Accepted

Applications are now being accepted for scholarship awards in the Elks National Foundation's 1992 "Most Valuable Student" contest.The1992 awards include 500 scholarships nationwide and 1,585 scholarships (each for $800) allocated on state-quota basis. Five hundred four-year scholarships are to be awarded to the highest-rated boys and girls in the 1992 competition.Applications may be made only by students in the graduating classof a high school or its equivalent who are citizens of the United States and residents within the jurisdiction of the BPOE Elks.

It was with great amusement that I read in the Sunday Sun about the NRA member who was interviewed at the annual convention in Houston and said he would like for the NRA leaders and the leaders of the country to work together to find common ground. According to the polls there is overwhelming support for closing the loophole on background checks. The latest poll from Quinnipiac University found that 88 percent of gun owners support universal background checks. There is your common ground.

A contingent of county and state officials will meet with Federal Aviation Administration representatives today to accept a $2.8 million grant for the Carroll County Airport expansion project.County Commissioner Julia W. Gouge, two employees of the County Department of Permits and Regulations and Bruce Mundie, administrator of the Maryland Aviation Administration, will make the trip to FAA offices in Washington, said Micki Smith, public information director.Most of the money will go toward land acquisition to lengthen the airport's runway so it can accommodate more air traffic and larger jets.

Submitting sports notices The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. on Monday. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). Lacrosse The Howard Boys Lacrosse program is offering two camps this summer at Howard High School. The first camp will be for grades 6-8 (July 8-11). The second camp will be for grades 2-5 (July 15-18). Call 410-313-7275 for registration or 410-313-4716 for more information. Football Sports International will be holding a variety of youth football camps this summer at McDaniel College in Westminster.

The fifth annual Bags of Plenty food drive and fund-raiser conducted by the Maryland Food Committee has received $119,000 and more than 406,000 pounds of food. The campaign officially ends today, but monetary donations will be accepted through Dec. 31.More than 30,000 people have contributed to Bags of Plenty so far this year. Although the contributions of food fell short of the drive's goals, the money collected is to be used to buy additional food for the state's emergency pantries.

It's not enough for Accepted to make sloth and irresponsibility funny; the movie has to go and make them noble as well. And while I have no problem with slackers making me laugh, when they start preaching, that's when my ears close and my eyes roll. The movie also has the misfortune of counting too much on its central character, played by an overeager Justin Long. For a film that so clearly wants to be its generation's Animal House, the comparison is inescapable: Imagine if the earlier film - recently rated by the Bravo cable network as the funniest movie ever - had counted on Tim Matheson's Eric Stratton for laughs, rather than John Belushi's "Bluto" Blutarsky, and you'll see the problem.

The Alpha Ridge Landfill in Marriottsville will offer a discount fee for commercial customers who wish to dump wood waste materials.The waste materials that will be accepted are brush, small tree branches, leaves and grass, untreated construction lumber, Christmas trees that are free of tinsel, ornaments and stands and pallets.Recyclable wood waste will be accepted from commercial customers for a tipping fee of $35 beginning today. The landfill charges a rate of $60 a ton.The program is designed to boost the recycling rate, which is currently 18.4 percent.

Sarah Campbell has worked hard, both in classroom and on the soccer field, during her four years at Howard High School.On Friday the 13th of this month, it all paid off. That's when she signed her acceptance letter to attend the Naval Academy in Annapolis."

Some call it a brazen, drunken act of women's liberation. Others claim it's pure degradation. It's an annual ritual, a rite of passage, on the Preakness infield. Picture this: Blond-haired Jamie Morris hoists herself atop a set of broad shoulders, looks out across a muddy sea of T-shirt clad, beer-bonging twentysomethings and screams "wooooooo!" Then she lifts her head high and yanks up her gray top, answering the calls of "show us your [you-know-whats]!" The crowd closes in on the braless 18-year-old, spraying her with Bud Light and yelping with glee.

New Windsor Mayor Jack A. Gullo Jr. will head to Harvard University next month to attend a prestigious leadership program. Gullo, who stepped down this month as president of the Maryland Municipal League, is among the 160 elected officials, government leaders and others who have been accepted into the program, which begins outdoors on an island in Boston Harbor. "We take them to the Outward Bound facility on Thompson Island and have them spend the day in leadership exercises," said Robyn Champion, director of the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

At Liam Flynn's Ale House in Baltimore's Station North Arts and Entertainment District, two George Washingtons will get you a can of Natty Boh. But a single Baltimore BNote, with an image of Frederick Douglass on one side and an oriole on the other, will get you the same beer at half price. It's a special the bar's proprietors use to promote the circulation of the local currency. "It's a deal - and people take advantage of it every day," said Liam Flynn. "Usually it's about 20 BNotes a day. " The BNote recently turned 2 years old and is now accepted at more than 200 local businesses.

As the Boston Marathon bombing case reminds us, we are potentially all under constant surveillance when we walk down the streets of an American city. Our public movements are videotaped, who we interact with is observed, and our cell phone calls readily traced. We accept these gross incursions on our civil liberties because, well, look what they've done! We got the bad guys! And, as testified to by the deliriously cheering crowds in Watertown who had been ordered to stay locked in their homes for the day, the loss of liberty and freedom entailed was well worth the price.

Human nature frequently disproves theories. Conventional wisdom, for example, says that open office space plans with workers grouped like cattle encourage creativity and collaboration. But study after study shows that people are more inventive, productive and healthy with more privacy. Susan Cain writes about this eloquently in "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. " But examples are legion of experience trumping ideology. Would that legislators, like state Sen. Jamie Raskin, keep this in mind when trying to help people.

After a two-year hiatus, the Navy football team was back at the White House on Friday to accept the Commander in Chief's trophy from President Obama in a ceremony held in the East Room. The Midshipmen had won the trophy - which is presented to the winner of the series among the three service academies - seven consecutive times beginning in 2003, but that record streak ended when Air Force claimed it in 2010 and 2011. Navy has won the trophy 13 times in all. "This never gets old," Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said.

Ravens veteran wide receiver Anquan Boldin bullied defensive backs during the NFL playoffs, emerging as a Super Bowl XLVII hero. Now, he's in danger of losing his job. The Ravens are attempting to lower the $6 million salary of the three-time Pro Bowl selection, and it could lead to his release by the start of the free agent signing period Tuesday if talks continue to be unsuccessful, according to league sources with knowledge of the situation....

Buck Showalter remembered sitting in the Orioles clubhouse as a driving rain delayed the first playoff game Baltimore had hosted in 15 years. "Do you think the fans will stay?" asked a relatively new Oriole. "Hell yes," replied closer Jim Johnson. The Orioles manager told the story to illustrate the connection between his team and Baltimore. And that bond, which Showalter helped restore, was a big reason why he received The Baltimore Sun's 2012 Marylander of the Year award on Monday.

For most county high school seniors, the nervousness has passed.But for some students, like Brandy Brooks, apprehension still accompanies a perusing of the day's mail.The Francis Scott Key High School senior is awaiting word on whether she has been accepted at Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Frederick County."Every time I get a letter from Mount St. Mary's, I rip it open, wondering whether I've finally been accepted," said Brandy, who describes herself as a "B" student. "Yes, I'm nervous."

An attempt to make peace within the fractious Baltimore Teachers Union has set the stage for the BTU's former president to challenge the union's power structure that once embraced her.The peacemaking effort came in the form of a letter that BTU President Marietta A. English sent Feb. 2 to Irene B. Dandridge, agreeing to accept Dandridge's check for union dues covering October through January.In court filings, Dandridge maintains that the acceptance of the check reinstated her as a member of the BTU and makes her eligible to run Tuesday against English and four other candidates for the union's top position.

In 1993, a trio of University of Colorado students released a debut album, "Sister Sweetly," as Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Four Top 10 singles, including "Broken Hearted Savior," pushed album sales passed one million. An unknown at the time named Sheryl Crow opened some of the band's tour dates. That same year, the group made its network television debut on "Late Show with David Letterman. " Frontman Todd Park Mohr remains proud of the band's biggest - and earliest - accomplishments, but he doesn't sugarcoat their affect on him, even 20 years later.

Lotfy Nathan never figured he'd connect with the 12 O'clock Boys, a West Baltimore dirt-bike gang whose culture he was hoping to capture on film. At best, he figured to end up with a documentary about trying to track down the group, and having little luck at it. Fortunately for Nathan, it didn't work out that way. "It was surprising to me that I was able to sort-of breach the group," says Nathan, whose "12 O'clock Boys" will be getting its world premiere at the South by Southwest arts festival in Austin, Tex., next month.