Inadvertently

On Saturday night, I walked down to Camden Yards and bought a $10 Upper Reserved ticket. At some point, it became less $10 ticket and more like a $10 cover charge, the price for admission to a gorgeous urban gathering place and to the new Roof Deck in particular. The choice seats on the new Roof Deck at Camden Yards are first-come, first-served. So far, that seems to be working. On Saturday night, a few fans wearing Minnesota Twins gear had successful commandeered a few of the front-row stools under the overhang, and no one seemed to begrudge them them.

Havre de Grace. -- Somewhere in my files is a friendly handwritten note, received a number of years ago from the choleric gentleman who is now our about-to-be former governor.''Dear Horse's Posterior,'' it begins, and continues in similarly florid style. It took issue with something I had written. I don't recall what it was, exactly, except that it seemed pretty trivial at the time. But it certainly got a response.If the note had come from almost anyone else in politics it would have seemed startling, an off-beat curiosity to be preserved for historians of the future.

The budget crisis in Baltimore is real. Fortunately, by re-instituting a policy that encourages drunkenness, the good folks at Pimlico have presented the city with a great opportunity to raise some much needed revenue and improve public safety as a by-product. After six or more hours in the all-the-beer-you-can-drink "mug club" in the Preakness infield, many race goers should be easy pickings for a few well placed police with breathalyzers and citation pads. A few hundred DUI fines might help prevent a few city layoffs, and the neighborhoods around the track probably won't mind having a few less post-race drunk drivers on the streets.

The story making the rounds is that slugger Albert Belle deliberately shoved a Baltimore police sergeant during a game last week. The Orioles and police describe it more as a brushback.Nevertheless, the on-field incident during the Cleveland game last Friday prompted a meeting between police and the Orioles in which both agreed to "characterize it as an inadvertent brush," said Orioles spokesman Bill Stetka."Both the club and the police believe it is not an issue," the team spokesman added.

Defeated presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who helped do himself in with his closed-door characterization of nearly half of all Americans as content to live off federal handouts, wasted no time doubling down on the theory. He did so in a conference call with donors saying President Barack Obama won re-election essentially by bestowing "gifts" to minority voters, the young and women through his policies and campaign promises. Mr. Romney cited the extended benefits of the Affordable Care Act, free contraceptives and forgiveness of interest on college loans essentially as bribes that helped put Mr. Obama over the top. That is how he explained the overwhelming support these voters gave the president, including more than 70 percent among Hispanic and Asians and 94 percent from fellow blacks.

In what officials say is the largest environmental penalty ever levied by the state, ExxonMobil Corp. has agreed to pay $4 million to the Maryland Department of the Environment for a 26,000-gallon gasoline spill at a Baltimore County service station almost three years ago. Under the agreement announced yesterday, the oil giant could face an additional annual penalty of $1 million if it does not stick to a cleanup schedule that could last several more...

A Baltimore County jury convicted former UMBC student John C. Gaumer of murder and rape yesterday in the beating death and sexual assault of a woman he had met online, capping four days of evidence and testimony that a prosecutor acknowledged to jurors was as shocking as it was graphic. The verdicts - announced to a packed courtroom about 4:30 p.m. after jurors deliberated for less than five hours - set up a capital sentencing hearing scheduled to begin Monday. With the jury convicting Gaumer of both first-degree murder and first-degree rape - a charge that serves as an "aggravating circumstance" under Maryland's death penalty statute - prosecutors will seek a death sentence.

We were happy to have a number of local families celebrate Christmas with us at our recent Breakfast with Santa. Unfortunately, as we cleaned up after the event, we were horrified to discover that, among the comic books donated to the church and handed out by Santa, some were inappropriate in content for children. Our Saviour Lutheran Church and the Lansdowne Volunteer Fire Department remain deeply committed to protecting and serving the children in our community. We wanted to let you know this as soon as possible so you can check to see if what your children received is appropriate for their age level.

The inner workings of at least one piece of the criminal justice system can be viewed on the Internet 24 hours a day, courtesy of Web cams in the Maricopa County jail in south-central Arizona. Four cameras make up the Jail Cam (www.crime.com), which lets visitors view detainees being led into the jail in handcuffs, being fingerprinted and booked and being taken to holding cells. Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, said he had installed the Web cams as a deterrent because he figured that viewing a holding cell on the Web would convince some people that they never wanted to wind up in one. Arpaio said he had also set up the Web cams as a response to critics who accused his officers of mistreating inmates.

The Sun reported incorrectly yesterday that President Bush spoke Wednesday to a teachers group. It also reported incorrectly that a Pennsylvania judge on Wednesday stayed implementation of the state's abortion law. In fact, both events occurred Tuesday.* The Sun regrets the error.WASHINGTON -- A White House microphone, accidentally left on after President Bush completed a closed-circuit broadcast to a California audience, has confirmed what some reporters had long suspected: Some of Mr. Bush's seemingly spontaneous exchanges with the public are actually scripted beforehand.