Target Practice

C. Milton Wright goalie Sarah Sloop had one game plan in mind going up against Bethesda-Chevy Chase in Monday's state field hockey semifinal. She wanted to be aggressive."

Letter writer Jonathan Reidy quoted my testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee out of context ("High-capacity magazines mean more stray bullets," Feb. 11). I would like to correct the record. I told the committee that magazine capacity was a matter of personal choice regarding my ability to protect myself and my family. We are currently limited to 20-round magazines in Maryland, yet only the law-abiding are likely to follow that restriction. After my testimony was complete, one of the senators asked me if I thought fully automatic weapons were OK on the street.

100 years ago The Annapolis City Council adopted an ordinance regulating the sale of gasoline and gunpowder. Three barrels of gasoline are permitted at one time on the premises with a gunpowder limit of 50 pounds in labeled canisters. -- The Sun, Nov. 12, 1895.The Board of Public Works will appoint Julius Phipps to command the local guard boat in Herring Bay. The boat expenses will be paid jointly by private oystermen and the county. -- The Sun, Nov. 28, 1895.The first class of naval cadets, comprising 27 in the line and 12 in the engineering division, went out in the bay to the ironclad monitor Amphitrite today for target practice.

Next on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's to-do list: banks' overdraft practices. Overdrafts occur when you spend more than you have in your bank account. The bank will cover those overdrafts for a fee that can run from $30 to $35. The CFPB says it sent a data request to banks today on their overdraft policies. The agency is looking into four areas: The re-ordering of transactions Consumers have complained, and filed lawsuits, over the practice by some banks to change the order of the checks and ATM transactions in a way that triggers more overdrafts.

The Hampstead Town Council enacted an ordinance last night that bans discharging weapons, including bows and arrows, within town limits.The council voted 4-1 to adopt the measure, which has few exceptions. Councilman Arthur Moler opposed the ordinance.Before the council voted, the panel amended -- and then deleted -- a controversial section that would have allowed target practice with any weapons, including guns, on private property "in such a manner as to not endanger persons or property."

Three Baltimore youths and an adult who had no driver's license were arrested late Friday night after Howard County police followed their stolen car on U.S. 29 at speeds of more than 80 mph.Simon Alexander Deshavo, 18, of the 3800 block of Southern Cross Drive, was charged with auto theft, speeding and driving without a license. He was released on personal recognizance.The three juveniles, two of them 13 years old and the other 17, were released to their parents.Officers working on a special holiday enforcement shift pursued the suspects when they saw the stolen 1988 Volvo speeding on northbound U.S. 29 near Route 175.Police eventually stopped the group at the intersection of northbound U.S. 29 and westbound U.S. 40.Police said a vehicle registration check showed that the car had been stolen in Baltimore earlier Friday.

Donald Ray, a convicted wife beater, swears he just wanted a handgun for target practice. So the ex-Marine plopped down $600 at Gilbert's Guns Unlimited for a .357-caliber Magnum revolver in February.After a week waiting for the state to approve his application, he picked up his new gun."I have had guns my whole life," said Ray, 26, who also owns a 12-gauge shotgun and a .22-caliber rifle. "If I wanted to shoot someone I could, but it is not really worth it. I have a little boy."State police say Ray, convicted of domestic battery, and 26 others ineligible to possess handguns under state law because of past crimes took advantage of delays in criminal background checks to get weapons.

Not everyone is as excited as cometary scientists are about NASA's plans to blast a hole in a comet this weekend. Uncertainties about what will happen when Deep Impact's impactor plows into the comet's nucleus have stirred anxiety and anger in some circles about the space agency's eagerness to fool with Mother Nature. Writing in January in an online forum called "John P. Hoke's Asylum," a contributor identifying himself as Rob Razor said, "I just don't think it's a good idea to be placing bombs on comets."

Broadway, Virginia -- In our nation's capital, it has become more difficult to get from Capitol Hill to Georgetown. The reason, of course, is the need to take a detour around that anachronism on Pennsylvania Avenue.Why do I call the president's lovely mansion an anachronism? Is it necessarily anachronistic to have a stately country home sitting in the middle of a bustling modern city? That kind of anachronism we call ''charm.''What doesn't fit between this place and our times is the growing difficulty of keeping its occupant -- our head of state -- from being murdered.

News item, from an Environmental Protection Agency report on Brooklyn Park's Snow Hill Lane Dump, Anne Arundel County's most recent addition to the EPA's "Superfund" cleanup list:"Past site investigations (1982-1989) revealed the presence of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), lead, and cyanide at levels in the soil that were above expectedbackgrounds for the area."Also scattered across the site are abandoned drums and tires. The drums are in various stages of disintegration and have apparently been used for target practice.

My dad spoke Kid — even Adult Kid. He knew that in challenging times, an "I'll be OK" from my brother or me really meant, "Stick with me. " Even when unsure of exactly what to do, he would just show up. I do not mean he would move in or plant on our couch — I mean that he would help us come up with a game plan, and then call every three hours even if just to say, "I love you. " In Kid, these calls translated into: "You are not alone. " He practiced the gospel of the "FUNdamentals," as he wrote the term he preached from our first lacrosse toss in the backyard and through his team dad years.

The football sliced through the air, remaining in a tight spiral until the ball struck its intended target - the crossbar. The resounding clang would have drawn groans from Ravens kicker Matt Stover, but it was a beautiful sound to cornerback Chris McAlister, who had launched the football. The cornerback's throwing a football at the goal posts on a practice field at the team's training facility in Owings Mills is part of a pre-practice contest during which several Ravens test their quarterback skills.

Maryland Agricultural Commission, meet the Agricultural Stewardship Commission. One group answers to the governor, the other to the Senate president and House speaker. Both plan to make recommendations for the 2006 legislative session on how to best preserve farming in Maryland, and not necessarily the same ones. Not that the agriculture community is complaining. "We're just delighted that we've got that much interest in farming now," said Lewis R. Riley, secretary of the state Department of Agriculture.

Not everyone is as excited as cometary scientists are about NASA's plans to blast a hole in a comet this weekend. Uncertainties about what will happen when Deep Impact's impactor plows into the comet's nucleus have stirred anxiety and anger in some circles about the space agency's eagerness to fool with Mother Nature. Writing in January in an online forum called "John P. Hoke's Asylum," a contributor identifying himself as Rob Razor said, "I just don't think it's a good idea to be placing bombs on comets."

The Howard County Council is poised to make official a longstanding practice to employ an easier standard for granting zoning changes to construct schools and other government buildings. Now, governmental agencies, such as the school system, do not have to meet the strict standards used by the county Board of Appeals when asking for construction variances for its buildings, as other entities do. They deal only with the County Council, which has a much more lenient criterion: that the variance be in the "public interest."

MIAMI - Burger King Corp., the second-largest U.S. hamburger chain, said yesterday that it has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating Coca-Cola Co. for possible accounting fraud. Burger King will comply with the subpoena seeking records relating to a rigged marketing test for Frozen Coke in March 2000, said Rob Doughty, a spokesman for the Miami-based hamburger chain. Coca-Cola, the world's largest soft-drink maker, said last week that it had settled a dispute with Burger King, retaining the company as a customer.

Guns are an affront to a civil societyAs members of a civilized society approaching the 21st century, we have the right to ask our fellow citizens who want guns to demonstrate an overriding need before allowing them to acquire weapons that daily terrorize, maim and kill. Each year tens of thousands of Americans are killed by handguns, many of them our children. According to the Department of Justice, handguns are used in the commission of more than 600,000 crimes annually. Medical care for the wounded alone costs our society more than $1 billion a year.

Teresa and Joseph Streb moved from Rosedale to rural White Marsh a little more than a year ago in search of relative quiet. They found the sound of gunfire."

Donald Ray, a convicted wife beater, swears he just wanted a handgun for target practice. So the ex-Marine plopped down $600 at Gilbert's Guns Unlimited for a .357-caliber Magnum revolver in February.After a week waiting for the state to approve his application, he picked up his new gun."I have had guns my whole life," said Ray, 26, who also owns a 12-gauge shotgun and a .22-caliber rifle. "If I wanted to shoot someone I could, but it is not really worth it. I have a little boy."State police say Ray, convicted of domestic battery, and 26 others ineligible to possess handguns under state law because of past crimes took advantage of delays in criminal background checks to get weapons.

Officer Christopher Smith confronted a man breaking into a car in a downtown parking lot. The suspect bent down as if he had dropped a gun when a second man popped up from behind the car and opened fire.Smith quickly shot back and killed both men with four shots.But he missed -- six times."Just remember, we are accountable for every bullet we fire," said Officer Bush Hopkins, a firearms training instructor. "It could have been a perfectly good shooting, like this was, but if one bullet hits a bystander, you are up a creek."