New Business

More than 200 years into the life of their family farm, Tim and Mitzi Jones decided their future should include cheese.  Bowling Green Farm has been producing milk from about 100 Holsteins and has been in the milk business since the 1920s. A few years ago, however, they realized milk wasn't enough. "There is no money in milk at this point," says Mitzi Jones, whose husband's family has owned the farm since the late 1700s. Sitting on 400 acres in the Sykesville area, Bowling Green Farm is one of three dairy farms still in business in Howard County, compared with about 300 in the 1960s, according to the county's economic development agency.

The necessity of a two-income family today often leaves parents scrambling for child care and juggling countless responsibilities. It is no wonder that young parents today may feel overwhelmed. There is good news, though, and a place to go to find some much-needed guidance. Jewish Community Services is offering a new parent discussion series that addresses some of the challenges of parenthood. These groups are free and open to the public once a month on Tuesdays, meeting from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center at 3506 Gwynnbrook Avenue.

The Board of County Commissioners, which refused an airport expansion that was 95 percent funded by higher levels of government, is about to embark on a fund to loan small business startups money at a rate of $25,000 per each. But these must be businesses that already have been refused by a bank. Half the money for this "revolving fund" will be from the county, and half from the state. Small business startups are a risky proposition in any case. And, the current business environment is unfriendly.

For a grown-up escape from everyday life, head to Envy Salon in Historic Ellicott City for Tini Tuesdays and Brew & Do Wednesdays. What started as a way to promote new business hours is now a highly anticipated weekly event at the 13-year-old salon. "We basically started it as something to drum up business on a new day of the week we were open, which was Tuesdays," says Leeza Rainey, owner of the salon. "So we started the martini night and found it was super-successful. " On Tuesdays, clients can enjoy a signature hot pink "Envy-tini," which Rainey describes as both sweet and tart.

WHAT IS IT about folks in Maryland that makes them so resistant to change and hostile to risk-taking? Time after time, state residents have rebelled against visionary public projects. Time after time, they were proved wrong.The football-stadium controversy is the latest incarnation of this bizarre trend. It's a rip-off of the taxpayer, foes shout. It's an outrageous handout to a businessman. It's another sign of government's corruption.Those same denunciations were made about Oriole Park, about the first and second bay bridges, about the rebuilding of Memorial Stadium for baseball, about Harborplace.

OXFORD, England -- What university would turn down a gift of $34 million for a new business school? Hardly any -- except, that is, Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world.The dons of Oxford, to which the bright and the well-born have flocked since the 12th century, recently said no to the money of Wafic Said, a Saudi billionaire of Syrian origin.The Daily Telegraph, a conservative paper, called the 259-to-214 vote Nov. 5 against the offer an elitist bias against business.

With legislative committees already embarked on a summertime study of the state's tax system, four statewide business groups announced yesterday that they have formed a council to ensure that their voices are heard before a tax reform bill is written and presented to the General Assembly next year.The Business Fiscal Policy Council, which is chaired by former U.S. Sen. J. Glenn Beall and includes two members each from the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Baltimore Committee, Maryland Economic Growth Associates and the Greater Washington Board of Trade, will "help state legislators take a business-like approach in considering changing tax laws," said Chamber of Commerce Chairman Ronald Creamer.

Humphrey Hospitality Trust, a Silver Spring-based real estate investment trust, plans to relocate to a new business park in Columbia. Humphrey, among the largest limited-service hotel REITs, and its private subsidiaries that manage the hotel properties and own and operate apartments and senior homes will bring about 60 employees to the Riverwood Business Park in November, according to Paul G. Bollinger, the company's chief financial officer. The park is being developed by Nottingham Properties Inc. The company, which employs about 2,000 around the nation, was looking for more space in the Baltimore area near where most workers live.

A Columbia educator turned entrepreneur says her strawberry cheesecake cookies truly are divine. They're chewy and pink and tangy on the tongue. The right balance of sugar, flour and time in the mixer came to her during a week-long fast, a way for her to show her appreciation for God's blessings during a year of trials and triumphs. Her name is Monica Williams. The 43-year-old single mother of three lost her job as a private school principal last year. With it she lost her $82,500 annual income and went on unemployment.

At Alice's Country French Bakery, owner Jim Constantine is enjoying a rare quiet moment. The shop on Westminster's Main Street is often buzzing with customers who start streaming through the door at 6 a.m. for coffee, pastries, bread and other goodies that Constantine's wife, Alice, -- he calls her the "pastry princess" -- churns out in the kitchen. Business has been brisk since the couple opened the bakery in November, and Jim Constantine credits Maryland's Small Business Development Center for helping the enterprise get off the ground.

Unless you've missed the news and are befuddled as to why people keep saying you're an hour late to things, we've all just "sprung forward. " How is it springtime already? With spring comes a lot of shuffling and changes in Hampden. Every year, it surprises me at how The Avenue (and our business district in general) can keep getting better and better, but it does. And if a lot of the plans and rumors I've heard come to fruition, Hampden looks poised to grow its thriving local economy.

JigSaw Marketing Solutions, a strategic marketing and communications firm focused on providing results-driven marketing support, was recently awarded three new projects, including two with new clients. Independence Solar, a commercial solar energy developer headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J., retained JigSaw to develop and implement a breakfast seminar series for prospective customers in the Harford County area. Alliance Realty, a Baltimore-based real estate, property management and general contracting firm, hired Jigsaw to develop a marketing strategy and integrated marketing communications schedule to increase awareness of the firm's services within its target market.

A Columbia educator turned entrepreneur says her strawberry cheesecake cookies truly are divine. They're chewy and pink and tangy on the tongue. The right balance of sugar, flour and time in the mixer came to her during a week-long fast, a way for her to show her appreciation for God's blessings during a year of trials and triumphs. Her name is Monica Williams. The 43-year-old single mother of three lost her job as a private school principal last year. With it she lost her $82,500 annual income and went on unemployment.

Bel Air officials welcomed two new businesses to town earlier this week and lauded the turnout for the recent authors and artists holiday gift sale. Town commissioners and staff held a work session last Tuesday in preparation for the next town meeting which will be this Monday, Dec. 17, at 7:30 in town hall. The new businesses that recently opened are Kirkland's, a home décor and gifts retailer in Bel Air Plaza on Baltimore Pike, and Bird's Nest Barbeque in the 300 block of South Main Street.

South Carroll High School recently formed a new business partnership with DejaVu Boutique in Mount Airy. Through the agreement, Jamie Sauro, the company's director of operations, and Veronica Cello, general manager, will be business representatives working with the school to provided a speaker for the school's clothing course, and will also participate in mock interviews and set up a booth at sporting events. The company will also co-sponsor a fashion show in January, with proceeds going toward the South Carroll High prom.

More than 200 years into the life of their family farm, Tim and Mitzi Jones decided their future should include cheese.  Bowling Green Farm has been producing milk from about 100 Holsteins and has been in the milk business since the 1920s. A few years ago, however, they realized milk wasn't enough. "There is no money in milk at this point," says Mitzi Jones, whose husband's family has owned the farm since the late 1700s. Sitting on 400 acres in the Sykesville area, Bowling Green Farm is one of three dairy farms still in business in Howard County, compared with about 300 in the 1960s, according to the county's economic development agency.

South Carroll High School recently formed a new business partnership with DejaVu Boutique in Mount Airy. Through the agreement, Jamie Sauro, the company's director of operations, and Veronica Cello, general manager, will be business representatives working with the school to provided a speaker for the school's clothing course, and will also participate in mock interviews and set up a booth at sporting events. The company will also co-sponsor a fashion show in January, with proceeds going toward the South Carroll High prom.

So now Governor O'Malley wants to travel to Asia — no doubt with a large entourage, and at state expense — to get new business for Maryland. He could get plenty of new business if taxes were lowered to encourage it. What a joke, and the laugh is on us. F. Cordell, Lutherville

A Walmart Supercenter is scheduled to open Oct. 17 on Liberty Road in Randallstown, and Baltimore County officials hope it will give a boost to a corridor targeted for revitalization. County officials and community leaders expect that the store at Liberty Plaza will attract attention from other major chains to the area. Consumers in Randallstown have high levels of education and income, they say, but the area has struggled to draw national retailers and restaurants. Residents complain that there are too many fast-food restaurants and low-quality stores.

At one of Annapolis' public housing buildings last week, new solar panels on the roof collected energy to heat hot water for more than two dozen apartments below. Inside, a message scrawled on the wall asked whoever had been urinating in the hallway to knock it off. It seems an odd juxtaposition - high technology above, reeking hallways below - but the two are directly related. The outdated buildings of the cash-strapped housing authority made them prime targets for a company that has come up with an innovative business plan to capture renewable energy credits by spreading green technology - in this case, installing solar panels on the roofs of two public housing complexes at no charge.