Community Leaders

As a small-business owner on Clay Street, the rough-and-tumble Annapolis community where he grew up, Michael McFarland was keenly aware of the need for mentors for the neighborhood's youth. In the early 1970s, when he owned a laundromat there, he began an athletic club that allowed hundreds of low-income kids from the area to compete in organized sports like basketball and flag football. As a coach, McFarland, nicknamed "Little Buck" for his short stature, not only taught sportsmanship; he exalted the importance of education.

Black scuff marks line the staircase at 922 N. Charles St., left there by frustrated tenants kicking the wall in a vain attempt to make their neighbor, the Museum Restaurant and Lounge, quiet down. Most nights, tenants say, the sound of DJs hyping up the crowd rattles china cabinets and nerves alike. "It's thump, thump, thump from the music," said Will Penn, 48, who lives in one of the apartments next door. Penn, like many other Baltimoreans who live near bars, said he has filed complaints using the city's 311 system but has seen nothing change.

Union National Bank has named three more community leaders to sit on the board of its new Eldersburg branch.Dann Finch of Westminster is the manager of sales, service, parts and rental at Finch services in Eldersburg. Michelle Fleming of Eldersburg is secretary/treasurer for Fleming Petroleum Service Inc. Brian Haight of Finksburg is a partner in the family owned and operated Haight Funeral Home in Sykesville.Pub Date: 8/18/96

In 1963, I headed the Rouse Company Planning Team that envisioned a large, central park adjacent to the Town Center commercial district and the eventual Columbia Plan designated the entire 50-plus acres as permanent open space. At the urging of the Washington National Symphony, we agreed to build an outdoor amphitheater in the center of Symphony Woods on approximately 10 acres to be carved out for the pavilion but be preserved as part of the larger park, all of which was to be eventually transferred to the Columbia Association.

Home to quiet, tree-lined streets, government offices and "honey bee" specials. Church capital of the county. A neighborhood of car dealerships and old-fashioned bakeries, an international airport and parks.When 22 community leaders and longtime Glen Burnie residents satdown to talk about their hometown, they quickly listed the same attractions.They came from every walk of life. They live in different sections of town, some in single-family homes in the older center of town, others in more modern subdivisions.

WITH THE appointment of Diane Bell as president of Empower Baltimore, pessimism among some Baltimore neighborhood leaders about their role in this project has turned to optimism. They believe their complaints have led to better cooperation with the business-oriented members of the empowerment zone board.That is good to hear. Baltimore's success last year in winning a coveted empowerment zone grant was due in part to heavy business-community-government interaction. The success of the program will hinge on making that cooperation an on-going reality.

Harold Greene, executive director of the Annapolis Housing Authority, had lunch with one of his most vocal critics, Rosalie Mitchell, president of the Harbour House tenants council.Nick Kallis, the attorney for downtown tavern owners, talked with Wendy Beavers, a leader in the College Creek and Obery Terrace public housing communities.Downtown residents and tavern owners -- often at odds -- agreed to meet regularly and work to solve problems. Police officers and public housing residents talked about reclaiming their communities from drug dealers.

Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens' administration spent nearly $3,200 copying and mailing a snow removal video, which was criticized at a County Council meeting on Tuesday. "If we are so tight on money in this county, why was this mailed to me as well as all the other community leaders?" asked Marie Cook of the Provinces Civic Association in Severn. County officials said yesterday that they made 1,000 copies of the videotape and mailed it this month to 867 community associations.

Like the residents of this 33-year- old town, Jim Robey and Padraic Kennedy see two different Columbias -- one grappling with urban decay, the other prospering. Kennedy, who led the town for 26 years as the first president of the Columbia Association, sees a thriving town with a few minor issues that surely will be resolved. But Robey, the Howard County executive, is distressed about older neighborhoods in decline, with school and crime problems in need of immediate attention. Their divergent perceptions reflect broader disagreement in the community over how much must be done, and how urgently.

The hulking structure is more than six decades old, and it's on a valuable parcel of land that's about to go on the auction block. But Baltimore County officials and community leaders see the old airplane factory now known as the Middle River Depot as an architectural jewel and a statement of the area's heritage, and they want it to survive the sale. The building, once the plant where Glenn L. Martin Co. manufactured the B-26 "Marauder" bomber during World War II, has been in recent decades a federal government repository for tons of pamphlets, manuals and records.

Capt. John Spiroff, commander of the Wilkens Police Station that patrolled Precinct One that includes Arbutus, Catonsville and Lansdowne, will be leaving the station next week. Spiroff has been promoted to detective captain for the Baltimore County Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division. He will be succeeded at Wilkens by Capt. Douglas Irwin, a 20-year veteran of the Baltimore County Police Department. Irwin was most recently commander of the department's Internal Affairs Division, according to Cpl. Cathleen Batton, a county police spokeswoman.

Backers of a referendum drive to challenge Baltimore County zoning decisions say they have gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot in 2014. The supporters say they have collected more than 70,000 signatures — far more than the number required — and filed them Friday with the county elections board. A referendum would put all zoning decisions in the districts of Council Chairwoman Vicki Almond and Councilwoman Cathy Bevins on the 2014 ballot. Each district's petition needed more than 28,000 signatures by mid-November.

Some community leaders in Baltimore County are fighting a referendum drive they say is backed by developers who are trying to "hijack" the county's zoning process because they didn't get their way. A coalition calling itself "Don't Sign It!" urged county residents Monday not to sign the petitions, which would put land-use decisions in Council Chairwoman Vicki Almond's and Councilwoman Cathy Bevins' districts on the 2014 ballot. The petition drive has ties to Howard Brown of David S. Brown Enterprises and to the Cordish Cos., two prominent development firms.

Stopping sprawl needn't amount to a "war on rural Maryland," but pragmatic conservationists realize that rural residents need sustainable jobs if they hope to avoid endless battles over keeping farmland and forests from giving way to tract homes and strip malls. The Eastern Shore Land Conservancy is tackling that challenge Friday with an all-day " rural jobs summit " in Easton.  State and local officials, planners, farmers, business and community leaders have been invited to come discuss ways of preserving rural economies as well as land.

Outraged education, community and political leaders have called for increased oversight of spending in the Baltimore City school system, amid revelations that about $500,000 was spent to upgrade offices at the district headquarters while city and state leaders fought for funding to fix dilapidated school buildings. Since January 2011, the school system has undertaken 11 renovation projects in eight departments, The Baltimore Sun reported this week. Half of the money went to renovation of a single department: The information technology office, which has spent $250,000 largely to transform an executive suite with new amenities such as interactive white boards.

The crowd of more that 80 people that packed a Belair Road bar for an extended happy hour featuring $2 drinks did not deter a gunman who, police said, got by a bouncer, pushed through the patrons and found his target sitting in a secluded spot in the back. Derrick Deon Smith was shot several times in the head and body early Wednesday morning, and collapsed between the bar and breezeway, police said. The 33-year-old was the seventh person killed in Baltimore by gunfire since Friday night — the deadliest stretch this year.

Concerned about robberies in three Columbia villages, Howard County Police have assigned 15 uniformed and plainclothes officers to patrol them for the next 10 weeks, in a program that could be used elsewhere in the county if needed.The Robbery Suppression Program -- which began with no fanfare Thursday -- concentrates on the villages of Long Reach, Oakland Mills and Town Center, all of which "are historically busier with robberies," said Sgt. Steven Keller.Led by Lt. William McMahon, commander of the department's special operations division, the program will combine the efforts of detectives and narcotics officers, as well as the regular patrol, to find possible connections between the robberies and other types of crimes.

Many years ago, when you walked outside your home and looked at your neighbor, chances are they looked like you, had a job like yours, and likely had about as many children as you did. Today's world is very different. Things have changed drastically. We are now surrounded by all different cultures. One year ago, Baltimore's Northern Park Heights community was affected by a product of this change. An incident between three individuals gave two communities, African-Americans and Jews, the opportunity to take a closer look at their relations and relationships.

Every week for nearly a year, Sonnie Jones visited the Baltimore Police Academy to help put on a demonstration about how officers could better interact with residents in the city's crime-ridden neighborhoods. Though the demonstrations could become heated, officers often ended up thanking him for his perspective. But while his participation in the in-service training was always on a volunteer basis, he now wonders whether the city took advantage of his good will, in light of reports that guest speakers and non-law enforcement consultants were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to participate in other police training.

WEATHER Today's forecast calls for partly sunny skies with breezy conditions and a high temperature around 41 degrees. It is expected to be partly cloudy tonight with a low temperature around 27 degrees. TRAFFIC Check our interactive traffic map for this morning's issues as you plan your commute. FROM LAST NIGHT... Scarlet fever identified at Baltimore elementary school : At least one student at George Washington Elementary in southwest Baltimore has been diagnosed with scarlet fever, according to the city health department.