Who would’ve thought when the JFX opened in the early 1960s it would one day become a toll road?  Or will it? (See “prediction” below.)  Now 10 miles long it was the first limited-access Interstate high- way ever built within the city limits of Baltimore.

WILL THE JFX BECOME A TOLL ROAD?
WILL ANYONE WATCH THE NEXT DEMOCRATIC DEBATE?
SCHEDULED FOR SAME NIGHT AS THE SUPER BOWL

Will Bay Bridge tolls be eliminated?
Will Apple fanatics establish
a ‘House of Computer Worship’?

WILL NANCY PELOSI DERAIL
A NEW BIPARTISAN SPIRIT
IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL?

Will Martin O’Malley build a library
in recognition of his mayoral
and gubernatorial ‘legacy’?
 
By David Maril
 
The 2016 Calendar of Predictions has arrived and here’s a sneak preview.

Jan 3:  With 65-degree weather predicted through January, two area Maryland towns announce they are selling their plows to several communities in the Midwest that are already buried under snow.

Jan. 8:  A group of animal rights activists files charges against Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders for maligning the feline population of America with his constant references to Wall Street moguls’ being “fat cats.”

Feb. 7:  The Democrats hold their fourth presidential primary debate at the same time the Super Bowl is being played.

Feb. 12:  A group of impatient middle-of-the-road centrists in both parties, who feel right-wingers and left-wingers have sold them out, forms an activist group called the Expresso Party, demanding medium-sized government and more attention paid to finding common ground and following common sense.

Feb. 17:  Several GOP insiders trying to shake up the presidential primary race, lock Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in a restroom during a break in a televised debate, making him 10 minutes late returning to his podium.

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Helen Delich Bentley rescues Harford County Toys for Tots for Christmas.

HELEN DELICH BENTLEY
RAISES OVER $1,200
FOR TOYS FOR TOTS

Retired Maryland Congresswoman
replaces stolen Xmas merchandise
from Harford County warehouse
 
Former Maryland Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley, who has long been known for her salty language and Ebenezer Scrooge demeanor, performed a modern-day Christmas miracle this holiday week when she helped restore more than $1,000 worth of gifts stolen from a Toys for Tots warehouse in Edgewood.

Upon hearing the sad news of the unconscionable robbery the nonagenarian ex-reporter/editor of the Baltimore Sun sprung into action with a speed virtually unknown in politics and journalism, by calling friends and associates and getting them to replace the stolen gifts that were intended for needy children.

“We want all of those youngsters to have a very Merry Christmas,” Bentley told WMAR and WBAL-TV at an impromptu press conference at her home in Dulaney Valley, a Lutherville/Timonium neighborhood where she has lived for more than 50 years.

The theft occurred in Harford County, an area that is part of the Congressional District Bentley represented in Washington D.C. for a decade in the mid-1980s and early-to-mid ‘90s.

“There’s a special place for somebody who would steal from kids at Christmas and we have one for them here at the Harford County Detention Center when we catch them,” Sheriff’s Office Maj. William Davis declared.

The theft was hauntingly similar to that perpetrated by a former Baltimore Mayor who was convicted nearly six years ago of stealing a like amount of Christmas gift cards meant for needy children in the state’s largest city.

That former mayor is now the front-runner to replace the woman who succeeded her in the Mayor’s Office when she was forced to resign as part of a plea deal that kept her out of jail in 2010.

The toys that went missing in Edgewood included 40-50 Hess toy trucks — “collectibles [that] can be worth [a] significant amount of money” — as well as a three-foot Darth Vader action figure, Major Davis said.

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Ted Williams is arguably baseball’s greatest hitter of all time. How high a salary could he command if he were playing today?

ORIOLES’ $150 MILLION OFFER
TO SLUGGER CHRIS DAVIS
SEEMS MORE THAN FAIR

What would Brooks and Frank Robinson earn?
How much would the Bosox pay Ted Williams?

BOSTON MEDIA AND FANS TRY TO FABRICATE
MODERN BASEBALL HISTORY BY CLAIMING
THAT WILLIAMS WAS NOT THE GREATEST
 
By David Maril
 
Let’s take a holiday-week, year-ending break from politics, the daunting challenges Baltimore faces, and the terrorism-war issues plaguing the world.

Since, for the most part, we’ve had spring-like December weather, how about a bit of a focus on baseball?

As Chris Davis and Scott Boras, his pugnacious agent, determine if the slugger could make ends meet if he accepts the Orioles’ very respectable $150 million offer, it’s mind-boggling how historic perceptions and financial standards change.

Oriole fans, of course, hope the free-swinger, who hit 47 homers and knocked in 117 runs last year, does give Baltimore the so-called home-town discount and returns to play out a seven-year agreement.

It’s obvious he and his family like playing in Baltimore; Camden Yards is a launching pad for any power hitter; and he respects Manager Buck Showalter.

It also goes without saying he should appreciate the support he received from his teammates and the front office when he was suspended at the end of the 2014 season for testing positive for the unapproved use of Adderall.

The interesting question is how much more other teams would be willing to pay Davis.

The first-baseman does have a lot of factors going for him. He is entering his prime years, turning just 30 in March. Besides being a very solid defensive-first-baseman, he can also play third and has demonstrated he can handle right field as well.

But on the other side of his case, Davis is far from being Mr. Consistency.

It is difficult to ignore the fact that in 2014, he suffered through a horrendous season, hitting just .196. For a slugger of his stature, 26 homers and only 72 RBIs were unimpressive totals.

Even when he is in the groove, Davis is a human strikeout machine.

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Former Illinois Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson was the Democratic Party’s nominee for President, running unsuccessfully for the second time against popular incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1956.  Steven- son campaigned on the west side of Balti- more but didn’t get any tough questions from the city’s wealthiest black residents.

ROOBY TAWR, a novel in progress
set in mid-20th Century Charm City

By Joel Foreman

Janie Shear had Adlai Stevenson and Montgomery Alabama on her mind as she hurried her homeward bound Pontiac Star Chief along the sinuous curveway winding through Leakin Park.

Earlier that day her husband Booney had unexpectedly met the Democratic nominee for President outside of a tire store in West Baltimore. Now she wanted to find out if Booney actually told Stevenson what he said he’d say — “right to the man’s face” — if he ever had the chance.

The big car skidded, swayed and sent two items to the floor, a paper bag crimped at the top and bearing the words “Millrace Tavern,” and a book, Invisible Man, Janie had been reading while waiting for her takeout order.

The bag contained a favorite Maryland dinner, deep-fried hard-shell crabs! Called “Buddy Young Specials,” they were first served at the Millrace at a party the Baltimore Colts running back hosted in 1953 to celebrate the team’s 13-7 beatdown that year of the Chicago Bears.

Gino Marchetti, Art Donovan, Don Shula and Bert Rechichar were all there, as well as team owner Carroll Rosenbloom and investors like Zanvyl Krieger and Booney Shear.

Asked by Hall of Fame play-by-play announcer Chuck Thompson to describe the special recipe, Young said: “It’s simple! Pop the top (referring to the apron on the underside of the crab), clean out the gills and guts, stuff the cavity with cooked jumbo lump, do an Old Bay batter dip, and lower it gently into the deep fry.”

Booney Shear loved those deep-fried crabs. More, he’d say, than the Lobster Cardinale at Marconi’s, the Caesar salad at the Chesapeake, more than Jimmy Wu’s sweet and sour ribs, Haussner’s fried eggplant, even more than an Attman’s hot corned beef sandwich with chopped chicken liver.

When feasting on deep fries with his children, Booney would counsel them to “Take your time. Don’t rush it. This is a delicacy. Like foie gras. Only better!” And he’d demonstrate how you start, by nibbling off the crispy exterior.

“Once you finish with the crisp,” he’d say, “you have to decide: Go for the claws? Or go for that fat wad of luscious crabmeat waiting for you in the center?

“Either way, you win big!”

When Janie got home that night, she and Booney spread some pages from an old Afro-American newspaper on the kitchen table so they could get to work on the messy deep-fries.

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Time was, the Salvation Army had the inside track on Christmas Sea- son fundraising.  But nowadays, schools everywhere deploy armies of kids at holiday time to raise money for such various and sundry causes as team uniforms, cheerleading and other projects, in competition with charities that are struggling to raise funds to help the sick and needy.

RAISING MONEY FOR TEAMS AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
SHOULD BE CONSTRUCTIVE AND NOT INTERFERE
WITH THE LEGITIMATE NEEDS OF CHARITIES

Leave the holiday fundraising in front of malls, shops & street corners
for the many charitable organizations that serve the sick and needy;
teamwork-based projects, like car washes, are a better approach

TEACHING THE WRONG LESSON TO THE KIDS
 
By David Maril
 
As the holiday season arrives, walk to the entrance of a supermarket and the chances are you’ll be greeted by youngsters from a youth hockey program or a girls’ softball league holding out coin containers asking for contributions.

Leave a crowded coffee shop, especially on a weekend, and there’s a good chance you’ll run into a couple of Pop Warner cheerleaders in uniform, requesting donations for their program.

Stroll through an expansive store mall and it’s likely you’ll encounter several groups of high school athletes collecting for some type of project planned for the spring.

Even if it’s early in the morning and the donation request is made to the grouchiest of us before we’ve even had that first coffee, it’s hard to refuse throwing some change into the containers.

How can you give the brushoff to kids in Little League uniforms?

It would be un-American!

Only the most mean-spirited types would ignore donation requests from youngsters decked-out in their team colors.

How can you be against youth sports programs?

Isn’t it great to see kids involved in activities that seek funding for their teams and programs?

What could be better than having students learn at an early age that projects and programs cost money, hence the importance of work and dedication to achieve goals.

There’s only one problem with this concept of kids standing around asking for money to fund their programs.

The method is all wrong.

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