Shoe

The Affordable Footwear Act is a misnomer. ("Senators try to boot shoe tax," June 11). The act will doom an already blighted American shoe industry, relegating more manufacturing workers to low-wage, temporary and/or part-time employment while increasing the deficit. Eliminating the tariff on imported shoes will result in lower prices for consumers — a solution to a crisis that doesn't exist — but proponents of AFA neglect to mention these indirect costs. In effect, the act will trade long-term social and economic stability for immediate consumer satisfaction.

It turns out wearing sneakers - without exercising - won't get you in shape. Skechers USA has agreed to a $40 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission for making that claim. The shoe company had claimed its Shape-ups sneakers would help people lose weight. It also said the shoes would strengthen and tone people buttosk, legs and abs. The government agency said Skechers also made false claims about its Resistance Runner, Toners and Tone-ups shoes.

Nike made its mark with Michael Jordan sneakers in the 1980s, eventually wresting near-total control of the U.S. basketball shoe market from Adidas, Reebok and other smaller players. Now, Baltimore sports apparel company Under Armour Inc. is trying to gain a foothold in the fiercely competitive business with its first-ever basketball shoe collection, which was unveiled Thursday and will hit stores in limited numbers in November. The step is a crucial one for Under Armour, whose footwear business has been struggling even as executives consider it a key part of the corporate growth strategy.

When Ross Kennard gets ready to go for a run in his hilly Ellicott City neighborhood, he slips on special shoes that resemble mesh gloves. Each toe has its own slot with a thin rubber underside, and the shoe's overall design offers no arch support and little padding. These "barefoot shoes" will play an integral role in the Columbia Triathlon next weekend for Kennard, 53, when he tries something new in his ninth competition. He will do both the running and biking portions of the race in the special footwear, which is akin to wearing no shoes at all. The Severna Park chiropractor is part of the minimalist running movement, whose followers seek to avoid injury by running more naturally, like the barefoot Kenyan Olympians do, he said.

Police in Delaware said Friday night that they have arrested a man in a series of burglaries that occurred over the past 20 years in which thousands of pairs of men's shoes and photos of men were stolen. Walter J. Rubincon, 46, of Newark, Del., has been charged with 25 counts of burglary, 77 counts of theft and 15 counts of criminal mischief. The break in the case came after a passer-by spotted three duffel bags full of shoes in a Maryland creek near the Delaware line and reported seeing a person drive off in a yellow Mitsubishi Eclipse, authorities said.

Many Special Olympians competing in the national games this month in Lincoln, Neb., will have one less worry while they are running, jumping or playing ball: Their shoelaces will never come untied. A Glen Burnie entrepreneur is donating 3,000 pairs of Lock Laces, a shoe-lacing system that features elastic laces combined with a spring-activated locking device. Eric Jackson, 41, made the first pair for himself so he would not trip over loose laces while jogging. He soon had requests from friends and family and the basis for his own business.

We have the uneasy feeling that City Councilwoman Sheila Dixon may have done herself a regrettable but lasting disservice with her dramatic gesture with her shoe last week. As has been amply reported, Dixon took off her shoe to dramatically underscore her statement, which was ominous enough in its own right: "You've been running things for the last 20 years. Now the shoe is on the other foot. See how you like it."By "you" she meant her white colleagues on the Baltimore City Council. Dixon's sense of indignation is, no doubt, rooted in demonstrable injustice in the past.

A gunman robbed an Annapolis shoe store Wednesday afternoon and escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash, county police said.The man walked into the Payless Shoe Source in the 2300 block of Forest Drive about 2:50 p.m., police said. He picked out a pair of shoes and took them to the counter, where he pulled out a black pistol and demanded money from the cash register and safe, police said.The clerk gave money to the gunman, who left the store and was last seen walking through the parking lot, police said.

David London, 79, retired chairman of the board of the Westminster Shoe Co., died yesterday at his Pikesville home of apparent heart failure.Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. tomorrow at the Levinson funeral establishment, 6010 Reisterstown Road.Mr. London joined the shoe company during the Depression, became chairman of the board in 1958 and retired in 1975 after 45 years with the company.A 1928 graduate of City College, he went on to graduate from the University of Baltimore in 1932 with a degree in business.

A half-inch strip of white rubber found in the otherwise tidy apartment of Dawn Marie Garvin matches a similarly sized hole on a tennis shoe belonging to Garvin's accused killer, Steven H. Oken, an FBI expert has testified.Special Agent William Heilman, an expert in torn-edge comparison, told a Baltimore County Circuit Court jury that, "The piece of rubber had at one time been part of the sole of the shoe."The tiny strip of rubber is considered a key piece of evidence in the prosecution's case against Oken, 29, the White Marsh man accused of raping and killing Garvin on Nov. 2, 1987.

A federal grand jury indicted five men on charges they allegedly sold counterfeit goods of high-end designers such as Michael Kors, Coach and Jimmy Choo around Baltimore, including at the Patapsco Flea Market, where authorities conducted a weekend raid in a similar but separate investigation. Charged were Tidiane Ba, 44; Mamadou Lamine Ba, 51; Abass Baro, 44; Sakho Oumar, 33; and Baba Toure, 39, all of Baltimore, according to the indictment unsealed Wednesday. Toure was being sought by law enforcement officials; the others were arrested on Sunday and released Monday under the supervision of U.S. Pretrial Services.

Art is good for the soul, but it's also good for the soles in the Columbia Art Center exhibit "A Walk in My Shoes. " Speaking of good, this show is co-sponsored by Howard County Promotion and Tourism's Blossoms of Hope and Cherrybration. Proceeds benefit the Claudia Mayer Cancer Resource Center of Howard County General Hospital. This thematically oriented exhibit has two main categories of subject matter: flowers and shoes. Sometimes they appear in the same artwork, as in Sally Stevens' photograph "Happy Feet.

The purloined gift cards. The fur coats. The bicycling tours of the city with staffers.  And, of course, the famous shoe incident. Former mayor Sheila Dixon's tenure in City Hall is ripe with material for comedians.  On Thursday, seven comics and local media personalities will be poking fun of  Dixon -- to her face-- at a "Roast and Toast" at the Baltimore Comedy Factory. Why would Dixon, who resigned in 2010 as part of a plea deal to settle criminal charges, agree to a such a thing?

For brides-to-be who want to tap into what's au courant this spring, remember: More is more when it comes to the veil; choose shoes you'll want to wear again; and find a sassy second dress for the reception. Influenced by last year's wedding of Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton, and Middleton's classic style, the year's most popular wedding trends marry tradition with a big pop of personality. Here are some local options for aisle style. The second dress While "second dress" used to mean the one a bride might wear to her second wedding, modern brides are loving the idea of changing into a more dance-friendly dress for the reception.

There were football players in high heels, police officers in pumps, and students in spikes marching around campus on Wednesday, April 4, as Towson University hosted its third annual Walk a Mile In Her Shoes event. Walk A Mile is a national movement and marks April as National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The event invites men to walk a mile on campus in a pair of women's shoes. Scores of students - men and women - took part in the walk, with many men choosing from a wide range of shoe choices at the sign-in table before stepping out. Towson University Student Government President Matt Sikorski, wearing a fashionable pair of heels, carried a sign stating, "My strength is not for hurting.

Local men will don their finest and highest-heeled shoes Saturday, April 14 and walk down Main Street in a symbolic gesture of support and solidarity as part of SARC's 4th annual Walk A Mile In Her Shoes. Registration for the walk begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Bel Air Armory at 41 N. Main St., Bel Air. This year's honorary chair is Harford County Council President Billy Boniface. To register to walk and to build your own team, visit SARC's website, http://www.sarc-maryland.org . The walker registration fee is $25 per walker (non-tax-deductible)

The show this month at the Resurgam Gallery looks like a shoe store run by the Mad Hatter -- or by a slightly crazed cobbler inspired by Dada masters Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp.After more than a decade, Ruth Pettus has gotten tired of being pointed out as the "men-in-suits painter."So for her "A History in the Life of a Shoe, Part II,"' she's installed about 75 examples of artful footwear in the gallery at 910 South Charles St., about three gulps down from the New World Coffee Shop.They're shoes she's deconstructed, reconstructed, un-constructed, un-tongued, unlaced, re-laced, de-soled, unsold, re-souled, turned-inside-out, sliced, diced, bent, broken and battered, and some she's just preserved as purely unique specimens of the shoemaker's craft.

YOU'RE ONLY as pretty as you feel, as Jefferson Airplane put it. These days, for some ladies of fashion, feeling pretty means wearing those stiletto heels that cost more than a week's salary. The problem, though, is the pain. Feet-shaped feet fit only imperfectly into those cantilevered, pointy-toed dressings; the attendant squeezing and smooshing can warp tender toes and soles as well as send twinges up the spine. Women account for 80 percent of foot surgeries, most to fix load-bearing appendages damaged by years of wearing ill-fitting shoes, according to the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society.

I find it very hard to believe the hatred of Sgt. Robert Bales in William Smith's recent letter ("Don't pity Sgt. Bales," March 29). Yes, the killing of innocent men, women and children was wrong, and my prayers go out to them. But what about the thousands of innocents who were killed on9/11? What about the thousands of our military service members who have been killed or injured fighting those who would kill us without thinking twice? It takes great strength and conviction to don a uniform in order to protect this country.

For a program renowned for its offensive prowess, Salisbury's NCAA title defense could come down to the play of the goalkeeper. Alex Taylor has been tapped to succeed Johnny Rodriguez, who was named the National Goalkeeper of the Year last spring. The sophomore fared well in the team's season-opening 19-6 thrashing of Greensboro Sunday, making eight saves on 11 shots before getting pulled early in the fourth quarter. Prior to that contest, coach Jim Berkman expressed confidence in Taylor, a Woodbine native and Glenelg graduate.