County Health Department

Free health fair to be held March 17 The Howard County Muslim Foundation will sponsor a free Community Health Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 17 at the Bain Center, 5470 Ruth Keeton Way, Columbia. More than 30 physicians, dentists and other health care professionals will provide information and clinical tests, including blood tests; mammograms; cancer screening; blood pressure monitoring; and screening for stroke, vision and glaucoma. Dental screening will also be available. Door prizes are planned.

The Carroll County school system plans to change the way it handles student tobacco violations, modifying a regulation that has been around for more than 15 years. While some Board of Education members expressed concerns last week, others praised the move to try something new in an effort to reduce tobacco use among students, not just discipline them. The regulation changes, which would have the district team up with the county Health Department, would save the school system money, while also providing additional opportunities to follow up with - and, ideally, reach - second-time offenders, said Dana Falls, director of student services, in an interview.

Carroll County officials have decided to delay presenting their six-year community investment plan to the county planning commission until February to offer a more finalized list of the buildings, roads and schools the county hopes to fund. In past years, the commission reviewed the plan in November. "My hope is that it will take some of the pressure off the commission, giving them a little more time to think things through," said county Planning Director Steven C. Horn. County agencies send the county capital requests Sept.

Annapolis restaurants will face stricter health regulations under a new certification program for food service facility managers. The new program, unanimously approved by the council Monday night, will require restaurants to have managers trained in food handling, maintenance and hygiene. Alderwoman Classie Gillis Hoyle, a Ward 3 Democrat, introduced the bill after hearing complaints from constituents about improper food handling. "So many things are going on with food, and we want to make sure that we are protecting our citizens," she said.

Harford County officials have notified 375 households in Forest Hill that high levels of hazardous gasoline additives have been detected in the groundwater at a former gas station adjacent to an elementary school, where the levels have been rising since spring. The letters, sent Friday, come nearly two months after the state received the results of groundwater testing at Meller's Food Mart, a convenience store and former Sunoco station. The state's delay in notifying the county Health Department could be a violation of Maryland law. In late June, state tests on a monitoring well near the food mart showed the presence of methyl tertiary butyl ether - or MTBE - at more than 10,000 parts per billion, well above the threshold that requires corrective action.

Anne Arundel: Sandy Point Advisory lifted for park beach The Anne Arundel County Health Department lifted yesterday its weeklong advisory for the East Beach at Sandy Point State Park. The advisory was issued after the discovery of high levels of bacteria in the water. Water samples collected Wednesday and Thursday showed bacteria at levels acceptable for recreational water use, according to Health Department officials. During swimming season, the department samples the East and South beaches daily and will continue to monitor the bacteria levels, said the department's Environmental Health Division director, Kerry Topovski.

Anne Arundel County officials have instituted voluntary restrictions on indoor water usage on the Mayo Peninsula after recent heavy rainfall overwhelmed the area's sewage treatment plant. About 10,000 gallons of partially treated sewage have overflowed from the Mayo Wastewater Treatment Plant, prompting the county Health Department to close Bear Neck and Whitemarsh creeks. Health officials also warned yesterday of higher bacteria levels throughout all of the county's creeks and other waterways, caused by increased storm runoff from a five-day series of storms that ended Wednesday.

The gasoline additive MTBE has been detected in drinking water in two more areas in Carroll County, just as the county health department has drafted a plan to describe procedures for dealing with the contaminant. The well water at four out of five homes near the intersection of Hoffmanville and Grave Run roads in the Manchester area contained MTBE above the state action level of 20 parts per billion, said Brian Flynn, water quality supervisor for the county health department. At that level and beyond, the state advises homeowners to filter their water or use bottled water.

Constance A.M. Miller, who worked for the Baltimore County Health Department as a school nurse for more than two decades, died of respiratory failure Sunday at her home in Sparks. She was 72. She was born Constance Anna Marcella Szymborski in Baltimore and raised on Fait Avenue in Canton. She was a 1950 graduate of Eastern High School and graduated from the old Union Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in 1954. She was an operating room nurse for a year at Children's Hospital and a nurse at what is now Towson University before joining the county Health Department in 1957.