Harford

Man guilty of false advertising A Cecil County man pleaded guilty in Harford District Court on Tuesday to charges of false advertising and soliciting for an unlicensed tree expert business. Charles David Blanford, 26, of Colora was sentenced to the maximum $1,000 fine and one year in jail. His sentence was suspended and he was placed on three years' probation. Blanford circulated business cards for Blanford's Tree Removal, Blanford's Tree Specialist and Blanford's Tree & Landscape at a restaurant in Bel Air, Maryland Natural Resources Police said.

Using a quill pen and a bottle of ink, the students took turns writing the first chapter of a book about two slave children. The students from Harford Friends School had studied the lives of slave children, including how some were severely punished for sleeping late and made to work even when they were sick. "After learning about the lives of slave children, it was hard for me to write about," said Sarah Waldron, 12, of Havre de Grace, who along with classmates wrote on paper made from cotton.

The prospects for four Maryland jurisdictions to elect their school boards, instead of having the state continue to appoint their members, appear bleak this year because legislation necessary for the change is stalled in the General Assembly with only a month left before adjournment. While lawmakers are running out of time in the 2007 session, House and Senate leaders have publicly stated opposition to elected boards and two delegations have been unable to agree on what form their bills should take.

Dissatisfied with the performance of their school boards, officials in four Baltimore-area jurisdictions are gearing up to renew long-standing efforts to switch to boards elected by citizens. Leaders in Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Harford counties, and Baltimore City have debated the issue in recent years. But complaints heard on the campaign trail last year appear to have jump-started the measures and could improve their prospects in next week's legislative session. Seven school boards in Maryland are appointed, with one -- Queen Anne's County -- set to switch to an elected board after the 2008 election.

Stephanie Stone fulfilled a longtime wish when she moved to a 15-acre horse farm on Broad Creek in northern Harford County 23 years ago. Neighboring farms surrounded her home until about a decade ago, when the vista began to change. Harford's population has nearly doubled since Stone, a research psychologist and teacher at the Johns Hopkins University, arrived. On her commute to work, she saw how development was encroaching on areas with a long-standing agricultural tradition. "I started seeing all this housing where farms were," she said.

At first, Jeff and Kathy Lawson complained about the dozens of noisy trucks that began rumbling down their quiet country road in northern Harford County one day last month. They and their neighbors grew more irked upon discovering that the trucks contained treated sewage sludge to spread on an 80-acre field in Susquehanna State Park, less than a quarter-mile from their homes on Quaker Bottom Road near Havre de Grace. The Lawsons and others complained about the odor and raised concerns about the potential impact on property values and the environment.

0 Goals the Fallston boys and girls soccer teams gave up in sweeping the Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference championships last week. The boys edged Aberdeen, 1-0, and the girls beat Harford Tech, 5-0. 4 Rushing touchdowns for North Harford quarterback Dan Griffin in the Hawks' 35-7 victory over Aberdeen 10 days ago. 141 The score recorded by Brandon Powers of Bel Air in the 36-hole state golf tournament at the University of Maryland last week....

On December 5, 2007, RICHMOND D. A Memorial Service will be held Seventh Day Adventist Church, 5814 Harford Road, Baltimore, MD, at 2:30 P.M. Interment to immediately follow.

0 Home games the Bel Air football team will play this season because of school renovations. 1 Loss suffered this season by Fallston's volleyball team. The Cougars lost their first match on Sept. 27 against Rising Sun, but bounced back to win the Edgewood Tournament that weekend. 2 Interceptions by Kelvin Harris of Joppatowne in the Mariners' 14-11 victory over North Harford last weekend. 63 The C. Milton Wright girls runners' margin of victory over Wootton in last weekend's Bull Run Invitational large schools division at Hereford.

Mark Franz first became convinced that the woods outside his Edgewood house were a problem 14 years ago. His wife was mugged outside their home in the Harford Square neighborhood in November 1993, less than a year after the family moved there, Franz said. He said he chased the assailant, who ran into the woods separating Harford Square from neighboring Windsor Valley (then known as Meadowood) and escaped. "It's really like a twilight zone," Franz said of the woods, which lie across the street from the back of his house.

The Harford Senior Center in Baltimore will remain open after a letter-writing campaign by its regulars led city and state officials to maintain funding for the building, officials from the center said. The building was scheduled to close at the end of October because of financial cutbacks resulting from the economic downturn. But Russ Snyder, president of Volunteers of America Chesapeake Inc., one of the organizations responsible for working with the senior center, said the center received only slight cuts in its funding from the city after many of the seniors contacted City Council members and the mayor's office.

Teach for America to grow in city 2 A local nonprofit foundation is expected to announce a major gift Friday that will substantially increase the number of Teach for America teachers in Baltimore public schools. Teach for America, a program that sends thousands of recent college graduates into public schools across the nation, has already raised the number of placements it made to city schools this year and hoped to get enough donations to fund 300 teachers by 2010, up from 170 last school year.

Joppatowne averaged nearly 33 points on offense while winning its first six games, but special teams and defense saved the Mariners on Monday night against North Harford. Epe Henriques and Joel Scott returned kickoffs for touchdowns, Dominic Harper intercepted two passes and made a key tackle, and No. 6 Joppatowne hung on for a 12-7 victory over visiting North Harford in an Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference game. Joppatowne has scored 208 points this year while allowing just 24. But the defense was tested in the second half as the Mariners couldn't make a first down and ran just 11 plays, none in the third quarter, mainly because of the kickoff returns.

On October 14, 2009, Alan Theodore Hahn, Family and friends will honor Alan's life at the family owned Evans Funeral Chapel and Cremation Services - Parkville, 8800 Harford Road on Saturday and Sunday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. A funeral liturgy will be held 9:00 A.M. Monday at St. Ursula Church. Interment Parkwood Cemetery. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions in Alan's name may be made to St. Ursula School, 8900 Harford Road, Parkville, MD 21234. Memory tributes may be sent to the family at www.evansfuneralchapel.

For more than half of his 22 years in office, City Councilman Nick D'Adamo's constituents have complained about vehicles recklessly speeding past Glenmount Elementary/Middle school in Northeast Baltimore. Starting next week, he hopes, that will stop. On Monday, officials will gather at Glenmount, at Walther and Glenmore avenues, to unveil the first of 51 speed cameras they plan to place near public schools throughout the city. The contentious state law allowing the cameras takes effect Oct. 1. The final decision to install speed cameras rests with local governments, which have been weighing the benefits of increased safety and extra revenue generated by the $40 tickets against complaints that government is overstepping its bounds and using the devices as a money grab.

Harford County officials will gather in Edgewood on Thursday for a groundbreaking, an event they could more accurately call a ground-shaking. Washington Court, whose 51 boarded-up brick buildings date to the 1940s and once housed Army officers, will be razed to make way for a residential complex that should prove attractive to the influx of new residents arriving as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process. "Thousands of new jobs are coming to Edgewood with BRAC and it's changing the real estate market here for the better," said Harford Councilman Dion Guthrie, who represents the area.

On August 14, 2009, Merva June Filler Graveside services will be private. A Celebration of Life service will be held on Saturday, August 22, 2009 in Harford County. Details for location can be obtained by calling McComas Funeral Home at 410-838-4040 or checking their web site at mccomasfuneralhome.com . Graveside services will be private. Memory tributes may be sent to the family at mccomasfuneralhome.com

On August 14, 2009, Merva June Filler Graveside services will be private. A Celebration of Life service will be held on Saturday, August 22, 2009 in Harford County. Details for location can be obtained by calling McComas Funeral Home at 410-838-4040 or checking their web site at mccomasfuneralhome.com . Graveside services will be private. Memory tributes may be sent to the family at mccomasfuneralhome.com

Faced with a 10 percent cut in its operational budget, the Harford County Public Library Board of Trustees has recommended Sunday closings, staff and program reductions and a 20 percent decrease in new materials. All 11 branches in the system, which has seen a 9 percent growth in circulation this year, will remain open but each will eliminate four hours from their six-day schedules. The board had considered closing the Fallston Library, until the neighboring community expressed strong opposition.

Harford County's budget crisis means less government staff and fewer services for its residents. Deep cuts to the county's $576 million operating budget may mean a delay in getting a building permit, using a library computer or possibly getting a slower response to a call about a hazardous materials spill, officials said. County Executive David R. Craig's fiscal 2010 budget, which takes effect July 1, included funds for Saturday bus service, drop-off sites for yard debris and waste oil, and spraying to control gypsy moths.