Attendance

Before The Sun's editorial board ("Baby, come back," Aug. 31) and Peter Schmuck ("The Orioles keep winning, but where are the fans?" Aug. 29) rib us about our alleged lack of attendance at Camden Yards, perhaps they should read their own paper. On the day Mr. Schmuck first raised the issue, the sports page printed this year's attendance figures in Major League Baseball and last year's as well. Baltimore averaged 21,943 last year, and now, with just under 20 games to go, they are averaging 25,536 and will crack 2 million total.

The TV cameras made it look even worse. With the red-hot  Orioles on their way to a thrilling 4-3 win over the Chicago White Sox on Monday night, MASN cameras revealed vast stretches of empty green seats at Camden Yardsall night, making it look like it was a slow-pitch softball game between a bunch of fat guys rather than two major league teams fighting to make the playoffs. The crowd was announced at 10,995 and there seemed to be far fewer fans than that when O's left-fielder Nate McLouth cranked a game-winning two-run homer in the eighth inning to pull the Orioles to within 3 ½ games of the Yankees in the American League East.

Apparently, there is no pleasing you people. The Orioles have been on a roll the past few weeks. They have climbed to the top of the American League wild-card standings and have inched surprisingly close to the first-place Yankees in the tough AL East. They have done it in ways so creative and counterintuitive that the rest of the baseball world considers their place among the top teams in the major leagues something of a mystery. Of course, there is only one real mystery around here and that is the whereabouts of all the supposed Orioles fans who have been holding out for a winning team before returning to Camden Yards.

Editor:  Dr. Robert Tomback, Harford County Public Schools Superintendent, recently informed David Craig, Harford County Executive, that the Board of Education will be holding a public hearing on Monday, Aug. 20 from 6-8pm at the A.A. Roberty Building, 102 South Hickory Avenue, in Bel Air.  This is our opportunity to address the need for a new Havre de Grace High School for our community. So why a new high school at Havre de Grace? For one, we have the oldest standing high school building in the county.

California residents Caryn and Kurt Burris missed the Star-Spangled Sailabration festivities in June, but they learned all about the Stars and Stripes this month at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine. The Burrises toured the birthplace of the national anthem Thursday with their children, Wyatt, 11, and Shelby, 13, while visiting Baltimore to see Kurt's great aunt. "It's an important part of history," Caryn Burris said. "We live in southern California, where everything is so new. It's nice to show the kids where it all started.

The life of Garrett Reid, the oldest son of Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid, was remembered today during a funeral in Pennsylvania. Among those in attendance at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, included Ravens coach John Harbaugh, general manager Ozzie Newsome, former Eagles safety Sean Considine and kicking consultant Randy Brown. Garrett Reid's body was discovered early Sunday morning in a dormitory room at Lehigh University. "It was very emotional," said Harbaugh, a former Eagles assistant who's close to the Reid family.

Heather Kelleher of Francis Scott Key High School and Don'a Martin of North Carroll High School were among 30 science teachers in Maryland who went to Frostburg State University last month for the Improving Teaching Quality Through Training Opportunities in Physics and Physical Science workshop. Middle and high school teachers participate to upgrade knowledge, learn to integrate technology into lessons and develop strategies. The workshop was funded through the Maryland Higher Education Commission.

Editor: Our governor has just ordered up yet another special session for Maryland's General Assembly. We legislators must return to Annapolis for the second time this short, hot summer. This time, ostensibly to take up the issue of expanded gaming in the great state of Maryland. As you may recall, the governor convened a special session early this summer. The reason we went back initially was to amend the so-called "Doomsday Budget. " That budget was actually a default spending plan, and I opposed the increase in taxes that ultimately passed in Special Session 1.0. Now, weeks later we are going back, for a double header in 2012.

The city's three-day Artscape festival came to a close Sunday as the rain held off and the biggest crowds of the weekend jammed streets transformed into galleries, performance space and picnic areas. After a slower-than-usual, rainy Saturday, "All of our fair-weather friends came out today," said Bill Gilmore, executive director of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, which produces the event. "We're at capacity. " Artscape, which bills itself as America's largest free arts festival, featured roughly 145 artists and vendors and was expected to have attracted about 350,000 people.

The last night of the Harford Farm Fair carnival was canceled Saturday evening after steady rainfall in the area. The carnival was deserted early Saturday afternoon as organizers initially made plans to re-open once the rain stopped. They had no plans to give up and cancel entirely, according to Farm Fair Chairman Skip Pieper, who said later at 5:30 p.m. that the carnival was officially canceled. "Needless to say the weather had a severe impact on our attendance," he added.