Parks And Recreation

Leeann Simton found the perfect spot on the grass near a playground in Tydings Park, opened her picnic basket and took out a sandwich. Simton lives in Richmond, Va., but when it comes to finding an idyllic location for a picnic, nothing beats coming home to Harford County and getting away from it all in the popular Havre de Grace park. "Every year I come home to visit with friends and family for the Fourth of July, and I always spend my days in Tydings Park," she said. "I bring my kids some days and come alone on others.

Mayor Martin O'Malley named a new head of the city Department of Recreation and Parks yesterday, despite strong objections from 17 City Council members who wanted to retain the current director. Marvin F. Billups Jr., a division chief for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission in Prince George's County, has been nominated to take over for Thomas V. Overton in late October. Although Overton was one of four finalists for the position, O'Malley said Billups' range of experience over 33 years gives him the vision needed to rejuvenate a troubled city agency reeling from a decade of budget cuts.

There's no question that Baltimore County has experienced an increase in vandalism in its parks in recent years. Some of it - setting fire to playgrounds or bathrooms, for instance - is alarming, but most of it falls into a less dire category of graffiti and petty crime, an all-too-familiar problem not only in urban areas and national parks but in small-town America as well. That doesn't make it acceptable behavior, of course, but does it justify spending $600,000 on "smart" cameras to keep five of the county's regional parks under constant video surveillance?

The Mount Airy Town Council has unanimously hired a West Virginia carpenter to build ramps for a new skateboard park, which will be visible from Route 27.The site at Watkins Park has been graded and asphalted. All that was left to do was hire a contractor to build 10 ramps inside the 14,400-square-foot park -- which the Town Council did Monday at its monthly meeting.James Presley of James Service of Harpers Ferry has never built ramps for a public park, but his bid of $69,495 was much lower than three other bidders.

NEXT SUNDAY, a performance by the Naval Academy Concert Band and an "All-American Picnic" will bring the Concerts in the Park summer series to a close.The picnic, sponsored by the Linthicum-Shipley Improvement Association, begins at 5 p.m. at Linthicum Park on Benton Avenue. Both are free.Parking is available on the Linthicum Elementary School lot adjacent to the park.Blankets or lawn chairs are needed for seating. If it rains, the concert and picnic will be canceled.Today's concert is the Crabtowne Big Band playing music from the Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, Glen Miller and Count Basie era. It starts at 6 p.m.Flea market and historyThe Ann Arrundell County Historical Society will hold a flea market from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept.

ATLANTA -- In one of her last public appearances here, Atlanta Parks and Recreation Director Deborah O. McCarty faced controversy over a plan to build a stone path atop a pretty knoll in historic Piedmont Park.She could have led the meeting about the park, but stayed in the background. That was vintage McCarty, and exemplified the approach she'll bring next month to her new job as president of the Columbia Association.In a career here that has taken her from community organizer to the City Council to chief of parks and recreation, McCarty has developed a reputation as a quiet conciliator and consensus builder: not a charismatic leader, but someone who develops loyalty by answering the phone and taking care of details.

Patapsco Valley State Park officials are inviting area residents to help the park and themselves this weekend at the second annual Outdoor Adventures Expo.Noting renewed emphasis on the need to exercise more and vigorously, park officials are encouraging residents to explore facilities at the 15,000-acre state park. The recreational area spreads through Carroll, Howard, Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties."The expo is really a way for us to educate the public about the park and to get them to learn how to use it," said Offutt Johnson, a park naturalist.

Deborah O. McCarty's 5-year-old son started kindergarten Monday at Northfield Elementary School a mixture of jitters and excitement. Yesterday, McCarty began her first day as Columbia's new leader much the same way."I'm glad to be here," McCarty said as she sat in her relatively empty office at the Columbia Association. "Packing, moving everybody has been an ordeal. Everybody keeps asking me what I want to do first. I want to hear from other people. I want to listen to them, learn how things work."

Like many sitcoms, "Parks and Recreation" can be broken down by its at-times separate, at-times interweaving storylines. TV Lust's Amy Watts breaks down the plots: In the A plot: Leslie has proposed a tax on soft drinks to deal with Pawnee's obesity epidemic. (Nevermind that most of the Pawnee folks we see regularly on this show are trim. Must be a fluke.) Unsurprisingly, Ron is against such a tax. Leslie has many arguments with the Pawnee Restaurant Association representative about the labeling of the sizes, the labeling of "Zero Water" and her threat of layoffs if the tax is passed.