Grace High School

On July 21, 1896, the cornerstone of Havre de Grace High School was laid, a project that eventually would cost $25,000. The City of Havre de Grace contributed $8,000, and the county commissioners provided the rest. The building was put to use Jan. 12, 1897. It was condemned in 1945 because of deficiencies in lighting and ventilation and because of its narrow corridors and stairways. - Source: Our Harford Heritage : A History of Harford Co, MD by C. Milton Wright.

The public back and forth among our elected officials regarding whether Havre de Grace High School is in line for being replaced has been focused on a number of somewhat important policy-making details, even as the big picture has been overlooked. In short, Havre de Grace is next in line for a major high school renovation project, and the details of who gets to first list it as an official budget priority, while of some interest to those involved in the politics of the matter, is largely immaterial to the community and students affected.

Members of Theatre Works, a children's performance group based at Harford Community College, will appear at the third annual Children's Art Festival, Saturday, Sept. 7, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Tydings Park.Performers include Jerry Brown, a vaudeville act; Ronald McDonald; Robinette, a magician; and The National Ballet. Other activities include puppet making (shown in photo at right), decoy stenciling, chalk drawing, clay modeling, collage making, face painting and scarecrow building.Admission: $2 for adults, $1 for children.

Talk about rebuilding or replacing Havre de Grace High School got me to thinking. Talk about rebuilding or replacing Havre de Grace High School got me thinking. For more than a year, some noticeable changes have been taking place at the school. It started with the removal of what for generations had been the school's tennis courts tucked behind the gym at the corner of Adams and Bourbon streets. It's been a long time since they've been used for tennis. In recent years as they fell further and further into disrepair, they had been used primarily for baseball, lacrosse and softball teams seeking a dry spot during the cold, wet months of spring.

Havre de Grace voters go to the polls Tuesday to select three council members.Mayor Gunther D. Hirsch is also running for another term, but he is unopposed.Vying for the open council seats are incumbents John P. Correri Jr., James C. Vancherie Jr. and Rene A. Lambert, and challengers Henry J. Schreiber and Charles A. Maslin.The polling place in the auditorium of Havre de Grace High School will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nearly half of the city's 8,800 residents are registered voters.Letters from the candidates outlining several of their positions are at right and below.

Talk about rebuilding or replacing Havre de Grace High School got me to thinking. Talk about rebuilding or replacing Havre de Grace High School got me thinking. For more than a year, some noticeable changes have been taking place at the school. It started with the removal of what for generations had been the school's tennis courts tucked behind the gym at the corner of Adams and Bourbon streets. It's been a long time since they've been used for tennis. In recent years as they fell further and further into disrepair, they had been used primarily for baseball, lacrosse and softball teams seeking a dry spot during the cold, wet months of spring.

The Penn State Singing Lions of University Park, Pa., will present ashow of 20th-century popular music at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 17, at Havre de Grace High School.The concert is being sponsored by the Havre de Grace Arts Commission.The 20 mixed voices in the group sing a variety of styles, ranging from big band classics and love songs to movie themes and jazz arrangements.Tickets are $4 for adults, $3 for senior citizens and $2for students. They are available in advance from Preston's Stationery or the Susquehanna Trading Co., both in Havre de Grace, or at the door the afternoon of the event.

Ladew schedules crafts and stories Education Notes Ladew Topiary Gardens is offering "Nature Stories & Crafts" for children's entertainment and education throughout the winter season. The second session of the series, "Wake Up, Groundhog," will be presented at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Jan. 25. Admission for one child age 2 to 4 and one adult is $5 for each session. Additional adults must pay regular admission. Participants should bring small blankets to sit on. Reservations are required.

Rozalya Dennis Carlson, a retired builder and apartment house owner, died Wednesday of heart failure at her home in Havre de Grace.Services for Mrs. Carlson, 97, will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Mitchell-Smith Funeral Home in Havre de Grace.The former Rozalya Brown was born in Oakington, Harford County, and was a 1912 graduate of the Havre de Grace High School. For many years, she restored old houses, remodeled houses for apartments and built houses and apartments for rental. In 1978, she retired from the construction business but continued to manage her properties until her final retirement in 1985.

Robert Charles Walker, a retired telephone company employee and auto racing fan, died of a heart attack Feb. 16 in Daytona, Fla., the day after attending the Daytona 500 with his wife. The Abingdon resident was 54. Born in Havre de Grace, he was a 1967 graduate of Havre de Grace High School and attended Harford Community College. Mr. Walker began working for Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co., now Verizon, in 1969. He retired in 2002, then worked at TIC Gums, a food-products firm in Belcamp.

Harford County's 2012 budget features more than 60 amendments to the school system's list of capital projects and includes a feasibility study for a new Havre de Grace High School building. Cornell Brown, assistant superintendent for operations, presented the final capital improvement budget changes for 2012 at Monday's board of education meeting, with a recommendation that they be approved at $16.2 million. The school board approved the changes. Included in the state and local funded projects is $250,000 for a feasibility study regarding Havre de Grace High School.

I t's possible that Harford County's decision to spend millions on the future Beechtree Estates neighborhood is not a big, sloppy subsidy for developer Clark Turner. Shame county officials can't demonstrate that. When a county diverts future taxes to help a longtime friend of the county executive's, it needs to make a bulletproof case that the public benefits more than the businessman. Last week, the County Council agreed to float $14 million in bonds and spend the proceeds on streets and sewers in and near Beechtree - the kind of public improvements usually paid for by developers.

A psychological thriller begins filming next week in Havre de Grace - its Victorian architecture and homespun quality caught the moviemakers' eye. The movie, titled From Within, is about a small town where it appears that teenagers are committing suicide. It stars Thomas Dekker, who portrayed Zach on NBC's hit Heroes last season and will play the young John Connor in Fox's new television series, Sarah Connor Chronicles, based on the Terminator series. Elizabeth Rice, who also stars in the film, has appeared in episodes of ER, Crossing Jordan and portrayed a teenage Natalie Wood in a biographical TV movie.

It might be the only event that brings together a plumber, a fruit smuggler, a Shakespearean actor and the black knight from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But that kind of gathering is common when members of Havre de Grace High School's Improv Club turn on the spotlight. With a format that mimics the popular TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway? hosted by comedian Drew Carey, the students play games built around over-the-top scenarios and topics. At a recent practice, the students worked on a storytelling game in which they lined up and were picked randomly one after another to ad-lib parts of a story that included Cleopatra and her army (naturally)

Ladew schedules crafts and stories Education Notes Ladew Topiary Gardens is offering "Nature Stories & Crafts" for children's entertainment and education throughout the winter season. The second session of the series, "Wake Up, Groundhog," will be presented at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Jan. 25. Admission for one child age 2 to 4 and one adult is $5 for each session. Additional adults must pay regular admission. Participants should bring small blankets to sit on. Reservations are required.

On July 21, 1896, the cornerstone of Havre de Grace High School was laid, a project that eventually would cost $25,000. The City of Havre de Grace contributed $8,000, and the county commissioners provided the rest. The building was put to use Jan. 12, 1897. It was condemned in 1945 because of deficiencies in lighting and ventilation and because of its narrow corridors and stairways. - Source: Our Harford Heritage : A History of Harford Co, MD by C. Milton Wright.

Mayor David Craig was overwhelmingly re-elected for Havre de Grace's top job and newcomer Gary Wasielewski gained a seat on the City Council. Craig defeated former mayor Phillip J. Barker 1,092 votes to 440 votes, according to the Harford County Board of Elections. This year's mayoral race was a rematch of the 2001 race between Craig, 53, an assistant principal at Southampton Middle School, and Barker, 68, a retiree from JM Huber. Craig was first elected to the City Council in 1979, re-elected in 1981 and became president of the council in 1982.

The public back and forth among our elected officials regarding whether Havre de Grace High School is in line for being replaced has been focused on a number of somewhat important policy-making details, even as the big picture has been overlooked. In short, Havre de Grace is next in line for a major high school renovation project, and the details of who gets to first list it as an official budget priority, while of some interest to those involved in the politics of the matter, is largely immaterial to the community and students affected.

Lightning strike sparks fire at Box Hill mansion A five-alarm fire caused by lightning caused about $200,000 in damage at Box Hill mansion near Route 24 in Abingdon on Wednesday, the state fire marshal's office said. The mansion, a 2 1/2 -story frame building behind the Box Hill Corporate Center, is unoccupied and is being used for offices and storage by Ward Development Group, said Chief Albert Bair of the Abingdon Volunteer Fire Company. The fire was reported at 1:01 a.m. "Fire was coming through the roof when we got there.

The musical and theatrical performance By George! By Ira! By Gershwin!, which honors the lives and talents of George and Ira Gershwin, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Havre de Grace High School auditorium to raise funds for the school's Harris Stadium and the local arts community. The show will star singer and television personality Carolyn Black-Sotir, pianists Arno Drucker and R. Timothy McReynolds, bassist Thomas Williams and the high school's jazz and marching bands.