April 01, 1998
Two cheers for The Sun. Your March 15 article on the Harford County rezoning referendum ("Rezoning issue divides allies in Harford") shows that you are hearing from both sides before putting ink to paper. But you still fail to address the real issue: Politicians have given us more sprawl, though the county's professional studies show no need for more intense zoning for the next two decades.
You continue to focus on personalities, especially that of one eccentric whose claim to fame is getting himself arrested for removing illegal real-estate promotional signs and who is now a promoter of the new sprawl bill.
Harford's gadfly has pointed out many cases where legislative zoning authority has been usurped by officials, robbing the county of its ability to control sprawl. While we should be grateful to him for bringing these abuses to light, we cannot accept his zTC solution. We should insist that the law be followed. We could do this by following the lead of other counties and adopting laws giving community groups legal standing to oppose reclassification requests. These cases could then be appealed to courts beyond the influence of the local development industry.
Your March 17 editorial on the county school board referred to the administration's attempts to keep secret a Legg Mason study commissioned by the county. It is this very study that shows that rezonings imposed on us by the politicians are not needed. Perhaps you will eventually connect the dots.
Robert Dillon
Magnolia
Veterans of Korea conflict deserve our respect, honor
Kudos to Kevin Cowherd for his wrenchingly evocative March 22 article "Casualties of War" in The Sun.
His narrative of the experiences of the Krepps twins brings again into focus the hell our young, inexperienced, ill-trained, ill-equipped and spottily led troopers went through in that early phase of the war called a "police action."
If one were to review the annals of American forces in ground combat, the horrors and privations experienced by our troops in Korea during those early months would not be surpassed. The young men who survived that ordeal deserve our undying respect; those who did not, our eternal honor.
H. Hoover Yount
New Freedom, Pa.
Chilly classes and crowding par for Catonsville school
The situation at Catonsville Elementary School is not new ("Catonsville Elementary offers charms and ills of old school," March 20). Problems cited in the article date at least to the 1950s.
Between 1952 and 1957, I was a first-grade teacher there. Rarely were the classroom temperatures comfortable. By the time the rooms on the lower level were becoming warm enough, the teachers on the top floor were sending frantic messages to the janitor to cut back on the heat.
Overcrowding was a problem in those days as well. The baby boomers were just reaching school age. Average classroom size was about 35 students. The cafeteria was inadequate, so our first-grade students had to carry their trays back to the classroom and eat at their desks.
One problem we didn't have was concern about security. We enjoyed the many doors, which were frequently left open in warm weather. It's a sad commentary on our changing world that too many doors are considered a problem.
Ann Hennessy
Rock Hall
Pub Date: 4/01/98
