Office Staff

The staff at the Aberdeen Post Office flexed a little extra muscle in December, above and beyond its regular holiday rush. Over the course of several days, a team of five employees processed shipments totaling in excess of 1,000 pounds – all postmarked to various military installations overseas. These packages contained an assortment of comfort items that had been collected and assembled by volunteers of an organization known as "Some SAY Support. We SEND Support," or S5. Members of S5 recently visited the Aberdeen post office to personally thank the postmaster and her staff, whose stellar customer service made these shipments possible.

The staff at the Aberdeen Post Office flexed a little extra muscle in December, above and beyond its regular holiday rush. Over the course of several days, a team of five employees processed shipments totaling in excess of 1,000 pounds – all postmarked to various military installations overseas. These packages contained an assortment of comfort items that had been collected and assembled by volunteers of an organization known as "Some SAY Support. We SEND Support," or S5. Members of S5 recently visited the Aberdeen post office to personally thank the postmaster and her staff, whose stellar customer service made these shipments possible.

Shortly before retiring this summer, Howard County school superintendent Sydney Cousin told employees in the central office that he was giving them a pay raise but did not take the matter before the school board for approval. Some board members say that while it is within the purview of the superintendent to recommend raises for nonunion employees, the board must approve such actions and several criticized what they called a lack of transparency. Cousin, however, said in an interview last week that he believed he followed the correct process.

I totally disagree with Richard L. Ottenheimer's comments that Republicans are trying to blow up the economy ("Chickenomics: A winning GOP strategy?" Jan. 22). It's not a Republican or Democratic thing, it's an American thing, or just smart economics. At what point do we catch up with Greece? We are $17 trillion in debt and heading toward $20 trillion at this rate. How could any one even think of raising the debt ceiling, which would be insane. What part of "going broke" don't they understand?

Your company is late filing financial disclosures, under investigation for stock-option irregularities, about to be ejected from Nasdaq and getting its pants sued off by shareholders. Want to get away? Now you can, thanks to the willingness of "private equity" funds to gather even dysfunctional public corporations into their unfathomable bosoms. SafeNet Inc., a Belcamp Web-security outfit that faces accounting, options and lawsuit problems, is going private. PHH Corp., which owns a Hunt Valley fleet-management operation and hasn't filed financial statements for 2006, looks like it'll be sold to General Electric and Blackstone Group.

Board of County Commissioners President Doug Howard last week asked the Board of Education to add the Winchester Building - the headquarters building for the entire school system - to its list of buildings that will be reviewed for possible sale. Howard made the request to the school board's Facilities Study Group, which is working to determine if money can be saved by reducing the number of facilities the school system operates. Howard said he was concerned that the group would recommend closing one or more county schools without considering moving the central office staff to other sites available around the county.

WELCOME to spring, to all that's green, and, of course, to the robins.Yvonne Hatton, my naturalist friend, tells me that robins can actually hear worms underground, and that's why they walk around with their little ears pitched at such an odd angle."

After erroneous reports on local TV and radio stations, some Baltimore County teachers reported to work yesterday even though classes were canceled for snow, school officials said. Administrators sent word to local media Thursday afternoon that classes would be canceled and that office staff would be allowed to report to work two hours late. But some early broadcasts reported that teachers could arrive two hours late, said Doug Neilson, Baltimore County schools chief communications officer.

The Literacy Council of Carroll County celebrated a successful year at its annual meeting and dinner recently at Grace Lutheran Church in Westminster. Volunteers, tutors, students and their guests attended.The council reported that during fiscal year 1993, at least 115 students have been tutored in one-to-one settings.The council tutors adults and older youths in phonics, reading, writing, spelling and math.This year, volunteers have worked more than 4,050 hours to help county adults learn to read and write, or to improve those skills.

I totally disagree with Richard L. Ottenheimer's comments that Republicans are trying to blow up the economy ("Chickenomics: A winning GOP strategy?" Jan. 22). It's not a Republican or Democratic thing, it's an American thing, or just smart economics. At what point do we catch up with Greece? We are $17 trillion in debt and heading toward $20 trillion at this rate. How could any one even think of raising the debt ceiling, which would be insane. What part of "going broke" don't they understand?

Board of County Commissioners President Doug Howard last week asked the Board of Education to add the Winchester Building - the headquarters building for the entire school system - to its list of buildings that will be reviewed for possible sale. Howard made the request to the school board's Facilities Study Group, which is working to determine if money can be saved by reducing the number of facilities the school system operates. Howard said he was concerned that the group would recommend closing one or more county schools without considering moving the central office staff to other sites available around the county.

Shortly before retiring this summer, Howard County school superintendent Sydney Cousin told employees in the central office that he was giving them a pay raise but did not take the matter before the school board for approval. Some board members say that while it is within the purview of the superintendent to recommend raises for nonunion employees, the board must approve such actions and several criticized what they called a lack of transparency. Cousin, however, said in an interview last week that he believed he followed the correct process.

The Orioles announced several changes to the front office staff Thursday, including the hiring of long-time Orioles outfielder Brady Anderson as a special assistant to executive vice president Dan Duquette. Anderson, 48, was a three-time all-star in his 15-season career as a big-league outfielder, which included 14 years with the Orioles. Anderson worked the past two years in an informal, ad hoc capacity helping with the conditioning and development of players such as Nolan Reimold and Brian Matusz.

Your company is late filing financial disclosures, under investigation for stock-option irregularities, about to be ejected from Nasdaq and getting its pants sued off by shareholders. Want to get away? Now you can, thanks to the willingness of "private equity" funds to gather even dysfunctional public corporations into their unfathomable bosoms. SafeNet Inc., a Belcamp Web-security outfit that faces accounting, options and lawsuit problems, is going private. PHH Corp., which owns a Hunt Valley fleet-management operation and hasn't filed financial statements for 2006, looks like it'll be sold to General Electric and Blackstone Group.

After nearly seven years, the state fire marshal's office has resumed its role of providing fire safety inspections at new commercial buildings and reinspections of older ones in Carroll County with the hiring of new personnel this spring. Two civilian inspectors, John Wagner and Brian Quick, will be in charge of fire safety inspections at commercial buildings. Wagner will concentrate on new development, and Quick is assigned to work on buildings that were previously inspected by the county.

Baltimore school officials handed pink slips to 710 full-time and temporary employees yesterday, cutting deeply into the ranks of highly paid and longtime central office staff, to avoid financial disaster. In announcing the layoffs, Chief Executive Officer Bonnie S. Copeland warned that another, smaller round of staff reductions is likely to come by late January or early February after the system calculates what it owes in unpaid bills. Carrying a $52 million deficit amassed over several years of overspending, the system faced bankruptcy if it did not cut its payroll $24 million by year's end. By May or June, officials said, the system would no longer be able to pay its employees.

WASHINGTON -- A memo by a former presidential aide depicts Hillary Rodham Clinton as the central figure in the 1993 travel office dismissals, a politically damaging episode that the aide said resulted from a climate of fear in which officials did not dare question her wishes.The newly released draft memo, written by David Watkins, the former top administrative aide at the White House, also sharply contradicts the White House's official account of Mrs. Clinton as merely an interested observer in the events that led to the dismissal of the White House travel staff and its replacement with Clinton associates from Arkansas.

Baltimore school officials handed pink slips to 710 full-time and temporary employees yesterday, cutting deeply into the ranks of highly paid and longtime central office staff, to avoid financial disaster. In announcing the layoffs, Chief Executive Officer Bonnie S. Copeland warned that another, smaller round of staff reductions is likely to come by late January or early February after the system calculates what it owes in unpaid bills. Carrying a $52 million deficit amassed over several years of overspending, the system faced bankruptcy if it did not cut its payroll $24 million by year's end. By May or June, officials said, the system would no longer be able to pay its employees.

On a smoke break outside Baltimore school headquarters, system employees huddled near each other yesterday on North Avenue, talking in hushed voices about the one thing on all their minds - the layoff letters, perhaps hundreds of them, that are scheduled to go out today, two days before Thanksgiving. "People have been sick to their stomachs ever since day one of this [layoffs] business," said a school system employee who has worked in the district's information technology department for 20 years.

Though crime levels are at a 10-year low in his city, Annapolis Police Chief Joseph S. Johnson has one very large concern: Only five part-time officers patrol the city's 1,100 public housing units, where officials and residents agree that crime is rising. "Things could get out of hand in public housing," Johnson said. Because of federal budget cuts, the Housing Authority of Annapolis, which oversees the city's public housing, has cut back on the number of officers who patrol its property, supplementing regular police services.