Garbage

Longtime Democratic strategist Elaine Kamarck started her government career as a Woodlawn middle-schooler, listening to her father read his Medicare training manuals to her. "If I could figure them out, he knew he was writing clearly enough," she said of her father, a career civil servant at the Social Security Administration. Almost 30 years later, Kamarck arrived at the White House to help Vice President Al Gore "reinvent government," injecting corporate management practices to the tune of 350,000 fewer federal jobs.

Anyone remember the Trash Bash jingle? How about "Baltimore Sparkle?" Or Trash ball? Those rubber garbage cans embellished with "Believe"? A stroll down memory lane, in Baltimore's case, is littered with failed cleanup initiatives. As it is everywhere. Ever since that lone tear rolled down the Indian's cheek in the famous 1970s commercial, national and local campaigns have used guilt, humor, bullying, goofy slogans, goofier mascots and celebrity endorsements in an attempt to get it through America's slovenly skull that littering is bad, garbage cans are good.

The riddle of the banana peel: You're standing in the kitchen, with a banana in one hand and the peel in the other, and before you can eat the banana you have to decide what to do with the peel. The sink disposal, or the garbage can? One is easier than the other, one is quieter. But which one is better? Which puts the least strain on the environment?

Anyone who's been to or even by a landfill knows it can have a certain aroma. Lately, though, some of Maryland's landfills have begun to smell like money. Businesses and local governments are teaming up to generate electricity or steam from the methane gas produced by decomposing garbage buried in landfills. The move is prompted by rising natural gas prices, federal tax breaks and recently enacted state requirements, but it also helps combat a major environmental problem - global climate change - by curbing releases of harmful "greenhouse" gases that trap heat in Earth's atmosphere.

A scout's take On Cole Hamels, 22-year-old left-handed starter for the Philadelphia Phillies; 1-3 record, 4.41 ERA in 6 games Pitches -- He's got three solid big league pitches: an above-average fastball, curveball and changeup. His fastball is 88 to 93 mph. His curveball is ... not over the top, but it has a good, sharp break. He throws all of his pitches for strikes. Makeup -- He's a Southern California kid, a real good young man. He's going to make normal, young mistakes, but he has poise beyond his years.

Justin Pfeiler had a broad smile as he added a sagging bookshelf to a growing pile of garbage in the back alley of the Brooklyn Park rowhouse he shares with his mother. He was taking out the trash at the request of an Anne Arundel County police officer who had knocked on his door minutes earlier and offered to whisk away his unwanted detritus. "I've never heard of something like this," Pfeiler, 18, said. Pfeiler's piles included old speakers, an end table, an ottoman and a ratty rug. "I've just started bringing out all of my junk, and I have a lot of it here," he said.

They came by land and water. Their target: eight miles of litter and debris on the shores of Middle Branch. A group of more than 500 students, residents, and members of businesses, community and environmental groups spent seven hours yesterday participating in the Middle Branch Clean Up, which netted 17 tons of litter and debris, organizers said. In addition, some anglers volunteered their boats to help fish out debris floating in the water near the shoreline. Joseph Kolodziejski, head of the city's solid waste bureau, said the one-day cleanup was an effort to beautify a waterway marred by debris and trash from storms, illegal dumping and other sources.

THE QUESTION: After I set my trash out on the curb each week, where does it go? The trash fairy collects it. OK, seriously trash collected from Howard County homes travels about 100 miles to a private landfill in a remote corner of eastern Virginia. Each night around midnight, about 325 tons of Howard's garbage is sent south from an Annapolis Junction transfer station across the Potomac River on a train to a 630-acre landfill opened in 1996 by King George County, Va., and operated by a huge national company called Waste Management Inc. Send a question to: howard.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - As Washington and the Los Angeles Angels finished their contentious series Wednesday night, Nationals right fielder Jose Guillen, the former Angel who was suspended for the final eight games of 2004 after an on-field tantrum and clubhouse argument with Mike Scioscia, had a few parting shots for his former manager. "I don't really care much for Mike Scioscia," Guillen said. "I don't have any respect for him anymore. He is like a piece of garbage." Guillen was booed before every at-bat in the series and had to be hauled into the dugout by three teammates during Tuesday night's altercation.

BEWARE. The first triple-dozen he-man-size crab sculptures have landed on sidewalks throughout Baltimore. There may be excess smiling in those areas. The summerlong installation of 160 or more fiberglass crustaceans, mild and wild artistic riffs off the same basic form, will certainly liven up the city's concrete, brick and glass complexion. When they are auctioned off in November, they will contribute to the city's campaign to shore up its dilapidated schools. A win-win for the city. And it's about time.