Activists

Anti-abortion advocates will gather at 10 a.m. Monday outside the Maryland State Police Headquarters in Pikesville to publicly discuss a $385,000 settlement involving both parties. The activists and their attorneys will discuss details of the case, which they say include a requirement that all state troopers receive additional training. The activists' federal lawsuit was over the August 2008 arrests of 18 protesters with Baltimore-based Defend Life during a Bel Air rally.

George Edward "Hunky" Sauerhoff, a political aide and fundraiser who was the founder and president of the Loyal Sons of Pigtown, died May 12 of heart failure at FutureCare Cherrywood Healthcare and Rehabilitation Centre in Reisterstown. The unofficial mayor of Pigtown was 79. "In his day, he was a hurricane. He had so much energy that it just spilled out of his pores," said Michael Olesker, author and former Baltimore Sun columnist. "And he had great, great affection for Pigtown, where he simply knew everyone.

Years of attempts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay have fallen short and there is continuing opposition to tougher regulation, but a panel of environmental activists that included the Obama administration's point man for bay cleanup said Saturday there is still reason to hope that anti-pollution efforts will succeed. The group gathered at the Museum of Industry in Baltimore, once the site of an oyster-packing plant, to discuss ways that community groups and individuals could improve water quality in the nation's largest estuary - which sustains not only thousands of wildlife species, but recreational opportunities and a slice of Maryland's economy.

Maryland is set to become the first state in the nation to outlaw chicken feed additives containing arsenic - but it won't be the last, if environmental activists have their way. Gov.Martin O'Malleyis scheduled to sign into law today legislation that bars sale or use of any chicken feed containing Roxarsone, which has been widely used since the 1940s by the poultry industry. It would become effective Jan. 1. Environmental and food safety advocates say they hope to push for similar legislation in other states, including neighboring Virginia.

Activists have launched a last-minute attempt to halt construction of a $100 million jail for Baltimore teenagers facing adult charges, saying the state needs to have a broader conversation about how to deal with young criminals. Groundbreaking for the 180-bed facility, at the state-owned complex that includes a dozen other prison buildings just east of downtown Baltimore, is scheduled for this fall. "This is a building that nobody wants and barely anybody knows about," said Terry Hickey, director of the Community Law in Action Center, which tutors jailed teens.

About 100 activists and other members of the AIDS community marched through downtown Baltimore last night and placed an empty coffin on the steps of City Hall to memorialize John Stuban, a leader of the AIDS movement who died of the disease on Aug. 15.Mr. Stuban was the founder of ACT UP/Baltimore, part of a national network that uses civil disobedience to press for greater efforts to combat acquired immune deficiency syndrome.Before the march, nearly 200 people, including City Council members, health professionals and activists attended a memorial service for Mr. Stuban at Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Cathedral Street.

Standing before some 30 activists and Union Square neighbors Saturday in a neon orange T-shirt with the words "I am Baltimore," 16-year-old Antonio Ellis recited a gritty poem about how the city appears through his eyes. "Born and raised in the city, where youth are always misunderstood. / Being judged based on skin color or because they're from the 'hood," the Reginald F. Lewis High School sophomore said in a lyrical rhythm. "Living in the city, where there is little chance to succeed.

ARLINGTON, VA. -- The death of "peace activist" Tom Fox, and the threatened execution of the three others held with him in Iraq, is doubly tragic. It is tragic whenever an innocent person is murdered. It is also tragic because the likelihood that the presence of Mr. Fox and his colleagues would change the attitude or behavior of their captors was zero to none. That the "peace activists" believed their brand of Christianity would trump the fanatical Muslims who regarded them as infidels and worthy of death meant that Mr. Fox and the others would either be used for propaganda purposes by the enemies of freedom or made to sacrifice their lives like animals on an ancient altar in the furtherance of the fanatics' dream of a theocratic state.

AIDS specialists and activists -- outraged that the Bush administration apparently has shelved a proposal to allow people infected with the AIDS virus to enter this country -- are launching a counterattack.Harvard planners of an international conference on acquired immune deficiency syndrome, to be held in Boston next year, will hold a news conference tomorrow to respond to the federal government's reported action, which was publicized over the weekend."The entire public health community has made it clear that neither travel nor immigration poses a threat to the U.S. population," said Hilary Rao, director of communications for the Harvard-sponsored conference.

One day soon, before she is too arthritic, Elizabeth McWethy says she wants to turn the poetry she has written by hand into a single-volume anthology illustrated by her grandchildren because it is "more fun than worrying whether the developers are ruining your creek."At 74, the Annapolis woman who has been an activist as long as she can remember wants to step down as chairwoman of the Weems Creek Conservancy. She is not alone among Anne Arundel's "greenies," who are going gray and hoping to cut back on their activities.

The ongoing debate over youth crime in downtown Baltimore has sparked a war of words over race — overshadowing a debate over the police response to disturbances and objections from city politicians who say the issue is vastly overblown. Since a state delegate introduced the term "black youth mobs" in reference to hundreds of teenagers mobbing downtown on St. Patrick's Day, discussions from living rooms to online forums have been dominated by race. That has left little room for discussion of the real issues, all sides agree.

Some of the bravest people in the world can be found at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport. Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. The Dalai Lama. These and many other figures are featured in a photo exhibit organized to honor human-rights defenders around the world. Part of the airport's upper concourse, just off the main atrium of the international terminal, has been transformed into a photo gallery to display the traveling exhibit "Speak Truth to Power," which runs through May 31. The exhibit was organized by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that was formed in 1968 in memory of the former U.S. senator and attorney general, who was assassinated that year at age 42. It is based on a book written by Kerry Kennedy, a daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and president of the RFK Center.

The Rev. Marion C. Bascom, a leading Baltimore civil rights activist remembered for his lifetime quest for social justice, died of a heart attack Thursday at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 87 and lived in Reservoir Hill. "A giant has fallen," said former Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, a close friend and a member of Douglas Memorial Community Church, where Mr. Bascom was pastor for 46 years. "He affected thousands of lives in our community and was a positive life force.

Standing before some 30 activists and Union Square neighbors Saturday in a neon orange T-shirt with the words "I am Baltimore," 16-year-old Antonio Ellis recited a gritty poem about how the city appears through his eyes. "Born and raised in the city, where youth are always misunderstood. / Being judged based on skin color or because they're from the 'hood," the Reginald F. Lewis High School sophomore said in a lyrical rhythm. "Living in the city, where there is little chance to succeed.

He pioneered one the most influential, far-reaching musical genres of the past 50 years. He became a galvanizing force, too, in the cause of human rights. When he died, more than a million people turned out to witness his funeral cortege. Among those mourning his loss were the 27 women who had once been his wives. The extraordinary story of Nigerian musician and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti inspired the 2009 musical "Fela!" which garnered three Tony Awards. Judging by the ecstatic reviews, the international touring production that comes to Baltimore this week has only increased the show's reputation.

Famed "Veterans Against The Iraq War" activist Adam Kokesh will speak at Harford County's Campaign For Liberty April meeting. Kokesh will be the featured speaker on April 24 at 7 p.m. at the monthly Campaign for Liberty meeting at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Forest Hill. Kokesh is an Iraq war veteran who experienced combat in Fallujah, receiving the Combat Action Ribbon and the Navy Commendation Medal. Since his honorable discharge from active duty, he has been an outspoken opponent of unconstitutional U.S. wars - wars not authorized by Congress as prescribed in the Constitution.

Women's and gay rights activists held several small protests during Pope John Paul II's visit yesterday, handing out condoms and waving signs opposing his stands against abortion and birth control.But with their planned parade to Camden Yards blocked by city police for lack of a permit, the protesters apparently didn't make much of an impression on either the pope or the multitudes who had come to see him.The four dozen or so protesters did rally for about 90 minutes at the Washington Monument and then split up to try to gain attention along the papal parade and other stops of his visit.

Angela Ward's job is to be Rhoda Eskwith's body.The organization can be reached by calling 1-800-487-6007.

Anti-abortion advocates will gather at 10 a.m. Monday outside the Maryland State Police Headquarters in Pikesville to publicly discuss a $385,000 settlement involving both parties. The activists and their attorneys will discuss details of the case, which they say include a requirement that all state troopers receive additional training. The activists' federal lawsuit was over the August 2008 arrests of 18 protesters with Baltimore-based Defend Life during a Bel Air rally.

Horace Warren Davis Sr., a retired longshoreman and neighborhood and civil rights activist, died April 3 of a heart attack at Bon Secours Hospital. The Edmondson Village resident was 80. Born in Baltimore and raised on Mount Street, Mr. Davis was a graduate of Carver Vocational-Technical High School. During the Korean War, he served as a postman with the Army in Korea. He worked at Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s Sparrows Point plant, Fort Meade and Parks Sausage before becoming a longshoreman on the Baltimore waterfront.