Kings Contrivance

EACH SUMMER, Columbia Management sponsors concerts in eight of Columbia's nine village centers - a local tradition. Every week, in each village center courtyard, an acoustic guitarist, jazz fusion band or blues duo will serenade listeners. Residents bring folding chairs and buy a meal from nearby restaurants. Lunchtime business crowds and shoppers pass by. Mothers with toddlers in tow stop and linger. Thirteen years ago, the first of the concerts began in Kings Contrivance as a partnership between the village center and Hammond High School to showcase the school's bands.

I want to express my gratitude to the members of the CA Board of Directors, to CA President Phil Nelson, and to all of the CA team members who have worked so hard this year on behalf of our community. It has been an eventful and transformative year, and it has truly been an honor to serve the Kings Contrivance community and Columbia residents for the past four years, this year as chair of the CA Board of Directors. At a personal level, I am so grateful for the many messages of support and concern I received from community members following surgery for a fractured elbow and other injuries sustained while traveling recently with Del. Liz Bobo in India.

Kings Contrivance village will hold a Community Flea Market from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday on the parking lot at the Guilford Road entrance to the village center. Exhibitors are needed. Priority will be given to residents of Kings Contrivance; nonresidents will be put on a waiting list for any spaces available after Wednesday. The cost is $10 a space; $15 for two. The event will be advertised in local newspapers. A book swap will be held as part of the flea market. Those who attend are invited to bring a book and take one. No more than 10 books can be dropped off in advance at Amherst House in the village center next week.

With Mother's Day in the offing, consider Sunday brunch as a great gift. Actually, brunch seems like a well-deserved indulgence any time of year, for any of us.  The sit-down-and-be-served Sunday brunch at The Kings Contrivance Restaurant is easy and effortless. Except, of course, for deciding what you want to order. But then you get to enjoy a bit of the bubbly while you ponder what goodies you want next. Part of the attraction of The Kings Contrivance, which opened in 1962, is the charming Federal-style mansion that is its home.

Huntington resident Edward F. DiCarlo last week replaced Kings Contrivance village association board member Sunny McGuinn, who resigned after eight years on the board to join the staff of the Owen Brown Community Association.DiCarlo, who took office at Wednesday's board meeting, was appointed Jan. 22 by the board to fill the remainder of McGuinn's 2-year term, which ends April 30.DiCarlo, a 38-year-old marketing manager at Westinghouse Corp. inLinthicum, was chosen from six applicants and plans to run for a full term in the April 25 village election.

A man using a pay telephone in the Kings Contrivance Village Center was robbed at gunpoint last week by two people, Howard County police said.Marvin Garrison Knott, 35, of Kings Contrivance, had about $100 in cash stolen from him Friday at 10: 15 p.m. by a man and a woman who fled in a gray Nissan Maxima, said Sgt. Steven Keller, a police spokesman.Knott described one robber as a black man with a gold tooth, cleanshaven, about 35 years old, about 6 feet tall, 160 to 170 pounds and wearing a white T-shirt, Keller said.

Representatives of the Maryland Transportation Authority will give a brief presentation on the proposed maglev train at a regularly scheduled board meeting of Kings Contrivance Community Association. The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Amherst House, 7251 Eden Brook Drive. The presentation will focus on the Interstate 95 parallel alignment, one of three routes being proposed for the train. There will be an opportunity to ask questions. The village board will continue with its agenda at 8 p.m. and will vote on whether to support the I-95 parallel alignment.

The Kings Contrivance Community Association invites middle school students who live in the village to enter a contest by submitting photographs that capture the beauty and history of the neighborhood.A single photo or a collage, in either black and white or color, may be submitted.The photo must be shot in Kings Contrivance and be the original work of the student.Entries must be submitted to Amherst House, 7251 Eden Brook Drive, Columbia, no later than 5 p.m. March 16.The winner will receive a $50 cash prize, and have his or her work displayed at Amherst House.

Food *** (3 stars) Service *** (3 stars) Atmosphere *** (3 stars) Howard County, which, for whatever reason, is long on franchise eating places and short on fine dining, has had one notable exception since the 1960s: the Kings Contrivance. It was one of the first restaurants in the area to offer Continental dining, and now is one of the last. There's a sense of a different era about this place, even though the 1890s mansion has just gone through a major renovation to make it seem as fresh as a shiny new penny.

Kings Contrivance village leaders have asked county police officials to come out next week and tell them what the department is doing to combat crime and what neighbors can do to help.The village board wrote to Police Chief James Robey to express concern over a "recent rise in crime" in the village.Residents have contacted the board about the unsolved Feb. 16 armed robbery at a McDonald's restaurant in the village center and vehicle break-ins on Clocktower Lane and at the park-and-ride lot at Broken Land Parkway and Route 32, said village board member Edward F. DiCarlo in the letter.

Merriweather Post Pavilion has been in Columbia since 1967. Howard County has only had a noise ordinance since 1985. Why Merriweather wasn't exempted from the ordinance in the first place is absurd. This issue involves legal complexities that cut along county, state and even federal lines. Being the state already has the ability to decide on local issues and the county's noise ordinance is adopted to mirror that of the state's, this exemption should be governed by the state. The proposed exemption would legally codify Merriweather's operation as it has been for 45 years.

Clemens Crossing, 329; Kings Contrivance, 292 Medley Relays 15-18M: 1. CC (Mathieson, DeBoissiere, Solomotis, Elshafei), 2:02.57. 9-10M: 1. CC (Caine, Wilson, Oliver, Kelly), 1:17.27. 11-12M: 1. CC (Bridges, Elshafei, Eidson, Lew), 2:28.62. 13-14M: 1. CC (Panepento, Murphy, Saula, Yamamoto), 2:20.06. Individual Medley 15-18B: 1. Stenoien, KC, 1:00.04; 2. DeBoissiere, CC; 3. Hagerty, KC. 15-18G: 1. Cotter, KC, 1:07.19; 2. Elshafei, CC; 3. Solomotis, CC. 9-10B: 1. Matthew, CC, 1:37.70; 2. Baglione, CC; 3. DiValentin, KC. 9-10G: 1. Wilson, CC, 1:27.91; 2. Harris, KC; 3. Collins, KC. 11-12B: 1. Elshafei, CC, 1:08.76; 2. Woodson, KC; 3. Pena, KC. 11-12G: 1. Eidson, CC, 1:21.

The news of giving the privileged allotted time for women to swim is going back to the time when men were allowed to have their special clubs and others could have their special, exclusive groups. I believe that was called segregation. However, men had to relinquish that privilege. When you travel to an Islamic country a woman is required to cover her head. We have to adopt to their culture and laws. I believe the same should be applied in this case. If an Islamic woman feels uncomfortable swimming at the regular times with other people, she has three choices.

Two weeks ago, the Board of Education changed the redistricting plan that isolates three streets (called Polygon 16 and 1016). Under this plan, 20 students would attend Guilford Elementary while all of the other streets in Dickinson would attend Atholton or Hammond Elementary. As the western boundary for Guilford Elementary under the proposal, the closest residence to the east would be 1.4 miles away. Our children would have to walk, bike, or be driven at least 1.4 miles through commercial zones and across major roads to visit friends, while just one street to the west, kids will be going to Atholton Elementary.

The Howard County Alcoholic Beverage Hearing Board approved a license for the Corner Stable at its July 26 meeting. All of the permits have now been signed, and demolition began this morning on the old Michael's. The restaurant will be in the Kings Contrivance Shopping Center location where the March 22 closing of Michael's left a void in the community. The Columbia location is the second for the Corner Stable. Best known for its ribs, the original Corner Stable has been operating on York Road in Cockeysville since 1972.

This just in. The Tales of Two Cities blog has posted that a liquor license hearing for the Corner Stable is scheduled for the July 26 meeting of the Howard County Alchoholic Beverage Hearing Board. This mouth-waterning news came to me through the always reliable How Chow blog. The new Corner Stable location would be in the Kings Contrivance Shopping Center.

IF YOU live in Columbia, you have surely heard the comment, "That's an odd street name. You must live in Columbia!"If you live in Kings Contrivance, now is the time to show your pride in the unusual and often poetic names of our community's streets.Anne Dodd, Kings Contrivance village manager, is planning an exhibit called "The Story of Street Names in Kings Contrivance."Residents are urged to take a group picture of their neighbors around their street sign and bring it to Amherst House.Include the names of the people -- and pets -- in the photo, as well as the photographer's name and the date the photo was taken.

The Kings Contrivance Community Association, 7251 Eden Brook Drive, will offer a new class, called "Royal Keys: Manners Make the Person," 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Saturdays, Oct. 18 through Nov. 22. A free class will be offered at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. The program is designed to teach kindness, manners, respect, values social skills and self-esteem. The cost is $110 for Columbia Association residents; $121 for others. Information: royalkeys.com. Registration: 410-381-9600. A scarecrow-making session and hayrides are planned at Amherst House in Kings Contrivance Village Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

In recent weeks, the soon-to-open Harris Teeter store had to station an employee at the front door to ward off would-be customers because many were walking in, grabbing a cart and shopping for groceries. Around the Kings Contrivance village center, where the supermarket will replace the former Safeway, anyone wearing a Harris Teeter shirt is fair game for questions about the opening date and the products the store will carry. The other day, a woman called and wanted to order a cake. Clearly, there is excitement over the arrival of the North Carolina-based chain.