Harassment

Depositions given under oath by Anne Arundel County police officers said County Executive John R. Leopold personally ordered the firing of a county employee who had complained about his conduct. The depositions were filed Thursday in U.S. District Court as part of Karla Hamner's harassment lawsuit against the county. Officers said Leopold told then-County Police Chief James Teare Sr. that the woman was being transferred to the Police Department but was not to be given a permanent job. "[Leopold]

I say the following as someone who supports the pro-life position. Harassing individuals who are pro-choice and particularly their children is outrageous. It is unequivocally wrong to target Todd Stave through fliers comparing him to Nazis; advertising his private phone number; and doing so where he lives and where his daughter goes to school. Pro-life organizations who are unwilling to vociferously denounce these tactics are an embarrassment to the pro-life cause. On the other hand, The Sun didn't report how Mr. Stave is fighting back.

The fliers first showed up in March, dropped on doorsteps of the big homes in Todd Stave's quiet cul-de-sac. They compared him to a Nazi. Two months later and 50 miles away, new anti-abortion leaflets appeared in another peaceful suburban subdivision, this time in Baltimore County. They had the same bloody images. But now, they targeted Stave's in-laws, asking neighbors to pray for the family and to call or visit their home. Protesters had also showed up at his daughter's middle school.

Katie Anger, a bright-eyed redhead from West Friendship, opened the door for cyber-bullying as a middle-schooler, when she installed the "Honesty Box" app on her Facebook page. Some teens used the now-defunct Facebook feature to criticize her anonymously, tell her that no one liked her and say things they would never have said to her face. "I felt like I almost had no one that would help me through it or be there for me," recalled Katie, 16, now a junior at Maryvale Preparatory School in Brooklandville.

Machele Fredericks had to face her attacker every day. She was in the Air Force. He was a fellow service member on the base. And he said that if she told anyone what he'd done, he'd kill her. "You didn't hear much of people getting raped in the military back then," Fredericks said. "At least I didn't. So, you know, it was like fear every day: 'I hope he's not at the gate today.' "I wouldn't dare tell no one. I didn't think anybody was going to believe me anyway. " She drank instead.

Annapolis Area Christian School officials said Monday that they are looking for a new superintendent after George J.W. Lawrence Jr. stepped down amid a lawsuit brought by three former employees accusing him of sexual harassment and retaliation. In December, former employees Sharon Finecey, Lynne George and Anthony Masevice sued Annapolis Area Christian School's association, accusing Lawrence of making sexual remarks. They allege that school officials were aware of such incidents but did not protect the three against them.

Three former employees of the Annapolis Area Christian School sued the school's association this week, contending that the board did not protect them from sexual harassment and retaliation by Superintendent George J.W. Lawrence Jr. though board members knew about it. In the lawsuit filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, Sharon Finecey, a former director of human resources; Lynne George, a former assistant to the dean of students; and Anthony...

Blockbuster Inc. has agreed to pay more than $2 million to settle a lawsuit in which the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accused the retailer of subjecting female employees to sexual harassment, the agency's Baltimore office said Wednesday. The EEOC had charged the Dallas-based entertainment retailer with subjecting the temporary workers to harassment, retaliating against them for resisting sexual advances and discriminating against Hispanic temporary workers. The events occurred in 2004 and 2005 in a Gaithersburg distribution center, the lawsuit said.

This whole scandal over Herman Cain's alleged sexual harassment of women during the 1990s is driving me crazy because the media is insisting on covering this story instead of properly vetting the candidates. Mr. Cain recently was on C-span to debate Gingrich, and it was clear he doesn't know much about government. The guy had to let Newt go first on every question because it was clear he had no clue what they were talking about. Yet the media puts a spotlight on Mr. Cain's alleged sexual misconduct instead.

I agree completely with your editorial of Nov. 3 ("Mug-slinging campaigns in city were short on issues"). and would like to comment further. While it was quite a "mud-slinging" campaign of gigantic proportions, I wonder if anyone else noticed the two policemen in full uniform with the Moe election workers (parked cruisers in full view) at the community center on Election Day? While I fully support the police force exercising their political freedom, I thought that they should have been in "civvies" while doing so without the use of taxpayers' money for their transportation.