Membership

Costco Wholesale Corp. will raise its membership fee $5 to $55 , Reuters reports. Executive members, who earn annual rebate checks, will see their annual membership increase from $100 to $110. Other discount warehouses have already made similar moves. According to the story, BJ's Wholesale increased its membership fee by $5 to $45 in January. Will this decision affect whether you continue to shop at Costco, or whether you plan to join? You have to factor in the increased annual fee to determine whether you could save enough buying in bulk to make it worth your while.

The Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber is sponsoring Membership 101, Thursday, May 9 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at 312 Marshall Ave., Suite 104, in Laurel. The event is for business professionals in the Baltimore/Washington Corridor. The session offers the opportunity to learn how to get the most out of your membership, effective networking techniques; and new (free and/or inexpensive) ways to promote your business. If special accommodations are required, please call the BWCC office two weeks prior to event at 301-725-4000.

The Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber will hold a discussion on membership, Thursday, Feb. 2 from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. at 312 Marshall Ave., Suite 104. "It's Your Membership" will help BWCC members learn how to use their membership to the best advantage to gain new sales and marketing ideas and meet new people. The free seminar for members only. To register, go to http://www.baltwashchamber.org/events. Fundraising gala will benefit scholarship fund The Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber will hold its annual fundraiser gala to benefit the BWCC Foundation Scholarship Fund on Saturday, Feb. 4, from 6 to 11 p.m. at the Horowitz Performing Arts Center at Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, in Columbia.

The Harford County Public Library Board of Trustees is searching for three candidates to be considered for appointment to the board beginning July 2013. The new trustees will represent the Bel Air, Jarrettsville and North County areas. An application form and additional information may be obtained from any Harford County Public Library branch, the HCPL website ( http://www.HCPLonline.org or by calling 410-838-3749. Completed applications together with a resume must be returned by Friday, March 1, 2013 to Office of the Director, Harford County Public Library, 1221-A Brass Mill Road, Belcamp, Maryland 21017.

The Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber is sponsoring Membership 101, Thursday, May 9 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at 312 Marshall Ave., Suite 104, in Laurel. The event is for business professionals in the Baltimore/Washington Corridor. The session offers the opportunity to learn how to get the most out of your membership, effective networking techniques; and new (free and/or inexpensive) ways to promote your business. If special accommodations are required, please call the BWCC office two weeks prior to event at 301-725-4000.

As of July 1, dog owners who bring their pets to the city's dog park will be required to purchase an annual membership. The dog park, named the Dr. Bruce Morley Dog Playground, was opened in 2008 adjacent to the city's Leo. E. Wilson Park, just east of Van Dusen Road between Route 198 and Cherry Lane. Memberships are $30 for residents of the city, and $35 for non-residents, and can be purchased at the Laurel Municipal Center, Robert J. DiPietro Community Center and the Laurel Armory Community Center.

I want to express my thanks to writer Lauren Fulbright for consistently producing well researched and very well written articles. Her most recent example is about the Catonsville Rotary Club ("Morning meetings no more for Sunrise Rotary Club," Catonsville Times, July 20). Please permit me to make one small suggestion about one of the article's quotes that reinforces a myth that Rotary is only for businessmen. In fact, our members are both women and men; one of our former presidents has been a female member.

Et cetera Colts' membership certificate up for bid A rare piece of Baltimore Colts memorabilia - the team's 1953 NFL Certificate of Membership - is being auctioned off this weekend by Hunt Auctions of Exton, Pa. Online bidding for the Colts' keepsake (lot 138) ends at 8 p.m. today at huntauctions.com. Live bidding begins at 11 a.m. Saturday. Call 610-524-0822 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. today to register. As of Thursday night, the high bid for the certificate, which is signed by then-NFL commissioner Bert Bell , was $19,117.

In the Nov. 18 issue, Jean Daniello expressed a number of concerns regarding the aquatics master plan undertaken by the Columbia Association. In particular, she was concerned about factors impacting Faulkner Ridge Pool use, including some lower-income demographics in the neighborhood. The aquatics master plan process is a long-view assessment of CA's aquatics facilities and programs plus a look at our community's changing demographics, best practices and industry trends, and community input on what's wanted and needed.

WITH HOPES OF a better year and a turnaround in declining membership, the Riviera Community Improvement Association will have its first meeting of 2001 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the community room at Jenkins Memorial Church. The first order of business will be installation of officers, with the Rev. John Douglas, pastor of the church, officiating. Taking office will be: Lee Archibald, president; Don Meyett, vice president; Cass Gorski, corresponding secretary; Brenda Meyett, recording secretary; and Lee Espregren, treasurer.

You wouldn't know it from our nation's debate over Obamacare, but the U.S. has had government-supported health care for nearly 80 years. Not only that, but our nation bolsters a retirement level well beyond the thin safety net provided by Social Security, and it even ensures Americans a path to a family-supporting wage. And, no, I have not mistaken the U.S. for a socialist European nation. Our government assures us these broad economic benefits by guaranteeing our right to form a labor union.

The past few days, we've been wowed in the network news that since the Newtown, Conn. shootings, the NRA has recruited 100,000 new members. Impressive! Until you look at a few real stats: The number of NRA supporters is being touted as 4.2 million. I looked up the U.S. Census figures. The nation's 2012 population was 311,591,917. Those under 18 comprised 23.7 percent or 73,847,284. That means the total U.S. adult population is 237,744,633. If 4.2 million of those adults are members of the NRA, that means that 233,544,633 adults are not members of the NRA. That is, 98.2 percent of all U.S. adults choose not to join the National Rifle Association.

The Scott Lee Foundation Inc. is sponsoring a free transitions job readiness workshop, "An Unemployment Makeover," on two days next month at Our Daily Bread Employment Center/Catholic Charities, 725 Fallsway, in Baltimore. Part 1 will be held Saturday, Dec. 1, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and part 2 is Saturday, Dec. 8, from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. To register, go to thescottleefoundation.org and click on the register now button under workshops. The Scott Lee Foundation was founded by Portia Scott as a tribute to the memory of her daughter, Nicole Scott Lee, who believed in giving back to the community and served it through her membership in the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

In an examination of how strong teachers unions are across the nation, Maryland ranked 23rd, which is considered "average" when stacked against 50 states and Washington, D.C.,  but the state's bargaining units apparently have a strong "perceived influence. " In a report recently released by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative education policy think-tank, researchers conducted a state-by-state analysis of teacher union activity across the country. In state-specific profiles, the authors of the report looked at the following indicators: resources and membership, political involvement, scope of bargaining, and state policies, and perceived influence.

Growing up in Dundalk, Kent Mosmiller knew about Sparrows Point Country Club. He spent summers on little boats along Bear Creek where he could check out the 40-foot cabin cruisers at the club marina and, beyond that, the green expanse of the golf course. It wasn't for him or his family. The club was an enclave for what he called "white hats" at Bethlehem Steel, which established the club as a benefit for supervisors in the 1920s. Neither Mosmiller nor his parents ever worked for the company.

For those who missed it, the National Rifle Association's top executive got worked up into a full lather at the group's annual conference this weekend in St. Louis. Wayne LaPierre's ire was aimed at the "sensational" coverage of the Trayvon Martin killing - although he didn't mention either the victim or the shooter by name. The NRA's beef is essentially this: Lots of people are getting killed every day without nearly so much mainstream media coverage. Why so much attention to this particular case?

Wouldn't you know it? Just when we're getting used to the eroding membership figures for mainline churches, these oldline denominations start to make some gains.Modest gains, mind you. But after nearly three decades of declining membership, these denominations will take any increases they can get. Is it possible that the losses, which sounded like a death knell 10 years ago, are over and mainline Christianity is on the comeback trail?For instance, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America showed a gain of 1,941 members in 1990 and another increase of 4,438 in 1991.

The NAACP was under new management yesterday, but its immediate goals were much like those of fired Executive Director Benjamin F. Chavis Jr: recruit members and raise money.In another echo of the ousted leader, the new managers said Dr. Chavis had correctly reported membership in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to be 675,000 -- disputing a report by syndicated columnist Carl T. Rowan, based on internal NAACP documents, that put the figure closer to 400,000.

When Baltimore County Police Capt. Andre Davis took command, late in 2010, of recruiting and hiring, he could see that efforts to bring in African-Americans had slipped. Background checks were not being completed on many applicants, and no effort was being made to see that black candidates showed up for physical and written exams. He said he reformed those practices but acknowledges that it will take much more over many years to reverse a decades-long deficiency in minority hiring.

Et cetera Colts' membership certificate up for bid A rare piece of Baltimore Colts memorabilia - the team's 1953 NFL Certificate of Membership - is being auctioned off this weekend by Hunt Auctions of Exton, Pa. Online bidding for the Colts' keepsake (lot 138) ends at 8 p.m. today at huntauctions.com. Live bidding begins at 11 a.m. Saturday. Call 610-524-0822 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. today to register. As of Thursday night, the high bid for the certificate, which is signed by then-NFL commissioner Bert Bell , was $19,117.