Editors

Editor: In your article "Walmart protests resume in Bel Air" (Jan.16) Walmart spokesman Bill Wertz stated: "Certainly our charge, from the county is to ensure that we are not aggravating the traffic situation. In fact, we believe we will be able to improve it. " The statement that the traffic situation will be improved after a 186,000 square foot Super Center store, bringing an additional 10,000 to 12,000 cars per day to the intersection of a two-lane Route 924 and Plumtree Road, is beyond ludicrous.

The Catonsville Historical Society was the lucky recipient of a generous check from the Catonsville Woman's Club, due to the group's demise. It was presented at the January board meeting by Becky McNamara, who has been a longtime member of both organizations. The society also received two silver tea services, previously used by the club. Lucy McKean, corresponding secretary Catonsville Historical Society

Martha Sarah McClintock, a longtime Lyric Opera volunteer and a former model and author, died Sunday from complications after hip surgery at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Mount Washington resident was 67. The daughter of a career Air Force officer and a well-known fabric artist, the former Martha Sarah Bean — she never used her first name — was born in Fresno, Calif. Because of her father's military career, she had a "peripatetic childhood, living in houses from Dayton, Ohio, to Cape Cod and Germany," said her husband of 28 years, John M. McClintock, a former Baltimore Sun foreign correspondent who was a copy editor at the time of his 2008 retirement.

Bonnie Lane stands in front of Baltimore's City Hall, arms crossed, lips pursed, on a mission. Her stance is memorialized in a photo and article on the pages of Word on the Street, the fledgling newspaper she helped launch nearly a year ago. The "street paper" — one of 23 in the United States — is produced by homeless people, their advocates, and those who were once homeless, such as Lane. "You need to give people hope," Lane, 39, said. "Once they lose hope, they're not motivated to make things better for themselves.

In its obituary of William Rees-Mogg, sometime editor of The Times , Britain's Independent included this passage : Fraser Nelson, the editor of The Spectator, yesterday recalled the advice Lord Rees-Mogg gave him in 2001: "He said he took inspiration from Ben Johnson's essays: the originals, he said, were still the best. " It seems unlikely, highly unlikely, that Lord Rees-Mogg looked for inspiration to Timber , the collection of miscellaneous notes and observations by Ben Jonson, published posthumously.

The publisher of The Daily Record announced Thursday that a former editor at several Maryland newspapers will become editor of the Baltimore-based business and legal affairs newspaper on Jan. 14. David B. Simon, 36, will replace Tom Linthicum, who retired as vice president and executive editor in December, The Daily Record reported. Simon, who most recently worked for the University of Chicago's fundraising arm as a senior writer in medicine and biological sciences, had been managing editor for news and opinion at The Gazette in Gaithersburg until June, The Daily Record said.

Catonsville residents successfully support our local merchants by shopping locally. Now, we ask people to donate locally as well. The Catonsville Community Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit, asks residents to step up and help local organizations by donating to http://www.donatecatonsville.org . Eleven groups, many without a web presence or fundraising staff, will benefit from your end-of-year donation. This website provides a convenient way to donate to favorite Catonsville causes.

Pallotti Early Learning Center's 1999 low-mileage, light gold, Dodge minivan was stolen from their parking lot on Dec. 1 or 2. When I received the notification from the school to be on the lookout, I took it seriously as a parent. As a working member of the communications and marketing community, however, I realized we can all do more than look for it ourselves. We all have friends, acquaintances and coworkers who we talk to on Facebook or follow on Twitter.  I'd like us, as a community of parents, to engage the larger Laurel community in raising awareness for what's happened. It may only take a "friend of a friend" to lead to a tip that helps Pallotti Early Learning Center retrieve its van. With that in mind, we've taken the liberty of writing a tweet and Facebook post for you to share if you're able.  Please view them as a guideline and change them to best suit your needs.

For those folks seeking to leave the state's farm preservation program because they feel that  they are incapable of financially succeeding in modern day Howard County,  perhaps they should simply sell their farm property at fair agricultural value to those capable of being successful in these present circumstances. They would probably find a number of potential buyers in that process and preserve the integrity of the preservation program as well. Of course they would not make nearly as much money that way.  Steve Curtis Dayton