Illegal Dumping

Charging county residents for trash service by the bag may be trendy and may encourage recycling, but it's a bad idea, said many residents at the first public meeting on the proposal last night.About 70 people attended the meeting at Howard High School in southern Ellicott City, and most of them sharply criticized the "pay-as-you-throw" concept proposed Sept. 1 by the county's Solid Waste Funding Assessment Board.If County Executive Charles I. Ecker and the County Council adopt the board's proposal, Howard would be the first county in the state to charge residents for trash pickup based on how much they throw away.

Howard County officials may have their justifications for trying to keep secret what they knew about illegal dumping of toxic waste at the Carr's Mill landfill. But they will have difficulty convincing a lot of county residents of that, given the mistrust already generated by this volatile situation.Officials apparently knew the source of at least some of the 860 drums filled with contaminants at the Woodbine facility as early as 1976. But for reasons not yet fully explained, the existence and source of the drums never became public knowledge until recently.

WHEN MY administration first started, Baltimore's government was repeatedly criticized for not addressing illegal dumping. Three years later, seven of eight complaints are handled in weeks, scores of people are arrested and charged, the backlog is down, response times have dropped from months to weeks -- yet, for example, no story in The Sun. Since we began tracking calls with CitiTrack on Dec. 11, 2000, more than 597,703 customer service requests have...

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources will not pursue hunting-related charges in the deaths and dumping of about two dozen snow geese found near a Columbia playground this month, Sgt. Ken Turner said yesterday. Turner said that snow goose hunting season ended Feb. 25 and that his agency had no evidence that the birds, were "killed illegally" or after that date. The birds were found March 2, and their deaths first reported in the Columbia Flier. Turner said that any law enforcement agency, including his own, could pursue illegal dumping - or littering - charges in the case, but that his agency would not do so. Turner said that the birds had been shot and some of their breasts removed, apparently for food.

One of Mayor Martin O'Malley's top aides is leaving at the end of this month for the private sector, marking the first departure of a deputy mayor from the 21-month-old administration. David E. Scott, deputy mayor for operations, tendered his resignation to O'Malley on Friday, nearly four months after the mayor told Scott he was no longer a good fit for the administration, according to sources. Scott, 40, a civil engineer, has accepted a job in the Baltimore office of DMJM+HARRIS, a New York City-based engineering and architectural firm.

LAST SUMMER, we installed a sculpture made of trash at the corner of Light and Heath streets. Trash Fish was designed to be a conversation piece and, like the real "Fish Out of Water" works, was named with a desperate pun: "Trash fish" have no commercial value and are often discarded. Although a common term in the seafood industry, this play on words was apparently lost on some of our neighbors, so Trash Fish met with mixed reviews. Vandalized but since repaired, it will soon be installed as a permanent display inside the Thomas Johnson Elementary School.

In the dumping grounds of Sandtown-Winchester, Richard Burton sees hope in the mounds of tires, old furniture and scrap metal that litter the vacant lots and alleys.After many unsuccessful attempts to stop illegal dumping, Mr. Burton says a bill would give community groups such as his the right to sue to force a property owner to clean a vacant lot."This bill would give us leverage," he said yesterday of the community rights bill, which is scheduled for a hearing in the House of Delegates today.

Too often rubble landfill operators have scoffed at state environmental laws with little fear of punishment by the state Department of the Environment, says Delegate Marsha G. Perry, D-Crofton.That would change under legislation Perry, whose 33rd District contains two controversial rubble landfills, has proposed in the General Assembly.Under Perry's bill, landfill owners would lose their operating licenses if they violate environmental laws and they would be barred from receiving a new license for at least five years.

Glenda Gentner lives on the right street in the wrong neighborhood.She operates Gentner Bed and Breakfast from a rowhouse in the 2000 block of Park Ave., which has all the flair of a Manhattan penthouse.But beyond her courtyard garden of potted plants and goldfish ponds are several Reservoir Hill alleys that have become lined with minidumps. Heaped with up to 6 feet of trash -- the result of illegal dumping and overflow from residential back yards -- these minidumps have become feeding grounds for rats, and fodder in an escalating blame game.