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Herbert W. "Bill" Acker, a retired Price Waterhouse Coopers LLD regional managing partner, died Friday of kidney cancer at his Stone House Farm in Churchville. He was 70. Herbert William Acker — who was known as H. William "Bill" Acker — was the son of a Ford-New Holland worker and a postmistress. He was born and raised in Intercourse, Pa., where he graduated from Pequea High School. After earning a bachelor's degree in 1963 in accounting from Lebanon Valley College, he began his accounting career at Price Waterhouse in New York City.

I loved the lengthy article on rising gas prices ("Pumping up the price," Feb. 26). Several years ago, when gas was approaching $2 a gallon, the headlines were screaming how middle America was hocking their wedding rings to be able to put gas in their cars, and what was George W. Bush going to do about it? Yet, now, as the price is approaching $4 a gallon, nowhere in your article was the current president's name mentioned. Why is that? D. Pazourek, Sparks Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Mount St. Mary's has averaged 11 goals in four contests this season, but a closer look reveals that the offensive production is quite lopsided. The starting attack of seniors Andrew Scalley, Brett Schmidt and Cody Lehrer has combined for 30 goals and 26 assists. The total of 56 points accounts for 73.7 percent of the team's output so far. By comparison, the starting midfield of seniors Bryant Schmidt, Daniel Stranix and Eric Osoki has combined for 11 goals and four assists. It's a jarring discrepancy between the two units, but coach Tom Gravante said he is not alarmed by the imbalance in points.

As tax season gets under way, accounting students from Community College of Baltimore County, will help prepare income taxes for free those with annual incomes of $60,000 or less, and who only require the basic schedules for individuals and households. The help comes through the CCBC Community Tax Prep Program, and is held at the Essex and Catonsville campuses. In Essex,  sessions will be held Feb. 19 and 26; and March 5, 12, 19 and 26, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day, in the campus' L building - room 102, 7201 Rossville Boulevard.

John O. Brennan, President Barack Obama's nominee for heading the Central Intelligence Agency, stonewalled Congress during its hearing on his candidacy, which focused on drones - unmanned aircraft carrying surveillance equipment, some with missiles ("The law of drones," Feb. 11). The drone weapons system is mushrooming in the U.S., and it is beginning to get footholds in other countries as well. In addition, The Sun reported that Mr. Brennan refused to use the term, "torture," instead using the propagandistic, "enhanced interrogation.

Shawn Nadelen's frustration is still ongoing and it's not limited to Towson's season-opening 9-7 loss to High Point last Friday. The second-year coach was hoping that the embarrassment of being the footnote in the Panthers' first-ever victory would light a fire under his players, but he said he's still looking for that spark as the Tigers welcome No. 5 Johns Hopkins in Towson's home opener this Saturday. “A little bit of my frustration is that I haven't seen a lingering anger,” Nadelen said Wednesday afternoon.

There has been much recent debate about Race to the Top (RTTT) and its efficacy in improving K-12 education. RTTT was a competitive federal grant that challenged states to pursue innovative reforms on a rapid timeline from 2010 through 2014. The reforms are designed to ensure that every student is prepared with the requisite skills to succeed in college or in a livable-wage career. Maryland, like other RTTT-winning states, is using its grant ($250 million) to fund a new curriculum and a controversial teacher evaluation model that incorporates student growth, as measured in part by state test results.

Throughout fall workouts and the preseason, Navy coach Rick Sowell has openly voiced his opinion that the midfield needs to play better to alleviate some of the scoring burden on the attack. The attack got some help in Saturday's season-opening 20-7 thumping of VMI, but it was the second line that outperformed the starters. Junior Erik Hoffstadt registered three goals and one assist, and junior Sean Price and freshman Kevin Wendel each contributed a goal. That trio's play made an impression with Sowell.

The biggest flaw of democracy is that politicians would say anything and do anything to fool the "majority. " If you subscribe to the concept that smartest constituents constitute top 10 percent or so, democratically elected politicians represent the wishes of the "majority" not the wishes of their "smartest" constituents. Take the opportunistic response of Gov. Martin O'Malley to the Connecticut school shooting. Nothing in his proposal would have prevented the Sandy Hook shooting, including limits in size of the magazines.

Regarding the recently approved emergency aid to Northeast states affected by superstorm Sandy ("$50.5 billion Sandy relief bill passes in U.S. Senate," Jan. 29), now is the time for a competent journalist to provide transparency to this bill especially since Sen. Dan Coats and Heritage Action for America made statements that "much of the funding is superfluous. " Let's clear the air by publishing the names of every senator who added "pork" to this bill, the amount of money and the name of the recipients.