Nancy Smith

NANCY SMITH was not the most cooperative person in the world. Stories abound about her aloofness, once refusing to let even Howard County Executive Chuck Ecker beyond her screen door to talk. A different spirit must be evoked if all the parties involved are to agree on the future of 300 acres of prime real estate Ms. Smith left behind when she died without a will in February.It is clear that Ms. Smith did not want the farmland developed for residences or businesses. She never forgave the state and county governments for taking part of the property to build Route 175. And she once told neighbors that the land would never be developed.

Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker said yesterday the county is close to a deal to buy the 300-acre Smith farm, but it may cost more than the initial $8 million estimate."

If Elizabeth C. "Nancy" Smith -- longtime owner of the 300-acre Smith farm, the "crown jewel" of Columbia -- had lived to see the intruders filing yesterday past the orange "KEEP OUT" signs posted prominently around her Howard County property, she would have had strict orders for her caretaker."

For all practical purposes, Howard County has $8 million in hand to buy the 300-acre Smith Farm in Columbia. The problem is that no one knows how much the land is worth, or even if it is for sale.Yesterday, Gov. Parris N. Glendening announced the commitment of $4 million in state money to purchase the farm along Route 175. The state's money will come from program open space funds. The money will be matched by $4 million that County Executive Charles I. Ecker has said the county will pay for buying the land and turning it into a park.

In an article in Tuesday's Howard County edition of The Sun, Rupert Friday, a planner in the Maryland Office of Planning, was incorrectly quoted. In reference to the future of Elizabeth C. "Nancy" Smith's property in Columbia, he said: "I'm sure there are sharp land-use attorneys who are already knocking on the heirs' doors after the place."The Sun regrets the error.State and local officials launched a belated effort yesterday to protect from development 300 acres of farmland in the middle of east Columbia along Route 175.About a dozen state legislators, environmentalists, preservationists and officials from Howard County gathered in Annapolis for the first meeting of a hastily formed task force charged with finding options on how to keep commercial interests from gaining hold of the land.

If Elizabeth C. "Nancy" Smith -- longtime owner of the 300-acre Smith farm, the "crown jewel" of Columbia -- had lived to see the intruders filing yesterday past the orange "KEEP OUT" signs posted prominently around her Howard County property, she would have had strict orders for her caretaker."

Coming to the defense of Nancy Smith, Blandair As one who knew Nancy Smith for 28 years and who worked with her on plans to preserve Blandair Farm for 14 of those years, I would like to set the record straight by answering the letter from John McGing ("Nancy Smith to blame for Blandair's problems," Dec. 9). Until her mother's death in 1979, Miss Smith thought the farm would be preserved by being tied up in her father's life estate. When she realized the life estate would not provide the protection she required, she began looking for other means.

A committee helping to plan a park out of 300 acres of forests and meadows in the most populated part of Howard County is taking its newly crafted proposal into the community for a reality check. The 23-member group wants to see what people have to say - the many neighbors surrounding the Blandair property in Columbia, the sports players eager for more fields, the hikers searching for green vistas and anyone else with an opinion about a park being added after the fact to one of the most intricately planned communities in the nation.

Carl Easterwood paid $400 yesterday for a rusted pile of golf clubs, covered with mothballs and dust. But inside a pocket of the faded bag was a 1905 Scottish golf ball -- worth an estimated $400 to $500.The ball was among the 80 items auctioned yesterday in Towson from the estate of recluse Elizabeth C. "Nancy" Smith, who died in February. She was the owner of 300 acres of undeveloped farmland in the middle of east Columbia, land now sought by some of her relatives, commercial developers and preservationists.

By all accounts, Elizabeth C. "Nancy" Smith was eccentric.She once took an ailing cow to the vet in her powder-blue 1970 Volkswagen bug. She fired shots at a school official who trespassed on her land. She got a $149,000 check from the state in 1972 -- but never cashed it.Some preservationists and planners say the 82-year-old recluse had to have been irrational not to arrange for her long-stated goal: long-term protection for her 300 acres of undeveloped farmland straddling Route 175 in the middle of east Columbia.