Columbia

The Columbia Triathlon Association is the presenting sponsor of "Bowling for a Change - One Pin at a Time," a new benefit for The Arc of Howard County from 7 p.m to 9 p.m. Feb. 21 at Brunswick Columbia Lanes. Lane sponsorships are still available, and teams can register to participate. Lane sponsors who contribute $100 can have their company logo displayed on the score board and on T-shirts, and will be recognized in The Arc's annual report and e-newsletter. Teams of four to six bowlers will receive "Bowling for a Change" T-shirts.

As reported Aug. 25, 1982, in The Sun: Columbia Kick coach Rudy Storch is not about to let the team trophy - symbol of under-16 North American soccer supremacy - collect dust for the next 365 days in a shopping mall. "Each of my 18 players will get to keep our trophy in his bedroom for 20 days," said Storch. "After all, they are the ones who practiced five days a week since February to reach our goal. It will mean more to them that way." After proving to be the best among over 5,000 teams in this country and Canada, the Kick focused international attention on the youth program in Columbia.

The east Columbia 50+ Center at the east Columbia library, 6600 Cradlerock Way, will offer a new Bridge Night for advanced players from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays, starting this week. Admission is free. "Simplified Yang's Tai Chi," 24 gentle, ritualized moves taught by Ping Mao, will be offered from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. once or twice a week. The cost is $6 a class. An introductory class will be offered Thursday. A series of classes is to begin on a date to be determined. A "Harmonize Your Body" exercise class featuring the 4-S Method (Stamina-Strength-Stretch-Synergy)

A controversial proposed 23-story condominium tower at the heart of redevelopment planned for downtown Columbia may be in jeopardy as its developer struggles in a challenging condo-building market. Florida-based WCI Communities Inc. insists that the project is solid despite financial problems that caused it last week to announce 575 job cuts -- about a quarter of its work force. "We're going to move ahead and are moving ahead with the project," said James P. Dietz, WCI's executive vice president and chief financial officer.

College Fair tomorrow at Kahler Hall The Columbia Council's Teen Advisory Committee, in cooperation with Studyworks, a national for-profit company offering test-preparation services, will sponsor a College Fair from noon to 2 p.m. tomorrow at Kahler Hall, 5440 Old Tucker Row, Columbia. Representatives from college and universities around the country will be on hand to offer information on the application process, funding sources (including scholarships), entrance requirements, curricula and student life.

Barbara Nicklas stepped out onto the balcony of the Spear Center and looked out over Lake Kittamaqundi. "This has got to be one of the best views in Howard County," she said, looking out over the trees and breathing in the summer air. Many longtime Howard countians have fond memories of stepping onto that balcony, drinks or appetizers in hand, during the countless weddings and other celebrations that took place in the Spear Center, a ballroom on the...

The 37th Longfellow Friends of the Traditional 4th parade and ballgame will be celebrated beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday, starting and ending at Longfellow Elementary School on Hesperus Drive. Participants will line up at 9:15 a.m. The parade route is about 1.8 miles, and the parade will take about an hour. The traditional softball game between the Hesperus Wrecks and the Eliots Oak Nuts will be played about noon on the field behind Harper's Choice Village Center. Information: Bob Russell, 410-730-4024.

Women's history essay contest set The Howard County Commission for Women will sponsor an essay contest in honor of Women's History Month, celebrated in March. The contest, focused on the theme "Generations of Women Moving History Forward," is open to Howard County students in grades six to 12. The essay subject should be a contemporary or historical American woman and her ability to overcome obstacles, encourage dreams and bring communities together. The deadline for submissions is Feb. 7. Winners will be invited to read their essays at the Women's Hall of Fame induction ceremony, to be held at 7:30 p.m. March 15 in the Banneker Room of the George Howard Building, 3430 Court House Drive, Ellicott City.

In a sign that the housing downturn is squeezing even the more resilient areas of the Baltimore region, Columbia's master developer said it plans to lower the estimated market value of its remaining, unsold residential lots in the Howard County community. The developer, General Growth Properties Inc., said in a financial filing yesterday that it expects to take a noncash charge of $77 million, not including tax benefits, during the current quarter to write down the market value of residential land for sale in Columbia, two planned communities in Laurel, also in Howard County, and the Fairwood planned community in Prince George's County.

Class to be offered in infant massage Howard County General Hospital will offer a class in infant massage for parents or caregivers and babies from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. tomorrow at the hospital's Wellness Center, Suite L-9 of the Columbia Medical Center, 11055 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. A class called Well Being Through Massage will be offered from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. June 15 at the Wellness Center. The cost is $50 a couple for one class; $90 a couple for both. Information or registration: 410-740-7601, or www.hcgh.

Plans for the redevelopment of central Columbia will be unveiled during presentations Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the Howard County Board of Education offices, beginning at 7 o'clock each night. General Growth Properties, Columbia's master developer, has crafted two separate bills in recent months that will be introduced to the public this week and voted upon by the County Council later this year. According to council Chairwoman Mary Kay Sigaty, a West Columbia Democrat who represents the area most affected by the plan, the council is hopeful that the bills will be introduced for a vote in November.

The Howard County Council has scheduled two public information meetings at 7 p.m. Oct. 13 and 14 on the proposed legislation to allow General Growth Properties to redevelop central Columbia. The meetings will be held at school board headquarters on Route 108 at Cedar Lane. The meetings are intended to give residents a chance to see and study what the General Plan amendment and the Zoning Regulation Amendment to be introduced in November will contain. A new video streaming technology that will allow residents to view the meetings and other County Council meetings on their home computers is to become functional Monday.

On September 25, 2009 CHARLES E. SAVOY. Friends may visit the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST, INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue on Wednesday after 1:00 P.M. where the family will receive friends from 5 to 7 P.M. The family will also receive friends on Thursday at Columbia Community Church, 8516 Thomas Williams Way, Columbia, MD, at 10 A.M., followed by funeral service at 11 A.M.

Preparatory work on the long-planned dredging of Lake Elkhorn in Columbia is to begin in early October with the award of the dredging bid to a Chester, Pa., firm, according to an announcement from the Columbia Association. Mobile Dredging and Pumping Co. was chosen from among four finalists for the job that the announcement said would remove about 52,000 cubic yards of sediment from the 34-year-old lake, which has never been extensively dredged before. Several aspects of the job remained unclear, however.

Five years of talks, proposals and hearings on plans for rejuvenating central Columbia are entering their final phase, but the Howard County Council will likely hold public information sessions before legislation is introduced, members said. The two-part plan would become two separate bills crafted by General Growth Properties, Columbia's master developer, said council Chairwoman Mary Kay Sigaty, a West Columbia Democrat who represents the area most affected by the 30-year redevelopment plan.

The conceptual portion of the complex plan to remake Columbia's downtown over the next three decades has won county planning board approval after five months of discussions among the volunteer members. The board must now tackle changes to the second part of the package - specific zoning regulations that give the policy goals legal force. The plan calls for up to 5,500 new residential units, 4.3 million square feet of office space, 1.25 million square feet of retail space, new hotels, parking garages, environmental and roadway improvements and new cultural buildings.

Sitting in his empty barbershop with the television blaring, 65-year-old Anthony Tringali recalled better times at Wilde Lake Village Center, where his shop opened with the birth of the new town in June 1967. "I had five barbers working for me at one time," he said. "Now I'm down to one and a half - and I'm the one." Between the recession and the closing of the center's anchor Giant supermarket and several other stores, Tringali's business is down by half again in the past two years, he said, but he's not done.

George Moore Brady Jr., a founding director of the James W. Rouse Co. who later became a national leader in low-income housing, died of pneumonia Monday at his home in Bethesda. He was 87. Mr. Brady, the son of a prominent attorney and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised on St. John's Road in Roland Park. He attended Boys' Latin School and graduated in 1940 from Canterbury School in New Milford, Conn. Mr. Brady attended the Johns Hopkins University for three years, during which time he was active in the ROTC.

Eugene Willis, a Howard County orthopedic surgeon, died of heart disease Tuesday at his Ellicott City home. He was 67. Born in Newport News, Va., and raised in Westminster and on the grounds of Fort Meade, he was a 1960 Arundel High School graduate. He earned a degree at Western Maryland College, now McDaniel College, where he played baseball and was a fraternity president. He earned a medical degree at the University of Maryland, served in the Army and did his orthopedic internship at Georgetown University Hospital and a residency at Kernan Hospital.

Pinnie L. Ross, who preached self-esteem and confidence to the hundreds of girls she taught at her Columbia charm school, died of a stroke Aug. 4 at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. The Columbia resident was 81. Born Pinnie (pronounced piney) Lucille Staton in Pactolus, N.C., she attended St. Augustine College in Raleigh, N.C., where she was later given an honorary degree. She also graduated from the Baltimore Academy of Modeling and the Christine Volmer School of Make Up Artists.