christmas behind bars - County Times - Southern Maryland Online

13 Thursday, December 22, 2011
The Calvert Gazette
Editorial
Stories Highlight True
Meaning of Christmas
Today’s cover stories highlight a local jail and street ministry’s work in the Calvert
Detention Center and the story of a woman teaching among Maryland’s toughest
criminals. A common theme ran through their stories, the need for more programs
to help at risk youth and to educate those already in prison. Although these
stories are running together, they were actually conceived and people interviewed
months apart. The decision to run these stories this week came two months later.
In November the Calvert Gazette ran stories about local programs and organizations
providing the very services mentioned in the featured stories. In fact, for the
second year in a row, Calvert County has won the 100 Best Communities for Young
People given by America’s Promise Alliance in recognition for programs targeting
the high school drop-out rate, and coming together as a community to identify and
address gaps in services to the youth.
According to a report from March 2010 from the Department of Legislative
Services Office of Policy Analysis, Calvert’s Detention Center averaged 230 inmates
a day in its population. So one can assume, if the prisoners quoted in the featured
stories story are an accurate reflection of what others in their situation would
say, there appears to be a gap between the services offered and their target audience.
So the answer can’t be as simple as providing more programs, spending more
on education and rehabilitation or working with at risk populations. While these are
necessary and great goals and should be done, there has to be a different and better
answer.
Merle Morrow said her spiritual director told her, “The way you change systems
is by changing hearts.”
As mentioned above, there appears to be a gap between what many in society
are trying to provide and what others in society are receiving. How can the gap be
filled? Maybe the answer is in what seemed purely coincidental, the choice to run
the featured stories this week. The front cover photo is of Chaplin John Graham
passing out Christmas cards and “giving an individual word to each of the inmates.”
Over a century ago, on March 12, 1905 on page four of the Washington Post
the headline read “Fervor of Religious Revival Stirs Two Continents.” The headline
took up eight column spaces. The accompanying the story related information
about 100,000 confirmed conversions in Wales and unnumbered conversions
in London and a half a dozen American cities. The Post “proclaimed that the earth
would become heaven if people would only “realize God” and follow the Golden
Rule,” according to authors Collin Hansen and John Woodbridge in A God-Sized
Vision: Revival Stories that Stretch and Stir.
The story further stated that in Wales, “the police found no crime to investigate
amid ‘an almost complete realization of the Golden Rule in all affairs of daily life.’”
The origin of Christmas comes from the Christian story of God stepping down
from heaven to take the form of a baby, later to grow into the man of Jesus. Whether
you believe that Jesus was both fully man and fully God is up to you. But that is
what Christians profess. One international ministry which teaches about Jesus uses
the illustration of two cliffs separated by a bottomless pit – man is on one cliff and
God is on the other. “How can man get across to God?” The ministry draws a bridge
that takes the form of a cross, the place upon which Jesus died for proclaiming his
message.
Jesus’ message was about changing hearts. One at a time. He said. “There is no
greater love than this that a man lay down his life for another.” He had two meanings
in mind when he said this. First he foretold of his dying for his people. But he
also meant people laying down their lives daily for others. Imagine if everyone laid
down time spent watching TV, reading the Internet Social Networks, working extra
hours to get ahead … and invested that hour or so a week in developing relationships
with at risk youth, teaching a job skills class in prison or mentoring an inmate who
just got out of prison.
The nation was originally founded by men and women who believed in the
message of Jesus, the reason for Christmas. As the nation moves further away from
the lessons taught, the prisons fill up. Coincidence? While the Gazette doesn’t have
space to provide all the prisoner’s responses to questions asked, it was interesting to
note that the majority wrote about getting back to teaching church, morals, respect,
spirituality, and sanctity of life as solutions for keeping the prison population down.
The message of the Christmas season boils down to this: When God considered
the struggles of humanity he did not just resource a project to help out. He laid
aside the comforts of heaven and came down to earth. Jesus lived among his people,
personally touching them at their point of greatest need. In addition to the resources
of governments and charities, society needs more people like Chaplin John Graham
and Merle Morrow who followed Jesus’ example willingly laying aside their comforts
to touch those in need. Not just as an act of holiday kindness, but throughout
the year.
When is a Birthday
Cake an Ethics
c
Violation?
By Susan Shaw
Calvert County Commissioner, 2nd District
Recently, the criminal
cases of former
Prince Georges County
Executive Jack Johnson
and his wife, Councilmember
Leslie Johnson,
have been in the news.
How did the so-called
“pay to play” culture of
corruption develop in
Prince George’s County
and then continue for so
long?
At the very beginning of the problem someone
should have filed an ethics complaint before the behavior
escalated to the criminal level. Is this what
would have happened in Calvert County? I hope
so.
Calvert County has an Ethics Commission
comprised of citizen members appointed by the
Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). There
is also a state Ethics Commission, from whom the
local Ethics Commission can seek advice. The role
of the Calvert County Ethics Commission (CCEC)
is first to provide advice, training, and counsel to
County employees and County elected officials to
try to prevent any ethics issues. When asked for
advice, the CCEC may issue an advisory opinion
that is available to other employees who may have
the same or similar questions. Employees, elected
officials, and many Board and Commission members
are required to fill out a financial disclosure
statement at the beginning of each calendar year.
The CCEC reviews these forms and follows up to
clarify any apparent conflict of interest.
In the last Maryland Legislature, an updated
state ethics bill was passed with new, strengthened
requirements that counties pass similar local legislation.
Our local CCEC had already been working
on a re-write of our local ethics code. Using the
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LETTERS
ommissioners
guidance of the new state ethics code,
the CCEC has presented some draft ethics
ordinances to the BOCC.
I have been disappointed to learn that the
updated state code still sets the gift limit for reporting
at $20, which I see as being too low. If
someone bakes a fellow employee a birthday cake,
that could cake could be worth more than $20. The
employee must report all gifts that have a value of
more than $20.
I see the first role of the CCEC as being to address
conflicts of interest and perceived conflicts
of interest. What is the difference between an
actual and a perceived conflict of interest? Very
little. If it looks like self-dealing, it probably is
self-dealing. The second role is to address undue
influence. Judging undue influence can be tricky,
because perhaps the individual just made an error
in judgment or a mistake that benefits a particular
party without any undue influence from anyone or
any benefit to self.
If the CCEC suspects a bigger problem that
might rise to the level of criminal behavior, they
refer their suspicions to the State’s Attorney’s Office
for further investigation.
As part of the current update of the Calvert
County Ethics Code, the CCEC requested subpoena
power. Later, they modified the request to
one for summons power. This request is controversial.
An appointed Ethics Commission is not
a court. It turns out that, so far, no one has ever
failed to appear at a CCEC inquiry when requested
to do so. However, in some instances, individuals
have failed to bring requested documents and have
declined to answer some questions. That happens
even in court. Should this type of judicial power
be extended to the appointed citizens of the CCEC?
What about due process and privacy rights? Stay
tuned as the BOCC continues to weigh the pros and
cons on the way to a new Ethics Code.
Calvert Gazette
P. O. Box 250 . Hollywood, MD 20636
c
orner
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