Vague

Circuit Judge Dennis M. Sweeney today found Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold guilty on two counts of misconduct for using his executive security detail for personal and political gain. Reports of his sexual escapades and urinary malfunctions have filled the public with disgust. I've attended every day of the trial. Most remarkable for me is the vague law on which the indictment against Mr. Leopold was based. Maryland's state prosecutor based his case on Mr. Leopold's general fiduciary responsibility to the public rather than the violation of clear, specific rules.

Andrea Leepa owns her mobile home in the Deep Run Mobile Home Park in Elkridge, but not the land it sits on. She is urging legislators to support a bill that would require mobile home park owners to notify residents and provide relocation assistance if the owner sells the land for another use. "Even though our home is called mobile, it really isn't," Leepa told lawmakers in Annapolis recently. Moving a manufactured home can cost between $10,000 and $15,000, she said, and many parks only accept homes that are fewer than 10 years old. Leepa's is 17 years old. While she's under no threat of moving right now, she worries about it. Current law says park owners must provide a relocation plan, but it is vague about what the plan must contain, said Jacob Ouslander, an attorney for the Southern Maryland office of the Legal Aid Bureau.

The Silopanna Music Festival will not return this year, according to a press release. Details are vague as to why the relatively new festival would not make "a run in 2013. " The release states "the stars didn't align this year to put together a lineup that we could stand behind. " There is no mention of future Silopanna festivals. Last August, the Silopanna Music Festival brought Cake, J. Roddy Walston & the Business and more to the Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds. The inaugural event was scheduled for the summer of 2011, but was canceled because of Hurricane Irene.

STANFORD, Calif. -- Let's suppose you're picking up a prescription at the drugstore.Responding to your inquiry about the drug's having been prescribed for an unlikely use -- say, a blood-pressure drug to treat your muscle pain -- the pharmacist gives you a copy of an article from a prominent medical journal.Well, it's possible that under a new federal policy, not only would the pharmacist's action be illegal, but also the drug's manufacturer would be held legally responsible. No good deed goes unpunished by the government.

Baltimore's plan to shift control of education away from the central headquarters and back to individual public schools was criticized last night as too vague and too timid.The decentralization proposal, which was put together at the instigation of the Baltimore Teachers Union, would begin as a pilot program at 20 schools next year. The city school board, which plans to act on the proposal Sept. 20, is holding a series of hearings this week to gauge public opinion.Last night's hearing, in the auditorium of the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, attracted just two speakers.

CHICAGO -- Since the corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan began nearly four months ago, the jury has listened to the testimony of more than 70 witnesses, including a lottery winner and the head of homeland security in California under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. But with the prosecution planning to wrap up its arguments this week, the defense is poised to put the one person on the stand who could make or break the case: George Ryan. Ryan, 71, and his attorneys have said that the pharmacist-turned-politician who spent more than three decades in elected office could take the stand late this week.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush unveiled his $100 billion, election-year plan to provide health care for the uninsured yesterday but backed away from some politically unpopular ways to pay for it, leaving the question of how to finance it unanswered.His plan urges "reforms" in the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs serving poor and elderly patients, which administration officials say would produce enough savings to finance much of the new health insurance voucher system.But the president did not specify how much the reforms would save and offered no other specific proposal for how he would raise the money.

David G. Boschert's ethics bill -- which was tabled by the County Council at Monday night's meeting -- was, like the path to perdition, crafted with good intentions.But according to four of his colleagues, the council chairman's bill -- which sought to prevent lobbying by former county employees and elected officials for one year after they left the government -- was too vague and possibly unconstitutional.Council members Maureen Lamb, Carl G. Holland, George F. Bachman and Diane R. Evans voted to hold the bill and let the county's Ethics Commission, which will be appointed later this month, deal with it. Mr. Boschert and Councilman Edward Middlebrooks opposed the motion.

The lawyer for a Glenwood Middle School music teacher who has been charged with sexually abusing a 17-year-old student in 1981 argued yesterday that the charges should be dropped because prosecutors are unable to pinpoint the dates of the alleged crimes.At a hearing Tuesday, defense attorney Jonathan Scott Smith said it will be impossibleto investigate the case and prepare a defense unless prosecutors provide more specific dates.Charges were filed in January against Donald Barry Cohen, 45, of Columbia, after a Texas woman told county police that he had engaged in sexual acts with her in 1981, when both were at Centennial High School.

The City Council has rejected a retired Pikesville man's request to run a taxi service here.The council's unanimous decision Monday night not to grant the Stan Cab Co. a license came at the recommendation of the Finance Committee.The applicant, Melvin L. Wolpert, didn't attend the meeting. Wolpert, reached at his home Tuesday, declined to comment on the council's decision.Taxi licenses and fares must be approved by the council.In a report to the council, committee chairman Stephen R. Chapin said Wolpert's presentation about his proposed business venture wasvague.