Time Limit

THE STIGMA and shame of child sexual abuse typically haunt victims through their lives, compromising not only their emotional health but their ability to seek help or fight back. Sadly, by the time some reconcile their pain and try to move on as adults, they discover some avenues for legal redress are blocked: Maryland law says they should have come forward when they were very much younger. Victims and children's advocates have long said Maryland's time limit on bringing a civil claim benefits the abuser instead of helping the abused seek justice.

Mount Airy Town Council will hold public hearings next month on two proposed ordinances, one a simple zoning change, and the second a potentially contentious set of regulations on signs. The proposal to allow clubs and fraternal organizations to operate in districts zoned for industrial use was set for a 15-minute hearing at 7:45 p.m. Sept. 11, before the regular council meeting at 8 p.m. But the proposed regulations on signs -- affecting banners, store fronts, homes for sale, and directional signs for real estate and yard sales -- was set for a separate public hearing at 8 p.m. Sept.

A state court panel will consider today whether to end the nearly complete discretion judges have to shorten criminals' sentences - a restriction that prosecutors and victim advocates have sought for a decade over the objection of defense lawyers and some judges. The judiciary's little-known Rules Committee will take up a proposal to place a five-year limit from the date of the original sentence on the time judges have to reduce sentences for violent crimes. There is no time limit - a situation that opponents say is unique to Maryland - and criminals have returned to the courtroom more than a decade after being imprisoned to ask judges to shorten their sentences.

For much of this decade, James Cunningham has been trying to win approval to open a rubble landfill on a site next to an older, filled-up dumping facility that for years has evoked concerns about pollution and other complaints from Gambrills-area neighbors.At a public hearing last night, the neighbors were hoping his efforts to win that approval would have to continue into the next millennium.Cunningham appeared before the Anne Arundel County Board of Appeals, seeking a variance from requirements that had allowed him until January 1999 to get the necessary permits and complete the project.

A state court panel will consider today whether to end the nearly complete discretion judges have to shorten criminals' sentences - a restriction that prosecutors and victim advocates have sought for a decade over the objection of defense lawyers and some judges. The judiciary's Rules Committee will take up a proposal to place a five-year limit from the date of the original sentence on the time judges have to reduce sentences for violent crimes. There is no time limit - a situation that opponents say is unique to Maryland - and criminals have returned to the courtroom more than a decade after being imprisoned to ask judges to shorten their sentences.

WASHINGTON - President Bush, under fire from his Democratic opponent over the conditions of his testimony to the Sept. 11 commission, will not rigorously enforce a one-hour time limit when he meets with the panel, the White House indicated yesterday. White House spokesman Scott McClellan signaled that Bush was prepared to show flexibility on the time limit to accommodate the panel, which is investigating the circumstances of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. "Many of their questions have already been asked and answered," McClellan said.

Parking meter rates would double, some time limits would shorten, and more short-term parking would be encouraged in city garages under a committee proposal to overhaul downtown Annapolis' parking pricing policies. An 11-member ad hoc committee appointed by Mayor Ellen O. Moyer released last week its draft recommendations for easing the parking crunch downtown. The more controversial proposals would raise parking meter rates from 50 cents to $1 per hour on all streets and cut the time limit at some meters from two hours to one, with the limits expiring at 6 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. Committee members sought to encourage turnover at metered spaces, draw city residents into parking garages, and encourage employees to park at the Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium lot and take the free shuttle.

*TC OLGA von Hartz Owens, who is the widow, sister, mother, grandmother and great aunt of people now or formerly in the news business, turns 100 next Monday. A full century, spent almost entirely in Baltimore. There will be words, and numbers, all over the place. And, if all goes well, sharps and flats. The news from Roland Park Place is that Mrs. Owens has had her violin out a couple of times lately, as if getting ready for one more performance.When Hamilton Owens was editor-in-chief of these newspapers, he and his wife Olga lived in Ruxton.

If cooking for one has you in a carryout rut, it's time to take control of your kitchen, your wallet and your health. So throw away the TV dinners, diet shakes and leftover pizza. Make room for fresh, versatile ingredients with easy-to-cook recipes and time-saving tips to get the culinary juices flowing. After all, cooking for one doesn't have to be a bore. It all comes down to planning and organization. How we eat Lin Oliver, 27, of Fells Point says she strives to cook healthful meals at home four nights a week but still ends up eating out often.

The Manchester Planning and Zoning Commission is considering whether to place time limits on its approvals of developments, to reduce the number of developments that have been approved but languish, unbuilt, for months or years.If time limits were enacted, commission approvals would expire after a set period, perhaps 12 months or 18 months.Miriam DePalmer, Manchester's assistant zoning administrator, suggested the limits to the commission.The town already places a one-year limit on approvals of site plansfor commercial developments, she said.