Cement

After nearly three years of frustrating delays, Lehigh Portland Cement Co. will begin a test program to burn used tires in one of its cement kilns in the Carroll County town of Union Bridge. It could be a win-win situation.If the large-scale trial works as planned, the Lehigh plant will be able to reduce the amount of coal required to make cement and reduce noxious smokestack emissions at the same time. The process will also create a demand for discarded tires that can no longer can be buried in landfills.

A reader has suggested that I take time out from exposing the purblind ignorance of that ass Simon Heffer and his ilk to identify some rules and distinctions of usage that are worth observing.   H.W. Fowler had an entry, “sturdy indefensibles,” stock constructions like It's me that violate some grammatical principle or other but which it is idle to object to. I continue to observe some distinctions that I can defend as precise and useful, and today I'll share a dozen sturdy defensibles that I enforce almost daily in my editing.

Sometimes when I melt chocolate it clumps together. Is there a reason for this? Should I use a different type of chocolate? Actually, your problem doesn't have anything to do with the kind of chocolate you use. What chocolate hates is moisture and extreme heat. Even the slightest bit of moisture will cause that clumping. I've seen it happen many times when cooks try to melt a huge bowl of chocolate bits over a water bath. The problem starts when they don't turn the flame down after the water comes to a boil.

No. 6 Maryland's 9-6 victory over No. 7 Virginia on Sunday not only helped the Terps rebound from their first loss of the season to North Carolina, but it appears to have also have sealed them a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. The win helped Maryland improve to 8-1 overall and 3-1 in the league, which is the best mark in the ACC. Even if the Terps were to fall at No. 9 Notre Dame on April 19, they would finish with a 3-2 record in the conference. The Cavaliers (8-3, 1-2)

Some might consider the ceremonial burying of the hatchet at Lehigh Portland Cement Co.'s Union Bridge plant a week ago a bit contrived. However, if the plant's management and employees can turn a symbolic act into one of substance and meaning, Carroll County residents may witness a complete turnabout in Lehigh's past decade of nasty labor relations.Last Monday's mock funeral is actually in keeping with an international growth in ritual "meaculpas." In early April, 800 German Christians traveled to the Netherlands and apologized for the World War II invasion.

A leading provider of construction cement was ordered yesterday to pay $1.7 million in damages to a Baltimore concrete firm after the cement company was accused of selling a substandard product later used in a college dormitory at the Johns Hopkins University. Lawyers for the now-defunct concrete company, Metro Ready Mix Inc., said yesterday's jury verdict raised lingering questions about the practices of Essroc Cement Corp. and the structural soundness of highways, bridges and parking garages that have used its cement - a key ingredient in construction-grade concrete.

NEW YORK -- An investment banker and a Yale Law Schoo student were arrested yesterday on attempted murder charges for allegedly tossing cement blocks from the roof of a 45-story luxury building on the upper East Side, nearly striking two police officers.Police believe Jefferson Nutter, an investment banker at Morgan Stanley & Co., and David Pardue, a third-year honors law student at Yale, were drunk.According to a police report, police officers overheard Mr. Nutter, 25, bragging about the incident in his apartment before his arrest.

Lehigh Portland Cement Co.'s plans to nearly double the size of its Union Bridge plant received the backing of the Carroll County commissioners, who approved using $125 million in state bonds for the $260 million expansion yesterday.The industrial revenue bonds, issued by the Maryland Energy Finance Administration, will help pay for Lehigh's first major modernization since it opened in Carroll County in 1910.Cement output at the plant will increase from 1 million to 1.9 million tons per year.

THEY POURED a new concrete floor for our kitchen this week, and then the dining room microwave and the second-floor shower stopped working. So it goes in the saga of kitchen restoration, a big step forward, a couple of small steps back. The excitement started shortly after 7 a.m. when a throaty cement truck with a rotating mixer reading "LaFarge" pulled up in the alley behind our house, ready to pour. It is every boy's dream. Crews sprang from the accompanying fleet of trucks, and like firefighters attacking a burning building, they went to work.

Q: I'm concerned about the asbestos-cement shingles that cover the outside walls of my house. What are my options with the shingles, which are in good condition, under current EPA regulations? Can I have the shingles removed? Can I install vinyl siding over them? Will they affect the value of my house if I sell?A: You can leave the shingles as they are, have them removed or have siding installed over them.If the shingles are in good condition, they are probably harmless if left alone since the asbestos is held in place by cement.

Goucher's search for a fresh face at goalkeeper for the first time in three years has been completed. Junior Karl Wiszumerski will make his first collegiate start in the net when the Gophers open the season at No. 9 Washington College on Saturday. Wiszumerski beat out sophomore Stefan Schultz and freshman Peter Hayes for the honor, coach Brian Kelly announced Friday morning. “Karl Wiszumerski will be our starter,” Kelly said. “He's a junior that has really, really played great lacrosse here in the preseason.

With last Saturday's 45-30 victory over Franklin & Marshall, the No. 8 Johns Hopkins football team captured its third straight Centennial Conference title and the program's ninth championship. So does that make Saturday's regular-season finale at McDaniel meaningless? Not to coach Jim Margraff. “You look at each game to win,” he said Wednesday morning. “I know exactly what you're asking. ... I've talked to our guys already. They're excited and they want to get rolling.” The Blue Jays (9-0 overall and 8-0 in the conference)

The manner in which the No. 7 Towson football team lost, 32-31, to No. 21 Delaware on Saturday night at Johnny Unitas Stadium may dominate conversation in Football Championship Subdivision circles. But the Tigers have only themselves to blame. With 4:19 left in the third quarter, Towson (8-2, 4-2 Colonial Athletic Association) had a chance to pad a 28-10 advantage, but senior Drew Evangelista's field-goal attempt from 33 yards banged off the left upright. On the ensuing possession, Tigers middle linebacker Monte Gaddis pressured Blue Hens senior quarterback Trevor Sasek, who forced a deep pass that junior cornerback Tye Smith intercepted at Towson's 26-yard line.

Chemical weapons are evil, but you could also say they're a curse. They have a talismanic power to bend and distort U.S. foreign policy. You can ask George W. Bush or Barack Obama. In 2003, then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz gave a lengthy interview to Vanity Fair that caused a huge uproar, largely because the magazine shamefully distorted what he was trying to say. Mr. Wolfowitz explained that within the Bush administration there were a lot of arguments for why we should invade Iraq.

The present and former owners of a Hagerstown cement plant have agreed to pay a $700,000 fine and beef up emission controls at the facility to settle alleged air pollution violations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday. The proposed federal court consent decree requires Holcim Inc. to install "advanced pollution controls" at the Hagerstown manufacturing facility, which employs about 100 workers. The company, based in Waltham, Mass., also pledged to spend at least $150,000 on replacing an outdated piece of plant equipment with one that emits less pollution.

William F. Childs III, a retired engineer who was an early salesman of do-it-yourself cement products, died of complications from heart disease April 23 at his Towson home. He was 95 and lived for many years in Stoneleigh. Born in Salisbury, he was a 1936 graduate of the Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania and earned a civil engineering and business administration degree from the Johns Hopkins University, where he was lacrosse team manager. He joined the old Glenn L. Martin Co. in Middle River.

Eleven representatives of the cement industry in China toured Lehigh Portland Cement Co.'s Union Bridge plant Monday to study U.S. manufacturing technology.The visit was sponsored by the Massachusetts-based U.S. Institute of Transitional Economies and the Chinese Township Enterprises Development Center, a unit of the Ministry of Agriculture."Their cement industry is quite antiquated," said Herb Weller, quality control supervisor at the Union Bridge plant. "They were astounded at our low cost of electricity and low cost per man-hour of cement" produced.

Despite Friday night's 16-10 setback to No. 11 and America East foe Albany, UMBC is in the driver's seat regarding its entry into the conference tournament. If the team defeats Binghamton this Saturday at UMBC Stadium in Catonsville, the Retrievers will finish in the top four of the league standings and lock up a spot in the tournament. A loss would drop UMBC to 5-8 overall and 2-3 in the America East and into a tie with the Bearcats, who would improve to 6-8 and 2-3 respectively.

No. 4 Maryland was the primary beneficiary of No. 2 Duke's come-from-behind 19-16 victory over No. 16 Virginia Friday night, earning the top seed in the upcoming Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. The Terps (8-1) finished with a 2-1 record in the league, which was shared by the Blue Devils (10-4) and No. 3 North Carolina (8-3). With the head-to-head results among the three teams and their record against the Cavaliers (5-7) being equal, the next tiebreaker was goals allowed among the three leaders.