Alcohol

Damascus is about to get wet. The Montgomery County town, which had banned the sale of alcoholic beverages for as long as anyone can remember, voted Tuesday to permit local restaurants to sell wine and beer. Four times in the previous 35 years, residents of the unincorporated town of just over 15,000 had voted to keep the place dry. In 1996, the ban was upheld by a few hundred votes. But this year, the vote wasn't close, as 66 percent said yes to alcohol. Retail sales of alcohol will not be permitted.

Even at the depths of a drug addiction that cost him a fortune and dulled his world-class poker skills, Greg Merson believed he could do something great. "He always had a lot of faith in himself," said his father, Stan. "I never saw him lose that. " Wednesday morning in Las Vegas, the North Laurel native showed the world that his faith was well-placed, winning the $8.5 million first prize in the World Series of Poker Main Event. "He's been through a lot, and a lot of people have told him he wouldn't make it at poker," said Stan Merson, still running on emotion as he watched a television replay in his hotel suite a few hours later.

The recent opinion piece by David Jernigan ("Alcohol companies target black youth," Oct. 23) underscores the need for a government review of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) and its misspending of $4 million in federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant money. Despite Mr. Jernigan's continued assertions that alcohol advertising causes consumption, even he acknowledges in this latest report that African American youth drink less despite seeing more ads. This critical point was left out of his opinion piece.

It is no secret that for decades, tobacco companies have filled disadvantaged communities with advertising and marketing attracting generations of young people of color to the products they peddle. A new report from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds that alcohol companies are taking a page from the tobacco industry's playbook. Specifically, we found African-American youths ages 12-20 are seeing more advertisements for alcohol in magazines and on TV, compared with all youths ages 12-20.

After pleading guilty to a charge of reckless driving Friday afternoon in Prince George's County District Court, Maryland forward James Padgett will not be suspended by coach Mark Turgeon, an athletic department spokesman said. Turgeon was not available to comment. Padgett was arrested in College Park in June and charged with driving while impaired, but that was dropped amid "a number of issues", according to Padgett's attorney David Putzi. Among them was the amount of mouth alcohol in Padgett's system as a result of the player's acid reflux condition.

A collision Tuesday evening in Pasadena has left a 46-year-old motorcyclist hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. Police found James Lloyd Geiser of Glen Burnie lying in the roadway shortly before 7 p.m. at the accident scene. The crash occurred at the intersection of Fort Smallwood and Solley roads, near Riviera Beach. The victim had been driving a Harley-Davidson motorcycle north on Fort Smallwood Road, when he attempted a left hand turn onto Solley Road. The victim failed to yield the right of way to southbound vehicles and turned into the path of a Ford Escort, which struck the motorcycle, police said.

Last November, 26-year-old Alexis Marianes was in the middle of an intramural soccer game at the Du Burns Arena in Canton when a player on the opposing team swept her feet out from under her. Marianes did a "halfway back-flip" and landed squarely on her head, resulting in a concussion. "I couldn't read or open my eyes for four days," Marianes said. "I'd just lay in bed crying. " As Baltimore's social sports leagues continue to grow, so do the number of injuries associated with them.

Campus crime statistics reported to the federal government show there were 15 burglaries at Morgan State University in 2010. But a review of the university's daily crime log found twice as many. When reporting campus crime to the U.S. Department of Education, Morgan State downgraded many burglaries to thefts, following a federal directive that crimes not be reported as burglaries without evidence of unauthorized entry. And thefts — there were more than 100 reported at Morgan State in 2010 — are not included in the federal data on campus crime.

It is refreshing to see a politician admit his mistakes, take full responsibility for them and ask for forgiveness ("Dwyer admits to drinking in boating accident," Aug. 24). As they return to school this month, may our youth learn from the events of this past week - the teenagers who died in the Ellicott City train derailment and Del. Donald H. Dwyer's boating accident - that alcohol use compromises one's judgment. Benedict Frederick Jr., Pasadena

About $14.3 million generated by the 2011 state alcohol tax will be used to expand long-term care services to frail seniors and adults with disabilities, officials said Wednesday. The money will mean the seniors and disabled people will be able to stay in their homes or communities, rather than moving to nursing homes or other facilities. "Keeping seniors and those with disabilities in their communities and closer to their families leads to a higher quality of life," said Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown, in a statement.