Lorton

School Superintendent Larry L. Lorton underwent surgery Monday at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis and is expected to be out for several weeks.A routine medical examination Friday led to the surgery after a tumor was found on his colon. Whether it was cancerous or benign has yet to be determined.Lorton was listed in good condition yesterday afternoon, a hospital spokesman said.Deputy Superintendent C. Berry Carter will takeover the superintendent's responsibilities during his recovery period.

A direct-mail appeal to 20,000 mostly Republican voters this weekend is Howard County Republicans' last chance to pull what has been a losing charter referendum petition drive out of a death spiral as time runs out. With two weeks until the Aug. 9 deadline for collecting 10,000 valid signatures to place a charter amendment on the Nov. 2 ballot, petition drive chairman Ken Aldrich said he has fewer than 3,000 signatures. He needs about 15,000 overall to end up with enough valid signatures for the Taxpayer Protection Initiative.

The Board of Education abruptly interrupted its meeting Monday nightafter School Superintendent Larry L. Lorton introduced a plan for furlough days over the holidays-- a plan that contradicted an agreementthe board had reached with employee unions.Lorton later amended his remarks, placing the furlough days in April and June -- but not before being lambasted by union representatives from teacher, principal, secretary and custodial groups.During a Dec. 2 meeting between board members and the County Council, the two sides agreed to schedule the furlough days late in the school year, in the hope enough money would become available to make the unpaid holidays unnecessary.

A direct-mail appeal to 20,000 mostly Republican voters this weekend is Howard County Republicans' last chance to pull what has been a losing charter referendum petition drive out of a death spiral as time runs out. With two weeks until the Aug. 9 deadline for collecting 10,000 valid signatures to place a charter amendment on the Nov. 2 ballot, petition drive chairman Ken Aldrich said he has fewer than 3,000 signatures. He needs about 15,000 overall to end up with enough valid signatures for the Taxpayer Protection Initiative.

Supporters of a county tax cap are calling for an investigation into School Superintendent Larry L. Lorton's decision to send a letter home with students arguing against a ballot question limiting property tax growth.Lorton's two-page letter was sent home with county schoolchildren Wednesday.Robert Schaeffer, president of Anne Arundel Taxpayers for Responsive Government, said yesterday that Lorton should be held accountable for the use of school money spent to fight a political issue -- one that would limit property tax revenue growth to 4.5 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.

Northeast High School parents are still planning a protest rally against Principal Joseph Carducci Jr. next Wednesday despite appeals from the superintendent of schools and Sen. Philip Jimeno to avoid disrupting the troubled school."

Editor's note: The Baltimore Sun Newspaper in Education program and the fifth-grade teachers at Rippling Woods Elementary School in Glen Burnie devised a workshop to allow students to question a county official, news-conference style.Superintendent Larry Lorton agreed to be questioned.The students selected 12 classmates to act as reporters: Terry Allen, Joe Bolly, Jeff Carter, Dana Hyden, T. J. Lowe, Tim Martin, JodiMcGurk, Nikki Petagno, Talese Pratt, Mandy Sheets, Carla Rader and Eric Strauss.

The county's school board had hoped to force out Superintendent Larry L. Lorton by Feb. 28, four months before his contract runs out, butthe superintendent's announcement Friday that he will stay until June 30 might scuttle the plan, a board member said yesterday.The eight-member board might have had to pay Lorton for the remaining four months of his contract -- about $31,000 of the superintendent's $94,815 salary -- if he had been forced to leave the job.But his unexpected announcement may change the minds of some members, said the board member, who asked not to be identified.

It's been called a wish list. It's been called impractical.Some have even suggested that the proposed $374.8 million budget submittedby county Superintendent Larry L. Lorton is nothing more than Lortonthumbing his nose at school board members who, many believe, prompted his impending departure.However, Lorton said his budget is neither unrealistic nor a parting shot at the board."This is not an extravagant budget," Lortonsaid. "This is the hardest thing for people to understand. The $374 million does nothing more than sustain the level of services and programming.

There will be no more free ride for driver's education in the county, if the Board of Education agrees tomorrow with a recommendation by School Superintendent Larry L. Lorton.In a cost-saving move, Lorton has recommended that the driver's education program be sliced, saving the county about $1.2 million next year.Driver's education is now offered free to about 3,200 students annually. Under the superintendent's proposal, it would be offered after school for a fee "as a service to students," said Dr. Cheryl H. Wilhoyte, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction and School Administration.

Meteorite hunters are descending on Washington's Virginia suburbs this week, drawn by news of a space rock that lit up the night sky on Monday and drilled through the roof of a Lorton doctors' office. Steve Arnold, co-star of the Science Channel's TV series "Meteorite Men," grabbed an early-morning flight from Arkansas to Baltimore on Thursday to launch a search for fragments of the meteor. He was joined by Michael R. Hankey, an amateur astronomer from Freeland who was bitten by the meteorite-hunting bug last July after he snapped a photo of a fireball that fell over the Maryland-Pennsylvania state line.

Meteorite hunters are descending on Washington's Virginia suburbs this week, drawn by news of a space rock that lit up the night sky on Monday and drilled through the roof of a Lorton doctors' office. Steve Arnold, co-star of the Science Channel's TV series "Meteorite Men," grabbed an early-morning flight from Arkansas to Baltimore on Thursday to launch a search for fragments of the meteor. He was joined by Michael R. Hankey, an amateur astronomer from Freeland who was bitten by the meteorite-hunting bug last July after he snapped a photo of a fireball that fell over the Maryland-Pennsylvania state line.

On March 22, 2006, GLENN H. GINNAVAN of Lorton, VA, died at his residence. Born on June 6, 1954 in Baltimore, MD, he was the beloved husband of his devoted wife, Bobbi G. Ginnavan; loving father of Emily A. Ginnavan; son of the late George H. E. Ginnavan, Jr. and the late Beverly E. Godman; brother of the late Gary E. Ginnavan. He is survived by his sisters Charmaine E. Euler and April L. Waskey. He is also survived by many relatives and friends. Relatives and friends are invited to call at Mountcastle Funeral Home, 13318 Occoquan Road, Woodbridge, VA on Monday March 27, 2006 at 11 A.M. at which time funeral services will be held.

The Auto Train, which travels between Lorton, Va., and Sanford Fla., is the longest Amtrak passenger train, with two engines and more than 40 rail cars. Auto Train service began Oct. 30, 1983. SOURCE: AMTRAK

Columbia Council candidate Lewis Lorton wants to unravel some mysteries: Exactly who does pull the strings in Columbia? And do Columbia residents truly know if they get their money's worth from the Columbia Association?Mr. Lorton said at a candidate forum last night that many residents -- including himself -- are largely in the dark and that those running the private, nonprofit association are at least partly responsible for keeping it that way."So much of what you do on the council is not known to everybody.

As March winds whip across open landscapes, kite-flying becomes a popular pastime. In Lorton, Va., the annual Family Kite Day at Gunston Hall is set next Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. It was in this same meadow over 200 years ago that the children of George Mason ran with their kites. Mason, framer of the Constitution and author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, built Gunston Hall in 1755, and at that time the plantation contained over 5,000 acres. Today only 550 acres remain, but the estate looks much as it did when the Mason family lived there.

County School Superintendent Larry L. Lorton offered last week to return a popular athletic director and school secretary to their jobs at Northeast High -- a move that appears to have quelled faculty unrest at the troubled Pasadena school.Lorton agreed to withdraw the transfers of former social studies teacher and athletic director Bob Grimm and school secretary Virginia Zimmerman after a meeting with theNortheast faculty members Wednesday.Grimm, however, declined the offer to return to the school where he had taught for 24 years.

Faced with the prospect of additional cuts in education at both the state and regional levels, Anne Arundel County Superintendent Larry L. Lorton has presented a school budget to Board of Education members that even he admits will have to endure further trimming and could result in a loss of services."

When the county school board meets for its regular public session tomorrow, members will be working with a new school superintendent -- but they will see a familiar face.C. Berry Carter II, the school'ssystem's deputy superintendent, has been named acting superintendentto replace outgoing Superintendent Larry L. Lorton.Lorton left his position Friday, apparently changing his mind after announcing in January that he planned to leave the school system at the end of the school year.While Lorton said he was leaving to pursue other career alternatives, many believed he resigned before anexpected decision by the school board not to renew his contract.