District 5, which includes much of Carroll County, including Eldersburg, Manchester, Mount Airy, New Windsor, Sykesville, Taneytown, Union Bridge and Westminster, plus the Frederick County portion of Mount Airy, is our home and our passion, and we humbly and respectfully request the support and the votes of District 5 residents in the upcoming 2026 election.

It is an incredible honor to represent our community and to be bold conservative voices in Annapolis. We are committed to using those voices to call for a more rational state energy policy and a reduction in burdensome regulations on Maryland businesses, to demand tougher laws to prosecute and lock away violent criminals, to oppose new and higher taxes and to advocate for education reforms that reward merit, protect girls’ spaces, promote career and technical skill opportunities, support teachers and return decision-making back to local jurisdictions.

Maryland is at a major crossroads: We must turn back immediately from Gov. Wes Moore’s and the Democratic supermajority’s tax-and-spend policies that raise our cost of living and hurt working families, before it’s too late. Maryland businesses and families are already leaving the state in record numbers. We believe that a more conservative approach, with lower taxes, lower spending and a lighter government touch can return the state to a trajectory of growth and greatness.

The 2026 Republican primary will be held June 23, 2026, with the general election to follow on Nov. 3. We humbly ask our District 5 friends, family and neighbors for your support and your votes, and we look forward to seeing you on the campaign trail!

— Justin Ready, April Rose and Chris Tomlinson

The letter writers are state lawmakers who represent Carroll County

Add your voice: Respond to this piece or other Carroll County Times content by submitting your own letter.

If you look around, there is diversity everywhere. No two regions of America are the same. No states or cities or small towns are exactly the same.

From the beginning, we have been a diverse people. Early native populations across the continent were diverse. Then came Europeans and Africans. Today, our census shows us to be 61% white alone, 18% Latino, 12% African American, 5% Asian, along with Native American, Native Hawaiian and almost 3% multiracial.

So if diversity is obviously present in America, why is it that government policy is so intensely dedicated to erasing its presence?

I believe the answer lies in the fact that changes in our ethnic and racial mix are scary to segments of America’s population. These fearful Americans have been persuaded by frantic voices that the end of their world is near. They have been scared into believing that they are being “invaded” by people who will take away everything they have: their jobs, their culture, their religion. They are told these “invaders” are rapists and murderers who will destroy their families and homes. Leaders say DEI must be stopped “by any means necessary.”

The problem with DEI, according to the loud voices, is that it allows for multiple points of view, numerous ways of doing things. To them, there can be only one view of America and the world, and that is the view of those who are now in power. No other views can be tolerated.

The problem, the real problem with DEI, is that it accepts America for what it really is: an exciting nation with diverse people trying to get along the best they can. That is a threat to those who are basking in the rewards of the status quo.

The problem with DEI is that it represents who we are, not who the powerful want us to be.

Allow DEI, and America will stay great.

— George Conover, Westminster

Add your voice: Respond to this piece or other Carroll County Times content by submitting your own letter.

Our temple of liberty is full of cobwebs, and we need term limits in Congress like we have in the White House — just two terms of four years. After serving, lawmakers can go back to their other skilled jobs, but the trouble is, they have no other skills and hot air is not very much in demand, especially in the summer.

I don’t think their families want them home either, because they do not make good pets… used car salesmen, perhaps!

In general, politicians and diapers should be changed often and for the same reason.

— Dieter Halle, Finksburg

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A tornado siren does not turn on automatically; it would have to be activated by the National Weather Service in the event of a Tornado Warning. For the tornado that struck Mount Airy on Nov. 2, 2018, which damaged my house, the NWS did not issue a Tornado Warning. There wasn’t even a watch or storm warning. It was a surprise. Had there been a siren, nobody would have turned it on.

I lived in Oklahoma for several years. Tornado sirens are more effective there as the land is flat, so the sound travels over considerable distances. Here in a more hilly region, the siren would be blocked by the hills and would only be heard in a small area.

We need to rely on modern technology, alerts sent to phones or weather radios. And better predictions from the weather forecasters.

— Steve Lichtman, Mount Airy

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I and two other neighbors have sent in complaints to the city over the years. One has been trying to get the city to do something about this issue for over a decade now. The smell in my house is awful, it smells like cat urine, dead animals, mold and whatever else may be over there.

I’ve spent thousands of dollars on pest control over the years, trying to get rid of the bugs that are crawling over from next door. I haven’t stayed at my house now for a little over three weeks because of bed bugs from there. The neighbor on the other side of the wall just threw out her mattresses and furniture and is spending money to have her place treated for bed bugs now as well.

I have spoken with many people from the city about this issue and nothing seems to be getting done. The backyard to the place next door is completely overgrown, and underneath all the vegetation is a mixture of various things they’ve hoarded over the years. There are constantly new people coming and going from over there and definitely drugs are involved.

One of the neighbors is too afraid to keep pushing with this because one of the men assaulted her father. I and the neighbor on the other side of them have had multiple trips to urgent care and doctors for shortness of breath, sinus problems and other medical issues due to breathing in that smell constantly. At this point, I’m not sure what else I can do. I wouldn’t even feel morally right selling my house to someone else with these problems, and I can’t afford to move.

— Jonathan Cole, Westminster

Add your voice: Respond to this piece or other Carroll County Times content by submitting your own letter.

Little by little, everything folks like me screamed about during COVID is being proven true. Masks were useless, six-foot distance was a farce, locking down everything tighter than a convent and denying our children attending school, prom, sports or visiting the grandparents, will take decades to repair.

Most of all, allowing our loved ones to die alone and believing a false medicine was going to solve it all will have the most devastating, lasting effect.

Although we pure bloods (no COVID jabs) were ostracized, lost our jobs and so-called friends, had family write us off, prohibited entry to some businesses, board an airplane and called super spreaders, we stand tall and proud for not falling to our knees in fear.

False evidence appears real. Americans might experience fear, but we do not drop to our knees other than to pray. Watching how quickly too many Americans dropped broke my heart and that void grew deeper as we watched the media lapdogs push the false narrative and those on their knees demanding that we join them.

Now that truth is finally allowed to be spoken, the lapdogs and powers that be are singing a different tune and asking for our forgiveness, saying they just didn’t know. I call BS. Yes, you all knew, especially the medical profession.

This Independence Day should be a national spanking of all who participated in this charade, starting with Anthony Fauci and Larry Hogan. Fauci said, “jump” and Hogan asked, “how high?” The head of the Republican Governor’s Association rolled out the red carpet and the tyrants danced all over it.

If you’re still on your knees, get your sorry tail up, remember who you are and get angry. Angry at yourself for falling for this ruse, angry at those who perpetrated this hoax, ask why and demand a price be paid.

They should lose their jobs, be prohibited from practicing their trade and when they do find employment, part of their salary or retirement fund should be doxed to a reparations fund for those damaged by COVID deception. Especially those injured by the jab and/or lost jobs.

Lady Liberty has her hand over her eyes with tears streaming down her face. Get off your knees America and stand loud, proud and tall once again. Just like 9/11, we shall never allow something like this to happen ever again.

Michelle Jefferson, Westminster

Hogan keeps changing his tune

I’ve never been a Larry Hogan fan. To me, he’s for the most part been a typical politician who, in order to make a politically expedient decision, sticks his wet finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing.

That said, in order to win the gubernatorial election twice as a Republican in deep-blue Maryland from 2015 to 2023, he saw any number of his vetoes overridden in Annapolis. So I’ll give him credit where credit is due; he got my vote twice because the alternative was in my opinion worse.

Currently Hogan is running for the Senate as a “Never Trumper.” Now I’m not a big Donald Trump fan either, but my love of country far outweighs my disdain for Trump BY FAR, because I genuinely believe another four years of a Biden administration will do irreparable damage to an already deeply divided people.

But rather than doing his usual flip and supporting Trump, Hogan sadly has done an about face on the heart-based topic of abortion, stating that abortion protections are “settled law” in Maryland.

And that simply makes my case that Hogan is a flip-flopper supreme, who will walk away from his own values to get elected. This is why my ballot will remain blank for the Senate race on election day. I might change my mind if Hogan endorses Trump with yet another “flip-flop,” but I won’t hold my breath.

Dave Price, Sykesville

clinical evidence that indicates same sex attraction often develops as the result of sexual abuse and/or homosexual grooming during one’s childhood. (1)

In November 2012, when same sex marriage was approved by Maryland voters, it was by the slimmest of margins despite being strategically placed on the ballot with a very popular incumbent president seeking a second term. Same sex marriage remains very controversial. It is not the public schools’ function to entangle innocent young children in this controversy. To do so is very much part of an activist agenda.

The insidious element of this agenda is the way it seeks to normalize an ever-increasing scale of deviance. For example, in 1999 President Bill Clinton declared Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. In 2009 President Obama declared L.G.B.T. Pride Month adding bi-sexual and transgender to the mix. In 2021 President Joe Biden declared L.G.B.T.Q Month that added “queer.”

Then earlier this month, one of the speakers at the Carroll County Board of Education meeting, while advocating for an elementary school level book that addresses same sex parenting, referred to the L.G.B.T.Q.I.+ community. So what starts with a book, published in 1989, titled “Heather has two Mommies,” descends to Drag Queen Story Hour for preschoolers hosted by the local public library. Sexual deviance is a slippery slope.

Michael Hurley, Eldersburg

(1) Mark Williams, “Father-Son Incest: A Review and Analysis of Reported Incidents.” Clinical Social Work Journal 16, No. 2 (Summer 1988). 165-179. Lynda Doll et al., Self Reported Childhood and Sexual Abuse Among Adult Homosexual and Bisexual Men.” Child Abuse &; Neglect 16 (1992); 855-865.

“]Senior assistant state’s attorney has concerns with two articles

Recently, the Carroll County Times published two articles that are very concerning and seem to push a certain agenda. The more recent article, published June 20, details the use of forensic genetic genealogy in locating the suspected killer of Rachel Morin, the woman who was allegedly brutally murdered by an illegal alien in Harford County.

The article includes the headline “Technique used in Morin case is scantly regulated.” It also includes “while a powerful investigative tool, it remains largely unregulated, drawing genetic privacy concerns.”

The headline and the quote in the June 20 article are both opinions and inaccurate. Although the article goes on address Maryland statutory law regulating genealogy search warrants, it dismissively minimizes broad legal safeguards passed during the 2021 session of the Maryland General Assembly that regulate and monitor the use of genealogy databases by law enforcement.

The regulations enacted by the legislature mandate strict and stringent requirements on the use of genealogy databases and search and seizure warrants over and above the requirements for issuance of a traditional search warrant.

A genealogy search warrant is limited to crimes of murder, rape, felony sex offenses and matters of public safety and national security. Additionally, a genealogy search warrant requires specific assertions in the affidavit of the law enforcement officer that all other reasonable investigative leads have been pursued and exhausted. Finally, a genealogy search warrant must be approved by the State’s Attorney Office.

These requirements are just a portion of those set forth in statute. Although the procedure used in Morin’s case was a federal procedure, to state in a Maryland newspaper that this area of the law is “scantly regulated” is flatly misleading.

The second article of concern, published June 17, detailed police pursuits, specifically highlighting pursuits involving fatalities. The article goes into great detail regarding the facts of several of the police pursuits.

Finally, at the end of the article, it is pointed out that one of the cases highlighted was found not to be a police pursuit, and that in many other examples mentioned, officers were found to have acted lawfully and followed their department’s pursuit policy.

Why not report on police pursuits from the other angle — criminals fleeing from officers are causing dangerous and often deadly situations? How about reporting on the danger to police officers every time they pursue a criminal fleeing from a crime? Have we gotten to a point in society where we believe it is simply better to let a criminal get away instead of pursue them?

Each of these articles subtly suggest that police today go too far in doing their jobs. Certainly, I am not suggesting that law enforcement have unfettered latitude while performing their duties. I just wish that the media sometimes would report their stories from the other side — the one that has taken an oath to protect and serve the communities where they work and live.

Allan Culver
Senior Assistant State’s Attorney
Carroll County State’s Attorney’s Office

On the morning of Memorial Day, I had my 6-year-old granddaughter Kira with me. So we went to see the parade on Main Street in Westminster. It was a lovely parade, joyful but not exuberant, not flamboyant, rather with an air of respect for the dead. Kira was intently taking it all in.

After the parade, we stopped at a supermarket to pick up a few items for the afternoon cookout. Kira says, “We need to get flowers for an Army grave.” What a surprising little delight it was for me to hear that.

So we went over to the cut flowers where I quickly saw a bucket full  of different-colored carnation bouquets for $6.99. I said to Kira, “Here, pick out one of these.” She would have none of it, and picked out a red ,white and blue bouquet priced at $12.99. So off we went.

I told Kira, “We can go to my Dad’s grave (a WWII veteran), he was in the Coast Guard.” Kira replied, “No, it has to be an Army grave.”

The Coast Guard was still an unfamiliar term to Kira, despite just hearing a wonderful medley of the anthems of all five branches of the military by the Westminster High School Marching Band. This was obviously something that she had given some thought.

So off we went to the Ellsworth Cemetery. It is located on a hill between the Wawa and Crossroads Church. It is a historic cemetery segregated for Black American veterans. It languished in almost total neglect until it was recently restored by some friends of mine in the Knights of Columbus.

I suggested to Kira, “We can put the whole bouquet on one grave, or we can put one flower each on several graves.” Again, Kira would have none of it. She said, “No. I want to put on all the flowers on one grave.” She sounds like her grandmother.

When we arrive, she picks out a headstone. Kira is a kindergarten student so she can’t totally read it, but it is the grave of Martha Frisby, wife of Frank Frisby, who has been gone now for almost a century. Kira lays the flowers by the headstone … then stands straight up, puts her little hand over her big heart (left hand … and recites the Pledge of Allegiance.

I will remember that moment the rest of my days. I am so grateful that the kindergarten students at Mechanicsville Elementary School in Carroll County were taught the meaning of Memorial Day and especially: The pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Michael Hurley, Eldersburg

Little information about Times future, just same old topics

As a longtime reader and subscriber to the Times, I was interested to read Eric Bouchat’s article, which ran under the heading “New owners of Times, Sun promote local involvement,” hoping to gain some insight on the new owner’s vision for the future of the Times.

Unfortunately, just three paragraphs, where Bouchat mentioned “more community involvement” and “memberships,” were devoted to the topic, with Bouchat offering zero information of what memberships are or what more community involvement might look like.

Bouchat then devoted the rest of the piece extolling the words of wisdom of co-owner Armstrong Williams, which we are advised to heed, on subjects ranging from the genius of Alexander Hamilton, the national debt and the strength of the dollar. These are all familiar topics from Bouchat for those of us familiar with his term as a county commissioner, and most likely what he wanted to write about in the first place.

If this is an example of what more community involvement looks like, I am afraid our local paper will remain what it has become, a mere shell of its former self.

Steve Malcolm, Westminster

I have been writing to the County Commissioners with ideas regarding cutting taxes since January 2024.

As a former commissioner, I understand the budget a little better, perhaps, than the average guy. My goal was to be helpful, because struggling citizens and businesses need relief. Our board cut taxes when revenues were declining, knowing that folks spending and staying off of government assistance was good for citizens and the economy.

Amazingly, the proposed budget has $9 million in tax increases and zero tax cuts.

Citizens at the budget hearing offered the following fixes to avoid the proposed tax increases: Freeze hiring, delay capital projects and use funds from the $55 million sitting in various savings accounts. They are all viable options.

I had not studied the usually contentious board of education’s budget. However, I was compelled to write this to the commissioners when made aware of a certain budget request:

“I learned an astonishing piece of information this weekend. … So unbelievable, I thought it worth mentioning because it is inconceivable to me that you each know about this. … Embedded in this year’s board of education budget is a bold request to fund the BluePrint raises this year, 2025, when the state mandate does not require funding these raises until next year, 2026.

“Funding these state-mandated increases this year also has the effect of increasing next year’s total budget not only by the $10 million … but by built-in cost of living adjustments (COLA) and step increase percentages of the employee’s increased wages. COLA and step increases can be 5% or more. … that is significant. Implementing the raises this year is a very poor financial decision, especially if it causes you to believe you need to raise taxes.

“Remove approval for this request and your need to raise taxes this year is erased. … waiting until it is absolutely necessary to pay … is just good common sense. Putting BluePrint 2026 teacher raises in this year’s budget, which is equal to … the tax increases you are proposing, is self-imposed pain.

“… I am hoping this is news to you, and not an expense you agreed to pay. This seems to me to be the simple solution to finding $9 million in spending reductions instead of raising taxes … Thank you.”

Call commissioners before they vote on the proposed increase. Tell them: “Don’t raise my taxes!”

Robin Frazier, Taneytown

Those in political middle need to make their voices heard

I’ve been mulling Chris Roemer’s column of May 12 for several days and have come to the conclusion that, as Shakespeare once put it (or something close), “methinks the gentleman doth protest too much.”

I’m well aware that the editorial staff creates the headline for the editorials and sometimes they don’t really reflect the content, but in this case, it does give a bit of a hint.

To be fair, I must agree that the term “book ban” is a little over the top. What folks are arguing about is more a book restriction. What the conservative wing wants is to restrict access to books that do not fit neatly into what could be called mainstream literature.

These can be books that look at our society from a different point of view or deal with subject matter that makes those of a more conservative bent a bit uneasy. I can understand, and fully support, the decision to not access themselves, or promote the access for their children. That is their decision and they have every right to make that decision.

What those of us of a more liberal bent are not in agreement with is the conservatives not willing to even allow us to decide what we and/or our children have access to. It’s all in the right to choose.

Whether it’s what books are available in public or school libraries, or what medical care a woman, or man, or boy, or girl, for that matter, may receive, if in agreement with their physician(s). Life is full of choices, some good, some bad, some we wish we could do over and others that we simply live with and go on.

It’s the ability to make those choices that make us all human and not simply living robots following the programmed orders from the supreme leader.

Roemer claims it is the more liberal side who initiate the name calling when the don’t agree with the conservative side, but ask yourself where does most of the name calling come from? It all started, and yes, I’m going there, with the former president, whose initials are DJT.

His penchant for name-calling began with his stint as a TV game show host and continues to this day. A very good friend reminded me that she was taught as early as second or third grade that name-calling was not nice and wouldn’t be tolerated. I guess DJT was absent when that lesson was taught.

Unfortunately for us all, those at the far ends of the political spectrum in this country have hijacked the two parties and run both into the ground. It’s time, or well past time, for those who align somewhere near the middle to make their voices heard, at the ballot box and every day between elections.

It’s the only way to save our democracy for future generations. Those at the two opposite ends will destroy it if we allow them to continue in their ways.

Bill Kennedy, Taneytown

Commissioner is trying to punish library over state act

I watched the recording of the May 14 budget hearing alternating between anger and disgust as County Commissioner Ken Kiler continues to denigrate the library and its staff and feels the need to “punish” them. He said he is not a “library expert” (and that is a quote) and yet he feels he can micromanage and make better decisions about Sunday hours and library fines than the professional staff and library board of directors.

But now, because of a public information act report, we find that Kiler has not been truthful with his constituents. The library has responded several times to his email questions from a meeting with Commissioner Ed Rothstein, the library executive director and a member of CCPL Board of Directors, notably in an email dated April 9.

That was more than a month before Kiler’s accusation that the library hadn’t responded to his questions. In fact, that April 9 email was sent to all the commissioners, the county administrator, the budget director and the library board.

To me Kiler is seeking retribution for what he considers the audacity and treachery of the library to support the Freedom to Read Act, recently passed by the state legislature. Again, he was confused by the facts: No library staff ember testified in favor of the bill. But Kiler wants to punish the library.

As Rothstein said at the May 14 hearing, the decisions made during that meeting will have a “severe impact” on one of the finest library systems in the state, possibly in the entire U.S. These decisions do not punish the library; they punish the citizens of this county. Kiler has shown he is no friend of the library despite what his checkbook might say.

Martha Hankins, Hampstead

Taking away library funding is unacceptable

The Carroll County Board of Commissioners has voted to remove the library funding it allocated just last month.

In a last-minute maneuver, Commissioner Ken Kiler advanced a motion to take more than $160,000 from the CCPL budget. He had plenty of empty excuses but eventually acknowledged that he wanted to “send a message” about the Freedom to Read Act. Unfortunately, his motion passed with the help of commissioners Michael Guerin and Joseph Vigliotti.

This is completely unacceptable! Libraries provide so much for a community. Today’s libraries are more than just books. From teaching critical literacy skills to promoting entrepreneurship and small business development to preserving and facilitating our community stories, an easier question might be what don’t libraries do!

If this motion stands, it will not only impact the library system but the community as a whole. There is a real possibility that CCPL will have to reduce staff, cut hours or even face branch closure.

The citizens of Carroll County should not have to suffer because some commissioners disagree with a law passed by the legislature. This last-minute attempt to ruin one of the treasures of Carroll County cannot be allowed to happen.

Patti DiLeonardi, Sykesville

I am aghast that Tennessee has now passed legislation that will require teachers to be armed with guns.

So, I am wondering, do teachers wear holsters with their guns loaded? Or are the guns in their desk to be loaded if a shooter arrives? How much time does the teacher have to load the gun? What if a student finds and uses the gun? Oh, I know! It is safely locked, so in the case of an active shooter the teacher has to get the key to unlock the gun. Then load the gun. By that time students are probably already dead.

In the same newspaper, I read that libraries are also a danger. Who knows what explicit sexual activity one might read in a book? Nothing is said about a student reading about a murder. If a child or the parents of a child do not want to read books about sexual acts or murders, they do not have to check said book out of the library.

Women and doctors are facing jail time for an abortion because life is so sacred while in the womb. However, it appears to me, as a reader, that life is no longer sacred once it leaves the womb since there are no restrictions for the purchasing of guns that kill children attending school, people grocery shopping, attending a movie or just walking down the street.

My conclusion is that the same politicians who embraced the overturning of Roe v. Wade because life is so sacred are also the same politicians who are beholden to the NRA and its financial support. These thought processes make me wonder how they were ever elected to Congress.

Patricia Roop Hollinger, Westminster

It’s time we make America great, strong, rich and safe again

Growing up, the United States was No. 1 or in the top five in all things good: Education, job creation, affordable housing, humanity, technology and landing on the moon. I was encouraged to realize I was a unique individual who was capable of doing anything, which was a big deal being a girl in the 1970s. And there was no confusion about being a girl.

We smashed the glass ceilings, wouldn’t take no for an answer, found a balance between mothering and working, loved our husbands, had an active social and community life and we looked back at our mothers and grandmothers with gratitude. We truly came a long way, baby.

Now, men pretend to be women, because they fall short of being men and we’re supposed to accept their failure, in women’s sports, locker rooms and bathrooms? Boys are boys, girls are girls.

I long for the day when the evil people mutilating children, calling it care, face the music. If they don’t understand the crime they commit, how can a child understand changing gender? No wonder, suicide rate is off the charts.

Our education system was already suffering, and not letting a good crisis go to waste, Team  Obama decimated education with Common Core. What it’s done to inner city kids is nothing short of criminal. These kids have been robbed of their future, sentenced to struggling or life of crime. The amount of money dumped into Baltimore City schools should produce Rhode Scholars, yet they’re lucky if they can read.

America has more crude/gas than Saudi Arabia, we have the technology to safely extract it, are in the position to supply most of the world with clean energy, but President Joe Biden stopped all things energy for the ill-conceived climate approach. Al Gore said I should have beachfront property by now.

Charity begins at home and sending printed and borrowed money from China to give to so many other countries boggles my mind. We have way too many homeless while the invasion of our southern border has created many more.

Crime is rampant while so-called leaders stick their fingers in their ears and pretend they don’t hear us or believe they know best. Definitely not Ward Cleaver.

So yes, I want to Make America Great, strong, rich and safe Again.

Michelle Jefferson, Westminster

As a county, we need to sit down and engage, not debate

Conservative guru Arthur Brooks defines contempt as “a habit of seeing people who disagree with us as not merely incorrect or misguided, but worthless.” This is on full display in Chris Roemer’s column, and I wish to counter the culture of contempt with some observations of mine from George Washington University’s student encampment.

Students don’t “think they’re smarter than everyone else” — in fact, they spend much of their time studying and conversing over tables full of books. They realize that they have much to learn and are dedicated to learning it. There’s no “mindless fury” here — the chief sound is quiet, with occasional chanting every few hours, but not predominating. Students watch documentaries, attend lectures and make art.

Roemer seeks to write on encampments but doesn’t even look at the demands. And he speaks of antisemitism when Jewish students are a significant percentage of those arrested, and many encampments observe Shabbat, Orthodox Easter and Muslim prayer. Or are those not “real Jews”? Such a statement would also sound antisemitic.

One cannot bring up Catholicism without Pope Francis’ appeal for a ceasefire. Ultimately, the truth is more than a “one-dimensional simplistic view of the world” — these groups cannot be instrumentalized to make an editorial point and hold vastly different, equally strongly held positions on this conflict. Hate is there, and it’s on us to call it out, but so is abiding love.

I want to hope Roemer’s dedicated to peace, or at least fewer civilian casualties. In a war whose considerable civilian toll will, as we learned in Afghanistan, only create more Hamas terrorists, I hope we can look at demands for peace and view them as laudable to a degree, even if we view them as misguided or naïve.

Brooks also states “As satisfying as it can feel to hear that your foes are irredeemable, stupid and deviant, remember: … unless a leader is actually teaching you something you didn’t know or expanding your worldview and moral outlook, you are being used.”

What if we as a county sat down together, disagreed vehemently, but truly sought to engage — converse, not debate — and learn what exactly our ideological foes think without writing them off? This is sorely needed today. I challenge readers to have a conversation with someone who disagrees, without demonization. This won’t bring consensus, but will, hopefully, bring illumination.

At the very least, we’ll learn how to spell TikTok.

Phoebe Shatzer, Taneytown

Has anyone noticed that forced sterilizations continue?

How does the pro-life movement feel about forced sterilization? In 1927, the Supreme Court, by a vote of 8 to 1, affirmed the constitutionality of Virginia’s law allowing state-enforced sterilization.

This decision was known as Buck v. Bell and is still on the books of 31 states including the District of Columbia. This was one of the court’s worst decisions in history. This ruling allowed for the sterilization of a person considered unfit because they were deemed to be mentally deficient.

That decision is part of a larger chapter in American history in which the eugenics movement was behind preventing so-called mentally deficient people from procreating by not allowing them to marry by sterilizing them and/or segregating them in special colonies.

In Mississippi the sterilization of black women was so common it was called a Mississippi appendectomy. California has forcibly sterilized more than 20,000 people.

Today these sterilizations continue, primarily affecting people with disabilities and individuals under guardianship. Under such a guardianship, Britney Spears could not have her IUD removed. This was a case of proxy sterilization.

Harvey Rabinowitz, Taneytown

I am writing to bring attention to a matter of utmost importance to Carroll County, the funding of our local school budget.

Carroll County has been slowly starving its schools of the funding needed to best support students and communities, and implement the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. However, the blame does NOT lie with our current Board of County Commissioners.

As Superintendent Cynthia McCabe has said at numerous town hall meetings, surrounding counties are better equipped to handle the national educator shortage because they retained the additional staff they needed to stay nimble.

The austerity measures implemented here (specifically, the tax cuts in 2012, 2013 and 2014) have forced Carroll County Public Schools (CCPS) to eliminate positions at a concerning rate. Over a nine-year period, between 2010 and 2019, CCPS cut 306 positions, 200 in our schools.

CCPS and the Carroll County Education Association (CCEA) have come to agreement on a collective bargaining agreement earlier than ever because both parties understood the need to act quickly and to demonstrate to commissioners we are united in a common cause.

For years, commissioners have told us we need to settle before they work on the budget, and we did it. In addition, we are meeting the legal requirement of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, that all certificated staff receive a minimum salary of $60,000 so CCPS can attract the best educators at a time when schools nationwide are scrambling to fill positions.

While recruiting is important, we also need to retain experienced educators and the overall increase in salaries will help CCPS retain educators.

This is an issue that cannot wait. Carroll County’s students and families deserve a quality public education. CCEA acknowledges the difficult decisions current commissioners have to make, and we are grateful they allocated more funds for CCPS. That gives us the means to provide the best education possible for all of Carroll County’s children.

Celeste M. Jordan
President of Carroll County Education Association

Register of wills says House Bill 1258 beneficial to public

As the register of wills for Carroll County, I would like to take this opportunity to address Rebecca Snyder’s recent letter/editorial entitled “Preserving Local Journalism” regarding House Bill 1258.  Snyder, in true Chicken Little fashion alleges if this bill is signed by Gov. Wes Moore, journalism will cease to exist in Carroll County.

The purported reason is that my office will no longer be sending estate notices to be published in the Carroll County Times. Initial estate notices unnecessarily cost families $106 for small estates and $249 for regular estates.

Since Jan. 1, 2024, we have sent 48 estate notices to the Times, 18% of our total notices. I am sure the loss of this income will not break the Times, especially since it will still be publishing all County Commissioner notices, as well as all notices from the clerk of the Circuit Court. Only register of wills notices are affected by this bill.

House Bill 1258 allows us to change the current publishing of notices from the newspapers to the register of wills website. We publish all estate-related notices on the website at no cost to the families.  Additionally, this change will allow greater access to the notices as once the notice is published on the website it will remain on the site in perpetuity.

Currently, a notice is published for a regular estate in the newspaper one day a week for three weeks. A small estate is published in the newspaper one time. These notices disappear once published and could be missed. On our website the notices are never removed, therefore you will be able to find them at any time.

Something Snyder fails to mention is that our legislature unanimously — and with no public opposition — passed House Bill 1258, which replaces the antiquated, centuries-old requirement that estate notices be published in print newspapers with a centralized website managed and maintained by the registers of wills across Maryland.

This is a victory for more than 10,000 Maryland families per year who are forced to spend out of their inheritance on a corporate subsidy that benefits — in 22 of 24 jurisdictions — newspapers owned by out-of-state corporations and multi-billion-dollar conglomerates.

You deserve the facts, so here they are:

• When an estate is opened, the register of wills mails each interested party a notice, with a detailed explanation of their rights, directly to their home.
• These public offices have an affirmative legal obligation to provide these notices. Newspapers don’t.
• We’ve had a free, centralized website up for more than four years to show this system works, with thousands of views per day, which you can see here: https://registers.maryland.gov/LegalNotice/Notices/NoticeSearch.aspx.
• My office recently tried to access online public notices in the Carroll County Times and could not without going page by page.  Information on our website is easily accessed by the decedent’s name.
• Some newspapers require families to prepay for notices before they even have access to estate funds, forcing them to pay of pocket per notice.
• Some newspapers only accept payment by credit card, marginalizing countless Marylanders who live on cash alone.
• In 22 of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions their “local” paper is owned by an own-of-state corporations, including one worth more than $4 billion.
• Newspaper circulation is dwindling, meaning fewer people are reading print newspapers, and even fewer — if any — reading estate notices.
• Estate notices are not general notices to the public. Their limited audience is parties who didn’t receive notice due to incomplete filings or honest mistakes.
• The majority of parties find out about estates by word of mouth, not the legal section of a print newspaper.  Once they contact the Register of Wills office they are properly notified. If this House Bill 1258 is vetoed, you will not only have to pay the Times to publish a notice, but you may be required to pay for a subscription to the newspaper or to the e-edition to check that is was published correctly, therefore, adding an additional cost.
• No Maryland business will close, and no Marylander will lose their job because of this bill.
• House Bill 1258, if signed by the governor, will save Maryland estates approximately $1.7 million in publication fees.

Paul Zimmermann

Register of Wills for Carroll County

Trump, GOP not the reason for current problems in U.S.

The last two weeks, Tom Zirpoli just seems he cannot get former President Donald Trump and the GOP off his mind. He makes both look like they are the issue for why things are so messed up here in the USA.

So let us start from the beginning. Under Trump there were restrictions on who came across the border and only in certain areas where they could be checked out and so forth. That was in 2016-2019.

Now we get into 2020 and President Joe Biden says no, we cannot do that, the Democrats need future voters. So he opened up the border, which basically meant, “Come on in, you won’t be checked out for anything. Go ahead and sneak your drugs across and help kill US citizens. Come on all you illegals don’t worry about money, we will take taxpayer dollars to cover you, while our own citizens and veterans starve to death on the streets.”

So under Biden’s stupid policy we now have more than 10 million illegals we know nothing about, where they are and so forth. They have allegedly killed citizens. They have stolen things and even, because of dumb laws, squatted in houses and destroyed them after being thrown out by a court order three months later.

Zirpoli paints a picture that this was all started onTrump’s watch, which is a bunch of BS. All this has been done under Biden and it will get worse. Zirpoli probably thinks it is OK for all of this trouble on college campuses about Palestine. He is on the left like all the others. He continues to blame Trump for all of these problems.

Well, Zirpoli, under Trump the figures show everyone was much better off. We didn’t need two or three jobs to make ends meet. Gas prices were at $2.20 per gallon when high. Now it is up to $3.79 in Maryland and going up.

We were energy sufficent under Trump but now, under Biden, he closed the gas pipeline, more than 10,000 people lost their jobs and we got high gas prices. Interest rates have gone up so the housing market has gone down. Biden blames Trump for these things, and so does Zirpoli.

Voters, we need to wake up and change things. I am not saying Trump is perfect, as there are some things he has said that I do not agree with, but the USA was in much better shape and so were the citizens under Trump. Think about that when you go to vote this November. Forget about the scam the Democrats are doing to Trump in New York and how they are letting criminals run wild on the streets.

We need to get this great country back in shape and that can be done by doing away with Biden and his administration of knuckleheads who know nothing.

Think about your future and your kids future and their kids. Now is the time to make changes, get the USA back on track as the great nation we once were and ignore Zirpoli and other left people.

God bless America!

Pat Bussard, Westminster