State Of Maryland

On March 30, 2003, CHARLOTTE MAY MINTON, 65, passed away at her home in Snohomish, Washington. Born on January 4, 1938 in Maryland, to Thomas and Ruth Gifford, she graduated High School and two years of college in Maryland. Her occupations while in Baltimore included working as a paralegal and was an employee of the state of Maryland until moving to Monroe Washington. She is survived by her children, Ernest Minton, Rhonda Tipton, Lori Reynolds, Lisa Felmar, Brenda Klipp, Arthur Minton, and Vincent McElhose; 13 grandchildren, 2 great-grandchildren, 2 sisters Sonya Hunn, and Dawn Dorsey.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court cleared the way yesterday for 13 disabled inmates to sue the state of Maryland over their claims that the state does not do enough to ensure that its prisons accommodate their needs.In a one-sentence order, the justices overturned a September ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond that federal law did not protect the inmates from discrimination based on their disabilities. Yesterday's order followed a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court last week that extended federal disability rights law to state and local prisons and jails.

Glen Burnie resident Doris Jenkins received a Governor's Citation from the State of Maryland yesterday at a ceremony at the Recreation Pier in Fells Point.The citation stated: "On behalf of the citizensof the state in recognition of your impressive contributions as a gifted athlete and manager, which has earned you a special place in Maryland softball history as demonstrated by your 23 seasons as a softball fast-pitch hurler as well as your 22 years of coaching local teams, gaining induction into the Maryland Softball Hall of Fame and in honor of this distinction, to confer upon you this Governor's citation."

GEORGE WASHINGTON was a poacher, taking fish from Maryland waters to sell at his Mount Vernon home. And that led to the historic Potomac Compact of 1785, which allowed fishing and navigation rights for citizens of both states. Intermittent legal battles over two centuries led Virginia to return to the U.S. Supreme Court in the current dispute over water rights. Now there's a fight over these same matters in Baltimore Circuit Court, pitting the state of Maryland against ... the state of Maryland.

Pamela B. Mitchell, a retired businesswoman and recovering alcoholic, died from lung cancer July 3 at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The longtime Towson resident was 65. Pamela Bobbett was born in Baltimore and raised in Northwood. She was a 1961 graduate of Eastern High School and earned a bachelor's degree from Western Maryland College in 1965. She later earned a master's degree in business from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in 1993. From 1965 to 1980, Mrs. Mitchell was employed as a vocational counselor and later was a training staff development officer for the state of Maryland.

Can Baltimore's unhealthy air be cleared by California cars?Or will the West Coast import send auto and gas prices soaring, putting thousands of Marylanders out of work?The Schaefer administration and environmentalists are locked in high-stakes lobbying war with the oil and auto industries over whether Maryland should join California in setting stringent limits on automobile tailpipe emissions.Gov. William Donald Schaefer's top environmental priority this legislative session is a bill that would require all cars and light trucks sold in the state three years from now to meet California rules, which are stricter than federal standards.

The state of Maryland is retreating from the T-shirt and tote-bag business because of concerns that it was competing unfairly with private businesses.Come Jan. 1, the Department of Natural Resources will drop a year-old mail-order catalog that sells shirts, coffee mugs and other memorabilia emblazoned with the words "Maryland" and "Chesapeake Bay.""We don't want to be competing with someone who is in private business," said Rick Barton, the department's superintendent of state forests and parks.

AS SURE as night follows day, the letters from the anti-gun crowd were sure to come in the wake of my Jan. 30 column expressing my disgust over the state of Maryland's gleeful evisceration of the Second Amendment. Merrill E. Milham of Baldwin wrote: "Gregory Kane uses the robbery of his son's jacket to launch an emotional and irresponsible verbal attack on gun laws, various political figures and the State of Maryland. "Mr. Kane makes the far-fetched claim that his son was victimized by the State of Maryland: He says that Maryland was responsible for disarming his son, who as a result was surprised by a criminal wielding a 12-gauge shotgun and robbed of his jacket.

The arguments were familiar, the characters the same - but the opponents of slot machines were scarce at a hearing yesterday on the latest proposal to legalize slots in Maryland. For the third consecutive year, members of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee listened to nearly three hours of testimony on a slots bill, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s plan that would open Maryland to slot machines and give the state $800 million a year. Leading the charge were Ehrlich and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, who introduced it on behalf of the administration - and has vowed to shepherd a slots bill through his chamber again this year, on its way to an uncertain future in the House of Delegates.

As of last week, it costs $1.50 a month to maintain an EZ-Pass account with the state of Maryland. That's a scandal. Not the fee. That's chump change. What's appalling is that it took the Maryland Transportation Authority so long to impose it. Not until there was a severe revenue shortfall did the authority's board muster the political courage to partially plug a leak that's been costing the state millions of dollars a year. The money could have gone toward repaving a section of the Kennedy Highway or enforcing traffic laws at the Fort McHenry Tunnel or planning the replacement of antiquated bridges.