Humanity

WESTMINSTER — Carroll County's Department of Public Works, Bureau of Solid Waste, announced this week that Habitat for Humanity will open a ReStore unit at the Northern Landfill Recycling Center in Westminster. ReStore is a nonprofit retail organization that resells new and used building materials, home furnishings and appliances to the public. ReStore sells donated goods to raise funds to build or renovate affordable housing for families in need. Donations gathered at the landfill will be taken to the ReStore Home Improvement Center in Frederick.

While I applaud Tim Wheeler for shining a light on the risks of climate change in his recent article "Rising temperatures increase health risks" (May 10), I'm saddened by these three esteemed universities investing time and effort into researching what appears to be common sense. Most all of us know intuitively and from experience that extreme heat - whether it results in heat stroke, dehydration, sunburn, other physiological reactions, or just lack of ability to participate actively in daily activities - is not good for us. The more of it we experience as a society, the higher the number of individuals who will be impacted.

Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. joined officials from Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake on Tuesday to celebrate the opening of the nonprofit housing agency's new offices in Halethorpe. The organization, which helps provide new or refurbished homes for eligible needy families, recently combined its Anne Arundel and Baltimore County facilities and staff. Leasing the 38,000-square-foot office on Commerce Drive triples the space for 38 full-time employees, two VISTA members and 11 AmeriCorps members.

In 1967, historian Lynn White Jr. ignited a firestorm that burns still today. In a widely discussed article titled "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis," he laid a charge at the doorstep of the Judeo-Christian community: The Bible is responsible for the world's environmental degradation. The Bible and its story of creation, he argued, sowed the seeds of the destructive mandate that animates Western civilization. Humans were given the right, the calling, by God to "be fruitful and multiply, fill the Earth and master it. " Charged by this narrative, the Western world has taken "dominion" to be one of the highest callings of human existence.

Sandtown Habitat for Humanity in Baltimore is getting more than $100,000 from the Home Depot Foundation to add "green" elements to 45 homes. The foundation, which said Thursday that it is awarding grants to Habitat affiliates across the country, will give Sandtown Habitat $3,000 to $5,000 per home. The amount depends on the amount of green upgrades — such as energy-efficient appliances — the nonprofit chooses to add to the properties it rehabs or builds. That means the value of the grant could range from $135,000 to $225,000.

Affordable-housing provider Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake said its new chief executive — who brings a construction and finance background — will come on board this month. Mike Posko, a principal with real estate consulting firm Cross Street Partners in Baltimore, replaces longtime CEO Mike Mitchell at the helm of the nonprofit after Mitchell's resignation in November. Before Cross Street, Posko worked at developer Struever Bros., Eccles & Rouse and at the Federal Reserve.

When it was announced that the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School would move into the Legg Mason tower in Baltimore's Harbor East this summer, school officials touted the benefits of the move: waterfront view, hip neighborhood, new building loaded with technology and a chance for students to interact with Legg's executives. But in light of recent events, it might not be wise to expose the business leaders of tomorrow to the people running Legg Mason today. Instead, it might be better if Legg executives took the elevator to some classes this fall, after the Carey school joins them in the taxpayer-subsidized tower.

Norma Thompson spent much of Monday dusting, polishing and sprucing up items that will fill a soon-to-open home improvement store in Halethorpe. The hours she volunteers with Habitat for Humanity's newest ReStore will help this Baltimore grandmother, who works as a housekeeper at a downtown hotel, earn a home of her own. Each prospective homeowner must provide Habitat volunteer hours, and Thompson is doing just that at the nonprofit organization's third...

Thank you for printing the pros and cons of the death penalty debate ("Time to abolish the death penalty in Md.?" Jan. 18). Like many Maryland citizens, I continue to grapple with this contentious issue in an effort to reach an informed position, and I have re-read the positions of Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger, Sister Helen Prejean and Del. Heather Mizeur of Montgomery County for their clarity and insight. As often happens in highly charged debates, emotional responses generate much heat but a more factual perspective sheds greater light on the issue.

Who said Baltimore Beer Week was only about craft brews and getting drunk off samples? On Oct. 7, Flying Dog Brewery - through Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake - will build a house in the Jefferson Street neighborhood. If you're not in the mood to pitch in with hammers and nails, you can head over to Langermann's that night (6-10 p.m.). The Canton restaurant will donate $1 from all Flying Dog pints to Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake. Added bonus: the first beer is on Flying Dog for any Red Hat volunteer, AmeriCorps or person who donates/signs up to volunteer with Habitat that night.

The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding. - Louis D. Brandeis Just a few words and little thought separate yet another stronghold of the American economy from ruin. It doesn't have to be that way. The U.S. patent system has made America's biotech and pharmaceutical industries the envy of the world. This month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case posing the question: "Are human genes patentable?"

Betty Jane Bivins Chase, a retired Baltimore public schools personnel worker, died of respiratory failure April 16 at the Levindale Geriatric Rehabilitation Center. The Randallstown resident was 75. Born Betty Jane Bivins in Baltimore, she was the daughter of James and Margaret Thomas Bivins. Raised in Lothian in Anne Arundel County, she was a 1956 graduate of Wiley H. Bates High School in Annapolis. She was a member of the Starlighters Drama Club and the Future Teachers of America.

An 8-year-old boy was among the three people killed and at least 176 people injured, many severely, by a pair of explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday. According to The Boston Globe, the boy, Martin Richard, was with his mother and sister, who were also seriously injured. Krystle Campbell, 29, a restaurant manager who was watching the race with a friend, was also killed. A pair of brothers each lost a leg. Doctors reported that dozens of others had been wounded by some kind of shrapnel - small nails and ball bearings or BBs - that had become embedded in their flesh.

Regarding respect, in general, The Sun's doctrine is correct ("Ben Carson and the price of free speech," April 14). However, the paper's target is wrong. I have the highest respect for Dr. Ben Carson's abilities, accomplishments and social views but virtually none for the anonymous critics on The Sun's editorial board. The Sun under the guise of supposedly objective neutrality condescendingly ridicules the views of Dr. Carson which are Biblically based with natural law argument support.

There has been much hue and cry in recent days about the General Assembly approving a "rain tax" this year that is punitive, anti-commerce and unnecessary. What's truly remarkable about these protestations is how none of the underlying claims are true. Rather, this may be a lesson in the perils of approving a policy at the state level but leaving the business of carrying it out to local government. It's far easier for county elected leaders to point a finger at Annapolis than to actually educate themselves on an issue - let alone try to explain why a tax is so clearly in their constituents' self-interest.

Frances H. Mueller, a retired educator who had chaired the Bryn Mawr School's English department and also taught at Towson University, died March 24 of complications from dementia at Roland Park Place. She was 94. Born and raised on her parents' farm in Painesville, Ohio, Frances Heckathorne was a graduate of local public schools. After earning a bachelor's degree in 1939 from Lake Erie College, Mrs. Mueller taught English from 1943 to 1946 at Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pa. While at Penn State, she earned a master's degree in English from Columbia University in 1945, and the next year married William Randolph Mueller, a philosopher, clergyman, literary historian and author.

PEOPLE ARE surprised when they hear that everyone in the world could stand inside the beltway that encircles Washington, D.C. -- 5 billion people in some 7 billion square feet. Standing room only, for sure, but there it is.On a standard 10-inch world globe, the area inside the Washington beltway is barely a dot, which gives a perspective on the size of our species in relation to the earth and its surface.Another perspective is that the chemistries of the earth's 1 billion cubic miles of air and 400 million cubic miles of water are being affected by 1/15th of one cubic mile of living human tissue.

Leon Nelson, a retired state security officer assigned to the Department of Health and Human Services, died of cancer April 4 at Seasons Hospice in Randallstown. The Inner Harbor resident was 85. The son of John Leon Nelson and Rebecca Nelson, he was born in Sumter, S.C., and moved to Baltimore in 1935. He lived on Bradley Street in West Baltimore and attended Samuel Coleridge Taylor School. "He had to leave school in order to help support his mother," said his grandson, Kaon Nelson, a Gwynn Oak resident who was his caregiver.

The Humane Society of Harford County Inc. and Pets for Patriots Inc. have joined forces to give active, disabled and retired military service members and their families the gift of a pet's unconditional love, while providing dogs and cats with a second chance at life. Through this partnership, Pets for Patriots will connect our area's loyal service men and women to the humane society, which will introduce them to eligible homeless dogs and cats that are looking for permanent homes. Individuals are eligible from any U.S. armed forces and at any stage of their careers – active, reserve, National Guard, retired or veteran.