Shedd

BONNIE E. SHEDD FOX, 57, died April 30, 2008. She was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi and moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 1973. She is survived by her husband Frederick Fox, three children Emilie Monroe, Frederick Fox, Jr. and Tiffany Randolph, three brothers, two sisters, eight grandchildren and a host of relatives and friends. A Celebration of life service will be held on Thursday, May 8, Viewing 10 to 11 A.M. and funeral service 11 to 12 P.M. at Antioch Baptist Church, 13205 Old Marlboro Pike, Upper Marlboro, Maryland 20772.

BONNIE E. SHEDD FOX, 57, died April 30, 2008. She was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi and moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 1973. She is survived by her husband Frederick Fox, three children Emilie Monroe, Frederick Fox, Jr. and Tiffany Randolph, three brothers, two sisters, eight grandchildren and a host of relatives and friends. A Celebration of life service will be held on Thursday, May 8, Viewing 10 to 11 A.M. and funeral service 11 to 12 P.M. at Antioch Baptist Church, 13205 Old Marlboro Pike, Upper Marlboro, Maryland 20772.

Dr. Robert G. Shedd, a retired University of Maryland Baltimore County professor who was the first chairman of its division of arts and humanities, died Sunday of emphysema at his home in Ten Hills. He was 72.Dr. Shedd retired in 1983 at UMBC, where in 1966 he established the arts and humanities division on the new campus and was a professor of English and humanities. He was for many years the chief reader in English for the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J.He began his academic career at the University of Michigan in 1946 as a teaching fellow and was an instructor there from 1950 to 1952.

THE SENATE Judiciary Committee acted on two stalled judicial nominations this week -- a good-faith gesture by Democrats who are about to lose control of the chamber in January and are worried that their perceived obstinacy on this issue won't help them in polls or at the ballot box. Cooperation is welcome, and it will be necessary for Democrats in a government that's split but decidedly in GOP control. However, one of this week's approvals offers a lesson for Democrats about the importance of picking your shots.

"Owls Aren't Wise and Bats Aren't Blind: A Naturalist Debunks Our Favorite Fallacies About Wildlife," by Warner Shedd (Harmony Books, 322 pages, $23) Gray squirrels can't remember where they bury nuts. Beavers, for all their engineering ability, fell trees -- but they cannot control which way they fall. Raccoons are not only vicious predators, but are filthy in their eating habits. And on and on goes Shedd's marvelously entertaining and impressively scholarly explosion of vast amounts of sentimental mythology about wild things.

WASHINGTON - The Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee engaged in an odd voting maneuver yesterday that signaled their disapproval of one of President Bush's judicial nominees even as they cleared the way for his confirmation. They first allowed the nominee, Judge Dennis Shedd, to be approved by a voice vote. Then, one by one, each of the Democrats present asked to be recorded as having voted against him. Senate Democratic leaders decided not to impede the Shedd nomination, and one other, in recognition that they would be approved anyway when the Republicans take over in January and to enhance their credibility when they oppose other nominees.

PRESIDENTS HAVE almost always used their power to appoint federal judges to help burnish their political legacies. They stack the courts with like-minded jurists whose lifetime tenure far outstrips anyone's hold on the White House. So it's no surprise that George W. Bush has seized his opportunity with great zeal. Time and again since Mr. Bush captured the White House in 2000, the Senate -- which must approve judicial appointments -- has been faced with nominees whose politics veer distinctly to the right, and whose judicial records often reflect that.

THE SENATE Judiciary Committee acted on two stalled judicial nominations this week -- a good-faith gesture by Democrats who are about to lose control of the chamber in January and are worried that their perceived obstinacy on this issue won't help them in polls or at the ballot box. Cooperation is welcome, and it will be necessary for Democrats in a government that's split but decidedly in GOP control. However, one of this week's approvals offers a lesson for Democrats about the importance of picking your shots.

DRAWBRIDGE - Eight tiny bluegills float placidly in plastic containers at the center of a high-tech Army project that biologists say one day could provide an early warning system for outbreaks of Pfiesteria piscicida or other toxic microbes. Housed in a 48-foot trailer parked for the last five months along the marshy Chicamacomico River in a remote part of Dorchester County, a sophisticated mobile lab is providing a continuous stream of information to scientists more than 100 miles away at the Army's environmental health research center at Fort Detrick in Frederick.

SOUTH CAROLINA Sen. Strom Thurmond's long, checkered career may finally be coming to an end, but his legacy may be alive and well in Maryland for decades to come. Senator Thurmond's former aide, Dennis Shedd, has been nominated by President Bush for a lifetime appointment to the extremely conservative 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a position that dramatically impacts the people of Maryland. The nomination of Judge Shedd, currently a federal trial court judge in South Carolina, raises grave concerns about the commitment of the federal judiciary, and Mr. Bush's nominees, to protect the hard-fought rights cherished by citizens.

WASHINGTON - The Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee engaged in an odd voting maneuver yesterday that signaled their disapproval of one of President Bush's judicial nominees even as they cleared the way for his confirmation. They first allowed the nominee, Judge Dennis Shedd, to be approved by a voice vote. Then, one by one, each of the Democrats present asked to be recorded as having voted against him. Senate Democratic leaders decided not to impede the Shedd nomination, and one other, in recognition that they would be approved anyway when the Republicans take over in January and to enhance their credibility when they oppose other nominees.

PRESIDENTS HAVE almost always used their power to appoint federal judges to help burnish their political legacies. They stack the courts with like-minded jurists whose lifetime tenure far outstrips anyone's hold on the White House. So it's no surprise that George W. Bush has seized his opportunity with great zeal. Time and again since Mr. Bush captured the White House in 2000, the Senate -- which must approve judicial appointments -- has been faced with nominees whose politics veer distinctly to the right, and whose judicial records often reflect that.

SOUTH CAROLINA Sen. Strom Thurmond's long, checkered career may finally be coming to an end, but his legacy may be alive and well in Maryland for decades to come. Senator Thurmond's former aide, Dennis Shedd, has been nominated by President Bush for a lifetime appointment to the extremely conservative 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a position that dramatically impacts the people of Maryland. The nomination of Judge Shedd, currently a federal trial court judge in South Carolina, raises grave concerns about the commitment of the federal judiciary, and Mr. Bush's nominees, to protect the hard-fought rights cherished by citizens.

DENVER - Ocean Journey, awash in debt, has announced plans to close after less than three years in business. Industry experts said it would be the first accredited aquarium in the nation to close. Others continue to struggle. Ocean Journey has begun to search for new homes for three Sumatran tigers, two sea otters and 8,000 other fish and animals, even as the founders and employees hold out hope for a benefactor to rescue it. "We're working awfully hard on trying to find a white knight out there to make this last-ditch effort," the chief executive, Doug Townsend, said.

DRAWBRIDGE - Eight tiny bluegills float placidly in plastic containers at the center of a high-tech Army project that biologists say one day could provide an early warning system for outbreaks of Pfiesteria piscicida or other toxic microbes. Housed in a 48-foot trailer parked for the last five months along the marshy Chicamacomico River in a remote part of Dorchester County, a sophisticated mobile lab is providing a continuous stream of information to scientists more than 100 miles away at the Army's environmental health research center at Fort Detrick in Frederick.

"Owls Aren't Wise and Bats Aren't Blind: A Naturalist Debunks Our Favorite Fallacies About Wildlife," by Warner Shedd (Harmony Books, 322 pages, $23) Gray squirrels can't remember where they bury nuts. Beavers, for all their engineering ability, fell trees -- but they cannot control which way they fall. Raccoons are not only vicious predators, but are filthy in their eating habits. And on and on goes Shedd's marvelously entertaining and impressively scholarly explosion of vast amounts of sentimental mythology about wild things.

Two harbor seals born at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and a third raised here after recovering from a 1983 stranding, have been sent to Chicago for the opening of the Shedd Aquarium's new Oceanarium.Doug Messinger, curator of mammals at the Baltimore aquarium, said the two younger seals were born in Baltimore in 1989 and 1990. They are the offspring of a seal orphaned at sea and nursed back to health at the New England Aquarium.The National Aquarium has bred and reared five harbor seals since 1988.

A 28-year-old Columbia man will be sentenced Nov. 6 on his third alcohol-related offense -- the death of a Massachusetts teen-ager after he slammed into her car Jan. 26 as it was stopped on the shoulder of Interstate 95 in Arbutus.Baltimore County Circuit Judge J. William Hinkel found Joseph Michael Helms guilty Wednesday of automobile manslaughter, homicide by motor vehicle while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated, failing to stay within a single lane, and driving on a restricted license.

Dr. Robert G. Shedd, a retired University of Maryland Baltimore County professor who was the first chairman of its division of arts and humanities, died Sunday of emphysema at his home in Ten Hills. He was 72.Dr. Shedd retired in 1983 at UMBC, where in 1966 he established the arts and humanities division on the new campus and was a professor of English and humanities. He was for many years the chief reader in English for the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J.He began his academic career at the University of Michigan in 1946 as a teaching fellow and was an instructor there from 1950 to 1952.

A 28-year-old Columbia man will be sentenced Nov. 6 on his third alcohol-related offense -- the death of a Massachusetts teen-ager after he slammed into her car Jan. 26 as it was stopped on the shoulder of Interstate 95 in Arbutus.Baltimore County Circuit Judge J. William Hinkel found Joseph Michael Helms guilty Wednesday of automobile manslaughter, homicide by motor vehicle while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated, failing to stay within a single lane, and driving on a restricted license.