Park Rangers

When county park rangers decided to form a union of 14 people this year, Anne Arundel County Councilman Jerry Walker decided he had reached his limit. Thirteen unions, he said, are more than enough. "At this point, any nine, 10 or 11 people could get together and decide to bargain collectively with the county," said Walker, a Republican from Gambrills. "We've got three groups just for the police. Why should we sit down with three government groups when we could sit down with one?"

Spaghetti saved the summer concerts in Downs Memorial Park. Or maybeit was the salad and garlic bread.One thing's for sure: Local residents and regulars at Cookie's Kitchen on Mountain Road consumed about 400 spaghetti dinners Saturday night at a fund-raiser that nettedsome $4,000 -- enough to keep folk, jazz and big band melodies floating over the Chesapeake Bay one more summer.Since soon after the Pasadena park on Pinehurst Road opened 10 years ago, hundreds of concert-goers, stargazers and picnickers have gathered Sunday nights at the band shell overlooking the bay. There, they've been entertained by barber shop quartets, military bands and even Hawaiian dancers.

Two women arrested after shop is damagedEDGEWOOD -- Sheriff's deputies arrested two women on burglary, theft and malicious destruction charges Tuesday night after several witnesses said a woman drove a brown pickup truck through a chain gate at Nelson & Wrenn Inc., an auto repair center near Routes 7 and 755, a sheriff's spokesman said yesterday.Howard Nelson, the repair shop's owner, recognized the description of the truck and driver that witnesses had given deputies, said Sgt. Edward Hopkins.

A Naval Academy midshipman charged with possessing a homemade bomb on Assateague Island is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate next month in Salisbury, federal authorities said. The midshipman, Freeman E.B. Tidaback, 20, drove with classmates Brian W. Ackerson, 19, and Alexander J. Eli Powell, 20, to the Eastern Shore island Saturday, where they built a large campfire on the beach. When park rangers approached the group, they found alcohol and a plastic container filled with gasoline and an electrical "ignition system," law enforcement officials said.

It seemed to drizzle all day Wednesday, with wet, cold, overcast conditions throughout. But the rain failed to measure more than a quarter of an inch. The official count for the region, measured at BWI Marshall Airport, was 0.16 inches, more than twice the 0.06 inches recorded in April before yesterday. Some parts saw slightly more, according to backyard rain gauges reported to CoCoRaHS : 0.22 inches around Loch Raven Reservoir in Baltimore County, 0.27 inches near Columbia and Bel Air. BWI's rain gauge is 4.99 inches behind normal for the year, 6.91 inches observed versus 11.9 inches expected.

I can appreciate that when discussing the "When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors" policy, Donna Franklin, Lightning Safety Program Lead for the National Weather Service, would expound on the dangers associated with lightning (letter, Sept. 20). After all, that is her government job. However, she totally missed the point of the need for a cost/benefit and effectiveness analysis of the "cure" versus the cost. I do not begrudge the cost of putting up a few signs as long as they do not add to sign pollution nor overload.

HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. -- Rich Ashburn enjoys the solitude of hiking and camping along the Appalachian Trail, but as he left yesterday morning on a four-day jaunt, he made a few changes in his routine.He decided to head north into Maryland from Harpers Ferry, instead of south toward the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, as he originally planned. He will camp near other people. And he is packing a can of Mace.Ashburn's anxiety was shared by many hikers along the Appalachian Trail after two women were found slain in their tent June 1 in the backwoods of Shenandoah National Park, their throats slashed.

Democrat Martin O'Malley portrayed Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday as a pro-sprawl governor who has slashed the budget and staff of Maryland's park system while failing to preserve much open space. During a news conference at North Point State Park in Baltimore County, O'Malley said that as governor his goal would be to protect 150,000 acres of land from development, more than twice the acreage preserved by Ehrlich over his four years in office. "There has been a sad playbook that has been followed in our National Park Service for the last six years - reducing park rangers, jacking up fees and not taking care of our national parks," O'Malley said.

Fly and light-tackle tourney Saturday Coastal Conservation Association Maryland Kent Narrows Fly and Light Tackle Tournament, Jetty Dock Bar, 201Wells Cove Road, Grasonville. Information: ccamd.org or eliccione@atlanticbb.net . Deep Creek cleanup SaturdayJune 2 , 9 a.m.-noon. Join park rangers and the Garrett Trails' crew as they clean and enhance area trails. Volunteers will meet at the upper overflow parking lot off State Park Road. Bring water, insect repellant, sunscreen, weather-appropriate clothing and a snack.

An Ellicott City woman reported she was raped at home Wednesday after a man broke in and demanded her money, county police said.The 28-year-old victim reported that a man wearing a stocking over his face forced his way into her home shortly before 8:15 p.m. and ordered her to give him cash. Police say the woman handed over $2 andthe man then raped her.A state police helicopter and a county police K-9 team searched the neighborhood around the Waverly Woods Drive home, but the suspect had fled the area.