Children

HAMPTONVILLE, N.C. -- Junior Johnson sits on his cherry red couch, his wife, Lisa, beside him and their two small children climbing all over him. Johnson, 66, wears a beatific smile.The stock cars and racetracks are behind him. These days, his job description is as follows: loving husband, doting father and master of a country chateau."This is when you should have children," Johnson says. "Most people work all their lives and can't spend as much time as they want with their kids. Then, when they're at the age to retire, the kids are grown and gone.

Sometimes, it's the small things that make you happy about where you are. Here's what I mean. It was an early spring day and I was walking back from the post office when I heard a bunch of commotion from kids, so I crossed the street to steer clear of it, anticipating the worst. As I progressed up the street a bit further, I saw what the racket was. Like a row of teeth with one knocked out, there was a grass lot in the line of row homes where a house used to be (it blew up a few years back, and now it's just an empty grass lot)

The heart-rending images of injured and frightened children after Haiti's devastating earthquake last month no doubt stirred the compassion of many Americans, including the Baptist evangelicals from Idaho now being held on suspicion of human trafficking in Port-au-Prince. We reserve judgment on the group's claim that they were motivated only by the best of intentions when they tried to spirit more than 30 youngsters across the border into the neighboring Dominican Republic without proper documents.

Editor: CASA of Harford County would like to extend a tremendous thank you to all of the individuals and companies that helped to make our second annual Bull and Oyster Roast on Feb 25, such a huge success. Thank you first to Sterling Caterers of Jarrettsville Gardens for providing such a wonderful location for our event. Thank you to all of our hardworking volunteers who worked tirelessly to make sure the event went off without a hitch. Most importantly, CASA of Harford County would like to thank the business community here in Harford County for their generosity in choosing to sponsor our event.

It is awkward to say the least for the Archdiocese of Baltimore to refuse to sell closed Catholic school buildings for use as charter schools ("Archdiocese won't sell or least to charter schools," March 17). The Archdiocese "owns" these buildings in only a technical legal sense. Many individual contributions of Catholic parents built these schools — for the education of children. When charter schools propose to use these now empty buildings for the very use for which they were constructed, the Archdiocese ought to jump at the opportunity.

Play is like education of the body, character or mind … The further removed play is from reality, the greater its educational value. For it does not teach facts, but rather develops aptitudes. - Roger Caillois Baltimore City officials are poor-mouthing again over the issue of play areas for children. When the weather becomes hot, they try to close or cut the hours of swimming pools. With colder and shorter days approaching, they threaten to shut down numerous neighborhood recreation centers.

- Federal regulators are recalling more children's jewelry because of high levels of the toxic metal cadmium. This time it's charm bracelets with a "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" theme sold at dollar-type stores. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says the items should immediately be taken away from children and thrown away. Cadmium emerged as a major safety concern this year after an Associated Press investigation reported that some children's jewelry contained as much as 91 percent of the heavy metal, a carcinogen that also can damage kidneys and bones.

I would like to applaud the wonderful op-ed by Alan Guttman regarding Head Start and the sequester budget cuts ("What can't be measured," March 6). It is so important that people understand the critical role of Head Start in educating our children. This key program is responsible for the success of so many. Few realize just how much early learning factors into a child's ability to succeed in later academics. You have done our community a service by highlighting this. For all of the great things I could say about the article, I found one thing wanting.

The obstacles for Sunday night's "Brian's Baseball Bash," hosted by Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts, were more pronounced this year than in its previous four years. Roberts had spent most of the season on the disabled list with a herniated disk in his back before returning at the end of last month. And the previous venue, the ESPN Zone, had recently closed, leaving Roberts and the University of Maryland Hospital for Children looking for a new site. "I think it's out of sight, out of mind sometimes," Roberts said.

Show children how big the universe is at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt. Children and their families can get a glimpse of plans for the James Webb Space Telescope and its research into galaxy formation and star life cycles. Children will get to see how the telescope will explore using infrared light. The “Sunday Experiment” event is Sunday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Goddard Center's Visitor Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road. Find more information on the center's website .