Montgomery Road

On October 12, 2008 ALVEETA ALLISON (WINKY) MITCHELL. Beloved wife of Thaddeus P. Mitchell, Jr. On Thursday, friends may call at VAUGHN C. GREENE FUNERAL SERVICES (RANDALLSTOWN), 8728 Liberty Rd. from 4:00-8:00 P.M. On Friday, Mrs. Mitchell will lie instate at Unity Baptist Church, 7204 Montgomery Road (Elkridge), where the family will receive friends from 11:00 A.M.- 12:00Noon with services to follow. Inquiries to (410)655-0015

* Dorsey's Search: Police arrested two men who were parked near a trash container in Dorsey's Search Village Center about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday. They allegedly possessed auto stereo equipment that had been reported stolen in Ellicott City that morning. William Dale German, 18, of the 6300 block of Montgomery Road and Briton Gregory Rice, 19, of the 4600 block of South Leisure Court were charged with theft.

A proposal to widen Montgomery Road in Elkridge is drawing reservations from nearby residents who live on the busy thoroughfare.Howard County transportation officials are considering a recommendation to widen Montgomery Road between Marshalee Road and U.S. 1 from two lanes to three. Another suggestion involves installing left-turn lanes at some intersections.A public meeting on both proposals, which resulted from a study of existing and future traffic patterns on the road, will be held tonight from 7 to 9 in the Ellicott Room of the George Howard Building in Ellicott City.

Two companies are seeking to rezone property across from the Long Gate Center on Route 103, one to build two restaurants and the other for an office building.Davco Restaurants Inc., a Crofton-based food service company, FTC wants to change the zoning classification for four adjacent parcels totaling more than 6 acres between the Exxon gas station and Bethel Baptist Church on the north side of Route 103 -- known as Montgomery Road -- from residential to business.The move would allow the company to build a Wendy's fast-food restaurant and a Friendly's restaurant on the property.

A half-mile stretch of Montgomery Road has become a crossroads where old and new Ellicott City meet.On one side, there are old homes and large, green pastures left from farms. But on the other side, five traffic lanes away, there are growing subdivisions and the county's second-largest shopping center, Long Gate.While development has led to homes for thousands, two Montgomery Road residents who have lived there a combined 99 years want to leave. They say the roadside community they knew is gone forever.

Rockburn View Cornerstone Homes has a sales center open, a model under construction and four homes available at Rockburn View, a community of single-family homes in Howard County. Another construction phase will offer an additional 12 home sites, which will be ready early next year. The Elkridge community offers 10 floor plans situated on one-third-acre home sites. The homes are on public water and sewer systems and offer gas heat and hot water. Standard features include hardwood foyer, brick fronts, marble-surround fireplace and stained oak handrails.

The Howard County Board of Education yesterday decided to hold another public hearing before making adjustments to correct errors in the new elementary and middle school boundary lines approved last month. The changes involve pupils attending Ilchester, Rockburn, Waterloo and Bellows Spring elementary schools as well as Oakland Mills and Ellicott Mills middle schools. At yesterday's meeting, board member James P. O'Donnell seconded member Virginia Charles' motion asking for a delay in voting on the changes, which had been scheduled for yesterday.

The Howard County Planning Board -- vowing not to "turn Montgomery Road into another Route 40" -- has rejected two proposals that would have paved the way for two restaurants and an office building.The five-member board voted unanimously Wednesday night to recommend denial of proposals to rezone property across from Long Gate Center on Route 103 -- known locally as Montgomery Road -- from residential to business."We already have a Route 40," said Robert Geiger, who chairs the panel. "To turn Montgomery Road into another Route 40 doesn't make sense."

The Howard County YMCA plans to sell 4 acres of its Montgomery Road property to a developer for the future site of a Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, YMCA officials said last night. At a membership meeting, YMCA officials said the deal with developer J. Chris Pippen will help finance about a third of a $9 million YMCA facility to be built on its remaining 8 acres. "We were approached by a developer who said, `I'm interested in purchasing the front 4 acres, and in exchange this is what we'll give you,' and there was a dollar sign attached to it," YMCA branch executive Lyndon Murray said.

Mothers and daughters will discuss body image, self-esteem and the pressures on middle-school girls to conform to media images and peer pressure in a program at the Miller branch library, to be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 24. "Family Communication Night: How Do I Look? A Mother-Daughter Workshop on Body Image and the Pressure to be thin, `Hot,' and Perfect," will include a free dinner. The program, to be led by Lisa Morrell, adolescent counselor and founder of Health Integration, is designed for youth ages 11 to 15 and their parents.