Choice

Greg Cantori plans to downsize when he retires. Really, really downsize. His retirement home is 238 square feet — one-tenth the size of the average new American house — and sits in his Anne Arundel County yard. He and wife Renee can hitch it to a truck and take it with them wherever they go. "It's so cheap — that's what's so cool about this," said Cantori, 52, who envisions a surf-and-turf future, alternating between the house and a sailboat. "We bought the house for $19,000.

The world recently learned of the astounding story   of the three women who were found alive in a house in Cleveland after being kidnapped on the streets about 10 years ago. Two of the women were teenagers when they disappeared.   I've never been one to let sensational news guide by parenting. I send the kids off to school each day without thinking of the terrible Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. I try not to think of all the people who die in car accidents when I hand the car keys to my 16-year-old son.   But every now and then I stop and wonder if I'm making the right decisions in the freedom I give my kids.

Orb's path to the finish line in the second leg of the Triple Crown remains uncrowded. Normandy Invasion, the fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, dropped from contention for Saturday's 138th running of the Preakness on Sunday. Trainer Chad Brown and owner Rick Porter decided to stick with their original plan and point the horse toward prestigous races for 3-year-olds later in the summer. That leaves Orb, the colt co-owned by Baltimore County resident Stuart Janney III and Ogden Mills "Dinny" Pipps' stable, with only seven confirmed challengers at this point.

We share the editorial view that outgoing Baltimore City Schools CEO Andrés Alonso created a strong platform to sustain ongoing improvement in our schools ("School reform 2.0," May 12). But the editorial's call for more standardization around the system is off the mark. Instead, we urge the system to use this moment to engage parents, school leaders and others in a discussion about how we define a high-quality school. What does a good school look like and how do we measure it? In some ways, we know a good school when we see it: children are loved for who they are and challenged to be their very best.

Bob Baffert strode into the Preakness stakes barn Friday morning, shouting toward Orb's trainer Shug McGaughey loud enough so all could hear. "OK, Shug, I'm here to take away that media spotlight for you," he said. Baffert, indeed, is one of the few people in the sport who could have swiped some of the attention from McGaughey and his heavily favored colt this week . Baffert has won the Preakness five times, and on three occasions he's moved on to Belmont with a chance at the Triple Crown.

Up to half of sexually active young people will get a sexually transmitted disease by the time they are 25, yet many don't seek testing because it may be difficult, costly or embarrassing. Public health officials nationally and in particularly affected cities like Baltimore, however, say they've found a method that seems to address the major hurdles — a website that supplies free in-home testing kits for three of the most commonly reported STDs. "The highest prevalence is in young adults, and we knew we had to reach these kids," said Charlotte A. Gaydos, a professor of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Maryland's Gov. Martin O'Malley is going to push for a higher gasoline tax or sales tax ("VA. Takes the lead," Jan. 10). Meanwhile, Virginia's Gov. Robert McDonnell is pushing for abolition of his state's gasoline tax. So, where would you like to live if you had a choice? F. Cordell, Lutherville Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Kudos to President Obama for his courageous decision to deny a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. As a former resident of Colorado, I can vouch for the fact that the Ogallala Aquifer that would have been threatened by the pipeline is a crucial source of drinking and agricultural water for much of the Midwest. Keystone I, built several years ago, has had a long and sad history of accidents and spills. With this decision, millions of future Americans will be spared a legacy of pollution.

Thank you for your excellent discussion about the unseemly role of "special interest money" from developers, lawyers, unions, political action committees and trade groups in the financing of the campaigns of at least five of the Democrats running in this week's primary for Baltimore County Council seats in the 1st, 5th and 6th districts ("Buying influence?" Sept. 8). Fortunately, in November the people of those districts will have the option of voting for Republican candidates beholden to nobody but them: Steve Whisler in the 1st, David Marks in the 5th and Ryan Nawrocki in the 6th. Gloria Murphy, Catonsville

As one who has been following the pros and cons of the gay marriage debate, one fact has gone unmentioned. There is no way to convince a person to be or not be homosexual; it is not a choice but the way one is born. For religious people, this means that gays and lesbians have been created by God to be who and what they are. Medical research has shown that gay people's brains are actually "wired" differently than those of heterosexuals. Why would anyone "chose" to be homosexual knowing that it would mean being shunned by a large segment of the population out of ignorance or hate?

David Wilson has it spot on ("Why education should be considered a civil right" May 13). K-12 education is not only the civil rights issue of our time, it is the moral issue of our time. The public education system is failing far too many kids and the poorer one is, the worse it is. Why should anyone's educational opportunities be rationed by their family income? We need to change the way we fund public education and fund parents and children rather than the education establishment.

Even the most jaded observer must acknowledge there's something admirable about the desire of so many living on Smith Island to see their community survive and prosper. Residents of this marshy (and shrinking in both population and real estate) archipelago on the lower Eastern Shore have had to overcome much in recent years, particularly as their chief means of livelihood, harvesting the seafood bounty of the Chesapeake Bay, has declined. But it's one thing to admire the hard work, independence and faith of Smith Island's residents - who number a mere 276, according to the 2010 Census - and it's another to deny the reality of their circumstances.

The selection of Barbara Canavan to be the interim superintendent of Harford County Public Schools was a very good choice. In some ways, it's perhaps a brilliant choice. Time, as it always does, will say for sure, but it certainly seems that Canavan is exactly the right person to lead Harford County Public Schools for the coming year, if not beyond. Canavan, who has worked in the county's public schools for 40 years, potentially could not only take good care of the public school system, but be more than just a caretaker.

Last week was a great one for cable news watching. Not because any one channel did such outstanding work, but rather because several stories clamored simultaneously for the camera's attention. The choices that a channel makes in such situations are usually one of the best barometers of where it really lives. After two days and nights of watching CNN ping-pong back and forth on location from the Cleveland captivity story to the Jodi Arias trial in Arizona, I can say for the first time since Jeff Zucker took over as president in January that I have a pretty good idea of where his CNN is headed day-to-day.

Baltimore-area home sales rose 15 percent in April compared with a year earlier, and newly pending deals soared as buyers kicked the spring housing market into higher gear, according to data released Friday. Prices remained largely unchanged at $238,000 for the typical home in the region — Baltimore and its five suburban counties. That remains well under the region's April peak of $275,000 six years ago, after the housing bubble pushed up prices but before the bust and financial crisis deflated them.

In the United States of 2013, any youngster can walk into a store and buy a bottle of aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen or some other pain reliever without showing any identification, parental consent or a doctor's order. They don't have to be 15 or 17 or even old enough to know how to make exact change if the cashier will help them out. So what's the big deal about a bottle of a common analgesic, you may ask? Well, it may be the most dangerous over-the-counter drug available. Each year, poison control centers across the nation get thousands of calls from people who have overdosed on painkillers, particularly acetaminophen, which some people deliberately take to commit suicide, as it can cause acute liver failure if consumed in sufficient quantity.

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler's opinion that Maryland should recognize same sex marriages from other states should not be faulted ("Md. can recognize same-sex marriages," Feb. 25). He had little choice. He is merely followed the Constitution. The Constitution provides: "Section 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. "Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

On Sunday some 1,500 Maryland citizens demonstrated their sincere and intense opposition to abortion by turning out in 100-degree heat to form a "Life Chain" to Annapolis in the hope of overturning Maryland's new liberal abortion law.But one person's commitment is another person's oppression, and so it is with abortion. If you don't believe that every abortion is murder, and believe that abortion is an acceptable, even if undesirable, way to limit the number of babies a woman chooses to have, then the anti-abortion position does indeed become a most insidious form of oppression.

As a physician at the April 11 public hearing on proposed changes in the HCPSS Wellness Policy, I left with an appreciation for the articulate students who expressed concern about the nutrition value of some foods offered in school during and after classes. A Centennial High student thanked Booster Club efforts to fund uniforms and trips for athletic teams.    Clearly we have in Howard County extraordinarily committed students, adults and...