Nature Trail

CHARLES IRVING Stokes III, 18, is now an Eagle Scout.Stokes, who lives in Kings Contrivance with his mother and stepfather, Deborah and Matthew Williams, is the first member of Troop 513 to earn the prestigious Eagle Scout rank. The troop has been in existence 27 years.His Eagle investiture was held May 23 at First Baptist Church of Guilford on Oakland Mills Road. More than 200 family members and friends packed the church."It was the largest crowd I have ever seen at an Eagle Scout award in the 13 years I've been in office," said Del. Shane Pendergrass, a Howard County Democrat who presented a Maryland State Delegates Citation to Stokes.

Rev. Reuben Holthaus, 87, WMC religion chairmanThe Rev. Reuben S. H. Holthaus, a minister and retired chairman of the philosophy and religion department at Western Maryland College, died Friday of natural causes at his home in Carroll Lutheran Village in Westminster. He was 87.Born in Earlville, Iowa, Dr. Holthaus graduated from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1932. He earned a master's degree in biblical literature from Boston University in 1934, graduated from its School of Theology in 1935 and received a doctorate in philosophy from the university in 1946.

IT IS A FACT mostly forgotten these days, but the Middle Branch of the Patapsco, which separates South Baltimore from Cherry Hill, was once a prime recreational area. In the early 1800s, an elegant resort called "Spring Gardens" -- named after the area's numerous fresh springs -- even operated near the Hanover Street bridge.Over the past three decades, the Inner Harbor has been #F transformed from an area of rotting warehouses and piers into a glitzy tourist destination. Could the Middle Branch be given a similar facelift?

Spring Garden Elementary School will dedicate its new nature trail and study area at 3 p.m. Sunday at the school in Hampstead.Students and staff completed the trail with help from students at North Carroll High School. The two-year project began when the Spring Garden school improvement team asked Assistant Principal Jackie Powell to start a committee to turn an unused county field and woods into a nature trail for the elementary school.The trail will be dedicated to the memory of Ashley Elizabeth Frazier, who was a fourth-grader at the school when she died in an accident in 1995.

THE SPRING GARDEN Nature Trail Study Area will be dedicated at 3 p.m. Sunday.All students at Spring Garden have been included in the busy spring planting. The work has been completed under the direction of Vice Principal Jaclyn Powell. Tom Manger's landscape students at North Carroll High School did a lot of the tough work, digging, mulching and planting.At the ceremony, the fifth-grade chorus will sing, and recognition will be given to distinct study areas: a hillside planting with a sign that designates the study area; a large-scale butterfly garden with butterfly houses; a sunflower field; 150 pine seedlings, and a tree- labeling project on a forested trail.

The Spring Garden Elementary School PTA will have a retirement open house for Principal Larry Bair from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at 700 Boxwood Drive, Hampstead.Light refreshments will be available and the public is invited.At 3 p.m., the school's nature trail and study area will be dedicated.The school improvement committee has spent two years converting an unused county field and woods into an instructional area for students.The project will be dedicated to Ashley Elizabeth Frazier, a Spring Garden fourth-grader who died after being struck by a car in December 1995, and to all Spring Garden students.

As if there were not already enough enticing things to do on a Saturday in May, Baltimore has Cylburn Market Day. This gala community event, which draws fans from as far away as Washington and Pennsylvania, is held one day each year at Cylburn Arboretum on Greenspring Avenue, come rain or shine.Whether you are interested in a morning or afternoon outing for yourself to sleuth for unusual plants in a congenial atmosphere ,, among other gardeners, or are looking for an event that can captivate the entire family, this is the place to come.

Earth Day celebrants at Carroll Community College last weekend had to imagine a nature trail as they hiked through a field, woods and crossed a stream.But before Earth Day 1998, they'll be able to see the trail.A committee has been working since 1993 to build a hiking, jogging and nature appreciation trail that will run from the Carroll County YMCA south of Westminster north to Westminster High School. The committee includes representatives from the community college, Robert Moton Elementary School, the YMCA and county government.

ONE OF THE fascinating trends of recent years has been the boom in greenways. Several already exist in the Baltimore region, and other nature trails are planned to accommodate a growing number of hikers and bikers.Now comes word that the 13.3-mile Baltimore and Annapolis Trail, which runs from Glen Burnie to Severn, has been selected as one of the first designated sections of the East Coast Greenway network.Running parallel to Ritchie Highway on the bed of the old Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad tracks, this trail will be among paths recommended for use by those who want to traverse from Maine to Florida -- or points in-between -- using a 2,500-mile stretch of recreational paths.

You could say that Beth Sullivan was working on a small legacy as she dug a hole yesterday morning to plant a tree behind Mechanicsville Elementary School.The 11-year-old fifth-grader from Finksburg will have moved on to middle school when Mechanicsville students -- who have been in temporary quarters while their school is renovated -- return next fall.She said she considered herself lucky to represent the fifth grade in the group of about 20 children and adults who planted trees and shrubs along a path behind the school.