New Members

The Jarrettsville Lions welcome new member Charles Lockridge was welcomed to the club by his sponsor, Dennis Hill, and Past District Governor Owen Landis. Lockridge, a Jarrettsville native, said he wants to serve his community.

The Jarrettsville Lions welcome new member Robert Ronica, center, along with his sponsor, Dan Miller, right, and Club President Dave Goff. Robert, a Jarrettsville native, would like to serve his community.

The Greater Baltimore Tech Council, or GBTC, today announced its board members as of July 1, 2012, which includes a bunch of new faces. The organization, led by entrepreneur Jason Hardebeck, has been recasting itself as a nimble organization -- no main office, lots of coworking with member companies, and unique events such as BmoreFail -- that's trying to respond to the technology community's various needs. The good news is, if you're active on Twitter and Facebook, you've probably bumped into some of these folks in the virtual world.

The historically slow to move Columbia Association Board of Directors is moving at breakneck speed to give away Symphony Woods. They are waiving, suspending and otherwise ignoring all of their long established due process procedures to finalize the deal prior to May 1 when they might face new members. The Inner Arbor plan first appeared on the agenda of an open board meeting Feb. 14. Staff recommendations related to it were released belatedly just the day before, including a proposal to give a newly created corporation and other related "entities a perpetual easement for the development and use of Symphony Woods.

Under Armour Inc. has appointed a Turner Broadcasting System executive and a top retired naval officer to its board of directors, the Baltimore-based sports apparel company said Wednesday. The appointments of Brenda Piper, chief marketing officer for the animation, young adult and children's media group for cable giant Turner, and Admiral Eric Olson, former head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, take effect July 1. Piper, a veteran brand marketing executive, also has served in executive and management roles with MTV Networks, ABC Radio Networks, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has appointed two new members to the Baltimore County school board, only days after he told two current members who sought reappointment that they would be leaving the board at the end of June. Cornelia Bright Gordon, a Towson resident who is the chief attorney for the Legal Aid Bureau in Baltimore City, and Michael J. Collins, who lives in Essex and is chairman of the State Board of Contract Appeals, are taking over positions that will be vacated on July 1 by Earnest Hines, president of the board, and Meg O'Hare.

Six new members were recently appointed to three-year terms on Harford Community College's Advisory Board by the college's board of trustees.Two other members were reappointed.New members to the advisory board include Dale R. Bowlus Jr., of Darlington; Christine Gree, of Bel Air; Harry E. Hopkins, of Bel Air;Helene L. Klair, of Churchville; Howard S. Klein, of Forest Hill; and Dr. Earl J. Lightcap Jr., of Abingdon.Reappointed were PatriciaBrown, of Joppa, and Donald C. Kerr Jr., of Fallston.

A Columbia martial arts school has been ordered to stop signing up new members or taking payments from old ones until it complies with state regulations governing Maryland health clubs, according to the state attorney general's office. Get Your Kicks LLC, also known as the Jhoon Rhee Institute, did not register with the attorney general's Consumer Protection Division as required under the health club law or post a bond that would ensure customers of a refund should the school close, according to a news release issued by the office Tuesday.

WHETHER THE THREE new members of the Columbia Council can erase the group's reputation as a rubber-stamp for the Rouse Co. is unknown. Seven of the 10 council members are incumbents, so the newcomers won't be able to change much unless they forge some alliances. Then, too, observing council business from the inside may even convince the new members that the council has been making the right decisions in overseeing recreational amenities for Howard County's planned city.Six spots on the council were up for election a week ago. Only three races were contested, but the challengers won each of those seats.

WASHINGTON -- House Democratic leaders, hoping the nex Congress will be known more for substance than gridlock, are moving quickly to get their new troops in line and to pledge support to their party's chief executive.At the same time, House leaders expect that legislation vetoed by President Bush -- such as a family leave bill -- will find quick approval in the first few months of next year. "The difference being that the president will sign them," said House Speaker Thomas S. Foley, D-Wash.

The past few days, we've been wowed in the network news that since the Newtown, Conn. shootings, the NRA has recruited 100,000 new members. Impressive! Until you look at a few real stats: The number of NRA supporters is being touted as 4.2 million. I looked up the U.S. Census figures. The nation's 2012 population was 311,591,917. Those under 18 comprised 23.7 percent or 73,847,284. That means the total U.S. adult population is 237,744,633. If 4.2 million of those adults are members of the NRA, that means that 233,544,633 adults are not members of the NRA. That is, 98.2 percent of all U.S. adults choose not to join the National Rifle Association.

After a period of transition that saw its longtime school superintendent retire and infighting among school directors, members of the Howard County school community are hopeful that the new board members will work well together as they shape the county's education policy. With incumbents Janet Siddiqui and Ellen Flynn Giles gaining re-election on Tuesday, the school board now has six members with at least two years' experience. And its lone newcomer, former teachers union president Ann De Lacy, has more than 30 years' experience in the school system.

I was a teacher-mentor in the Baltimore City schools years ago when the city went $57 million in debt and we were all fired ("Schools audit draws concern," Oct. 9). I remember thinking at the time that the school board must have been sleeping not to have noticed the discrepancies in funding. Well, what do you know: The new school board has the same problem. Why do they accept what they are told? Isn't it their job to see through the spin to oversee what is going on in the system and make sure the job is being done?

'Richard III' The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company presents Shakespeare's play Oct. 7-13 outside in the ruins at Patapsco Female Institute Historic Park, 3691 Sarah's Lane. Tickets are $15-$36. Information: 410-313-8661. Basket bingo fundraiser Hollifield Station Elementary School holds a Longaberger Basket Bingo at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, at the school, 8701 Stonehouse Drive. The event features raffles, food and 20 games of Bingo. Tickets are $20 in advance; $25 at the door.

Kenwood will induct 10 new members into its Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 12 prior to the Bluebirds' homecoming football game against Franklin. Grace Dohmeir, Barry Drew, Tim Johnson, Charles Koester, Dave Leonhard, Tom O'Conner, Jackson Palmer, Michael Sheely, Vance Strausberg and Susan Wunder will be inducted at a reception in the Kenwood library at 5 p.m. Special recognition will also be given to Hall of Fame coach Mildred Murray and her 1948...

Under Armour Inc. has appointed a Turner Broadcasting System executive and a top retired naval officer to its board of directors, the Baltimore-based sports apparel company said Wednesday. The appointments of Brenda Piper, chief marketing officer for the animation, young adult and children's media group for cable giant Turner, and Admiral Eric Olson, former head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, take effect July 1. Piper, a veteran brand marketing executive, also has served in executive and management roles with MTV Networks, ABC Radio Networks, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola.

Baltimore County's school board will grow from 10 to 12 members, and the county's state senators made sure that Gov. William Donald Schaefer, and not his successor, will pick the two new members.The bill enacted by the General Assembly in its final hours Monday will give Mr. Schaefer a chance to decide on four board members -- the two new members and two current members whose terms expire in July. A conference committee of three senators and three delegates worked out the compromise.The chief Senate architect of the timing was Janice Piccinini, a north county Democrat.

PRESIDENT Clinton can claim a foreign policy victory of historic magnitude in the unanimous invitation of membership by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, effective in 1999. Once "defended" by the Soviet Union and Warsaw Bloc against West Germany and the United States, these countries will instead be defended by NATO against their former protectors, moving the border of "the West" 300 miles eastward.Mr. Clinton had staked his prestige on admitting these three countries and no others, after President Jacques Chirac of France pushed for admitting Romania and Slovenia along with them.