NEWS
April 24, 2009
Band director pleads guilty in sex abuse case A Howard County high school band director accused of sexually abusing a female student over two years pleaded guilty Thursday, prosecutors said. Robert Douglas Johnston, 61, who taught at Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City for 35 years, could have been sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison in a case that included sexual abuse of a minor. Under his plea agreement, he could face a maximum of 18 months at his sentencing Aug. 13, said Wayne Kirwan, a county state's attorney's spokesman.
NEWS
By Tyeesha Dixon and John-John Williams IV | December 24, 2008
The longtime band director at a Howard County high school has been accused of sexually abusing a female student over the past two years, police said yesterday. Robert Douglas Johnston, 61, who has taught at Mount Hebron High School for more than 30 years, was charged yesterday with sexual abuse of a minor, third- and fourth-degree sex offenses, and obscene telephone misuse, according to Howard County police. Johnston surrendered to police Monday night and was arrested; he was being held yesterday on a $350,000 bond, police said.
NEWS
By John-John Williams IV | January 13, 2008
M. Joseph Fischer, the director of bands at River Hill High School, has been recognized by School Band and Orchestra, a national publication, for its 10th annual, "50 Directors Who Make a Difference." Fischer, who has been at the school since 2003, was a natural choice for the distinction, Principal William Ryan said. "He's an incredible teacher who goes above and beyond what he's supposed to do," Ryan said. "I put him at the top of the 50 band instructors who make a difference." Fischer, 34, was surprised by the honor.
NEWS
By LAUREN SCOTT | May 5, 2006
Band director Mike Blackman challenged his players to "sweat." Not in the literal sense, despite the fact that nearly 85 musicians playing for the Columbia Concert Band are crowded in the band room at River Hill High School. He wanted his band members to focus on the music and give it their all. A nonprofit community band since 1983, it practices yearlong for two hours each Monday night. At this week's practice, members let out a few laughs before quickly getting down to business and responding to Blackman's call for sweat.
NEWS
By Mary Gail Hare | May 15, 2005
TROPHIES rest on the window sills. Framed awards and yellowing photos fill the walls. Polished instruments and music stands await players in a rehearsal hall decorated with an oversized emblem of the Westminster Municipal Band. After 112 years of roaming from one rehearsal area to another, the band finally has made a home for itself in a one-story former plumbing warehouse on John Street in the city that it has represented musically for more than a century. "This is all ours," said Sandy Miller, band director, her arms sweeping the area.
NEWS
By Rob Hiaasen | October 2, 2004
She is smiling too much, a Broadway smile. But it's just rehearsal - it's not the real crucifixion. For now, 16-year-old Jodi Wenger can kid around as two high school classmates hoist her off her feet and onto a 2-by-4 crucifix stand-in. What's important at this stage is not to be spun into the bass drums or get clipped by the Flag Guard. She'll lose the smile for the show, but you don't want to lose a tooth. It's very serious business representing Christ from that movie of last year called The Passion of the Christ.
NEWS
By Jennifer McMenamin and Sara Neufeld | May 6, 2004
Thirteen Cockeysville Middle School pupils were injured yesterday morning when two school buses collided on the way to a state band festival in Frederick. All of the injured children, including a 13-year-old girl airlifted to Johns Hopkins Hospital with neck and jaw pain, were released yesterday afternoon. The school's band -- despite missing half its clarinet section, three horn players and a saxophonist -- went on to the state contest, where the group earned the highest rating possible.
NEWS
By Matt Whittaker | September 18, 2003
Edward Gerald Kerman, a longtime Howard County music educator and advocate of grass-roots community bands, died Monday of a brain tumor at his Ellicott City home. He was 58. Born and raised in Washington, he graduated in 1963 from Northwood High School in Silver Spring. He earned a bachelor's degree in music in 1968 from what is now Frostburg State University and a master's in music in the mid-1970s from Catholic University in Washington. After graduating from Frostburg, Mr. Kerman became the choral director and general music teacher at a school in St. Mary's County and then assistant band director at a school in Marion, N.C. He returned to Maryland in the early 1970s as band director at Glen Burnie High School in Anne Arundel County, and his students performed for then-first lady Patricia Nixon at the dedication of a new park in the community.
NEWS
March 14, 2003
Magic review today is benefit show for Cub Scout pack The Friends of Cub Scout Pack 381 will hold a magic show at 7 p.m. today at Westminster High School Auditorium. The Magic Capers Review will perform magic and illusion. The group also will honor Ray Corbin, known as Raymonde, for his work in magic. Tickets are $5, with proceeds going to Cub pack activities. The school is at 1225 Washington Road. Information: 410-876-0527. Guests to conduct Sousa concert Thursday The Carroll Concert Band under the direction of Glenn Patterson will present its eighth annual Sousa Style Concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Winters Mill High School auditorium.
NEWS
February 25, 2003
Owen Brown Middle School celebrated Black History Month on Feb. 11 with a recitation of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, accompanied by the school's Puma Band, gospel singer Natalie Creditt and sixth-grade teacher Steve Schaefer. "It just supported the words so dramatically," said band director Belinda King, who organized the production. "It was phenomenal. I'm still getting people stopping me in the hallways." The 45-minute morning assembly began with a PowerPoint presentation about the civil rights movement, King said.