Commentary

Five years ago, the newsroom in Annapolis where I was editor was attacked. Five people were shot to death. In the aftermath, as I’ve recently been reminded, I started asking what we could do to prevent the next mass shooting. There were good answers. Mike Busch, then the speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, told me he’d seek a ban on ghost guns. It passed three years after he died in 2019.

It is beyond disappointing to see that restrictions on the public display of flags — surely among the most foolish, undemocratic and anti-social policies to haunt public bodies in recent years — is back on the agenda in Anne Arundel County. It was just last year that the Anne Arundel County Council considered banning all flags other than the U.S. flag and those representing the state and county from government property, a measure that came under well-deserved fire and was eventually withdrawn by the councilman who submitted it, Nathan Volke.

“Get candy! Get candy! Get candy!” This is how Jerry Seinfeld described a child’s state of mind in one of his more famous comedy bits. When he recounts his own attitude toward candy as a kid, he quipped, “Family, friends, school — they’re just obstacles in the way of the candy.” After two decades of working in various health care centers with children, and several years of being an uncle to a young niece and nephew, I have found this to be entirely true.

“The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.” That’s what Hal Holbrook, who portrays the shadowy informant Deep Throat in “All The President’s Men,” says about the botched burglary and subsequent coverup that culminated in Richard Nixon’s resignation. Fast-forward 50 years, and the same could be said of the hide-and-seek hijinks of former President Donald Trump and his “body man” Walt Natua as they scrambled, Benny Hill style, to stay one step ahead of the federal agents searching for the alleged national security secrets stashed willy-nilly around Mar-a-Lago.

In the coming decade, Frederick County will need to replace one aging high school and add a new high school, as well as build more elementary and middle schools as the system copes with the exploding numbers of students. Many millions of dollars will go into new construction for the school system. Then we will have to hire staff members for all of those new schools — administrators, teachers, guidance counselors, coaches, secretaries and janitors. That means many, many millions more every year for education, just to stay in place.

Romy Pittman’s last day at Annapolis High School was Wednesday. She packed up after four years of teaching U.S. history and headed for the door one final time. While teaching at one of Maryland’s most diverse, complicated schools, Pittman proved herself a mentor for teachers and students. But that last drive from the school parking lot onto Riva Road wasn’t the end of her 30 years in education.