Friday Footnote #2 …
November 12, 2004
*** Save the Date: Maryland Jewish Alliance Advocacy Day in Annapolis: March 7, 2005, 5-8 p.m.***
Dear Friends,
Three items today:
1) Security funding;
2) News from the Maryland Senate; and
3) A
bit of mamaloshen in the courtroom.
(If you do not want to receive these messages in the future, just reply and let me know. ... And for those who don’t make it all the way to the bottom, I hope you and your family have a pleasant and peaceful Shabbat.)
- David
1) We bring you some very good news (and tell me you couldn't use some of that right about now):
Mayor Martin O'Malley, Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith, and the other leaders of the Baltimore regional governments announced this week they have established a $1 million grant program for security enhancements for "community-based, non-profit groups that are at risk of being a victim of a terrorist act." Sadly, that means us. Happily, our local governments are doing something about it.
Only non-profit institutions will be eligible to apply, and grant applications will be due by January 4, 2005. A 25 percent cash or in-kind matching contribution will be required. A copy of the grant application is attached.
While it's true that we at the BJC may have mentioned the need for this once or twice with our local government officials over the past few months, all credit goes to Mayor O'Malley and County Executive Smith and the other executives for recognizing the heightened threat that our community institutions face these days, and their willingness to devote a portion of the region's federal homeland security funds to protect against those threats.
Two other points before I offer up some details:
1) the regional leaders cited the model and the leadership set by U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski in introducing the federal High-Risk Non-Profit Security Enhancement Act of 2004 (on a parallel track Congress recently approved $50 million nationally to fund security enhancements for non-profits); and
2) this local grant program couldn't have happened had not Governor Ehrlich first set the stage by persuading the federal Department of Homeland Security to allow security funds to go to non-governmental institutions. [Jewish Times story.]
So, what will these grant funds purchase, and how can your institution participate?
Security enhancements funded by the Baltimore region’s grant program will include items directly related to securing the region’s community infrastructure such as:
• Closed Circuit Television systems for outer perimeters of community facilities;
• Vehicle barriers, lighting and fencing for perimeter security;
• Personal identification systems to limit unauthorized access to facilities;
• Bulletproof and bomb proof glass and other related technologies;
• Other tools or devices that can be used in the target hardening process.
The program will place the highest priority on non-profit organizations demonstrating a high risk of terrorist attack based upon: specific threats of international terrorist organizations; prior attacks against similarly situated organizations; the vulnerability of the specific site; the symbolic value of the site as a highly recognized American institution; or the role of the institution in responding to terrorist attacks.
We don't know how much money any one institution will be eligible to receive; that will depend in part on the demonstrated need, and in part on how many institutions apply. A grant-writing seminar will be held at the November 22, 2004 at 1:00 pm at the George Howard Building, Banneker Room (1st Floor), 3430 Courthouse Drive, Ellicott City, Maryland 21043. It's not mandatory, but we strongly recommend you attend if you will be applying for your institution.
If all this sounds a bit complicated, or if the January 4, 2005, deadline seems daunting, the BJC will help. We want every institution that is interested in participating to have the best possible chance of receiving funds. So, if you contact us (call or email Sheryl Goldstein for details, at 410-542-4850, or [email protected]) we will do all of the following for you:
Please note: Local law enforcement agencies have requested that all interested Jewish institutions work through the BJC to coordinate the needed security assessments and partnerships.
2) News from the Maryland Senate (or at least some of its leaders):
At a breakfast in Baltimore on Tuesday, Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Prince George's), Chairman of the Budget & Taxation Committee, reiterated the Senate position from last session: "Given the climate today we're not going to be able to raise taxes" substantially, he said, referring to a large increase in sales or income taxes. "We may be able to tweak around the edges a little," but not enough to fill the structural budget gap coming in the next few years. That gap will exceed $1 billion, because of required increases in education and health care spending, unless major cuts and/or major revenue increases are approved.
So, Sen. Currie said, slot machines are the only reasonable alternative to devastating cuts, including eliminating health coverage entirely for poor children, further ramping up health costs for state employees, more increases in public college tuition (up 30% in the past two years, and probably 30% more in the next two years).
Senate President Mike Miller chimed in: "Philosophically you cannot be for [slots]. Pragmatically you cannot be against them."
On whether the legislators will hold a special legislative session to deal with the medical malpractice issue, Miller said, "I really think we are. Things are coming together."
[For a recent development on this topic, see today's Sun story: "Miller weighs change in panel membership." ]
And finally, for all you lawyers and judges:
Apparently, this is true....
In the heat of litigation, tempers often flare and lawyers
sometimes have difficulty expressing their frustrations. When English fails,
Yiddish may come to the rescue. So it happened that defense attorneys arguing
in a recent summary judgment motion in federal court in Boston wrote, in a
responsive pleading, "It is unfortunate that this Court must wade through
the dreck of plaintiff's original and supplemental statement of undisputed
facts." The plaintiffs' attorneys, not to be outdone, responded with
a motion that could double as a primer on practical Yiddish for lawyers:
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
-----------------------------------------------------------
MONICA SANTIAGO, Plaintiff, v.
SHERWIN-WILLIAMS COMPANY, et al., Defendants.
Civ. No. 87-2799-T
-----------------------------------------------------------
PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO STRIKE IMPERTINENT AND SCANDALOUS MATTER
Plaintiff, by her attorneys, hereby moves this
Court pursuant to Rule 12(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to strike
as impertinent and scandalous the characterization of her factual submission as
"dreck" on page 11 of Defendant's Rule 56.1 Supplemental Statement of
Disputed Facts (a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit A).
As grounds therefor,
plaintiff states:
For almost four years now, plaintiff and her
attorneys have been subjected to the constant kvetching by defendants' counsel,
who have made a big tsimmes about the quantity and quality of plaintiff's
responses to discovery requests. This has been the source of much tsoris among
plaintiff's counsel and a gonsah megillah for the Court. Now that plaintiff's
counsel has, after much time and effort, provided defendants with a specific
and comprehensive statement of plaintiff's claims and the factual basis
thereof, defendants' counsel have the chutzpah to call it "dreck" and
to urge the Court to ignore it.
Plaintiff moves that this language be stricken
for several reasons. First, we think it is impertinent to refer to the
work of a fellow member of the bar of this Court with the Yiddish term
"dreck" as it would be to use "the sibilant four-letter English
word for excrement." (Rosten, The Joys of Yiddish (Simon & Schuster,
New York, 1968) p. 103. Second, defendants are in no position to deprecate
plaintiff's counsel in view of the chozzerai which they have filed
over the course of this litigation. Finally, since not all of plaintiff's
lawyers are yeshiva bochurs, defendants should not have assumed that they would
all be conversant in Yiddish.
WHEREFORE, plaintiff prays that the Court put an
end to the mishagass and strike the reference to "dreck" in the
pleadings submitted by the momsers representing the Defendants.
Once again, a peaceful Shabbat to you and yours.
- David
***************************************************
David
Conn
[email protected]
Baltimore Jewish
Council Maryland
Jewish Alliance
5750 Park Heights Avenue 191 Main
Street
Baltimore MD
21215
Annapolis MD 21401
(410)
542-4850
(410) 269-1672
(410) 542-4834 -
fax
(410) 269-1675 - fax