Fort Meade

For a lot of older Marylanders, Fort George G. Meade conjures up images of young soldiers fresh out of high school learning how to fire automatic weapons, frolicking along the bawdy Boomtown strip and preparing to fight aggression overseas.But that really hasn't been the case for a number of years, of course. And with a new role for the military at the end of the Cold War, and the closing of more than half the base in western Anne Arundel County, the post is visibly and rapidly being altered, even to accommodate casual visitors.

That stench you detect wafting from western Anne Arundel County isn't coming from a landfill, a dying stream or a smokestack. It's from Fort George G. Meade. Something rotten is going on within the confines of that military installation, and it's high-time local members of Congress pressure the Army to find out what it is.Army investigators have, in fact, been looking at Fort Meade since 1991 in two separate probes. They have kept silent about what they have found, but correspondence from lawmakers and information from post sources indicate the Army is pursuing allegations of mismanagement, fraud, waste, environmental violations, discrimination and sexual harassment.

Three local jurisdictions, led by Anne Arundel County, have agreed to establish a regional task force to help secure funding to prepare for a huge military expansion at Fort Meade. As part of an announcement Monday in Odenton, County Executive Janet S. Owens said Anne Arundel officials have submitted a preliminary request for at least $1 million in federal funding for planning studies and to hire administrative staff to prepare for the growth. The establishment of the regional Grant Advisory Task Force is crucial to netting more federal money to prepare for a wave of 20,000 defense workers who will descend on Fort Meade over the next five years.

The garrison commander of Fort Meade, under investigation for allegedly using profanity and telling lurid stories in speeches at the post, is getting support from employees who deny his remarks were offensive or constituted sexual harassment.Rather, they said, Col. Robert G. Morris III gave an "uplifting" talk using strong language that convinced them the Army post, itself the subject of seven criminal investigations, will be cleaned up."He was giving his philosophy on what would really upset him," said Joan Daughety, chief of non-appropriated funds in the civilian personnel office.

The painting shows five American soldiers and their lieutenant, members of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment who were cut off from their unit on a Sicilian hillside on July 10, 1943.They were lost. Surrounded. One suffered a broken leg.But all survived."The Beginning" hangs behind the desk of Col. Robert G. Morris III, garrison commander of Fort Meade.It hangs there because it depicts Colonel Morris' two strategies for success: work and focus. Both will be needed in the coming months, as the fort faces change and conflict.

Concerned about unexploded artillery shells and liability issues, officials from Anne Arundel and Howard counties will postpone the scheduled Oct. 1 opening of Tipton Airfield at Fort Meade as a civilian airport -- and as many as 300 local pilots will be kept waiting."

Members of the public may watch the arraignment of self-proclaimed 9/11mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other terror suspects from Fort Meade on Saturday, but seating for the video feed will be limited, a spokesman for the Army base said Tuesday. Mohammed and his co-defendants are to be arraigned at Guantanamo Bay on charges of terrorism and murder in the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001. The proceedings are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Private First Class Bradley E. Manning, the former intelligence analyst awaiting a court-martial on charges of aiding the enemy and violating the Espionage Act, will return to Fort Meade this month for his arraignment, the Army said Thursday. Manning, who is accused of giving hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks, appeared at the Army base in Maryland in December for a preliminary hearing. The arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 23. The decision on when and where his court-martial will be held is up to a military judge, who will be appointed by the Army Trial Judiciary.

At the sound of a cannon, the 1st U.S. Army headquarters company at Fort Meade will strike its flag today and head south, breaking the post's strongest link to the days when Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton trained there."

Col. Robert G. Morris III, garrison commander at Fort Meade, will serve an extra year in that post.The Department of the Army Personnel Command has extended Colonel Morris' tour of duty until June 28, 1996, according to R. L. Lane, a Fort Meade spokesman.Mr. Lane said Colonel Morris asked for the extension to give him more time to develop and implement programs.The extension does not appear to be directly related to investigations into alleged wrongdoing at Fort Meade, he said.POLICE LOG600 block of Chapelgate Drive: About $1,800 worth of fishing equipment was stolen from a wooden shed between between 1 p.m. Wednesday and 9 a.m. Thursday, police said.