Liberties Union

Annapolis Alderman Carl O. Snowden will be honored tonight by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland for his civil rights leadership.Mr. Snowden, a Democrat who represents the city's 5th Ward, will be presented with this year's Civil Liberties Award for his aggressive work in championing racial equality and civil rights throughout Maryland.He worked closely this year with the legal staff of the American Civil Liberties Union to appeal a court ruling that overturned Annapolis law denying liquor licenses to private clubs that discriminate.

WASHINGTON - Army officers in Iraq told their superiors last year that soldiers often lacked the training to handle detainees, did not always understand what constituted abuse and sometimes used techniques on prisoners that they "remembered from movies," according to military records made public yesterday. In two incidents described in the reports, bound detainees were shot and killed by soldiers. The circumstances were unclear, but officers or Army lawyers said afterward that the killings could have been prevented with better training, better facilities and better understanding by soldiers of rules of engagement.

/TC SAN FRANCISCO -- A type of tear gas made from cayenne peppers is not a benign police tool but a potential killer, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California said yesterday in a report on pepper spray.The report said that as of the end of May, 26 people who had been sprayed with the liquid had died in police custody in California. These deaths had occurred since October 1992 when the state's attorney general, Dan Lungren, certified pepper spray for use by law-enforcement officers.

Information on abstinence fosters safety In the April 1 Sun, I thought there was an April Fool's joke. According to the article "Government site urges abstinence," the Health and Human Services Department has a Web site that is designed to help parents talk to their children about many high-risk behaviors, including sex. The site states that "abstinence is the healthiest choice." I am aware of no scientific study that refutes this fact. Sexually active people of all ages run a higher risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease.

Dylan Finkle likes scary movies. The Halloween series is his favorite. But when the aspiring writer modeled a story after the films for his English class, the 11-year-old from Syosset, N.Y., was suspended from Harry B. Thompson Middle School in October for more than six weeks. His parents, who gave the Long Island sixth-grader permission to write the story using his name in place of celluloid slasher Michael Myers and his friends' names as supporting characters, were baffled. "It's such an overreaction," said Andrew Finkle, Dylan's father.

The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has asked the Baltimore County Police Department to provide protection for Jewish residents who plan to hold a peace vigil in Pikesville tomorrow. Baltimore Jews For Israeli-Palestinian Peace, which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state, held a similar event Sunday that was disrupted by about 50 to 70 counter-demonstrators waving flags and shouting at the group. The confrontation at Park Heights and Slade avenues caused police to move the vigil to a site nearby.

An elderly African-American couple sued the Maryland State Police yesterday, alleging that a search of their vehicle and possessions along Interstate 95 by troopers was an unlawful act of racial discrimination and false imprisonment.The suit, stemming from a July 12, 1994, traffic stop in Cecil County, was filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Charles Carter, 66, and Etta Carter, 65.The Carters of Mount Airy, Pa., allege that they were traveling home on their 40th anniversary after visiting a daughter in Florida when they were stopped and detained for several hours while police "methodically examined the contents of virtually every item" in their rented minivan, scattering items on the roadside.

We have elected officials into public office who are supposed to make decisions that reflect the will of the constituents they represent.The people we have placed into these local offices are there to make decisions that need to be made, no matter what the time or reasonmay be.I sincerely believe that on occasion we should question the reasoning behind the decisions our local government makes. It is our responsibility and our right as citizens to be involved in government.However, we also have the responsibility to attempt to influence the decisions that government makes with responsible and appropriate action.

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- In February, Paul K. Kim, indulging a time-honored urge of graduating seniors, lampooned his high school, poking fun at classmates for "majoring in football" and being preoccupied with sex.The Korean-born student's lampoon might have faded as quietly as yearbook memories or old corsages were it not for two innovations that set it apart: He published it on the Internet's World Wide Web, in a document he titled "Unofficial Newport High...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Juvenile offenders overseen by the California Youth Authority who exercise their right to file a complaint with the director will get it returned in the future unless the writing conforms to the rules of English grammar and spelling."

Paltry spending on school repair endangers kids The editorial "Building schools" (Dec. 2) graphically spells out the extent to which we are disadvantaging Maryland's youths by failing to address deteriorating and dangerous school facilities. In 2003, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and the Maryland General Assembly received a report from the Maryland State Task Force to Study Public School Facilities detailing nearly $4 billion in needed renovations and construction to provide minimally adequate school buildings.

CHICAGO - A few years ago, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani came up with a new weapon to combat drunken driving: confiscating cars. It may seem only fair and just to take away the wheels of someone convicted of driving while intoxicated. But Mr. Giuliani saw no reason to limit the punishment to those convicted. The city kept the cars of both the guilty and the innocent. The mayor made no apologies for his ferocious policy. "There is a very simple way to stay out of this problem," he insisted.

Dylan Finkle likes scary movies. The Halloween series is his favorite. But when the aspiring writer modeled a story after the films for his English class, the 11-year-old from Syosset, N.Y., was suspended from Harry B. Thompson Middle School in October for more than six weeks. His parents, who gave the Long Island sixth-grader permission to write the story using his name in place of celluloid slasher Michael Myers and his friends' names as supporting characters, were baffled. "It's such an overreaction," said Andrew Finkle, Dylan's father.

Attempting to cool down Baltimore's overheated women's jail, a federal judge signed yesterday a sweeping consent order that requires state officials to provide air conditioning for 210 detainees in the facility by Aug. 31. The women's jail houses 580 detainees, so the order in U.S. District Court in Baltimore for air conditioning will cover less than half the female population awaiting trial during a sweltering city summer. "Nobody would say the solution is ideal, but it is the best that can be accomplished under present conditions," Judge J. Frederick Motz said.

As Republican Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. makes a pitch for black voters in his bid for governor, some African-American leaders say they haven't forgotten his vocal opposition six years ago to a plan to move poor Baltimore families to the suburbs. Ehrlich's position on a 1996 legal settlement between the city and the American Civil Liberties Union is just part of the issue, critics say. Equally significant, they say, are the tactics Ehrlich and his political allies used to whip up opposition to the agreement and other housing proposals.

The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has asked the Baltimore County Police Department to provide protection for Jewish residents who plan to hold a peace vigil in Pikesville tomorrow. Baltimore Jews For Israeli-Palestinian Peace, which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state, held a similar event Sunday that was disrupted by about 50 to 70 counter-demonstrators waving flags and shouting at the group. The confrontation at Park Heights and Slade avenues caused police to move the vigil to a site nearby.

WASHINGTON - Army officers in Iraq told their superiors last year that soldiers often lacked the training to handle detainees, did not always understand what constituted abuse and sometimes used techniques on prisoners that they "remembered from movies," according to military records made public yesterday. In two incidents described in the reports, bound detainees were shot and killed by soldiers. The circumstances were unclear, but officers or Army lawyers said afterward that the killings could have been prevented with better training, better facilities and better understanding by soldiers of rules of engagement.

Pleading for Annapolis to lead the state in voter reform measures, a number of people have urged the new Annapolis city council not to strike down the city's unique voter identification law. About 15 people testified in support of the law at a public hearing Monday night, including the measure's primary proponent, failed Republican mayoral candidate and former Alderman Herbert H. McMillan. Three people, including a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, testified in favor of the repeal, which has the support of most of the council.

Pleading for Annapolis to lead the state in voter reform measures, a number of people have urged the new Annapolis city council not to strike down the city's unique voter identification law. About 15 people testified in support of the law at a public hearing Monday night, including the measure's primary proponent, failed Republican mayoral candidate and former Alderman Herbert H. McMillan. Three people, including a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, testified in favor of the repeal, which has the support of most of the council.

`Tough policing' won't make the city safe As the organization that pioneered "driving while black" suits, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is distressed by reports that poor African-Americans in Baltimore now risk searches and arrests for simply "being while black" ("Tough policing hasn't sparked complaints rise," Feb. 19). Surely poor black city residents who are the victims of violence that accompanies street-level drug-dealing deserve safe streets. But "tough policing" that results in more than 15,000 unwarranted stops and searches in nine months in East Baltimore alone makes area citizens twice victims -- at risk for losing personal safety and their civil rights.