County Officials

AS EXQUISITE as it is, the Rouse Co.'s quarry in Savage ought to give Howard County officials pause as they consider whether to convert the site into parkland. Rouse officials have offered to turn the property over to the county so it can become an extension of Savage Park. But there's a major problem: The pristine lake in the middle of the quarry may be treacherous because of its deep waters and frigid temperatures.How deep is it? Three hundred feet, and rising about five feet a year. That would not be such a problem except that the geology of the lake makes for some very cold water; as high as 70 degrees on the surface but a bone-chilling 40 degrees farther down, enough to startle and incapacitate an unsuspecting person.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has announced plans to remove Tipton Airport from the Superfund cleanup list, a step that Anne Arundel County officials say is crucial to their operation of the airfield.The EPA's announcement Friday makes possible an Oct. 1 celebration by county officials, who plan to fly into the former Fort Meade airport to mark its opening to private aircraft."Not being a part of the Superfund will make it much easier" to operate Tipton from technical and marketing standpoints, said Sam Minnitte, assistant to Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens.

BUYER BEWARE certainly applies better to humans than bog turtles. But if government forbids construction in wetlands partly because it would harm the creatures there, why does it approve construction of homes beside highways when it has proof the noise could injure the residents?Howard County erred in approving new homes so close to Route 100 the deeds include a warning: Living there "may result in hearing impairment," records say.Like "rubberneckers" gawking at an accident, or one about to happen, county officials merely express amazement that the builder of a subdivision called Brampton Hills is asking $270,000 for homes on lots that exceed 65 decibels.

Howard County sold bonds yesterday at the lowest interest rate in memory, delighting county officials otherwise burdened with spring budget woes. "We have wonderful news this year," Finance Director Dale B. Neubert told the County Council just before the members unanimously approved the low bidder on $34.5 million in county bonds. Lowest on record State Street Capital Markets, a Boston investment bank, submitted a low bid at a 4.311596 percent rate, lowest in the 18 years for which the county has records, Neubert said.

A stretch of rolling countryside where Quail Creek gurgles through the pines and hardwoods on its way to the Gunpowder Falls has become a battleground in a war that pits Baltimore County residents and officials against a hard-nosed corporate takeover specialist who is used to getting his way.Victor Posner, the principal stockholder of Security Management Corp., wants to build a 3,000-unit townhouse and condominium development on 215 acres of the former Towson Nurseries property nine miles north of Towson.

IF AN AUTO RACETRACK is indeed to be built in Anne Arundel County, or anywhere else in Maryland, economic development officials need a more systematic approach to finding it an appropriate site. Otherwise, the developers will just spin their wheels, running from one potential site to another, frittering away time and good will.We have already seen a glimpse of this debilitating process. Middle River Racing Association originally sought to build its track in the Essex area, but concerns about access and community opposition led the group to vacate eastern Baltimore County to shop a site in Anne Arundel County.

An Annapolis developer is the latest to announce that he will purchase the moribund Parole Plaza near Annapolis, in a proposal that has received a cautious reaction from local officials. Walt Petrie, chairman of Petrie Ventures, who fought unsuccessfully to build a Wal-Mart on Kent Island, said yesterday that he has signed a nonbinding purchase agreement with longtime plaza owner Carl Freedman of Cherry Hill, N.J. Petrie, who recently bought Glen Burnie Mall and is in the process of buying another shopping center in Prince George's County, declined yesterday to state the purchase price.

In another protest of a project that has come to haunt county officials, an Annapolis businessman and "rogue" publisher has lampooned Anne Arundel County politicians and the South County Safeway debacle, causing a twitter at county headquarters yesterday. And he says he's planning on doing it again. Dan Walter, 43, slammed county officials in his County Council News, which he created on his home computer in Deale on Monday. He distributed 75 to 100 copies of his publication at county offices Tuesday, leaving them in conference rooms and restrooms.

An Anne Arundel Circuit Court judge temporarily extended a court order yesterday to prevent the county from slashing retirement benefits for former appointed and elected officials.Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr. agreed to extend for 10 days an injunction signed Dec. 20. The ruling is for 12 former county officials who are suing to block a county ordinance that would trim their pension benefits by up to 25 percent.The suit contends that County Executive John G. Gary's measure to reduce benefits retroactively for participants in the appointed and elected officials' pension plan is a breach of contract.

THE AMPLE EVIDENCE emerging suggests that Howard officials will ultimately soften their proposed plan to charge county residents fees based on the amount of trash they generate. In addition to an ambiguous answer from County Executive Charles Ecker as to whether he supports the proposal, other officials have been quick to point out the tentativeness of the plan.At a public hearing last week, irate residents all but promised that illegal dumping would be their response to a by-the-bag trash payment plan.