Glenelg High School

The Glenelg High School Jazz Ensemble will perform at 7 p.m. Jan. 25 at the Glenwood Community Center, 2400 Route 97, Cooksville. The ensemble has received more than 60 awards over the past 10 years, including the highest rating at the Maryland State Jazz Festival, and has performed with guests such as Maynard Ferguson, the Count Basie Orchestra, Carl Fischer, Chris Vadala, Deanna Bogart and others. Admission is free (tickets are not required), but donations are welcomed. Information: 410-313-4840.

Mark and Patty Carroll, who own Town and Country Auto Repair in Dayton and are alumni of Glenelg High School, are offering Good Neighbor Savings Cards that include discount coupons for two oil changes and other services. The cards, which are being sold by Glenelg High School students, are $20 each. The proceeds will help pay for the school's marching unit and drill team to attend out-of-state competitions. River Hill boosters selling citrus fruit The River Hill Music Boosters are selling Florida navel oranges, grapefruit, tangerines and variety packs.

Glenelg High School has established a new partnership with Eyre Bus, Tour & Travel to enable students to learn about running a tour and travel business, including skills such as scheduling, finance, marketing and communications. As part of the partnership, Eyre will offer internships at the company, and its employees will participate in career days and mock interviews. Eyre has also agreed to sponsor events at the school. The 60-year-old Eyre company, in Glenelg, offers charter bus, tour and travel agency services.

The Howard County Conservancy and the Rockburn Land Trust will give a reception and information session for landowners interested in preservation from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. March 25 at the conservancy's Gudelsky Environmental Education Center, 10520 Old Frederick Road, Woodstock. Federal tax incentives, set to expire at the end of the year, may provide increased income tax deductions for donated conservation easements. An easement is a voluntary, written deed agreement to protect conservation features of a property.

The Howard County Conservancy has rescheduled its meeting for former students and friends of Ruth and Frances Brown, former owners for 50 years of the conservancy's headquarters, the 233-acre Mount Pleasant Farm in Woodstock. In addition to serving as the conservancy's headquarters, the farm is a land trust and environmental education center. The meeting, which is to initiate a history project honoring the Browns, was canceled because of inclement weather. It will be held from 10 a.m. to noon March 21 at the conservancy, 10520 Old Frederick Road.

The Glenelg Jazz Ensemble will present its annual concert at 7:30 p.m. March 23 with soloist and jazz trumpeter Alex Norris of Howard County. Tickets, available at the door or at the school's front office (410-313-5528), are $10. Proceeds will help pay for the band's European tour this summer. The band is to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival, in Switzerland, and in Lyon, France; Freiburg, Germany; and at an event near Nice on the French Riviera. Glenelg High School is at 14025 Burntwoods Road, Glenelg.

A popular history teacher at Glenelg High School in Howard County has been charged with several sex crimes in which he is accused of exposing himself to one student in a classroom, sending suggestive computer messages to another and persuading a third to meet him at a park with the promise of alcohol. He is accused of abusing her. Joseph Samuel Ellis, 25, a graduate of the Howard County school system, was arrested at 10:30 p.m. Friday by Howard County police. He was released Saturday and is free on $150,000 bond.

One is a seasoned lawyer who has challenged the Howard County school system on several occasions. The other, 41 years younger, is a recent graduate of the same school system. It seems like an unlikely alliance, but Howard County Board of Education candidates Allen Dyer and Di Zou have teamed up to increase their chances of getting elected. As a result, they're wearing each other's buttons and have combined campaign posters. "I'm young and Chinese," said Zou, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Courtesy on the Road, which started in spring 2005 as an idea between two friends walking in The Mall in Columbia, now has support from schools and law enforcement officials and even has its own music video. The program, created by Lisa Morrow and Steffi Rubin, started with the simple concept of rewarding kids for good driving habits. "It was kind of out of fear and concern," said Morrow, whose daughter, Stephanie, was about to start driving. But Courtesy on the Road also was based on the insight that new drivers receive so many frightening and negative messages that a positive message, complete with rewards, would be welcome.

With three last-minute entries -- including two candidates who ran unsuccessfully in 2000 -- the slate of candidates running the Howard County Board of Education is set. The latest additions, who signed up Monday, the filing deadline, brings the total number of candidates to 14. Allen Dyer, 59, a lawyer and computer consultant, said this election is important because of the board's expansion from five to seven members. "The transition is critical," Dyer said, adding that a majority of the board's seats are up for election.