Civility

What a great idea: a Cuss Bucket! ("Time for a little gosh-darned civility," May 17). We used to do a similar thing at home when our children were growing up, only the words they might have used were a lot milder than those inferred in Fred Rasmussen 's delightful article. Wouldn't it be wonderful (sigh) if we could get back to gentle language again? And gentle behaviors? And respect for one another? We could all benefit from some "gosh-darned civility.

The Rev. Marion C. Bascom, a leading Baltimore civil rights activist remembered for his lifetime quest for social justice, died of a heart attack Thursday at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 87 and lived in Reservoir Hill. "A giant has fallen," said former Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, a close friend and a member of Douglas Memorial Community Church, where Mr. Bascom was pastor for 46 years. "He affected thousands of lives in our community and was a positive life force.

Well, at long last, some children are being asked, no, told, to do the right thing, and I don't mean to eat oatmeal. The headmaster of Gilman School, Arch Montgomery, is making civility a major theme of the academic year. Mr. Montgomery, who is beginning his second year as head, sounds as if he's mad as hell and not going to take it any more. He sounds as if he thinks that civility is a civil right, which is an inside-out way of thinking these days. Our culture has become so saturated with political correctness and the view that personal expression, no matter how obnoxious, should take precedence over anything as boring as polite behavior, that what Mr. Montgomery is doing is brave if not positively dangerous.

The Anne Arundel County Police Department has opened an internal investigation into a police training academy instructor's decision to send an email to dozens of his police colleagues calling for President Barack Obama to be voted out of office and challenging government welfare, immigration and other political topics. In the email, Cpl. Charles "Butch" Benner wrote that a "Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!!!" He also called for the closing of the country's borders, the establishment of English as the nation's only language and the institution of mandatory drug screening for everyone receiving government welfare assistance.

When one writes about moral convictions, it's probably a good idea to consistently live up to them. That way people can still disagree with your convictions, but they have a difficult time accusing you of hypocrisy. Last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, I failed to live up to one of my highest principles. Here's the background. The story about the Obama administration's attempt to force Catholic and other faith-based institutions to offer employees free contraception in their health care coverage was still fresh.

A s she concluded the first week of an already contentious trial, Judge Gale E. Rasin remarked that she was still optimistic that civility could be taught. But then, one of her would-be students, who had left the courtroom after a brief and quite civil appearance, chose that moment to burst back in, her previous calm suddenly turned into righteous anger. "Excuse me," she declared to Rasin, "the detective man threw this in my face." She waved a pink slip of paper, which looked like the summons that had been handed to (not thrown at)

"Choose Civility" has been a theme of Columbia and Howard County for a few years now, and until recently it seemed a very apropos statement for the area. Howard County was an oasis in a desert. I work in Montgomery County, and driving there is like driving through a mine field. Washington, D.C., is even worse, maddeningly Big Brother-like. I take a deep breath and relax when I get back home to Howard County, this oasis of civility. When I heard about the speed camera program, I was so disappointed.

Regarding "Liberals' concern for civility didn't last long" (March 30), Marta Mossburg can rest assured on her think-tank fainting couch that it was long before the Tucson tragedy that the civility that is supposed to be forever associated with progressives had long since eroded. With the election of President Obama, there was optimism that America was finally being pulled out of eight years of regressive fiscal and foolhardy foreign policies. Unfortunately for some, Robert Dole's version of health care reform became "socialism," Cash for Clunkers became "Marxism," and mild tax increases for the top income earners was "tyranny.

One of the first acts of civility in President Obama's 2011 State of the Union address should be an apology for the total lack of civility and hospitality he displayed in his 2010 address concerning the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, with which he disagreed. Chief Justice John Roberts more than adequately spoke to the president's caustic remarks concerning the court's decision, which in essence, said that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts cannot be limited.

As a 35-year Columbia resident, I am fully aware of the role that the Merriweather Post Pavilion has played in our history and like most of our citizens have enjoyed many concerts there. I also know that the county landfill serves a valuable purpose, although I wouldn't want to live there. About three years ago we moved "down-wind" from Merriweather near Wilde Lake. Originally, we believed that the noise levels, pounding percussion and thunderous bass levels were an unexpected price to pay. I would joke with friends that we got a few dozen "free" concerts each year.

Sexual assault in the military threatens our national security. This has been a hard lesson for military leaders to learn, but thanks to significant pressure from Congress and victims' advocates, they're starting to get the picture. Last month, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced that sexual assault cases will now be handled by higher-ranking, more experienced officers and supervised by new Special Victims Units. These changes indicate that the Pentagon is finally interested in treating sexual assault as a serious crime rather than as lapse in professionalism or leadership.

Baltimore's spending board is scheduled to vote Wednesday to settle three claims made against the city, including a civil suit stemming from a 2007 accident in which a fire truck collided with a car, leaving three people dead. Relatives of victims in the 2007 crash — a husband, wife and a friend — will split $40,000 if the Board of Estimates signs off on the settlement. Their attorney said that is the cap set for motor tort claims involving police and firefighters responding to emergencies.

The Taneytown History Museum is featuring two small, but vivid, exhibits that focus on very different aspects of north Carroll County history: Its brush with the Civil War, and its 200-year heritage of dairy farming. The exhibit "Got Milk: A Brief History of Carroll County Dairy Farming, 1800-1930" takes up only one room in the museum on East Baltimore Street, yet offers a glimpse into dairy farming's economic and cultural importance in Carroll during earlier times. The displays are comprised of an eclectic assortment of photographs, paintings and articles describing several diary industry tools that were invented in Carroll County and marketed nationally.

The big hats, the beautiful flowers, the maypole, the lemon peppermint sticks — those are the hallmarks of Baltimore's Flowermart, an oasis of old-fashioned gentility that its organizers promise will stay that way. Which is why it's a little disturbing when its president starts talking about computers and relevancy and modernization. "We're moving into another generation," said Carol Karcher Purcell, president of Flower Mart at Mount Vernon Ltd., which has been running the century-old Baltimore street festival since 2000.

Risselle "Rikki" Fleisher, a former general counsel to the Maryland Commission on Human Relations who was a legal advocate in civil rights cases, died Tuesday of breast cancer at Stella Maris Hospice. The Bethany Beach, Del., resident was 77. "She wanted to right any wrong," said former Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. "She was a caring person who grew up at a time when things were happening that never should have. She worked to change that. " Born Risselle Rosenthal in Baltimore and raised on Mohawk Avenue, she was a 1953 graduate of Forest Park High School, where she was a three-letter athlete, her yearbook's features editor and homeroom class president.

The mother of Yeardley Love, a University of Virginia student murdered in 2010, filed a $30 million civil suit Thursday against the onetime boyfriend and fellow U.Va. lacrosse player convicted of killing her, George Huguely V. Sharon D. Love's suit, filed in Charlottesville Circuit Court, charges that Huguely acted negligently and with "utter disregard" for the safety of Love, who was found dead in her off-campus apartment by a roommate shortly before she and Huguely were scheduled to graduate.

Was it hours, days or weeks before progressives jettisoned their faux fur of civility after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords? Following the January 8 rampage by Jared Lee Loughner, which killed 6 and injured 14, including the Arizona Democrat, President Barack Obama said, "Let us remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy — it did not — but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can...

I am so saddened about to read that the Piccadilly Circus is coming to Howard County ("Piccadilly Circus coming to county fairgrounds," April 5). Not only that, this article provided them with free advertising. Circus animals suffer inordinately in these venues. Please do not support any circuses that use animals. Instead enjoy the wonderful Big Apple Circus or others like it. This will teach compassion and civility to our children and others. Choosing Civility would only lead to the choice of not attending/supporting circuses such as Piccadilly, Ringling, etc. Barbara Glick Columbia

Carl O. Snowden, the civil rights chief for the Maryland attorney general's office who was arrested on a drug charge last week, was in a car with a convicted felon in Druid Hill Park when city police officers smelled marijuana, according to court documents released Monday. Two officers said in a charging document that they pulled up in an unmarked car Thursday afternoon, approached a 2010 Honda Pilot with all four windows rolled down, and smelled "a strong odor" of marijuana coming from inside.

Carl O. Snowden, civil rights chief for the Maryland attorney general's office, was charged in Baltimore District Court with marijuana possession Friday — the same day he announced a voluntary leave of absence from his job — according to online court records. He was under court supervision for a drunken-driving conviction at the time of the arrest, and could face 60 days in jail if Anne Arundel County prosecutors pursue a probation-violation charge against him. "We are confident that Mr. Snowden will not be found guilty," Snowden's lawyer, Carey J. Hansel III, said in an emailed statement.