Club Members

When Robert Brown of Glen Burnie pulled up at the Howard County Fairgrounds on Wednesday in his pickup truck with three beat-up lawnmowers, two bags of potting soil, a paper shredder and a 15-foot power boat on a trailer, members of the Howard County Antique Farm Machinery Club showed no surprise as they helped him unload. Over 12 years of holding its annual consignment sale, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. tomorrow at the fairgrounds in West Friendship, "we've had just about everything you can think of," said Virginia Frank, a club member and sale organizer.

WANT A great way to spend an evening? Try "Getting Away With Murder."The Arundel High School drama club offers this mystery as its winter play at 7: 30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday in the school auditorium.The play is directed by Larry Mintline, the Thespian Club's faculty sponsor. Cast members are Richard Callahan, Laura Crispin, Nicole Freeland, Clint Garner, David Jackson, Shannon Masabni, Bradley Moore, Joshua Orte, Eric Tesch, Dean VerStraten, Joanna Woronkowicz, Amy Anderson, John Houchens, Heidi Krause, Adam Lehman and Daniel Parmentier.

It looks familiar, at first glance -- book club members gathering at Barnes & Noble every month, squeezing one hour out of their busy lives for pursuits more literary.They're like many book club members, with their hot drinks and myriad opinions. But take a closer look.Their untied tennis shoes and glittery hair clips give it away.These avid readers are pupils ages 11 to 14 from various Howard County middle schools, who have homework and after-school activities, but find time to sit down and read for fun.These sixth- , seventh- and eighth-graders come from all over the county.

JAMES TREVILLIAN, a sophomore at North County High School, recently spoke about Hugh O'Brian Youth -- a leadership skills program -- at the annual installation and awards ceremony luncheon for the Woman's Club of Linthicum Heights at Snyder's Willow Grove Restaurant.James, who lives in Linthicum with his parents, Janice and Jeff Trevillian, was sponsored to attend a Hugh O'Brian Youth seminar by the club.A member of the National Honor Society, he is involved in track and field program at school.

UNUSUAL JEWELRY- encrusted Christmas trees created by members of the Snydersburg Homemakers Club are on display at North Carroll Public Library.The art of making the trees from pieces of old jewelry was developed and taught by Ruth Cassell to fellow club members.The volume of inquiries about the exhibit might lead to a workshop by Cassell at the library in the near future.About 20 club members created the jeweled trees by arranging and gluing earrings, brooches, bracelets, baubles and beads upon painted cut-out panels.

A BIG thank you goes out to the folks of Linthicum and surrounding areas who donated hundreds of used eyeglasses and several hearing aids for a Linthicum Lions Club project.Marlene Stivers, president of Lions, said she was overwhelmed by the generosity. "Our club alone was able to fill one and a half large boxes," she said.Club members Peggy Samuels, Beth Sandifer, Michael Friedel and Stivers' husband, Jerry, joined her Oct. 16 in the delivery to a collection site at the Ellicott City Lions Hall, where they, along with members of 36 Lions Clubs in District 22, sorted and packaged them.

THANKS TO the Ferndale Garden Club, the business district along Baltimore & Annapolis Boulevard soon will be blooming.Club members are getting together Wednesday and Thursday to plant geraniums, spikes and alyssums in barrels along the sidewalk.Members also have a way to welcome the arrival of spring for themselves. They will hang May Day baskets full of fresh cut flowers and greenery on each other's front porches anonymously early Saturday.Members will draw a name at the club meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Ferndale-Linthicum Senior Center.

Elise H. Cheslock, who opened her kitchen and home to renowned Evening Sun journalist H. L. Mencken and other members of the famed Saturday Night Club, died Saturday of heart failure at Sinai Hospital. She was 91.Since the mid-1980s, Mrs. Cheslock, a charming woman with a welcoming demeanor, had resided in Belvedere Towers Apartments in Roland Park.At the Cheslock home on Sulgrave Avenue in Mount Washington, she and her husband entertained some of the most prominent members of Baltimore's literary, medical, legal and cultural community during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

Amid growing demand for public golf courses, Baltimore County officials are considering whether to purchase the financially ailing Country Club of Maryland in Towson, an 18-hole private facility that includes a pro shop, restaurant and clubhouse.The county Revenue Authority's chairman and executive director said yesterday that they have begun "exploratory talks" with the country club management to buy the course, which was built in the 1920s. If acquired, the club would become the sixth public course operated by the authority.

You often see the announcements:The Chamber of Commerce will hold a networking dinner, or the local trade council will sponsor its monthly informal networking breakfast.But such social functions -- and even the golf course -- aren't the only places you'll find business networking.The art of exchanging business cards with the intent of forging a deal has become a multimillion-dollar business in itself.The theory behind networking companies is: The more clubs and participants each company has, the more money everyone -- the companies, local groups, members -- makes.

The Keswick Multi-Care Center in Baltimore scrapped its plans yesterday to build a multimillion-dollar retirement community on Roland Park land long owned by the Baltimore Country Club after learning the City Council would not support the proposal, Keswick's chief executive officer said. Keswick overcame the first hurdle to purchasing the 17 acres when two-thirds of the club's voting members approved the $12.5 million sale last year. But the transaction also was contingent on City Council approval of the more than 275-unit development, which many Roland Park residents actively opposed.

Baltimore Country Club members voted last night to sell 17 acres of unoccupied land in Roland Park to a care facility, a potential $12.5 million deal that has met strong opposition from the surrounding neighborhood. The proposal still needs approval by the City Council, which would have to take up a request to rezone the property to accommodate the retirement community. Phil Spevak, president of the Roland Park Civic League, said the organization is disappointed that club members supported the plan.

At the outset, Edward H. Bouton recognized how much appeal a country club would have for prospective homeowners in the new Roland Park. A place for men to golf, for women to lunch, for debutantes to preen, for families to socialize, for children to play on the rolling hills and under the canopy of trees that distinguished the setting in North Baltimore. Mr. Bouton, the general manager of the development company, had the right instinct, and sales reflected that. Novelist Henry James once recalled the pleasure of dining on one of the club house's "deep southern verandas, with great trees close at hand, flinging their shade."

About 30 Roland Park residents waved signs yesterday outside the Baltimore Country Club, urging the club's members to scrap plans that would sell off 17 acres of its property to a care facility. Neighborhood leaders say they have collected hundreds of signatures opposing the club's proposal to sell the property, north of Hillside Road, to Keswick Multi-Care Center, which plans to build a $195 million continuing-care retirement community. The residents acknowledge that the club has the right to sell its land but protested by holding multicolored signs saying such things as "Save the Park in Roland Park" and "Keep Roland Park Green" as club members drove into the facility for a meeting.

As co-presidents of the Kiwanis Club of Columbia, we wish to express our appreciation and that of the club members to County Executive Ken Ulman and the leadership of Recreation and Parks for their initiative and resolve to continue the July 4th Independence Day Festival that we have reluctantly had to forgo. Our club agonized over the decision to end our 20-year sponsorship and production of the festival, but realized we had no other choice. Continuance of sponsorship had simply become beyond the scope and ability of our declining active membership.

Giavanna Parmer, a senior at Howard High School, has been concerned about the environment for as long as she can remember. She has tried to be environmentally friendly, while encouraging others to do the same. "I've always really cared about the environment," Parmer said. "A lot of people don't know the dangers it faces." Parmer's passion for the environment pushed her to find a way to make a difference. Last month, she decided to start her school's first Adopt an Animal program, sponsored by the Defenders of Wildlife, a conservation program based in Washington.

For several months, the Carroll County Republican Club met inconspicuously at a Woodbine residence, while two of its officers faced campaign finance charges. The political club's lawyers had advised keeping a low-profile and limiting interaction with the media while the case was pending. But the club embarked on a significant change of course last week. With the charges thrown out earlier this summer, the club gathered publicly for the first time, undertaking an effort to expand membership and generate support for conservative Republican causes in Carroll and across Maryland.

Washington -- There was an unspoiled, throwback quality to a recent meeting at a hotel coffee shop of a dozen Washington Nationals fans, most wearing the red of their beloved last-place team. It was the monthly gathering of the Nats Fan Club, a group characterized by pluck and devotion. In an age in which many traditional baseball fan clubs have been replaced by snarky, Web-based forums or team-sponsored marketing tools, the independent Nats Fan Club is different. Its 160 members, who pay $20 a year in dues, are the opposite of jaded.

When Robert Brown of Glen Burnie pulled up at the Howard County Fairgrounds on Wednesday in his pickup truck with three beat-up lawnmowers, two bags of potting soil, a paper shredder and a 15-foot power boat on a trailer, members of the Howard County Antique Farm Machinery Club showed no surprise as they helped him unload. Over 12 years of holding its annual consignment sale, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. tomorrow at the fairgrounds in West Friendship, "we've had just about everything you can think of," said Virginia Frank, a club member and sale organizer.

As most Oakland Mills High School students board their buses for the ride home, Andrew Brown and Sara Andino are in a science room in the far corner of the building, holding a meeting of Environmental Club. As co-presidents of this ecologically friendly group, Brown and Andino volunteer their time to make the club a good place to learn about the "backyard science" of the Oakland Mills community. Their responsibilities include finding discussion topics and activities for club meetings, organizing projects such as cleaning up the school campus, and writing grant requests so that the members of the club can go on field trips with school science classes.