Committee Members

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Trying to tread a fine line between encouraging scientific progress and preventing horrendous abuses of a new technology, a presidential advisory committee agreed yesterday that there should be a moratorium on the cloning of human beings by public or private institutions.The group said efforts to clone a person would not be safe now because they would be too likely to result in malformed fetuses.The 18-member group was charged by President Clinton with making a recommendation on human cloning by the end of the month.

On Feb. 15, the Baltimore City Democratic State Central Committee-45th District convened at the Oliver Community Center to select a candidate to assume the seat once held by Del. Hattie Harrison, a longtime political stalwart in East Baltimore who died last month. Ten candidates interviewed for the position, three of whom were also members of the committee conducting the interviews, before Nina Harper, director of the Oliver Community Association, was chosen for the position. At no time did the chair or committee members appear to think it was inappropriate for them to participate as final arbiters of the decision as to who should succeed Delegate Harrison.

The seven members of the Millersville Landfill Advisory Committee threatened to resign last night unless the county executive meets with them in two weeks to address what they say has been a chronic lack of cooperation on the part of the county.The committee today was to send County Executive Robert R. Neall a letter, asking him to set up a meeting in which county officials responsible for the landfill will participate.In their heated meeting last night, members vented their frustrations with the county, which is under orders from the state to bring the landfill into compliance with environmental laws.

On Friday, Feb.15, the Baltimore City Democratic State Central Committee convened at the Oliver Community Center to select a candidate to assume the seat once held by Delegate Hattie Harrison, a longtime political stalwart in East Baltimore ("Community leader picked to replace delegate," Feb. 19). Ten candidates interviewed for the position, and three of the candidates were also members of the committee conducting the interviews. The oddity was that at no time did the chair or committee members think it was inappropriate for them to participate in deciding who should succeed Delegate Harrison.

QUEENSTOWN -- Amy Leaberry, a Republican Party activist, was the leading vote-getter among 14 candidates two years ago for a seat on the seven-member GOP state central committee in Queen Anne's County. She's also a 33-year-old stay-at-home mom who has three children younger than age 4, the youngest of whom, 3-month-old Thomas, is nursing. All of which, Leaberry figures, ought to have worked out just fine in a party that bills itself as "pro-family." Instead, Leaberry has resigned her post with a flurry of news releases and recriminations charging fellow central committee members with "breastfeeding discrimination."

After a heated meeting, members of the Baltimore City Democratic Central Committee have selected the director of the Oliver Community Association to replace Del. Hattie Harrison, who was the longest-serving member of the House of Delegates.  Committee members voted Friday to appoint Nina Harper to fill the open seat in the 45th District, which includes much of northeast and east Baltimore. She did not respond to a call seeking comment Monday. Scherod C. Barnes, of the central committee, said the full committee would likely approve Harper's nomination Wednesday, sending the pick to Gov. Martin O'Malley for final approval.

The Carroll County Republican Central Committee has ousted one of its nine members, but the action will have no impact on the selection of a candidate to fill the delegate seat recently vacated by Carmen Amedori, committee members said yesterday. "These are two separate issues that are not connected in any way," said Michelle Jefferson, committee chairwoman. "We removed one of our members. This was not a rift, but more of a housekeeping issue." In a meeting Tuesday, committee members followed the bylaws and demanded the resignation of their colleague, Joe Burns Jr. "This was done in executive session and we cannot discuss the reasons," Jefferson said.

Letter writer Jonathan Reidy quoted my testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee out of context ("High-capacity magazines mean more stray bullets," Feb. 11). I would like to correct the record. I told the committee that magazine capacity was a matter of personal choice regarding my ability to protect myself and my family. We are currently limited to 20-round magazines in Maryland, yet only the law-abiding are likely to follow that restriction. After my testimony was complete, one of the senators asked me if I thought fully automatic weapons were OK on the street.

WASHINGTON -- The message on the tape recorder was shockingly profane and chillingly blunt: "I'm going to blow his [expletive deleted] brains out."More than the tearful testimony, more than the stories of women murdered or left paralyzed, the voice on Kathleen Krueger's home answering machine underscored the terror experienced by victims of stalking. For members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the taped death threat was doubly disturbing because it was directed at one of their own.Ms. Krueger, the wife of Sen. Bob Krueger of Texas, played the tape at a committee hearing yesterday to try to explain what it's like to be the target of an inexplicable obsession.

About 30 Glen Burnie residents worked for hours Tuesday night tryingto come up with a blueprint for the future.The volunteers, who met at the Glen Burnie Improvement Association building, spent the evening brainstorming about how to fix Glen Burnie's problems and build on its strengths.One of the most frequently voiced complaints was the community's "image problem." A stereotyped image of Glen Burnie as "Chrome City,"dominated by automobile dealerships and repair shops, is perpetuatedby people who don't live in the communityand know little about it, residents said.

After a heated meeting, members of the Baltimore City Democratic Central Committee have selected the director of the Oliver Community Association to replace Del. Hattie Harrison, who was the longest-serving member of the House of Delegates.  Committee members voted Friday to appoint Nina Harper to fill the open seat in the 45th District, which includes much of northeast and east Baltimore. She did not respond to a call seeking comment Monday. Scherod C. Barnes, of the central committee, said the full committee would likely approve Harper's nomination Wednesday, sending the pick to Gov. Martin O'Malley for final approval.

Letter writer Jonathan Reidy quoted my testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee out of context ("High-capacity magazines mean more stray bullets," Feb. 11). I would like to correct the record. I told the committee that magazine capacity was a matter of personal choice regarding my ability to protect myself and my family. We are currently limited to 20-round magazines in Maryland, yet only the law-abiding are likely to follow that restriction. After my testimony was complete, one of the senators asked me if I thought fully automatic weapons were OK on the street.

UPDATE: A decision on this rule has been postponed until next week. The Senate Rules Committee is expected to vote Wednesday on a proposal that would shed some light on one of the darker corners of Annapolis: the committee voting session. Sen. Allan Kittleman, a Howard County Republican, made a pitch to the panel Tuesday for a proposal to record audio of the session where standing Senate committees vote on whether to kill legislation or send it to the floor. The panel gave Kittleman's proposal a respectful hearing but deferred a decision for a day. Senate floor sessions and committee hearings are already recorded and available online, but voting sessions are not. Though the voting sessions are open to the public, often they take place with nobody present except members and staff.

Three members of a key City Council committee say they oppose Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's proposal to more than double the city's bottle tax — enough to kill the bill. That has angered supporters of the bill, who accuse Councilman Carl Stokes, the chairman of the council's Taxation, Finance and Economic Development Committee, of holding back public education. The tax increase is part of the mayor's plan to fix dilapidated schools. Stokes is one of the three council members on the five-member committee who oppose it. "Councilman Stokes is standing as a roadblock toward improving the quality of our schools for our children," said Bishop Douglas Miles, chairman of the interfaith group Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development.

Seven-time Cy Young Award-winner Roger Clemens is on trial today - again - for allegedly lying to Congress, and that means the spotlight will again find Brian McNamee, the pitcher's former personal trainer. McNamee has said he injected Clemens on numerous occasions with steroidsand human growth hormone. But the man I'll be thinking about is Andy Pettitte, Clemens' longtime friend and teammate. Here's the thing about steroid cases - they have the potential to rip up friendships and clubhouses.

When Baltimore County Republicans vote in primary elections every four years, they also cast ballots for the chairman of their local party. Party leaders want to change that, saying the county central committee should pick its chief. The county GOP is the only party organization in Maryland whose chairman is elected at large. This week, state Sen. J.B. Jennings, a Baltimore County Republican, introduced a measure in Annapolis that would let the county party's central committee — rather than the general population — elect its leader.

On Feb. 15, the Baltimore City Democratic State Central Committee-45th District convened at the Oliver Community Center to select a candidate to assume the seat once held by Del. Hattie Harrison, a longtime political stalwart in East Baltimore who died last month. Ten candidates interviewed for the position, three of whom were also members of the committee conducting the interviews, before Nina Harper, director of the Oliver Community Association, was chosen for the position. At no time did the chair or committee members appear to think it was inappropriate for them to participate as final arbiters of the decision as to who should succeed Delegate Harrison.

United Way of Central Maryland has announced a new program to get the spouses of corporate executives new to the area involved in community service projects.The program, Friendly Baltimore, informs the spouses of the regions' needs and links the spouses to community and nonprofit organizations.Informal gatherings are held at the homes of committee members. For more information, call 547-800, ext. 317.

After Dr. Mark Midei was accused of implanting unnecessary heart stents in hundreds of patients at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, a Maryland Health Care Commission committee began developing safeguards to prevent a repeat situation. But now, one of the committee's members - Dr. John Chung-Yee Wang, a former colleague of Midei's who heads the cardiac catheterization lab at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore - is himself accused of improper stenting in three separate legal claims.

Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center remains in crisis mode as a new executive and national consultants look into safety concerns after three killings at the hospital, state health officials told two Senate committees Wednesday. "This hospital is still in crisis and security is the most important issue," Dr. Gail Jordan-Randolph, medical director of the state Mental Hygiene Administration, told the members of the Finance and Budget and Taxation Committees. But Randolph and other high-ranking officials said that the state's maximum-security mental hospital has also made several changes to improve safety measures and employee confidence, and is working to identify systematic problems that may have led to the killings.