Land swap could solve Waverly Mansion threat
Justifiable opposition exists to locating a gas station adjacent to Waverly Mansion.
A suggestion to the Howard County Council: Why not trade 3 or 4 acres of county property adjacent to the Alpha Ridge Landfill entrance in return for the county receiving title to the presently proposed gas station location.
It could be maintained as parkland adjacent to Waverly Mansion.
This trade would provide a more appropriate gas station location while preserving the historic Waverly Mansion location from unnecessary adjacent commercial development.
Ted Warfield, Woodstock
Parents the ultimate child-safety lock
Enough on gun control and child safety locks. Safety isn't about more governmental control. It is about better parenting.
There aren't enough laws or safety devices to defray just being a parent. These days, it seems, parents are too busy looking for someone else to blame for their inadequacies at home.
Statistics show that more children drown in a bucket of water than are killed by guns. Are we to assume we need to child proof all the buckets? Where are the parents and why aren't they doing their jobs?
The reality is we can't save every child from some sort of accident but we surely shouldn't believe the government should take over for the parents.
Spend more time with your children and you'll know what they're doing.
Dawn N. Bach, Ellicott City
Wal-Mart took a courageous stand
Regarding Susan Reimer's column on May 30 ("Wal-Mart and the business of contraception"): Why should Christian mothers object so strongly that Wal-Mart no longer carries the newest pregnancy prevention pill?
Are mothers today teaching their girls that pre-marital sex is OK as long as they have protection? Aren't they concerned about their daughters (or sons) contracting AIDS or other venereal diseases?
We do believe the bottom line was a moral issue with Wal-Mart. They lost a lot of business from the general public.
I'll shop Wal-Mart when I can. It deserves support. More power to them.
Alice J. Wickman, Ellicott City
Questions about current events
1) The front-page headline on June 13, "NATO rolls into Pristina," was atop a sub heading, "Serbs flee their villages." We know that when Albanians fled their villages it was called "ethnic cleansing." What's it called now that Serbs are fleeing?
2) How can President Clinton be so smug? The United States and 18 other nations (aka NATO) initiated an air war against a country that's smaller than Ohio. The U.S. alone had ample airpower to bomb Yugoslavia back to the dark ages. How could NATO possibly lose? After 78 days of relentless bombing, the tiny country couldn't take it anymore. The only surprise is that it took so long. Does that make the commander-in-chief, who was a draft-dodging, military-loather in his youth, a military hero now? I don't think so.
3) Emergency spending bills can use the money in the Social Security trust fund. Emergency spending bills provide billions of dollars to pay for the 78 days of bombing Yugoslavia and will provide billions of additional dollars to rebuild what we blew up in Yugoslavia.
So we might think of the 78 days of bombing and the years of rebuilding Yugoslavia as "our Social Security dollars at work."
William J. Scanlon Jr., Ellicott City
Looking forward to a new Ellicott Mills
On behalf of the Worthington Elementary School PTA, we would like to thank publicly the Howard County Board of Education, county executive and council for authorizing funds for the replacement of Ellicott Mills Middle School.
Many parents and citizens advocated on behalf of this project. They are pleased that our elected representatives acknowledge the educational efficacy of providing a modern, accessible and fully functional facility to the population served by Ellicott Mills.
We look forward to occupying the superior structure designed by the accommodating architects at Tom Clark Associates.
Elizabeth M. Haynes
Karen B. Potter, Ellicott City
The writers co-chair the Ellicott Mills Middle School improvement committee of the Worthington Elementary School PTA.
Easing the pressure for quality day care
On May 13, Gov. Parris N. Glendening signed legislation into law to strengthen oversight of Maryland's day care. The new law, which becomes effective Oct. 1, requires the state to make unannounced inspections of home-based day care facilities.
Under current law, the state is required to conduct an announced inspection of a home-based day care facility when the providers permit is up for renewal every other year. The unannounced inspection will be conducted the year the permit is not up for renewal.
The bill was lobbied into law by the grief-stricken parents of 6-month old Ivan Denny and 5-month old Matthew Harrison, who suffocated last year in a Kent Island day care home when a quilt accidentally fell over their faces.
It should be noted that even before the unannounced inspection bill was signed into law, Maryland's regulation of licensed day care homes and centers was among the strictest in the nation.
Day-care licensees must comply with strict fire and safety standards, child-proof drawers and cabinets, medical examinations, periodic training and criminal background checks for every adult in the home. A day-care home facility can care for no more than 8 children. No more than two children under the age of 2 years, including the provider's own child, can be cared for in a home setting.
Indeed, Maryland's regulated day care is among the best in the nation. The good news is that in 1998, for the sixth consecutive year, Working Mother magazine rated Maryland one of the top 10 states for quality day care. The bad news is that there never has been and there are not now enough day care slots for the 74 percent of Maryland moms who work.
Adding to the pressure for more day care are families leaving the welfare rolls. A recently released study, conducted by the National Center for Children, reveals that from January 1997 to January 1998, the state welfare caseload declined 22 percent, while the request for child care vouchers rose 29 percent, from 13,074 to 16,831.
Of the 14,500 day care facilities in Maryland, about 12,200 are in home facilities that must be inspected every 2 years. The remaining 2,300 facilities are larger child-care centers which must be inspected every year. According to records filed with the State Child Care Administration, as well as Howard County District Courts, day-care license revocation usually is the result of caring for more children or younger children than allowed.
The day-care shortage is most critical for working mothers with infants and toddlers under 2 years.
The National Child Care Survey showed that 42 percent of working mothers with children under age 3 depend on licensed day-care providers in a family home or child care center. However, the majority of those working mothers either brought caregivers into their own homes or took their children to the home of a relative, friend or neighbor for day care.
There is one state-licensed day care slot for every 5 children under the age of three. In Howard County, that ratio is also 5-1. In Prince George's County, it's 6-1. With a ratio of nearly 8-1, Baltimore City has the greatest shortage of day care slots for these very young children.
The State Child Care Administration has the legal mandate to oversee licensed and unlicensed care. In 1991, the Maryland General Assembly approved legislation giving the administration search warrant power to enter homes of unlicensed providers. But the administration's limited resources make it impossible to focus on anything other than licensed care. The Child Care Administration does offer help to parents looking for good day care. It has 13 regional offices that will verify licenses and guide parents to legal day care operations.
The state's goal is to foster regulated care in order to assure that minimum standards of child safety are met. The goal is not to punish unlicensed providers, but to help them get licensed. To that end, amnesty was granted to unlicensed providers for two months in 1992 in an attempt to bring them in and get them licensed.
Finding quality day-care continues to be one of the most difficult challenges for working parents. Few decisions are more important for parents than choosing the best day-care provider for their child. State licensed day-care providers must meet the highest standards of child care and child safety. Parents want and should have the assurance that they are placing their child in safe and competent hands.
Martin G. Madden, Clarksville
The writer is minority leader in the Maryland Senate, where he represents parts of Howard and Prince George's counties in the 13th Legislative District.
Pub Date: 6/20/99