Hammond High

Ulman, O'Malley at Hammond High County Executive Ken Ulman and Gov. Martin O'Malley will visit Hammond High School at noon Tuesday to hear students' comments and concerns during the first week of school. School Superintendent Sydney L. Cousin, Principal Sterlind S. Burke, members of the Principal's Student Advisory Committee and other state and county officials are expected to be on hand. The guests plan to have lunch with students, who will be encouraged to discuss the education they are receiving or any other education-related issues.

A 15-year-old Hammond High School student yesterday pleaded "involved" -- the equivalent of guilty for a juvenile -- to bringing an unloaded gun and ammunition to the school last month. At a hearing in Howard County Juvenile Court, Master William V. Tucker released the youth from the Alfred D. Noyes Children's Center in Rockville and placed him on home detention until sentencing, which is scheduled for August. The teenager, whose name The Sun is withholding because of his age, had told police that he stole the weapon from his father's safe and brought it to school to protect himself from gang members with whom he had been feuding.

The Howard County Police Officer of the Month award, which highlights the achievements of the nearly 400 employees on the force, offers insight into criminal activity by students in the county's highly rated school system. Since the start of the 2006-2007 school year, two school resource officers have been chosen for the distinction in The Beat, a publication of the Howard County Police Department Office of Public Affairs. Summaries of the officers' accomplishments detail gang activity and theft at Hammond and Reservoir high schools.

Acting on a tip from two students, a Howard County police officer yesterday arrested a 15-year-old freshman carrying a semiautomatic handgun in his waistband at Hammond High School in Columbia. Two students reported to a teacher that they had overheard their classmate talking about having a gun. The teacher relayed the students' suspicions about 10 a.m. to the police officer at the school. The officer removed the student from class and, during a search, found an unloaded gun in his waistband and an ammunition clip filled with nine or 10 rounds in his pants pocket, said Pfc. Jennifer Reidy, a spokeswoman for the department.

Football technique -- Howard County Football Technique Camp for children in grades three through nine will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 9-13 at Hammond High School. High school coaches will teach offensive and defensive position techniques, kicking and speed training. Each day is to conclude with noncontact games. Tuition is $160 with a $10 discount for members of youth football leagues. 301-776-8962.

Dylan Gillett's first high school match wasn't supposed to be like this. As the younger brother of Devon, a returning state champion on a defending dual meet state championship team, the Hammond freshman already was saddled with high expectations. Now, the first match of the 103-pounder's high school career would decide the outcome of the Bears' contest this month with county rival Oakland Mills. It was a nearly identical situation to the last time Dylan had watched Hammond wrestle in February.

If you had walked into the auditorium of Hammond High School last weekend, you might have thought you were in your grandmother's house - until you saw the dead old men. With Abby and Martha Brewster serving up poisoned wine, their nephew, Teddy, digging the Panama Canal in the cellar, and the corpse in the window seat, this wasn't over the river and through the woods, it was Arsenic and Old Lace. Set in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1941, Joseph Kesselring's Arsenic and Old Lace spans two days in the home of Abby and Martha Brewster (Kelsey Girard and Shannon Nabors)

Increases in salaries and health insurance, fuel and milk costs will cause Howard County schoolchildren and parents to rustle up more money for lunch next school year. The Board of Education approved Thursday a recommendation that will increase school lunches by 50 cents for secondary school students and 25 cents for elementary pupils. The increase will make the average price of a secondary-level lunch $2.50. It will cost $2 at the elementary level. Several board members questioned whether the increase was necessary in the wake of a 25-cent price increase for meals last year.

Jason Maxey watches every home Bowie Baysox game from the team's bullpen near the right-field corner. He can sit on the bench that is built into a wall and have a perfect view of the field. It is one of the best seats in Prince George's Stadium - and Maxey would rather not have it. Maxey started the season as the bullpen catcher for the Bowie Baysox, the Class AA minor-league affiliate of the Orioles. The Howard County native and former All-Metro Hammond High star has that role because the parent club wants to give him time to let his surgically repaired right shoulder continue healing.