Cell Phones

Cell phones are ubiquitous these days. But there are plenty of Marylanders who still rely on a traditional telephone in their home. And they shouldn't be neglected or relegated to the bottom of the heap when service problems arise. It seems Verizon Maryland Inc. has been lax in servicing some of its residential customers, and the fact that its officials were unable to account for the problems this week suggests that state regulators have reason to stay on top of them. At a hearing called by the state Public Service Commission, the telephone company admitted that it missed more than 20 percent of its service appointments.

From operating room nurses at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air, who received cell phone messages about schools closing early, to parents who didn't have to scramble for the TV remote at dawn to find out that weather had curtailed classes for two days, the Harford schools' Alert Now system is proving its worth. Schools employees, who are among the more than 41,000 called, also appreciate the service. "I get a call at 5:45 a.m. and I know exactly what is happening," said Joe Voskuhl, principal of Bel Air High School, with an enrollment of 1,650.

He got conked on the noggin in Communist Poland and woke up 19 years later. Jan Grzebski, who went under at the age of 46 and is now 65, appeared on Polish TV last week, marveling at all that has changed since the grim days of the Warsaw Pact. Why, there's food in the stores! Imagine that. And cell phones. But all those people, free of the Soviet yoke (and also untroubled by head batterings) - why, he wonders, do they moan into their phones all day long? "I've got nothing," said Mr. Grzebski, "to complain about."

Behind rows of cell phone chargers and Bluetooth headsets at a kiosk in Boston's Shops at the Prudential Center, Evan Silbert is quietly loosening the grip that major telecommunications companies have on the cell phone. At his Warlox Wireless booth, Silbert unlocks customers' Razrs, BlackBerrys, Treos and other devices that start out tied to a single carrier so that, for example, a phone originally purchased through T-Mobile will work on a new AT&T account. He also uses software that can reveal menus or intrinsic capabilities that have been shut off by the carriers.

CHICAGO -- Apple Inc.'s iPhone, rumored and speculated about in technology circles for years, is an attempt to create the holy grail of portable devices - one elegant machine that contains a telephone, music and video player and Web browser. Still, Apple will find the phone market to be much tougher turf to conquer than the mobile music business, analysts say, particularly at a heady $499 price tag for the iPhone. The wireless world is more complex and extremely competitive, dominated by veteran phone makers like Motorola.

Among the most hated people in Maryland may be commuters who drive with cellular phones to one ear, slowing to a crawl or swerving into adjacent lanes while lost in conversation.Phone-happy drivers were the focus of a three-hour legislative hearing in Annapolis yesterday, as delegates debated a bill that would forbid drivers from using hand-held phones in moving cars.The proposal, by Del. John S. Arnick, a Baltimore County Democrat, won immediate endorsement from angry residents who jammed the hearing hall to tell horror stories of roadway encounters with distracted gabbers.

POTOMAC -- The most significant logo on Rich Beem's golf bag is "Odyssey." It is for the putter he uses and, perhaps, for the road this 28-year-old rookie has traveled from obscurity to the spotlight here in the $2.5 million Kemper Open. It could also describe what happened to him in yesterday's third round at Avenel.Beem recovered from a shaky start that saw his lead cut to one shot after two bogeys on the first three holes. He made three straight birdies and a fourth on the par-4 10th to build his lead back to three and his score to 11-under.

A Carroll County program that provides senior citizens with cellular phones for emergency use while traveling will be introduced at state and national conferences on aging next month, a state official said yesterday.Sue F. Ward, secretary for the Maryland Department of Aging, took that news to the county commissioners in Westminster yesterday, saying the innovative safety program called "Cellular Safety" could spread throughout Maryland and beyond.The free program, which began in January, is sponsored by the county state's attorney's office, the Sheriff's Department and the county's Bureau of Aging.

Fear not, chatty drivers. You can keep talking on your cellular phones.The House Commerce and Government Matters Committee killed a bill yesterday that would have banned drivers in Maryland from using their phones while driving.The measure drew support from only two of the committee's 23 members -- Del. John S. Arnick, the Baltimore County Democrat who sponsored the bill, and Del. Adrienne A. Mandel, a Montgomery County Democrat.Arnick said he proposed the bill because of the dangers of distraction and of having one hand busy with a phone rather than the steering wheel.

WASHINGTON -- Consider it the Olympics of the diplomatic world.When the NATO summit convenes in the nation's capital this week -- the largest gathering of world leaders in the city's history -- it will require precision planning and sophisticated event coordination. The result: Downtown will turn into The NATO Zone.Thousands of government employees will be absent from work, all District of Columbia public schools will take the day off, streets will close, hotels will cater exclusively to NATO officials.

The Ulman administration is preparing to cut back on cell phone use by Howard County government employees - a move expected to save the county up to $500,000 a year, top county officials said. "We're using this process department by department to take a fresh look at how they communicate," County Executive Ken Ulman told a recent meeting of the Compensation Commission, a citizens group appointed to recommend salaries for elected officials chosen in next year's election. Council members and Ulman have told the commission that cell phone use - especially involving e-mails - has spiked since their election in 2006, making their jobs more difficult and demanding.

The voices that ring out across Baltimore's airport terminals, paging lost travelers and steering foreigners to a meeting spot, will be a service of the past starting next month. And if you want to get a live person on the line when calling the airport's toll-free number for general inquiries, forget about it. The Maryland Aviation Administration is closing the communications center at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, a move prompted by state budget woes that will save $450,000 a year.

A few years ago, two prisoners used contraband cell phones to orchestrate their escape from the Evansville Correctional Institution in South Carolina. They called relatives, told them where to put wire cutters and when to meet. The calls continued until the inmates were sprung, said Maj. Robert Murray of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, and it still sticks in his craw. Murray was among dozens of officials from across the country who came to the closed Maryland House of Corrections in Jessup Thursday for a daylong fact- finding mission on how to clamp down on rampant use of mobile phones by inmates.

Towson Catholic parents agree to drop lawsuit 2 The parents of two former students at Towson Catholic High School have agreed to dismiss their lawsuit trying to keep the school open. The parents agreed on Wednesday to dismiss their suit against the Archdiocese of Baltimore and school administrators with prejudice, which means they cannot file it again. Baltimore County Circuit Judge Ruth Ann Jakubowski had been scheduled to hear the archdiocese's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. She denied the parents' request for a temporary restraining order last month to keep the school open.

In the continual cat-and-mouse game between corrections officials and the inmates they oversee, the newest form of contraband are cell phones smuggled into prisons by visitors, contractors and corrupt guards. Inmates use the devices to communicate with associates and direct criminal enterprises from behind prison walls almost as easily as if they were still on the streets. No one really knows how many contraband phones are floating around in the system, but over the last year Maryland has seen an increasing number of cases in which prisoners used cell phones to run drug operations, harass victims' families, plan escapes and even order witnesses killed to prevent them from testifying.

I stood one morning waiting for the No. 8 bus, at Northern Parkway and York Road in Baltimore, and was astonished at the number of drivers who went through that big intersection while talking on cell phones, dialing them or texting with them. You can see more from the sidewalk than you can from a car, and the number of multitasking drivers crisscrossing my field of vision was even greater than I'd thought it would be. We are a busy, hyper-connected and pressured people, stuck in a lifestyle that the Internet and the cellular industry created.

Drivers in Maryland could be pulled over for writing, reading or sending text messages under a bill that cleared a significant hurdle in the General Assembly yesterday. The state Senate gave preliminary approval to the legislation, and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller predicted near-unanimous final approval in his chamber early next week. That gives the issue that has been debated for years major impetus this session. Del. Maggie McIntosh, a key House committee chairwoman, said after the Senate action that she is "absolutely committed" to passing a similar bill in the coming weeks.

Eldersburg infant's death investigated The state police and the Carroll County state's attorney are investigating the death of an infant that has been ruled a homicide. Ky'leigh M. Rogers, 8 months, of the 900 block of Caren Drive in Eldersburg, died Tuesday after being taken to a hospital with apparent respiratory problems, Maryland State Police said yesterday. The child was pronounced dead at Carroll Hospital Center at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. State police at the Westminster barracks were contacted by the Carroll Hospital Center shortly before the baby died.

Using a cell phone while driving quadruples the chances of becoming involved in a crash - whether or not the motorist is using a hands-free device - according to a report released yesterday by a leading traffic safety advocacy group. Yet two-thirds of Americans believe it is safer to talk on the phone while driving if one's hands are free, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reported. The AAA Foundation report is a compilation of studies that looked - among other things - at billing records of drivers who had been involved in crashes to see whether they had been talking on cell phones just before the events.

Greater Elkridge group is meeting tonight The Greater Elkridge Community Association will hold its general membership meeting at 7:30 p.m. today at the Elkridge Volunteer Firehouse, Old Washington Road. County Executive Ken Ulman will speak. There will also be reports from state and county representatives, as well as regular GECA business. Extra parking will be provided at Norbel School and a shuttle bus provided from the school to the fire hall. If schools are closed because of inclement weather, the meeting will be canceled.