County Residents

Emily Targonski , of Ellicott City, received a leadership scholarship for the 2011-2012 academic year from the Trustees of the Former Agents of the FBI Foundation. She is a graduate of Mount de Sales Academy. Frank Ugboh , of Laurel, received a $2,500 Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans scholarship in June for his perseverence in overcoming adversity while succeeding academically, contributing to the community and exhibiting exemplary character.

The Carroll County Sheriff's Office said Monday that county residents have been hit with a series of suspicious telephone calls in which the caller claims that he's holding a family member captive until an amount - between several hundred and several thousand dollars - is paid because of "damages. " According to information from the Sheriff's Office, suspicious telephone calls are reported to have also been made to Baltimore County and Baltimore City residents. In Carroll County, a Hampstead man and a Mount Airy man each reported receiving a call where the male caller claimed to have been involved in a motor vehicle accident with a member of the victim's immediate family, with the caller citing the correct name of the family member, police said.

Baltimore County residents and developers expressed support Tuesday for a bill that would require public hearings on building projects to be held closer to the affected neighborhoods. The council will vote next week to require meetings to be held within three to eight miles of proposed developments. Meetings may be held in Towson if other sites are unavailable. The hearings, known as community input meetings, allow residents to get information about a proposed development's size and impact on traffic, schools and infrastructure before the plan is submitted for approval.

Shootings in elementary schools. Violent flash mobs in malls. Robberies, home invasions, muggings. With such crimes reported around the United States, and the media giving them around-the-clock attention, it's no wonder ordinary Americans are feeling more vulnerable than ever. So says Anne Arundel County Councilman Derek Fink, a Pasadena Republican who introduced a bill this month that would allow county residents to carry Tasers and stun guns as a way of defending themselves.

Staci and John Lawall Jr. , of Elkridge, announce the birth of their daughter, Braelynn Nicole Lawall , on Aug. 1, 2011, at 10:44 p.m. She weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces. Her grandparents are Marty Golden, of Jim Thorpe, Pa.; Kathy Doody, of New Market; and Sue and Chad Millinix, of Laurel. Hiranya and Robert Patterson , of Sykesville, announce the birth of their daughter, Priya Liliana Patterson , on June 10, 2011, at 10:39 a.m. She weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces.

Courtney Winn Faudree and Tyler Marion Hurd Mr. and Mrs. Eric M. Faudree, of Urbanna, Va. announce the engagement of their daughter, Courtney Winn Faudree, to Tyler Marion Hurd, son of Dr. and Mrs. Edwin M. Hurd Jr., of West Friendship. Faudree, a 2009 graduate of Roanoke College, is a project coordinator at The Martin Agency, in Richmond, Va. Hurd, a 2008 graduate of Roanoke College, is employed at The Faison School for Autism, also in Richmond. A May 2012 wedding in Urbanna is planned.

Thousands of Baltimore County residents have probably paid hundreds of dollars too much for their use of the city's public sewage system - and most are not even aware of it, county officials acknowledge. More than 200,000 county households get their water from Baltimore City, where an error-prone billing system overcharged its customers in both jurisdictions by at least $4.2 million in the past few years. But in Baltimore County, the errors are multiplied because of the method sewer charges are calculated for these customers: The county's budget and finance office multiplies the city-issued water bills by three.

In a twist on the popular fast food commercial, county residents areasking, "Where's the fat?"State political leaders have slashed $446 million from Maryland's $11.5 billion budget this year. But, "They are not looking for the little bits of fat," said Brooklyn Park resident Linda Sharp.As Gov. William Donald Schaefer grapples with another $200 million deficit this month, Sharp's concern was echoed again and again Tuesday night at a Glen Burnie forum on the budget crisis and at other recent forums in Pasadena and Arnold.

The Columbia Association has launched its fifth annual "Get Active Howard County," a 10-week effort to encourage Howard County residents to be more active by incorporating 30 minutes of physical activity into their day, at least five days a week. The program is free and open to anyone living or working in Howard County. To register: GetActiveHowardCounty.org. Participants can pick up a paper log at any Howard County library branch or any of the 10 village centers. The program runs through June 7. Information: Carol Wasser, 410-715-5523 or Carol.

The heat inside a Baltimore County elementary school gymnasium matched the temperament of most of the 600 people who crowded there last night to protest a federal housing program that would move Baltimore's poor to other neighborhoods in the city and surrounding counties.Members of the Hawthorne Civic Association, meeting at Hawthorne Elementary in Middle River, seemed convinced, as have east county residents at other meetings this summer, that the families will move into their neighborhood.

Vehement opposition was all but universal at a public hearing in Westminster on Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposed gun control legislation. When the three members of Carroll County's delegation to the Maryland State Senate scheduled a Feb. 26 hearing to get input on the governor's legislation, the senators got a sample of the furor that O'Malley's proposals have ignited with at least some county residents. The conference room at the Best Western Motel, in Westminster, was already filled to capacity 20 minutes before the scheduled 7 p.m. start to the hearing, with the doors guarded by Maryland State Police and Carroll County Sheriff's deputies.

Howard County's new ban on the sale of sugary drinks on government property won't solve the obesity epidemic. It won't prevent Howard Countians from slurping down empty calories by the Big Gulpful. It won't stop them from eating things that are even more unhealthy, and it won't get them to exercise. But the ban, announced Tuesday by County Executive Ken Ulman, is a step toward aligning the wares available at libraries, parks and office buildings with what the county's health department recommends about a healthy lifestyle, and for that reason alone it is worthwhile.

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman moved Tuesday to ban the sale of high-sugar drinks such as soda in parks, libraries and other county properties and at county-sponsored events - hoping yet again to make the county a progressive model. "I believe Howard County government should lead by example," Ulman said. "That's why today I've signed an executive order to increase the availability of healthy beverage options in our county departments and programs. "The vending machines will look different, starting right away," Ulman said at an event in Ellicott City.

Leaders of the Dar-us-Salaam community in College Park have been looking for years for a new home, a place for a school and a mosque close enough to be convenient for members living in several counties. They've scouted hundreds of spots and looked closely at a handful, and now they think they've found what they've been looking for in the rural western section of Howard County.  The 66-acre former home of the Woodmont Academy, a Catholic school in Cooksville, looks just right to the Muslim community leadership, with buildings already in place and plenty of undeveloped land for parking and a new mosque to accommodate thousands of worshippers in the decades to come.

Clarksville student Janie Tankard received a bachelor's degree from Harvard College during the school's 361st commencement. Samuel Lee, of Ellicott City, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University, Atlanta, Ga. Berklee College of Music, Boston, Mass., reported that Catherine Woodcock, of Ellicott City, merited dean's list placement for the summer semester of the 2012 academic year. Elkridge resident Hannah Ogden participated in Salisbury University's 11th annual Student Research Conference by presenting "Synthesis of New Ligand Containing both Cp and A-Frame Features.

Boxing Perry Hall students are VIPs for anti-bullying card Jake Smith 's Baltimore Boxing Promotions announced that it has donated a first-row VIP table to Perry Hall High School students for Saturday's "Bully Beatdown" fight card at Du Burns Arena. A shooting on the first day of school there Aug. 27 critically injured student Daniel Borowy ; a Baltimore County grand jury has indicted 15-year-old Robert W. Gladden Jr. on 29 counts in the incident. All the guests from Perry Hall will be seated ringside for a special evening of Olympic-style boxing and anti-bullying awareness.

Here we go one last time, leading off with a little new business and then closing with a little business about growing ... older. DINING OUT: If you're a leader or coach or were involved in that capacity with any sports group in Howard County - for kids or adults - we recommend that you attend the third Celebration of Sports dinner Oct. 11 conducted by the county Department of Recreation and Parks. Ten county residents - seven men and three women - who have helped establish various sports groups will be inducted into the new Community of Sports Hall of Fame.

The issue of growth and transportation is the most important problem facing Anne Arundel, according to 36 percent of county residents surveyed in a poll released last week. That was three times the number of residents in the Anne Arundel Community College poll who thought education was the county's biggest concern. Also, 57 percent of the respondents to the poll said the county was moving in the right direction, up from 53 percent in the spring. And 71 percent said the county's economic condition was good or excellent.

Some gambling opponents are hoping to block a sixth casino from being built in Maryland by focusing their energy in one place: Prince George's County. The county is a key battleground because of a provision in the new gambling law that says the state can build a casino in Prince George's County only if a majority of county voters support it in November - even if the referendum is approved statewide. That provision, added at the request of Prince George's County lawmakers, essentially gives the county veto power over the new casino allowed by the law, according to the Maryland attorney general's office.

A string of severe storms brought heavy rain and high winds through the Baltimore region and the East Coast on Tuesday, flooding homes and streets, knocking out power to thousands and forcing local school officials to cancel afternoon activities. Flash flooding was reported in Columbia and a foot of water covered National Pike in Woodlawn. Waterfront homeowners on Millers Island in Baltimore County saw their streets flooded as water poured over concrete bulkheads along the Chesapeake Bay, through their yards and into their basements.