Safety

Editor: I am responding to the news of yet another drowning in Deer Creek. Many such deaths can be avoided by an awareness of how they occur and of what to do. A person standing on rocks in moving water that is only as high as their knees can easily lose their balance and as their foot slips it can wedge into a crevice in the rocks. The enormous power of the moving water will push them down and hold them down, resulting in a drowning death. To avoid foot entrapment, one can fall backwards into an imaginary inner tube, drawing up the knees and feet out of harms way. Then the hands and arms swing the feet downstream to meet obstacles, protecting the head.

There is a lot to take in when 80 or more players are competing at different stations at a three-day mandatory minicamp, though some of my colleagues in the media may argue that there really isn't much worth watching. Still, of all the Ravens buzzing around out at The Castle, Matt Elam was one who consistently caught my eye. All week, the rookie safety was one of the most active players on defense, both before and after the snap. Elam, the team's first-round draft pick out of Florida, made one of the most impressive plays of the week on Wednesday, when he was lined up as a single high safety.

Editor: I thank The Aegis and Allan Vought for today's (5/18/11) article, "Susquehanna called the most endangered river. " After reading the American River's reasons for this ranking and Susquehanna River Basin Commission response, my question for Mr. Swartz, Executive Director of SRBC, is, "What action will the Commission take to address the impact of hydraulic fracturing on the Susquehanna River?" Mr. Swartz reports that the Commission does not have the legal power to impose a moratorium.

There were numerous times over the past three days when Matt Elam had a running back or wide receiver in his sight and a great angle to deliver a punishing hit but all the Ravens' rookie safety could do was simulate a tackle and run right past the ball carrier. “It hurt my heart to pull up but these are my teammates,” said Elam. “I have to take care of them. I run down on guys every rep I take so when the time comes, I'll be ready for it.” The lessons and adjustments have come fast for the first-round pick who had another strong practice Thursday as the Ravens' three-day mandatory minicamp at the Under Armour Performance Center came to a close.

When the Ravens are on the clock Thursday night, team officials truly don't know whether safety is a position of need. No one — from owner Steve Bisciotti to general manager Ozzie Newsome — has asked Ed Reed whether he is returning or retiring. The Ravens are working under the assumption that the Pro Bowl safety is coming back, but Reed has never given a definitive answer. Eric DeCosta, the Ravens' director of player personnel, said Reed's decision can't factor into the team's decision on draft day. "What we found is your needs change from day to day, week to week," DeCosta said.

Tom Zbikowski has outlasted Bernard Pollard and is primed to start at strong safety in the Ravens' season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.  Zbikowski, the organization's third-round pick in 2008, is listed to start alongside free safety Ed Reed on the team's depth chart, and both Zbikowski and Pollard confirmed the hierarchy Thursday. “That's what we're looking to see,” Zbikowski said, carefully choosing his words. “We've got plenty of packages. We'll be rolling in and out. That's not necessarily what's going to be happening the entire game or the entire season.

With the 2010 campaign season getting underway, I wish to comment on those who stand on the side of the roads--on highway on-ramps and busy intersections--holding signs and waving to cars as they go by. This is a dangerous practice, for the drivers and those doing the waving. Waving distracts drivers from paying attention to watching the road ahead. And what makes the campaigners believe I would vote for someone just because they waved at me? I urge all to stop this dangerous activity before someone gets hurt or killed.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has charged Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant with a safety violation after an employee "deliberately became inattentive" — meaning he was caught napping — last year in the room housing diesel generators for use in an emergency. Kory Raftery, spokesman for Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, said Tuesday the employee was promptly dismissed after a supervisor discovered him, and the company does not intend to challenge the NRC's findings. The federal agency said it appeared to be an isolated incident and classified the infraction as of very low safety significance.

With the 130th pick (fourth round) in the 2012 NFL draft, the Ravens selected South Carolina State safety Christian Thompson. He moved to free safety in his senior year there after playing strong safety as a junior. An Auburn transfer, Thompson started all 11 games in his senior season at South Carolina State, recording a career-high 66 tackles, recovered a fumble and intercepted a pair of passes. He also averaged 20.5 yards on four kickoff returns. Thompson garnered All-Mid Eastern Athletic Conference honors after his senior season.

WASHINGTON - Physicians who want to prescribe anti-anemia drugs for cancer patients will have to register and undergo training or risk losing access to the drugs, under a long-awaited risk-management plan unveiled Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration. The company also will require physicians to collect signed statements from patients attesting that they have been informed about the dangers of the drugs, which can cause tumors to grow faster and have shortened the lives of some cancer patients.

As a pediatrician, my No. 1 concern is to keep children safe and healthy. Inside the walls of my office, I can provide services and counseling to help do just that, whether by giving an infant her first childhood vaccine, providing a mental health screening to an adolescent patient or counseling parents about how to keep their homes as safe as possible. Unfortunately, there are some threats to children's health that are beyond my control, including the food they consume. As was brought to light all too clearly recently when children as young as 1 year old were among the 81 people from 18 states (including Maryland)

During his 11 years in Baltimore, Ed Reed stalked center field for the Ravens. His ability to read quarterbacks, cover lots of ground quickly, and pick off passes made him the most feared single-high safety in NFL history. Reed showed his age last season, but the Ravens still relied on him to cover the deep middle of the field while strong safety Bernard Pollard, who was limited in pass coverage, intimidated receivers after shorter throws. Both starting safeties from 2012 are no longer with the Ravens, of course.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday that it has ordered a venting upgrade for nearly a third of the reactors in the country, including ones at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station just north of Harford County. Peach Bottom, in Delta, Pa., has two of the 31 reactors that must now have venting systems that can better handle accidents. The commission's order is part of its review effort following the 2011 nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, after an earthquake and tsunami.

In a recent letter to the editor, Charles Campbell rehashes tired talking points and cherry picks data to attack proven renewable energy sources like wind and solar power ("Nuclear is greenest," May 28). The old-school reliability concerns Mr. Campbell raises are most often voiced by fossil fuel companies - not the grid operators responsible for keeping the lights on. The "comprehensive study of U.S. wind power" that Mr. Campbell references is, in reality, based on data from four days in Colorado that was commissioned by the Independent Petroleum Association of the Mountain States.

The Supreme Court's decision today to uphold Maryland's law allowing the collection of DNA samples from people arrested for serious crimes upholds the interests of justice, the Constitution and common sense. Concerns that the DNA samples could violate suspects' privacy were unfounded, the practice of taking the samples is less intrusive than other searches authorized under the Fourth Amendment, and the direct result of a ruling against the law would have been the possibility that a known rapist would be released onto the street.

Federal regulators and state police plan a wide-ranging review of the waste-removal company owned by the trucker seriously hurt when a CSX train collided with his truck at a crossing. The company, Alban Waste, had been flagged in the past for safety violations. Because of Tuesday's accident in Rosedale, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and state police plan a top-to-bottom compliance audit. Officials said they would vet the trucking company, its drivers and vehicles for any violations that had gone undetected in previous reviews.

It was a throw-away line at the end of Tom Zbikowski's six-minute session with the media Friday, but it said everything you need to know about the camaraderie inside the Ravens locker room. Asked if the open competition with close friend Haruki Nakamura for the strong safety position was awkward, Zbikowski said in his best deadpan voice, "Yeah, there is a lot of tension. Our friendship is pretty much over. " Everyone listening knew immediately Zbikowski was joking, as did Nakamura, who was waiting his turn at the microphone.

Using cameras to catch those who pass stopped school buses is essential for our kids' safety. According to Michael Dresser 's article ("Bills would put ticketing cameras on school buses," March 20) the General Assembly is considering a bill that would allow impatient drivers to be held accountable for their disregard for our kids' safety. Putting ticketing cameras on school buses would help improve children's safety when entering and departing their school bus. There are studies that show the law is being broken over 7,000 times per day in Maryland.

As accidents go, few of recent memory have grabbed the region's attention like Tuesday's collision and explosion involving a CSX freight train and a trash truck in Rosedale. If Baltimoreans weren't close enough to hear the tooth-rattling blast, they likely noticed the giant plume of dark smoke that rose from the scene and lasted for hours. Yet, as severe as the crash and derailment were - and considering the potential risk of toxic chemicals that might have been on that train - the outcome was not nearly as bad as feared.

Bus drivers and aides employed by a Baltimore schools contractor say that unsafe conditions such as fires and mold spores are endangering lives and unfair wages are threatening their livelihoods. The grievances were aired Thursday at a rally of employees of Durham School Services, a national company that transports children in more than 350 school districts. Since 2002, the city has contracted with Durham, which earned an estimated $15.5 million over the last three school years. The company's buses transport about 928 students.