Dobbin

Tilton H. "Teek" Dobbin, retired president of the Maryland National Bank who served as undersecretary of commerce during the administration of President Richard M. Nixon, died Monday from complications of a broken hip at Barclay Friends Senior Living Community in West Chester, Pa. He was 91. The son of a lawyer, Mr. Dobbin was born and raised in Howard County. He was a 1935 graduate of Boys' Latin School. Mr. Dobbin began his banking career in 1936 as a runner with the old Baltimore National Bank.

Maryland's highest court on Friday ruled that the Dobbins Island beach is not a public playground, overturning a lower court's decision that allowed unfettered access to all sandy areas along the shore, even those that are privately owned. The decision means boaters — including those who converge on the Magothy River each year for the "Bumper Bash" — will have to restrict themselves to the sliver of sand between the river and the "mean high water line," which marks the division between private and public property, according to the Maryland Code.

Howard County Bureau of Highways has added two roads to the nearly 50 snow emergency routes in the county.The roads are Dobbin Road from Route 175 to Oakland Mills Road and Twin Rivers Road from Harpers Farm Road to Governor Warfield Parkway, both in Columbia.When the snow emergency plan is in effect, parking is forbidden along the routes and vehicles must have snow tires.Andy Daneker, chief of the highways bureau, said effective snow removal requires drivers to park their cars in driveways instead of along streets.

Opponents of the luxury island compound built by Daryl C. Wagner without Anne Arundel County permission asked a state appeals court this week to return the dispute to the county Board of Appeals for further hearings, contending that they did not get a fair shake when Wagner belatedly sought approvals for the construction. But lawyers for Wagner and the county told the Court of Special Appeals that there was nothing to gain by having more than the 24 hearings already held that ended with the board allowing Wagner to keep his house and replica lighthouse on Little Dobbins Island, but ordering him to raze most of the rest of his construction, including a swimming pool.

POLICE LOG* Owen Brown: 6400 block of Dobbin Center Way: A white 1992 Dodge Caravan with Maryland tags 238 652 was stolen Friday, police said.

Towson-based firm purchases Dobbin Commercial Center Continental Realty Corp., a Towson-based management and development company, has purchased Dobbin Commercial Center. The property, at 6615-6625 Dobbin Road, Columbia, is on 6.5 acres opposite the Dobbin Center anchored by K-Mart. Tenants at the 64,000 square-foot center are Scan Furniture and Ross Dress for Less. Continental Realty purchased the property from Dobbin Road Associates Limited Partnership. Chamber of Commerce honors health club The Howard County Chamber of Commerce has honored Synergy -- The Future of Fitness for Women as its Small Business of the Year.

Police logLong Reach: 8900 block of Tamar Drive: Someone broke out a window and vandalized a vacant apartment between Saturday and Tuesday.Long Reach: 8900 block of Tamar Drive: Someone entered an apartment through an unlocked front door Tuesday and took a videocassette recorder, stereo and compact disc player.Owen Brown: 6400 block of Dobbin Road: A Sony Play Station was reported missing Wednesday after a front window of Funcoland in Dobbin Center was smashed.Kings Contrivance: 9700 block of Patuxent Woods Drive: A white 1990 Ford Club Wagon conversion van was stolen Tuesday.

POLICE LOG* Owen Brown: 8800 block of Stanford Blvd.: Computers were stolen from a business between Friday and Monday, but police said there was no sign of forced entry.6400 block of Dobbin Center Way: Someone broke the front window of The Audio Connection with a hammer Tuesday, but apparently was scared off by an alarm.

I could not help but shake my head when reading the article regarding Dobbins Island, a private property that is being totally abused by the uncaring public ("Islet at center of battle over private versus public rights," Oct. 6). This island, which once consisted of 13.5 acres, has been vandalized and diminished by persons trespassing there, perhaps completely unaware of the damage they have caused. They talk of romantic evenings by a bonfire on the beach. Ah, yes, with bushes and branches broken off nearby vegetation, adding to the erosion that has left that island reduced now to 7.2 acres.

Lawyers for the owner of an island in the Magothy River argued Thursday that if the state's highest court forces David and Diana Clickner to open their beach to the public, it would set a troubling precedent and raise liability issues for all waterfront property owners. But an attorney for the Magothy River Association, which sued the Clickners for access to a 1,200 foot swath of sand, argued that her clients have met the legal requirements to be granted an easement. The Court of Appeals on Thursday took up the case of the beach on Dobbins Island – whether the public has a right to use a beach that is privately owned, mainly because they have always done so. Last year, Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Ronald A. Silkworth granted what's called a "prescriptive easement," ruling that the beach up to where grasses and shrubs grow is public, and ordered the Clickners, who purchased the 7-acre island in 2004 with plans to build a home there, to remove a fence they'd erected.

Lisa Bender spent her summers in the 1960s sailing to Dobbins Island in the Magothy River for some summer fun. "You'd picnic, meet people and swim," the Severna Park woman said of her trips to a beach that she and many others considered to be a public place. In the 1990s, she began taking the next generation of her family there. Then David and Diana Clickner bought the 7-acre island in 2004, with plans to make it their family home. They have no interest in hosting a summerlong party or in sharing the beach with uninvited strangers who often leave their trash behind.

Tilton H. "Teek" Dobbin, retired president of the Maryland National Bank who served as undersecretary of commerce during the administration of President Richard M. Nixon, died Monday from complications of a broken hip at Barclay Friends Senior Living Community in West Chester, Pa. He was 91. The son of a lawyer, Mr. Dobbin was born and raised in Howard County. He was a 1935 graduate of Boys' Latin School. Mr. Dobbin began his banking career in 1936 as a runner with the old Baltimore National Bank.

In a new twist in a battle for beach access between local boaters and an island owner in the Magothy River, the local environmental association has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to force the owner to negotiate. The Magothy River Association alleges in the suit filed Thursday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court that Dobbins Island is public land, because residents have been using the beaches there for decades. David L. Clickner Sr., the association claims, has reduced public access since buying the 7-acre island in 2004.

Unconvinced that a local nonprofit can come up with enough money to buy his island on the Magothy River, the owner has resurrected plans to build a house on it. David L. Clickner Sr., who bought Dobbins Island in 2004, last week presented preliminary information at a required public meeting on how he'd put in a septic system and road. He didn't provide details on the house, but in 2005, Clickner submitted plans to build a home in the range of more than 4,500 square feet. Clickner said that he put his plans on hold for more than a year, since spring 2006, to give the Magothy River Association time to raise money to buy the island.

Anne Arundel County environmentalists plan to keep fighting a Dobbins Island owner's pier, which they claim threatens the health of the Chesapeake Bay - even as a county panel last week denied they had the legal right to mount such a challenge. "The concern isn't just over this one pier, it's over the county's decision to allow this type of construction that could kill all this work," said Beth Lefebvre, a spokeswoman for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. "If you take this one pier and magnify it up and down the coast, you could begin to realize the negative effect it's going to have on the health of the bay."

To the protectors of the Magothy River, the 200-foot-long pier jutting out from Dobbins Island is the equivalent of a finger poking them in the eye. Island owner David L. Clickner Sr. recently constructed the pier for the boats he hopes to dock at the house he hopes to build. Environmentalists are questioning why the state and Anne Arundel County would give Clickner permission to build a pier while they are appealing the zoning variances that allowed its construction. "We thought it was irresponsible for construction to move forward when the [variances are]