Until I found myself confined to a windowless 10 by 10 office with two Navy yeomen aboard the USS Sacramento in the Gulf of Tonkin, I had never known anyone who we call Mormons.
My first lesson was that they call themselves Latter Day Saints, not Mormons. And they belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and no, they do not practice what we call bigamy.
By the end of my two weeks with these two intelligent, articulate, engaging young men, my education had only begun. Lesson one would be repeated many times over the years, and continues to be revisited today on occasion: Everything you think you know about something is probably wrong.
I thought I knew what Mormonism was all about. I did not; still don't. I do know that devout followers of that faith consider themselves at least as Christian as any fundamentalist Bible-preaching charismatic you will ever meet.
At the end of my time aboard the Sacramento, one of my new friends gave me a copy of the Book of Mormon. I read it. They consider it to be the continuing Word of God, and every bit as valid and inspirational as the Old and New Testaments that I learned about as a kid growing up as a Lutheran.
Who was I to say they have it wrong?
Mormons, like Catholics, the crusaders, the reformists and most other Christian subsets, have blood and their own history of miscreants in their backstory. Even the story of American History, with the subplots of slavery, manifest destiny, and imperialism, has dark chapters. But I take my people one at a time when I can, and I leave the social and theological definitions to others.
Since that two weeks at sea, I have worked with "Mormons" on several occasions. Good people, I found. Be happy to have them as neighbors, which is not something I can say about some others who think they are so Godly.
This is not the place, and I am certainly not the person, to proselytise on behalf of the Church of Latter Day Saints. I still have issues with the old standards, and where they got their books. The Jews influenced us all, and it could be conceded that they're the ones who were here from the beginning, but as for who has it right -- I don't know.
This I know: When I see some poor soul on a newscast saying he isn't sure he could vote for a mormon because they aren't real Christians, I find myself wishing he had had the pleasure of the company of two guys I found to be good folks sharing a uniform and a war a long time ago.
Everyting such people think they know about Mormons, or Mitt Romney's religious beliefs, is probably wrong.
In any case, it's his politics that should concern any of us.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Sheriff's accreditation was to be a one-time cost
A previous board of county commissioners approved costs for having the Carroll County Sheriff's department participate in a process to be accredited. It was originally supposed to be a one-time expense, with options for renewal and/or reaccreditation at intervals to be determined later. It was not intended that money be put into the budget for annual accreditation.
The purpose for the accreditation, which was requested by Sheriff Ken Tregoning, was to show the improving training and qualifications of the department. The value to the people of Carroll County was that such an independent survey of the department would be necessary before there could be any serious consideration to grant primary law enforcement status to the Sheriff's department, instead of the State Police, which had been traditionally the county government position.
It was the first step in what was to be an on-going dialog that might include further studies into the possibility of using well-trained and accredited officers within the Sheriff's department to create a county police force. No decision on that had been made, but it was felt that accreditation was a part of the beginnings of those considerations. At that point, Sheriff Tregoning had no objections to that kind of inquiry. His objections came later, after he got what he wanted in terms of the funding for accreditation.
With the accreditation, and increasingly over the next few years, the Sheriff began adding staff, especially support and administration staff, that the commissioners did not include in budget planning. A pattern took root, in which the Sheriff made requests for funding based on one list of needs, and then returned to demand more funding for more.
The support for the improvement in professional policing was mutual in the beginning, but over time, commissioners and professional staff in the county office building increasing questioned the needs for so many additional people, and for the on-going promotions in grade and salary and benefits costs.
These legitimate questions eventually were depicted as a "power grab" and all previous cooperations were denied or ignored. That led to the issue becoming just one more political football, and once again, the interests of the public took a back seat to loyalties to one side or the other. It became just one more popularity contest, or a bully pulpit for people with either personal or political agendas of their own.
If the county is to continue paying for accreditation, the question that needs to be answered first is, How much does accreditation serve the public, compared to how much it merely gives public relations value to continued empire building by the sheriff's department?
The purpose for the accreditation, which was requested by Sheriff Ken Tregoning, was to show the improving training and qualifications of the department. The value to the people of Carroll County was that such an independent survey of the department would be necessary before there could be any serious consideration to grant primary law enforcement status to the Sheriff's department, instead of the State Police, which had been traditionally the county government position.
It was the first step in what was to be an on-going dialog that might include further studies into the possibility of using well-trained and accredited officers within the Sheriff's department to create a county police force. No decision on that had been made, but it was felt that accreditation was a part of the beginnings of those considerations. At that point, Sheriff Tregoning had no objections to that kind of inquiry. His objections came later, after he got what he wanted in terms of the funding for accreditation.
With the accreditation, and increasingly over the next few years, the Sheriff began adding staff, especially support and administration staff, that the commissioners did not include in budget planning. A pattern took root, in which the Sheriff made requests for funding based on one list of needs, and then returned to demand more funding for more.
The support for the improvement in professional policing was mutual in the beginning, but over time, commissioners and professional staff in the county office building increasing questioned the needs for so many additional people, and for the on-going promotions in grade and salary and benefits costs.
These legitimate questions eventually were depicted as a "power grab" and all previous cooperations were denied or ignored. That led to the issue becoming just one more political football, and once again, the interests of the public took a back seat to loyalties to one side or the other. It became just one more popularity contest, or a bully pulpit for people with either personal or political agendas of their own.
If the county is to continue paying for accreditation, the question that needs to be answered first is, How much does accreditation serve the public, compared to how much it merely gives public relations value to continued empire building by the sheriff's department?
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Ambitions rise, the county slides downhill
Maryland's legislators have demonstrated that they can be just as dysfunctional as the national Congress. Gov. Martin O'Malley is justified in his dismay -- it is a disgusting sight to watch grown people throw citizens under the bus in order to play to special interests.
Not to be overshadowed, Carroll County's commissioners seemed to make a special effort to show they have no clue as to how to meet public needs. For Robin Frazier, it seems to be as simple as cutting taxes, even when there are insufficient revenues to cover the costs of necessary programs, like public education.
Richard Rothschild seems to be on some kind of power display. He has status and an ego that exceeds it. He wants to run everything, and insists that he alone has the chops to run a county like a business. He oversteps his bounds by telling the school board, a separately elected entity, to close schools. Perhaps he will support closing down classrooms in his Mount Airy district and busing students to Westminster, New Windsor or Eldersburg. Hold classes for 200 at a time in the gym.
Both Frazier and Rothschild have constituencies that have little respect for public education. If were up to that element, there would be more support for private schools and less tax dollars spent educating the offspring of the less affluent masses.
That's the idea: Private, preferably church-related (as long as they aren't Muslim), schools where the better people's darlings do not have to be subjected to consorting with the unwashed and unsaved.
David Roush is of little help. He would continue maintenance of effort for educational spending, which means a step backward, larger classes, less attention to music, arts, sports and all the benefits he had and his children enjoyed when they were in school.
Only Doug Howard and Haven Shoemaker are in favor of what has traditionally been a strong foundation of Carroll County's quality of life -- good teachers in good schools. But both undermined their ability to stand up to the growing specter of hard right wing minimalist government with past deeds and words. They sold out early, and now represent a minority opinion on what counts most to a majority of parents.
And then we have Sheriff Kenneth Tregoning, whose track record for getting all that he can and then coming back to ask for more raises for his increasing roster of employees began with the last board of commissioners. He wants raises for his people even though teachers, courthouse employees, roads workers, administrators, clerks and maintenance people have gone without hikes for years. He is relentless.
He has said he will not run for reelection, and it's known inside (much to the dismay of many departmental employees) that he sees former Marine, Major Phil Kasten, as his successor. Hand-picked, groomed, promoted over senior deputies, coddled, promoted, Kasten would seem to the the heir-apparent. Well, like Tregoning, he looks good in a uniform. Snappy dresser.
But the word is that Rothschild, not satisfied with running the state, the school board, and most of the rest of the known world as he sees it, has hand-picked his own choice to succeed Tregoning.
Meanwhile, the public pays for less, gets less, and the slide is downhill.
Not to be overshadowed, Carroll County's commissioners seemed to make a special effort to show they have no clue as to how to meet public needs. For Robin Frazier, it seems to be as simple as cutting taxes, even when there are insufficient revenues to cover the costs of necessary programs, like public education.
Richard Rothschild seems to be on some kind of power display. He has status and an ego that exceeds it. He wants to run everything, and insists that he alone has the chops to run a county like a business. He oversteps his bounds by telling the school board, a separately elected entity, to close schools. Perhaps he will support closing down classrooms in his Mount Airy district and busing students to Westminster, New Windsor or Eldersburg. Hold classes for 200 at a time in the gym.
Both Frazier and Rothschild have constituencies that have little respect for public education. If were up to that element, there would be more support for private schools and less tax dollars spent educating the offspring of the less affluent masses.
That's the idea: Private, preferably church-related (as long as they aren't Muslim), schools where the better people's darlings do not have to be subjected to consorting with the unwashed and unsaved.
David Roush is of little help. He would continue maintenance of effort for educational spending, which means a step backward, larger classes, less attention to music, arts, sports and all the benefits he had and his children enjoyed when they were in school.
Only Doug Howard and Haven Shoemaker are in favor of what has traditionally been a strong foundation of Carroll County's quality of life -- good teachers in good schools. But both undermined their ability to stand up to the growing specter of hard right wing minimalist government with past deeds and words. They sold out early, and now represent a minority opinion on what counts most to a majority of parents.
And then we have Sheriff Kenneth Tregoning, whose track record for getting all that he can and then coming back to ask for more raises for his increasing roster of employees began with the last board of commissioners. He wants raises for his people even though teachers, courthouse employees, roads workers, administrators, clerks and maintenance people have gone without hikes for years. He is relentless.
He has said he will not run for reelection, and it's known inside (much to the dismay of many departmental employees) that he sees former Marine, Major Phil Kasten, as his successor. Hand-picked, groomed, promoted over senior deputies, coddled, promoted, Kasten would seem to the the heir-apparent. Well, like Tregoning, he looks good in a uniform. Snappy dresser.
But the word is that Rothschild, not satisfied with running the state, the school board, and most of the rest of the known world as he sees it, has hand-picked his own choice to succeed Tregoning.
Meanwhile, the public pays for less, gets less, and the slide is downhill.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Snarky is the new cool, so let me be cool for awhile
My joy at the arrival of another baseball season will be restrained at the insistence of those who write about baseball -- and most other sports, apparently -- because a snarky attitude about professional sports is a prerequisite for the job.
Back in the days of my innocence, there was a sports editor at the old Baltimore News Post named Roger Pippen, who lived to take pot shots at the Orioles. Maybe it was because the Orioles by another name were still the St. Louis Browns, a truly needy collection of used to be, wanna be and never will be players, whose legacy to Baltimore was the likes of pitchers like Bob Chackles, the only player I ever asked for an autograph. He was brusque, but accommodating, but as I looked at the signature, I asked myself, Who the heck is Bob Chackles? The next question was, Who cares? And the question then became, So what? I never asked another celebrity for an autograph, not any of the big time politicians, actors, musicians or other Names in Lights types I met over the years because I figured they were just like everybody else, and a good mechanic is worth more to the betterment of humanity than most of those idols we gush over.
Look, see there? I'm being snarky. Maybe I can still get a job writing sports.
I worked with big league sports writers at the News American. John Steadman was the only one who was truly happy to have his job. The others had jobs that I once considered the next best thing to playing center field in Baltimore; they traveled with the team on nice expense accounts, got to see the country, got to talk to players in the locker room, and always had a by-line even when they filed stories half in the tank.
They griped about having to travel, eat restaurant food and stay in hotel rooms in cities hither and yon, suffer indignities at the hands of spoiled players, having to file stories while others could get fully loaded, and being underpaid.
Underpaid? I didn't make their kind of money in my best job. But then I wasn't snarky enough.
Newspaper people are, as a herd, a snarky lot. Sportswriters are the snarkiest of the snarky, save the occasional editorialist. Still, baseball writers can be snarky every day, and editorial writers and columnists can only vent their spleens two or three days a week, max.
Besides, sports fan want snarky sports writers. And if they happen to accidentally actually read an editorial page and find a snarky word, it only makes them grumpily happy if the snarkiness is aimed at intellectuals or liberals, which they think are one and the same.
Maybe it's my age, but I find other things more worthy of complaint, like the colors they want men to wear. I refuse to wear a peach or pink or melon green golf shirt.
Others can buy their clothes at Nautica from Nordstrums, or wherever you have to pay $120 to be in style. I will continue to find my pocketed polos at LL Bean, Tractor Supply or WalMart, knowing that with the latter, I am risking showing up on viral email page showing the denizens known as Wal-Martians, the snarkiest of all snarky recreational put-downs.
Back in the days of my innocence, there was a sports editor at the old Baltimore News Post named Roger Pippen, who lived to take pot shots at the Orioles. Maybe it was because the Orioles by another name were still the St. Louis Browns, a truly needy collection of used to be, wanna be and never will be players, whose legacy to Baltimore was the likes of pitchers like Bob Chackles, the only player I ever asked for an autograph. He was brusque, but accommodating, but as I looked at the signature, I asked myself, Who the heck is Bob Chackles? The next question was, Who cares? And the question then became, So what? I never asked another celebrity for an autograph, not any of the big time politicians, actors, musicians or other Names in Lights types I met over the years because I figured they were just like everybody else, and a good mechanic is worth more to the betterment of humanity than most of those idols we gush over.
Look, see there? I'm being snarky. Maybe I can still get a job writing sports.
I worked with big league sports writers at the News American. John Steadman was the only one who was truly happy to have his job. The others had jobs that I once considered the next best thing to playing center field in Baltimore; they traveled with the team on nice expense accounts, got to see the country, got to talk to players in the locker room, and always had a by-line even when they filed stories half in the tank.
They griped about having to travel, eat restaurant food and stay in hotel rooms in cities hither and yon, suffer indignities at the hands of spoiled players, having to file stories while others could get fully loaded, and being underpaid.
Underpaid? I didn't make their kind of money in my best job. But then I wasn't snarky enough.
Newspaper people are, as a herd, a snarky lot. Sportswriters are the snarkiest of the snarky, save the occasional editorialist. Still, baseball writers can be snarky every day, and editorial writers and columnists can only vent their spleens two or three days a week, max.
Besides, sports fan want snarky sports writers. And if they happen to accidentally actually read an editorial page and find a snarky word, it only makes them grumpily happy if the snarkiness is aimed at intellectuals or liberals, which they think are one and the same.
Maybe it's my age, but I find other things more worthy of complaint, like the colors they want men to wear. I refuse to wear a peach or pink or melon green golf shirt.
Others can buy their clothes at Nautica from Nordstrums, or wherever you have to pay $120 to be in style. I will continue to find my pocketed polos at LL Bean, Tractor Supply or WalMart, knowing that with the latter, I am risking showing up on viral email page showing the denizens known as Wal-Martians, the snarkiest of all snarky recreational put-downs.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Should the county speculate in gold? How about real estate?
A few weeks ago, Commissioner Richard Rothschild suggested the county should end its conservative approach to investing and bonding and buy gold. Since then, the price of gold has dropped $58 an ounce, lowest in three months.
Hope we didn't invest in gold.
Question is, why would he suggest such a thing, when gold is 15 percent lower than it was in September.
Maybe the answer is in a piece that appeared on the Internet in which analysts point out that uber-conservative Glenn Beck was advising people to invest in gold. As Abraham Bailin, a commodity analyst points out, "Gold became a symbol of your political leanings . . . a way to speculate on the solvency of the economy."
People panic and run to buy gold when they're fearful. So fear feeds the gold frenzy.
Cooler heads apparently prevailed. The county's "investments" are supposed to be a means to maintain a good position with which to hold a good bond rating, so we can borrow money at a good rate for major expenses, like schools or other capital expenses. It's not to get rich with taxpayers' dollars.
In recent years, the county was prudent and frugal enough to actually pay off debts early, effectively saving even more on necessary spending. But that was when leaders listened to respected financial advisers, not Glenn Beck.
Here's hoping the next great idea is not something along the lines of buying up residential properties in declining neighborhoods, capitalizing on panic, then selling the property off at a profit -- hopefully -- when the market settles down.
I've heard of certain real estate practices that capitalize on fear and greed, and as a county, we should not be doing that.
Hope we didn't invest in gold.
Question is, why would he suggest such a thing, when gold is 15 percent lower than it was in September.
Maybe the answer is in a piece that appeared on the Internet in which analysts point out that uber-conservative Glenn Beck was advising people to invest in gold. As Abraham Bailin, a commodity analyst points out, "Gold became a symbol of your political leanings . . . a way to speculate on the solvency of the economy."
People panic and run to buy gold when they're fearful. So fear feeds the gold frenzy.
Cooler heads apparently prevailed. The county's "investments" are supposed to be a means to maintain a good position with which to hold a good bond rating, so we can borrow money at a good rate for major expenses, like schools or other capital expenses. It's not to get rich with taxpayers' dollars.
In recent years, the county was prudent and frugal enough to actually pay off debts early, effectively saving even more on necessary spending. But that was when leaders listened to respected financial advisers, not Glenn Beck.
Here's hoping the next great idea is not something along the lines of buying up residential properties in declining neighborhoods, capitalizing on panic, then selling the property off at a profit -- hopefully -- when the market settles down.
I've heard of certain real estate practices that capitalize on fear and greed, and as a county, we should not be doing that.
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