Arbor Day

24% rise sought for water rates Maryland American Water, which serves nearly 5,000 customers in Bel Air, has applied to the Maryland Public Service Commission for a 24 percent rate increase, the utility's first in eight years. The proposal, filed with the commission last week, would add $7.38 - about 25 cents a day - to the average monthly bill, which would rise to an estimated $38.61, according to a news release from the company. The increase would generate nearly $800,000 in additional revenue, which the company says it needs to meet increases in operating costs and to pay for $3 million in capital improvements during the past eight years.

NOT ONE but two environmental observances occur at the end of this month. They couldn't be more different. Earth Day looks at the big picture. Born in the '60s and celebrated on Thursday, Earth Day is about saving the whales, removing dams from the rivers, preserving entire mountain ranges. In sum, it's about protecting nature from man's imprint.By contrast, Arbor Day promotes the Victorian creed that humans can improve upon the primeval world. Nebraska inaugurated the first Arbor Day in 1872: The state issued a proclamation urging settlers to cover the treeless prairies with saplings.

Hoping to improve his county's tarnished image after the school board's effort to scrap Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a Carroll lawmaker wants to make the holiday a mandatory day off for pupils statewide.Under current state law, the slain civil rights leader's day -- like Washington's Birthday, Lincoln's Birthday, Veterans Day, Columbus Day and Arbor Day -- is an optional holiday for school jurisdictions.But in the bill introduced on Friday by Del. Joseph M. Getty, schools would be required to give students the day off, similar to Thanksgiving, Christmas break and the Friday before and the Monday after Easter.

The anniversary of a tree planting in the Charles Street tot lot is among the activities Westminster officials have planned to celebrate Arbor Day this week.Katrina Tucker, a Westminster planner, will offer children cake and punch at the tot lot at 3 p.m. Friday. The city is celebrating the "birthday" of a tree planted during Arbor Day activities in 1995."The kids seemed to really enjoy [the 1995 tree planting]," Tucker said.Westminster has been designated a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation -- the eighth consecutive year the city has received the designation.

HAMPSTEAD will celebrate Arbor Day at 9 a.m. Saturday, with Mayor Christopher Nevin reading a proclamation about Hampstead's Tree Appreciation Week at Chief Sites Park, off Lower Beckleysville Road (Route 88).Commissioners W. Benjamin Brown and Donald I. Dell will participate.The North Carroll High School landscaping students of Dick Weaver will plant a black gum tree and roadside hedge of Virginica sweet spire.Related activities will continue this week. They include the planting of day lilies in municipal planters at the parking lot adjacent to the post office, sprucing up town office flower beds, and providing students at Hampstead and Spring Garden elementary schools with Trees are Terrific packages, provided by the Arbor Day Foundation.

Determined to safeguard green space in an era of rapid development, officials in Hampstead and Manchester are seeking to raise public awareness of the environment with Arbor Day celebrations.The events -- including today's planting of four 15-foot shade trees in downtown Hampstead and a visit to a plot of 800 smaller trees on the outskirts of town -- mark an environmental observance that dates back more than a century in parts of the country.Neil Ridgely, Hampstead's town manager and coordinator of today's events, emphasized the importance of showing residents, particularly area youths "what life would be like without benefit of trees."

Taneytown Elementary School students recently participated in the 1996 Arbor Day Poster Contest sponsored by the Carroll County Forestry Board and the Carroll County Commissioners.Each class submitted one poster that was judged on originality and educational value.Debbie Henze's second-grade class was the county runner-up. The class received a video titled "Chesapeake Bay."Other Taneytown Elementary winners received books, videos and cassette tapes.Winners were:First grade: Linda Eyler's class, first place; Mariann Hazel's class, second place; Nancy Groomes' class, third place.

Westminster has been named a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation for the seventh time.Communities qualify for the honor by having a city tree ordinance, a tree governing body, a comprehensive urban forestry program and observation of Arbor Day.Winners receive a flag with the program's logo and a plaque, as well as Tree City USA community signs.The city also won its fifth Tree City USA Growth Award for demonstrating progress in its community forestry program with continuing education for tree workers and a tree-maintenance budget.

Carroll County's Arbor Day on April 5 was a day to honor trees by music and essay, recognize planting by local communities and plant a King's elm, Hampstead's town tree, at Spring Garden Elementary School.To inspire a future of tree planting, the second and fourth grades of Spring Garden Elementary were invited to sing and plant a tree and shrubs. They enjoyed the arrival of Captain Seaweed, the giant, green-faced nautical mascot of the Chesapeake Bay, who gave away buttons and stickers at the event, which was sponsored by the Hampstead Tree Commission.

Remember Arbor Day? It's April 28, a national holiday for more than a century, the first official observance in the United States to recognize our obligation to protect the environment.Arbor Day tree-planting ceremonies signaled America's commitment to a sustainable society, even if limited to ensuring fresh crops of forests for future harvest. The manifold benefits of trees to a healthy environment, not just to human consumption, were recognized by few.But the idea of human trusteeship for the well-being of the earth was inherent in that nationwide holiday.

In the spring, a young girl's fancy turns to - well, helping preserve the environment. That was the case for 9-year-old Bethany Ingram, anyway, as she took a break Friday from her task of digging a hole in a bit of soggy turf in Edgeley Grove Park in Fallston. The fourth-grader, nature enthusiast and member of Girl Scout Troop 883 in Bel Air was getting ready to plant the 2-foot seedling of a red maple tree, one of about 1,000 trees put in the ground by volunteers on an unexpectedly sunny morning as part of Harford County's seventh annual Arbor Day Celebration and Conservation Project.

The Harper's Choice Community Association will sponsor a plant sale and Arbor Day fair, in conjunction with the village elections Saturday, in front of the Safeway store in the village center. Plants for sale will cost $3 to $13 (cash only). White pine seedlings will be given away. Demonstrations of seed-planting and paper-making are planned, and there will be an Arbor Day scavenger hunt. Brad Higbee, the "Balloon Man," will be on hand to make balloon creations, and community groups will share information on gardening, habitat protection and other topics.

The Village of Lakeview will be hosting a kickoff Guardian Angels meeting at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow at its Neighborhood Network Center, 833 Fisherman Lane, Edgewood. Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa is expected to attend the meeting. Sliwa began the organization in the 1970s as a way to deter crime on the New York City subway. The Guardian Angels is a volunteer foot-patrol organization. High school reform presentation set Council member Richard C. Slutzky will make a presentation regarding high school reform at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Board of Education meeting at the Harford County Public Schools A. A. Roberty Building at 102 S. Hickory Ave., Bel Air. Slutzky said that he and County Council members have been receiving comments about the Comprehensive Secondary School Reform Plan from parents, students, teachers, guidance counselors and PTAs and wanted to present them to the Board of Education.

Immigration fraud in city to be targeted Federal officials yesterday named Baltimore as one of six major U.S. cities to host a new task force targeting immigration document fraud. Officials from the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Labor, State, and other federal and local agencies, will join forces in Baltimore as well as in Chicago, Miami, Phoenix, Ariz.., San Francisco and Tampa, Fla. Document fraud refers to the manufacture, sale or use of counterfeit identity documents -- such as fake driver's licenses, birth certificates, Social Security cards or passports -- for immigration fraud.

24% rise sought for water rates Maryland American Water, which serves nearly 5,000 customers in Bel Air, has applied to the Maryland Public Service Commission for a 24 percent rate increase, the utility's first in eight years. The proposal, filed with the commission last week, would add $7.38 - about 25 cents a day - to the average monthly bill, which would rise to an estimated $38.61, according to a news release from the company. The increase would generate nearly $800,000 in additional revenue, which the company says it needs to meet increases in operating costs and to pay for $3 million in capital improvements during the past eight years.

Kin sought of boy, 4, found on the street City police and social services officials are attempting to find any member of the family of a 4-year-old boy found alone Monday in the 3000 block of W. North Ave. A police missing-person report had not been filed, said Sue Fitzsimmons, spokeswoman for the Baltimore City Department of Social Services. The boy, who told officials his first name is Isaiah but did not know his last name, told police and social services workers he did not know his home address and said his mother's name is Cassie.

`Blossoms of Hope' sponsorship drive to start Friday The sponsorship drive for "Blossoms of Hope - the Howard County Cherry Tree Project" will start Friday - Arbor Day - with two events. At 10 a.m., a ceremony will be held at Centennial Park to dedicate the Blossoms of Hope Founders' Grove, a grouping of 21 Kwanzan cherry trees planted last fall along Route 108 to mark the beginning of the project. At 2 p.m., a tree-planting ceremony will be held at the Elkridge library on U.S. 1, where trees are available for sponsorship.

Trips Mount Vernon, Va., remains a popular field-trip destination, but there's so much to see and do there that it's easy to fill an entire day there. page 18 Eats Zeus Cafe in Fells Point serves basic Greek and American dishes at rock-bottom prices. page 14 Music Julie Dexter -- promoting her new album, Conscious -- defies categorization while mixing elements of jazz, reggae, pop and ambient trance music. page 23 Scene Saturday night brings Maryland Institute College of Art's annual benefit fashion show -- this year's Fusion Fashion Show presenting the designs of 23 students.

Bay Bridge Walk Sure, you've driven over the Bay Bridge. And perhaps you've even sailed beneath it. But have you ever really taken the time to appreciate this engineering marvel? No, you say, but you'd love to. Then take part in the annual Bay Bridge Walk, which will be held Sunday on the eastbound span. Participants will walk the length of the 4.3-mile bridge. Folks may begin their walk at 9 a.m. but must take a shuttle bus to the starting location. Shuttles will begin boarding at 8:30 a.m. at designated parking lots at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Anne Arundel Community College and the Chesapeake Bay Business Park.

Fifty volunteers, including Boy and Girl Scouts, Harford County government employees, high school students and members of AmeriCorps recently helped transform a Creswell cornfield into a newly planted forest. The effort was part of the county's first Arbor Day celebrated at Creswell Park. The project was sponsored by the county, Maryland Trout Unlimited, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources' Forest Service and Harford County Forest Conservancy District Board. "Harford County has long known the importance of reforestation," said County Executive James M. Harkins.