Two Children

For the first time since becoming the focus of the Aberdeen Proving Ground sexual misconduct scandal nine months ago, Staff Sgt. Delmar G. Simpson last night testified on his own behalf, telling a military jury, "I became blind to my ability to live by moral values I learned as a child."I have lost the privilege to wear this uniform," said Simpson, wearing his dress green uniform and standing before the six-member jury considering his sentence after his conviction last week on 18 counts of rape.

Describing Rene Elizabeth Aulton as a "cold-blooded killer" who smoked cigarettes while her two children burned to death, prosecutors urged a Baltimore jury yesterday to ignore her mental shortcomings and send the young woman to prison.Assistant State's Attorney Donald Huskey rejected defense claims that Ms. Aulton -- who has an IQ just above mild mental retardation -- was manipulated into a confession by police. He said she told detectives the true story when she described setting a fire in a bedroom closet and leaving the room to let her daughters die."

PEOPLE WHO ARE not my husband or children often ask me if I work at home.My family apparently knows better. Than to ask, I mean.Smart cracks about the menu, the laundry or the way the kitchen floor crunches underfoot have never been well received by me, and so my family no longer makes them.Therefore, the picture of me putting my house in perfect order and then sitting down in my sunny kitchen to tap out these thoughts on an old Olivetti is not accurate. I don't do that kind of work at home, either.

JORDAN, Mont. -- In the first defections from the Freemen fugitives in two months, a couple, along with the woman's two children, voluntarily left the group's High Plains farmhouse yesterday and were whisked away by federal agents.The break follows the government's increasing pressure tactics, which began Monday with the shut-off of electricity to the compound, where 18 people, including the two children who left yesterday and a 16-year-old boy, had been holed up since March 25.The four who left the compound were identified as Elwyn Ward, 55, Gloria Ward, 35 (also known as Tamara Mangum)

Two children were killed and two others were injured yesterday morning in a fire that burned out a West Baltimore rowhouse, trapping a half-dozen youngsters on the second and third floors as they slept.Thick smoke poured from windows and doors, initially hampering rescue efforts.Firefighters pulled some youngsters out of a third-story window and got to others by fighting through flames inside the house in the 500 block of N. Fulton Ave.Residents gathered across the street and watched the spectacle, counting children as they emerged from the debris, curled in the arms of firefighters and police officers.

Two children, one glassIn the absence of sharing.Two full-bodied whines.

The parents and the day-care provider of an 8-month-old Elkridge boy who died Saturday after choking to death while at day care met together with a minister yesterday, as police and social service workers continued their investigation.No charges are expected in the case, Howard County police say, but investigators are awaiting the results of the state medical examiner's autopsy in the death of Daniel Patrick Shea."From everything we heard about it, it was an unfortunate accident," the boy's father, Lawrence Shea said yesterday.

The son of a man who is on trial in a child sex abuse case unexpectedly tossed his support from the defense to the prosecution yesterday by recanting his prepared testimony and confessing his involvement in the molestation of two Gamber children."

My children get out of school at 2:20, and at 2:35 my phone at the office rings and I begin the after-school routine of settling disputes or renegotiating rules.When her children get out of school, my friend Susan is somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.When my workday is over, I drag myself home and through the evening drill: dinner, homework, bath and bed.When Susan's workday is over, she has dinner in Brussels, or shops in Zurich, or spends a quiet evening reading.My friend Susan is a flight attendant.

A mother who apparently rushed inside a burning East Baltimore rowhouse was killed today in a failed attempt to save two of her children. The boys, ages 5 and 8, also were killed in the blaze.Fire officials did not immediately release the names of the victims.Investigators said the two-alarm fire broke out about 6:40 a.m. in a brick rowhouse in the 800 block of E. 22nd St. A malfunctioning television set or wiring leading to the television has been ruled the cause.Chief Torres said the first firefighters went in through the front door and pulled the two children and mother from a second floor-front bedroom.

MARY R. PATTERSON died on October 18, 2009, at home with her spouse, John E. Patterson, Sr. She also leaves to mourn, two children, John E. Patterson, Jr. and Joan Patterson-Taylor and many relatives and friends. On Friday, friends may call at VAUGHN C. GREEN FUNERAL SERVICES (RANDALLSTOWN), 8728 Liberty Road from 4 to 8 P.M. On Saturday, the family will receive friends at the Vaughn C. Greene Chapel-Randallstown from 11 to 11:30 A.M with services to follow. Inquiries to (410) 655-0015.

Heavy wind and rain sent five people into the Patuxent River yesterday after the 16-foot boat they were in capsized during a series of thunderstorms that caused damage throughout Southern Maryland and Washington. A spokesman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources said all five people - three adults and two children - had on life jackets and were rescued by an onlooker shortly after falling into the water about 5 p.m. Sgt. Ken Turner said the group had rented the vessel for fishing but did not make it back to the shore before the storm.

On July 1, 2006, ALBERT R. HICKMAN. He is survived by two children, Mary Fleshman and Louis Hickman. Services are private.

An Amtrak train headed to New York struck and killed a pedestrian yesterday, according to an Amtrak spokeswoman. About noon, train No. 98 - the Silver Meteor, carrying about 170 passengers - hit a person as it passed through Elkton, according to spokeswoman Marcie Golgoski, who said no other information was available last night. Amtrak officials and Elkton police were investigating. At least five people - including two children - have died since February after being hit by trains in Maryland or Delaware.

"`No one's young forever.' Well, I just laughed I turned to leave around the corner And the years went past."- "You Can't Go Back," Patti Scialfa It works like this: When you're young, you dream big dreams. Wild dreams. Outrageous dreams. Then you grow up, get married, make a family. Along the way, you wad up the dream like a tie-dyed T-shirt - the kind of bold, crazy thing you'd never wear outside the house anymore - and you stash it in the attic. But Patti Scialfa, Patti Smith and Annie Lennox didn't get the memo.

In Baltimore County 2 children burned in boat explosion on North Point Creek EDGEMERE - Two children were burned yesterday when a cabin cruiser exploded and caught fire in North Point Creek, moments after leaving a boat yard. The cause was under investigation. The children - whose names and ages were not available - were treated for minor injuries at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center's burn unit, authorities said. Louis Markle, longtime owner of Markle's Boat Yard in the 7700 block of North Point Creek Road, said the 28-foot Bayliner was about 100 feet from the docking area after taking on fuel when he heard the explosion.

Three years have passed since Robert Redford last appeared onscreen, and if nothing else, The Clearing reminds us what a riveting presence he can be; even as the years are showing on his once-boyish face, his charisma remains undimmed. If anything, age has added depth and conviction to his onscreen demeanor; if the passing years are reflected in that weather-beaten face, every crag and crevice has been well-earned, demanding respect and engendering empathy. With a cast that also includes Helen Mirren and Willem Dafoe, it's hard to imagine how this thriller could go wrong.

For at least a year, the man would regularly bring the two children to Cherry Hill, where he abandoned them in an overgrown field and walked across the train tracks into an area known for heroin dealing, according to police and a witness. Prosecutors say the man was there to buy drugs. Two months ago, a nearby auto repair shop owner called the police to report him. After that, shop owner Aaron M. Gaskins said, the man kept the children out of sight but on Monday stashed them in a muddy patch of reeds.

Richard W. Spicknall II, a Howard County man serving life in prison for the murders of his two children, was in a coma at a Laurel hospital last night after being found unconscious in his cell at a maximum-security prison in Jessup, authorities said. The 29-year-old inmate was on life-support yesterday at Laurel Regional Hospital, as investigators from the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services tried to determine the cause of his condition, department spokesman Leonard A. Sipes Jr. said.

A Montgomery County woman and her two children died and her husband was critically injured in a fire that swept through a townhouse in Gaithersburg early yesterday, fire officials said. Alba Herrera, 34, and her children, Caleb, 5, and Dairicha, 23 months, died at area hospitals. Israel Herrera, 31, was in critical condition with burns and severe respiratory damage last night at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Gaithersburg. Officials said the fire started about 6:30 a.m. yesterday at 7211 Millcrest Terrace, in a townhouse development off Muncaster Mill Road.