Issues

A Denver-based scholarly librarian leveled plagiarism allegations against a Towson University professor after doing research for his watchdog blog and alerting university officials, journals and The Baltimore Sun. Towson is reviewing the work of legal affairs professor Benjamin A. Neil, who says that he has done nothing wrong and that the issue is a matter of "style and formatting. " Jeffrey Beall, an academic librarian at the University of Colorado, Denver, specializes in scrutinizing publishers who make content available for free online but require authors to pay a fee when their articles are accepted into a journal.

This week, as the Supreme Court took up two historic cases pertaining to same-sex marriage, it's been an exciting time to be a college student. Huge numbers of young people on Facebook and Twitter continue to post pictures and status updates in support of marriage equality. Kids proudly walk around campus sporting red clothing in support of the Human Rights Campaign, a national organization that seeks to promote equal rights for gays, lesbians, transgender people and bisexuals. The enthusiasm, from the quad to the blogosphere, is infectious and inspiring.

As a businessman I read The Sun to be informed and educated, not for snide and misinformed comments such as those in commentator Matt Patterson's piece on the nomination of Thomas Perez as labor secretary ("Why do we need a labor department?" March 22). It was difficult to determine whether the author meant to be taken seriously. To suggest that we don't need an agency to look out for the interests of workers, when their jobs have so often been shipped overseas and their salaries are stagnant at a time of record corporate profits that primarily benefit shareholders, is simply foolish.

The Sun keeps trolling the depths for examples of right-wing thinking like that of Matt Patterson's recent commentary on the nomination of Thomas Perez for labor secretary ("Why do we need a labor department?" March 22). The best supervisor I ever had during my employment career, a man who exuded integrity, had a phrase to describe sub-par work: "Thin gruel. " Mr. Patterson's piece epitomizes those words. I would be the last to argue that bureaucracies can't become bloated. Any organization can. But that does not necessarily mean its purpose and goals are flawed.

Just because things can be put on the same list doesn't mean they are necessarily similar. My attic contains within it thousands of comic books, an inflatable bed, some jigsaw puzzles, some family pictures and a "Frampton Comes Alive!" album. These things are, roughly speaking, in the same location, but they're hardly of equal value, importance or function. I bring this up for the simple reason that we're hearing a lot about how the GOP must deal with "abortion and gay marriage," as if they are almost the same issue.

Three Frederick County sheriff's deputies will not be held criminally responsible in the death of a developmentally disabled man at a movie theater in January, prosecutors said Friday. A grand jury declined to indict the three deputies, who were attempting to remove 25-year-old Robert Ethan Saylor from the Theater 9 Westview Cinemas in Frederick when he suffocated Jan. 12, the Frederick County state's attorney's office said. Saylor, who had Down syndrome, died later at a local hospital.

Some years ago, I was called by one of my patients who had just suffered severe rejection in a love relationship. She told me that she was on her way to buy a gun but thought she might call me first. I suggested that she come see me before she purchased a gun so we could talk it over. In the intense debate on gun violence and mental illness, with a focus on the extremely rare event of mass murders such as in Newtown, Conn., or Aurora, Colo., what is lost in the conversation and debate is the serious suicide epidemic we experience in the United States every year due to gun violence.

Editor: I enjoyed the article about the staff of the Aberdeen Post Office supporting our troops. We all should be doing that. But, confined to a wheelchair, I cannot get into the Aberdeen Post Office because of the approximately 20 steps in front. I have to go through three large and heavy glass doors, that open into my face, in order to even buy stamps at the Abingdon Post Office. I understand that federal buildings don't have to abide by the Americans with Disabilities Act. No sense of compassion?

Power was knocked out to about 7,000 customers in the Towson area, including Towson Town Center, around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday because of a problem with a piece of electric distribution equipment, according to Baltimore Gas and Electric spokeswoman Rachael Lighty. All but about 1,000 customers had their power restored by noon, she said. The remaining customers' power was restored by 1:30 p.m. It was about noon when the mall posted an item about the outage on its Twitter page. Other sections of Towson were affected by the outage as well.

How many speed camera tickets has Baltimore City issued so far this year? How many red-light camera tickets? City officials won't say. Five weeks ago, Khalil Zaied, deputy chief of operations in the mayor's office, told members of the City Council that the lucrative automated camera enforcement network had started coming back online. More than a month had passed since the system went offline, the result of a troubled transition from one contractor to another. "What we have is now 10 speed cameras out on locations," he said Feb. 4. "We have approximately 15 of the red-light cameras on board right now also.