Mallard

A warm, sunny day near the water, a picnic lunch and the sound of community bands playing favorites -- what more could you ask for?Downs Park will be the site Sunday for an afternoon of music as the county celebrates Maryland Community Band Day.Eight community-based concert bands from all over the state will be performing 45-minute sets in the bayside amphitheater. Big band tunes, classical, contemporary and Broadway tunes, and traditional marches will be played.The day will begin at noon with the Calvert Community Band.

OCEAN PINES -- Elizabeth Showalter was an occasional duck feeder, stopping by the Southgate ponds now and then with a loaf of bread. That was until last summer, when she saw the little mallard she calls Mrs. Bill.Mrs. Bill has only half a bill. Mrs. Showalter could see immediately that the little duck wasn't getting her share of the bread."Once I saw her, that was it. She would peck the bread and it would roll away from her. It was really heart-rending," says Mrs. Showalter, who had polio as a child and wears braces on both legs.

For sale: 22-foot sailboat. Sleeps four. Stove, radio, lights, ducks.David Schott is offering a boating accessory that may or may not lure prospective buyers.Tucked in the folds of the mainsail of his boat is a mallard duck and her nest of four large eggs.And that presents a dilemma.Because the duck, a migratory waterfowl, is protected by federal law, Mr. Schott can't set sail from his Annapolis slip without permission, which could keep him tied to the dock for a month.His choices?Apply and wait for a federal exemption or let nature take its course.

WAS that a family of mallards that stopped traffic in Brooklandville on a recent rainy Sunday?Our spy was too far back to get clear markings, but not so far as to miss a heartwarming spectacle -- especially for any young-at-heart fan of that 53-year-old children's classic, "Make Way for Ducklings."In Robert McCloskey's tale, Mrs. Mallard receives timely help from Policeman Michael on a busy Boston street as she leads eight ducklings to a rendezvous with Mr. Mallard in the Public Garden.Baltimore drivers may have their faults.

Troyce Gray Smith, 86, NSA analystTroyce Gray Smith, a retired National Security Agency analyst, died of a stroke April 5 at Franklin Square Hospital. She was 86 and, since last year, lived at Oak Crest retirement community in Baltimore County.Previously, she lived in Heritage Harbour community in Annapolis for 16 years.She worked for NSA for about 25 years and retired in 1970.The Louisiana native grew up in New Orleans and attended Tulane University.In 1944, she married Roderick Lowell Smith, who worked for the U.S. Department of State.

Mary M. Stallings, a former hairstylist and artist, died Tuesday of heart failure at a daughter's Woodstock, Va., home. She was 98. Mary Margaret Francis was born in Buffalo, N.Y., and moved in 1919 with her family to Forest Park. She attended city public schools. Before World War II, Mrs. Stallings owned and operated a beauty shop in the old Emerson Hotel at Baltimore and Calvert streets. She later styled her customers' hair from her home. The former longtime Timonium resident, who had lived in Woodstock since 2003, was a self-taught artist.

Picking the front-runners in any of the local field hockey leagues could not be more difficult this year. Even the coaches have a hard time pinning down the teams to beat.While the Association of Independent Schools always has been a tough call, Baltimore County has become just as tight with the introduction of two new divisions based on strength.The new format should eliminate many of the lopsided scores posted in the past and has received favorable reviews from most county coaches, especially those whose teams are rebuilding.

Danny and Barbara Bystrak's wooded land slopes to the marsh by Jug Bay and stretches 13 acres along Mallard Lane in Lothian. The Bystrakslike the land as it is and want it to stay this way forever.Danny Bystrak sat at his old backyard picnic table a week ago reviewing the paperwork that could accomplish this through a conservation restriction. Behind him, the bay shone pearl gray through the stand of cherry, red oak, beech, tulip, sassafras."I just feel that people take and take all the time," said Bystrak, a soft-spoken man who works for the state Fish and Wildlife Service.

Holier than thou?Rep. Newt Gingrich has branded the Democrats as responsible for all the ills of our society, labeled Bill and Hillary Clinton as enemies of "normal" Americans and implied that a vote for the Republicans would rid the country of such crimes as the Susan Smith tragedy.These claims are ludicrous. Despite Mr. Gingrich's rhetoric, no political party has a hold on family values.Mr. Gingrich's holier-than-thou attitude conveniently ignores the faults and excesses of the Republican party.