Newsnight Maryland; 471; Camp Safety

The answers to your questions before sending your child to camp watch the 225 year celebration and she'll toss her cap at graduation but her company's already soaring. That. Is. Good evening everyone. We'll bring you those stories in just a moment. But first. Can you imagine traveling between Washington and Baltimore in just 15 minutes. Well the future may be getting closer a new super train using magnetic forces could shuttle passengers at 250 miles per hour. On Monday Governor Glendening will announce that Maryland is accepting federal funds to study the feasibility of the super train. Tonight's newsmaker is Henry K. from the Maryland Mass Transit Administration. Without getting into deep physics can you describe how maglev works. Sure it's really a pretty simple concept. I think when you think about it for a minute and if you think about two magnets coming together the forces oppose each other if you have a set that way there's a little

resistance between the two so the way maglev trains work is that you have these strong electronic magnets and they those opposing forces essentially lift the train and then propel it along a special God way. There is no there are no wheels so there is no friction no noise and the result is that you can travel very quickly. You know very efficient messenger on a magnetic cushion there's no drag. That's right that's up there right there's no friction all very very different than a conventional train. Is it in operation anywhere there. There is no commercial operation of maglev now. There are several test tracks around the world I think that the that those that are best known are in Japan and Germany. I think some others are under construction different places there is none in the US right now and there is no maglev in commercial operation no one is paying fares to to ride on a maglev train at this point. I'm interested in knowing. I don't know how deeply plans have gone in and our thoughts have gone in about this but what it runs say from downtown to downtown is that the idea. Yeah the quarter that we've proposed to study with these federal funds would run between Union Station in Washington and Camden station in downtown Baltimore and the idea is that you're connecting two

major business centers there that's a corridor where there's a lot there's a lot of transportation service already a lot more demand we hope. And that's essentially the quarter we see this this maglev train operating in or at least the quarter we're going to try to study. There would be very little opportunity for stops along the way if you're traveling at that speed you know with that amount of time you certainly would be able to do much else about it. But we are going to look at a stop at BWI Airport if there is any generator of trips along that corridor that's likely to be the one. So it was possibly parallel the parts where something essentially it would be in that corridor I mean you have I-95 to BW Parkway the existing Amtrak line the St. Mark service all run in that corridor and so we look I think in a series of alignments that are just right along there. How big would a maglev train be. How many cars how many passengers. Well it's it would be hard to say at this point I mean I think you probably run frequent short trains so that people would instead of having you know an Amtrak train for example which carries hundreds of passengers. But only runs every hour so you I think you try to see these trains running you know every 5

or 10 minutes would be relatively short so maybe you could think of make maybe two cars together. It would be more alike then some subway. That's right that's right. And essentially if you've seen if you can imagine the way it looks if you see them on a rail you know Disney World War I think there's one operating in Seattle now especially looking like that. It's an elevated track a single guideway the train itself wraps around the track. It's a sleek design. You know because it's it's traveling at a speed where you know the friction of the air ends up making a difference. So that's essentially what it looks like to elevate it. Is there any idea what kind of an impact fully developed such a system would have on transportation. Well it's hard to say at this point I mean we really I mean we're looking forward to the opportunity to try to think about how many people it might carry and you know what its impact would be on the transportation system. And we'll certainly do that in the study. But you could certainly imagine that. If you tied together the two central business district of Washington Baltimore the service like that would create new opportunities for both of them. Businesses for example might see you know a way to have

back offices for example in one city or the other is and employees of those businesses could go back and forth so quickly they might do it a couple times a day. So we see you know brand new economic opportunities really and that would be the basis of the trips the people who would drive the service. Any idea how expensive something like that would be to operate. Well it's it would be it would be very expensive to both build and operate and that's one thing we know for sure. And we have very very preliminary cost estimates that were the result of work that the state did a couple of years ago and we think that that 40 mile line could be as much as 3 billion dollars by the time we finally start to construct it. Early in the next century I don't think we have a sense at this point about what it would cost to operate. But there is one you know one important factor which is that the tickets to ride it would have to be priced to cover the cost of operating it so it would be a high end kind of ticket. It absolutely would be. I think it would be I mean right now Marc trains are the least expensive way to do it Amtrak is slightly more expensive this would be even above that. I mean this would be you know for people who for whom the time you know was really worth paying

extra money. So we know comparatively speaking what that would be like. Is there any idea when some kind of a decision would be made on whether it is feasible. Well the the optimistic schedule at this point is that we would be awarded federal funds very soon that we would start studying immediately within about a year. We would have a sense of you know what the ridership was going to be how many people we could expect to ride what it might cost what a possible line it would be. If we can get additional federal support at that time we'd start a full scale study that would take a year or two. We did a couple years for design some for construction. You probably talk about a train actually operating in 2008 domestically. So it's you know it's quite you have to it's quite a long process for putting something like this together. Mr. Kay thank you very much. Thank you very much. Beginning of the school year for many students means the beginning of summer camp. But for some parents choosing a camp may seem overwhelming in just a moment we'll talk about the questions parents should be asking before sending their children off to camp. First

NEWSNIGHT Maryland's Kim Hopper shows us what a day at camp might be like. Summer camp for kids it can be a frightening first step toward independence for parents. A little bit of letting go. It just does not have. Thinking back to. My old boss. No it's not it is a piece of junk but for some safety is the key concern. Let's take a look at your camper health records. Belinda Licklider is a regional sanitarium for the state health department. Her job today to make sure camp area in Frederick is meeting all of the requirements of the Maryland youth camp safety and the list is a long one. We look at. Criminal background. Investigations of staff. Who look at

the health and safety of the medical facilities first aid trained person for stored supplies and procedures and then everything is labeled for their meds. And these are all the meds from home allergy load to bring in with the group has to have a prescription. The inspection begins at Camp Kerry's medical office with over 400 campers organization is crucial rights and somebody checked just to make sure when we checked that the Maghreb or musician can let. Me check my allergies we checked medications. Their first one was Monday and this week sanctions be checked if they have a physical. Last year the state of Maryland certifies roughly three hundred fifty camps every year. Probably less than 15 percent of those are overnight camps like this one. Yet hundreds go uncertified. Not because they failed the inspection but because of a loophole in the law.

That's why we've started you see why don't you just stick the Boy Scouts Broad Creek Camp in Harford County for example isn't considered a resident camp even though the boys sleep there for six nights. The state says seven nights is the cutoff. I've been camp director here for 10 years. I worked here since 1968 in other capacities and to our knowledge no one has brought to our attention that there's been a problem replumb says the Boy Scouts of America have an inspection process of their own that in some ways surpasses the state's system. I certainly would have someone rather have someone judging me who have experience in camping and participated in such versus someone who's just hired for the summer to come and judge me that is a really sure of what they're judging versus what's on a piece of paper. In fact Bluhm says Marilyn modeled much of its youth camp safety at all of the National Boy Scouts of America system. But what about the other camps out there that have fallen through the cracks. But it's all in the questions that the parent

asks. Back in Frederick camp area executive director Mike Schneider says parents need to feel comfortable asking anything in the truth. If parents don't ask the questions then we kind of get a little bit concerned about that only because. We want to make certain that they're comfortable with what they're getting their youngsters and so during the summer they wish the council say. To. Them they already know the character but you know honestly you know it's the right one. The inspection continues with a thorough look at the camper sleeping quarters. OK take a look at the. Shower area there I'll let you go in first. OK and the bathrooms are inspected for hygiene and safety hazards. Then it's off to the pool and for like free swim or open swim how many kids will you have here at the max.

Most never have is half the camp. It'll be the younger units A B and C will come down for about an hour and 45 minutes from here and the other group will be out doing something with their unit and then we just go for it. So that's a neighborhood of about 200 200 at the campus. Other high risk activities like archery riflery and ropes courses counselors are quizzed and credentials are checked and six hours later. Temporary did very well you know the camp rules or even like you know like when you leave. Here. These overweight experts agree it's up to parents to make the final inspection. Thank you all. For NEWSNIGHT Maryland. I'm Kim happy. Joining us now are Ed Cohen from the American Camping Association and David Roberts of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in Maryland and as always you can take part in our discussion by giving us your phone call with a question or comment The number's on the screen. Mr. Roberts let me ask you first from the state of Maryland's point of view. What does it

take to become a recognized something. Well first the campest offer offer a program that's primarily recreational and that takes place mostly in the outdoors. And then we look at the programs in the facilities. And to see if they meet regulation that we have there's a lot both a law and a regulation in Maryland requires camps to meet certain standards safety standards health standards and staffing standards. These are the standards that the inspector in this taped piece was going to exactly. It's a very thorough inspection that's done any way at all the certified camps in the state. OK are all camps in Maryland. Certified by the state or licensed by the state. Well. Not all camps are what are actually defined as Earth camps are certified but there's other camps that may be offering activities that don't meet our specific definition and so then they may not be certified by our department.

Mr. Cohen what does it take to become accredited by the American Camping Association. It's a voluntary accreditation and it means going through a lot of preliminaries and meeting about 300 some standards. There is by the way a whole new set of standards it was just approved for this summer and all the at least a third of the kids have to go into those new seniors and they'll be phased in every three years. It's a very rigid and rigorous kind of. Accreditation process are these new standards more rigid than the old ones. They're not necessarily more rigid but they every one of them is geared to the health and safety of campers because that's a key issue. How do parents know whether a camp is a accredited or be licensed in some way. I'm going to find out. Well the best way is to ask of course when they're involved with registering the children at the camps to see if they are certified and if they are then they'll have a certificate that they can show the parent or they can also call our office to verify if the camp they're applying for is some sort of fun

for the kid. The American gave me says Asian quotation they could call the American campuses Asian That is 1 800. We have the number to some when Tom some call them but also call local campaign office of the Chesapeake S. and they do have a site accredited camp. It means a tremendous amount to any parent. Yeah I would imagine it would you know we were talking before we began the discussion about what camps were like when we were children and. And I'm wondering have camps really expanded a lot since the days of the week. Yeah. No question how do you live when you have to look at the activities I mean they offer. Just about everything you could want when you start with all of your outdoor living things and now your roller hockey and they just about everything that you see going on and they want people. We haven't given into that yet but they do want to paint all kinds of things and then they will pretty much what's going on the outside world.

And it's I don't think there's any more children that are that are going to the camps estates to the parents or a lot of two parent employees. Families send their children are in camps during the summer when the schools office. So there's much more involvement with the camps and they used to be well also there. There are parents now who have you know been through camps themselves and so they regard that as sort of a wonderful way to send their own children I know ours is at least a fourth generation. But I do have a question or concern. There are a lot of places out there calling themselves camps. And we really have to parents have to take a serious look at whether or not they are camps there are many cases in all honesty. Daycare centers there. And they put Camp X in the title. And it really is in the camp and that's something I know David is dealing with. Explain that for a minute David would you. Are you talking about something that is run for say eight hours a day and then the child comes home is that it. Well yes the camps can operate as long as all day you know and with

overnight camps or there are some camps called day camps which are only a few hours during the day. And there's all kinds of such a variety of activities that are offered at the camps it's incredible. Do those day camps or as you call them Mr. Cohen some of them didn't care. Do they fall under your purview. Well there's a difference actually. They care. This is a child and some more of the custody or care instead of a camp where they're offering recreational activities for the children. So there's a different program out of the Child Care Administration for day care. The American Katy says Asian does have a requirement of five days in a period of two weeks a minimum five days to be certified to even apply as a camp for five days meaning standby over five days five either five full days or five resident days to be a five day camp in a day care or residence. But five days in a minimum of two weeks. Let's go over some things that parents need to ask some questions they need to ask before they make a commitment to sending a child again.

Well they should start asking questions about the supervision of the children. They want to make sure that they are clear cut. Supervision that the child's not going to get lost in the shuffle somewhere or misplaced hurt anything like that. The camp that this is good is the staff the light the camp so staffing is very important to accreditation either through the Department of Health or the Camping Association is very telling. I was just going to say would word either of you say that's an that's an imperative that you would insist I would I would feel that way. I mean of course I know you are a strong feeling toward America you can be so sure so zation that leave camp safety and if you meet those standards you can pretty well know that you're doing something very special for a child. I also think by the way that you have to ask who wants to go to camp and that is a key because so often. It isn't the child who wants to go. And that experience turns out to be just exactly like that. And what that child comes is the baggage that we send them with. And that

isn't the suitcase either. And you know one of the things so I think that is and try to visit the camp. I absolutely try to visit the camp some of the other port things or what what are the what your child enjoyed to do because there are so many activities off of the camps that there's there's a camp for almost everything that your child. It's not just searching a tent anymore no a lot of the orienteering rights that are out there. You can get it go to computer camp so yes they are some of them are more slanted to educational. Some of them offer more extreme things rock climbing and canoeing. There's all kinds of I quote a parent running a parent would not be out of line saying I would like to visit and see the facilities and meet the people. Absolutely not. I mean we would encourage that at any time. We also encourage them to come to camp during the summer. If you think you're going to visit that you may want to send your child next summer go this summer to that camp not only do you see the camp facility see it in action and talk to the kids who are there and you really get a Picture

Arts and if a parent. Has a complaint or concern about something that's going on at the camp something that's lacking or whatever. Whom should they complain to. Well probably first they should go to the camp itself and address their concerns with the camp let them know what what the problems may be and it may be something they're not aware of that they can take care of easily and those that are good those from the camp who are seeing credit would go to the camp director if they don't feel they got the answer from that they go to the local section the Chesapeake section of Virginia section or what have you and there is a committee that works in that and then a final recourse if they can have is a go to National. Is the ACA in a for more serious complaints of course. People should come to our office. Yeah let us know what the problems are because we can do a thorough investigation so we keep everything confidential. Gentlemen thank you both very much. Thank you you know what are you looking for something to do this weekend. We're going to give you two hundred and twenty five reasons to check out of Jefferson Maryland that story coming up

later in our state of the arts feature and when we come back she's already earned millions and tomorrow she's going to receive her college degree. Jeff Feltman has that story in a Maryland biz will be right back stay with us. The Prince George's County Police Department has a new tip line the 24 hour number is 3 0 1 3 ninety eight seventy five. Bell Atlantic says it recently added 30 positions at its Cumberland office for the company's national 4 1 1 service. Now you can dial for 1 1 for telephone numbers anywhere in the country. Teenagers will soon have to wait a little longer for their driver's licenses starting July 1st. All new drivers will have to keep their Maryland learner's permits for at least four months for a full license jumps to 17 years and seven months. She's the president of a new Internet commerce company and tomorrow at age 32 she's going to graduate from college. Jeff Socan has more in the Maryland.

Polish Aikman leads a charmed life but it wasn't always that way. Her family lost everything. Fleeing the Iranian revolution in 1976 the British subjects and her family came to the US and settled in New Jersey where she focused on getting an education. You know we grew up really very very poor. You know my mother wore two sometimes three jobs. And so throughout high school I was 12 letters you know top of my class really prime to go to college and my parents got divorced when I was 12. My mom had in the divorce documents you will pay for policy college. And when the time came for me to go to school he skipped town. So Polo wound up as a very ambitious and very talented secretary at a company called to you you know that now the world's biggest Internet company shares are worth millions. Jagan still works there for her mentor John Sidgmore. And while continuing to take classes she has also struck out on her own with a company called

online office supplies dot com. The original idea was to compete against the bricks and mortar stores. The new plan is to help those stores get online. We use Microsoft technology in a way that has never been done before. Microsoft has since adopted us as their e-commerce poster child because they're looking for stories that can sell the e-commerce solution for them. So what's happening is our competitors have now come to us and said We license your technology in your hands hands above what we can do for millions of dollars of investment people I've been working on their website for two years. Ours is still superior because we built it with the right focus. So now instead of just going out and trying to beat Staples and Office and Office Max what I'm actually going to do is now change our strategy. We're going to enable our competitors online. Online office supplies dot com has about a dozen employees now but is adding more quickly and is closing on venture capital financing and is talking with Wall Street about going public. But the most important thing on Paula Jagland schedule is

graduation day Saturday at Hood College where she's at the top of her class and she'll certainly have the best resurvey among the graduating seniors. That's today's Marilyn bits. She sure will. Well in tonight's State of the art feature we're going to take a look at the birth of a Brown is a person located at the base of the hopping mountains on the main road from Frederick to Harpers Ferry. Two hundred twenty five years ago it was called Newtown and Main Street was the only street this weekend. The Jefferson were a Ten Club is throwing a big birthday bash for Jefferson Maryland. And here to tell us all about it is Larry Putnam. So Happy birthday is apparently in order. Now I was reading that this celebration is similar to Jefferson's bicentennial. That's her how is it similar. Well when everyone had the bicentennial celebrations in 1974 Jefferson and a few of the the main stay of the town I guess decided they wanted to participate in that since we were founded in 100 1774.

So they they put on a celebration very summer they had parades they had crafts they had antique tractors antique cars just something for the town to rally around. Let's take a look at some of the pictures of the set up earlier today and well first of all we're going to show you that lovely picture of Jefferson My goodness it is. Try me. Yes we had that specially commissioned by a local artist. He's a member of Baltimore work color society and we wanted to represent capture what the essence of a town and as you go from Frederick to Harpers Ferry. You know first thing you'll see are the two staples and the Harpers Ferry gap in the background there. So it captures everything we hoped it would. Now there's going to be a jury arts and crafts show that's held in a little bit about that. We have they're setting up as we speak at least 80 juried crafters already have people who are putting together stuffed animals Beyers Woods crafts quilting things like that and you know mention bears you have a woman whose name is Barbara Zimmer and let's remember mine I think we have a

shot of her bear somewhere here and she makes a collection collector collectible bears yes. Wow so very interesting. She's making a special bear for the for the celebration too she calls it. I can't remember what she called well it was a special bear I think special bear would do for now. What are there for you Jeff that's was the Japanese we had these fuzzy Jeff we're glad we found your name in time. What other kinds of activities are planned now. You said 25 years ago you had a parade so keenly we assume there's going to be a parade. We're going to have a very nice parade starting at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. The old guard Fife and Drum Corps is going to be in the first section we're going to have some bands old cars we have to auction I don't pull carts through town horse and buggies just look at everything everything you ever expect even some fire engines. Well you have to have fire insurance or parade right now. This was prompted it is a way of taking a look to

how the town has evolved in the past 25 years because I know that in the past when it has changed. Certainly we've gotten a lot of friends development he used to be a string town and now they're suburbs of kind of pulled us in a little bit. I don't interrupt you but right now we're showing some of those beers I don't you know that's what there was that Jeff. Mr. fuzzy Jazzy Jeff I don't know where that phone is that Jeff that's that's the one. Oh good I'm glad we got fuzzy Jeff. OK so I'm sorry continue. It was a strong town so we have a lot of bedroom community type of open area. So this was a way I would hope that we could pull the community together get them out and all the organizations to work towards this this celebration and the churches are very involved in Norris. We have three churches in the media town proper and one on the friends and each of them United Church of Christ is putting on a choral presentation singing spiritual songs throughout the period of the Lutheran church is having a special lawn activity out

Sunday evening. So everybody's getting in the room. And aren't you having some kind of concert. The the core of it I got in the car but are you having anyone else on here claiming entertainment right. We have a radio and it's coming down from Pennsylvania he's a songwriter an artist he's going to do routines. Hats off to America. Oh railroad songs and some other other things and on Sunday we have a local group of country caravan plus who are going to perform country music for us. For those folks that watch that just an old fashioned good time. Absolutely. Well thank you very much for joining us Larry. We would like to tell people again if you want to join the fun. And guess what it's all free of the activities take place this weekend in Jefferson Maryland. Thanks for watching Newsnight Maryland tonight. On Monday we'll look at a recent increase in dog attacks why does the family pet decide to bite the hand that feeds it. Have a great weekend everyone Good night good night.

If you have a comment on tonight's edition of NEWSNIGHT Marilyn. Please e-mail us at NEWSNIGHT at MPG dot org or call our TALKBACK LIVE. At 1 800 5 8 6 1 4 6 1.