County Association

From: Debra O'BrennanCounty Association of RealtorsIn the Feb. 19 issue of The Anne Arundel County Sun, your front page featured a story and picture regarding the county's sign enforcement program ("County workers uproot illegal signs along highways"). Both pictures accompanying the story show illegal real estate signs and give a false representation of our profession's role in those violations.The Anne Arundel County Department of Planning and Zoning has told us that we are a very small percentage of the violations, yetwe continue to generate a disproportionate amount of the publicity on this issue.

NAACP, NationsBank offer free workshopThe National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and NationsBank are offering a free Home Buyer Workshop from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday at 4805 Mount Hope Drive.Workshop topics include credit, how much house you can afford, applying for a mortgage and working with a real estate agent.Participants will be awarded a certificate entitling prospective homebuyers to apply for special NationsBank affordable mortgages.To register, call 1-800-622-2755.

Pediatricians honored for performanceThe pediatric office of Drs. Dannenfelzer, Litwak & Chasnow in Abingdon was presented with the Delivery Site of the Quarter award by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maryland.The doctors are members of the FreeState Health Plan network, a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maryland.The award is presented to the site that had top performance and highest customer satisfaction during the past quarter.Centers are evaluated on criteria that includes waiting times for scheduling appointments and seeing physicians, overall member satisfaction and site appearance.

Timothy Martin, Professional Land Surveyor, has joined McCrone, Inc. in Annapolis, an engineering/environmental consulting and surveying firm.A resident of Edgewater, Mr. Martin will be responsible for permit processing in such fields as critical areas and light commercial site development in the Central Maryland Region.A graduate of Frostburg State University, Mr. Martin holds a bachelor of arts degree in geography-cartography and urban planning. He has designed and managed projects for state and local government agencies in addition to private developers and has served as project surveyor for several subdivision, site and grading projects in Anne Arundel County.

Brian MeshkinGlenelg High SchoolHometown: GlenwoodAge: 16His accomplishments: Brian is president of the Student Government Association and legislative liaison committee chairman for the Howard County Association of Student Council. He is a student representative to the Board of Education and a member of the varsity basketball team and the National Honor Society.He is a peer mediator and a French Club member. He was last year's student ambassador to the Hugh O'Brian Leadership Seminar and helped persuade the County Council to change the law on bicycle helmets.

United Way contributions from Howard County reached nearly $2.5 million for the 1995 campaign -- an increase of 9.1 percent from the previous year and more than double the county's goal.The county's contributions were part of a regional increase for United Way of Central Maryland, which received a total of $36.5 million last year -- an increase of more than 4 percent over 1994. That percentage increase was the largest for United Way of Central Maryland since the 1988-1989 campaign, the organization said.

Name: Rusling D. BlackburnHonored by The Carroll County Sunfor: Becoming the 1990 Distinguished Sales Associate of the Year for the Carroll County Association of RealtorsAge: 51Residence; hometown:Westminster; BaltimoreEducation: Bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from University of Maryland, College Park; graduate courses in industrial engineering from West Virginia University; graduate of Realtors InstituteFamily: Wife: Beverly, executive secretary...

Hoping to draw members from outside Baltimore County and the city, the region's largest real estate trade association will open a branch in Howard County later this month.The new Ellicott City office will put the 3,300-member Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors in direct competition with the Howard County Association of Realtors, a trade group serving that county.Both groups are affiliates of the National Association of Realtors, which agents and brokers must join to use the Realtor designation.

The Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System will formally dedicate its $12 million Rehabilitation and Extended Care Center today.The center, which is on the former grounds of the Baltimore VA Medical Center at 3900 Loch Raven Blvd., will have 120 beds and will care for veterans who need long-term care.The program's keynote speaker will be the VA's undersecretary of health, Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer. Democratic Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski also will speak.New environmental group sets first meeting July 31The Community Environmental Partnership, a new group that is trying to address environmental problems and find solutions, will hold its first community meeting July 31 in Curtis Bay.The group is a combination of South Baltimore and northern Anne Arundel communities, businesses, industries and governments.

WHAT'S WRONG with this picture? Howard County -- one of the most prosperous subdivisions in Maryland; in fact, in all of the United States -- has residents living in poverty. It has homeless citizens. It has children who have been abused and neglected. Yes, there are many families who have "everything" in a material sense, but in some cases affluence cannot bridge the emotional canyons between estranged husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, daughters and sons.Even a suburban haven such as Howard needs the help of United Way of Central Maryland.