On the Record

Cyclist Alberto Contador of Spain takes his seat to give a press conference in Pinto on the outskirts of Madrid, Thursday Sept. 30, 2010.

As alibis go, Alberto Contador’s has at least has some sizzle.

The Tour de France champion faced the media this week to address a positive drug test that could cost him his title. The World Anti-Doping Agency found in the Spaniard’s blood samples trace amounts of clenbuterol, a banned steroid that can be used by asthmatics to aid breathing.

The drug can also be given illegally to cows and other animals to increase their growth rate, however, and Contador has blamed the positive drug test on a steak he ate during the race.

According to the Associated Press, Contador said the beef was courtesy of a Spanish cycling organizer at the request of his racing team’s chef, who “had complained of poor quality meat at the hotel where the team was staying.”

Contador said he could not deny himself “really good meat” that a friend of his had brought to France, considering “all the trouble that this person had gone through.”

There is some debate about the plausibility of Contador’s excuse. Unfortunately, he most likely will not get the benefit of the doubt. This is cycling, after all; just ask Floyd Landis.

I’ll let Sports Illustrated’s Austin Murphy, a long-time follower of the sport, have the last word on Contador:

I want to believe that he’s a victim, not a cheater. But this is cycling, the sport where our worst fears about doping are often confirmed. I hope he’s clean, and won’t be surprised if he’s not.

Either way, I hope it was a damn good steak.

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The other day, I found in my office mailbox a photocopied Subway coupon sheet addressed to “Daily Record Newspaper Employees” and touting “great offers.” As a longtime Subway customer, I read on, expecting to find a deal that would save me a few bucks. Instead, I met with an insult to my intelligence.

“Daily Record Newspaper Employees,” one coupon advertised, could get a FOOTLONG sub, chips and a drink for $7.

Thanks for the personal invitation, Subway, but spare me the disingenuous implication of exclusivity. As any regular patron of the sandwich chain knows, that’s what everybody pays when they make a $5 FOOTLONG into a combo meal.

I don’t know whether the other coupons offer similarly misleading deals. Maybe somebody at another downtown Baltimore employer who eats six-inch subs and has little tolerance for “one for $1, two for $2″ bargains cares to chime in.

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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:a new restaurant has taken the place of the former Court Towers Deli in Towson.

Nearly one month after the Perring Place Express Deli closed, the space was open for business again today under a new name: Crush Cafe. The restaurant appeared largely bare, and there was no sign to indicate its name, but I saw a customer walk in and purchase a drink.

My courthouse sources indicated the new restaurant is owned by the same people behind Crush in Belvedere Square, and that the breakfast offerings are pretty tasty. A Crush employee confirmed the restaurant’s Towson presence and said today was the new joint’s first day.

More details as I learn them. Here’s to hoping Crush Cafe can hang around longer than one of Murphy Brown’s secretaries.

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Well, that was quick.

The Perring Place Express Deli in Towson has closed six months after opening. A sign on the door says it is temporarily closed and will open under new management in the “near future.” (But we’ve heard that timetable before.)

My courthouse sources said the closing was so sudden last week it even took the employees by surprise. The general consensus was the food was good but a little a pricey. The sources said they’ve heard it could re-open in three weeks, but no one is holding their breath.

And so the Deli Watch begins again…

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A group of inmates at a prison in Illinois say they’re getting dangerously high levels of soy in their food.

According to a Chicago Tribune story, the inmates allege that they are getting up to 100 grams of soy per day, even though the FDA recommends about 25 grams per day. The soy is everywhere–in soy cheese, cooking oil, gravy, hot dogs, sloppy joes. The head of the foundation backing the lawsuit calls the high-soy diet “the Tuskegee of the 21st century.”

The inmates say they’re having big health issues, such as gastrointestinal difficulties, allergic reactions and heart problems.

One former inmate, who isn’t actually a plaintiff, said he is allergic to soy. Prison meals caused a big problem for him in the tight confines of a cell, he told the Tribune.

“Gas was really an issue,” said [Thomas] Salonis, who was released from prison last fall. “And most of my (cellmates) were real big, and they were like, ‘Hey man you gotta take that somewhere else.’ But I was like, ‘Where am I gonna take it?’ The whole thing was just offensive.”

The foundation head says the diet conditions at the prison represent an accidental experiment in “what happens when you feed people soy with no other choices. This situation has brought it out into the open.”

HT: ABA Journal.

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About a month ago, I noted in this space that The Perring Place Express Deli had opened across the street from Baltimore County Circuit Court.

I also promised a restaurant review at some point. (Since the deli opened, the question I regularly receive is, “How is it?”) So yesterday, I bought the sandwich pictured on my way downtown from Towson.

I selected corned beef on rye with mustard, because any deli worth its salt shakers must make one and it’s pretty much impossible to screw up. This one came with chips and a pickle for $6.50.

The corned beef was lean, even though it did not indicate that on the menu, which is worth major bonus points in my book. The Dijon mustard was an interesting choice; I would have gone with the spicy mustard.

But that did not stop me from eating the entire thing. I was definitely full for much of the afternoon, which is really all you can ask for from a sandwich. I would go back and sample other things on the menu, including the breakfast items.

(Question for all of the lawyers out there – can I expense the sandwich? )

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The stereotypical sweet for cops is a doughnut, but that has changed in Maryland – at least until the New Year.

My colleague, Liz Farmer, passed along a press release from the state’s Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapter announcing its fourth annual “Cookies for Cops” campaign. From now through Dec. 31, thousands of cookies will be delivered to law enforcement agencies throughout the state, a sugary way of thanking officers for their work.

There were 152 drunk-driving fatalities in Maryland last year, down from 178 in 2007, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

You can visit MADD’s Web site if you’re interested in contributing to the cause. (And if you need people to test the cookies you bake, feel free to send them to our office.)

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There’s a reason why something that can be done easily is “like stealing candy from a baby” instead of “like stealing candy from a police officer.” The latter scenario will never end well.

So it went for an Ohio man who was arrested earlier this week after attempting to steal sweets from a police station. Middletown police said 32-year-old Derek Kidd and his girlfriend had just been released from jail Wednesday after disorderly conduct arrests when Kidd was caught.

The couple were asking people outside the station if they could use a cell phone, so police brought them inside to one of their phones. While Kidd’s girlfriend made a call, an officer chased Kidd out of a break room. A search uncovered two used syringes, a police-issued hat and two Whatchamacallit candy bars. Not surprisingly, Kidd faces additional criminal charges.

Personally, I wouldn’t have risked jail time over a Whatchamacallit, but maybe that was all that was available. Also, my inner-journalist wishes Kidd took another candy bar, one with chocolate and caramel, so I could’ve written the line, “Man steals 100 Grand.”

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Happy Monday and welcome back!

• Was a man shot in Mount Vernon the victim of a hate crime? HT: Baltimore Crime.
• Who would buy meat from a van, anyway?
• Letting 300 people out of pre-trial lockup every month would save $10 million a year? Page Croyder is skeptical.
• Under 10 percent of drug offenders have access to drug courts.
• A legal secretary says she was fired two hours after telling the firm she had cancer.

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I received a lovely Edible Arrangements fruit basket at my desk this morning.

Since I can find a law angle to almost anything, I’ll tell you that there was a funny warning label attached to my fruit. It told me, first off, that the arrangement was made with skewers. No kidding! So that’s what those pointy things sticking out of the fruit were.

Then the label told me to “[c]arefully remove fruit with utensil and dispose of fruit skewers immediately.” As opposed to just chomping away with the skewers still attached? But that eliminates all the extra fiber!

Also, “adult supervision [is] required” when children are around the container the arrangement came in. I can’t think of what horrible, deadly thing kids could do with an empty basket, but maybe that’s a failure of imagination on my part.

Finally, the arrangement can only be safely transported in the trunk of the car. “Never allow a passenger to hold arrangement while vehicle is in motion,” I was cautioned. Of course, that’s exactly what most people are going to do, since if it goes in the trunk it might roll around — and horrors, maybe even dislodge one of those lethal skewers!

I cringe to think of the Edible Arrangements-related injuries that must have prompted these over-the-top legal warnings.

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