Family Court

In the past four years, Kathleen M. Murphy has become an outspoken advocate for the establishment of a statewide family court system. It was her drawn-out divorce and child support case that sparked her activism. And it is that same case that has brought her efforts to an end.In exchange for Murphy's silence on matters relating to their legal battles, her former husband, Lloyd N. Schaeffer, agreed Friday to release Murphy from her responsibility to make monthly child support payments for their son.The settlement, ordered by Carroll Circuit Judge Raymond E. Beck on Friday, ends the public legal battles between Murphy and Schaeffer that have continued since their October 1992 divorce.

The County Council will conduct public hearings tonight on bills that would earmark state grants for programs for seniors and family court cases.The hearings and votes are formalities that permit adding the money received from the state to the current budget.Anne Arundel was one of five counties that received grants from the state to implement programs to expedite the handling of family-related court cases.The county's grant of $110,000 will be used to pay for services such as mediation to resolve cases before they get to court, or other efforts that would speed the handling of such cases.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- With the holidays upon us, thoughts will turn soon to New Year's resolutions. More than 35 million children - nearly half the children in America - play sports each year, so plenty of parents and coaches would do well to resolve to make sports better for boys and girls in 2007. "Making sports better" means no more adults slugging one another at games for children as young as 6. No more "select" teams that cut 8-year-olds. No more adults whose zeal to win has fueled an epidemic of overuse injuries in preteens pushed too hard, too fast.

NEW YORK -- Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday that she opposed legislation -- backed by Vice President Al Gore and Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani -- that would grant Elian Gonzalez permanent resident status and prevent the United States from returning the boy to his father in Cuba. Clinton disclosed her position a day after Giuliani said he strongly opposed returning the 6-year-old boy to Cuba. Giuliani, who is running against Clinton for senator from New York, said he supported congressional legislation that would grant Elian permanent resident status, while a family court determines his future.

Judith Kaplan Eisenstein, 86, who in 1922 became the first girl to undergo the Jewish rite of bat mitzvah, died Wednesday of a heart attack in Bethesda.A musicologist, teacher and author of books about Jewish music, she was the daughter of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, founder of the Jewish Reconstructionist movement.He presided over her bat mitzvah service in New York. Jewish boys for centuries had observed the bar mitzvah as a rite ofpassage into adulthood when they reach age 13.Eva Hart, 91, who was 7 when she was rescued from the sinking Titanic, died Wednesday in London.

An Ellicott City man pleaded guilty yesterday in Howard County Circuit Court to second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his father during an argument at their home in December. Jason Chen, standing before Judge Louis A. Becker, waived his right to a jury trial. He had been charged with first-degree murder and assault. He could face up to 30 years in prison when sentenced Dec. 8. According to court documents, Chen, then 20, stabbed his father, Yun Sen Chen, 14 times with a steak knife during an argument at their townhouse in the 4900 block of Webbed Foot Way on Dec. 26. Chen had told police that he killed his father to stop him from assaulting his mother, Lili Chen, charging documents state.

A 73-year-old Westminster man accused of forcing his way into his son's Sykesville home, firing a handgun and holding authorities at bay for more than five hours was being held yesterday by Maryland State Police. Charles Lindberg Wilmer of the first block of George St. was arrested without incident shortly after 3 a.m. by members of the state police Special Tactical Assault Team Element. Police were called to the home of Wilmer's son, Stephen Wilmer, in the 5700 block of Clay Summit Court in Sykesville, about 10 p.m. Tuesday.

After the 2-year-old stood on a bench, squiggled in his mother's arms and babbled loudly, Liz Grogan handed her son to her husband, Wayne. "Here, it's your turn," she sighed. "Why don't you walk him around?" The parents had passed an hour waiting in Anne Arundel Courthouse by trying to keep the toddler under control. "Our babysitter canceled out at the last minute," Liz Grogan explained. Their courthouse morning started with toddler Benjamin announcing his arrival on a security telephone.

WASHINGTON -- While the bewildering child custody case of Morgan vs. Foretich has captured international attention for years, coming to at least a temporary close late last month when a New Zealand court awarded custody of 8-year-old Hilary Foretich to her mother, a similar struggle over the parental rights of the child's 10-year-old half-sister was brewing in the shadows.On Dec. 6, that struggle too came to at least a temporary halt when a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge reportedly asked for an order to be drawn up suspending visitation rights between that child, who lives with her mother in McLean, Va., and the father in both cases, Dr. Eric Foretich, a Northern Virginia oral surgeon.

Maryland has a new child support enforcement director, a hire that comes about three months after the office was skewered in a legislative audit that said it failed to collect more than $1.7 billion in support over three years. Taking over the Child Support Enforcement Administration is Joseph J. DiPrimio, who ran Philadelphia's Family Court operations, including its child support enforcement programs, and is a retired court administrator of that city's courts. Secretary of Human Resources Ted Dallas said he brought in a new executive director in a push to take the state's child support enforcement from its middling position nationwide into the top 10 states within 18 months.