Tribute

Harford Del. Pat McDonough, along with volunteer firefighters and community groups, will host the annual flag-waving remembrance tribute to the victims and families of 9/11 in Joppa Tuesday on the 11th anniversary of the national tragedy. Flag waving event is open to the public and will take place from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on the Route 152 overpass at I- 95. There will be plenty of free parking at the park and ride on Mountain Road (Route 152). This year the firefighters from the Joppa Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company participating in the flag waving will be seen with a restored 1958 Ward La France fire truck.

It all seemed so right. The Orioles long ago chose Thursday night to unveil Cal Ripken's statue at Oriole Park because of the obvious connection to what happened here on the same date 17 years ago, but they could not have known it would be so perfectly timed to coincide with the re-emergence of the team as a late-season contender and the start of a huge four-game series against the Yankees. The significance certainly wasn't lost on Ripken, who used his edition of the Legends Celebration Series to forge a link between the Hall of Famers who will forever populate the plaza behind center field and the new generation of Orioles players who have responded so well to the leadership of Buck Showalter.

After reading John Patterson's commentary on bullying, my newspaper was wet with tears ("A lesson for life: Be Tim Hillman," Aug. 17). For those of us who were bullied as youngsters, our school years were long, daunting and painful. What a relief when someone strays from the "cool crowd" to become a friend, respecting and accepting you for who you are, not judging based on status. A slight smile and ego boost to propel you along. We strive to do good and to live a life of purpose.

Rose Mayr's former boyfriend, Boris Gamazaychikov, wrote a poem about the young woman, who was killed in a train derailment shortly before midnight Tuesday. "Sometimes I imagined we would grow old together. But now I'll grow old and you'll stay young in my heart forever. And I couldn't ever see you stuck behind a picket fence. You were too busy looking at the sky and the horizon to which it led. "Remember when we climbed to the top of the earth, through the bushes and the thorns we were covered in dirt.

Long before the best-selling book about Henrietta Lacks and her immortal cells was written, Turners Station neighbors gathered to honor her legacy, a tradition that continued Saturday. Lacks' great-granddaughters, born about half a century after her death from cervical cancer in 1951, bounded on the stage of Union Baptist Church, adorned with colorful silk flowers, to welcome the crowd of about 60. "I'm proud that they took her cells, because it helped the whole world," 14-year-old Aiyana Rodgers said.

Wow! One hundred percent across the board! That is what Rodgers Forge Elementary School Principal Missy Fanshaw saw when she pulled up the results of the Maryland State Assessment Test. As she told the Towson Times, "I thought 'does this say what I think it says?' It's 100, 100, 100. How exciting!" Rodgers Forge was the only Baltimore County school to achieve 100 percent proficiency for each grade level tested - three, four and five - on the Maryland State Assessment Test. Rodgers Forge is known for its strong academic standing, which is, as Fanshaw, points out "a team effort.

Your list of the names of U.S. soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since last Memorial Day on Monday's editorial page was nice, but it conveniently left out the body count ("U.S. fallen in Afghanistan," May 28). Since 2009, when Barack Obama became president, 1,355 U.S. soldiers have died in the Afghan war. Yet the mainstream media, including The Sun, is not counting. Of course, whenGeorge W. Bushwas president, we got the body count every day. Where is the fairness in The Sun's approach?

We are gathered here today to memorialize a man who revolutionized our lives. So what did Eugene J. Polley do? What was the nature of his great leap forward? Did he invent the PC? Did he invent the cellphone? Did he invent the Internet? No. Eugene J. Polley invented the wireless remote. You young'uns won't remember this, but back in the day, when you wanted to change channels you had to actually get up from the couch and embark upon an arduous trip five, six, sometimes even seven feet across the living room, where you would manually turn a "dial" until the desired channel sprang into view in all its black-and-white glory.

The hauntingly beautiful greensward that straddles the city and Baltimore County lines along Frederick Avenue was dedicated 71 years ago this month. Called "Little Arlington," Baltimore National Cemetery is where Boy Scouts were to arrive this evening to begin the Memorial Day custom of placing small flags on all the graves of the military veterans and their spouses interred here. Their graves are marked with uniform white tablets arranged in rows reminiscent of military formations.

Even as Edgar Allan Poe's continuing presence in Baltimore remains uncertain, another East Coast city —the one in which the celebrated author was born — is preparing to honor him with a bronze statue. Poe partisans in Boston have chosen New York sculptor Stefanie Rocknak for the $125,000 project. Her design shows an adult Poe, who left Boston as a young child, as though he had just stepped off a train. To be placed in the city's Edgar Allan Poe Square, at the intersection of Boylston Street and Charles Street South, the statue will be situated so that Poe is heading back to his birthplace.