Solve

I WAS DISMAYED to read The Sun once again take a position (editorial, June 30) supporting the killing of ''nuisance'' deer in Maryland.No matter how tightly ''managed'' these hunts are, there is always room for disaster. Last year, a deer hunt in Anne Arundel County caused a wounded deer to flee across a highway, crash into a car and nearly kill the 16-year-old driver.We should have learned by now that hunting does not solve our problems, but rather it makes them worse.Maryland citizens are legitimately concerned about deer crashing into cars and munching on their azaleas.

For too long, many environmentalists have been ambivalent about nuclear energy. It conjures fears: meltdowns, cancers, Chernobyl, Fukushima, overtones of nuclear bombs. Yet, we also know that nuclear power provides 70 percent of all the greenhouse gas-free electrical power in the United States (hydropower, in which dams block many great rivers like the Susquehanna to fish migration, provides much of the rest). Neither does nuclear energy produce the nitrogen oxides of fossil fuels that are a major Chesapeake pollutant, or the mercury from coal plants that contaminate so much of our seafood.

Howard County police are seeking help from the community in solving a string of burglaries and burglary attempts in the Ellicott City and Elkridge areas. Police said many of the crimes have taken place in the early evening or in daylight hours when homes are unoccupied. In many cases, the perpetrator kicked in a door to get into a home. Stolen items have included cash, jewelry and electronic and computer equipment. Police are urging residents to call them if they notice any suspicious activity.

The sales force for the port of Baltimore travels the country and the world, looking for business. It could be farm equipment manufactured in the Midwest on its way to Australia or furniture coming from South America or Alabama-built Hondas headed for Russian dealerships or outdoors gear ordered by U.S. retailers. "We want it," said Richard Powers, director of trade development. Baltimore's sales plan, formed several years ago, targets autos, containers, farm and construction equipment, forest products and passenger cruises.

Howard County's police chief plans to put officers to work solving community problems ranging from loitering youths to proliferating potholes.Chief James N. Robey Jr. said he is appointing a panel of officers headed by Lt. William Jeffrey Spaulding, a patrol watch commander, to draft a "community-oriented policing" plan. The 285-member department would put the program into effect by the start of next year.The county executive's citizens' advisory panel will also recommend such a program next month, said William E. Eakle, chairman of the group.

Q: My 6-year-old has started to tattletale all the time. He's still young enough that I want to know about what's going on, but constant tattling is annoying. How should I handle this?# D.D., Raleigh, N.C.A: One simple question can put a tattletale on the road to recovery: What have you already done to try to solve the problem?This question either leaves the child speechless or it starts a problem-solving dialogue.That's exactly the approach to take with a tattletale, says Meg Eastman, author of "Taming the Dragon in Your Child" (John Wiley & Sons, $14.95)

The sacrifices over the last six months were worth it, said the seven Sykesville Middle School students who competed in the Odyssey of the Mind state finals Saturday at the University of Maryland Baltimore County."

Continuing to broaden the scope of his new job, Maryland Comptroller William Donald Schaefer has invited local officials to bring him their problems.The invitation, sent in a Feb. 17 letter to leaders across the state, was open-ended."

Inc. magazine: "How did you divide the company up into the appropriate teams?"Ralph Stayer: "I didn't. Why is that my problem? [Employees] divided it up."Ralph Stayer is chief executive of $130 million [revenue] Johnsonville Foods. His encompassing brand of worker involvement (not to mention growth and profitability) has been reported in this column before. But this revealing answer to an rTC interviewer pinpoints Stayer's simple success formula.The pages of the interview are filled with such responses.

One month before the Lexington Terrace high-rises are to be blown up to usher in a new era of public housing, police experts yesterday set off their own bombs in the vacant buildings to practice solving cases.A series of three explosions rocked the area in the 700 block of W. Saratoga St., giving teams of local and federal authorities a chance to practice their skills at detecting explosives and finding minuscule fragments that can solve cases."This is really a unique opportunity," said Officer Joseph A. Costantini, an investigator with the Baltimore Police Bomb Squad.

Millions of people put their lives on Facebook, but thanks to the site's convoluted and ever-changing privacy policies, they often have little idea who else can see the information they provide or what the company itself is doing with all the personal data it collects. For that reason, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler's effort as president of the National Association of Attorneys General to partner with Facebook on a public information campaign is welcome - so long as it doesn't give the public the impression that the problem of Facebook privacy has been solved.

In three career meetings against Maryland redshirt junior Niko Amato, Zach Palmer has scored three goals on nine shots and added just one assist. So the Johns Hopkins senior attackman is well-versed in the difficulty of getting the ball past the Terps goalkeeper. “He doesn't make any mistakes,” Palmer said Wednesday. “You have to put it in good spots against him. But I think he's done that his whole career.” Amato, who will lead No. 4 Maryland (8-1) in welcoming the No. 15 Blue Jays (6-4)

If a killer with an assault rifle would be deterred from attacking a school by a teacher with a pistol, he or she would simply attack a hospital, a church, a sports rally, a political meeting, a bus, etc. ("Gun advocates detail plan to arm teachers," April 3). Unarmed teachers are not the problem. William L. Akers, Windsor Mill Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

100 Years Ago 'Refined' burlesque An ad in the Times: "Gayety Theatre - A Big Event in Local Theatricals - An announcement will soon be made of the coming to Baltimore of one stellar aggregation of stars, that will surprise even the regular theatre patrons. In the last few years we have had several All Star Revivals, the Lambs and Friars Star Gambols, etc., but the first and only Burlesque Jubilee will be seen at the Gayety theatre, Baltimore, Md. "The signal honor was tendered Al Reeves, who will head this big organization as Mr. Reeves is considered without a peer in his line.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter knows the numbers don't add up. The Orioles were successful in strengthening their depth this offseason, but the glut of outfielders will make it difficult to keep all of them in the organization. “You guys have done the math,” Showalter told reporters Tuesday. Before Tuesday's Grapefruit League game in Fort Myers, the team reassigned outfielder Lew Ford to minor league camp with the hope that he will be in the mix for Triple-A at-bats, but knowing that there are only so many outfield spots in Norfolk.

There's no magic bullet that will suddenly solve all the problems in a community like Baltimore's Oliver neighborhood, not even the small army of city officials who descended on the East Baltimore community this week. But the effort is still worth it if it gives city police and social service workers a better understanding of the issues that put residents at risk and allows them to come up with better strategies to help other struggling neighborhoods. Oliver is not necessarily the city's most troubled community, but its problems are serious and deep-seated: poverty, unemployment, an inventory of more than 200 boarded-up, vacant houses and a flourishing street-corner drug trade that fuels periodic outbursts of deadly gun violence.

NUMB3RS: SEASON ONE / / Paramount Home Video / / $54.99 When it premiered on CBS in 2005, NUMB3RS seemed like it might just be another crime drama, albeit one featuring the FBI getting help from a mathematician to solve cases. But as the show's first season, out Tuesday on DVD, continued, it became clear that it was a little different. This is in large part because of its stars -- Rob Morrow as FBI agent Don Eppes, David Krumholtz as his brother, Charlie, a gifted professor of mathematics, and Judd Hirsch as their dad -- and the dynamic among them.

Baltimore County police said yesterday that they have solved two dozen construction site burglaries in three counties. Bill Toohey, a police spokesman, said investigators believe that two brothers arrested this month during a break-in at an Eastpoint house are responsible in at least 23 burglaries since September in Anne Arundel, Harford and Baltimore counties. Police said Kenneth Wayne Keys, 42, and Michael Douglas Keys, 41, who live in the 600 block of Clinton St. in Highlandtown, were arrested Dec. 3. They are accused of breaking into a house under construction in the 9300 block of Sea Bay Court.

Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said Friday that it's too early to turn the page on this season and predicted that - unlike last year - the Terps will be selected for a postseason tournament. "I don't know what postseason we're going to play in," Turgeon said as Maryland (19-9, 7-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) prepared to play Wake Forest (12-15, 5-10) on Saturday at noon. "Ideally we're still chasing the big one [the NCAA tournament]," Turgeon said. "But what we're trying to do is just play better.

WEATHER: Light rain possible, highs around 50 .  TRAFFIC:   Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues. TOP NEWS Hopkins doctor found dead amid investigation of claims he secretly taped patients : Police want to identify women seen by a gynecologist who was found dead on Monday amid...