Quality Of Life

Dean L. Minnich, a former editor and veteran columnist at Carroll County Times, will run for county commissioner this year. "My focus will be on quality of life issues," he said. "We need people who can insist on taking the longer view, on controlling growth and ensuring that we have adequate schools, roads and all public facilities in general." Although Minnich, 59, is running as a Republican in a Republican-dominated county, he described himself as an alternative to Carroll's current leadership.

Martin O'Malley, full-time Baltimore mayor and part-time rock musician, was honored yesterday by a national arts organization for his understanding of "the value of an arts education to a child's life." The 2004 National Award for Arts Leadership, sponsored by Americans for the Arts and the United States Conference of Mayors, was presented to O'Malley during a break in the conference yesterday afternoon. Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of the nonprofit advocacy group Americans for the Arts, also praised O'Malley for understanding "the importance of using the arts to help enhance Baltimore's quality of life, while at the same time, realizing its economic potential."

BALTIMORE HAS been rediscovered, and not just because of the sniper and the Dawson family arson-deaths. The media have noted the increase in commuters buying homes here because they are relatively cheap and that businesses are relocating to the region because labor and space expenses are lower than in New York, Washington or San Francisco. The unemployment rate in Baltimore is below the national average. Although many believe Baltimore is becoming more hospitable to businesses, their employees and commuters, the question remains how friendly the area workplace is to its workers.

WASHINGTON - When I decided to take my child out of day care for the summer in order to have more time with him, I eagerly anticipated the wonderful things we could do together outside during the warmer weather. I thought about visits to playgrounds and the zoo, walks around the neighborhood, bike rides and dips in our backyard wading pool. Unfortunately, those dreams have turned out to be more fantasy than reality. In checking the daily forecasts for pollution, I have learned that air quality in Washington is so poor that public advisories regularly recommend that I keep my son indoors for much of the day. At times, my home seems like a cage for my curious, jet-propelled toddler.

In our minds, this was to be the story of Marci Glazer Crosby's courageous journey through a series of life-threatening illnesses and her brave efforts to be in control of the quality of life and, ultimately, death. Elements of this story were contributed by her parents, friends, relatives, therapist and Bob and Anita as an effort to inspire other families who encounter life-threatening diseases to cast aside the code of denial, silence, fear and anger. Some distortions in the first six chapters of The Sun's version of this journey have left another aching scar upon all who loved her.Marci's ability to deal with her issues suddenly cast upon her at such a young age were not a result of gifts showered upon her, the skill of a surgeon's knife, or the doting love of her parents or handsome husband.

Rosewood residents given new freedom Gov. Martin O'Malley did an extraordinary thing for residents of Rosewood Center on Tuesday -- he signed an executive order mandating its closure ("Maryland to shut home for disabled," Jan. 16). Closing Rosewood will finally bring an end to the unjustified confinement of the disabled and will help people learn to live independently. The governor acknowledges that institutions for the disabled are outmoded and that all people have a right to live free in the community.

A Northeast Baltimore group, operating in a former bar, has received a $5,000 planning grant to expand its services of dispensing emergency food, discounted household goods and advice on social services to low-income people.The Quality of Life Center, 2630 Harford Road, was one of seven area groups given a total of $115,500 by the Campaign for Human Development (CHD), a national Catholic program. For 26 years, the campaign has backed groups that try to help change patterns causing poverty.

Washington. -- Last Monday a judge in Wayne County, Michigan, declared the state law against assisted suicide unconstitutional. In his original ruling, Judge Richard Kaufman drew a distinction between people wishing to commit suicide who have what he termed a ''low quality of life'' and those who have a higher ''quality of life.'' The law could not apply to the former. It could apply to the latter.This is the type of ruling we might expect under some proposed forms of universal health care in which the government decides who should live and who should die based on a formula that determines who is productive and who is a drain on limited government resources.

THE ISSUE: -- Do you favor the proposal by Howard County officials to nearly triple -- to $36.5 million -- the amount the county is willing to spend on agricultural preservation and to double the maximum price per acre -- to $40,000 -- it will pay to keep its remaining farmland from sprouting new homes? How much more must we preserve? The fact of the matter is out of all the remaining land that is left to be developed in the west, 70 percent will be preserved through current zoning regulations as preservation parcels in subdivisions or by sending [development rights]