Harassment

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.

The report by Politico over the weekend revealing that GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain was accused by two women of sexual harassment while he was CEO of the National Restaurant Association in the mid-1990s has led to swift condemnation -- not of anything Mr. Cain may have done but of the media's appetite for such stories. Some conservative defenders of Mr. Cain, who is at or near the top in most polls of Republican voters, have compared the story to what Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas referred to as the “high-tech lynching” he received at his confirmation hearings when he was confronted with allegations of sexual harassment.

My faithful readers will remember that I started at The Sun as a sportswriter more than 30 years ago, and they have heard me describe some pretty unpleasant exchanges with both professional athletes and my fellow sportswriters. For all those years in the locker room and on the sidelines, I believed I had it coming to me. I had chosen a nontraditional field for a woman, and my presence was considered something between an invasion of privacy and an insult. I was a provocation just showing up for work.

The show of force by the Ravens defense on Sunday night was remarkable in its own right, but there was a greater perspective with which to glimpse the 34-17 demolition of the Jets. History tells us the 2000 Ravens throttled teams every week with their unique brand of defensive mayhem en route to the NFL's 16-game record for fewest points allowed (165). That defense may well have been the best in NFL history. This Ravens team likely won't challenge the Super Bowl champion's points record.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating allegations that Baltimore County government has harassed employees over their medical conditions and forced some out of their jobs, according to court documents and people who have spoken with federal investigators. The inquiry stems from accusations that have dogged the county for several years. It follows two court cases in which the county had to pay a combined $625,000 to former employees over similar claims, and a third case that is scheduled for a settlement conference next month.

Jennifer Royle, a sportscaster at 105.7 The Fan, confirmed Monday that she has dropped her defamation lawsuit against Nestor Aparicio and two of his colleagues at radio station WNST. “All I wanted was for the harassment to stop,” Royle said. “Nestor wrote on his blog that he will never speak my name again. It looks like I won. " But Aparicio doesn't see it that way. "If she wants to go around proclaiming victory,' she's wrong," he said in a telephone interview Monday.

Maryland will allow anonymous juries starting Sept. 1, after the Court of Appeals voted 6-1 Monday to permit them in criminal trials when a judge believes juror safety, harassment or tampering is a concern. The judges said juror anonymity should be a rare exception. The new rules call for all jurors to be referred to by number, not name. They allow a judge to determine if there is a reason in each case to protect the identity of jurors. Chief Judge Robert M. Bell, the lone dissenter, said he had a philosophical problem with it. "I just cannot get my arms around an anonymous jury, especially in a death penalty case," he said before voting.

A federal judge dismissed Thursday a harassment lawsuit against St. Joseph Medical Center and its parent company so the plaintiff, a cardiac surgeon, can amend the complaint, which alleges that the hospital is punishing him for refusing to comply with a kickback scheme and blowing the whistle on it. Lawyers for Dr. Peter Horneffer, who filed the lawsuit in February, said they plan to submit a revised document within two weeks, correcting an error...

He's known for leading the Trail of Tears walk — tours of recent killings — as part of his Garden Community ministry in Bolton Hill and part of a push by Southern Baptist congregations into Baltimore. Joel Kurz's work takes him to the city's most depressed, most dangerous, most drug-riddled neighborhoods. It also has drawn the attention of Baltimore police. Officers don't quite know what to do with a 29-year-old white guy who keeps appearing on street corners, and he says they sometimes confuse his ministering with something more sinister — they accuse him of looking to buy drugs.

Lawyers for Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold have asked a federal judge to impose fines on the lawyer representing a former county employee who filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Leopold. County Attorney Jonathan Hodgson filed the motion on Nov. 3, asking the court to penalize attorney John M. Singleton, for making allegations without "substantial basis in fact" against Leopold in September in an amended complaint to the lawsuit. Singleton represents former county employee Karla R. Hamner, who initially filed the $10 million suit against Leopold in August, claiming sexual harassment, gender discrimination and workplace retaliation.