Lake Elkhorn

About half the crowd at a Columbia Association budget session came to support a citizens group's proposal for a Columbiawide watershed management program that would make the town's lakes healthier and more attractive. Members of the Committee for Lake Elkhorn's Environmental Restoration (CLEER) showed up in force to make sure they were heard. Group founder Elaine Pardoe said at the meeting Monday night that the plan would provide long-needed restoration of Owen Brown's recreational lake, after a planned dredging.

Gardening has long been a passion of Mary Gold. When the librarian moved to Columbia nearly three decades ago, she was disappointed to find that her backyard was too shady to grow vegetables. These days, she finds time to garden several days a week, and grows enough vegetables and herbs to share with her friends and family. Gold, 61, is one of 114 gardeners who lease plots at the Lake Elkhorn Community Gardens in Owen Brown village of Columbia. Not only have the Community Gardens offered Gold a place to follow her passion for the past 25 years, they also have provided a place for friendships to grow.

County is eligible for anti-crime grant Howard County Executive Ken Ulman and Police Chief William J. McMahon have announced that the county is eligible for a U.S. Department of Justice/Bureau of Justice Assistance Grant of $61,743 for programs to combat major crime and improve public safety. The community is invited to submit suggestions and comments and discuss priorities for how the money should be used. To comment, contact the Office of the Chief of Police (410- 313-3377) by June 29 or e-mail, hcpd@howardcountymd.

Lake Kittamaqundi in Town Center and Lake Elkhorn in Owen Brown are one step closer to a long-awaited dredging after the Columbia Association board of directors settled on two locations to stage the work. The board voted, 6 to 4, on Thursday to use an area near South Entrance Road along the southern tip of Lake Kittamaqundi for equipment, temporary storage and drying of the dredged material and access for trucks to haul the sediment away. It voted, 7 to 3, to stage the Lake Elkhorn dredging in a parking lot area near the Elkhorn Dam. The board had approved $11 million for the two dredging projects, but every staging choice comes with an additional price tag, said Maggie J. Brown, president of the Columbia Association.

Speakout! THE ISSUE: --Long a nusiance in the area, Canada geese are dropping a pound a day each of excrement on paths and docks at Lake Elkhorn and other locations around the county. Should government officials step in and take action, perhaps rounding up the nonmigratory birds and using the meat to feed the homeless? There has been no such idea proposed formally for Howard, but similar approaches have been used in communities in other parts of the country. Offer the droppings as garden fertilizer I think most people love seeing the birds; it adds some life to their enjoyment of Columbia's lakes.

The Columbia Association's plans to dredge Lakes Elkhorn and Kittamaqundi are raising more than just mud. Residents, such as Harvey Nathanson, of the Water's Edge community that overlooks Lake Kittamaqundi, are among those who want the lake dredged but have concerns about the project's effect on the community. "I'm in favor of them doing it - the lake needs to be dredged, and that is paramount," Nathanson said. "But, I'm not for them dumping that stuff at our side of the lake." Responding to overwhelming amounts of algae and sediment that threaten to turn the two manmade lakes into marshland if left untouched, the association board has approved $10 million to dredge Lakes Elkhorn and Kittamaqundi, with an engineering contract to be awarded in May. Lake Kittamaqundi was dredged in the 1980s; Elkhorn has never been dredged.

The Lake Elkhorn Festival has been troubled over the years by poor weather - so bad, in fact, that the event was canceled in 2003 and 2004. So few were surprised that one of Columbia's longest-running annual events began last Saturday under threatening skies. "It was typical and expected," said Ruth Bohse, Owen Brown village manager. "My husband said it was going to be good on Saturday and I said I didn't believe it." Owen Brown officials had decided to make this year's festival - its 33rd - the last one. Low attendance, the lack of volunteers and the loss of revenue all contributed to the decision.

The Owen Brown Community Association will hold its 33rd and final Lake Elkhorn Festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at Lake Elkhorn Park. The Columbia Concert Band will play at 11 a.m. Singer Iris Hirsch will perform at 12:15 p.m. and Dean Turner will present a magic show at 1 p.m. The Kinderman is scheduled for 2 p.m.; a pet show (all animals welcome) for 3 p.m.; and Eyes of Alice, a teen band, will play at 4 p.m. Bingo, games for children, a pet show, pony rides, an auction, arts and crafts, raffles, international food and drinks, a bake contest, big wheel races, a German band, vendors and other treats are planned.