Mills Village

The Columbia Teen Center will offer a Super Baby-Sitter class for children ages 11 to 14 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and on the third Saturday of each month. The course covers marketing techniques, first aid and emergency procedures, age-appropriate activities and other skills. A certificate will be awarded. The cost is $40 for Columbia residents and $48 for nonresidents. Registration is required. The center is at 5853 Robert Oliver Place in the Oakland Mills Village Center. Information: 410-992-3726.

The Oakland Mills Community Association will present its 27th season of "Lively Arts for Little Ones," seven performances to introduce the arts to children ages 2 to 5 and their parents or caregivers. The 45-minute performances are held at The Other Barn in the Oakland Mills Village Center. Performances of the first show, a collection of songs and stories, will be at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Oct. 14. Tickets, available in advance or at the door, are $4.50. Discount group and subscription rates are available.

The once-struggling Oakland Mills Village Center has been sold to a New York real estate investment trust that is focused on supermarket-anchored shopping centers. Cedar Shopping Centers Inc. is buying the village shopping hub for $8 million from Kimco Realty Corp. in a deal that is expected to close next month. "We think it's a very attractive shopping center in a very attractive community," said Leo S. Ullman, Cedar Shopping Centers' chief executive officer. The village center, which is anchored by a Food Lion that opened in November, becomes the third of Columbia's nine village centers to be owned by a separate entity other than Kimco.

The smell of freshly carved wood lingers in a new garage, erected over the footprints of an aged carport. Just feet away, a short, concrete pathway leads to the home where Lindsay Hamilton remembers playing with her cousins and the unforgettable time they darted through the doors, avoiding the vicious bite of a stray dog. She laughs at that episode today. The 25-year-old purchased the single-story home in Stevens Forest from her parents last summer and now lives there with her husband, Jason, 27. "It's a lot better," Lindsay Hamilton said, looking at the recent home improvements they completed.

Oakland Mills Village Center has another opportunity to fill an empty building, a key piece to its rejuvenation. A liquor license application submitted this week by a prospective restaurant operator moves the village center a step closer to filling the void left by the closing of Last Chance Saloon, a 23-year-old neighborhood pub and restaurant. Vaughn Ennis, one of the three partners in the venture, said the establishment would be "a standard American family restaurant," serving a variety of dishes, including seafood.

Howard County General Hospital will offer a free, one-day community cardiopulmonary resuscitation course from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Hammond High School, 8800 Guilford Road. The course, an American Heart Association program, will offer hands-on training for people who may encounter an emergency. The class does not satisfy requirements for certification. Participants will learn one-person CPR and techniques to remove airway obstructions. Registration is required. Information: 410-740-7601.

Strenuous efforts by residents and Howard County police have apparently paid off in Columbia's Oakland Mills village, as new statistics show a significant reduction in crime over the past two years. "It's not accidental. It's something we worked very hard toward," said Barbara Russell, the village's representative on the Columbia Council. "There's just a whole new feeling now about the village." In October 2003, Howard County police assigned an officer full time to the village center and surrounding area.

About 200 residents gathered at Oakland Mills Village Center on Saturday to discuss their village's problems and to hash out a plan to solve them. With a laptop at each table and a wireless, handheld voting gadget for each resident, the group created a prioritized list of projects to improve the community. The meeting was part of an revitalization effort funded by United Way, Columbia Foundation, Horizon Foundation and Enterprise Foundation. The consortium hired the nonprofit group America Speaks to coordinate the technology-laden meeting.

The Howard County Diabetes Coalition and the Columbia Association will sponsor "Open House: Diabetes," an information and resource-sharing session, to be held from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday at Supreme Sports Club, 7080 Deepage Drive. Discussion will include facts about diabetes, the role of exercise and nutrition in managing the disease and new developments in care and resources. Light refreshments will be served. Admission is free. Information: 410-381-5355. Stamp gift box workshop to be held in Oakland Mills The Oakland Mills Community Association will sponsor a workshop, "Stamp Gift Boxes with Gina," from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. today at The Other Barn in Oakland Mills Village Center.

Oakland Mills Village Center will get another shot at a replacement restaurant for the Last Chance Saloon. Haluk "Alec" Kantur had planned to open a place called Rusty's Chill 'n Grill, but the county liquor board rejected him as a licensee this month. On Tuesday night, the County Council, sitting as the liquor board, agreed to allow the lease for the empty building to be sold to a new restaurant operator who could then apply for a liquor license without having to wait a year. Kantur said he is trying to find a buyer to extricate him from a 10-year lease at the village center, which last week celebrated the opening of a Food Lion supermarket.