WHO: Craigslist users
WHAT: Area Craigslist users, lured by too-good-to-be-true deals, met with people selling items on Craigslist only to be robbed at gunpoint.
WHY IT’S A BAD IDEA: The robbers cannot take all the blame for this one. First, if a deal is too good to be true, it probably is. And second, common sense says meeting someone from the Internet in a place where you could be robbed without anyone noticing is not a good idea. Um … duh? Meet them in the middle of the mall or in the middle of the Inner Harbor. Meet them right next to the police station. Not all people you meet on the Internet are going to rob you — but there’s no reason not to be cautious.
WHERE TO STAY SAFE: wiredsafety.org
Today’s bright bulb: Judges take a busman’s holiday
Maryland’s 285 judges will work during five of their 27 vacation days in 2009. This move, made voluntarily, will save the state more than $500,000. For the deficit we’re facing, $500,000 is but a drop in the bucket — but it’s a welcome drop.
The judges, who are unable to give themselves pay cuts while on the bench, said they were making the move in solidarity with the hundreds of judiciary employees who will be furloughed in 2009.
Quote of the day
“It was a shock to us, and we were saddened by the news. … The man was a friend of ours and still is. That will never change. However, we’ve been praying for all the victims of abuse.” — Francis Blattermann, an active parishioner of St. Leo’s Catholic Church in Little Italy. Church members were informed Sunday that their former priest, the Rev. Michael Salerno, had molested a 13-year-old in the 1970s.
