Trash Bags

Can't the county even find funds for trash bags? I recently received in the mail a newsletter from the Severna Park Middle School Parent Teacher Organization. It was full of information regarding the PTO's goals for the year, pleas for volunteers and a schedule of PTO meetings. However, one request left me somewhat befuddled. A highlighted area on one page stated, "believe it or not, the county no longer provides trash bags for the classrooms or offices. To prevent the custodial staff from wasting valuable time washing out every trashcan every night, please consider sending in a box of tall kitchen bags or larger.

The dirty word in downtown Ellicott City is trash. Say it on Main Street and people will groan, grumble or sigh -- it's a subject with which merchants are all too familiar. There's tension because some business owners put out their trash bags long before the Department of Public Works is scheduled to pick them up. There are debates over where Main Street's cast-iron trash cans should sit and if there ought to be more of them. There are public reminders for merchants to sweep up litter in front of their shops.

THE SPIRIT of voluntarism abounds this week in the frothy wake of the presidential summit in Philadelphia. So, in that spirit -- and in the interest of encouraging governmental support of private citizens who answer the call to community service -- I offer the story of brothers Bobby and Jim Sturgell, their sister Sharon and all others who volunteered for a day of roadside trash pickup in Anne Arundel County. It was a beautiful thing while it lasted.The Sturgell family owns Happy Harbor, a restaurant and tavern in Deale, south of Annapolis.

Of the 30 Howard County residents who spoke against a proposed $125 trash fee last night, no one was more candid about her own garbage than 70-year-old Fronda Port.Ms. Port told the County Council that because she recycled as much as possible she should not have to pay $125 while others don't do their share.Then Ms. Port described this week's waste stream at her Kings Contrivance home: one milk carton (collapsed), one orange juice carton (collapsed), several paper napkins and tissues, small miscellaneous items, "and a chicken bone."

A man robbed the Odenton Food Max store Friday of several cartons of cigarettes, county police said.Cathryn Steele told police the man entered the store in the 1600 block of Annapolis Road shortly after 1 p.m., walked behind the ** counter and pulled two empty trash bags from his pocket.He threatened to kill Ms. Steele if she activated the holdup alarm and patted his pocket to imply that he had a weapon, police said. The man filled the trash bags with cigarettes, ordered Ms. Steele to lie on the floor, then ran away, police said.

A 41-year-old man has been charged with the July 24, 1993, fatal beating and stabbing of a woman found stuffed in trash bags in a Northwest Baltimore alley, police reported.James Jackson of the 2000 block of Westwood Ave. was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon with intent to injure in the death of Cheryl Teresa Haywood, 25, police said.Ms. Haywood, of the 2900 block of Oakley Ave., was found in the early morning by two children who had gone out to play in an alley behind the 4600 block of Park Heights Ave., according to police reports.

Though some merchants in the Cromwell Field Shopping Center say Baltimoreans are riding the light rail to pilfer their stores, Anne Arundel County county police say that's not quite ++ true."

They waded knee-deep in the muck -- a shoreline obscured by garbage of all sorts and coated with the same black sheen that floated on the waters of the Patapsco River's Middle Branch.When the five-hour cleanup ended yesterday, more than 100 volunteers had bagged some 5 tons of trash -- hunks of wood and debris, tires, bottles and foam cups, paint cans and waterlogged jugs, and dozens of crack vials and about 1,000 hypodermic syringes.While volunteers toiled at the on land with rakes, plastic bags and poles equipped with metal spikes to stab trash, others took to the water in seven dinghies, using hooks at the end of ropes to harvest almost 250 tires.

Around the house* Protect plumbing fixtures when painting a kitchen or bathroom; cover faucets with plastic bags to protect them from spatters.* Dry mop or vacuum hardwood floors frequently. Apply two thin coats of paste wax or a solvent-based liquid wax to clean floors. Allow to dry thoroughly and buff in the direction of the wood grain with an electric polishing machine.* Use adhesive tape instead of straight pins to mark hem lengths and to hold decorative trim in place before sewing.* Hand-washed sweaters can air-dry by spreading them out on an opened lawn chair.

Here's the bad news about Sandy Point State Park's new "trash free" program, which had its first real test over the long Memorial Day weekend: Park rangers had to collect 10 to 15 truckloads of trash bags that 12,000 visitors left strewn across the beach and picnic grounds.And the good news? That was 80 percent less trash than was hauled away on Memorial Day weekend a year ago, before the state Department of Natural Resources got rid of trash bins at all state parks and started handing out recyclable trash bags and making park visitors responsible for hauling away their own garbage.