Beautification

The Friends of the Catonsville Library sponsored a weeding workgroup and lunch May 29. Many thanks to neighbors who came ready to pitch in and beautify the grounds. "The middle school volunteers were wonderful," said Karen Nicolaus, president of the group. Thanks also to Maureen Sweeney Smith, Carolyn Tancock, David and Cheryl Wasmund, Mike Nicolaus, Luke and Mitchell Wieland, Sam and Jesse Bower, Evan Marcus, Joshua Wood, Drew and Dan Nicolaus, and Ashley McAvoy.

Baltimore and other Maryland localities would receive millions of dollars in federal money for bicycle trails, scenic pull-offs and street beautification projects as part of a huge, bipartisan transportation bill expected to pass in the U.S. Senate as early as Tuesday. The provision to protect funding for trails and other "transportation enhancements," as the projects are known, was threatened in an earlier version of the $109 billion highway bill. Now the measure includes the funding and would give local leaders more control over how to use the money, which could bring speedier improvements to the Herring Run and Jones Falls trails in Baltimore.

U.S. 40, the aged, ugly duckling highway that handles a truckload of the traffic passing through the most commercial section of Harford County, is in line for a facelift. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has designated $8 million from the transportation funding package passed this year by the General Assembly to be used for a safety and beautification upgrade of a two-mile stretch of 65-year-old road in Edgewood. Some of the money will be used to eliminate the Jersey barriers that divide the eastbound and westbound lanes.

Students can earn service hours and help keep Rocky Gorge Reservoir beautiful at a community service day scheduled for Monday, Oct. 31, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Prince George's County public schools are closed for students that day. County students ages 11 to 18 can register to participate in the event, which is being held by the county's Police Athletic League and Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, which maintains the reservoir....

Volunteers 18 and older are needed for tutoring, mentoring, internships, renovation projects, recreation sponsors, office assistance and beautification projects. The organization helps troubled children and youth who are abused, neglected or runaways to become independent and productive. For information, call 301-589-8444, ext. 212.

Exhibit East Baltimore beautification See an exhibit that explores beautifying an East Baltimore neighborhood. The Maryland Institute College of Art's Super Pride Project is at the Contem porary Museum, 100 W. Centre St., $5 for adults, $3 for students. 410-783-5720 or go to contemporary.org.

A proposed ordinance aimed at preserving woodlands in new developments will be among the topics of discussion by the Town Council at its meeting tomorrow.Last month, the town Planning Commission approved a draft ordinance, which was forwarded to the council.The measure would apply to developments on parcels that are 500,000 square feet or larger.At least 30 percent of the existing trees at a residential development must remain undisturbed, while at least 15 percent must stay intact at industrial or commercial developments, according to the draft ordinance.

Spring Fling in Mount Airy raises $427Mount Airy's second annual Spring Fling attracted 29 vendors and raised $427 for the Mount Airy beautification fund, the town beautification commission said.The spring festival, held in May, features local nurseries, crafts, business displays and performers.PoliceMount Airy: A resident of Eldersburg told police that someone reached through a partially open window of her vehicle while it bTC was parked in the 13000 block of Unionville Road between 10: 30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Saturday and stole a purse containing money and prescription glasses.

Twelve years after the it was defoliated to make way for road projects, the Benfield Road corridor will get a face lift this fall.The plans, unveiled to 30 community activists Monday night by the coordinators of the county executive's beautification program, called for perennial gardens and scores of red maple and cherry trees to be planted by Nov. 24 along a half-mile stretch of Benfield between Jumpers Hole and Bendale Drive."

The Greater Severna Park Council is thinking green these days as it prepares for the Ritchie Highway Beautification Program kickoff this fall.The beautification project was designed, with the State Highway Administration's approval, to improve the appearance of the Ritchie Highway corridor through Severna Park."

The Friends of the Catonsville Library sponsored a weeding workgroup and lunch May 29. Many thanks to neighbors who came ready to pitch in and beautify the grounds. "The middle school volunteers were wonderful," said Karen Nicolaus, president of the group. Thanks also to Maureen Sweeney Smith, Carolyn Tancock, David and Cheryl Wasmund, Mike Nicolaus, Luke and Mitchell Wieland, Sam and Jesse Bower, Evan Marcus, Joshua Wood, Drew and Dan Nicolaus, and Ashley McAvoy.

Volunteers 18 and older are needed for tutoring, mentoring, internships, renovation projects, recreation sponsors, office assistance and beautification projects. The organization helps troubled children and youth who are abused, neglected or runaways to become independent and productive. For information, call 301-589-8444, ext. 212.

Lady Bird Johnson, the widow of Lyndon B. Johnson, whose tumultuous presidency often overshadowed her considerable achievements as an activist first lady and environmentalist, died yesterday at her home in Austin, Texas. She was 94. Mrs. Johnson, who suffered a major stroke in 2002 and had been in failing health for several years, died surrounded by family and friends, including daughters Lynda Johnson Robb and Luci Baines Johnson, said family spokeswoman Elizabeth Christian. As the wife of the 36th president, Mrs. Johnson was often portrayed by contemporaries and some historians as a meek woman who silently endured her husband's volcanic outbursts and infidelities.

The angle is particularly unsettling. Pinned by underwater pilings, the breached houseboat lunges out of the water like a mutant marlin. A rusty propane tank on the fly bridge hangs on for dear life. Torn cabin curtains blow in the wind. There is no pleasure left in this boat. Any respectable capsized boat would be at the bottom of Patapsco's Northwest Harbor here in Fells Point. But not this 30-foot houseboat, with its name unknown and owner gone. This boat sticks out like a sore shipwreck.

June R. Kahl, a homemaker who ran a flower-arranging school, died in her sleep Sunday at the Blakehurst Retirement Community in Towson, her home for the past 15 years. The former Poplar Hill resident was 87. Born June Elizabeth Robison in Baltimore and raised on Oswego Avenue, she earned a bachelor's degree from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in 1939. While in college, Mrs. Kahl developed a lifelong appreciation for art, architecture and interior design. She was a past president of the Little Garden Club, Stony Run Garden Club and Roland Park Garden Club, and held numerous offices in the Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland.

Exhibit East Baltimore beautification See an exhibit that explores beautifying an East Baltimore neighborhood. The Maryland Institute College of Art's Super Pride Project is at the Contem porary Museum, 100 W. Centre St., $5 for adults, $3 for students. 410-783-5720 or go to contemporary.org.

PARISHIONERS OF St. John the Evangelist Church may congratulate Barbara Erakko Taylor, who won first place in world mission news coverage from the Archbishop Edward T. O'Meara Awards Committee for "The Struggle for Clean Water," an article about Honduras and Nicaragua.The judges commented: "Taylor's words capture the strength and courage of the people of these two nations as they journey, in partnership with Catholic Relief Services, toward forming communities of faith, hope and service."Taylor also was a finalist in the 1997 Eileen Egan Awards program, which honors writers who educate readers about issues in Third World countries by reporting solutions and not just problems.

If every other sentence out of your mouth is "God bless you," if thepollen count has reached triple digits, and you can write your name in the fallout on your car, then you're enjoying another spring in old Severna Park.The good news is this has been a glorious spring; the bad news is it has turned into the Mother of All Allergy Seasons.Gesundheit! Pass me a Kleenex and we'll continue.*Although it will be another year before Benfield Elementary School celebrates its 30th anniversary, parents, teachers and students are getting ready now.To help share the pride felt by alumni and students alike, a handsome brick sign has been erected on the school's front lawn.

Work is set to begin on a project to enhance the entrance to a Dundalk community. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for today on a $40,000 landscaping project on St. Monica Drive, the main street through North Point Village, according to Baltimore County officials. Enhancements to the median are to include trees, ground cover, perennial flowerbeds and new grass. Members of the newly revitalized North Point Village Community Association worked with the county's Office of Community Conservation to design the landscaping features.

Amid a spray of gold, black, red and white confetti, Brooklyn residents got their first look yesterday at a colorful 750-square-foot mural on a railroad overpass in the 3400 block of S. Hanover St., the first part of a neighborhood beautification effort. About 50 people gathered about 3:30 p.m. for the unveiling, which also drew clusters of curious onlookers across the street. Several Ravens fans watching the game at O'Brady's Crab House wandered outside, shielding their eyes from the sun as the blue tarp that had hidden the work for weeks finally fell to the street below.