcome to our community if the growth that has occurred had been planned, ensuring that it did not overtax public facilities.

This newspaper and others, however, fail to recognize that politicians and developers have done almost nothing to plan for the growth that has taken place. The so-called planning often touted by government officials in Harford County consists of the creation of a "development envelope" in which most growth has been concentrated.

Within and outside that envelope, however, Harford County has experienced unbridled growth that exemplifies disconnected suburban sprawl at its worst. With that growth has come a steady deterioration in the quality of life: schools that are increasingly overcrowded and roads and other public facilities that are becoming hopelessly inadequate.

Against this backdrop, Harford County citizens have looked to county government to take action to protect the quality of life in our community. In response, however, citizens have observed politicians who make excuses and do nothing but continue to accept significant campaign contributions from the development interests they serve.

It is for this reason that citizens have lost faith that the political process will address their concerns and instead are attempting to take matters into their own hands before a worsening situation is totally out of control.

The Friends of Harford County and the tens of thousands of citizens in our community who support their efforts recognize the problems that the politicians, developers and your newspaper fail or refuse to acknowledge.

The ballot initiative recently overturned by the courts represented a dramatic expression of frustration by the citizens of Harford County who live, work and send their children to school in this community.

James E. Edwards Jr.

Forest Hill

African Americans must vote on Nov. 3

This is one of the few times when the Baltimore County Branch of the NAACP deems it necessary to issue an action alert.

The African-American community of Baltimore County is urged to mobilize its political potential by going out and voting in the general election on Nov. 3. This is a day to test its electoral strength, for much is at stake in the outcome of this election.

Voters will make choices for candidates seeking elective positions at the congressional, state and county levels. All the positions are important, but none as important for Marylanders than the governorship.

The governor proposes the state budget, which cannot be added to by the General Assembly; makes appointments to many positions, including members of the Baltimore County school board; and plays a role in legislative redistricting.

The quality of life in Maryland will be affected by the winner of the governor's race.

The political gains made by an increase in the number of African Americans in the Maryland General Assembly resulting from the last legislative redistricting could be threatened, depending on which party controls the governorship and the General Assembly. The 10th Maryland Legislative District could be wiped out.

No statewide election going into the final stretch has been as competitive as the governor's race, and our involvement could be a significant faction in its outcome.

The Baltimore County NAACP is nonpartisan so far as endorsing candidates, but that does not mean it is not political and does not understand where its interests and the interests of the African American community are.

How people vote is their choice. Nevertheless, the Baltimore County NAACP urges everyone to vote Nov. 3 and to spread the word to others.

Patricia C. Ferguson

Baltimore

The writer is president of the Baltimore County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Government intrusion at the wrong time

The Sun ran an article discussing Ellen Sauerbrey's views on reproductive freedoms and how she and her husband were unable to have children ("Sauerbrey substituted one dream for another," Oct. 4). I fail to see how the details of her family life are relevant to the discussion.

Is her history of supporting restrictions on reproductive freedom for Maryland's women supposed to be forgiveable because she is childless not by choice but by circumstance? To this voter, it's not. No legislator, whether he or she has no children or 20 children, should presume to know what is best for all women and their families when it comes to this most personal of decisions.

Much is made of Ms. Sauerbrey's adherence to the small government vision, with one huge, glaring exception -- she supports governmental intrusion into the most intimate details of a woman's life. That's a poor place for an exception.

Marcia Simonetta

Lutherville

Expression of pride not from Marylanders

I hope that Gov. Parris N. Glendening had a mouse in his pocket when he said "we are proud of you" to President Clinton and that he was not attempting to represent the views of the state. President Clinton has done nothing anyone should be proud of and Governor Glendening's statement does not reflect this Marylander's view.

Robin Andersen

Baltimore

Is The Sun part of right-wing plot?

Could it be that The Sun is a member of the vast right-wing conspiracy? Its lead editorials and reporting are obviously intended to support President Clinton and keep him in office.

Since Mr. Clinton became president, the Democratic Party has lost 52 House seats and 12 Senate seats. Also, most states have Republican governors and legislatures. Many Democrats around the country have switched party affiliation to Republican.

Clearly, it is in the Republicans' interest to keep Mr. Clinton in office. So, by keeping up the biased editorials and reporting, it is difficult to believe that The Sun is not conspiring to keep Clinton in office and do even more damage to the Democratic Party.

Kirk Q. Adams

Bel Air

Why journalists decide to print private affairs

I am writing in response to Steve Weinberg's article ("Journalists need to sift through dirt," Oct. 11). I doubt that it was Mr. Weinberg's intention, but what I derived from his article was that playing God is a dirty job.

Someone has to do it, so the task falls to journalists.

Journalists must purportedly take it upon themselves to determine whether a sufficient "connection" exists between private behavior and public performance to warrant disclosure of private dirt.

The disclosure of the details of a public figure's private behavior should be accompanied by a demonstration of why that behavior could be expected to affect public performance. If an honest and thoughtful appraisal indicates such, then so be it.

But it is particularly lame to say that if the person lies in private or even to the public about his private life, he cannot be trusted to represent and lead the public.

Where does the journalist get this from? Is it possible that he simply makes it up? Could the fact that sex sells conceivably bias an otherwise objective journalist?

I hope that the pendulum has swung so far in terms of journalistic and prosecutorial excess that the public will have had enough by the time the Clinton-Lewinsky situation is over.

Maybe Congress even sees that this is the case. It allows its

honorable members to righteously and safely stone President Clinton tonight while making plans to clamor for a return to British decency in the morning.

Evan Sage

Columbia

Did good Samaritans encounter safety concerns or bureaucratic red tape?

As an employee of the city, one of my duties is to inform the citizens of the law.

The story placed me in a shadow of telling community residents that their assistance is not required when it comes to helping clean the city. That is far from the truth.

I stated various facts to the reporter, including telling him that the area was scheduled for a second Friday cleanup.

I personally had concerns with the way the college students were dressed while tackling debris that was infested with dead rodents, used syringes and other objects that could have transmitted diseases that could have placed their lives in danger.

I felt this way not because I did not wish for them to clean the alley, but because one of the students stated -- as quoted in the article -- that they wanted to go into the vacant houses and yards to clean them, too.

Out of fear that the students could endanger their lives by entering abandoned houses, I told them that it was against the law to trespass onto those properties and stated that even the city must follow certain guidelines before entering vacant properties.

Please stress to all your reporters that unless both sides of a story are printed, reputations of credible people can easily shift. I work very hard for the citizens of our city, and I believe my reputation was tainted.

Warren Branch

Baltimore

The writer is work coordinator for the Baltimore Department of Public Works.

Thanks for the article on the students who volunteered to clean up an alley in the 2300 block of E. Chase St. ("Red tape litters effort to clean blighted alley," Oct. 10).

I was disheartened by city Department of Public Works officials' response to this great effort to do the job the department, evidently, failed to perform.

The knee-jerk response of Department of Public Works coordinator Warren Branch angered me. Mr. Branch should have cleared the red tape to allow these wonderfully motivated young people to dump the 60-odd trash bags of waste they filled.

God bless them for their sense of responsibility.

I don't live in the city, but I am concerned about people whose needs are ignored by paid officials, regardless of their status. The so-called underprivileged give up on public service agencies because they have consistently been abandoned.

Granted, the trash was produced by the people, but collection is supposed to be done routinely by paid sanitation workers. Abandoned buildings notwithstanding, garbage has to be removed to safeguard the health and welfare of the citizens who may be exposed to disease-carrying rodents.

The chief of the unit responsible for garbage removal should reprimand Mr. Branch for his erroneous, high-handed, stupid behavior.

Each of those student should receive a letter of apology from the appropriate official in city government.

I just hope their does not deter them from volunteering to help their community in the future.

I could thank them, but that's not the same thing.

The article by Jim Haner was well-written and apparently complete.

He should be commended for a job well done.

Barbara B. Smith

Columbia

I wish the mayor's response to the mix-up with the Department of Public Works and the terrific Coppin State and Morgan State students had not been so defensive and silly but was:

"Thank you for taking the initiative. The next time you want to clean an alley, call me and I'll come myself." If he hasn't, I think he should call them personally and thank them.

Carol Beck

Baltimore

The recent experience of the students who attempted to get rid of a load of trash they collected near Dr. Rayner Browne Elementary is indicative of a baffling aspect of life in Baltimore City. Where can one go to dump trash?

I recently moved into the city from northern Baltimore County. As a county resident, I could load up the car with whatever would fit in and haul it off to one of the county landfills for no charge; the only requirement was proof of residence.

Now I am in the city, and unless I make special arrangements, those cardboard boxes of broken up lathe and plaster are going to disintegrate on the curb.

The city employee at the Bowleys Lane sanitation yard who told the students that they couldn't unload their truck identified a key aspect of the garbage problem in Baltimore.

He told them that people can't just show up and dump anything they want. Well, that is exactly what we need to be able to do.

People are going to get rid of their trash somewhere.

If we don't provide a convenient place to accept the trash, then it will end up where we don't want it.

Eric Winzenburg

Baltimore

We were shocked and disappointed when we read about the city's response to four college students who spent a rainy day cleaning up a syringe-filled, rat-infested, garbage-ladened alley, lTC through which young schoolchildren walk daily on their way to school.

These students were exercising the greatest of responsibilities, the responsibility of citizenship. They were demonstrating concern for the children and for the neighborhood.

While the press is bemoaning the loss of democracy because of low voter turnout, these four students were demonstrating democracy at work.

What a shame that city government is the obstacle rather than the vehicle for democracy.

We have these recommendations for the mayor:

1. Apologize to the four students for the anti-citizen behavior of city officials.

2. Thank the students for identifying problems in the city bureaucracy, which inhibit citizen and neighborhood self-help.

3. Publicly recognize the students for their initiative and leadership in demonstrating what all of us should be doing.

Karen Cook

Richard Cook

Baltimore

It's nice to know the mayor is concerned about the four students who volunteered their time and money to make a difference on one city alley.

They, and all the people who helped them, are shining examples that make every city resident proud.

Now, what needs to occur for the mayor to have the same concern for the children who have to walk through that alley every day?

Tony Scuto

Baltimore