Recently Noted

By Sharon Dooley.

Sometimes one notes odd juxtapositions in the news:

Adam recently linked to Blair Lees' column in tribute to William Donald Schaefer. Montgomery County was never high on the list of favorite places for "the mayor" but he appeared here now and then and many in this area got a chance to see or hear him over the years. Although he never handed out "Schaefer coins", as did the "Comptroller for life" (his predecessor Louis Goldstein) - always flush with his symbolic "louis dollars" - Schaefer did leave his mark on the state with highways and re-vitalization of Baltimore. To see him as described by Lee, apparently befuddled and disoriented, must be difficult for many. Although his intemperate remarks and actions - when in office, frequently described as sexist, racist and just plain wrong, hastened his removal by the voters; to see any previously powerful figure in such public mental decline is dismaying.

Subsequently to also read that several thousands of checks issued by the Maryland Treasury just last month, carried the name of Schaefer, instead of current comptroller Peter Franchot (described as a technical error due to a software update) must have appeared to many, as a voice from the past, coming back to haunt our current consciousness. The checks were reportedly honored by the State, once the error was noted. Strange indeed.

Then to learn that the Preakness may be in jeopardy, with bankruptcy declared by the track owners, one must wonder has the sun stopped shining on the black-eyed Susans? What is happening just a few miles up Route 95? Is the storied infield track celebration at Pimlico about to disappear? Will the Maryland legislature gallop to the rescue with emergency legislation as requested by the Gov? Will the triple crown have only two prongs? Stay tuned!

In my best Balmmer imitation: "Hey Hon, Who says that stories is stranger than reality?"