Editors

Steelers @ Ravens preview chat with the PG's Jerry Micco & Ron Fritz of the Baltimore Sun

Robert Keller, The Evening Sun's first metropolitan editor and later executive director of the Greater Baltimore Committee, died May 12 of complications from Crohn's disease at Harbor Hospital. He was 71. The son of a banker and a bookkeeper, Robert Keller was born in Trenton, N.J., and raised in Baltimore's Howard Park neighborhood. He earned his high school diploma and bachelor's degree in 1963 from St. Mary's Seminary & University in Roland Park. Mr. Keller was a reporter for The Catholic Review from 1963 until 1965, when he joined the staff of the Delmarva Dialog in Wilmington, Del. In 1967, he joined The Evening Sun as a reporter and in 1972 became city editor.

For the first time in its 71 years, the American Society of Newspaper Editors has lit (as in turning on a light bulb) on the sagacious idea of holding its national convention in Baltimore. Welcome!For reasons that defy objective analysis, the directing editors of news and editorial operations of the nation's major newspapers usually assemble three out of every four years in the nation's capital, there to be confined to a hotel whose meeting rooms have been dug coal-mine deep to deny participants any hint of air, sunlight, fog or reality.

Learn from past for answers to overcrowding We have all heard, "If you don't learn from history, you are destined to repeat it. " We must learn from events 18 years ago when citizens wanted the (County Executive Dutch) Ruppersberger Administration to commit to the voters' approval to reopen Bloomsbury as a middle school. Instead, the county executive transferred the approved monies to other school projects. Citizens of Catonsville united and appeared before the Baltimore County Board of Education, the County Council, county executive and even held hands around Bloomsbury to no avail.

Disclosures threaten the nation's security The Sun's editorial "What a free press does" (June 28) maintains that President Bush and his administration are attacking The New York Times and other newspapers because "they don't like what they see." It applauds disclosures by The Times of efforts by the Bush administration to combat terrorism, arguing that judgments as to what to print must remain with newspapers. The First Amendment is the cornerstone of our democracy, and its protection is essential to maintain a free society, not only now but also for future generations.

WASHINGTON -- Has he used drugs, had an extramarital affair or cheated the IRS? No, no, no, an exasperated H. Ross Perot said yesterday, experiencing the kind of scrutiny he would face if he runs for president.The might-be candidate ran a gantlet of questions during and after a meeting of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. He survived, entertaining many with his folksy humor, but the experience didn't whet his appetite for a campaign."I'm not driven to do it," he said. "As a matter of fact, the more I'm in it, the less interested I become."

The rejection letters being sent out by Gail Katz Brady, the talent coordinator for Q2, cheerfully declared, "We've interviewed and tested nearly 400 people over a relatively short period of time and had a great time in the process."Q2 is the QVC Network's new shopping channel, aimed at customers who still sniff at QVC. It will begin broadcasting a full weekend schedule in September.Many of those people are now fashion or beauty editors, or free-lance stylists or writers, and at least 28 of them have taken classes from Dorothy Sarnoff, the chairwoman of Speech Dynamics, on how to sell, sell, sell.

The Sun's features section received two awards last weekend in the annual competition held by the American Association of Sunday and Features Editors. Sun staff writer Larry Bingham won first place in the general features category for his story about Bobby Stiles, the farmer's son from Western Maryland who chose to put college on hold to help on the family farm when his father got sick. The judges described Bingham's story this way: "Subtle, beautiful writing ... a poignant tale of family devotion and expectations."

The Sun has a long and proud tradition of foreign reporting. Overseas bureaus have been part of the newspaper's identity for decades. No other U.S. newspaper of its size makes a larger commitment to maintaining its reporters around the world. A story last Sunday by Sun correspondent Gady Epstein about China's death penalty system is a recent example of the newspaper's strong foreign effort. The front-page article described how two men who had been wrongly arrested and then sentenced to death were exonerated and released just before their scheduled executions.

WHEN homegrown NBA star Carmelo Anthony briefly appeared in a locally produced DVD called Stop Snitching last year, Baltimore's longtime problem with the intimidation of witnesses received national attention. The rap-style documentary, which looked like outtakes from an episode of The Wire, delivered a chilling message: Witnesses to crime who cooperate with police and testify in court face violent retaliation. Articles in The Sun focused largely on Anthony - who has denied any culpability and has disavowed the DVD's message - and on the dramatization of what Baltimore prosecutors say permeates almost all of its murder and nonfatal shooting cases.

The Catonsville Celebrations Committee, which works year round to organize, plan and find funds to pay the approximately $100,000 cost for the July 4 parade and fireworks, depends on an annual spring dance to raise funds. This year, tickets were not selling, probably due to competition from many other community events. So the decision was made to cancel the dance. Therefore, we will depend even more on cash donations. Please consider helping by donating at the website, Catonsvillecelebrations.org, or mail a checks to: The Catonsville Celebrations Committee, P.O. Box 21202, Catonsville, MD 21228.

Mark D. Sokolik, a corporate lawyer remembered as a fitness and music enthusiast, died last week after complications from a fall. He was 30. A former Hunt Valley resident who attended Loyola Blakefield in Towson, Mr. Sokolik went on to graduate from the University of Baltimore and become a top student at Georgetown University's Law Center. Since 2010, he had worked as a corporate attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in New York, one of the nation's top law firms. "Mark was a real gentle person," said Frank Sokolik, his father, whom Mark talked with constantly on the phone.

Former Baltimorean Katherine Bouton abruptly lost the hearing in her left ear at age 30. One minute she could hear, and the next, she could not. Over the decades, her impairment worsened. By the time she was 60, she was functionally deaf. But her reluctance to disclose her ailment only increased. And who can blame her? She worked in a highly competitive environment, as a senior editor at The New York Times. In retrospect, Bouton says, remaining silent was a mistake; her hearing impairment contributed to her abrupt departure after 22 years at the newspaper.

I think people should try to conserve water and not pollute it. Water is the primary resource people and animals need to live. Only about three percent of the water on Earth is fresh and there are about seven billion people. If we're not careful, the water could go down the drain. Everyone has seen pictures of oil and other pollutants in water, but I don't think they take them seriously. In the past, DDT was a pollutant that damaged the food chain. It kept working its way upward, starting with small animals, then getting to bigger ones.

Thank you to all of Catonsville for helping make the 12th annual Catonsville Middle School fundraiser a success. It was a success, thanks to support from the community and a core group of dedicated volunteers, some who have children in the school but many who do not. Local businesses donating manpower and equipment is the backbone of this operation. The volunteers would not have moved 14 tractor-trailers worth of mulch without their support. We would like to thank the following businesses: John Giles of Knockorp, ABC Rentals, Wall to Wall construction/remodeling, 21st Century Solar and Electricity, Build Source, Woodland Landscaping, NDX and Enterprise Rentals.

Thank you for the wonderful coverage of the Woman's Club of Catonsville ("Celebration, sadness for Catonsville Woman's Club," Catonsville Times, March 27) and for reminding residents of their wonderful accomplishments over the past 80 years. On Saturday, April 20,  most of the contents of the building will be sold at a special sale from 8-11 a.m. at the clubhouse, located at 10 St. Timothy's Lane. We will also sell the plants and ground covers surrounding the building. Come and get a little bit of Catonsville history!

When editors at Baltimore magazine heard that one of their free-lance writers was a juror in last fall's Dontay Carter trial, they got an idea: Why not call him and ask him to take notes for a first-person article on the experience?The editors got their story, and they also got a subpoena. Lawyers for Carter said the contact with the juror while the murder trial was under way was improper and grounds for a new trial.In the end, Circuit Judge John N. Prevas denied the motion for a new trial, ruling yesterday that the incident did not taint the juror or deny the East Baltimore teen-ager due process.

The four-story brownstone near Washington's Lafayette Park is one of the most exclusive hotels in the world. There's a fireplace in the master bathroom, and the thread counts on the sheets is high enough to rival the Four Seasons. And only four people can get reservations to stay there right now - possibly because the coverlet bears the presidential seal, and there are accommodations for the Secret Service in the basement. The townhouse on West Jackson Place is the residence where Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and both George Bushes stay when they are in Washington on official business.

It has become painfully obvious that The Sun's editors, along with columnists Jules Witcover and Thomas Schaller, do not like any members of the GOP or their proposals. Both Mr. Witcover and Mr. Schaller are forever either pointing at something Mitt Romney said, or something President George W. Bush did. Get over it boys, your man won again, and it's been going on five years now. It is time to start critiquing the job President Barack Obama and his cronies are doing instead of acting like they are perfect and infallible.