Press 1 for Intolerance

One of the greatest moments of my career as a local newspaper reporter came a few days after Maryland District 7 Delegates Pat McDonough and Rick Impallaria got into a scuffle with a pro-immigration activist in an Annapolis hallway.

I was sitting at a Board of Education meeting and in a break between presentations, listening in on a hushed recounting of the incident. The board’s liaison to the state legislature was filling the school system’s second in command (a congenial guy named Ray Brown, who’s since taken another job) on details too grisly for print.

I leaned over and said, “You know the best part – when the guy pushed Pat McDonough…” and I held my hands up to show how a toupee might have been slipped halfway off (when we said we’d publish rumors, this is what we meant…Pat could very well be working with just a weird head of hair). Continue reading Press 1 for Intolerance

An ace in the hole: Dealing with the race card in Aberdeen

This is a story about hotdogs and why they are occasionally given out for free.

Since Matt already brought it up in an earlier comment, I suppose it’s time to discuss some racial implications that have worked their way into Aberdeen politics.

In case you missed it, there was a brief and seemingly innocuous statement printed in The Record newspaper a few weeks ago at the bottom of an election story. The blurb, attributed to Mayor S. Fred Simmons and buried in the final paragraph, indicated the mayor, who had already announced his intentions to seek re-election, was investigating the possibility of opening a second polling place for the upcoming Nov. 6 municipal election.

At face value, there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it sounds like a damn fine idea – giving Aberdeen residents more opportunity and more convenience in voting, which would hopefully bolster what has typically been an abysmal voter turnout for city elections. But, as with most things in life, this idea unfortunately cannot be taken simply at face value. Continue reading An ace in the hole: Dealing with the race card in Aberdeen