When’s the last time you wrote a letter to your auto repair shop praising the good work done by one of their mechanics on your car?

GIVING A COMPLIMENT TO A WORKER
IS SOMETIMES THE BEST GIFT OF ALL

Too often ‘a job well done’
gets  taken  for  granted

CALL UP THE PERSON’S BOSS
 
By David Maril
 
As we head toward the New Year and have finished off the holiday shopping season, many of us are weary from making deci- sions about what to buy for gifts. You wanted to surprise members of the family but on the other hand it’s disappointing if the gift is something not needed or wanted.

The high number of returned gifts is probably responsible for the increase in shoppers who settle for merchandise certificates that can be used for whatever the person receiving the present wants.

Then there are the decisions about gifts for people who perform services. If the person who delivers your newspaper in all kinds of weather gets the paper in the vicinity of your front door every day and hasn’t thrown it on the roof or broken a window, some type of holiday bonus is due.

But how much?

What about your mailman or mailwoman, providing postal delivery in rain, sleet and snow? But what if you have several people who deliver your mail instead of one individual?

How many others who perform work for you deserve some type of reward?

I believe that lost in all these monetary deliberations is the importance of simple recognition and appreciation for extra effort and quality work. This doesn’t necessarily mean money. Too often  we take the easy, impersonal way out, simply writing a check and mailing it off to someone.

Here’s a different option  to consider:

Read more »

 
NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Friday Dec. 20

[Scroll down for full week’s compendia]  

 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — IN BRIEF
 
A Voice of Baltimore compendium, local and beyond.   Your weekday morning look  (with links)  at late-breaking news, current events, and what will be talked about wherever you may go on Friday:

Laws prohibiting certain state officials from raising money during the 90-day General Assembly session next year leave Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler out in the cold.

Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown and State Attorney Gen- eral Doug Gansler — opponents in next June’s gubernatorial primary — are both barred from raising money during the 90- day General Assembly session beginning in January, as is Montgomery County Del. Heather Mizeur.

However, Brown’s running mate, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, is not covered by the prohibition and can raise money
so long as he does not coordinate with Brown.

Ulman can legally raise funds under his own campaign account, then later transfer unlimited amounts of cash to the slate account he shares with Brown for the governor’s race. On the Republican side, Harford County Executive David Craig can continue to raise money during the legislative session, but his running mate, Del. Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, is barred by state law.

“It’s an egregious loophole,” said Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, executive director of Common Cause Maryland. It leaves Gansler out in the cold.

Read More at:  Maryland Daily Record

•  NO CHARGES FILED IN DEATH OF TYRONE WEST; FAMILY CRIES COVER-UP

Baltimore police officers were legally justified in using their fists, batons and pepper spray to subdue West before he died resisting arrest last summer and will not be criminally charged, the city state’s attorney said Thursday. West’s family claims cover-up and criticized the release of prosecutors’ findings less than a week before Christmas.

Read More at:  WJZ-TV (Channel 13)

•  MARYLAND TO GET $85.7M IN NATIONAL LOAN SETTLEMENT

The state is projected to receive the money as part of a $2.1 billion deal Thursday between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Atlanta-based mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial Corp. Regulators said Ocwen, one of the largest U.S. mortgage servicers, pushed borrowers into foreclosure through illegal actions.

Read more »

A crowded airplane often brings out the worst — but sometimes also the best — in passenger behavior. Two examples in the accompanying column.

Bringing out best in people;
wishing novice soldier well

THE WAY SOME HANDLE ADVERSITY
CAN BE AN INSPIRATION TO US ALL
 
By David Maril
 
On the one-year anniversary of the Newtown school-shooting tragedy in Connecticut, we continue to question why there was no recognition of how sick and dangerous the individual was who murdered 20 first-graders and six teachers.

Perhaps if he’d received the right professional help and not had access to so many weapons, the horrible event at Sandy Hook Elementary School would not have occurred.

Some of us wonder how many other troubled and unstable people are out there struggling to get by and also having problems dealing with life in our competitive world.

The intensity of the coverage of such a horrible news event raises speculation that there are increasing numbers of people who can’t deal with today’s society.

You hear commentary about how soft and pampered we’ve become in our materialistic world. Some theorize that if we aren’t born into wealth or lucky enough to win a big lottery, we are likely to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves or go out and do something crazy out of frustration.

The truth, however, is we don’t hear about all the people who do cope with obstacles, setbacks and frustrations. The majority who are dealt a bad hand quietly go about their business and lead productive lives.

Believe it or not, you can discover a lot of reassuring evidence in airports and airplanes that most people are not becoming self-centered and dysfunctional.

The other day I observed two women confined to wheelchairs who were waiting in the pre-board area to board an airplane headed for Baltimore at Green Airport in Providence, R.I.

Read more »

 
NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Friday Dec. 13

[Scroll down for full week’s compendia]

 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — IN BRIEF
 
A Voice of Baltimore compendium, local and beyond.   Your weekday morning look  (with links)  at late-breaking news, current events, and what will be talked about wherever you may go on Friday:

The Howard County woman run over downtown earlier this week by a Charm City Circulator was ruled a suicide. She was trapped under the bus in the 1800 block of E. Monument Street Tuesday morning.

•  CIRCULATOR DEATH RULED SUICIDE

Stephanie Albright, 50, died after being run over by a Charm City Circulator bus on Tuesday. Based on witness accounts and evidence at the scene, investigators ruled the Howard County resident’s death a suicide.

Read More at:  Baltimore Sun

•  T. ROWE PRICE HEADQUARTERS TO REMAIN DOWNTOWN THROUGH 2027

The city-based investment giant flirted with a move to Harbor Point and also Baltimore County, but said Thursday it will renew its lease at 100 East Pratt Street in the Inner Harbor. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she was “thrilled” by the decision.

Read More at:  Baltimore Business Journal

•  DRIVER WHO KILLED PEDESTRIAN AT CITY HALL GETS 11 YEARS

Johnny Johnson pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter and possession of heroin and received a maximum prison sentence of 11 years via a plea bargain. He faced charges that together carried a maximum sentence of 21 years.

Read More at:  WJZ-TV (Channel 13)

•  PREAKNESS PURSE INCREASED BY 50 PERCENT TO $1.5M

It’s been $1 million since 1998. In 1014 it will be $1.5 million. The mile-and-three-sixteenths race is scheduled to be run May 17 and is the middle jewel of thoroughbred horse racing’s Triple Crown.

Read More at:  WBAL-Radio (1090AM)

Read more »

Aerial view of USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor shows the sunken ship, and oil seepage from its bunkers. In the foreground, visitors disembark from a U.S. Navy tour boat.

MORE THAN SEVEN DECADES FROM DEC. 7, 1941
MEMORIAL SITE  AFFECTS VISITORS  INTENSELY

Oil still seeps from sunken USS Arizona’s bunkers
 
By David Maril
 
Looking through several metropolitan daily newspapers Saturday, on the anniversary date that President Franklin Roosevelt declared would be a day that would live “in infamy,” there was hardly a mention of Pearl Harbor.

There were no significant references in the New York Times or Washington Post to the 72nd anniversary of the attack, which launched the United States into World War II.

The Baltimore Sun did, however, have, on an inside page, a Reuters wire story about a 92-year-old former pilot who remembers the sound of the Japanese aerial attack.

But this doesn’t mean Pearl Harbor is being forgotten. Despite heavy criticism — much of it justified — that our culture has become too obsessed with hype, marketing and living for the moment, we do maintain a reflective side and allow some focus on analyzing what major events from our history mean.

Maybe we are not learning enough from history to not be doomed to repeat all of it. Lately, however, our nation seems to be in a contemplative mood. We recently journeyed through more than a week of reliving the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on the 50th anniversary of that tragedy.

This week we are reliving the inspirational legacy of Nelson Mandela, who survived 27 years of imprisonment as an anti-apartheid revolutionary to become president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. The former Nobel Peace Prize recipient died on Dec. 5 at age 95.

Because Mandela’s death occurred only days ago and is fresh in people’s minds, coverage of his life’s story dominates the news.

Read more »