Here's the link to today's column. I've been working on this story, off and on, over three months, watching Howard Fry's progress, or lack of it, in finding a new place to live, learning more about him and his relationship with his mother. It's a complex story, and I arrived, with summer intern Rafi Tamargo, some 18 months after the brutal crime. So it's been a challenge to understand who Howard Fry is now compared to the Howard Fry with hands and legs. Had he not been attacked in so brutal a way, Howard would likely be living on the margins, but independently so.

The bit about crime victim's compensation is a joke -- the state couldn't find a 100 bucks to send this man's way.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

A journalist colleague and history buff, big fan of Ken Burns, had this to say about The War: "First episode was flat, dull and ponderous. Very, very disappointing." Yeah, and no George Will waxing poetic about major league baseball during the war years.

From Diane Holloway, writing in the American Statesman: "It's too long, too slow and too ponderous. Burns needs an editor in the worst possible way. His latest offering, which he has described grandly as 'an epic poem,' could have been a deeply moving, thought-provoking film at about four to six hours in length.  . . . Instead, he wanders off into hours and hours of retelling history, bouncing between the Pacific and the European fronts and getting bogged down in details that have little to do with the vets or their hometowns. He gets sidetracked covering ground that's already been covered (and covered better in some cases) in films such as 'Saving Private Ryan,' 'The Thin Red Line,' 'Band of Brothers,' 'Flags of Our Fathers,' 'Letters from Iwo Jima' and 'Schindler's List' and Tom Brokaw's seminal book, 'The Greatest Generation.'' If Burns had maintained his focus, 'The War' could have been brilliant."

From another blog: "Basically another greatest generation pledge drive bonanza for PBS."

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 6:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

From Dick Parsons:

I have been reading with interest the discusssion about Little Taverns. The Baltimore County Public Library Library has an image of the one at 25th and Greenmount, dated 1979.  We don't have one of the Little Tavern at 6414 Holabrid Avenue. I  think that I will send someone out to photograph it.  We do have an image of the Circle Drive-In at 535 Dundalk Avenue from the 1980's. You might pass the word on to Todd Holden and Cadet Third Class Matt  "Papa" Peck about the Greenmount Avenue image. If they are interested, please ask them to e.mail me at rparsons@bcpl.net . While the item is new to our holdings and not yet scanned, I will hurry up the process so that I can e.mail  them  a scan if they want one.     

Here's my original column, from 2003:

Little Tavern shops, burgers retain charm of nostalgia
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published on Thursday, December 4, 2003
© 2003 The Baltimore Sun

   DURING A road trip down scenic Route 1 the other day, I looked up just long
enough to notice a familiar white building with a green roof and rusty neon
signs among the rug-remnant stores, old motels and car dealers in Laurel -- a
Little Tavern shop, neither vacant nor covered with graffiti.
   That was worth a U-turn.
   This Little Tavern was open for business.
   It had not been transformed into a Swedish bookstore.
   It had not been seized by a church group for Sunday meetings.
   Nor had it been spruced up with new awnings and turned into a sub shop.
   This Little Tavern appeared to be what it always was - the original
American hamburger joint where the waitress still calls you "Hon" and a sign
still suggests that you "Buy 'em by the bag." (Bag of 12 burgers now costs
$7.79.)
   Sherman, set the Wayback Machine to, say, 1963!
   Here we find dozens of Little Tavern shops throughout Maryland, from
Baltimore to Silver Spring. They all look about the same, too -- narrow
structures with faux-cottage fronts, white brick or white metal trimmed in red
or green, situated on odd-shaped lots, sometimes squeezed between larger
buildings like Monopoly houses.
   Inside, there's lots of stainless steel, but no grill. There's white tile
on the floor. There are a few stools for customers, and a takeout counter. A
sign above the work area says, "Please pay when served." College kids and
late-shift workers crowd the place at midnight. Guys who suffered heavy losses
at the racetrack stop in for a cheap supper. The windows are coated in steam
on a winter night.
   Little Tavern shops sprouted out of the Depression and represented the
first phase of fast food in mid-20th century America. Customers could count on
finding them -- and other chain restaurants, White Castle and White Tower --
when they traveled from city to city, and the burgers would taste the same
everywhere.
   There are thousands of baby boomers who remember visiting these places and
eating the half-dollar-size Little Tavern hamburgers, steamy-warm inside a
soft roll, with a pickle and a sprinkling of onion.
   Little Taverns slowly disappeared, or new owners transformed them to suit
their needs. You can still find some around Baltimore, in various states of
transformation, and there are two still open for business here -- one on
Eastern Avenue, another on Holabird Avenue. There's a seasonal Little Tavern
in Ocean City.
   But only one, the Little Tavern on Route 1 in Laurel, apparently sticks to
the simple formula that made LT famous to begin with -- hamburgers ready to
eat, cheap and genuine American comfort food.
   "We wanted to keep what the founding fathers established," says Alfred Roy,
who owns the two LTs in Baltimore and the one in Laurel, and speaks of the
establishment of Little Taverns in the 1920s the way some patriots speak of
the birth of the nation. "We're saving a piece of history."
   The historic authenticity of the Laurel eatery derives, in part, from the
fact that there is no deep fryer on the premises there. So you can't get
french fries, and the place never has that gag-greasy McDonald's smell. And
you won't find a waitress with plastic gloves fixing subs. There's no
Vegetarian Delight on the menu, no salads.
   It's just burgers. (OK, you can get a few other simple sandwiches, if you
insist upon it, and a cookie, or a doughnut, but not much else.)
   It's the burgers I saw being consumed in impressive quantities when I
stopped in for lunch twice this week. Working men in winter overalls, men from
vans with PVC pipe and ladders on their roofs, traveling salesmen in suits,
men in biker duds and full-body tattoos, local businessmen and senior citizens
for whom a stop at Little Tavern appeared to be daily ritual.
   "I want one burger with one extra pickle and extra onions," said a man who
had exact change for his snack in hand.
   Most people seemed to buy at least three burgers at a time -- for $1.99.
   "The biggest order I ever had was for 240 little burgers," says Carol
Mitchell, who runs the 24-hour shop during the day. "It was for a nostalgia
party, a '60s party ... .
   "I have customers from West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania who go out
of their way to come here," says Mitchell, who has worked at the Laurel shop
for 12 years and called me "Hon," "Honey" and "Darlin'" interchangeably.
   Nostalgia without question is what drives some people to the Little Tavern.
That's part of the comfort you get from this indulgence - the idea that a
small, handmade hamburger can taste just as it did 20 or 30 or even 40 years
ago, the years having added no pretense, or even french fries.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 5:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

All due respect to The Greatest Generation, but this story has been told -- over and over again. And there have been some great efforts across the years in books and documentaries and feature film. You can look it up. Do we need to go over World War II yet again?

The Ken Burns thing -- the style and form of documentary -- hey, it's great. Love the guy. Love his work. The Civil War was tour de force. It's practically un-American, and perhaps downright philistine, to feel otherwise. But this time around, with this particular subject, the form has become stale and the pretentiousness is extra thick.  . . .  Why, my good fellow, if Ken Burns hasn't made a film about World War II, it just hasn't been done.

Excuse me, but it has.

Plenty.

And, based on what we saw last night, at least as well.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

More on Little Tavern from Todd Holden in Harford County:

Dan...

Al Roy is in the Dundalk Tavern nearly every day, watching while the ladies hand make the burgers from freshly ground beef... I think he only has the two, as you mentioned...it’s all over when he decides to hang it up...a great guy, very down to earth and his background is a story in itself.   Don’t really know him that well, just whenever I get within ten miles of his Dundalk shop, well, you know how it is with the lure of the Little Tavern...

Just have to stop... My dad and me would always hit the Little Tavern on Greenmount ave. whenever  we visited folks from Harford county in Union Memorial Hospital lo those many years ago... And during night school, the Tavern on Old Joppa road across from Hersh’s Orchard Inn ...was a regular stop for a ‘bagful’... Great place...an icon, like Pollock Johnnies...all ploughed under by the corps...

Cheers...

Let's help this cadet out with his questions.

I recently came across an archived story about the Little Tavern Shop in Laurel, MD that you had written and would like to ask for some further information. I realize the story was written over five years ago. However, since you are from the area I was wondering if you still frequent the shop? Actually, I guess it would be more fitting to ask if the shop is still open. You had said in your article that the owner Alfred Roy owns two shops in the area. Where is the other shop? And finally do you have any further information on the “seasonal” shop located in Ocean City? Thank you for your time and consideration on this matter.

Very Respectfully,
Cadet Third Class Matt "Papa" Peck
United States Air Force Academy - 2010
Cadet Squadron Thirty - Knights
Communications Clerk
USAFA Curling Club CIC
FearTheDodo.com

Dear Papa (may I call you that?): I think Roy's second shop, at least at the time, was in the Dundalk area of Baltimore County. I believe the one in Laurel is still open, but might have changed hands in the last couple of years. I'd need to check. Maybe my readers can help with your question about the one in Ocean City. I know there's one downy ocean, I just never get to O.C.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

I said this a few years ago, and yesterday's story on the juvenile crab stock in the bay prompts me to say it again: Place a one-year moratorium on crabbing; tell the watermen to find something else to do for 365 days because, if we don't do something soon, they'll be out of business for good. Many have already put their pots in storage because of what's been happening out there.

"Perilously close to collapse" is how the Chesapeake Bay Foundation characterized the crab population more than a decade ago. A moratorium saved the rockfish; it can save the blue crab. (And spare me the argument that the rockfish resurgence has destroyed the crab population; humans will take close to 50 million pounds of crabs out of the bay this year.)

All things considered -- the demand for crabs and the amount of population growth in Maryland and Virginia, the decline of bay grasses, the repeated warnings of biologists -- I don't think this is an extreme measure.

From my Sun column, 1999:
Even watermen in Virginia think there's a problem with crabs.
   Let me repeat that: Even watermen in Virginia think there's a problem with
crabs.
   The term "hardhead" refers to two things in the Chesapeake -- the Atlantic
croaker, a fish of the family Sciaenidae that emits a croaking noise, and
Virginia watermen. Those guys have for years resisted anyone, especially
biologists from Maryland, who dared suggest they significantly restrict
harvest for the sake of conserving a fishery.
   But now they're getting the message that Maryland watermen have been slowly
coming to accept: We've exploited the blue crab. It's time to lay off for a
while. Even a moratorium on harvesting shouldn't be out of the question.
   Do I exaggerate?
   I just go by what the scientists have been telling us for a while now. They
have a pretty good track record of figuring these things out.
   "Perilously close to collapse" is how the Chesapeake Bay Foundation
characterized the blue crab population four years ago, when it called for a
year-round deep-water sanctuary -- a no-catch zone -- from the Bay Bridge to
Cape Henry.
   A survey by Maryland's Department of Natural Resources in the winter of
1998 found the number of young crabs below average.
   Last spring, a report from the Chesapeake Bay Program concluded that the
bay's crab population was "fully exploited."
   Last summer, Maryland recorded its worst crab harvest on record -- and
that's with 26 million pounds taken to the dock.
   In Virginia, crabbers took a paltry 35 million pounds out of the bay and
then, as usual, went after crabs over the winter, dredging the mud in the
mouth of the bay where the critters hibernate. The winter harvest in Virginia
was "disappointing," we're told.
   So even in Virginia they're concerned.
   Remarkably, watermen down there asked the commonwealth to stop issuing new
crabbing licenses, and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission obliged with a
one-year moratorium.
   That's good news (especially if you already have a crabbing license). It
shows some growth in thinking. For years the mentality has been: These things
go in cycles, the crabs will come back, bureaucrats and biologists ought to
stop micromanaging and leave the watermen alone.
   But let's face it: Aggressive harvests, year after year, combined with
other factors -- loss of vital bay grasses in the great crab nursery of
Tangier Sound, resurgence of the crab-crunching rockfish -- lead to a
dwindling crab population.
   So the consistently bad news -- just recently, a reported 30 percent loss
in bay grasses in Tangier -- is enough to convince me to pull out of the crab
market. I don't eat them. My boycott started in August and, except for a minor
slip to sample crab soup at Peerce's Plantation, it's held. I haven't put a
chicken neck on a line for a couple of summers.
   Of course, it's not like the situation is dire. You can get crabs. When the
Chesapeake harvest doesn't meet demand, wholesalers get crabs from North
Carolina and the Gulf states. If you have friends visiting Baltimore and their
hearts are set on eating steamed crabs, and you're willing to pay the high
market price -- $25 a dozen steamed, I heard the other day -- you can get your
fill.
   But unless you ask, you don't know if you're getting a Chesapeake crab or
an import.
   Personally, I don't want the imports. Our restaurants and seafood markets
shouldn't have to rely on them. I want the blue crab to come back in big
numbers in a thriving Chesapeake, our home waters, and at $12 a dozen.
   That's why I'm taking a break from crab houses for the rest of the year.
   Am I saving the bay?
   I figure it this way: I've eaten my fill of Maryland crabs over the past 22
years, I can lay off for one. It might help. Maybe others will think about it.
   This is a way of saying to the people who make these decisions: If you want
to cut back dramatically on the crab harvest in Maryland, it's OK. Forget the
politics. Shorten the season, retire some commercial licenses. Do it, if you
think it'll make a difference.
   If the short-term result is fewer crabs to market, fine. We'll get by. If
we want Chesapeake crabs in big supply and at reasonable prices for years to
come, then we should support efforts to temporarily but significantly restrict
the harvest. For consumers, that means resting our mallets for a while.
   Nutria, anyone? Tastes just like chicken.

 

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Thank you

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 1:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

 . . . has died at the age of 84. No record of any last words.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Our president is such a low brow. (I thought dufus was a better word, but a couple of readers objected, so, out of respect to them and the office of the President of the United States, I'll refrain from calling W. a dufus today.)

Still, he did it again: He said "John" Hopkins twice during yesterday's White House ceremony honoring the Blue Jays men's lacrosse champions.  (Bush didn’t quite pronounce “Pietramala” correctly, but we can give him a pass on that.)  In 2005, when the Blue Jays assembled for presidential recognition, Bush also called their university -- one of the finest in the nation -- John Hopkins.

Listen here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/09/20070921-7.html

The White House transcript compilers cleaned it up again, too.  I wonder if they went back and changed “Mission Accomplished” to read, “Here’s another fine mess….”

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 7:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

The Hopkins lacrosse team is set to go to the White House on Friday, along with other NCAA championship teams, to be honored in a ceremony with President Bush. The Blue Jays were last there in ’05 -- the year of the Northwestern women's team flip-flop flap -- and W. referred to "John" Hopkins three times when citing the team’s national championship. The White House press office cleaned it up in its transcript of the president’s remarks, but every Hopkins person who heard him -- everyone with a pulse, actually -- winced.

The burning question now: Will the Leader of the Free World again botch the name of one of his country's leading universities? He has a history of being unable to get this right. I'm told that early in his presidency, he visited Hopkins Hospital for some event and called it "John Hopkins" then. Does anybody at the White House tell the president he's a dufus?

We'll be watching Friday, and listening.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 8:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Kurt Kolaja's fine documentary, Charlie Obert's Barn, has been included in the Bend Film Festival in Bend, Oregon. The film had its public rollout at the Maryland Film Festival. I don't know why it hasn't aired on public TV in Pennsylvania or Maryland. It should.

His Dutch ancestors erected Charlie Obert's barn on a farm in Crawford
County, northwestern Pennsylvania, some time in the early 19th century. Some
time in the late 20th century, Charlie Obert's grandson took the barn apart
with the idea of turning it into a new house on Maryland's Eastern Shore, 426
miles away. And sometime in the early 21st century - about six months ago -
the grandson finished a delightful documentary film that tells the whole
story.
   The documentary was years in the making.
    The house still isn't quite finished.
   But that's OK. Labors of love, like the families that inspire them, have a
tendency to go on and on - and in the Oberts' case, it took six generations of
farmers and one generation of filmmaker to get the story to this point.
   Kolaja's film is a gem. It chronicles the barn's abandonment, its
disassembly and its reincarnation as a house for duppies (displaced urban
professionals) on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Kolaja is smart and
experienced with the camera, but he's also a witty writer. His prose style
walks up to folksy then backs off before it's too late. His name is Kolaja
(pronounced Ko-lie-ya), after all, not Keillor.
   Now for the disclaimer: I have known Kurt Kolaja long enough that I am
still allowed to call him Skippy.
   It seems to me that he has been working on the documentary about his
grandfather's barn since the mid-1980s, when I first knew him, but it turns
out the project has been in Kolaja's mind's eye longer than that.
   Indeed, some moving images of the late Charlie Obert appear in the
documentary briefly; these scenes of the old dairy farmer were shot on film in
the 1970s, back when Kolaja worked for a TV station in Erie, Pa., and the
promise of "Film at 11!" was real.
   Kolaja, still as playful and as mischievous as a teenager, is old enough to
have straddled the film-video-digital generations of television news. All
forms of motion picture appear in Charlie Obert's Barn.
   When I first met Kolaja, he was shooting news and sports video in Baltimore
for WBAL-TV, back in its Action News days. ("Look for us, we'll be there/
Action News is everywhere/ from the Allegany Mountains, down to the Eastern
Shore ...")
   He moved to other TV news jobs and, eventually, to the freelance market.
For a time, he specialized in shooting those friends-you-can-turn-to
commercials for TV news operations around the country, from Atlanta to
Altoona. (In Altoona, Kolaja once made a promotion for a TV station attached
to a pretzel factory.)
   We have kept in touch for years. He, his wife and daughter left Baltimore
in the 1990s and they ended up buying waterfront land in Chestertown. It was
around that time that I started hearing about the barn and the house, Kolaja's
opus.
   This was all part of his effort to preserve something that easily could
have been lost - his grandfather's barn, a hemlock-and-oak heirloom up in
Crawford County, near Lake Erie.
   Charlie Obert was the real deal, a dairy farmer who did not own a car and
hardly ever left his cows. When he and his wife had to visit nearby family on
a holiday, they went by Farmall tractor.
   What happened to the Obert farm in the years after Charlie's death in 1983
was typical: An heir decided to sell it. There would not be a seventh
generation of Obert farmers, a fact that caused some hard feelings in the
family, deftly documented by Kolaja.
   The new owners, who planned to turn the Obert place into a nursery and
Christmas tree farm, wanted no part of the old barn. They intended to tear it
down.
   That's when Kurt Kolaja decided to save it - or at least save what was
salvageable.
   Using pieces of the old barn to build a new house became his dream.
   He hooked up with a Pennsylvania architectural preservationist and
carpenter named Gary Coburn, and Coburn agreed to take the barn apart for
future use.
   Kolaja figures Coburn was able to save about 80 percent of the old framing,
most of it hemlock and poplar timbers that had been hewn by hand nearly 200
years ago and locked together with wooden pegs. A lot of the siding was set
aside for use as cabinets and doors in Kolaja's new house. In all, about 3,000
square feet of Charlie Obert's Barn went to the Eastern Shore.
   Coburn's craftsmanship made the new house possible; he cut and fit the
salvaged timbers and he raised the frame in place on Kolaja's property in
Chestertown. Few other contractors wanted anything to do with the project;
they did not find it interesting or challenging, and gave firm refusal to the
opportunity.
   My old friend Kurt Kolaja ended up doing a lot of the interior carpentry
himself, and he documented the whole thing with his cameras. The result is an
amusing and happy film - and a pretty good house.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 6:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Al Pacino as Slade in Scent of a Woman:

No, I'm just gettin' warmed up. I don't know who went to this place, William Howard Taft, William Jennings Bryan, William Tell -- whoever. Their spirit is dead -- if they ever had one -- it's gone. You're building a rat ship here. A vessel for sea goin' snitches. And if you think your preparing these minnows for manhood you better think again. Because I say you are killing the very spirit this institution proclaims it instills! What a sham. What kind of a show are you guys puttin' on here today. I mean, the only class in this act is sittin' next to me. And I'm here to tell ya this boy's soul is intact. It's non-negotiable. You know how I know? Someone here -- and I'm not gonna say who -- offered to buy it. Only Charlie here wasn't sellin'.

Trask: Sir, you are out of order!

Slade: Outta order? I'll show you outta order! You don't know what outta order is, Mr. Trask! I'd show you but I'm too old; I'm too tired; I'm too f--' blind. If I were the man I was five years ago I'd take a FLAME-THROWER to this place! Outta order. Who the hell you think you're talkin' to? I've been around, you know? There was a time I could see. And I have seen boys like these, younger than these, their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there isn't nothin' like the sight of an amputated spirit; there is no prosthetic for that. You think you're merely sendin' this splendid foot-soldier back home to Oregon with his tail between his legs, but I say you are executin' his SOUL!! And why?! Because he's not a Baird man! Baird men, ya hurt this boy, you're going to be Baird Bums, the lot of ya. And Harry, Jimmy, Trent, wherever you are out there . . . . you too!

Mr. Trask: Stand down, Mr. Slade!

Slade: I'm not finished! As I came in here, I heard those words, "cradle of leadership." Well, when the bow breaks, the cradle will fall. And it has fallen here; it has fallen. Makers of men; creators of leaders; be careful what kind of leaders you're producin' here. I don't know if Charlie's silence here today is right or wrong.

I'm not a judge or jury. But I can tell you this: he won't sell anybody out to buy his future!! And that, my friends, is called integrity! That's called courage! Now that's the stuff leaders should be made of. Now I have come to the crossroads in my life. I always knew what the right path was. Without exception, I knew. But I never took it. You know why? It was too damn hard. Now here's Charlie. He's come to the crossroads. He has chosen a path. It's the right path. It's a path made of principle -- that leads to character. Let him continue on his journey.

  You hold this boy's future in your hands, committee. It's a valuable future. Believe me. Don't destroy it! Protect it. Embrace it. It's gonna make ya proud one day -- I promise you.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Paul Newman, as Frank Galvin, in my favorite Newman film, "The Verdict."

Here's the closing argument:

Well...You know, so much of the time we're just lost. We say, "Please, God, tell us what is right. Tell us what is true."

I mean there is no justice. The rich win; the poor are powerless. We become tired of hearing people lie. And after a time we become dead, a little dead. We think of ourselves as victims -- and we become victims. We become weak; we doubt ourselves; we doubt our beliefs; we doubt our institutions; and we doubt the law.

But today you are the law. You are the law, not some book, not the lawyers, not a marble statue, or the trappings of the court. See, those are just symbols of our desire to be just. They are, in fact, a prayer, I mean a fervent and a frightened prayer.

In my religion, they say, "Act as if you had faith; faith will be given to you."

If we are to have faith in justice we need only to believe in ourselves and act with justice. See, I believe there is justice in our hearts.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 7:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Send us your faves. Here are more:

Peggy Lee's imbibing character says:
"Be right along--soon's I have a nightcap."
Response: "Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?"
She says: "I always start around noon, in case it gets dark early."
                                                                      -- from Pete Kelly's Blues

          "Most of the miseries of the world were caused by wars. And when the wars were over, no one ever knew what they were about."
                                                   -- Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes in Gone With the Wind.
 
          "Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped."
                                           --Groucho Marx as Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush  in A Day at the Races.

          "He doesn't deserve the chair. They ought to fry him standing up."
                                                -- Tough manicurist in 1936 Cary Grant crime movie, Big Brown Eyes

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 7:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Non-fatal shootings of juveniles in Baltimore, through mid-August 2007

Date          Status Motive        Victim's Name Sex Race Age Place Occurred
1/2/2007 Closed Unknown   Timothy Watson, Jr. Male Black 16 100 N BELNORD AV
1/5/2007 Closed Other        Kieth White Male Black 17 1100 E BELVEDERE AV
1/5/2007 Closed Other       Jerrod Allen Male Black 15 1100 E BELVEDERE AV
1/5/2007 Closed Unknown   Lafawn Anderson Male Black 15 1100 E BELVEDERE AV
1/5/2007 Closed Other        Devin Edmonds Male Black 16 1100 E BELVEDERE AV
1/15/2007 Open Unknown   Troy Walker Male Black 16 2900 EDISON HWY
1/15/2007 Open Unknown    Trayontay Johnson Male Black 14 2900 EDISON HWY
1/15/2007 Closed Argument   Sydney Roberts Female Black 17 3700 PARK HEIGHTS AV
1/20/2007 Closed Unknown   Timothy Jackson Male Black 17 1919 N BROADWAY
1/24/2007 Closed Unknown   Tavon Brown Male Black 16 1200 N LUZERNE AV
1/28/2007 Opent Neighbor     Shawn Galloway Male Black 17 2400 SOUTHERN AV
2/3/2007 Closed Argument    Dougles Brown Male Black 12 400 N EAST AV
2/3/2007 Closed Unknown     Darius Graves Male Black 16 3000 ARUNAH AV
2/9/2007 Open Robbery        William Carter Male Black 14 3300 PIEDMONT AV
2/17/2007 Closed Argument   Troy Moore Jr. Male Black 16 700 N WOODINGTON RD
2/21/2007 Closed Unknown   Donnell Haley Male Black 17 2100 WOODBOURNE AV
2/24/2007 Open Retaliation  Carlos Chase Male Black 16 2100 W LAFAYETTE AV
3/11/2007 Closed Robbery    Curtis Bailey Male Black 17 1800 BLOOMINGDALE RD
3/11/2007 Closed Robbery     Robert Bailey Male Black 16 1800 BLOOMINGDALE RD
3/17/2007 Closed Retaliation  Dionta Epps Male Black 14 5200 ELMER AV
3/18/2007 Closed Unknown     Randolph Shelton Male Black 17 2700 ST LO DR
3/19/2007 Closed Unknown     Keon Lashley Male Black 16 200 AISQUITH ST
3/19/2007 Closed Unknown     Terrell Harvey Male Black 17 200 AISQUITH ST
3/19/2007 Closed Unknown      Melvin Beckett Male Black 13 2700 HUGO AV
4/1/2007 Closed Unknown       Rahlyl Ford Male Black 17 2600 LOYOLA NORTHWAY
4/1/2007 Closed Unknown       Terry Wells Male Black 16 2600 LOYOLA NORTHWAY
4/9/2007 Open Robbery          Carrington Sturgis Male Black 16 2431 CALLOW AV
4/10/2007 Closed Drug Dispute Kennis Lambert Male Black 17 6200 PLANTVIEW WY
4/11/2007 Open Other              Monae Hinton Female Black 16 2500 REISTERSTOWN RD
4/12/2007 Closed Argument      Antoinette Carrington Female Black 15 1700 N BRADFORD ST
4/12/2007 Closed Argument     Betty Garris Female Black 14 1700 N BRADFORD ST
4/12/2007 Closed Argument     Michael Duke Male Black 10 1700 N BRADFORD ST
4/13/2007 Closed Unintended  Trayon Briscoe Male Black 11 1500 MC KEAN AV
4/15/2007 Closed Unknown      Gerald Jones Male Black 17 2300 MILLIMAN ST
4/15/2007 Closed Unknown      Robert Perlie Male Black 16 6200 CARDIFF AV
4/20/2007 Open Argument      Keyonna Christian Female Black 13 600 BRADDISH AV
4/21/2007 Closed Unknown      Demarris Johnson Male Black 14 6800 FAIT AV
4/23/2007 Open Robbery         Cameron Williams Male Black 15 1500 PENNSYLVANIA AV
4/24/2007 Closed Argument  Shawn Reid Male Black 17 200 N SMALLWOOD ST
4/24/2007 Open Unknown      Martaz Richardson Male Black 17 800 WASHBURN AV
4/25/2007 Closed Unknown  Brandon Lucas Male Black 16 1533 HOMESTEAD ST
4/25/2007 Closed Unknown  Carnell Nibblins Male Black 14 1533 HOMESTEAD ST
4/25/2007 Closed Unknown  Brian Harrell Male Black 17 1533 HOMESTEAD ST
4/28/2007 Closed Argument  Dominique West Male Black 17 1700 MONTPELIER ST
5/7/2007 Closed Robbery      Niko Colbert Male Black 16 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AV
5/7/2007 Closed Unknown      Troy Generette Male Black 17 1139 POPLAR GROVE ST
5/22/2007 Closed Unintended Kenneth Thompson Male Black 6 1500 PENNSYLVANIA AV
5/23/2007 Open Unknown       Rayner Waller Male Black 17 300 N EUTAW ST
5/26/2007 Open Unknown       Donnell Myers Male Black 17 1800 N MONTFORD AV
5/28/2007 Open Unknown       Marcus Taylor Male Black 17 1200 W CROSS ST
6/3/2007 Open Other              Alonzo Coley Male Black 17 2900 ARUNAH AV
6/4/2007 Closed Unknown       Tiffany Waterbury Female White 17 6800 FAIRLAWN AV
6/5/2007 Open Unintended      Donte Lee Male Black 4 2237 CORONA CT
6/7/2007 Open Unknown         Michael Holt Male Black 17 900 POPLAR GROVE ST
6/9/2007 Open Unknown         Devin Jones Male Black 14 3000 STRANDEN RD
6/9/2007 Open Unknown         Shawn Smith Male Black 17 1800 POPLAR GROVE ST
6/9/2007 Open Unknown         Donell Barksdale Male Black 17 1800 POPLAR GROVE ST
6/10/2007 Open Robbery        Antoine Martin Male Black 16 4011 EDMONDSON AV
6/11/2007 Open Other           Ernest Sims Jr. Male Black 17 3000 WESTWOOD AV
6/17/2007 Open Unknown       Dajuan King Male Black 17 200 S STRICKER ST
6/20/2007 Open Unknown      Micah Mayne Male Black 16 5600 SEFTON AV
6/23/2007 Open Argument     Martell Whitaker Male Black 17 4400 CHATHAM RD
6/29/2007 Open Unknown    Derronte Bonner Male Black 16 500 N LINWOOD AV
7/2/2007 Open Unknown      Bernard Bell Male Black 16 5500 GWYNN OAK AV
7/11/2007 Open Unknown   Donte Johnson Male Black 16 2600 DULANY ST
7/16/2007 Open Unknown   Jamaal Jones Male Black 15 1600 MOSHER ST
7/17/2007 Open Unknown   Deonta Johnson Male Black 17 1900 W NORTH AV
7/17/2007 Open Unknown   Paige Bryant Female Black 15 1900 W NORTH AV
7/24/2007 Closed Neighbor   Nicholas Brawner Male Black 14 1 W JEFFREY ST
7/24/2007 Closed Neighbor  Brian Brawner Male Black 17 1 W JEFFREY ST
7/26/2007 Open Argument   Wayne Jamison Male Black 17 3924 REISTERSTOWN RD
8/12/2007 Open Unknown    David Epps Male Black 16 1400 N CAROLINE ST

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Juvenile homicides in Baltimore, through August 12, 2007

5/23/2007 Open Unknown  Rayner Waller Male Black 17 300 N EUTAW ST
5/26/2007 Open Unknown  Donnell Myers Male Black 17 1800 N MONTFORD AV
5/28/2007 Open Unknown  Marcus Taylor Male Black 17 1200 W CROSS ST
6/3/2007 Open   Other      Alonzo Coley Male Black 17 2900 ARUNAH AV
6/4/2007 Closed Unknown Tiffany Waterbury Female White 17 6800 FAIRLAWN AV
6/5/2007 Open   Unintended Victim   Donte Lee Male Black 4 2237 CORONA CT
6/7/2007 Open   Unknown Michael Holt Male Black 17 900 POPLAR GROVE ST
6/9/2007 Open   Unknown Devin Jones Male Black 14 3000 STRANDEN RD
6/9/2007 Open   Unknown Shawn Smith Male Black 17 1800 POPLAR GROVE ST
6/9/2007 Open   Unknown Donell Barksdale Male Black 17 1800 POPLAR GROVE ST
6/10/2007 Open Robbery  Antoine Martin Male Black 16 4011 EDMONDSON AV
6/11/2007 Open Other      Ernest Sims Jr. Male Black 17 3000 WESTWOOD AV
6/17/2007 Open Unknown Dajuan King Male Black 17 200 S STRICKER ST
6/20/2007 Open Unknown Micah Mayne Male Black 16 5600 SEFTON AV
6/23/2007 Open Argument Martell Whitaker Male Black 17 4400 CHATHAM RD
6/29/2007 Open Unknown Derronte Bonner Male Black 16 500 N LINWOOD AV
7/2/2007 Open Unknown   Bernard Bell Male Black 16 5500 GWYNN OAK AV
7/11/2007 Open Unknown Donte Johnson Male Black 16 2600 DULANY ST
7/16/2007 Open Unknown Jamaal Jones Male Black 15 1600 MOSHER ST
7/17/2007 Open Unknown Deonta Johnson Male Black 17 1900 W NORTH AV
7/17/2007 Open Unknown Paige Bryant Female Black 15 1900 W NORTH AV
7/24/2007 Closed Neighborhood   Nicholas Brawner Male Black 14 1 W JEFFREY ST
7/24/2007 Closed Neighborhood   Brian Brawner Male Black 17 1W JEFFREY ST
7/26/2007 Open Argument           Wayne Jamison Male Black 17 3924 REISTERSTOWN RD
8/12/2007 Open Unknown            David Epps Male Black 16 1400 N CAROLINE ST

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Here's one of mine. Please send us yours.....

"Alright, listen up, people. Our fugitive has been on the run for 90 minutes. Average foot speed over uneven ground barring injuries is 4 miles-per-hour. That gives us a radius of six miles. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area. Checkpoints go up at fifteen miles. Your fugitive's name is Dr. Richard Kimble. Go get him."
                             Tommy Lee Jones as Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard, The Fugitive

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Here's a particularly cynical perspective on the murders in Baltimore. Written in response to Thursday's column, it's from a reader who lives in Howard County, far from the madness:

I read your column and agree with a good deal of what you say. We do seem to be dealing with a suicidal generation bent on its own destruction. I have come to believe, skeptic that I am, that this is a lost generation and not worth saving because of the damage it does to itself and innocent bystanders like Christopher Clarke. I think that the best thing we can do for this generation is to teach its members how to shoot so that they can more effectively wipe each other out without harming innocent bystanders. If we can teach these people how to shoot they will surely eliminate themselves, with some help from the police, and the problem will be solved. I am aware of the fact that my solution is somewhat draconian in nature but frankly I am fed up with reading the daily murder statistics and seeing innocent people suffer. The time has come to take drastic action and teach these thugs to shoot so they cane wipe themselves out. I believe that this will improve the quality of life in Baltimore.

Sincerely,

Edward G. Daniels
Ellicott City, MD

 

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 7:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Can't believe it's been 10 years since I wrote this . . .

Yearly act of faith links worship, nature

First published Friday, October 3, 1997
© 1997 The Baltimore Sun

    They stepped through thick grass washed in soft October light, picked a
spot in the shade of maple trees along Cross Country Boulevard and cast their
sins onto the little creek below. The man and the woman, both of them in dark
clothing and both holding prayer books, walked to the creek from Park Heights
Avenue late yesterday afternoon to take part in a brief ritual of Rosh
Hashana, an exquisitely simple and symbolic custom called Tashlikh.
     Others came -- whole families of Orthodox Jews observing their New Year on
a perfect autumn day, full of sunlight and long shadows. They stood below the
fading leaves of the trees that border Western Run, some of them at the
bridges that cross the creek, others along its banks. For years, Taney Road at
Western Run has been one of the most popular spots for the observance of
Tashlikh in Northwest Baltimore.
    The Tashlikh custom, which arose during the Middle Ages, was derived from
an Old Testament verse of the Hebrew prophet Micah: "And You [God] shall throw
their sins into the depths of the sea." And all rivers run to the sea,
according to Ecclesiastes.
    On the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashana, Jews the world over go
to a sea or to a river and symbolically cast their sins into the moving water.
They recite scriptural verses and prayers. Some pull their pockets out and
shake them. A description of Tashlikh from the Etz Chaim Center for Jewish
Studies says: "By praying at the water's edge we recall the merit of the
patriarchs who overcame ever-raging floods in their pursuit of goodness and
imply our wish to emulate their righteousness."
    As solemn as it is, Tashlikh has become a social event, a gathering of
friends and neighbors, everyone sharing in the fresh hope of the new year.
That was evident yesterday along Western Run.
    As a religious exercise, Tashlikh appeals to me because it connects
worship with nature -- and, indeed, a part of nature absolutely vital to life
on Earth. Tashlikh takes the soul out into the fresh air, down by the
riverside, for a kind of physical-spiritual nourishment. I am drawn to rivers,
even small, urban ones like Western Run, because they are beautiful and
resilient, quiet and steady, full of some of the tiniest, most fascinating
forms of life on the planet. I go to a river, I feel renewed. The idea that
they could take away sin and bad thoughts hadn't occurred to me before
yesterday afternoon, in the hour of Tashlikh. I call that a wise use of a
natural resource.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Mel Brooks said, "It's good to be the king," and I say, "It's good to be the blogger," because I get to wish Rosh Hoshanah blessings to all my Jewish friends and readers, and to tell the story of my Italian matzoh ball soup.

Italian matzoh ball soup? What's that?

It's something I make on every Jewish holiday. I make it because I am not Jewish. I make it to feel connected to Jewish friends and coworkers on their important days. If I'm not invited to a friend's house for Rosh Hashanah dinner or seder at Passover, I do my own thing -- I make a pot of hommage to all the wonderful people I've known who happen to be Jewish, and I add a little something that recalls my own heritage.

(I am an American Catholic of Italian and Portuguese ancestry, but have felt much affinity with Jews over the years; we may not read from the same holy books, but we have a lot in common. That is not something I can blog about. It is worthy of essay. Another day perhaps.)

I favor the broadest possible definition of ecumenism -- the vision of a shared spirituality across all faiths. I make Italian matzoh ball soup in this spirit.

I am not Jewish so I don't have to keep kosher. So I put romano cheese and oregano in my matzoh balls, and I take the hardest, oldest piece of parmigiano rind I can get from the Italian store and drop it to the bottom of the pot, where it melts and gives the soup even more flavor.

I know this is not kosher -- especially if chicken is used in the soup stock. But, as I said, I am not bound by the edicts of the Jewish kitchen. (A friend says I could get around the whole issue by making my stock completely vegetarian.)

Ever since I saw Uncle Gino, who was Calabrese, sprinkle parmigiano on his chicken soup, I have added cheese to mine. And parm' in the matzoh balls -- out of this world. (I also add some endive to the soup and, if real ambitious, little meatballs made of ground chicken or turkey, Italian spices and even more parm'.)

Look, I bring this up for two reasons -- to let my Jewish friends know I am thinking of them as we all sit down to dinner on Rosh Hashanah in our respective households, and to give others who don't keep kosher a suggestion for a little improvement on a classic soup. A little romano, a little parm', a dash of oregano -- what's not to like?

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

For more background on today's column:

A piece about Christopher Clarke's lacrosse team at Patterson High School (below)

A generous donation to help the team. 

OUT OF TRAGEDY, A TEAM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Byline: DAN RODRICKS/Published on Sunday, May 13, 2007

   His surviving teammates and lacrosse coach created a memorial to
Christopher Clarke on the wall of the basement locker room at Patterson High
School. They took the gloves, blue helmet, lacrosse stick and blue-and-white
No. 24 jersey out of his locker and fastened them to the bulletin board near
the door that leads to the steps to the playing field.
   It was fine for a little while.
    But, equipment being in meager supply at one of the last large-zone high
schools in the city, and most of the players unable to afford their own, the
team in time had to take pieces of the memorial to continue playing games.
   "Yeah, we've since had to borrow some of Chris' equipment from the wall,"
says Jon Kehl, the young history teacher who just finished his first season as
the Patterson lacrosse coach. "But I think Chris is OK with that."
   During the winter, Kehl put up his own money for six used sticks so Clarke
and his teammates could start practicing. It was one of those sticks they
found in Clarke's locker after the Patterson senior was shot to death in March
- an innocent victim of Baltimore street violence. They returned his cleats to
Clarke's mother, and they used the ball they found in his locker as their
first game ball of the season.
   Clarke's surviving teammates remember him as they step out of the door to
the playing field. Before the start of each half, they huddle closely, raise
their sticks, and shout: "One-two-three, rest in peace, Chris!"
   The Patterson High School lacrosse team of 2007 was short on skill; they
played a hard-nosed game lacking any pretense of finesse. Only four of them
had been members of the 2006 team, and only six of them had ever touched a
lacrosse stick before. They played some games without substitutes, and even
when the whole team was there, Kehl had only a couple of players on the
sideline.
   And, of course, the Clippers played without Clarke, whom Kehl describes as
"an amazing young man, a natural leader."
   The 2007 Clippers won just a couple of games. They lost a few by wide
margins.
   "On the sideline, I rarely pay attention to scores," says Kehl. "But I
think Walbrook beat us by 20."
   What the Clippers lack in lax skills they make up for by the ton in heart
and spirit, and that's all the more remarkable considering the circumstances
of their lives and the tragedy that marked the start of their season.
   "We lost a ton of games," says Kehl. "But the guys get on the bus, and
they're never moaning or crying. They come out of practices pumped and ready
to go again. Our kids are very passionate."
   The boys hold themselves proudly, even solemnly, as they march across the
gritty floor of the locker room, up the steps and out to the grass in the
rundown stadium, where about 25 fans wait on a splendid spring day for a game
against Southside Academy. The boys kneel and pray. The captains hold hands as
they meet their opponents at midfield. They chant and cheer.
   "One-two-three, rest in peace, Chris!"
   By all accounts, Christopher Clarke was someone headed for success from a
high school the state had declared an academic failure.
   Clarke was 18 years old, a good student, musician and athlete, handsome,
polite, well-liked by his friends and the adults at his church. He had
intended to graduate from Patterson and enter the city police academy.
   On March 13, he finished classes, went to lacrosse practice, then to his
part-time job at the Burger King on Kane Street, then to his friend's house a
couple of blocks from his own. Clarke was on Cliftmont Avenue when gunfire
erupted. Three young men were wounded. Two survived. No arrests have been
made.
   In a city where such violence is common, Clarke's death was outrageous and
infuriating - a kid on a good track caught in the crossfire of losers.
   The Patterson school newspaper was filled with emotional comments from
students and faculty. "You were, to me, the embodiment of limitless
potential," one of his teachers wrote.
   Kehl, his lacrosse coach, went to the funeral with some senior players.
Afterward, they went to lunch in Fells Point; the players decided to dedicate
the season to Clarke.
   "Let's do what Chris would want us to do," one of them said.
   At the first practice of the season, Kehl gathered the players in a circle
at midfield and had them state what was on their minds and in their hearts.
They were angry. They were sad. They bonded quickly as a team.
   "I think it gave more purpose to the season," Kehl says, when I ask how
Clarke's death affected the team. "It gave the team cohesion, kept us from
falling apart."
   They lost most of their games, including Thursday's against Kenwood, but
spoke of the improvements they made as players and as a team. The boys of the
2007 Clippers might not be among lacrosse's elite, they might not play for a
powerhouse, and the college scouts aren't even looking in their direction. But
they have passion, and they understand community, staying loyal and keeping
faith.
   "One-two-three, rest in peace, Chris!"

 

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 6:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Actually, she's been mayor since January, but now she's mayor by the vote of the majority of a small minority of Democratic voters in the city we call Baltimore.

Smashing!

Twenty-eight percent of Democrats eligible to vote in the city excercised their right to elect a mayor today.

Sheila Dixon got the support of about 60 percent of them.

Such mediocre results, hardly a vote of confidence in a city of more than 600,000 residents, would make me a little self-conscious and keep me from crowing about an election victory, and I certainly wouldn't use the M word: mandate. But hey, that's me, the jaded journalist, the beer-glass-half-empty guy.

Dixon, on the other hand, gets to savor the support of fewer than two out of every 10 registered Democrats.

Interesting. The turnout for this primary was about 28 percent. In a recent poll conducted for The Sun, OpinionWorks found that only 29 percent of voters believe the city is heading in the right direction.

That must be the same group that came out and voted for mayor, most of them for Dixon! Things are going so swell here -- and they want to keep it that way!

OK, I'll shut up.

A friend of mine, a realist with a streak of idealism he just can't seem to shake, supported Dixon in this election. All summer long, he kept giving me his reasons -- he's seen her do good things for the poor, he thinks her ethical lapses were just that (lapses) and he thinks it's time that a woman got a chance to wield power from the Big Chair at City Hall.

Still, I said, neither Dixon nor Mitchell inspire with their words and ideas -- and Baltimore desperately needs strong leadership if it is ever going to become a better, healthier, safer, smarter, greener city. Baltimore needs a mayor who gets people excited about living here and about the future.

To this my friend said: "I want energy, ideas and dynamism, too.  I frankly have no idea how we'll get there... but we have to do the best we can with what we have..."

Smashing!

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

"It has been 235 days since we began this campaign to change Baltimore for the better," Keiffer Mitchell's election-day e-mail message to supporters began.

Maybe he should have started a little sooner.

Like a year sooner.

Maybe Mitchell should have done a little more legwork. He should have built a wider and deeper network of support across the city -- the only way to unseat a sitting mayor who enjoyed the support of her popular predecessor, Martin O'Malley, and who had all the trappings of the mayor's office at her disposal as she campaigned for election.

In 1999, O'Malley announced his candidacy for mayor on June 21 -- less than four months before the September primary. He was successful, of course, but the circumstances were quite different.

O'Malley was not running against an incumbent. (Sheila Dixon has been in office only since January, but that makes her an incumbent.) His chief opponents, Lawrence Bell and Carl Stokes, were not exactly exciting candidates. Voters were desperate for new, energetic leadership after the long, sleepy Schmoke years (1988-1999).

Most importantly, O'Malley ran on an anti-crime theme, something with which he had been firmly identified as a member of City Council from Northeast Baltimore.

When he made promises to attack violent crime in Baltimore and to restore integrity to the Police Department, O'Malley had credibility. He was believable because he'd been preaching this stuff for a few years, and he'd been a real thorn in the side to the police commissioner at the time, demanding accountability. O'Malley talked about zero-tolerance policing and bringing some of the New York City remedies to Baltimore. He was the most outspoken council member -- and on the issue that mattered most to city voters as the 1990s were ending.

When Keiffer Mitchell and Sheila Dixon spoke of the violence in Baltimore this year, they both seemed to be showing up late and short. All this talk about the crime problem in Baltimore -- all those campaign commercials on the subject -- excuse me, what did this man and this woman have to say about it prior to the mayoral campaign season? (I'm sure I can find something in the Sun archive if I look real hard.)

Point is, for Mitchell, the task of unseating Dixon was daunting, and he should have started presenting himself as a possible mayor sooner -- particularly during the last 18 months of O'Malley's tenure, when the Celtic rocker was campaigning for governor and his presence in City Hall had started to diminish. With a bolder voice and some new ideas, presented over the course of a year or more, Mitchell could have emerged stronger and earlier as a candidate and had more traction going into the summer of 2007.

Instead, Dixon got the higher ground -- Queen of the Hill -- and held on.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Keiffer Mitchell Sr., father of the mayoral candidate, appeared at the FOP Lodge tonight, the election headquarters of his son. Very strange finish to a very strange political soap opera. K. Mitchell Jr. just thanked his parents for teaching him about "unconditional love."

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Keiffer Mitchell's campaign manager put this message out to supporters this afternoon:

"Thank you to all those who voted this morning. Your votes are making a
difference. Early returns from key precincts show this is going to be a very
close race. "

Yeah, well . . . voter turnout could be as low as 28 percent in this election. The city precincts I visited today looked like nice places to take a siesta. That was the story all over Baltimore, apparently.

Why?

It's what I said in Sunday's column -- nothing bold, nothing brassy, nothing new, nothing different in the leading candidates for mayor. Boring choices. Tweedle-Dee, Tweedle-Dee. Add to that the Sun poll results and local TV stations Sunday night pretty much saying the election was over, with Dixon the winner, and you have the makings of a sleepy city primary.

On the other hand, supporters of Dixon might have been so confident of a landslide they didn't bother to vote. Logic would give the edge in that scenario to Mitchell. But, given polls of likely voters within the last couple of weeks, a Mitchell victory -- even a loss by under six percentage points -- would be nothing short of a stunning upset.

The last poll, from OpinionWorks, showed a heavy number of undecided voters, something like 20 percent. You'd think that would bode well for Mitchell. But the same poll detected no "lean" among the undecideds either way. That's why a lot of people stayed home -- dissatisfaction with both the leading candidates.

Nothing personal, but this is one of the weakest choices I've ever seen.

In 1983, Billy Murphy challenged William Donald Schaefer. That was a fascinating campaign -- Harborplace and the establishment versus the poor and others left out of the Baltimore Renaissance. Murphy spoke of "the other Baltimore" in that campaign, and Schaefer resented the way Murphy contrasted downtown redevelopment with the poverty and abandonment of long, wide swaths of the city. (Within a few years, however, we heard Schaefer speaking of "the other Baltimore," too, actually acknowledging that it existed.) Voter turnout was 60 percent. Schaefer won big.

Kurt Schmoke emerged in the 1987 primary; his opponent was Schaefer's successor, Du Burns. Having won the 1982 election for city state's attorney, Schmoke had become -- and had stayed -- an exciting, new face on the political landscape. Burns represented old-school Baltimore. The contest gave city voters a chance to pick Baltimore's first elected black mayor. Voter turnout was 46 percent. Schmoke won, of course, and he brought energy to City Hall and the promise of a biracial coalition that could get things done and help tip the balance toward an urban revival. It was nice while it lasted.

By 1995, Schmoke had been in office way too long, and his challenger in the primary that year was longtime City Council member and community activist Mary Pat Clarke. Clarke hammered Schmoke for his lackluster tenure in City Hall. Schmoke, dashing all hopes for a biracial citywide coalition, deployed Afro-centric campaign colors. It was a divisive campaign, but certainly a provocative one. Democratic turnout was 52 percent. (Voters kept Schmoke another four years.)

Martin O'Malley's candidacy in the 1999 primary excited city voters, many of whom crossed racial lines to put a white man in City Hall.

And here we are, 2007, Tweedle-dee, Tweedle-dee, Ho-hum.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 8:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

You heard it here first, and the polls haven 't even closed -- Joan Pratt will once again reign as comptroller of the city of Baltimore. She's held the post since 1995, and looks like more of same from where I sit, folks. Yes, it's Pratt in another landslide.

Speaking of Joan Pratt -- other than at weekly meetings of the (pardon me while I snore) Board of Estimates, has this woman been seen in public? Remember when they used to speak of Pratt as a possible mayoral candidate? Like, what happened?

And some of you can remember Hyman Pressman, who was city comptroller and a wild man. He wrote and recited incredibly corny poetry, sometimes at Board of Estimates meetings. He danced, he laughed. He was a miniature man with a big ego, a gadfly and never a wallflower. He loved attention.  He was one of those characters who made life interesting around here.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying Joan Pratt should start writing and reciting poetry. But she could, you know, do something original and entertaining once in a while, like maybe start a conga line at Board of Estimates meeting. You know, something like that.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 7:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Today's column expresses a wish that we had better, bolder candidates for mayor in Tuesday's primary. It's not a matter of hold-your-nose and vote; it's not that bad. It's that Baltimore desperately needs more -- more energy, more brilliance, more outrageous thinking -- in leadership.

Also, in the Sunday IDEAS section, there's a Confronting Crime conversation with four community leaders recorded about 10 days ago.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 5:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

The Sunday Sun IDEAS section will contain a Confronting Crime conversation that I moderated 10 days ago. The participants are Paul Blair, president of the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police and a 38-year veteran of the force; Marvin “Doc” Cheatham, president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP, an organization that recently launched an anti-violence effort that included posting a current homicide toll in its front window and calling for residents and businesses to do the same; Haydee Rodriquez, who is executive director of the Governor’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs but who I invited to the conversation because her brother was recently beaten by robbers on a city street; and Hathaway Ferebee, executive director of Safe & Sound Campaign, an organization devoted to improving the health and safety of Baltimore children. You'll be able to find an audio/video version of the conversation on the Sun web site.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

In last Sunday's column, I wondered aloud how Arthur Bremer, who tried to assassinate presidential candidate George Wallace in 1972, could possibly be considered an exemplary prisoner deserving early release if he consistently refused any psychiatric treatment in Maryland prisons. How does refusal to take part in his own therapy approach model prisoner status?

David Blumberg, chairman of the Maryland Parole Commission, responded:
"I wanted to clear up an increasingly common error. Arthur Bremer is not being paroled nor does he have a discretionary early release. He is going out on credits received -- more than 6,300 days he has accumulated during his 36 years of incarceration. His exit from the Maryland prison system is by operation of law. It is mandatory. He will be supervised by an agent of the Department of Parole and Probation and can go back to prison if he violates either technical conditions or criminal laws. As far as being a model prisoner, he worked throughout his term, steered clear of gangs, and received no infractions. If an inmate does not have as a condition from the sentencing judge mental health treatment, as Bremer did not, then he could not be penalized if he did not participate."

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 2:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The new GEBCO Insurance commercial has been released, featuring the Ravens' Jonathan Ogden dancing with the GEBCO girls. Jeff Order, the producer, shot the spot a couple of weeks ago in Owings Mills and sent these photos. In Baltimore, it's what we -- OK, some of us -- live for.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Guy named Nick Sheridan wants jury duty.

Dan: As usual, a good article, about jury duty. My problem is that I haven't EVER been called up for jury duty.  Yes, I know it's part of my civic duty, but what do I do? I have been a Baltimore City resident for over 30 years, and a US citizen for 10 years or so.  I vote regularly, so my name is on the voter rolls.  I called various court clerk offices this summer and finally got one who told me that they had sent a jury notice to my current address, but it had been returned. (I doubt it).  Though he claimed I would be called, he was clearly not interested, and nothing happened. I saw an ad on a bus about ending lawsuit abuse and juries, so I called them twice.  No response at all. (Why did they waste their money on a bus ad??) Do you have any ideas?

DR: Thanks for the note, Nick. Yeah, here's what you do: Take a lunch break, go down to the Mitchell courthouse and ask to see the jury commissioner and volunteer for duty. Or, even easier, next time I get a notice of jury duty -- and I get one about every 14 months, it seems -- you can go in my place.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 6:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Magooby's Joke House opens Friday, Sept. 14 at 9306 Harford Road, formerly Tracy’s Comedy Club. Shows run Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and 10:15 pm. 98 Rock's Mickey Cucchiella headlines the grand opening weekend.  Magooby's Joke House is co-owned and operated by Andrew Unger and his brother Marc Unger. They host a Saturday morning sports talk show, The Fighting Ungers, on WNST-AM, 1570.

"There's really no comedy to speak of anywhere in the area," Andrew Unger said in a press release. "Either you drive all the way downtown and deal with the hassles of parking or you drive even further to D.C. We plan to offer well-known national headliners every weekend in a setting that's intimate with more of an upscale feel.  We have seating for 180 people but it's not this gigantic, cavernous place where you feel distanced from what's happening on stage.  Our prices will be competitive with other comedy venues in Baltimore and we plan to deliver a product that's outstanding each week."

The Bowman Restaurant is attached to the club. 

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 1:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

I appreciate this station -- 91.5 FM -- listen all the time, especially Saturdays for the broadcasts of The Met. I listened today as I drove around, hoping to hear a little tribute to the greatest tenor of our times -- a little Pavarotti here and there, some acknolwegdement of his death. It didn't happen. Baltimore's classical music station blew it. They ignored the story of the day. Each time I tuned in I seemed to get Bach or Vivaldi, the usual fare. I called a few minutes ago and the young woman who answered the phone said the station does not air vocal music. (Which, of course, anyone who spent any time listening to 'BJC would know.) But the day of Pavarotti's death they can't break down and slip us a couple arias? That's dopey, and disappointing.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Luciano Pavarotti has died? How is this? He will never die. We have the voice not only on CDs -- and on dozens of old cassettes -- but we also have his voice in our ears, deep in the place God lets us store the sound of love, deep in our hearts. We heard him sing so much -- almost too much -- at one time, and he became so familiar that we started to take for granted how deep and masterful his skills were and how well-polished his technique. Some liked to get into the rate-a-tenor game -- Corelli fans from way back, Domingo worshippers -- through the 1970s and 1980s, and even into the 1990s. But no one topped Pavarotti in his popularity in the modern age of television and recorded music, and there was good reason. He sang for everyone, from the most sophisticated opera lover (even then ones who thought they needed to despise him) to the rock-age kids who grew up with the Stones, Bruce, Pearl Jam and U-2. Even we took him out and used Pavarotti as background music when the moment needed to rise -- when the love life needed a little bolstering, when a great day in the sun called for a soundtrack.

I heard him twice, and one time with a microphone, and I cannot recall feeling anything other than joy, a kind of sweet rapture and the firm understanding that I was in the presence of someone drenched with the duende.

Few men admit to crying when they hear certain songs, but Pavarotti's Che gelida manina? His E lucevan le stelle? Please. His voice and understanding of the story enriched the songs with the emotion they deserved. He had the common touch, and his singing of some arias could be unbearably beautiful.  Nessun dorma, his anthem and his swan song in concerts -- God be praised for sending this man to Earth and giving him this voice to sing this Puccini aria. No matter what I happen to be doing when I hear this -- cooking, writing, raking leaves -- when Pavarotti climbs the stairs to the two final notes, I still get a chill and ask everyone around to stop and be quiet and listen. It was the sound of a shooting star.

I am very sad. I always wanted to go to Modena, sit on the piazza with this man and eat pasta and drink wine and tell him what I thought of him and thank him. As I write this I am listening to a recording of him with Robert Kerns (as Sharpless) in Butterfly, and he's singing Addio . . . 

From former Baltimore Eveving Sun editor and music critic Ernest Imhoff: Luciano Pavarotti was almost as dramatic as Maria Callas, whom I heard and saw at The Met. He was important for several reasons. He honored the great Italian opera composers Verdi, Bellini, Donizetti and Puccini with moments of brilliance. He introduced millions to the magic of opera. He lit rockets under arias. The timbre of his loud voice was sometimes too electric for my taste; in that regard I preferred the sweet singing of another great tenor of our times, Placido Domingo. Pavarotti was a musical force, a wonderful opera singer.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 6:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

In e-mail exchanges today, I asked one of the many Pennsylvanians I insulted with recent commentary about the state's "scenic beauty" if the commonwealth had embraced Smart Growth concepts and initiatives yet, as Maryland had. And this is what Alexander D. Mitchell IV said, and the response makes my point -- people in Pa. don't care what happens to the lands around them. They can't get enough cheap tract home and billboards up there:

To answer your question in a knee-jerk, sarcastic way:  I hope not.  As a
Libertarian, I am not comfortable with the concept of so-called "smart
growth" because I believe it begins to infringe upon individual property
rights.

You'd have to travel a LOT further than just Gettysburg and that train ride
to write off Pennsylvania.

However, do you want to know why large portions of Adams, York, and
Lancaster counties look the way I think you're referring to--huge swaths of
residential development?  Those are all the Marylanders fleeing Maryland's
relatively-oppressive taxation and surrendered-completely-to-the-Democrats
government.  I personally know six people in that sprawl, and that's
PRECISELY why they moved up there.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 2:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

I tested the new David Beckham manly-man cologne tonight at the Rite-Aid in my 'hood. It's citric and musky and yet, somehow, musky and citric. I found it to be a blend of orange, mandarin and Italian bergamot, with the middle notes of cardamom, pimento and anise, finishing off with what was obviously vetiver, white amber and just a trace of patchouli. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

It's called Instinct. (You get 2.7 ounces for $55, SRP.) I sprayed some on the wrist, then the neck and got results right away. The female cashier rang up my Mentos and Junior Mints, then hit on me. "Have a nice evening," she said, making minor eye contact and handing me my change. GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

We've got a good one going here, folks. Please continue. We're enjoying this.

From Matt in Frederick:

You are exactly right about there being no planning in terms of growth in PA. I grew up in the Gettysburg/Adams County area. The counties have very little, if any, authority when it comes to planning. Planning is left in the hands of township supervisors, most of whom, while well-intentioned, do not have the training necessary to meet a township's planning needs. My parents' neighborhood is going to be getting sewer hookups in the next few years, despite the fact that this would have probably been a good idea about twenty years ago when the population was younger and not so much on fixed incomes. But this is the way Pennsylvania likes it - local government at all costs, even if it means said government is ineffective, fractured, and unfit for the task.

From Curtis in Maryland:

I've not been on that Gettysburg train but train rides always interest me.  The wounded land just beyond the tracks is a story waiting to be told.  I can't take my eyes off it when I ride from Baltimore to New York.   A sudden peak in a row house window, graffiti art, an old bike, the encampment of a homeless person, broken factories, bayside trailer parks, landfills, and on and on; and that's just going North! Between you and me (and everyone else on this blog), Pennsylvania is just too damn poor, intellectually and economically, to care about appearances.  This can be made forehead-slapping-clear by an example of a family we knew in Erie area. A family there hit the lottery.  Rather than build a new house they entombed two trailers, already joined in slipshod construction, inside a stick frame skeleton.  Last time I was there I could still see the trailers inside this....thing.  There is no building code, or inspector, so the result is: Pennsylvania.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Can't imagine what this must be like for K. Mitchell, Jr., candidate for mayor -- first discovering and disclosing that his father and trusted campaign treasurer mishandled thousands in campaign funds, then having the elder turn on him (with attack attorneys), to the point now of trying to evict his son's campaign staffers from a rowhouse he rented them.

Dr. K. Mitchell Sr. retained Larry Gibson and Billy Murphy as attorneys, and the latest twist, apparently Gibson's doing, looks like a full-throttle effort to sabotage K. Mitchell Jr.'s struggling campaign for mayor with a little payback for Junior's disclosure of Senior's use of funds.

Something is wrong with this picture; something is going on here that we cannot fully see. It will be a while before we get the full diagnosis.

I'm sure they are laughing over at the Dixon campaign; any hope K. Mitchell Jr. might have had for upsetting Sheila Dixon has to be diminished by this wild outburst of family dysfunction. Still, this is a father and son, and a rift exposed in full light -- titilating and bizarre as a political developmental, for the moment, pathetic and sad as a personal one.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

Of course there are still scenic slices of Pennsylvania left. My point is: Too much of it has become crowded with dumb development and other eye pollution -- billboards, junkyards, trailer parks, modular-homes, adult movie stores, you name it.

But I'm going to let our friendly neighbors to the north have their say. They all want to help me out by pointing the way to "scenic Pennsylvania."

Here are more contributions:

From Paul Chamberlin: "I spent the first 20 years of my life in the Baltimore-Metro area (Lauraville, Perry Hall, Dundalk and Mt. Washington) In 2002, I moved into the Lehigh Valley region of PA. I find it to be a gorgeous place to live. Sure there is construction, but  there's also miles of rolling countryside. It might be a 3 hour drive, but I think you'd would enjoy the trip. We did get a casino, but its replacing vacant buildings at the old Bethlehem Steel site, so its better to see that construction then crumbling bulidings. . . . . p.s. I always enjoyed listening to and occasionally calling in to your show on WBAL-AM, even if you didn't confuse my pre-pubescent voice for a girl's."

From John Booth: "In regards to your latest blog I would like to recommend a destination and route for a nice weekend get away.  I recommend going to Lake Raystown near Huntingdon, PA.  From Gettysburg take 30 to 997 to 641 to 522 to 22.  Once you hit PA it is only 5 turns but a gorgeous ride on a sunny fall day.  These are one-lane roads weaving through the rolling fields, to the top of two mountains, engulfed in the fall foliage, racing along a river for stretches and small scattered towns about.  You may see more Amish buggies than cars at some times but it adds to the scenery.  Worth the trip or the ride."

Tim Brewer: We had plenty of undisturbed "SCENIC" areas here in IKE's day, I should know I lived here. Slowly but surely Adams County Pa, has been sold from farm land  to housing developments. Do you know why? It is from all the MARYLANDERS moving to Southern PA, they are everywhere! The housing in Washington DC and the Frederick county area has sky-rocketed, causing in influx of MARYLANDERS to get "affordable" housing. So if it has turned into TRASHY PA,  it is from the MARYLAND trash! I'm not exaggerating. Check the facts.

Hey Tim -- right, I know all about that. But it's Pennsylvanians -- farmers and developers -- who are conspiring on all the scattered-site housing and dumb growth. Your state just doesn't get it. Looks to me that anyone can build anything anywhere.  DR

 

 

 

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

In Sunday's column I asked:

If there is anything truly scenic in Pennsylvania, or is every inch of countryside marred by trailer parks, new construction, old billboards and adult movie stores?

Such a beautiful state -- marred by all kinds of development, industrial, commerical, residential, scattered-site everything and anything. It's a commonwealth of dumb growth, where the libertarian ideal of build-whatever-you-like-wherever-you-want has run rampant and trashed up a state with some of the most wonderful natural resources in the nation. That's what I've seen anyway, and I've spent a lot of time fishing and hiking in Pennsylvania, visiting the state parks and some of the game lands. You'd think my perspective would lean the opposite way. Instead, in my mind's eye, the hand of man is more glaring.

Just took a "scenic" train ride out of Gettysburg, and while the ride was enjoyable and the efforts of those who run the line commendable, the countryside you see from the passenger car hasn't been "scenic" for some time. You see light industry, the earth turned up for new housing developments, the backside of a trailer park, and what appear to be waste treatment fields. (Had a casino proposed for the area last year been approved, we might have seen construction of that, too.) All this just a short hike from the national battlefield park. A creek where President Eisenhower was said to have fished for trout looked beautiful as the train slowed for a road crossing. But then someone roared through, along the banks, on an ATV, and that ended our brief encounter with a quiet forest.

Not everyone has my perspective, of course. (Hey, if you live there, you get used to it and think it's great.)

This e-mail is from the 717 area code:

Dear Dan:
I don't know what roads you have been taking while in PA, but my God, let me know so I don't drive on them!! On the other hand, if you would like to see beautiful senic PA, you are more than welcome to come to my house in New Park PA. My 16 year old daughter Liz and 12 year old son have lived there for a little over 12 years. I love it. I will also be happy to show you around the 'neighborhood', so that you can finally see that your neighbor to the north does have beauty and it is only 1 hour from Baltimore!!
Sincerely,
Luther Dean Smith III

Here's another:

Dan:

You haven't found anything scenic in PA?  I guess you haven't been out to the Laurel Highlands, then.  Try venturing getting away from the PA turnpike, I-80 and the other major highways and check out to some of the Frank Lloyd Wright properties in Western PA (Kentuck Knob and Fallingwater, for starters). The views of those properties, and various others around the Youghiogheny National Wild and Scenic River are glorious. 

All that, and in relatively close proximity to Deep Creek Lake.  Whodathunkit? Instead of heading towards DCL on US 219 South from I-68, veer off towards US 40 at the same interchange and take it into PA towards Uniontown. You'll eventually start seeing signs for various natural attractions and outdoorsy activity meccas like Ohiopyle (hello, whitewater rafting).

Really, Dan, you need get off the highways and onto the country lanes anywhere in this great country of ours to find anything remotely beautiful.  Why do you think so many people have a negative impression of Baltimore, when all they've done is zip up and down I-95 en route to someplace else?  You can't find this stuff along the hustle and bustle, you've got to search it out.  I guess beauty will always remains in the eye of the beholder, but one has to behold it to know in the first place.

Best,
Pete in Columbia

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

I just stumbled across further evidence of societal decline in a newsletter about management: The brains who work in the cash register software field have developed ways for retail employers to prompt their rude or manners-challenged cashiers to say, "Hello," and, "Thank you" to customers. It's in the technology, and the technology is still advancing. Voice-recognition software can now monitor -- and correct -- the verbal behavior of cashiers. The software can even be customized to allow the cashier to ask the appropriate question or comment.

Here is how this technology is described in some of the patenting abstracts:

"A point-of-sale terminal initiates a transaction and provides a prompt to be spoken to an operator (e.g. a cashier) of the POS terminal.  . . . Using speech recognition, the POS terminal determines whether the audio signal corresponds to the prompt, and thus whether the operator spoke the prompt properly. In one embodiment, the transaction is paused until the operator properly speaks the prompt. In another embodiment, the POS terminal stores an indication of whether the operator has properly spoken the prompt, thereby allowing the performance of the operator to be measured.

"The present invention may be used in a variety of applications. For example, in a quick service restaurant environment, the present invention may be used to determine whether cashiers are properly greeting customers and providing customers with suggestive sell offers.

"In a hotel environment, the present invention may be used to assure that customers are always provided with an offer to call a cab.

"In a drug store environment, the present invention may be used to assure that cashiers offer customers filling a prescription a choice of a generic drug or a corresponding name brand drug. The present invention may also be used to assure that cashiers read drug warnings or other medical information to customers.

"In a telemarketing environment, the present invention may be used to assure that operators speak the proper phrases to customers by preventing touch screen controls from appearing (and thus the transaction from proceeding) until the proper phrases are spoken.

"In a retail environment, the present invention may be used to assure that operators ask a customer for age verification before selling alcohol or tobacco. The present invention may also be employed to inquire as to whether items that the customers desired were found. The customers' responses (e.g. "yes" or "no, I was looking for saline solution.") may be stored. The items that the customers desired are recorded and a list of such items could be printed out periodically for review by store management, and used in ordering inventory.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 6:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Turns out, Broom's Bloom Dairy in Harford County makes an ice cream with grapenuts. They don't make grapenut ice cream, per se, which is what I'm talkin' about. But they do use the ingredient, according to the owner's mother. "Kate Dallam makes a fabulous apricot grapenut ice cream," reports Louise Umbarger, her mom. "She also makes a great Hiker's Hankerin'  ice cream using granola, honey, apricots, and grapenuts, which was on the blackboard yesterday. May have sold out last night."

Thanks for the info, Ma. I appreciate it -- and Kate's effort. But I'm a grapenut purist, still searching for good ole grapenut ice cream.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Almost can't believe it -- Center Stage is opening its new season this month with a fine vintage from the theatrical cellar: Arsenic and Old Lace (Sept.14-Oct. 14 in the Pearlstone Theater). Irene Lewis her own self will direct the comedy about a pair of homicidal maiden aunts, crazy Uncle Teddy and the excitable nephew Mortimer (the latter role made famous by Cary Grant in the film version.)

The last time I saw Arsenic on stage it was at the Mechanic, and a total treat. All the leads were some of my favorite television stars from the late 1960s and 1970s -- James MacArthur (Dano from Hawaii 5-O); Larry Storch (Corporal Agarn from F-Troop, and one of the funniest men I've ever had the pleasure to interview); Jean Stapleton (Edith Bunker from All In The Family); Marion Ross (Mrs. Cunningham from Happy Days); and Jonathan Frid (Barnabas Collins from Dark Shadows). Great production. Don't know if Center Stage will be recycling any TV stars from the 1990s, but I could see Seinfeld as Mortimer, I really could . . . and Kramer as Uncle Teddy (but let's not go there).

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The host of A Prairie Home Companion comes to the central Enoch Pratt Free Library on Sunday, Oct. 14 at 6 pm. He's slated as part of the Pratt's Writers LIVE! series. Keillor has a new novel, called Pontoon, set, of course, in Lake Wobegon.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Ok, show of hands please:

1. How many of you have ever heard of Dr. Brown's celery-flavored sparkling beverage in the green can or bottle?

2. How many of you have tried it?

3. Loved it?

4. Did a spit take and thought it was totally weird?

I am a lover of Cel-Ray and buy it whenever I hit a place on Corned Beef Row for lunch. (It's hyphenated AND carbonated.) Saturday I suggested a Jewish colleague try it -- he never had, can you believe that? -- during an Attman's run and this is what he said: "Quite interesting taste.... Not sure how i feel about it."

Ambivalence?

All right, so it's an acquired taste and acquisition of the finer things in life can take months, even years. This one is worth the effort. Trust me. Here's what others have to say about it, on a beverage blog, and from Chowhound.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 5:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The most troubling part of the new OpinionWorks poll published in The Sun today is this: Only 29 percent of Baltimoreans in the survey think the city is headed in the right direction. And that's a drop of five percent in just the last month or so.

More importantly, that's a drop of 41 percent from a poll just two years ago, when Martin O'Malley was mayor.

The Gallup organization conducted a survey of Baltimore residents in 2005 and found that 70 percent believed their elected officials were leading the city in the right direction -- remarkably, a sense of satisfaction that far surpassed all other cities involved in the nationwide poll.

The term "elected officials" was used in the reporting of the 2005 poll results -- and that presumably would have included then-City Council Prez Sheila Dixon (and, presumably, City Councilman Kieffer Mitchell).

But it was really a reflection of how Baltimoreans felt about O'Malley. He was the face of city leadership, after all, just as Dixon is now.

O'Malley enjoyed strong approval ratings throughout his tenure. When he ran for re-election in 2003, he won handily. During the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, his police tactics were attacked along racial lines, and still 75 percent of city voters backed him in the statewide election.

The main point is: People had confidence Baltimore was moving in the right direction when O'Malley was mayor. They don't now.

Dixon has been mayor for eight months; she has shifted the city's crime-fighting strategy away from zero-tolerance; shootings and homicides are happening at the pace we saw in the 1990s -- before O'Malley's election.

Nothing could explain the erosion in the citizenry's belief that the city is moving in the right direction other than the change in leadership at the top.

What's perplexing is that, with all this, Dixon maintains a huge lead over Mitchell in the poll, and 54 percent of voters in the survey said they approved of her administration. Go figure. We'll find out if this is all correct on Sept. 11.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 8:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Bases loaded against the Bosox, one out, with Miguel Tejada the runner at third. Hernandez hits a shallow fly to right field . . . .  I mean shallow. I mean can-o-corn. And they send Tejada? Tejada tags? Tejada? Tell me if I'm wrong. I welcome the argument. But Miggie is slow. This is a close game, and that throw for Drew from right field was an easy out. So the Orioles go bases loaded, no outs, and get nothing.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

I'm listing things I'd like to see, things I'd like to know and things I'd like to hear in Sunday's column. Whims, wishes, wants and wonderings of weaders welcome.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 8:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)