A recent story in the Napa Valley Register insert USA Weekend absolutely caught my attention.

Writer Linda Stahl took on the very important subject of preventing back injuries to children as a result of the heavy backpacks the children must lug to and from school each day.

The article said that piles of books, binders and folders can affect children’s postures, strain back muscles and joints and cause serious back injuries. Moms and dads were put on notice that their children might develop lifelong back problems unless the loads they carry amount to less than 20 percent of a child’s body weight. In short, less is best.

I thought about that article and the kids I see going to and returning from schools all over old Napa town each school day, like old soldiers with full field packs and empty canteens.

Then the other day, in my weekly trip to the Register’s home base on Second Street, I reminded myself to check my drawer for mail. The contents within a 6-by-9-inch brown envelope had me once again thinking about our kids carrying backpacks that drive them almost to their knees.

The envelope contained a copy of the Veterans Home of California at Yountville’s Grapevine newsletter, now part of the weekly Yountville Sun.

In the Sun’s letters column was a lone letter by a Vets Home buddy Dan Goodman, a master of one-liners a la the late Georgie Jessel, once “Toastmaster General of the United States.”

Dan had taken on the very subject I had in mind with his “Homework Is Not Best For Kids’ Free Time!”

Dan opined that he was not an advocate of teachers passing out hours of homework to kids. He is of the opinion that it’s a teacher’s duty to enlighten kids in the time they spend in classrooms together, and not burden kids with hours of homework that will consume the late afternoon and on into late evenings.

As Dan put it, “What’s wrong with kids playing sports after school, enjoying the arts, rapping with friends or enjoying an ice cream soda?” He pointed out that his 93-year-old friend and Vets Home resident Rita Umphries, a former educator and principal, never passed out homework yet was highly honored in her time.

When Goodman — a fellow who has had seven books of one-liners published — talks or writes, you tend to listen, read and most of all think.

After I reviewed a show at the Lincoln Theater one night I ran into Dan and was told by the master that the safest way, integrity-wise to comment to a director on his hit or flop was with a “You’ve done it again!”

To our Napa educators, in terms of homework assigned, don’t make me say, “You’ve done it again!” Give the kids a break!

Ev Parker can be reached at evjenpar@mailbug.com or 224-9956.