Hurricane Irene

Thanks for Steven Grossman's wise commentary on how Michelle Bachmann, Pat Robertson, John Hagee and Rush Limbaugh have all attributed the natural disasters we've recently experienced to an unhappy God bent on punishing us for even thinking about raising taxes on the wealthy, overspending on Social Security, legalizing abortion and allowing gays to marry ("Hurricane Irene: an almighty wind?" Aug. 31). Mr. Grossman also mentioned minister Jerry Falwell's putting the blame for Osama bin Laden's terrorism on America's pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays and lesbians.

More than a week after Hurricane Irene blew through Maryland, power has been restored to all public schools in Baltimore, Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County. For the first time in weeks, five remaining schools in Baltimore County will throw open their doors Tuesday, along with Guilford Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore and Marley Glen Special School in Anne Arundel. "There were one or two that we were uncertain about, but they had power restored by Monday afternoon," said Charles Herndon, spokesman for Baltimore County Public Schools.

ROCKVILLE - For people who lost trees because of Hurricane Irene, Maryland has a program to help residents replace them. The state is extending a program that encourages residents to plant more native trees with $25 coupons, according to WTOP Radio. The Marylanders Plant Trees initiative started in 2009. The goal was to plant 50,000 native trees in the state by 2010. It was deemed a success and was extended this year with the goal of planting an additional 50,000 trees by the end of 2012.

Baltimore Gas and Electric says it has restored service to all customers who lost power due to Hurricane Irene, except for a few individual outages. "All Irene-related outages were restored by 11:30 p.m. last night," said BGE spokeswoman Linda Foy. Although the BGE website showed nearly 900 customers were without power on Monday morning, Foy says those outages came in after the hurricane. BGE says there may be situations where the utility believes it has restored service but later finds another problem exists.

Regarding BGE's restoration of electrical service after Hurricane Irene, I think I speak for many BGE customers when I say we understand the company's frustration: We appreciate their sending us our latest bill, which is very important to us and will be paid in the order in which all our other bills were received. Be assured that we will do everything in our power to pay it soon. We thank BGE for their continued patience. George Emil

I became quite dismayed on reading Frank O'Keefe's letter complaining about the reporters covering Hurricane Irene ("Enough about weather," Sept. 1). He derides their reports of siding being blown away from people's homes. These reporters were out in the thick of the disaster braving wind, rain and cold for hours on end. What did he expect them to report - the crisis in the Middle East, the Orioles' scores or Kim Kardashian's $6 million wedding? Those were all covered elsewhere.

The mark of a successful summer is its similarity to other pleasant, uneventful summers. You visited the same places, saw the same family and friends, enjoyed the same summer foods one more time. The slow days helped you catch up on some rest. And Labor Day marks the beginning of an imaginary new year, even if school is long past. I'll remember this summer as the one when the vacation got trimmed by one day. My friend, Steven Bailey, my father, Joe Kelly, and I spent Aug. 26 on the highway, turned out of our beach vacation quarters by the order to evacuate in advance of Hurricane Irene.

Reporting on the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, a TV news program showed video of the U.S. flag, flapping atop its pole at the Capitol. It had been torn nearly lengthwise twice. Besides on public grounds, the flag is prominently displayed by businesses and on private property by homeowners often, too, regardless of the weather. Inconvenience, disinterest or obliviousness is probably why. As for the one at the Capitol, it is ignored, along with the Constitution it represents.

Since the big corporations that have been getting tax breaks to create jobs clearly are not doing so, perhaps they could use the money to help clean up the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. Jennifer Cleanthous, Baltimore

Thanks for the column by Steven Grossman on the idiotic explanations for recent weather-related events ("Hurricane Irene: an almighty wind?" Sept. 1). He is right on mark with his exposure of the Bible-thumpers who dare to attribute these events to the actions of a displeased or angry God for the so-called sins and unfaithful actions of those they judge to be evil or un-American. I suggest the "thumpers" check more the "literal Bible" they profess to know so much about. At times, the early church at Rome may have presumed things about "their" God that were not that helpful, perhaps believing they had superior knowledge of the creator than those of other places.