Since October hit, my movie excitement has gone through the roof. This is the month of horror, and for someone like myself, it pleases me to the core. Even though the month is almost over, I thought myself and four other Dagger writers would give you our recommendations for movies to watch in the final days of October, some horror and some not. And if you don’t get to all of these, feel free to roll ‘em over to November.
Harford County Councilman Dion Guthrie (District A) plans to introduce a bill to eliminate the impact fee on new home sales at the council meeting October 7, 2008. Guthrie said he has support at this time from Councilman Chad Shrodes (District D) and Councilwoman Mary Ann Lisanti (District F).
Guthrie told The Dagger he had not supported the impact fee when it was first enacted by the Council in 2005, saying it was “an unfair tax because it only taxes new homes and not used homes.” Guthrie noted that families moving into existing homes also impact schools and other infrastructure, which the impact fee was designed to offset.
No Pass, No Play. That’s the idea behind a Harford County Board of Education policy directed at the high school students who are failing one or more classes. At some schools, they make up more than half the population; on average, it’s closer to 37%.
Officially known as the Eligibility Policy, the idea was to motivate students to pass each class, every quarter, by making students ineligible for extra-curricular activities if they failed even one class. The policy gives Freshmen a free pass for the first quarter and all students the chance to pull up their grades each quarter, so one-time ineligibility doesn’t necessarily trash the whole year.
Like most things in life, good and bad, The Dagger started off innocently enough.
On September 7, 2007, the first introductory story, a two-paragraph piece aptly titled “Introductions,” was posted onto the Internet. Despite being called an introduction, the story posed more questions than it answered.
Today, September 7, 2008, we hope to finally answer some of those lingering questions as we celebrate The Dagger’s anniversary with some laughter, some tears and enough behind-the-scenes details to hopefully keep us relevant for another year.
Lately, I’ve stopped turning down the chance to do something new just because I might look foolish. It’s not that the odds of embarrassing myself have diminished; I’m as capable as ever in that department. But now that I’ve hit middle age, I’ve realized opportunities might not come around again. Plus, embarrassment isn’t fatal. Otherwise, I certainly wouldn’t have made it to middle age in the first place.
Prompted by information first made public on The Dagger, Fox 45 News (Channel 15) will air a story on tonight’s 10 p.m. broadcast about the plight of Lynne Parry, widow of Baltimore Police Detective Sergeant Mark F. Parry. Lynne’s son was denied college tuition assistance intended for police survivors when the Edward T. Conroy Memorial Scholarship Fund ran out of money, leaving a total of 40 deserving families out in the cold.
Help is on the way for the family of fallen Baltimore County Police Detective Sergeant Mark F. Parry.
As Del. Susan McComas relays in the following letter, Baltimore County Sen. Andy Harris and Del. J.B. Jennings were able to use unallocated portions of their legislative scholarship funds to help Lynne Parry pay for her children’s college tuition
In the following Letter to The Dagger, Lynne Parry tells a compelling story about her life as a police survivor and her frustrating personal experience with the Edward T. Conroy Memorial Scholarship program, which was designed to assist the families of fallen heroes with the cost of college in Maryland. When Lynne’s sons were put on the Scholarship’s waiting list for lack of state funding, she reached out to elected officials for help.
Harford County Councilman Richard C. Slutzky expressed disappointment that his request for public disclosure of documents relating to the appointment of school board members Alysson Krchnavy and Leonard Wheeler was denied in a letter he received from Governor O’Malley Advisor Pat Foerster. Slutzky said the letter mirrored Foerster’s denial posted on The Dagger.
Gov. Martin O’Malley Advisor Pat Foerster will not disclose the recommendations made by public officials in support of Harford County Board of Education appointees Alysson Krchnavy and Leonard Wheeler.
In a letter dated July 25th, Foerster responded to our request that this information be released. For the record, we did not cite any statutes; we simply asked that the documents be made available as a matter of public record.
