Dannelly

County funding for Westminster-area middle and high schools should be delayed by two years until 2005, the planning commission recommended yesterday in its final review of the county's proposed capital improvement plan.The panel approved a draft version of the six-year spending plan with its recommendations and forwarded the document to the county commissioners.The plan covers fiscal years 2000 to 2005.The planning commission said its recommendations on the school funding requests were made more difficult because education officials had not furnished them with the most current enrollment projections.

At least three members of the county's seven-member planning commission say the county can save $35 million by shuffling school boundary lines and cutting a middle school and a high school from the county's six-year capital program.Grant S. Dannelly of Marriottsville, Robin M. Frazier of Manchester, and Maurice E. Wheatley of Eldersburg are expected to argue at the commission's meeting tonight that the county should expand the capacity of existing schools, transferring students to them and to other schools yet to be built.

At least three members of the county's seven-member planning commission say the county can save $35 million by shuffling school boundary lines and cutting a middle school and a high school from the county's six-year capital program.Grant S. Dannelly of Marriottsville, Robin M. Frazier of Manchester, and Maurice E. Wheatley of Eldersburg are expected to argue at the commission's meeting tonight that the county should expand the capacity of existing schools, transferring students to them and to other schools yet to be built.

Since the county planning commission adopted strict criteria in the spring for new subdivisions, "the pressure has been on," says commission Vice Chairman Joseph H. Mettle of Sykesville.The problem, members say, is that as the panel has taken a larger role in guiding development, panelists routinely have been lobbied by developers and others who have an interest in projects the commission is reviewing. Now, for the first time, the commission is trying to adopt rules of conduct.Within the past few weeks, a developer called Mettle at home and asked him point-blank what would have to occur to get the project approved, said Mettle, who fought for the strict criteria and often votes against new subdivision plans.

The Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission gave preliminary approval yesterday to two subdivisions it had previously rejected because of school crowding.The votes to approve two more lots in the Re-Jo Estates subdivision in Reese and 30 lots in the Jenna Estates subdivision in South Carroll were unanimous.And in the case of Jenna Estates, slightly reluctant.The portion of the Jenna Estates subdivision that would be built first is in a conservation zone east of the Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville and north of Arrington Road next to Patapsco Valley State Park.

Set in Baltimore County (but filmed in Vancouver), Saved! is the audacious feel-good satire of 2004. It's an uproarious mixture of teen romantic comedy and clique flick, played out in fundamentalist American Eagle Christian High School. First-time director Brian Dannelly savages an extremist milieu but displays affection even for its zealots. His sweet-and-sour sense of humor ranks with Michael Ritchie's in the classic teen beauty- pageant parody Smile (1975). Saved! has no sympathy for any sect that reduces morality to small-minded behavior.

For Westminster parents, it's a bad case of deja vu.Last month, the Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission recommended to the county commissioners that the opening of the new Westminster high school be delayed by two years.Westminster folks say the decision brings to mind the showdown in spring 1997, when the Westminster and South Carroll communities clashed over which should get a new high school first.School officials had long planned to open the new school in Westminster in 2001, but the South Carroll group argued that crowding in their area was more acute, and they would not settle for additions on the two existing high schools -- South Carroll and Liberty.

Carroll County's long-running political melodrama, the county's Planning and Zoning Commission, will open on the road tonight in Mount Airy with a new cast.The 7 p.m. meeting at Mount Airy branch library will mark the first appearance of Westminster attorney Robert H. Lennon since his July 15 ouster from the planning board by County Commissioners W. Benjamin Brown and Richard T. Yates.An Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge reinstated Lennon to the seven-member panel last month. Whether Lennon will be returned permanently will be decided by the judge Sept.

The Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously denied yesterday a petition requesting business zoning in a predominantly residential area on Strawbridge Terrace in Eldersburg.Its recommendation goes to the county commissioners, who will make the final decision on the request to rezone a 4.5-acre parcel and four-story stone building owned by Irvin and Peggy Gordon.The Gordons, both 72, purchased the property more than 30 years ago and have made several attempts to establish various enterprises, including a restaurant, swim club and croquet fields, on the property.

The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. on Mondays. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). We do not accept results by phone. When two Howard County teams play, players from both teams (first and last names) must be mentioned in the write-up. Questions? Call 410-332-6606. Running The Howard County Junior Striders cross country team competed in Middletown on Oct. 14, producing one gold medal, two silver medals and two bronze medals. The Striders results were: 6-UG (1K)