Bainbridge

CECIL COUNTY lost a promising opportunity for economic development of the 1,200-acre former Bainbridge Naval Training Center last month. Fortunately, it may have another chance, which must not be wasted by hardened skepticism and foot-dragging. The final straw for the developers was another delay by the quasi-public Bainbridge Development Corp. in approving the launch of a 500-acre technology park there. But the underlying cause was persistent opposition by some residents to almost any development at the Susquehanna River site below Port Deposit.

From the pages of the Havre de Grace Record dated Thursday morning, Sept. 28, 1961: The big news, at least judging from the size of the blaring headline, was Civil Defense. "Civil Defense Mass Meeting Set," it said, accompanied by the smaller headline: "County Unit Swamped With Requests For Information. " A public meeting was scheduled for Oct. 4 at Bel Air High School and it was hoped those who had questions would travel to the county seat for information. The other two hot topics on the front page were "Mass Rally To Promote Full Use Of Bainbridge By Navy" and "Sewage Discharge In Shore Channel At Stake In Bay. " They would be news stories of interest to the Record area for years.

The proposed developers of the former Bainbridge Naval Training Center in Port Deposit have requested an extension of their exclusive negotiating agreement with the Bainbridge Development Corp. to convert the property into a mixed-use residential and commercial center. The agreement expires Wednesday. Harland R. Graef, chairman of the Bainbridge Development Corp., said the agency's board members would meet in closed session tomorrow to consider the request. The BDC is the quasi-public agency created by the General Assembly in 1999 to oversee the development of the 1,200 acres of the former Navy boot camp on a hill overlooking Port Deposit and the Susquehanna River.

WASHINGTON -Before ending a pirate standoff with three fatally precise shots, Navy SEAL snipers had passed on multiple opportunities to fire. They had moved into position after the White House expanded the authority it had given the world's most powerful navy against a rag-tag foe holding an American sea captain hostage on a lifeboat. They kept their scopes trained on their Somali targets as prospects for a peaceful resolution seemed to shrivel. Most of all, they waited as a series of seemingly insignificant moves - from extending the pirates a rope for a tow to bringing an injured brigand onboard - improved the sharpshooters' odds of success.

Katharine G. Bainbridge, who drove an ambulance on the front lines during the early days of World War II and was an eyewitness to the fall of France, died Wednesday of cancer at Genesis Eldercare Center in Lutherville. She was 84.A Baltimore socialite who was born and raised in Homeland, she was the daughter of Robert Garrett, prominent philanthropist and financier, who was associated with the Baltimore banking house of Robert Garrett & Co., which had been founded by his great-grandfather.

A detailed presentation of plans by the proposed developers of the former Bainbridge Naval Training Center overlooking Port Deposit and the Susquehanna River has done little to ease the concerns of neighboring residents. "Clock towers and water fountains are beautiful, but that's not the issue," said Bob Atkinson, who lives just outside the main gate of the military complex that closed in 1976. "They don't seem to get it. We don't want 2,000 houses up there." He was referring to some of the amenities planned for the $750 million upscale, mixed-use hillside community that would feature an office campus, retirement center, hotel and diversified housing.

The groundbreaking for the redevelopment of the Bainbridge Naval Training Center could come within 18 months, said Richard Alter as he signed an agreement worked out between a group of Maryland developers and the Bainbridge Development Corp. Alter is president of Manekin LLC in Columbia. Other members of the development team formally called MTPM LLC, include Clark Turner, president of Bel Air-based Clark Turner Cos.; and John Paterakis, a commercial developer in Baltimore. The Bainbridge Development Corp.

Directors of the Bainbridge Development Corp. will meet tomorrow to remove a technical hitch to allow a Columbus, Ohio-based company to move ahead with plans for a 550-acre applied technology center, which could employ 3,000 workers, at the former Bainbridge Naval Training Center in Port Deposit. The BDC, as the group is commonly called, is a quasi-public agency created by the General Assembly in 1999 to oversee the development of the 1,200- acre Navy boot camp, which closed in 1976. The hitch stems from the BDC having given its approval of a concept plan for the development of Bainbridge.

Directors of the Bainbridge Development Corp. voted Monday to allow a team seeking to redevelop the former Bainbridge Naval Training Center to negotiate with an Ohio company that wants to locate an applied-technology campus on the property. The development team includes Clark Turner, president of Bel Air-based Clark Turner Cos.; John Paterakis, a commercial developer in Baltimore; and Richard M. Alter, president of Manekin LLC in Columbia. The BDC is the quasi-public agency created by the General Assembly in 1999 to oversee the development of the 1,200-acre former Navy boot camp that sits on a hill above Port Deposit.

PORT DEPOSIT -- On the hill high above this riverfront town, construction workers are taking the first steps toward transforming a run-down and abandoned Navy base into what is being promoted as one of the premier residential and business parks in the Mid-Atlantic region. "It's been a long time coming," Mayor Robert Flayhart said of a billion-dollar-plus project that is considered the largest development in Cecil County history and one of the largest in Maryland. "We've waited so long," he said of a plan seven years in the making to redevelop the 1,200 acres of the former Bainbridge Naval Training Center, which closed in 1976.

It's easy to stereotype the South Florida sports fan, especially when all you seem to hear about this time of year is the Daytona 500 and spring training, but there is something for everyone down here - even the bluebloods who would not be caught dead at an event as base as an automobile race or an Orioles exhibition game. For them, there is the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club, where 2004 Olympian McLain Ward won the $75,000 Bainbridge Idle Dice Classic on Sunday. The crowd of about 10,000 included the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, so it obviously was a classy affair.

PORT DEPOSIT -- On the hill high above this riverfront town, construction workers are taking the first steps toward transforming a run-down and abandoned Navy base into what is being promoted as one of the premier residential and business parks in the Mid-Atlantic region. "It's has been a long time coming," Mayor Robert Flayhart said of a billion-dollar-plus project that is considered the largest development in Cecil County history and one of the largest in Maryland. "We've waited so long," he said of a plan, seven years in the making, to redevelop the 1,200 acres of the former Bainbridge Naval Training Center, which closed in 1976.

PORT DEPOSIT -- The headmaster's home, once a stately mansion and proud centerpiece of the turn-of-the century Tome School at the former Bainbridge Naval Training Center, shows years of neglect. Sections of a 15-foot-high wooden column that once framed the grand entrance lay in a pile. Inside, plaster that dropped from the ceiling has been swept into piles on floors that show signs of collapsing. The roof sags, and looters have ripped out anything of value, including chandeliers, the fireplace mantel and the oak banister along the staircase to the second floor.

PORT DEPOSIT -- The headmaster's home, once a stately mansion and proud centerpiece of the turn-of-the century Tome School at the former Bainbridge Naval Training Center, shows years of neglect. Sections of a 15-foot-high wooden column that once framed the grand entrance lay in a pile. Inside, plaster that dropped from the ceiling has been swept into piles on floors that show signs of collapsing. The roof sags, and looters have ripped out anything of value, including chandeliers, the fireplace mantel and the oak banister along the staircase to the second floor.

During World War II more than 50,000 military and civilian personnel worked at the Bainbridge Naval Training Center on a plateau overlooking Port Deposit and the Susquehanna River. Survivors still have memories of the days they were stationed there. They remember Hall of Fame baseball player Stan "The Man" Musial washing windows of the barracks. They remember Jack Benny, Count Basie and the Andrews Sisters performing at the amphitheater. On Sunday, the Naval Training Center Historical Association Inc. will hold Bainbridge Sunday to welcome past associates back to the Navy boot camp that closed in 1976.

PORT DEPOSIT - One of the final parts of the redevelopment of the former Bainbridge Naval Training Center on a hill overlooking this Susquehanna riverfront town is expected to fall into place Tuesday evening. That's when Paul Risk Associates Inc., a Quarryville, Pa., development company, is scheduled to be awarded a contract to restore the run-down and condemned ruins of the granite buildings that once housed the turn-of-the-century Tome School, transforming them into a retirement community.

Town officials in Perryville and Port Deposit are close to reaching an agreement on a new regional water system that would remove the last major hurdle to one of the biggest development projects in the state: the redevelopment of the former Bainbridge Naval Training Center. Officials with the state, county, town and Bainbridge Development Corp. say the towns are close to resolving their difficult off-and-on negotiations of the past four years and agreeing on a joint-use water system. "We are working on [a memorandum of understanding]

Charles Robert "Rob" Flayhart, the new mayor-elect of Port Deposit, sees his 14-vote victory as a mandate for change. "One of the first things I want to change is the way the office is run," he said after his victory over Mayor Wayne Tome. "I want it to be more open. I think the citizens should have a better feel for what is going on." Flayhart received 119 votes in Tuesday's election, which he said brought out a record high 74 percent of the registered voters. Flayhart's narrow victory looked like a landslide compared with the race between Cheryl Griffin and Brian LaFond for a seat on the Town Council.

PORT DEPOSIT - Despite the collapse of negotiations to supply water to the former Bainbridge Naval Training Center, the developers of the vacated boot camp say they will be moving ahead on the largest development project in the county's history and one of the largest in the state. "We are committed to the project," said Richard M. Alter, president of Manekin LLC in Columbia, one of the lead companies involved in a $750 million plan to revitalize the 1,200-acre property on a hill overlooking this Susquehanna riverfront town.