Former Federal Maritime Commission Chairman and Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley was honored & roasted Sunday at 90th birthday cele- bration at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. (VoB Photos/Bonnie J. Schupp)

PORT OF BALTIMORE’S BIGGEST CHEERLEADER
HONORED AND ROASTED AT MUSEUM EVENT

Ex-Congresswoman praised by GOP
and Democratic officeholders alike
 
By Alan Z. Forman
 
“Loved and Feared” — It was hard to tell which emotion was more prevalent Sunday afternoon as 500 Maryland politi- cians, admirers, colleagues and employees past and pres- ent, gathered at the Baltimore Museum of Industry to roast and honor Helen Delich Bentley on her birthday.

The former presidential appointee and five-term Republican congresswoman, who is known equally for her raspy voice, no-nonsense businesslike attitude, crusty demeanor and “salty” language — that could embarrass a sailor — will turn 90 on Nov. 28th.

Chronicled by Baltimore photographer Bonnie J. Schupp, the event was billed as a roast, and in fact the printed invitation termed it so. However most of the speakers praised Bentley for her unique ability to get along with both sides of the aisle in politics to “get things done” and for her extreme advocacy of the Port of Baltimore.

Then-Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who was her political protégé back in the day — succeeding her in Congress when she left to run unsuccessfully for governor in 1994 — named the port after her at its 300th anniversary seven years ago.

It may have been the first time a port was named for a person; airports are typically named for people, but not ports. The signs — “Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore” — may be seen on highways all around the area.

Ehrlich humorously referred to the 500 in attendance Sunday as “a roomful of people who both love her and fear her — and not in that order.”

She gave him “dating advice,” he said, never approving of any of the young women he went out with — “until Kendel,” the young lawyer he ultimately married and who became the first woman of Polish descent to be Maryland’s First Lady.

The former governor, along with ex-Democratic Gov. Marvin Mandel, was honorary chairman of the event.

Maryland’s senior U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski led off the chain of elected-office speakers — all Democrats except for Ehrlich — which included former Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes and his son, Rep. John P. Sarbanes; and Congressmen Steny H. Hoyer, the House Minority Whip; Elijah E. Cummings and C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger.

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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Friday Nov. 15

[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:

Michael Phelps’ re-entrance to the drug testing pool for international competition is strong signal that he’s planning an Olympic comeback.

•  PHELPS SUBMITS TO DRUG TESTING, SIGNALING PLANNED COMEBACK

The Olympic superstar’s re-entrance to the drug testing pool for international competition is the strongest signal yet that he’s planning an Olympic comeback.

Read More at:  Associated Press

•  4 FELONS RELEASED IN BALTIMORE
AS RESULT OF UNGER RULING

Three were serving sentences for murder, one for rape. Their convictions were thrown out as a result of a Maryland Court of Appeals ruling last year that judges prior to 1980 had mis-instructed juries, leading to a violation of the defendants’ rights.

Read More at:  WBFF Fox45-TV

•  73,000 MARYLANDERS MAY KEEP HEALTH INSURANCE

They’ve been told their health plans were being discontinued because they do not meet new benefit requirements under the Affordable Care Act, but may now be able to keep them after all.

Read More at:  Baltimore Business Journal

•  MARYLAND MEDICAID EXPANSION COULD SAVE STATE $2B

The economic impact of the expansion of eligibility to an additional 146,000 people could net Maryland a savings of more than $2 billion between 2014 and 2020.

Read More at:  WJZ-TV (Channel 13)

•  $20M ANNAPOLIS CITY DOCK REDEVELOPMENT CANCELED

Developer Mark Ordan backed out of the plan because of public opposition and the upset election of Mayor-elect Mike Pantelides, who opposed the redevelopment.

Read More at:  The (Annapolis) Capital
 

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Obnoxious ringtones and unlimited chatter are an invasion of other people’s privacy, especially on crowded aircraft.

Obnoxious ringtones, unlimited chatter
threaten  to dominate  ‘friendly skies’

CAN WE LIVE WITHOUT CELLPHONE ACCESS?
 
By David Maril
 
We’re told not to text when we are driving. We’re lectured on the dangers of steering a motor vehicle while talking on a cellphone.  In Maryland, texting and holding a phone while driving has become illegal.

But while these legitimate restrictions on use of portable electronic devices (PEDs) are increasing on roads and highways, just the opposite is happening with airplanes. Recently, the Federal Aviation Administration caved in to the whining furor of passengers who insist they are unable to cope without access to electronic gadgetry every second of their waking hours.

For years, because of concerns that use of electronic devices might interfere with airplane controls on takeoffs and landings, passengers had to power off their gadgets for 15 or 20 minutes of their flights. Many found this so intolerable, they’d cheat, hiding their devices when the flight attendants walked by, getting a few more seconds of use until another passenger objected and threatened to complain.

Some critics of this safety precaution even insisted it was a form of child abuse, making youngsters sit on a flight for a few minutes without some type of gadget to keep them entertained. Those who suggested reading a book or engaging in conversation were accused of being out of touch and unreasonable.

I fly a lot and while I don’t have an opinion on whether watching a DVD can interfere with the pilots’ controls, it seemed galling to me that a few passengers felt they were entitled to not follow the rules of shutting their gadget off for a few minutes.

One time sitting in the emergency row, a woman next to me suddenly turned on her iPhone just as we were getting ready to take off. I told her to shut the phone off, that she was breaking the rules. Her response was, “My husband is a pilot and he says this doesn’t interfere with safety.”

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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Friday Nov. 8

[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:

Baltimore recorded its 200th homicide for 2013 early Thursday.

•  CITY RECORDS 200th HOMICIDE FOR 2013

The 200th victim was shot and killed in the 1500 block of West Baltimore Street early Thursday. The 199th fatal shooting of the year to date occurred at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the 800 block of Appleton Street.

Read More at:  WBFF Fox45-TV

•  BALTIMORE CITY COUNCILMAN HENRY PLANS STATE SENATE RUN

The two-term Baltimore City councilman, who represents the Greenmount Avenue/York Road corridor in the vicinity of Belvedere Square, says he’ll run against longtime State Sen. Joan Carter Conway, who represents North Baltimore in the Maryland State Senate. Both are Democrats.

Earlier this week, Conway was accused by former Senator Theatre owner Tom Kiefaber of second degree assault — See story leading Thursday’s Need-To-Know News aggregation (below).

Read More at:  Baltimore Sun

•  ABSENTEE BALLOT COUNTING CONTINUES IN ANNAPOLIS MAYORAL RACE

At stake is who will be the capital city’s mayor for the next four years. Republican challenger Mike Pantelides held a small lead over incumbent Democratic Mayor Josh Cohen after Tuesday’s election. Despite 12 hours of wrangling on Thursday, none of the absentee ballots have yet been counted.

Read More at:  WBAL-TV (Channel 11)

•  AG HOPEFULS MAKE PITCH AT UM CANDIDATES’ FORUM

The four candidates hoping to succeed Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, who is running for governor, pled their cases before a gathering of University of Maryland law students Thursday at the Carey Law School.

Read More at:  Washington Post | Baltimore Sun

•  O’MALLEY SEEKS SUPPORT FOR MINIMUM WAGE BOOST

In an email from his political action committee, the Maryland governor launched an online petition drive Thursday to raise the state’s minimum wage.

Read More at:  Washington Post
 

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Retired Baltimore City Homicide Detective Stephen Tabeling, co-author of the newly published memoir You Can’t Stop Murder, says Baltimore City police are unprepared to handle a sniper attack like the one that occurred on Good Friday in April 1976.

Now 84, Tabeling decries lack of proper training
by Baltimore Police Department;  officers have
inadequate understanding of U.S. Constitution

‘UNGER DECISION’ COULD FREE HUNDREDS
 
By Alan Z. Forman
 
The Baltimore City Police lieutenant in command at the scene of the “Good Friday Shooting” of 1976, in which six patrol officers and a detective were shot by a teenage sniper from his third-floor window in West Baltimore, says that if a similar situation were to occur today, “city police are not prepared for it.

“We couldn’t contain the carnage any better today than we did 37 years ago,” he declared.

Retired Homicide Detective Stephen Tabeling, who has been a police officer for more than six decades and is a harsh critic of the lack of proper training regarding arrest procedure and the obtaining of proper warrants by the BPD, believes that with today’s high-powered weaponry — that did not exist on the street in 1976 when 18-year-old John Earl Williams shot a total of seven city cops, one fatally, using an arsenal that could have outfitted an army unit — the carnage that occurred near the corner of Lombard and Carey Streets would be far worse today than on that Good Friday 37 years ago.

Last week, Tabeling, who is now 84, met with one of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s senior aides to discuss ways to improve policing in the city.

“I’m very disturbed at the direction that law enforcement in Baltimore, and other U.S. cities as well, has been taking,” he told Voice of Baltimore.

“Police officers don’t know the Constitution and aren’t being trained to make arrests that will hold up in court,” he said.

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