Bathroom

We all have preconceptions of what constitutes a design that's elegant, rustic, functional or frivolous. Wood paneling, for example, has some definite associations in most people's minds.The standard image is of a wall material that's stately and expensive. It is also generally pictured as part of a traditionally appointed library, den or some other type of "inner sanctum."Wood paneling isn't cheap, it's true, and it is used most often in precisely those settings. But there's no good reason why it can't be applied elsewhere in the home.

Baltimore police are searching for a man who allegedly took a photograph of a 15-year-old girl in an Inner Harbor bathroom last month by sticking his camera phone underneath her stall. Police said on April 17, the girl noticed someone taking her picture from under the stall, and called out to the person, thinking it was a friend. After she did so, "an unknown male told her he was just messing with his phone," police said. The girl then ran out of the bathroom, police said.

Q: I'd love to install a whirlpool tub in my master bathroom, but most of the ads I've seen for that type of equipment show a tub sunken into the floor or elevated on a marble platform. Not only can't I afford marble, my bathroom isn't large enough to accommodate the steps that seem necessary to get in and out of these tubs. Are there less expensive and more compact ways to install a whirlpool bath?A: Sure there are. Some tubs are only 5 feet long and 3 feet wide, and can easily fit into most master bathrooms.

For $3 a person, you can use the bathroom of Carol Hines' home on Winner St, across from Pimlico race course.  Hines decided to give entrepreneurship a try for the first time this year, one of many enterprises that pop up on Preakness day in the Park Heights and Pimlico neighborhoods.  Besides offering her restroom for Preakness attendees, Hines cooked up some of her best dishes, including jerk chicken, curry chicken and barbecue ribs. ...

I confess that I haven't read every article related to the use of restrooms by transgender people, but I need to make a few comments. If someone is a transgender female, I presume that this person will be dressed as a woman. If so, it is obvious to me that this person could not enter the men's room to go to the bathroom. In the ladies' room there are booths, and I would never have any idea of what goes on there. How could someone even know if it is being used by a male dressed as a female?

Two young female students reported seeing an unknown man inside and near a girls' bathroom at Linthicum Elementary School in Anne Arundel County on Friday afternoon, according to police and school officials. The two girls told police the man did not speak to them or try to touch them, according to a letter sent home to parents and posted on the school's website. An Anne Arundel police spokesman confirmed officers were investigating the incident, but had no other details. According to the letter, written by school principal Fran Nussle, two female students reported late Friday that they had seen the man, who they did not recognize, in the school building.

Anne Arundel County police are investigating a reported sexual assault of a female student in a girls bathroom at Arundel Senior High School. The school system received an anonymous call on its hotline around 3 p.m. Monday — about an hour after school dismissal — alerting officials to a possible sexual assault earlier in the day, police and school officials said. The school system reported the call to the police, said Maneka Monk, schools spokeswoman. Neither police nor school officials said what time of day the reported sexual assault took place.

Spending two hours in a mobbed MVA "Express" office in Columbia is bad enough, and for an 80-year-old woman who needs a bathroom, there's no place to go but the deli next door. Brierley Carroll, who lives in the Charlestown retirement complex in Catonsville, said she couldn't take the wait, so she took a manager's suggestion that she go next door to Columbia's Best Deli. She finds the lack of bathroom facilities for such large crowds "ridiculous, absurd. " Carroll said the MVA needs to provide a bathroom even if it's a porta-potty on the parking lot. "It needs to be done.

In the world of interior design, no rooms have changed more dramatically than bathrooms. They have blossomed over the last decade, growing from tiny utilitarian areas into spacious, handsomely appointed rooms, often with whirlpool baths, steam showers and other fixtures designed to pamper and soothe harried residents.Bidets; oversized showers with seats and multiple shower heads; exercise areas; entertainment centers, and expensive materials like marble and granite are becoming more and more visible as Americans upgrade old bathrooms and add new ones.

IT'S BEEN a couple of years since Karol renovated her kitchen, and she has pretty much forgotten the incredible hassles involved in the world's longest "simple" renovation project. At least, she's forgotten enough to be contemplating another remodeling job, this one on her antiquated bathroom. It's the sole bathroom in the house, which dates to just after the turn of the century. The bathroom was redone probably in the 1950s, because the bathtub and sink are, um, pink. Not a nice pale pink, but a real assertive '50s pink, like the type of felt skirt that would have a black poodle on it. The room was redone somewhat later, with a dropped ceiling and shower enclosure.

Two young female students reported seeing an unknown man inside and near a girls' bathroom at Linthicum Elementary School in Anne Arundel County on Friday afternoon, according to police and school officials. The two girls told police the man did not speak to them or try to touch them, according to a letter sent home to parents and posted on the school's website. An Anne Arundel police spokesman confirmed officers were investigating the incident, but had no other details. According to the letter, written by school principal Fran Nussle, two female students reported late Friday that they had seen the man, who they did not recognize, in the school building.

A 22-year-old man was given a life sentence Wednesday for trying to sexually assault a boy in a Dundalk middle school bathroom. Sean T. Schleigh had all but 20 years of his sentence suspended by Baltimore County Circuit Judge John G. Turnbull II, Assistant State's Attorney Stephanie Porter said after the hearing. He will get credit for the time he has served in the Baltimore County House of Detention since he was arrested Dec. 16, 2010 at Holabird Middle School, Porter said.

A 22-year-old man faces sentencing Wednesday morning for trying to sexually assault a boy in a Dundalk middle school bathroom in 2010. Sean T. Schleigh entered an "Alford plea" to attempted first-degree sexual assault in Baltimore County Circuit Court on Tuesday in the attack on a 12-year-old boy at Holabird Middle School on Dec. 16, 2010. By entering such a plea, Schleigh was not admitting guilt, but acknowledging that the state has enough evidence to convict him. Assistant State's Attorney Stephanie Porter told Judge John G. Turnbull II in a 20-minute hearing Tuesday that she is recommending a sentence of life in prison with all but 40 years suspended, plus five years of supervised probation.

I confess that I haven't read every article related to the use of restrooms by transgender people, but I need to make a few comments. If someone is a transgender female, I presume that this person will be dressed as a woman. If so, it is obvious to me that this person could not enter the men's room to go to the bathroom. In the ladies' room there are booths, and I would never have any idea of what goes on there. How could someone even know if it is being used by a male dressed as a female?

Transgender people would be protected from discrimination in Baltimore County under a measure approved by the County Council Tuesday, making the county the fourth local government in Maryland to adopt such protections. Council members did not add a heavily debated amendment proposed last week that would have specifically exempted bathrooms, locker rooms and dressing rooms. Instead, the council left the bathroom issue open to interpretation in the legislation, amending the measure so that the protections do not apply to "distinctly private or personal" facilities.

Tuesday night, the Baltimore County Council has a chance to send a powerful message about equality and fairness to all Marylanders when it votes on a bill to extend the county's anti-discrimination laws to cover transgender people. In the county where transgender woman Chrissy Lee Polis was savagely beaten in a McDonald's because of her gender identity, this should be a no-brainer. But it has instead become embroiled in an emotionally driven but largely irrelevant debate over access to public restrooms.

A 21-year-old Reisterstown woman threw her newborn baby out of a window last week, a Baltimore County police spokesman said. Rebecca Himes of the 100 block of Virginia Ave. gave birth to a baby in the bathroom of her home Thursday, placed the baby into a plastic bag and threw the bag out the window into some bushes, said Lt. Robert McCullough. A family member heard a noise and found the baby outside, McCullough said. The girl's mother and the other family member then called the police, he said.

Bathrooms have a long and fascinating history, from the public baths of ancient Rome to the 18th-century vanity that attempted to disguise chamber pots as elegant chairs, or hide them in cabinets designed by such furniture stars as Chippendale, Hepplewhite and Sheraton. Now American Standard has introduced a new line of fixtures that allows you to bring a historical feel to your bathroom. The Town Square collection is based on both Shaker and Prairie School designs, with lines that are at once simple and sophisticated.

Jenna Fischetti picks a seat at a Baltimore County Starbucks where she can see who's coming and going. As a transgender woman, the 47-year-old is always on guard. "My head's on the swivel," said Fischetti, a freckled brunette. When she slips into a public restroom, she tries not to talk. If she makes eye contact with other women, she smiles and nods. For Fischetti, using the bathroom is just one small part of a daily struggle for social acceptance. She says she lost her job after she began living as a woman.

So wait: Are we going to have a genitalia check in Baltimore County before we get to use the restroom at McDonald's? Help me out, somebody. I might be confused - apparently, there's a lot of that going around these days - but I'm pretty sure I read these words in this very newspaper: "If your human anatomy is male, you should go to the [men's] room. " This eloquence soared from the lips of a Baltimore County council member - John A. Olszewski Sr., Democrat of Dundalk - who apparently thinks a proposed county law that would specifically prohibit discrimination against transgender people should not apply to public bathrooms and locker rooms.