Jacobsville Elementary

POLICE LOG* Jacobsville: Someone climbed through an unlocked during the weekend to steal a portable computer valued at $500 from Jacobsville Elementary School, county police said yesterday.

Board of Education officials will discuss plans to open a new middle school on Mountain Road at a Nov. 30 meeting for Riviera Beach Elementary parents.Children from Riviera Beach, Fort Smallwood and Jacobsville elementary schools would attend the new school, which is on the same grounds as Chesapeake Middle and High schools.The plan aims to alleviate overcrowding at George Fox Middle School.Michael Raible, county director of school planning and construction, will meet with parents at 7:30 p.m. at Riviera Beach Elementary, 8515 Jenkins Road.

The Greater Pasadena Council is presenting a forum on community and school safety at 7 p.m. Thursday at Jacobsville Elementary School, 3801 Mountain Road.Principals from Bodkin, Lake Shore, Jacobsville, Pasadena and Fort Smallwood elementary schools, Chesapeake Bay Middle School and Chesapeake High School, will join with members of the council and local community associations to promote open communication between school and community leaders.Participants will have the opportunity to exchange concerns about student behavior and violence in the community and schools.

The Kiwanis Club of Mountain Road recently announced the winners of the John Wilson Sr. Essay Contest for fifth-graders, and awarded scholarships to four county high school graduates.The essays were written on the topic "Ways I Can Help Protect the Chesapeake Bay," and one fifth-grader was selected from each participating school.The following essayists won a $50 U.S. Savings Bond: Erinn Sawyer, Jacobsville Elementary; Tessa Locklear, Solley Elementary; Katie Lyn Franz, Sunset Elementary; Jennifer Maguire, St. Jane Frances; Thomas Harold Jr., High Point Elementary; Debra Weinstein, Bodkin Elementary; Gary L. Raymond, Lake Shore Elementary; and Amanda Schuler, Freetown Elementary.

Aaron Courtney figures the wood ducks in Brandon Shores need winter lodging, but the 9-year-old knows he can't offer them shelter."If a duck was my pet, I wouldn't know where to put him because we don't have a pool," said the soft-spoken fourth-grader from Jacobsville Elementary School. "I wouldn't even know how to feed him."Aaron and the rest of Cub Scout Pack 829 from Pasadena will overcome those obstacles with the help of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., a conservation society and a state agency.

On December 20, 2003, JAMES OLIVERPHILLIPS, JR., life-long resident of AA Co, devoted husband for 62 years, on December 3, 2003, of Irene E. Phillips (nee Sprouse), devoted father of James O. Phillips, 3rd, Bruce W. Phillips, Nina Mitchell, and the lateDelores Lee "Scottie" Phillips and Stanley Gene "Pete" Phillips, dear son of the late James O. Phillips, Sr and Mabel Phillips (nee Grisinger), dear brother of Pat Salacuse, and the late Wesley, Charles and Ronnie Phillips. Also survived by six grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

County officials, answering parents and faculty concerned over a spate of illnesses at two county schools, issued clean bills of health yesterday for both buildings.Officials said they could find no dangerous conditions at Jessup Elementary school, despite reports that 10 teachers and aides have been diagnosed with various forms of cancer.After tests for radon gas levels and air and water quality, health officials said they could establish no link between the cancer and the school building.

The joys of fall are many.Trees bursting with color, followed bydried, shriveled leaves blowing everywhere. Kamikaze acorns assaulting any brave soul who ventures three steps out the door. The gleeful sounds of kids jumping into piles of freshly raked leaves -- and their anguished cries when you ask them to help you rake.Shopping for pumpkins and apples at Schramm's and visiting the giant pumpkin for a special treat. A motley assortment of rakes, leaf blowers, lawn mowers and orange leaf bags decorating the yard.

Cal Ripken Jr. candy selling like hot cakesCal Ripken Jr. has hit one out of the park with sales of the $1 candy bar that carries his name."We had expected 300 cases to go out, and we ended up doing 473," said Jane Riedy, PTA president at Jacobsville Elementary School, which on Friday became the first school in the state to sell the sweet treat with the Oriole shortstop on the wrapper.Another 150 cases -- 36 bars to the case -- will arrive tomorrow. On Friday, a Towson man bought a case, someone from Pennsylvania ordered 10 bars and a Rockville woman promised to come tomorrow for 10 cases, Mrs. Riedy said.

TO NO ONE'S SURPRISE, Anne Arundel County Executive John Gary's budget for next year takes care of essentials of local government but maintains the current tax rate. The Republican executive's proposed spending program adheres to his minimalist view of government and seems to accurately reflect the wishes of the majority of voters, who approved a tax cap three years ago.The proposed operating budget of $664.5 million is about 5 percent more than this year's budget. Most departments will have slightly more money to spend than this year, the exception being the Office of Detention Services.