Oakland Mills

A 24-year-old Columbia man was charged with first-degree arson and two counts of attempted murder yesterday, after an early morning blaze drove his parents from their Oakland Mills home, police said.Police and fire investigators said that the fire was set shortly after 3 a.m. yesterday in the first-floor playroom of the single-family split-level home where the man lived with his parents. His parents, who were sleeping upstairs, were awakened by smoke and a smoke detector at about 3:30 a.m. and fled.

Outdoor track Class 2A South Region (May 17-19 at Reservoir) Boys team scores: 1. Frederick Douglass-PG, 151 points; 3. Long Reach, 69; 6. Marriotts Ridge, 47; 7. Glenelg, 38; 8. Oakland Mills, 24. Individual results: 100: 2. Blake Richardson, G, 11:41; 3. Purcell Freeman, LR, 11:46; 6. Ryan Banta, MR, 11.72 200: 2. Tosin Oweyole, LR, 22.66; 4. Blake Richardson, G, 22.87;...

Don Shea , who guided the Oakland Mills boys soccer program to eight state titles in 18 seasons before stepping down in 2003, will return to coach the Scorpions next fall. Shea has remained at the school as a social studies teacher and now gets the chance to coach alongside his son, Trevor , who is the program's junior varsity coach. "Obviously, his resume speaks for itself," Oakland Mills athletic director Troy Stevenson said. "All along, he has been teaching at the school, so the kids like him and respect him. Coming back, there's a high level of excitement, and he brings instant credibility back to the program.

Outdoor track County championship meet (May 7 and 10 at Reservoir) Boys team scores: 1. Reservoir, 128 points; 2. Wilde Lake, 116; 3. Howard, 94; 4. Mt. Hebron, 80.5; 5. Long Reach, 76.5; 6. River Hill, 64; 7. Oakland Mills, 31; 8. (tie) Marriotts Ridge, 27; 8. (tie) Centennial, 27; 10. Atholton, 24; 11. Hammond, 19; 12. Glenelg, 14. Individual results: 100 dash: 1. Jackson Porter, MH, 10.84; 2. Mike Motta, Re, 10.93; 3. Raamah Vaughn, RH, 10.99; 4. Josh Peoples, Ho, 11.01; 5. Zack Black, Ho, 11.57; 6. Gibrill Sheriff, Re, 11.23; 7. Brian Crandell, LR, 11.41; 8. Mike Messina, G, 11.47.

As the youngest of three athletic sisters, Jasmine Hill picked up a lot of pointers along the way to her stellar high school basketball career. Her first two seasons at Oakland Mills, she played with Nicole, now 19 and playing at East Stroudsburg, while Vanessa, 22, graduated before she arrived. She started playing in the Columbia Basketball Association recreation league at 5. Voted the Howard County Player of the Year last season by the coaches, Hill scored her 1,000 t h career point in December.

The senior guard did a little bit of everything as the Scorpions finished the regular season with three upset victories. She had a combined 31 points, 25 rebounds, 11 assists and 11 steals in wins over Atholton, 52-44; Mount Hebron, 46-44; and Glenelg, 45-37. She also defended the opposition's top offensive threat, holding each well below her average. Hill, 5 feet 9, averages 12 points, seven rebounds, four steals, three assists and 2.9 blocks. She plays Amateur Athletic Union ball with Team Unique and is being recruited by UMES as well as several Division II programs.

Dorita Forehand wasn't very optimistic about her chances of continuing in a job as community organizer for the village of Oakland Mills after her contract was scheduled to run out April 30. She expected her part-time position, which she took over in September, would be the victim of budget cuts by the Columbia Association. Then came the hearing Feb. 27, when Forehand's future would be determined. Forehand said that she was "pleasantly surprised" when the association board voted not only to maintain the community organizer position in Oakland Mills for the next two years, but had the money to do the same for Wilde Lake, which previously didn't have a community organizer.

The last time that Oakland Mills met Hammond, center Greg Whittington didn't play. Unfortunately for host Hammond, he did Thursday night. The junior scored a game-high 25 points - including a clutch 3-pointer to send the game to overtime - as Oakland Mills defeated the Golden Bears, 64-61, in the Class 2A South regional semifinals. Sophomore James Turner led the Bears with 24 points. The Scorpions (17-5) will meet the winner of the Frederick Douglass-Gwynn Park game on Saturday at a site and time to be determined.

Junior Beth Blasi assisted on the first goal and scored the next two, as No. 4 Fallston (2-0) whipped visiting Oakland Mills (1-1) in girls soccer yesterday, 3-0.

Howard High's boys basketball team beat five-time defending county champion Oakland Mills yesterday for the first time since 1988.The 55-48 victory ended Oakland Mills' streak of eight straight wins against Howard, and kept the Lions unbeaten in league competition at 2-0. Howard's overall record is 5-5."This was the biggest win for Howard in a long time," Lions first-year coach Kevin Broadus said. "In Howard County basketball, everyone wants to beat the Mill."Led by Javier Michaux (18 points, 15 rebounds)

Boys lacrosse Standings (as of May 8) Glenelg, 11-0 league, 13-1 overall Marriotts Ridge, 10-1, 12-2 Howard, 9-2, 10-4 Atholton, 7-4, 9-5 Centennial, 7-4, 7-5 Mt. Hebron, 7-4, 7-7 Wilde Lake, 4-7, 7-7 Reservoir, 4-7, 5-9 River Hill, 4-7, 5-9 Hammond, 2-9, 2-9 Oakland Mills, 1-10, 2-12 Long Reach, 0-11, 2-11 Glenelg Country*, 1-9, 2-9 Chapelgate#, 5-7, 6-8...

The narrow footbridge that crosses U.S. 29 in Columbia opened three decades ago with the promise of connecting the town's commercial center with the residential communities to the east. Today, the underused structure is unlit, encircled in chain-link fence and often covered in graffiti - uninviting to residents looking for a convenient way to cross the five-lane expressway that divides a town planned by renowned developer James W. Rouse, who sought to emphasize connections between its communities.

This winter, Centennial senior wrestler Nathan Kraisser challenged himself by going to the Walsh Ironman tournament, one of the most demanding on the East Coast, where he lost three matches to double his career total. Oakland Mills senior Tony Farace moved up a weight class last month just to take on Kraisser in a Howard County match. And Eric Friedman of St. Paul's relished his team's trips to out-of-state tournaments, which gave him opportunities to face some of the strongest wrestlers in the country.

The Oakland Mills Interfaith Center welcomes worshipers to an array of congregations, and now art lovers have a special place at the center's new art gallery. The Meeting House Gallery fills the perimeter of the center's atrium entrance. A committee composed of members of different congregations decided on this new venture as a venue to explore diversity and celebrate unity through the arts. “We needed to make our lobby inviting and interesting,” committee member Will Krupka said.

Tradition was tossed out the window at the Howard County Cross Country Championships yesterday at Howard Community College.The course was new. The winning boys team, Wilde Lake, hadn't won a county title since 1972. The winning girls team, Oakland Mills, had never won a county title.Favorite Greg Curtis, from traditional power Oakland Mills, won the boys race by 24 seconds with teammate Steve Petro finishing second. But Oakland Mills placed third, seven points behind second-place Centennial and 22 points behind Wilde Lake.

After graduating its top three scorers from a team that posted its second-worst record (6-5-2) in 17 years, the Oakland Mills boys soccer team wasn't expected to make much noise this season.Don't look now, but the Scorpions are 3-0 after yesterday's 2-1 victory over No. 14 Gilman at Oakland Mills.The Greyhounds (3-2) thought that this Oakland Mills team wouldn't resemble those that have won seven state championships, and Gilman was hoping that a victory over a Columbia school with a proud soccer history might boost respect for its soccer program.