Mediation

The Mediation and Conflict Resolution Center at Howard Community College has received a grant of $27,000 from the Maryland Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office. The center plans to use the grant to create a free Campus Community Mediation Program for students and employees. The program is to work closely with potential referral sources on campus, such as the counseling and wellness centers, the offices of human resources and student support services, and the student government association.

The East Columbia 50+Center will offer a five-part series of classes, "Mediation for Seniors and Families," with mediators Marcia S. Kearly and Larry Blosser, starting at 7 p.m. Sept. 11. The series will teach a mediation approach in which families arrive together at resolutions to problems. Admission is free. A "Harmonize Exercise Class" will be offered from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, starting next month. O.H. Laster, a personal fitness trainer, will teach the fitness method called "Stamina, Strength, Stretch and Synergy."

WASHINGTON -- In a significant peacemaking overture in the court battle over Microsoft Corp., a federal judge named a mediator yesterday to help the two sides work toward a settlement.U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered the government's antitrust case into "voluntary mediation" -- that is, with consent of both sides -- and chose Richard A. Posner of Chicago to supervise the talks as mediator. Posner, a federal appeals court judge, is a leading authority on that branch of the law.The action was widely interpreted as a sign that settlement discussions have a greater chance of succeeding than at any point in the 18 months since the case was filed by the Justice Department and 19 states.

The Maryland Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission, which is working to increase the use of mediation to replace court tangles, will hold a forum tonight in Annapolis.Maryland's top judge, Chief Judge Robert M. Bell, and U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, a 3rd District Democrat, will start the discussion. The commission hopes to create plans that advance the use of mediation and other peaceful alternatives to legal battles.Information tables will be set up at 5: 30 p.m., with a two-hour session starting at 6 p.m.The forum will be at the Annapolis Holiday Inn, 210 Holiday Court.

A new law that allows Marylanders to challenge denials by their health insurers is working well, state regulators say, but they are handling fewer cases than expected.Since the law took effect Jan. 1, the Maryland Insurance Administration has ordered health maintenance or other insurers to pay for services five times. In one case, an insurer was ordered to approve inpatient hospital treatment for a suicidal adolescent. The treating physician thought hospitalization was necessary, but the health plan had approved only outpatient treatment.

SILVER SPRING -- When a church and its neighbors tussle, an issue as simple as parking can become a constitutional battle of religious freedom vs. property rights.Once automatically respected as a physical and spiritual cornerstone of a community, houses of worship are being treated more like commercial ventures by some nearby homeowners."Church isn't what it used to be," says William Hussman, chairman of the Montgomery County Planning Board. "They were once more compatible neighbors, when their activities were more traditionally based."

A plan to give the Annapolis Human Relations Commission the power to subpoena witnesses and conduct some operations in secret has some city council members worried that the citizens group will become too powerful.Mayor Dean L. Johnson and Alderman Samuel Gilmer, a Ward 3 Democrat, are sponsoring a bill that would authorize the 15-member commission to "accept and investigate complaints relating to discrimination in areas of public accommodations, employment and housing" and to refer unresolved complaints to the appropriate authorities.

A Waverly woman erects a chain-link fence and plants flowering vines. A neighbor in the rowhouse next door takes a weed-whacker to the plants.An Essex woman, for years at the center of neighborhood tensions, sinks her teeth into another woman's neck. Witnesses compare the assault to a wild dog attack.In Columbia, a man kills a former neighbor. Police look for a motive -- and find one in a lingering dispute over a parking space.The Bible tell us to love our neighbors as ourselves, but not everybody has gotten the message.

AS CROWDED courts and the expense of litigation push more people toward alternatives, the mediation of disputes is gaining popularity. Last fall's report from the Commission on the Future of Maryland Courts strongly urged that Maryland find ways to encourage this trend.A bill now before the General Assembly would do that by requiring that all domestic cases go to mediation; currently, only contested child custody cases must be put before a mediator. The proposal would also set standards for training mediators and would create a board to supervise the content of training and certify mediators.

IN FISCAL YEAR 1995, Maryland's Circuit Courts saw 262,000 new cases filed, including 148,000 civil cases, 67,000 criminal cases and 46,000 juvenile cases. But only about 6.3 percent of the civil cases and 8.1 percent of criminal cases went to trial. That's fortunate, since there are only 131 Circuit Court judges to handle this mass of litigation.Things are even worse in the state's District Courts. In the 1995 fiscal year, more than 2 million new cases were filed. With only 97 District Court judges, it isn't possible to bring all of them to trial.

As more city folks move to Maryland's countryside to build their dream homes on spacious lots next to picturesque farms, there are bound to be conflicts. It's nice to look out the kitchen window and take in a view of dairy cows grazing on rolling fields of grass, but it's not so much fun for newcomers to the rural countryside when the smell of manure floats through the air. Relations between farmers and their neighbors can also be strained when farmers spray their fields with pesticides or plow their fields in the early morning.

Literary group elects Hobby, Kennedy Susan Thornton Hobby and Padraic Kennedy have been elected to the board of the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo). Hobby, an editor and journalist, is returning to the board after a brief absence. Kennedy, a former president of the Columbia Association whose wife, Ellen Conroy Kennedy, is the founder of HoCoPoLitSo, will lead the organization's efforts to increase its endowment from $165,000 to $200,000. Virginia Pausch, Patty Rouse and David Barrett were re-elected to another three-year term.

Loud music playing in the wee hours. Front yard doubling as a junkyard. Incursions into your property. What to do about a neighbor who's driving you crazy? Before you turn to the police, an attorney or small-claims court, Maryland's Peoples Law Library suggests you try: * Talking. Broach the subject with your neighbor - nicely. If you've never spoken before, introduce yourself first; complain later. * Writing. Put your concerns in a letter, if talking goes nowhere. Do you think the neighbor is breaking a law or ordinance?

A.C. Moore store celebrates opening A.C. Moore Arts and Crafts Inc. will celebrate the opening of its new store at Governor's Plaza, 6625A Governor Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie at 10 a.m. today. The event will include in-store product demonstrations, children's crafts, face painting, product offers and a chance to win a shopping spree at A.C. Moore. Chamber to discuss energy-buying pool The West Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce will hold two informational meetings to discuss its members-only energy-buying pool.

Meeting to focus on Draft Zoning Code The Harford County Department of Planning and Zoning will hold a final public meeting on the Draft Zoning Code, after months of meetings by the Zoning Code Workgroup and various advisory boards. The meeting will be from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Joppatowne High School's cafeteria. After the public meetings, a bill for a new zoning code will go to the County Council. The meeting will feature stations where staff will answer questions about proposed changes to the code.

Elizabeth Carol Yarema, an attorney who believed in solving issues by mediation, died of a pulmonary embolism Monday at her northern Baltimore County home. She was 38. Born in Baltimore and raised in Sparks, she was a 1987 graduate of St. Paul's School for Girls, where she was yearbook editor and contributed to the school's literary magazine and newspaper. She received the Trustee Award, given to a student with "outstanding character, good citizenship, and who contributes with service to the community."

Sitting in a small government office in Baltimore, William Mosley fields a phone call from a woman asking whether she can return a recently purchased used car to the seller within three days. No, Mosley responds from within the orange walls of his office cubicle, doodling on a legal pad as phones ring nearby. Not unless her contract specifically says so. "When the financing is done and complete, it's a done deal," he says. "Remember, what they told you verbally and in writing are two different things."

Rosemarie Dennison, the former head of the school board's Community Advisory Council, hopes to apply years of experience in mediation and social work and an extensive knowledge of school policy to her new job as ombudsman for Howard County schools. "I have a strong background in working with people," Dennison said. "I feel that I have a good set of skills that will be useful for this position." Dennison, 52, fills a vacancy left by Robin Shell, who resigned in June after working for 2 1/2 years as the system's first ombudsman.

The Mediation and Conflict Resolution Center at Howard Community College has received a grant of $27,000 from the Maryland Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office. The center plans to use the grant to create a free Campus Community Mediation Program for students and employees. The program is to work closely with potential referral sources on campus, such as the counseling and wellness centers, the offices of human resources and student support services, and the student government association.

The Anne Arundel Tech Council will host a panel discussion, Hot Markets: Green Technologies, to explore the latest advancements and developments of green energy and developments of the markets that create, deliver and use sustainable energy sources. The panel will be held at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 6 Herndon Ave., Annapolis. Registration and networking is from 8 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. The cost is $25 for members; $35 for nonmembers and at the door. Information: aatech council.