Time Limit

NOTHING COULD better illustrate the wisdom of having in place a National Bioethics Advisory Commission than the potential, however remote, of cloning a human being.Cloning is the first major controversy to face the commission, and its central recommendation -- that cloning "for the purposes of creating a child" be banned pending further deliberation -- has been met with criticism from ethicists and others who expected a clear-cut declaration on the subject.But the recommendation of a five-year ban on the most troubling aspect of cloning is a prudent one.Some cloning research not aimed at creating a baby may prove to have great medical benefit, and under this recommendation that work can continue.

What's the best way to handle a birthday party for young children? I'm seeing parents leaving kids at birthday parties for three and four hours at a time. What is the host parent supposed to do when children are having fits and throwing tantrums when their parents aren't there?Lisa, ScottsdaleAriz.One of the best ways to head off all these problems, particularly with preschoolers, is to invite the parents to come enjoy the birthday party along with their children.Readers who called Child Life also suggest limiting the number of party guests and keeping the party short.

YOU KNOW IT'S TIME to tighten Maryland's handgun laws when new federal statistics show this state is now the gun-running capital of the Washington region. Criminals can buy all the guns they need in Maryland -- legally.It used to be that Virginia was the place to go if you wanted to buy dozens of handguns at a time. But in 1993, Virginia curbed "straw purchases" of guns by individuals with clean criminal records who were fronting for drug gangs and others. There is now a one-gun-a-month purchase limit in Virginia.

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.

What is a seller rent-back?A seller rent-back is a provision in a purchase contract that allows sellers to continue to live in their old home after the buyers have closed. The sellers rent the home from the buyers for a length of time that's mutually agreed upon.The cost of renting back is negotiable. But it's usually equal to the buyer's principal, interest, taxes and insurance (PITI), prorated on a per-diem basis. Make sure that the property tax proration is based on the buyers' projected property taxes and not on the sellers' taxes, which could be considerably less.

A federal judge in Baltimore has upheld the constitutionality of a Harford County adult bookstore licensing law that seeks to place restraints on dealers of pornographic magazines and movies.In an opinion released yesterday in U.S. District Court, Chief Judge Walter E. Black Jr. said all aspects of the county's adult bookstore licensing law are constitutional except one that deals with specific time limitations during the application process."We're very pleased with Judge Black's decision," said Assistant County Attorney Diane Swint, who, with co-counsel Stephen Luchte, defended the county law against Chesapeake B&M Inc. Nov. 20. Chesapeake B&M is the corporate name of the Highway Craft, Gift and Book Store in Aberdeen.

*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.

A Charles County man whose speeding car crossed the center line and slammed into another vehicle May 9, killing him and five other people, had a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit prohibiting driving while intoxicated, police said yesterday.Tests done on the body of Ernest Lee Knight, 27, of Nanjemoy showed that his blood alcohol level was .33, said Capt. Gary Draheim of the Charles County Sheriff's Department. Under Maryland law, a motorist can be charged with driving while intoxicated if tests indicate a blood alcohol level of .10 or above.

Charles County police say a Nanjemoy man had a blood-alcohol content nearly five times the legal limit on May 9 when his speeding car crashed head-on into another car on Md. 6, killing himself and five other people, three of them children.Investigators also said the man, Ernest Lee Knight, 27, had argued with his wife by telephone just minutes before the accident. Then, witnesses said, while he was driving toward home he swerved repeatedly into the path of oncoming traffic.Charles County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Becker, a traffic homicide investigator, said he theorized that Knight may have meant to commit suicide.