Slaughter

CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- With much hindsight and a little humor, President Nelson Mandela, delivered his last state-of-the-nation address to Parliament here -- a message of hope to a nation beset by crime, corruption and unemployment.But the 80-year-old president, who will retire after elections expected in May, also acknowledged that post-apartheid South Africa is still "in many respects a sick society."The freedom fighter-turned-statesman recalled a letter he wrote from prison a decade ago, expressing his concern for a South Africa "split into two hostile camps: black on one side and whites on the other, slaughtering one another."

The Ravens are strongly considering signing veteran receiver Webster Slaughter, who is expected to visit the Owings Mills training complex today as the team opens its second off-season minicamp. All 84 of the players on the roster are expected to participate.Slaughter, 34, played in only 10 games last season with the San Diego Chargers, catching eight passes for 93 yards before being placed on injured reserve Nov. 25 for the rest of the season because of an injured finger. The Ravens also have an interest in former Dallas receiver Billy Davis, who had 39 catches for 691 yards and three touchdowns last season with the Cowboys.

The Ravens and No. 1 draft pick Chris McAlister are likely to settle on a four-year contract, according to league sources, and the team bolstered its depth at wide receiver by signing veteran Webster Slaughter to a one-year contract yesterday worth about $400,000, with incentives for additional money.Apparently, the team's meetings with Eugene Parker, McAlister's agent, have been productive, with the two sides basically agreeing on a four-year deal. One major issue is the amount of the signing bonus and whether it will be paid up front or be deferred.

Susan Slaughter, teaching professional at Woodholme Country Club, is 2-for-2 in U.S. Women's Open qualifying attempts.Slaughter, 29, used the same strategy both times -- going to the site where most of the LPGA players were in the field. "I like to go where the best players are, because the better the competition, the better I play," she said recently.It was true last month, when she shot par 72 at The Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn., where 129 competed for 22 spots, to make it into the field for this week's championship at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss.

"Fourteen years in the NFL," Webster Slaughter was saying after practice yesterday, "and a hit has never left me on the ground."Not once?"Not one time," he said with a smile. "I've always popped right back up."How could that be? How could a smallish, darting receiver such as Slaughter, who weighed 163 pounds when his career started, play this long without getting injured?"Hold on, it's not that I haven't been hurt," he said. "I tore up my knee in '94. Broke my arm in '88. Tore my hamstrings.

J. Mason Slaughter Sr., a retired appraiser and decorated World War II bomber pilot, died of cancer March 17 at his home in Easton. He was 78.The Easton native graduated from high school there in 1936 and rTC Beacom Business College in 1939, the year he enlisted in the Army Air Corps.He was a member of the "Flying Tigers," a group of pilots that was originally composed of American volunteers and flew in the China-Burma-India theater during World War II.Mr. Slaughter flew 108 bombing missions against the Japanese, twice earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal.

BROADWAY, Va. -- Sometimes I'm alarmed by the judgments I hear people make. But sometimes what troubles me is not the conclusion they reach so much as the ease with which they come to their judgments, as if it were an open-and-shut case. That's how it was on a recent "This Week" program on ABC.As the gang discussed Vice President Gore's trip to China, the conservative pundit William Kristol complained about Mr. Gore's having conceded that, while China's blot is the massacre at Tiananmen Square, the United States, too, has committed great wrongs.

THE TUTSI ARMY of Burundi, bedeviled by Hutu guerrilla attacks, takes its frustrations out on the Hutu majority. There have been thousands of deaths reported, and tragic treks of people from their homes to camps inside the country and, if they can make it, out.Burundi escaped the genocide of its neighbor, Rwanda, in 1994, when Hutu regime propaganda and militia brought about the slaughter of all Tutsi who could be caught, only to fall to the purposeful campaign...

TEN YEARS AGO THIS WEEK, cocaine and bad judgment killed Len Bias. Maryland's flagship university almost succumbed along with its famous basketball player on June 19, 1986.In the sadness and shame of those days, the university's head man, John B. Slaughter, was accused of scapegoating a famous coach and of prolonging the university's agony in the name of reform.Bias and most of his teammates, absent 40 percent of the time during the spring semester of 1986, had failed all of their courses.

Athletics: Oakland leads the majors with 139 double plays.Braves: Second baseman Mark Lemke will miss several games with a scratched cornea in his right eye.Cardinals: Ozzie Smith started consecutive games for the third time this season, his last. He singled twice and scored twice to pass Hall of Famer and former Cardinal Enos Slaughter on the career runs list with 1,248.Dodgers: Hideo Nomo is 3-0 against the Reds in his two seasons in the majors.Phillies: Right-hander Tommy Greene allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings in his first rehab start for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre Friday night.

WASHINGTON - The government plans to close a loophole in meat inspection rules that led to the record recall of 143 million pounds of ground beef this year, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said yesterday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will bar meat plants from slaughtering any cow that can't stand and walk on its own at any point after it arrives at a plant, said Schafer. The rule would eliminate existing provisions that allow meat plants to send sick, or "downer," cows to slaughter if they fall ill after passing an initial inspection and subsequently pass a second inspection.

Best-selling author Jodi Picoult won't ever forget what happened at one of her recent book signings. She was promoting her novel My Sister's Keeper at a library in Michigan when someone in the crowd raised a hand and asked why she didn't write nonfiction. "I'd be paralyzed" with worry, Picoult answered, noting the importance of keeping facts scrupulously straight in a book. After all, she said, look at what happened to James Frey, who was publicly assailed by Oprah Winfrey for making up parts of his memoir she'd chosen for her television show's book club.

In the Middle Ages moats were deep water-filled trenches that encircled castles to protect kings. The wider, the better. In 2007 moats are the competitive advantages that protect dominant companies and their shareholders. The wider, the better. The goal in trying to pick companies with wide moats is to give investors the security of knowing that a firm isn't likely to see its products or services overtaken by rivals. "Very few moats are impenetrable, but some are certainly more durable than others," said Nathan Slaughter, editor of StreetAuthority.

THE ISSUE: Canada geese are dropping a pound a day each of excrement on paths and docks at Lake Elkhorn and all around the county. Should the county or the Columbia Association round up and slaughter the non-migratory birds and use the meat to feed the homeless? YOUR VIEW: Send e-mail responses by tomorrow to howard.speakout@baltsun.com. A selection of responses will be published Sunday. Please keep your responses short and include your name, address and telephone number. Addresses and phone numbers will not be published.

On November 23, 2006, ROBERT "Bob" SADLER; dear husband of Patricia Anne (nee Gary); beloved father of Mary M. Allen, Sue A. Slaughter , Diane L. Sadler and Carol J. Welk; loving grandfather of six grand and six great-grandchildren. The family will receive friends at Fink Funeral Home, P.A., 426 Crain Highway, S.W., on Sunday and Monday, from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9pm where Services will follow at 8pm on the second day of visiting. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: Hospice of the Chesapeake, 445 Defense Highway, Annapolis, MD 21401.

Nearly 300 million chickens are raised for meat in Maryland each year, and the Delmarva Peninsula is widely regarded as the birthplace of the modern poultry industry. Contemporary poultry production's roots here date back to the 1920s, when Eastern Shore resident Cecile Steele reportedly ordered 50 chickens for her backyard flock. After accidentally receiving 500 birds, she began to experiment with mass chicken production. Today, the Eastern Shore again has the opportunity to become a poultry pioneer by embracing new slaughter technology that would make the deaths of its fowl and the lives of its workers more bearable.

MARY VIRGINIA SLAUGHTER, 85, died Monday, December 19, 2005, after a lengthy illness at Asbury Center in Kingsport, TN. Miss Slaughter, formerly of Brooklandville, MD, was a member of Hunts United Methodist Church, a graduate of Goucher College, a 30 year retiree of the Library of Congress, a member of Womens Eastern Shore Society and Maryland Historical Association. Mary Virginia was preceded in death by her parents, Mr. And Mrs. Thomas S. Slaughter and her brother, Thomas Somerset Slaughter, Jr. She is survived by her nephews, Thomas S. Slaughter, III and wife of Louisville, KY, John K. Slaughter, DVM of Rogersville, TN; cousins, Christopher T. Slaughter and wife Eddie, Emily Stevens Slaughter of Baltimore, MD. Interment will be held in Denton, MD.

On November 21, 2005, AMELIA MARY (nee Huber) "SISSY" SMITH, daughter of the late John and Margaret Huber; beloved wife of 45 years to the late Bernard M. Smith, Sr.; devoted mother of Stevie Mc Donald, Tim Smith, Shelly Slaughter, Lyn Jones and the late Bernard M. Smith, Jr.; dear mother-in-law to Lee Mc Donald, Teresa Smith, Mark Slaughter, Mike Jones and Betty Smith; cherished sister to Tom Huber, Sophia Herold and the late John Fritz, George and...

Angela Valianos is not a crazy-for-horses type. She doesn't own a horse; she doesn't even ride. She's actually afraid of horses. But when her job as a building contractor prompted a visit to a horse slaughterhouse near her Illinois home, Ms. Valianos was radicalized. Numbing bolts to the brain at the start of the process often miss their mark. Panicked horses are then yanked up by a hind leg, suspended upside-down and sliced from end to end so they bleed out before carcasses are shipped overseas for gourmet dining.

On Saturday, October 1, 2005 GEORGE ALBERT; beloved husband of Shirley K. Slaughter; devoted father of George Slaughter, III, Reds, Vernon, Chuck Slaughter, Karen Geyer and Gail Di Fatta; brother of Shirley Martin and the late Elaine Beal. Also survived by 13 grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. Friends may call on Thursday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. at the Stallings Funeral Home, P.A., 3111 Mountain Road, Pasadena, MD where funeral services will be held at 8:30 P.M., Thursday. Interment private.