He's not homeless Buzz. He was arrested at his home, and apparently runs a BBQ joint. Maybe crazy as a click beetle, but I'll be the guy makes some righteous BBQ.

Hi Stan, thanks for commenting. Davis was charged under these sections of Maryland criminal law:

http://www.michie.com/maryland/lpExt.dll/mdcode/94b2/9c92/9d37/9d4c?f=templates&fn=document-frame.htm&2.0#JD_cr9-505
http://www.michie.com/maryland/lpExt.dll/mdcode/94b2/9c92/9d37/9d47?f=templates&fn=document-frame.htm&2.0#JD_cr9-504

Stan, I just hope he doesn't make the BBQ in the commode.

The homeless reference was to the thousands of mentally ill wandering around the streets since the state closed down the hospitals.

The state thought, which they seldom do, that these patients would be better served in group homes.

We see how that turned out. The service they get is what motorist give them while they stand on median strips.

Buzz, you crack me up. I have to ask: What do you think is the symbolism behind the toilets as his chosen method of protest?
Stan, the toilet alone is nothing, but the cell phone, the radio and the wires in connection with the toilet put this episode over the top in my opinion. And yes, he does make good BBQ.

Buzz, I don't think that the group home paradigm has ever been given a fair trial. Here in Woodlawn there is one particularly noisy and public busybody who has raised Cain every time a group home location is proposed. I see developmentally disabled people around the neighborhood frequently, and they are always well behaved. It's the "mainstream" students at the high school who are the troublemakers. True, there have been some group home operators who have done horrible stuff, but I think these protestors have driven the sincere and honest people out of that business.

Here's the situation as I see it: some people do not want "institutions," while others do not want "group homes." The only alternative remaining is euthanasia...

Tyler, thanks for the legal citations. Regarding section 9-504, is it a safe assumption that some other section of the code makes it a crime to transmit a VALID bomb threat? This part seems to criminalize only phony ones.

...unless you factor in his past actions, in which he has used toilets as an artistic medium, apparently with the AVMA. His name and address was on the thing!

I am just concerned that any more it takes so little to disrupt the flow of normal life. I think it was in Salt Lake City where the bomb squad cordoned off a suspicious briefcase and blew it up, only to discover that it was a trumpet someone had inadvertantly left behind.

When we over-react constantly, the terrorists have succeeded. Their goal was not to kill all Americans, but to change the USA fundamentally and irreversibly.

BTW, what do the initials "JT" stand for? Check the terms of use and properly identify yourself, please.

I have properly identified myself. My friends and family know me as JT, so I don't see how I'm violating the terms of use. But if I have I assume the Patch will let me know. Thanks for your interest.

Thanks for the kind words.

Let's leave the race-baiting to the Baltimore Sun discussion groups please.

Please don't feed the trolls.

Elizabeth, thanks for your personal perspective on the man.

Regarding the possibility that someone would sabotage a person's BBQ order because of race hatred-- everyone who loves BBQ realizes that it is a sacred substance, not to be tampered with maliciously. Now, fast-food is an entirely different story.

Thanks Elizabeth for the explanation.

Emily, scroll up, Tyler linked all of the criminal charges.

My best guess he did it in the dead of night. After everything shuts down up there it's a ghost town.

In a way, I feel bad for a mind in that state of turmoil. Who knows, maybe he did it for the attention. It appears he did not have a lot going for himself. Either way, another case of some serious mental issues.

There are people with "serious mental issues" who also have some incredible talents. It can be a real balancing act for some of them. Good movies on this subject: A Beautiful Mind; The Tic Code; The Soloist...

Some of what we call psychotic, schizophrenic or psychopathological behavior enables certain people to produce marvelous works of art, literature, mathematics, music. And medicating the "crazy" behavior destroys the creative. So what is our moral responsibility to such people? No easy answer.

Yes, except amplified to an almost unbearable degree for these people.

I don't have to work today, so I was in no rush to go to bed.

I certainly remember Rolf Hertsgaard, but not that particular program. I wonder if the station has it, and would put it online.

People who were not around then would find it unbelievable that the late news on TV consisted of Rolf standing at a little lectern reading the news copy, without so much as a still photograph projected as a slide. It was radio news, except you could see the newsman.

Not to drift off into nostalgia, but when was the last time you saw anyone on TV with such a blatantly Scandanavian name as that?

If there is an underlying issue there the court will determine the course of action. The key word here is action. That was not the case with Loughner. The cops had their chance and they failed.

In the county its called an emergency evaluation. You take them to the hospital and they decide.

One of the first calls I ever handled was a similar type. I had to take the guy to Spring Grove when they omitted him.

I think the loss of his son has huge ramifications in this issue. If you are already on the edge this could be the catalyst that pushes you over the presepice.

I saw things of this nature first-hand, around the age of twelve. A community band in which I played trumpet gave concerts at the nursing home facilities around town. This was 1960 or thereabouts, when there was no inspection or regulation. One place was in an old church on Fayette Street, just east of the shot tower. You walked in through the wards to get to the day room, and on the way you would pass piles of human waste on the floor. City Hospital (now JHU Bayview) had a ward for the "indigent," and it was just as bad, if not worse. To this very day, if you go into the comparable section of Bayview you will see some grotesque sights. For that matter, I have seen things in Charlestown that I would like to be able to wipe from my memory.

There remain many unanswered questions about the way we care for people with dementia, or simply those who are old and unwell. It's way off-topic here, but suffice it to say that the people you see in advertising photos of retirement homes don't look like most of the ones you would see there in the flesh.

It's simply a question of who is a racist and whom not.

If you know the history of New Orleans, you know that it is the most color-conscious city on the continent. Blacks, Creoles, whites. North of Canal Street. South of Canal Street. Yet they manage to carry on.