Brown Village

THE OWEN BROWN village board has appointed Susan Mead and Richard Diener to fill vacancies on the board. They will serve until the next board elections in April 1997.Former members were Wanda Hurt, who was elected to represent the village on the Columbia Council, and Catherine Hester, who resigned.Also in Owen Brown, village manager Ruth Bothse and her staff will miss Othella Rogers. She has been on the village staff for six years and has resigned to accept a position at the Columbia Association's Member Service Center at The Mall in Columbia.

Dorothea "Doty" Brown, who fled Nazi Germany and ran a chain of children's shops in Baltimore, died of an infection May 23 at Union Memorial Hospital. The Village of Cross Keys resident was 94. Born Dorothea Dreifuss in Berlin, she became a professional portrait photographer and often took pictures of children. "She was raised in a very reformed Jewish home. Her mother had converted to Judaism," said her son, Gary Schoenemann of Owings Mills. "She had a private Jewish education, and the emphasis of the household was on culture, education and sports."

Renovations of the Owen Brown Village Center are scheduled to get under way as early as next year.Officials at Giant Food -- which operates the center through its GFS Realty subsidiary and has a supermarket there -- said yesterday they plan to abandon the center's somewhat enclosed structure for a more open style, similar to a strip mall.They have proposed moving the Chevy Chase Bank building now at the front of the center to a vacant storefront and removing the dark-brown awnings that cover some of the center's storefront windows.

Thirty years ago when Ruth Bohse started working as a receptionist for the Owen Brown Community Center, one of her first assignments was to clean out a closet. "So I neatened it up and I didn't throw anything away, because what did I know?" she said, thinking that some things could be important. Three decades later, Bohse still is at the community center, preparing to retire tomorrow from a career that has included 27 years as the Owen Brown village manager. She knows a lot more now, but she is still reluctant to throw things away.

Thirty years ago when Ruth Bohse started working as a receptionist for the Owen Brown Community Center, one of her first assignments was to clean out a closet. "So I neatened it up and I didn't throw anything away, because what did I know?" she said, thinking that some things could be important. Three decades later, Bohse still is at the community center, preparing to retire tomorrow from a career that has included 27 years as the Owen Brown village manager. She knows a lot more now, but she is still reluctant to throw things away.

A trash can and a park bench were burned early Monday in a tot lot in the 6900 block of Garland Lane in Columbia's Owen Brown village.Four white males wearing blue jeans were seen running away from the area, police said.No arrests were made, police said.Pub Date: 9/04/96

Masked man with gun robs High's in Owen BrownA masked man armed with a 9 mm handgun robbed a High's convenience store in the 6800 block of Cradlerock Way in Owen Brown village of cash Tuesday at about 10 p.m., Howard County police said.The robber was described as a white male with a goatee, 190 pounds, and wearing black gloves, a green hooded sweat shirt and black jeans.

A 27-year-old Columbia woman jogging around Lake Elkhorn in Owen Brown village Thursday evening was sexually assaulted by an unknown man, police said.About 5 p.m., a man described as being in his late teens,5 feet 6 inches tall, wearing baggy blue jeans approached the woman, FTC exposed himself and then grabbed the woman, police said.The woman escaped, ran to a local business and called authorities.Anyone with information is asked to call 410-313-3700.Pub date 10/11/98

Owen Brown village has set up a display of seven safety options and a comment box for the Lake Elkhorn tot lot to get more community opinion on whether the playground should be fenced, village officials said. "One of the big issues was that people did not know there were other options there," said Neil Dorsey, chairman of the Owen Brown Village Board, adding that residents have told him they knew of only two options - fencing the area or leaving it as it is. "This shows there are many more options than the two."

Howard County police arrested a 19-year-old Columbia man yesterday and charged him in connection with a shooting that took place Tuesday night.Marcelo Bonet, whose last known address was in the 6400 block of Autumn Gold Court in Owen Brown village, surrendered to police about 2: 30 p.m. yesterday, according to Sgt. Steven Keller, a police spokesman.Keller said Bonet was charged with attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault, among other violations.He was being held in Howard County Detention Center awaiting a bail hearing.

The Lake Elkhorn Festival has been troubled over the years by poor weather - so bad, in fact, that the event was canceled in 2003 and 2004. So few were surprised that one of Columbia's longest-running annual events began last Saturday under threatening skies. "It was typical and expected," said Ruth Bohse, Owen Brown village manager. "My husband said it was going to be good on Saturday and I said I didn't believe it." Owen Brown officials had decided to make this year's festival - its 33rd - the last one. Low attendance, the lack of volunteers and the loss of revenue all contributed to the decision.

Owen Brown village has set up a display of seven safety options and a comment box for the Lake Elkhorn tot lot to get more community opinion on whether the playground should be fenced, village officials said. "One of the big issues was that people did not know there were other options there," said Neil Dorsey, chairman of the Owen Brown Village Board, adding that residents have told him they knew of only two options - fencing the area or leaving it as it is. "This shows there are many more options than the two."

A still-to-be-determined event will replace one of Columbia's longest-running annual festivals, but not before that festival's last hurrah in September. The Lake Elkhorn Festival, which was started in 1974, will end after this year because of lack of attendance and volunteers, said Owen Brown village officials. "We're going to rethink the festival and, hopefully, come up with a new concept as to what we want to do for the community," said Neil Dorsey, chairman of the Owen Brown Village Board.

Marilyn Newhouse had been a lawyer for 23 years when she decided to make a little change. Not in the type of law she practiced, but in her life's work. The change wound up being a simple one. Newhouse went from the courthouse to God's house and became a minister. And now, after seven years, the Howard County resident has taken a job closer to home, as the pastor of Christ United Methodist Church in Columbia. Newhouse was not unhappy with her career as an attorney, but she had always been a religious person.

Flaunting larger departments and a new facade, the remodeled Giant Food - now nearly twice as big as before - will officially reopen in the Owen Brown Village Center today. A key element in a planned revitalization of the village center, the store - which remained open during the $10 million project - has been expanded from 39,000 square feet to 60,000 square feet and has seven enlarged departments. Shoppers are also greeted by 16 aisles with new lighting and decor. A one-hour photo developing center, pharmacy, health and beauty department and Chevy Chase Bank branch have also moved into the store.

Lights and trees have been uprooted and walkways broken apart at Owen Brown Village Center to make room for Giant Food's $10 million expansion, which is on track for the store's grand reopening scheduled for the fall. The five shops near what used to be a walkway to the back of the shopping center are being demolished, and those tenants - including Hair Cuttery, Owen Brown Liquors and the Dollar Tree - have moved into new sites in the village center. Fencing and bright orange construction mesh and barrels surround the construction area, where the 39,000-square-foot store will be expanded to 60,000 square feet.

It was supposed to be an answer to the problem of dozens of middle schoolers hanging out at the east Columbia library or sitting alone at home. But because of a lack of interest, a $1,300 program at the Owen Brown Village Center may be canceled before it even starts.With a state grant from the Office of Crime Control and Prevention, Owen Brown village leaders planned to start a two-hour, twice-a-week program to keep middle school students amused playing board games and putting together puzzles.

A still-to-be-determined event will replace one of Columbia's longest-running annual festivals, but not before that festival's last hurrah in September. The Lake Elkhorn Festival, which was started in 1974, will end after this year because of lack of attendance and volunteers, said Owen Brown village officials. "We're going to rethink the festival and, hopefully, come up with a new concept as to what we want to do for the community," said Neil Dorsey, chairman of the Owen Brown Village Board.

RESIDENTS OF Owen Brown had long complained about traffic problems on Cradlerock Way. By the summer of 1999, the solution was obvious to Bill Malone, chief of traffic engineering for Howard County. "The roundabout looked like the way to go," he said about the traffic and speeding problems at Cradlerock Way and Homespun Drive. But his suggestion encountered opposition - at least at first. Owen Brown Village Board member Tim Fouts said the intersection met criteria for installing a traffic light.

A Baltimore man acquitted of attempted murder in a shooting that shocked Columbia residents in September 1998 was indicted yesterday in separate robberies at the Owen Brown Village Center last year. A Howard County grand jury indicted Robert J. Manning, 19, on robbery, assault and theft charges in a holdup Oct. 28 of a woman in the village center parking lot. He also was indicted on the same charges in a robbery Nov. 1 of a restaurant in the center. Manning was acquitted last March in the shooting of John Gordon Jackson, who was wounded outside the Fall River Terrace apartment complex about 2 a.m. Sept.