Town Hall

FROSTBURG - Cheryl Haberkam became despondent after losing her job as a dispatcher for a moving company late last year. The Baltimore resident had no income and no savings, and unemployment benefits had not kicked in. She didn't know where to turn. So she e-mailed Gov. Martin O'Malley. "I know you probably can't help me," she wrote, "but I think just saying this might help. Thank you for your time." As the economy slid into recession, an increasing number of residents have apparently wanted to share their troubles - and their grievances - with the governor.

The crisis in subprime mortgages betrays a deeper predicament facing consumer capitalism triumphant: The "Protestant ethos" of hard work and deferred gratification has been replaced by an infantilist ethos of easy credit and impulsive consumption that puts democracy and the market system at risk. Capitalism's core virtue is that it marries altruism and self-interest. In producing goods and services that answer real consumer needs, it secures a profit for producers. Doing good for others turns out to entail doing well for yourself.

Bowling Brook Preparatory School was long regarded as a rare gem in Maryland's troubled juvenile justice system, a place that took in delinquent teens and turned them into well-mannered young men. The residential program for juvenile offenders has been the subject of intense criticism since a youth died there in January, yet some of its supporters were disappointed yesterday to learn that it will close next week. An emotional Del. Donald B. Elliot, a Republican representing parts of Carroll and Frederick counties, called the closing of Bowling Brook a "sad ending to an outstanding institution."

Mount Airy Town Council will meet at 8 p.m. today at Town Hall.Among items on the the agenda are discussions about the park and ride lot, the ethics ordinance, planning commission appointments, and reduction of letter of credit for Fields of Nottingham and Twin Ridge.Town Hall is located at 110 S. Main St.Information: 410-795-6012.

FireManchester: Firefighters from Manchester, Hampstead and Lineboro responded at 5: 52 p.m. Thursday to a house fire in the 4200 block of Hanover Pike.Public meetingHampstead planning: Hampstead Planning and Zoning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. today at Town Hall, 1034 S. Carroll St. Information: 410-239-7408.Pub Date: 8/30/99

EACH YEAR, visitors to Crofton are welcomed by the sparkling lights of a Christmas tree in front of the Crofton Country Club. The lighting ceremony, which typically features local politicians, music, refreshments and a visit from Santa -- was scheduled for last night.My favorite community Christmas tree is the one behind Town Hall. This tree doesn't have lights. The ornaments filling its branches are not always elegant or sophisticated. Still, the decorating ceremony for the Town Hall tree, held Saturday morning, was full of love, fun and excitement about the holidays.

CAN we meet?Can we meet and meet and meet and meet and meet?Can we meet in public boards and private commissions, on cable TV and in no-comment executive sessions, around speaker phones, over working breakfasts, working lunches, working breaks, working dinners, working snacks?Can we meet? Can we meet off site, meet on site, meet over the Web site, meet at a pre-meeting meeting? How about one of those all-day retreat meetings? How about a pre-meeting meeting before the meeting at the all-day retreat?

After two failed attempts to attract bids that match Hampstead's budget for a new police station, officials say the third round of bids to be opened tomorrow might yield a contract.Plans call for the former First National Bank building at 1112 Main St. to be renovated and transformed into a station by the spring, said Police Chief R. Kenneth Meekins Jr.The project would accomplish three goals: give a growing police force in a growing town a real station; preserve a historic and stately downtown building; and enhance Main Street with a public agency.

Union Bridge Election Day will be from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow at Town Hall, 104 W. Locust St.Residents will vote for mayor and two council members.Information: 410-775-2711.FirePleasant Valley: Firefighters from Pleasant Valley, Westminster, Taneytown, Lineboro and Littlestown, Pa., responded at 6: 25 p.m. Thursday to a vacant house fire in the 3200 block of Murkle Road. Units were out four hours and 20 minutes.

Hampstead could have a new police station as early as next summer after the Town Council voted last night to award a contract to a Towson company to renovate the former First National Bank building at 1112 Main St.James F. Knott Construction Co. Inc. submitted the lowest bid, at $698,000, by yesterday afternoon's deadline. The council met in the evening and voted to accept it. Five other bids were submitted, with the highest at $773,000."It's unfortunately a little higher than we were looking for, but it's a good number," said Councilman Stephen A. Holland.

Last week in Phoenix, cable television broadcast the image of a man toting an assault-style rifle standing outside a health care "town hall" event featuring President Barack Obama. He was one of a dozen people openly carrying firearms in what was apparently a staged demonstration. This would seem bizarre enough except it seems to be something of a trend. A protester was seen carrying a handgun strapped to his leg outside a similar event in Portsmouth, N.H. At a town hall meeting in Memphis, Tenn.

WASHINGTON - -Conservatives are calling it their August Revolt - a surprising surge of activism against President Barack Obama's proposed health care overhaul. Spurred on by the success of their efforts to dominate the news at Democratic town hall meetings, conservative groups are reporting increases in membership lists and are joining forces to plan at least one mass demonstration in Washington next month. But the conservative mobilization has also created an unusual problem for Republican leaders, who want to turn the enthusiasm into election victories next year, but find themselves the target of ire from many of the same activists.

Watching the news during the past week became a daily exercise in rubbernecking at the train wreck that was town hall democracy. At a certain point, it beame impossible to determine, and maybe immaterial, who came to meetings congressmen and senators held to discuss health care reform out of genuine concern and who came as part of an orchestrated show of force by one side or the other. Supporters and opponents of the Democratic reform plans said they felt insulted and misunderstood by the other side, and it was clear that little real debate or dialogue was going on. That's what happened Monday night when Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin held a town hall meeting at Towson University.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - - President Barack Obama ventured into the summer's unpredictable town hall meetings on health care Tuesday, facing a polite audience, while lawmakers elsewhere continued to confront enraged citizens - a contrast that showed how far the administration still must go to bridge the divide. The president used his appearance Tuesday at a high school in Portsmouth, N.H., to frame his view of the health care crisis, appeal to wavering Americans and counter what he said were outlandish fallacies in arguments by Republicans and conservatives.

Now here are some people who could use a nice cold beer with the president. But somehow, I think all you'd end up with are people who are still mad but now have a bit of a beer buzz going. People who already are acting crazy don't need help losing any more of their inhibition. I've been watching footage of the town hall follies play out across the country as congressional representatives on summer recess head home to their constituents, some of whom apparently do not like President Barack Obama's push for health care reform.

COSTA MESA, Calif. -At a town hall meeting yesterday during which people spoke of their lost jobs and their fears of economic problems to come, President Barack Obama painted his ambitious policy agenda as the antidote. Obama spoke to an audience of about 1,300 during his first stop on a two-day swing through California, aimed at mobilizing public support for his multitrillion-dollar budget. He wanted to visit a state coping with job losses and home foreclosures. And in a question-and-answer session, he quickly got a taste of how the sour economy has upended lives in Southern California.

FROSTBURG - Cheryl Haberkam became despondent after losing her job as a dispatcher for a moving company late last year. The Baltimore resident had no income and no savings, and unemployment benefits had not kicked in. She didn't know where to turn. So she e-mailed Gov. Martin O'Malley. "I know you probably can't help me," she wrote, "but I think just saying this might help. Thank you for your time." As the economy slid into recession, an increasing number of residents have apparently wanted to share their troubles - and their grievances - with the governor.

Man fatally shoots woman during standoff A man fatally shot his girlfriend and attempted to hang himself last night during a standoff with Baltimore police who had surrounded the couple's home, authorities said. The standoff began when the man fired several gunshots from a house in the 4000 block of Parkside Drive about 9 p.m., police said. Officers were responding to an assault call when the man began firing. After officers heard the shots, they fell back and surrounded the house, police said.

The words "tight-knit" can be overused when describing a community, but not in Relay, where neighbors have formed their own book and card-playing clubs. Residents get together in the Baltimore suburb for the "Victorian Tea" in the spring and for community day in the fall. They take turns as hosts of the monthly covered-dish dinner. Faith Hermann borrowed an egg recently from her neighbor, who in turn took some butter. She has lived in her 1911 home for the past 20 years. "I like being in Relay because of the people," said Hermann, who lives with her husband, William, and enjoys sitting on her home's wraparound porch.

BOONSBORO-- --The crumbling limestone hotel at the center of this 18th-century Western Maryland town was to be the heart of its revival, a return to glory at the hands of a 21st-century romance novelist. But an early morning accident at the Boone Hotel sparked an explosive blaze, leaving a smoldering hole in the town's historic Main Street and destroying writer Nora Roberts' plans to reopen a bed and breakfast there this summer. "My family and I are stunned and heartbroken by the devastation of the fire," Roberts said in an e-mail to The Sun. "We're grieving, too, for the other buildings damaged and involved, and deeply concerned for the families who were displaced.