Park Chamber

Print depicting Severna Park goes on saleAs part of an campaign to generate community spirit, Severna Park officials are promoting a limited edition print called "The Spirit of Severna Park."The work, by local artist Anne-Marie Esson, will be on display for sale from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. April 22 at Side Street Framers in Park Plaza Shopping Center on Ritchie Highway.The 18-by-24-inch watercolor is an "ideal representation" of Severna Park, with boats, water, flowers and trees, said Barbara Baumgartner, a member of the Severna Park Chamber of Commerce fund-raising committee.

From: Hammond S. CarrPresidentGreater Severna Park Chamber of CommerceThe press reports regarding the recent Benfield Road (so-called) sign "sweep" have engendered confusion about the role of the Greater Severna Park Chamber of Commerce relevant to this county action. Permit me to clarify.At our May general membership meeting, the chamber voted to work with theGreater Severna Park Council and the county in a Sign Improvement Task Force to stimulate voluntary compliance with the sign ordinance and examine the proposed sign law changes.

NOTHING STIRS the feelings of pride and patriotism like watching your youngster - or the children of neighbors - celebrate the nation's birthday, pumping along on bicycles decked out in red, white and blue in the annual Greater Severna Park July 4th Parade and Festival. Scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, the 26th annual parade will assemble at St. Martin's-in-the-Field Episcopal and Our Shepherd Lutheran churches on Benfield Road. The route will follow Evergreen Road to Riggs Avenue, Riggs to Old B&A Boulevard, and turns into Park Plaza - site of the festival that runs until 1:30 p.m. The bicycling youngsters will be competing in the annual children's decorated bike contest and can register in the Winkelmeyer Building parking lot (540 Old B&A Blvd.

For years, motorists driving east on Benfield Road and north and south on Ritchie Highway have been greeted with huge "WELCOME TO SEVERNA PARK" signs.If the Westhaven Homeowners Association has its way, a new sign will be posted for drivers westbound on Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard."It's high on our list of things to get done," said Mark Jacobs, vice president of the association that represents 261 homeowners in Stewarts Landing.The civic group is leading a drive to raise $1,200 to pay for a sign.

ONE OF Severna Park's greatest accomplishments is that it tricks its residents into thinking they live in a small town.Given that Greater Severna Park is divided into three divisions -- Millersville, Arnold and Severna Park -- this is no easy feat.Partly responsible for this feeling are Severna Park's origins as a quiet, rural community in the early 1900s, then gradually evolving, beginning in the mid-1960s, into a suburb of Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis.There are organizations whose primary purpose is to maintain and improve on the qualities that drew us to Severna Park -- its central location among three major job centers, a feeling of safety and that sense of community.

Each year, the Rotary Club of Severna Park honors individuals who devote time to helping others.This year's Service Above Self winner is Penny Hopkins, a volunteer with the Severna Park Assistance Network, Chesapeake Academy, Anne Arundel Medical Center and Greater Severna Park Chamber of Commerce.As a member of the chamber, Hopkins is chairwoman of the fund-raising committee and is co-chairwoman of this year's Fourth of July parade.President Donna Salisbury and past president Mel Hastings presented certificates of appreciation to the other nominees: Paul Goddard, Connie Johnson and Charles Smith.

The well-dressed robbers who disguise themselves as former U.S. presidents struck again yesterday for the fourth time in nine days in Anne Arundel County, breaking their pattern of %o restaurant holdups by robbing a bank.At 12:30 p.m., two men -- one posing as Richard Nixon and the other as Ronald Reagan -- walked into the First National Bank of Maryland on College Parkway in Arnold and forced employees and customers to the floor at gunpoint.One of the holdup men walked behind the counter and stole an undetermined amount of money from two of four teller drawers, police said.

Inspired by temperatures far too perfect for the unpredictable month of March, Mother Nature shed her patent leather high-tops, hiked up her gingham skirt and cavorted among the crocuses, providing gleeful residents with a rosy preview of things to come. I call it her Spring Tease.*Plans are set for "Child Care for Working Moms," a program sponsored by the Greater Severna Park Chamber of Commerce. It will be held at noon tomorrow at the Severna Park library. The cost for an executive box lunch and the program is $7 for members, $10 for nonmembers.

Anne Arundel County lawmakers appropriated $230,000 Monday to purchase a two-story house along the Baltimore-Annapolis Trail in Severna Park and convert it into a rest station and community center."

County Councilwoman Diane Evans and several community groups want to buy a two-story house on a third of an acre along the Baltimore-Annapolis Trail for a park and community center.Ms. Evans is to ask the council next week to approve spending $205,000 for the Regester property in the first block of Holly Ave. Meanwhile, the Association for Severna Park Improvement, Renewal and Enhancement (ASPIRE) plans to raise $25,000 toward the purchase and improvement of the house along the hiker-biker trail with the help of other community groups.