Resources

The pairs faced each other, with clipboards and pens in hand, ready for the first round. They would have minutes to quiz each other and jot down notes, before moving on to the next person. Who are you? What organization do you represent? Whom do you serve? Ready. Set. Go. Representatives from a mix of agencies, organizations and programs were on a mission to get to know each other. The hodgepodge of individuals who usually spend their days helping Carroll County residents in such areas as literacy, violence prevention, employment or education were getting some help of their own last week, and discovering the resources that might assist them in their jobs, and thus in better serving the community.

Here's a sticky workplace situation that many of us will face at some point in our careers: getting passed over for a promotion. You may feel resentful or even angry. You wonder if you should approach your manager for feedback or start looking for another job. How do you deal with the rejection in a constructive way? For one thing, think before taking any action. You don't want to make an impulsive decision that could harm your career. "Being passed over for a promotion is a common experience," says Kathy Bovard, coordinator of the human resources development graduate program at McDaniel College in Westminster.

Citizen activists have been a bane to the Bush administration - particularly on environmental regulations. They ask questions. They file lawsuits. They try to thwart nearly every administration attempt to cut the red tape surrounding use of the nation's natural resources and wind up adding greatly to the cost of these gambits. So the administration has decided to simply eliminate the bothersome environmental reviews previously applied to management plans for the 193 million acres of national forest.

"I don't know him, but the guy basically, he's a winner. He's a character. He has obviously got the resources." Lou Piniella Chicago Cubs manager, on Mark Cuban's interest in buying the club.

Environmentalism only pretends to deal with environmental protection. Behind their people- and nature-friendly terminology, the adherents to this ideology make ambitious attempts to radically reorganize and change the world, human society, all of us and our behavior, as well as our values. There is no doubt that it is our duty to protect rationally the nature for the future generations. The followers of the environmentalist ideology, however, keep presenting to us various catastrophic scenarios with the intention to persuade us to implement their ideas about us and about the whole human society.

Despite the team's search for a minority investor, Ravens coach Brian Billick doesn't expect much change in the way the team signs players.Billick said yesterday that he is comfortable with the resources he has had to work with in the past year. The Ravens apparently have three potential investors interested in buying a stake in the team. After receiving an NFL-arranged loan in July to help pay off $55 million of the team's $185 million debt, the team was instructed by the league to strike a deal with a new investor by the end of January.

John R. Griffin has been in or right next to the hot seat at the state Department of Natural Resources since 1984, and through those years green space and recreational opportunities have been expanded, deer hunting seasons have been increased and rockfish populations have been restored."

WITH Congress killing Maryland dairy farmers' hopes of joining a price-setting Northeast compact, and with a 15-percent drop in federal milk price payments due next month, the shrinking state industry is struggling for new ways to stop the bleeding.One promising approach: a regional program that aims to combine resources to produce efficiencies, and profits, in the dairy industries of the Northeastern states. The plan is modeled after a similar program in New York state that coordinates resources from state agencies, agriculture schools and veterinarians.

Howard County's new committee on school equity met for the first time yesterday to try to break down the problem before them: why some schools have lagging student performance, older or inferior resources and poor images in the community.But the problem seemed larger as the members of the Leadership Committee on School Equity identified 45 issues -- all education-related but not necessarily about school equity.The 24 committee members agreed at the close of the two-hour meeting that their first goal should be to focus their efforts.

The Queen Anne's state's attorney will ask a county grand jury to look into the accidental suffocations of two baby boys in the care of a Stevensville day care provider.State's Attorney David W. Gregory said a grand jury will allow witnesses -- including the boys' parents, the state medical examiner's office and members of the Department of Human Resources -- to talk freely about the case. He said several witnesses have been reluctant to discuss the case with prosecutors."We had some questions about some other facts [of the case]

You pay your money and you take your chances. In the case of the 2007 law that nearly doubled some fishing license fees in return for a review of state fisheries operations by a task force of citizens, it wasn't exactly an instance of us having any say over the opening of our wallets. One could argue that over the years, the General Assembly neglected its responsibility for all Department of Natural Resources operations and then papered over its willful disregard with another helping of anglers' money.

Cardin's proposal indicative of state's wasteful ways I don't know which is more frustrating, State Delegate Jon S. Cardin's use of law enforcement resources for his own pleasure, or the fact that he was, as a result of these actions, the "toast" of a convention of state government leaders at Ocean City. Shots are being fired at the Inner Harbor Pavilion, and everyday citizens are suffering through a recession, yet Mr. Cardin uses his authority to tie up law enforcement and tax dollar resources in this fashion.

One officer. That's what folks representing recreational anglers, charter boat captains and watermen all begged for Tuesday night from the head of Natural Resources Police. After years of watching outlaws of all persuasions steal fish and oysters from Maryland waterways only to see overworked prosecutors and distracted judges set them free (the bad guys, not the sea critters), members of the Task Force on Fisheries Management pleaded for help. "If you can't enforce the laws that protect natural resources, you can't manage the resource," said Brian Keehn, a charter boat captain.

Forty years after the first moon landing, should the United States devote the resources necessary for a robust space program to send people back to the moon or even to other planets? Yes 44% No 51% Not sure 5% (740 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : With unemployment continuing to rise, some experts have proposed a second federal stimulus package to further boost economic activity. Are you in favor of this? Vote at baltimoresun.com/vote

My dad taught me how to bait a hook and shoot - sort of - straight. He guided me through his own version of boater safety education, showed me how to set up a pup tent and make a fire and gave me the basics on how to get out of trouble in a pinch. Nearly a half-century later, I still reach back in the memory bank to retrieve some of that information, grateful that he continued to teach even when it appeared I had stopped listening. So it was fun to be at Fort Smallwood Park on a rain-free Saturday morning to watch a group of Natural Resources Police officers pass along some of the good stuff to a group of 50 mostly city kids, many of whom were strangers to the outdoors experience.

A former Maryland natural resources secretary has been tapped to oversee the Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay restoration effort, an appointment activists say they hope signifies an increased commitment by the Obama administration to cleaning up the troubled estuary. J. Charles Fox, who has held a variety of posts in state and federal government and with environmental groups, will be a special assistant to the EPA administrator for the bay and for the Anacostia River in Washington, according to sources familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to avoid upstaging the official announcement.

If you take a walk along Baltimore's waterfront out where the Downtown Sailing Center keeps its boats and the Spirit of Philadelphia tourist boat is tied up for repairs, you might notice a huge rusted hulk, bow jutting up and midships filled with water. It's the shell of the Governor R.M. McLane, once the flagship steamer of the Maryland Oyster Police, the forerunner of today's Natural Resources Police. Established by the General Assembly on March 30, 1868, NRP is the state's oldest law enforcement agency.

Marjory Kennedy makes sure the 300 weekly visitors to the Aberdeen Senior Center have opportunities to socialize, exercise, dine and participate in all manner of activities. As manager, she also makes sure seniors have access to all the resources they might need to stay in their homes, pay for their medications and their utilities, and keep themselves as active as possible. "I am 86, but I can still jitterbug," said Alvina Lenccycki, sporting a Santa cap and dancing to what she called funky music.

Unite to address health care crisis The state of our economy today is quite sad - with rising unemployment, a liquidity crisis, abysmal consumer confidence, businesses imploding and Americans losing their homes. But an unprecedented $700 billion bailout bill has been passed. And so, amid the economic devastation, there is a ray of hope and opportunity - our leaders united to address urgently a crisis facing the American people ("Market relief," editorial, Oct. 5). Why can't we approach other issues of grave concern to the American people, such as the lack of adequate health coverage for millions of Americans, with such zeal?

Gov. Martin O'Malley's call for state agencies to identify 5 percent of their budgets that might be cut would seem to be a prudent exercise in the face of so much economic uncertainty. But there's at least one agency where officials would be wise to tread lightly. The Maryland Department of the Environment has been slowly chipping away at a different kind of deficit - a chronic lack of resources to adequately enforce anti-pollution laws. It's a problem that's worsened over much of the last decade and runs completely counter to recent efforts to expand the agency's mission to address such issues as climate change and poultry farm runoff.