Maryland Newswrap

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Going to evening I'm afraid and welcome to Maryland news wrap. President Reagan's State of the Union speech drew lusty cheers in Congress but the reaction was far different among state and local officials in Maryland who are looking at the stark prospect of major cuts in federal funding. The Howard County Sheriff's Department is experimenting with an updated version of the old cattle prod to control unruly prisoners. It's called a stun gun and it delivers a jolt of up to 50000 volts. As you might imagine there's plenty of controversy surrounding use of this new item in Annapolis this year there is no lack of bills dealing with civil liberties civil liberties of all kinds. There are proposals to ban smoking in public places and happy hours along with other bills that would require you to wear a seat belt and let you bring your own candy into the movies. Prince George's County school authorities announced last year that any high school student who didn't have a C average by this February would be allowed to wouldn't be allowed to participate in athletics or other activities. And they meant it

when grades came out this week 39 percent of the athletes cheerleaders and others were benched. A specialist used to be best known as a widely used fireproofing material intil researchers discovered his bestest caused cancer. The state is trying to remove its best is from public buildings but is becoming increasingly difficult to find companies that will write insurance to protect the workers. Covering these stories for Shar. When I Fall of The Washington Post John fair hall of the Baltimore evening sun Mike Burns of The Baltimore Sun and Karen Huston of the Baltimore Sun. Karen governor Hughes mayor Schaefer and assorted others went down to Washington to meet with the congressional delegation it was a lot of wailing and moaning about these cuts is it politics too or is it just a front because this budget is going to go anywhere anyway. Well I guess that's certainly what they hope I mean that in Washington it is their calm expression for President Reagan's budgets for the last three or four years has been dead on arrival. Someone said the other day that this one may even have been dead on conception because the Senate

Republicans were already starting to work out their own plan. And that I guess the common feeling is that Congress will once again. Develop the budget itself. But the fear is strong this year because. There is this huge deficit because the president has just come off this big election and because in 1981 when he came when it was a similar kind of program there were a lot of cuts. Well I think quite rightly this is the year that we're going to hurt. And if some of these cuts go through what kinds of cuts can we look forward to or anticipate. Well there is a strong feeling that that revenue sharing may finally go this year this is a program begun back in the Nixon years to give local governments just a basically a shot of federal money that had no strings attached and they love it and it's now 84 million dollars worth to go to the to Baltimore city in the 23 counties there's another 20 million or so that go to smaller cities and it's a it's

just a lot of money in Baltimore for example loan it's 50 cents on the tax rate. That's a whole lot of money. And Prince George's County they started toting it up the minute the word got out or even before the word got out and they figured that it was going to be 12 million dollars in revenue sharing alone and all together twenty seven million dollars that all the cuts and everything else that that's proposed including Medicaid and and even the federal pay workers cut it its effect on the income taxes of all of that. That's all factored in twenty seven million dollars. But is that crying wolf is that a little bit. Is that screaming a little bit too much now. Well I think of course. If you want Congress to do too well what we expect them to do you have to tell me if you're really upset of course Congress says it is in a difficult position there is this huge deficit there that they're that's causing interest rates to stay up and that sort of thing and. There's some pressure on them I mean after all you have to cut someplace and it is the old thing about the squeaky wheel I mean if it's anything that doesn't have a constituency down there is gone.

What about the Maryland delegations reaction to this. Is there any kind of unanimity or a sense split along party lines. Well no it's amazing they are all unanimous when it comes to two local things I mean Marjorie Holton and Helen Bentley the two Republicans in the House side. They're against cutting and revenue sharing they're against cutting federal employees I mean they're no fools that they have those people in their districts. I think that that's part of why it's so difficult for Congress to cut anything. Of course what may make a difference this year is that. If they can actually make cuts in defense that then they might actually cut across the board I mean that present idea was or will have this will freeze the budget he says freeze spending well what he really meant was well cut the domestic programs 31 billion dollars but will raise defense. Well Congress is talking about really cutting defense or really freezing. Now that is if they get something like that through I think we could see some see maybe the answer to the unemployment problem in some parts of the state is to open up a defense plant that will build toilet seats coffee earns you know.

Do you think they come from Maryland is the nation in the contract or is Maryland going to be hurt the hardest if if indeed the president's budget were enacted. Well. I guess that it's the same old thing it's the poorest subdivisions Baltimore City it's Somerset County. I mean it's we're talking about mass transit subsidies buses little bus services in places like Cumberland I mean come on could be very hurt it doesn't have much of a base Hagerstown. They're talking about public housing public housing back now that doesn't have a really great constituency that that's going to really it's going to hurt people it's what's going to hurt her with 50 state delegations all with their own particular priorities what it then comes down to is who's got the most clout and where do we stand in that. Well the good news about that is that these domestic cuts really affect everybody across the board. So they will there for example revenue sharing the system and the Republicans are unhappy about it as a Democrat. But again there

is still this pressure. You've got to do some things and you know if you know in the situation I was in that because the best you can hope for is to get it is not to lose a whole lot to lose everything but there's only one chance almost to gain anything in any areas is that right. Yes when that pleasant note we will into Mike burns like this is an intriguing development the stun gun. And is this an effective law enforcement tool or some kind of a high tech toy. Neil the jury's still out on that. In fact this has been tested for the last year and a half but it's had a very limited kind of use among police officers. The second there's Albemarle in Virginia Police Department has been issuing these little weapons which are actually just about about that size about the size of a little portable handheld radio to all of its officers and they have divided opinions in fact they one said that it worked very well was very effective as a deterrent and the other one said it didn't stop the fellow when he came

right at me. So in fact there there seems to be a lot more field work that needs to be done. But the point is that at least 200 police departments across the country are looking at this weapon and are giving it a serious look as a. An alternative to the traditional deterrence of guns and. And billy clubs is the fact that this thing is so small makes it convenient to carry around but on the other hand it means you get right up to somebody to use it and if you've got someone that needs to be calmed down with something like that why would you want to get that close to them. Well I think that's a good question and certainly one is going to have to be resolved by the policemen that are using this and and in fact the manufacturer but the idea is that there is a certain psychological deterrence involved in this in fact that the manufacturers said that they that the the this the pure terror of this weapon of seeing it is enough to deter a. And how do you know tack on guns on a walkman. Well I think there's a start.

I think there's a certain point they met at a certain point to be made by that but I but the the real effect of it is by you by saying that it's an electrical shock. Seeing this seeing these little. Aleck trickle currents move while you have a certain something that the person can see and it does know there are logical damage that it that they know of. Well it's it's basically it's an it attacks the neural muscular system which means it essentially just causes you to to fall down. It did it doesn't knock you out but it just causes your muscles class so did water hose in the south that well or anywhere else for years but and and but I mean that is that that's what disturbs me is this is just the same. What disturbed me most of all about this kind of thing is who uses it against whom it's not a gun where someone has to prove why they're going to fire it it's not a weapon which is going to cause bruises that anyone can accuse you of brutality and prove it. What's the weather controls on a weapon like this. Well the controls are a weapon like this probably. Les if you were

drawing that then if you were trying to leave visible lasting physical damage on a person on the other hand I don't know that that just because you can prove it using those weapons is necessarily more desirable. In fact I think it probably would be the opposite. There is however a good deal of controversy as to whether this causes lasting physical damage to humans then. And some scientists of question whether there have been sufficient tests on animals and two to let this be used widely However it is clear that we have seen 150000 of these things out there. And what's even worse is that most of them are in private hands. You raise the question that the psychological impact. Do you really want to make police. Do they really want to make police in America appear even more intimidating it's bad enough that police have to be as heavily armed as they are in England doesn't. And please don't routinely carry guns here escalating one more step here's another weapon the billy club the gun now the stun gun. What next armor. Well you see I think there is a difference here though this is exactly as Neil pointed out earlier the

if you have to get that close to a police officer. To have this weapon used is clearly different than standing over there and making a menacing threat where you would where you would use a firearm. Whereas this is now in Maryland. With the Howard County Sheriff's Department has has three of them and there is one being looked at in Montgomery County completely where they just. Shoot gun and started police really want to use their uniform in favor of these. Well the the the one department where they've been used by a lot of policeman that is to say in the region is this is so new that they really have this divided opinion. So we don't know. But there is that there is a thought that if you could use something that is that is less of a physical damage tool that it would probably be a good idea however again they don't want to get that close to the you know I mean that's the point I was making is worth considering is I mean you've got to have something between a gun which you don't want to

have to use all the time obviously and a billy club which is kind of a brutal weapon and can cause some lasting damage when applied with enough force to the top of somebody's skull. So you need something else when you can't physically control this person they're out of there out of hand or two they're bigger than the officers and we have years of chemical chemical mace of course has been used too as another kind of disabling agent and it just hasn't worked as well when there's been a lot of problems with it and I think this is really falls more in that realm than in than in the realm of a firearm can rock a phaser gun where you could stand across and stun someone I'd say that what your point is is valid but if it's the presence of control you're going to get close enough to them to be able to use this instrument like you said a lot of these are in private hands as there's a serious sort of control over or are that. Obtaining these purchasing these who can have. There hasn't been any kind of uniform law on it. It's from my understanding but effectively it is a kind of a dangerous weapon a dangerous toy and that's it well and for the toy well but it would be you but it certainly should be. Certainly should be in law

jurisdictions are trying to do that. OK thank you. John for Paula. While we're on the subject of civil civil liberties there are all these bills in Annapolis coming in having to do with expansion or infringement of civil liberties I guess depending on how you look at it. But they sort of lumped together as Bill's a kind of meddle into people's private affairs. You can lump them together but some clearly are taken more seriously than others you've got on the one hand a bill that would. Give us give us the and surest the God given right to take popcorn and candy and soda into. In the movie theaters and not have to buy the you know the overpriced stuff that you get there and then on the other hand you've got serious legislation like the bills that would require us to wear seatbelts when driving automobiles. And of course you've got bills that would really restrict the. Ability to smoke in public areas require restaurants to have specific nonsmoking areas and restrict smoking in retail.

And retail stores. The one that's drawing the most attention and probably will it is the seat belt bill and it's regarded by its opponents I suppose as the most serious infringement on people's private rights. But on the same token the supporters say this is this is something that can do some real benefit to to the citizens of Maryland. The legislature is divided right along those lines so the the bill isn't going to go anywhere it's already been killed one version of it has been killed by a House committee another version the story live on the Senate side is going back to the house. I really suspect that legislative sentiment down there is more evenly divided than it would first seem on the seatbelt issue there are a lot of people who now believe that. It's OK to require seatbelts because. It's more than a private act it's more than the new going out and deciding that you're going to be able to die in a motor in a motor vehicle accident where seatbelts cost of medical treatment and the impact on insurance. So it's sort of ironic though to require seatbelts in a state where you do not require people riding motorcycles to wear helmets. I mean there's no question about the value added. Well I shouldn't say that I guess it has

been questioned but that issue was decided by the legislature several years ago and you know wore helmets off the Delta. No one ever said the legislature was consistent. Now we'll all recall that the legislature which is always the first to go before cameras say we're not going restricting individual liberties just three years ago increase the drinking age for beer and wine from 18 to 21. That's the last time any of these any of those types of bills that have succeeded to save to say child safety seats that's true that did that would last like helmets. You know it is how this bill comes back every year and it's going to it's guys that the popcorn bills died the seat belt bills go to die and we shouldn't forget the happy hour Bill is still alive and kicking if only for another day if only for another few days down there but that's you know that's a funny sort of bill and it's got a lot of attacking a lot of that. Tantrum but Massachusetts but it passed and there are some people who think that's a very good them a just nation is what we're seeing here. A genuine concern about private rights. Or is it just various special interest groups with enough power to kill a bill.

Let's put it this way the Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is taking positions on some of these not publicly but privately I'm there. They find themselves split on a couple of them. Seatbelts is one of them. They haven't decided they don't have a unified position on seatbelts. When it literally for example on seat belts industry groups coming down opposing this. The motor vehicle manufacturers have organized a well financed $50000 campaign in Maryland they say they're here for the long term. It's a little bit ironic that two days after they had their kickoff campaign Jones the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee promptly killed the first bill. That went through but they say they're going to keep on doing it and try to get close to pushing air bags instead. No they're not pushing airbags. That's part of the main point they don't want to see airbags in Maryland. They would rather have us there for the seat. Absolutely. Manufacturers want to stand against that because they already have cars like that. That's no extra cost for them when less you require these what they call passive restraint so I was telling you that

in some German cars they have them and you you cannot get in the car without strapping yourself into the seat belt it sort of as you get in it and close the door you're your incased in the seat belt. For people who don't use them that's the problem they have they don't feel like bothering to strap themselves an option right now and some some cars sold in America. But that's it. It's an option but I think that's that's probably the proper way in fact to do it if you have a situation in which you're trying to enforce a safety measure and you're trying to say to people don't don't get in your car unless you unless you buckle up. People don't care about safety. They're not going to do it and you can you simply can't you simply can't enforce something like that I think the best argument against that is the lack of enforceability especially when you look at all the traffic laws that go. That they're violated every day. You feel the same way about. You know. Why. Because it's because it's more because it's more visible. Because more visible means of enforcement whether you have to look inside a car so you can tell her

someone's wearing a seat belt when they do that you know they need somebody in New York a half an hour after the law went into effect. If they want to that's is that that's the plan. And John I want to ask you real quickly before we leave this subject about there was a compromise on the prison issue that seemed very appealing in some view and the whole thing fell apart very quickly. Yes apparently some senators weren't briefed in time and so the deal wasn't consummated but. What would have happened is that their proposed super maximum prison that was proposed by Governor Hughes 300 beds two stories to be built across the street from the Maryland penitentiary in Baltimore would under this plan go to Hagerstown instead and in exchange the city would build a brand new local jail with state funds and relieve some of the overcrowding in state prisons by taking inmates who right now are sent off to state prisons. They'll be back next week the week after and probably a few more after that. OK that this is our opening round of Prisons for this session but we'll be here lots more from with I'm sure. When in the Prince George's County with the fair warning they told all the athletes cheerleaders in the

sort of other big kids on campus get their grades up or get out of activities and the room was lowered this week what's been the reaction. Well first of all Thirty nine percent of students from Prince George's County grades 9 through 12 no longer can participate. Now we're not just talking about basketball we're not just talking about soccer volleyball across we're talking about student government president we're talking about math club. Even though you would assume that someone in math club perhaps should be able to keep the average above a city which is all they're asking but that's not necessarily the case. They the Prince George's County school board passed this last spring and there their reasoning was that they were going to improve the academic standards of the schools which is you know obviously. You know one of those ideas which sounds good but to actually put it into effect is the first jurisdiction in Maryland which actually has actually done something like they're the first in Maryland but not the first in the country which has been the result elsewhere in the country would be should be tried. There's at least one example in Springfield Massachusetts where I graduated from high school I must admit where they are backing away from that because of the protests of parents and students. But there doesn't seem to be protests in

galvanizing like that in Prince George's County even though a lot of the kids who were interviewed this week who have been kicked off the team said I understand that was the way it was supposed to do a few of them were upset because I thought maybe the teachers would shave their grades and that didn't quite happen. But some parents are also talking about complained to the school board why they didn't complain to the school board when it was put into effect rather than after they found out that their little Johnny was the one who wasn't going to be able to play or to run track this spring is a good question. In Prince George's County this whole this whole idea of improving the image of the school system is very much intertwined with the county's image of itself trying to attract high tech trying to attract economic development people who would put theirs kids in a school system rather than live in Montgomery and commute to P.G. or not come at all. In Springfield. What did the grade show today show that after they applied this thing that students worked harder. No I can't tell you anything more about what I just told you. Well I wonder why they were backing off just because people complained you could expect that to happen but it seems like it would work I think signed up

39 percent or in the case of at least one school Bladensburg high school 55 percent of the kids didn't pass. I just made the football whole teams were disbanded after this the university Alora high school was disbanded I mean they this was a major there was major impact but what happened is that I don't I think if you did a survey of a lot of school systems you'd find out that a lot of kids weren't necessarily maintaining a C average. So how could parents possibly go to the school board and protest. A policy like this. What other arguments aren't there arguments are the same arguments for instance that boys mostly the people opponents of boys Muslim Baltimore City have boys mostly the principal of Northwestern High School here and he's going to disband the football team and all the sports departments in favor of making the kids. The students concentrate more on what's on academics and the arguments that these parents and other people are making is that academics are not the be all and the end all and that in order to have a well-rounded student who perhaps can even who perhaps wouldn't go to college without a athletic scholarship you have to have the opportunity for the competing athlete for you to want to

figure out when you should well-rounded and that's the problem is you have a kid who lives for us luggage and that's all that he or she does and the grades go to hell and you can't can't make a living as a track star if your legs start moving fast and sassy your average is in fact rather an average grade. So it's not saying that you have to be super achiever on the academic side seems to me actually the very aim is to make a balance. But he says you can get an idea and read in a book or you can get a D and R and that subject which might be considered marginal we mention one kid who got modified and B's and everything is a physical education for some reason I couldn't and couldn't pass and you have to have a seat you have to is not a C average there is a C average its average of all your grades so yeah I mean that you assume that someone I mean you can still get a D and get a C average assuming that you're also getting it. How did the school board officials feel about this now are they are they well intending by their grandstanding but I say it's too bad that when we knew this was going to happen a matter of fact they had

numbers from last year where they they knew what it that they had the numbers this high of kids who weren't doing as well. And what they're saying is this is the time to buy the bowl of these and some students have done it some students have said knew that this was coming down this was the not of the didn't fall out of the sky and they started to hit the books. Some coaches started to have study halls during on may be interesting to see what happened by the fall with particular football players. How many of them were able to get their grades up this spring. MIKE BURNS We have the ongoing investor bestest problem in the state now being hampered by the fact that insurance companies won't write workman's compensation when not well. It's simply a matter of not having experience you know Neal an insurance company bases all of its rates and its risks on the past and the history and in that aspect this is a very unhappy one as we know from the billions of dollars in lawsuits that have come out against manufacturers and other companies that use this from workers who contracted the problems from asbestos

cancer and scarred lungs 10 to 30 40 years later. That's the problem so now you have a booming industry you have 20 billion dollars in contracts out there of government agencies and private businesses than and even private homeowners. They want to have this specif removed from the home or removed from the buildings. And so there's a lot of people trying to get into the business and trying to get in the removal of it and therefore the insurance companies are saying well wait a minute how do we know the same thing won't happen to you that happened all these other people that worked on it in the past. How do we know what kind of protective clothing for example do they wear. Well that's a lot different today of course and since we've recognized the hazard that's involved with working in asbestos we've got. Workers who who have complete uniforms covered up gloves breathing apparatus completely completely enclosed in making sure that they have the absolute minimum per day. The minimum exposure to this free a spouse does out there. So in

fact there is a lot being done however the standards vary from state to state and from in fact from him among some employers in states where they're not regulated as closely so the insurers probably have a good point of prove it to us and let's let's get some real kind of tough standards and then we might take a look it's hard to believe that no one not even Lloyd's of London is willing to insure it if the price is right are they just holding out for for a better premium or are they canceling policies without even offering coverage at a higher rate. Well what we've got essentially is a probably a search for the proper premium as well as for the proper level of insurance risk exposure and of course that is unknown given given the past history and effect you've got. You've had some labor unions with as best as workers as recently as 10 years ago you had a very high incidence of them contracting these ailments that are associated with ingesting inhaling a specialist so that they do have a

problem. Two of the two of the solutions that have been proposed are one and insurance. Company the insurance that would be biased posts removed companies as a cooperative and secondly of course the old standby the federal government coming out of the picture as they are in flood insurance for example. Did these problems hinder assumes that every time we read about Express Best us the last years had to do with schools and the fact that you found us best as the schools had to be taken up. There's this problem this is going to hinder the. That. Elimination of that in one sentence. Sure sure sure it can there and elsewhere. OK thank you. That's Marilynn news rep for this week I'm Neil Friedman for all of us have a good week. Maryland news rap is made possible by a grant from Maryland National Bank

the Maryland National Bank is helping the region to grow and buy members of Maryland Public Television.