Bear Creek

Where -- 2158 Littlestown Pike, Westminster, 21158 Phone -- 410-876-4653 Dress code -- Proper golf attire Holes -- 18 Course description -- Paul Hicks design (1989). Par 71. Water in play on seven holes. Tees -- Blue, 6,319 yards; white, 6,135; red, 5,397 Best times -- Senior men's groups play Tuesday and Thursday mornings (open before 8:30 or after 10). Wednesday evenings (starting mid-May) are nine-hole women's league. Late mornings are usually open on weekends. Time spacing -- Eight minutes Weekend time -- Tee times taken 10 days in advance Cost -- Monday-Friday: $32, $20 twilight (times depending on season)

I am very disappointed at the residents of Sparrows point and Edgemere, my neighbors ("Lawsuit takes on steel mill's pollution; Residents, environmentalists want Sparrows Point owners to rid mill of its toxic brew," July 11), and especially the retired workers at the mill. They were all OK when the Point was in its heyday, and they all had good jobs to raise their families. No one said a word, because they were all working. I remember when I started down at the Point. Retirees would say to me, "Keep that mill running, so I can get my pension check."

Divers searching the waters of Bear Creek in Baltimore County yesterday for the missing occupant of a 16-foot aluminum motorboat, which was spotted circling in the water with no one on board shortly before 1 p.m. yesterday, will continue their search today, a Maryland Department of Natural Resources police officer said. "If we do not locate him or his body by dark, we will stop the search and start back up tomorrow morning," Sgt. Ken Turner, the DNR police spokesman, said last night. Natural resources police, Baltimore County fire and rescue personnel and the U.S. Coast Guard all responded to the site near Anchor Bay yesterday to find the unmanned boat, which was no longer circling in the open water but was lodged beneath a pier, Turner said.

Divers searching the waters of Bear Creek in Baltimore County yesterday for the missing occupant of a 16-foot aluminum motorboat, which was spotted circling in the water with no one on board shortly before 1 p.m. yesterday, will continue their search today, a Maryland Department of Natural Resources police officer said. "If we do not locate him or his body by dark, we will stop the search and start back up tomorrow morning," Sgt. Ken Turner, the DNR police spokesman, said last night. Natural resources police, Baltimore County fire and rescue personnel and the U.S. Coast Guard all responded to the site near Anchor Bay yesterday to find the unmanned boat, which was no longer circling in the open water but was lodged beneath a pier, Turner said.

Rose Anne Kearns couldn't imagine what she'd do with a school full of pupils.Enrollment figures show that her school -- Bear Creek Elementary in Dundalk -- could hold another 230 pupils, but Kearns, the principal, says that would mean "teachers in the halls and the lobby trying to teach."As the Baltimore County school board takes a preliminary step tonight toward closing schools for the first time in more than 15 years, it must decide how small it can allow elementary schools to become.While declining enrollment at some schools such as Bear Creek doesn't necessarily mean smaller class sizes, it does provide space -- a luxury unheard of elsewhere in the county.

Bear Creek Elementary School in Dundalk was closed for an estimated three weeks yesterday after tests showed elevated levels of airborne asbestos in one wing of the building, Baltimore County school officials said.The tests revealed degrees of asbestos above standards set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. But the expert who tested the building told school officials and parents at a meeting yesterday that the levels did not constitute a health hazard."Even though they exceeded the EPA standard, he said it's the kind of reading you might find at Times Square on a typical day," schools spokesman Donald I. Mohler said.

An arbitrator has awarded a Finksburg construction company $290,000 as settlement of a 1989 suit and related mechanical lien against BearCreek Golf Club Inc.Aim Construction Co. had filed a $750,000 suit against the club and an additional $225,000 lien for work the firmclaimed it had not been paid for.Westminster attorney David L. Johnson, who represented Aim, said the contract between Bear Creek and the construction firm called for the use of binding arbitration...

14 percent tuition increase possible at UM campuses Tuition at Maryland's public universities could rise as much as 14 percent next year if the schools do not get an increase in state funding, Chancellor William E. Kirwan said yesterday. The University System of Maryland has raised tuition the past two years to help offset flat state funding. The schools are getting $746 million in state money this fiscal year, the same amount as last year. If the system doesn't get more state funds, Kirwan said, officials could decide to cut expenses further rather than raise tuition.

The crazy games golfers play.Formats like "scrambles" at Wakefield Valley, "shotguns" at Piney Branch and "skill-points" at Bear Creek. They're all part of the wide variety of tournaments offered on Carroll County golf schedules.The scramble is the one played as a team event. This has a particular appeal to golfers not willing to divulge individual scores. If you don't finish in the winner's circle, its easy to blame your teammates.Still on everyone's schedule at least once every year is a shotgun event.

They have been labeled the nine most interesting golf holes in Carroll County.A survey of county golf professionals shows three of these choice holes are at Wakefield Valley, three at Piney Branch, two at Bear Creek and one at Western Maryland College.The selectors included PGA professionals Bill Horney of Wakefield, Jeff Zachman of Piney Branch, Greg Long of Bear Creek and Dan Loucks of Liberty Park.In reaching a consensus of the nine holes, committee members were limited to votes at courses other than their own.With no effort to divide the "Divine Nine" into equal parts of par3's, 4's and 5's, the selectors favored longer holes.

An international trade and investment lawyer who has agreed to represent eastern Baltimore County residents opposed to a proposed liquefied natural gas facility on Sparrows Point yesterday asked the company that wants to build the $400 million facility to withdraw its plan. Washington attorney Bart S. Fisher also requested yesterday that Sparrows Point shipyard owners, BWI Sparrows Point LLC, which has a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit to begin dredging nearby, not begin the process of moving sediment until federal officials make a decision about the LNG proposal.

Where -- 2158 Littlestown Pike, Westminster, 21158 Phone -- 410-876-4653 Dress code -- Proper golf attire Holes -- 18 Course description -- Paul Hicks design (1989). Par 71. Water in play on seven holes. Tees -- Blue, 6,319 yards; white, 6,135; red, 5,397 Best times -- Senior men's groups play Tuesday and Thursday mornings (open before 8:30 or after 10). Wednesday evenings (starting mid-May) are nine-hole women's league. Late mornings are usually open on weekends. Time spacing -- Eight minutes Weekend time -- Tee times taken 10 days in advance Cost -- Monday-Friday: $32, $20 twilight (times depending on season)

14 percent tuition increase possible at UM campuses Tuition at Maryland's public universities could rise as much as 14 percent next year if the schools do not get an increase in state funding, Chancellor William E. Kirwan said yesterday. The University System of Maryland has raised tuition the past two years to help offset flat state funding. The schools are getting $746 million in state money this fiscal year, the same amount as last year. If the system doesn't get more state funds, Kirwan said, officials could decide to cut expenses further rather than raise tuition.

Inside Ann Ritchey's fifth-grade classroom, where nearly every inch of wall space is covered in rainbow-colored posters and handmade bulletin boards, it looks more like the last day of school than the first. "I can't start the year not ready," said Ritchey, a math teacher at Bear Creek Elementary School in Dundalk. Prepared as she was, Ritchey knew she would sleep fitfully last night. Today is her 37th first day of elementary school as a teacher, but like her pupils, she still gets butterflies.

The corporate owners of two Carroll County golf courses were ordered yesterday to appear in court later this month to answer a demand that a receiver be appointed to handle the businesses. Representatives of Gotham Golf Club LLC, a corporation based in Hershey, Pa., that owns The Links at Challedon Golf Club in Mount Airy and the Bear Creek Golf Club near Westminster, are to appear in Carroll Circuit Court on Feb. 26 under an order signed by Carroll Circuit Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr. The judge's order came in response to a civil action, filed Monday by the Banc of America Commercial Finance Corp.

Cruising the calm blue waters of Bear Creek in an 18-foot flat-bottom aluminum boat this week, Captain Ricky Myers carefully scanned the shore for a mooring spot. The wooden docks protruding into the Dundalk waterway held little interest. He didn't much care for the handful of parks with their tidy playgrounds and picnic pavilions, either. Myers was looking for something else. Something dirty. And then he saw it - a small cove with a sandy shore tucked among the grasses. Blue plastic grocery bags, old car tires and empty Coke bottles lay partly concealed by water and brush at the shoreline.

CLOSING SCHOOLS is about to become an issue in Baltimore County. Declining enrollment in southeastern county elementary schools in Dundalk and Sparrows Point is causing administrators to update a school closing policy that's collected dust since the late 1970s.Now would be an appropriate time to ensure that operating efficiencies aren't the only criteria driving these decisions.Elementary schools such as Battle Grove, Bear Creek and Charlesmont are, indeed, operating below their designed capacity, but they are far from empty.

Who are the best amateur golfers in Carroll County?If there is uncertainty, it's because there never has been a County Championship to find out.With facilities continuing to expand for Carroll's golfing colony, however, an overall title test could be welcome.Professionals at Wakefield Valley, Piney Branch and Bear Creek all have expressed interest in such a tournament.Bill Horney, director of golf at Wakefield, claimed he would be willing to serve on a committee if such tournament plans develop.

Because of unexpected work on a repair project that was to have been done this month, the Peninsula Expressway drawbridge over Bear Creek in Dundalk will remain closed until late November, state officials say.The bridge replacement and rehabilitation project began in November, but state highway officials said supporting towers of the drawbridge -- which hold the gears, motors and other mechanical components -- were in surprisingly poor condition.If left unrepaired, the towers could have caused mechanical failure of the draw span, causing it to lock in place, said David Buck, spokesman for the Maryland Department of Transportation's State Highway Administration.

CLOSING SCHOOLS is about to become an issue in Baltimore County. Declining enrollment in southeastern county elementary schools in Dundalk and Sparrows Point is causing administrators to update a school closing policy that's collected dust since the late 1970s.Now would be an appropriate time to ensure that operating efficiencies aren't the only criteria driving these decisions.Elementary schools such as Battle Grove, Bear Creek and Charlesmont are, indeed, operating below their designed capacity, but they are far from empty.