Danger

Haven't paid your city property taxes? Then you're on the city's list of owners whose properties could end up in tax sale this May, along with nearly 27,000 others who (as of last week) were behind on taxes, water bills or other city tabs. That's more than 10 percent of city properties, located in neighborhoods as varied as Poppleton and the Inner Harbor . If previous years are any judge, many owners will pay up quickly and avoid tax sale altogether. Here's an interactive map that shows where all the properties are. You can click on the dots for more details, including the address, who owns and how much the city says they owe. (Keep in mind that some may have paid already -- and at least one is an error .)

I enjoy biking short distances and am grateful that there are more bike lanes making it safer to ride on city streets. I also enjoy attending performances at the Modell Lyric, which has recently completed multi-million dollar renovations to efficiently accommodate a broader range of shows, including the recent return of grand opera. Unfortunately the plan to run a bike lane on Mt. Royal Avenue directly in front of the Modell Lyric, taking one lane from the sidewalk and one lane from the street parking lane, will endanger and seriously undermine the ability to attend the Modell Lyric just at a time when it should be flourishing.

CEDARVILLE, Calif. -- Marooned with her baby in a frigid cave, Jennifer Stolpa listened through three days and nights for the rescuers she feared would never come. Instead she heard the howls of coyotes, a terrifying sound that seemed to draw nearer by the hour.The food -- fruitcake, coconut cookies and a few tortilla chips -- had run out long before, and now on Wednesday her breast milk was gone as well. Melting ice in her mouth and feeding her infant son the liquid like a bird, she fought the mounting panic and wondered: Would they freeze first, or starve?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's decision to lower the standard for blood lead toxicity to 5 micrograms per deciliter was based on accumulated evidence that even the lowest levels of lead have devastating effects on the developing nervous systems of young children ("We need a war on lead," May 21). Your well-timed article and editorial on lead prevention comes at the time of year when windows and doors are opened and the opportunity to create lead dust in affected homes increases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's decision to lower the standard for blood lead toxicity to 5 micrograms per deciliter was based on accumulated evidence that even the lowest levels of lead have devastating effects on the developing nervous systems of young children ("We need a war on lead," May 21). Your well-timed article and editorial on lead prevention comes at the time of year when windows and doors are opened and the opportunity to create lead dust in affected homes increases.

We have been hearing claims by our federal government that there is low to no inflation in this economy. The Federal Reserve continues an "easy money" policy, cranking up the printing presses at the U.S. Mint when the government needs more money to operate than it collects in taxes. And long term interest rates are the lowest in recent history. And deficits are at all time high levels. Yet gasoline and heating oil are up 40 percent since last year (and we can't blame the oil companies for the price of oil products)

Many people keep guns in their homes because they believe it makes them safer. But any number of studies, and the experience of one Baltimore County family last week, show that exactly the opposite is the case. Fifteen-year-old Michael D. Brooks Jr. would have been a sophomore at Lansdowne High School this fall, where he planned to try out for the football team and was looking forward to learning how to drive. But those dreams were cut short last Saturday when he was shot in the head and killed during a sleepover party with two other boys, aged 11 and 12, at a relative's house in Cherry Hill.

It was interesting to read Frank Roylance's article of September 10 on the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons excavating a recently discovered whale fossil from the Calvert Cliffs near Chesapeake Beach ("Calvert Cliffs fossil recovered, identified"). We have owned our home on the Calvert Cliffs since 2000. While we appreciate the contributions the museum makes to our community, we are very concerned with the way government officials allow the museum to handle fossil excavations. Our first concern is safety.

You have got to be kidding me! In Anne Arundel County's investigation, they discovered an independent witness who not only verified Bear's guardian's account of the shooting, but verified that Keith Elgin Shepherd immediately drew and fired his weapon almost before the words were out of his mouth requesting the control of Bear-Bear; and all he is being charged with is two misdemeanors ("Man faces two charges in shooting of dog," Aug. 19)? Why and who is protecting this guy? This was a malicious attack of a loving animal, who I'm sure greatly suffered his injuries until he was mercifully euthanized.

I am responding to the uproar caused by the proposed Sheppard Pratt group home in Ruxton. Do the people who are outraged really know what being mentally ill entails? Do they assume that all people with these disorders are dangerous? Shame on them. And let's not forget that this is high-end. My husband, who desperately needs a facility like this and who wouldn't harm a fly, would never be able to get in because he is on disability. How is that fair? That is my outrage. Suzanne Lawson

In response to William Ramsey's letter regarding pit bulls, I couldn't agree more ("Why not hold all dog owners accountable?" May 16). Pet owners should be liable for the risk presented to the rest of us when they select a breed to own. If pit bulls have been maligned in media reports of them attacking people, why worry about the liability? Do pit bull owners expect me to believe that the news media don't report dog attacks when they don't involve pit bulls? I tolerate my neighbors' dogs barking at all hours, and I understand that they can't clean up half of what their dogs do on my lawn.

Maryland dog lovers are upset by a ruling in the highest court in the state that says pit bulls are “inherently dangerous,” which means owners and landlords can be liable for the first bite a pit bull makes. But dog bites of all breeds turn out to be expensive. The Insurance Information Institute reports that last year insurers paid out nearly $479 million in dog bite claims with the average claim reaching $29,306. That's an increase of $3,230 per bite over last year. The number of bite claims last year totaled 16,292, up by 522 from the year before.

Top-seeded Loyola is the most balanced team, but unseeded Maryland will be the toughest to push out of the Division I men's lacrosse final four. The four remaining teams were determined Sunday after No. 4 Notre Dame beat No 5. Virginia, 12-10, in one quarterfinal, and No. 3 Duke routed unseeded Colgate, 17-6, in the other. Loyola (16-1) will meet Notre Dame (13-2) in one semifinal Saturday in Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., and the Terps (11-5) will play Atlantic Coast Conference-rival Duke (15-4)

Teens learn on YouTube to make the "bombs" with a few cheap, household items, then travel in groups late at night — eager to hear the boom, laugh with friends and gauge whatever damage they've wrought. According to Lt. Carlton Saunders of Howard County's office of the fire marshal, teenagers consider it a prank when they experiment with "bottle bombs," which have been found over the years in counties all across the Baltimore region. The explosions are rarely associated with damage greater than a busted mailbox, and are even more rarely associated with injuries, Saunders said.

My son is a veterinarian, so I know a few things about dogs. I am a lawyer, so I know a little something about judges too. And just as some pit bulls - not all - can be mighty frightening to the public, some appellate judges - not all - can be pretty scary too ("Pit bulls are 'inherently dangerous,' court rules," April 28). So a new rule declaring appellate court judges "inherently dangerous" might also be needed. Harvey K. Maizels, Baltimore

I devoted my entire professional career to working with individuals stigmatized by drug addiction. Yet during that time I saw the pendulum swing from addiction being treated as a moral weakness to the disease-based model backed by science. I'm now witnessing a similar evolution in my volunteer work with an animal rescue group that over the years has become very familiar with pit bulls. The recent Maryland Court of Appeals decision designating all pit bull type dogs as inherently dangerous is based on myths, not facts.

There are may lessons to be learned from the case of George Huguely and Yeardley Love ("Teammates saw signs of trouble, but failed to act," Feb. 10). Among them is that alcoholism and aggression are real issues that need to be addressed. We all know that alcohol changes the brain, causing some to react in violent ways. For those with prior anger issues, the violence likely intensifies with the addition of alcohol and other substances. Mr. Huguely had consumed 15 drinks on the day of the incident, and other testimony suggests he suffered from anger issues.

Hours earlier, someone had broken into John Pontolillo's house and taken two laptops and a video-game console. Now it was past midnight, and he heard noises coming from the garage out back. The Johns Hopkins University undergraduate didn't run. He didn't call the police. He grabbed his samurai sword. With the 3- to 5-foot-long, razor-sharp weapon in hand, police say, Pontolillo crept toward the noise. He noticed a side door in the garage had been pried open. When a man inside lunged at him, police say, the confrontation was fatal.

The season didn't start the way Bel Air baseball coach John Swanson hoped. But maybe it will end more to his liking. By the time the Bobcats could catch their collective breath this season they were a 3-8 team. But what Swanson has discovered is that he has capable leaders in senior captains Zack Stout and Tyler Riedal and junior Tyler Norcross. They showed their character by leading their teammates through the building process. Now, Bel Air is 9-11 heading into the Class 3A postseason, which begins this weekend (MPSSAA brackets are expected to be unveiled Wednesday)

We may never know exactly why Junior Seau died, of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, at his home in San Diego on May 2. Suicide is commonly the result of depression, and perhaps Mr. Seau had a mood disorder that had nothing to do with his 20-year football career in which he played hundreds of games, made thousands of tackles, and hit - was hit - many more times than that. On the other hand, a career like Mr. Seau's - a linebacker with a reputation as a hard hitter and a "warrior" on virtually every defensive play, using his body as a weapon, and "playing hurt" - almost certainly included dozens of concussions, whether or not they were reported to his team or to the league.