Editorial

The March 28 edition of the Howard County Times had an editorial concerning the General Assembly's increase in the gas tax. It was noted that the Transportation Trust Fund's "lockbox" isn't very securely locked. The accompanying editorial cartoon indicated that the Times believes that diversion of funds from the lockbox is a question of "when," not "if. " One wonders how long it will before elected officials propose non-transportation use of the funds. Let's see - that would be immediately after passing the bill.

The recent editorial ("Teachers packing heat," April 4) has a scathing opinion of the National Rifle Association's proposal to arm teaching staff in schools. The editorial calls this an "egregious line of thinking" and suggests that if "strapping a sidearm on the school librarian" is a deterrent, everyone should be required "to carry loaded weapons around wherever they go. " The editorial also claims that polls still who strong public support for universal background checks for gun purchases and that such an arrangement is the least politicians should support.

The heat of summertime is when roaring wildfires are fodder for reports on the national news, but for a few weeks in early spring and mid autumn, the outdoor conditions in northeastern Maryland make this area prone to field and woods fires. Late last week, and earlier this week brush fires were put out in wooded areas in Joppatowne and Fallston. Other fires have kept the volunteer fire service busy, and can be expected to do so for another two or three weeks. In the past, Maryland Forest Service staff have explained that in the springtime, a combination of factors make the outdoors vulnerable to errant sparks.

Editor: I would like to ask the citizens of Harford County which of the following pieces of legislation they would support: • An onerous sales and inflation tax on gasoline that will increase the current rate by 83 percent in five years; • The most oppressive gun control law in the nation that strips away our Second Amendment rights to defend our families; • A multi-billion dollar risky wind mill project - the only kind of this...

It's been more than 25 years since Douglas H. Ginsburg asked that his nomination to become a U.S. Supreme Court justice be withdrawn. The prospective high court justice nominated by Ronald Reagan, it turned out, smoked marijuana and ended up admitting to it. Such were the times that there was a vast political divide on the subject of recreational marijuana. The Reagan-Ginsburg side was squarely against it; the opposition joked that everyone knew Ginsberg had smoked marijuana, but their Ginsberg, beat poet Alan Ginsberg, was a standard-bearer of the American counter culture.

Loyal readers of The Sun's opinion section may have felt a twinge of name recognition at the news of a 50-year-old Lutherville physician accidentally struck and seriously injured by an SUV on northbound North Charles Street Thursday morning. That might be because the pedestrian involved was a familiar name on these pages - Dr. Theodore "Ted" Houk. If Dr. Houk had walked into an editorial board meeting last week, it's doubtful anyone would have recognized him on sight. But as a writer of letters to the editor, he enjoys a modest form of celebrity in our offices.

The grocery industry has become smitten with Towson, but is so much love a good thing? With the opening two weeks ago of a Weis Markets, the third new grocery store to open in Towson in the past two years, supermarket shoppers in the region can choose between about 10 chain grocery stores. That doesn't even include big box stores that also sell food, like Target. Meanwhile, another chain, Harris Teeter is a suitor for the fire house property in the center of Towson where it wants to build a store.

Maryland's Constitution provides recourse, the referendum, to those who believe bad laws are on the books or new laws are necessary. The general idea is, let's put it to a vote. The process for getting a referendum question on the statewide ballot begins with gathering a certain number of signatures on a petition. Enough signatures, and the ballot question becomes one of your choices on Election Day. But what about those signatures? Who gets to sign? How are the signatures to be gathered?

It wasn't that many years back when some Harford County high schools were organizing graduation ceremonies at relatively large venues outside the county, notably in Towson. The argument for the practice was rather pragmatic: Each graduate was allocated a relatively small number of tickets to graduation ceremonies held in the home high schools, so not all the family members who might want to attend were able to. There were plenty of pragmatic arguments against the practice, as well.

The editorial in the Catonsville Times, published March 6, "Sequestration — a political game with real pain") contains these misleading statements: • "Federal government workers and contractors wait nervously to see what these automatic spending cuts will mean in job furloughs and program trims. " • "Spending cuts of $85 billion are the stakes in this cynical game. " • "The cuts are expected to lead to long lines at airports, furloughs of federal workers, reduced access to Head Start programs for young students and reductions in food inspection and border security.