Thanksgiving Day

Share your good news and events with the community. Contact Laurel Leader editorial assistant Pat Farmer, paf1@patuxent.com , or phone and fax 410-332-6653. 5K Turkey Trot - Registration cost cheaper until Nov. 11. Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 24, 8 a.m., First United Methodist Church of Laurel, 424 Main St. Also, One Mile Fun Walk. Runners and walkers of all ages and abilities. Benefits Laurel Advocacy and Referral Services. $25 until Nov. 11; $30 after Nov. 11. Pick up runners packets Wed., Nov. 23, 4-7 p.m. at race location and on morning of race, 7 a.m. Late registrations available during those times.

Behind a push from City and Poly alumni who want to renew a tradition dear to their hearts, legislation was introduced Wednesday in the Maryland House of Delegates to allow the City-Poly football game to return to Thanksgiving Day if the two schools request the change. That, however, appears unlikely to happen, because unless City's and Poly's football programs withdraw from state championship contention — which they could have done at any time — the move to Thanksgiving Day would upset the state playoff system for all of the teams in City's and Poly's playoff regions.

This schedule will be in effect Thursday: County offices Government offices, courts and libraries: Closed in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Harford and Howard counties. Public schools: Closed in all jurisdictions. Trash: No pickup in Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Howard counties. In Carroll, Frederick and Harford, check with contractors. Howard has no recycling pickup. Harford waste disposal center and waste-to-energy center closed. Annapolis City offices, courts and transit: closed Parking meters: free Trash : no pickup Baltimore City City offices, courts and libraries: closed Parking meters: free Trash: no pickup; landfills and transfer stations closed (make-up day is Saturday, Nov. 27)

A 37-year-old Florida man who met a Cockeysville woman through the Internet was found guilty Friday of stabbing her to death on Thanksgiving Day 2008, less than two months after moving in with her. Rex N. Wesley's first-degree murder conviction came after a three-day trial in Baltimore County Circuit Court and less than an hourlong deliberation by a jury. Prosecutor Stephen R. Roscher said Wesley was discovered standing over the body of Donna Jean Brown, 31, in the kitchen of her father's house in Randallstown, her body and head slashed and pierced by "scores" of wounds.

W e're only 72 hours past the sanctioned Day of National Gluttony, Thanksgiving, when it's considered unpatriotic to take on anything less than 25,000 calories. I'm sure everyone by now has had enough turkey, dressing, cranberries, mashed potatoes, peas, wedges of Aunt Maude's world famous pumpkin pie and Alka-Seltzer to last until Christmas, which comes around in only 26 days. However, I'm hoping that you've saved a little room for a calorie-free sliver of Thanksgiving history that was brought to my attention the other day by retired Baltimore County Circuit Judge John F. Fader II, whose hobbies include collecting and committing to memory arcane facts and incidents relating to U.S. history.

What's a little fog and drizzle to football players who sometimes play in snow, sleet and driving rain? When you've been playing the same pickup game on Thanksgiving Day for 40 years, you're not about to let a mere case of nasty weather ruin an honored tradition. Most of the mud-spattered players, middle-aged and beyond, who were assembled Thursday on a sodden field in northwest Baltimore County graduated from Pikesville Senior High School around 1970 (before it dropped the "Senior")

What's a little fog and drizzle to football players who sometimes play in snow, sleet and driving rain? When you've been playing the same pickup game on Thanksgiving Day for 40 years, you're not about to let a mere case of nasty weather ruin an honored tradition. Most of the mud-spattered players, middle-aged and beyond, who were assembled Thursday on a sodden field in northwest Baltimore County graduated from Pikesville Senior High School around 1970 (before it dropped the "Senior")

As if you need another reason to feel guilty about indulging on Thanksgiving Day, consider this: Researchers at the University of Manchester in England figure that a turkey-n-trimmings feast for eight produces approximately 44 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. About 60 percent of that planet-warming gas comes from the life cycle of the turkey, alone. The report is being touted by the Washington-based Center for Food Safety, which wants Americans to lay off food produced by industrial agriculture for the sake of the planet, if not their health.