Quiet Waters Park

Two men in car charged with robbery of tavernCounty police arrested two men and charged them with robbing a Pasadena tavern Friday morning after the pair stopped at a home in Venice on the Bay and asked the residents if they could use their phone.The woman thought the two were acting suspiciously and called police after they left.Police said two masked men walked into Danny's Tavern on Fort Smallwood Road at 1:45 a.m. One of them had a sawed-off shotgun and the other was armed with a toy machine gun. They grabbed cash from the register and fled.

The summer concert series in Quiet Waters Park begins Saturday with "Operetta in the Park," a presentation by Annapolis Opera.The program will feature songs from such works as Victor Herbert's "Naughty Marietta," Jerome Kern's "Showboat," Sigmund Romberg's "The Student Prince," George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess," Rudolf Friml's "The Vagabond King," and Johann Strauss' "Die Fledermaus." Gilbert and Sullivan favorites from "The Pirates of Penzance," "The Mikado" and "H.M.S. Pinafore" are also scheduled.

Well before anyone brought out the scissors to cut the ribbon at Anne Arundel County's first dog park on Dec. 1, 2001, a line of patient pooches and their people had formed outside the gates. By the time it opened at Quiet Waters Park, recalled John Marshall, chief of county park operations, there were 80 dogs. The area surrounded by 6-foot fencing allowed the new park patrons their first unrestrained public romp and enabled their owners to meet other canine aficionados. "They were coming and going all day," Marshall said.

William B. WassBusinessmanWilliam B. Wass, a longtime engineer and businessman who retired from a consulting business in 1994, died June 15 of cancer at Anne Arundel Medical Center. He was 65.Born in Harrisville, W.Va., he served with the Army in Korea and England from 1951 to 1954. After attending West Liberty State College in West Virginia, he graduated from the University of Maryland College Park.For nearly 15 years beginning in 1956, Mr. Wass was an engineer for the federal government, holding positions with the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the Department of Defense.

Live music will be in the air all over Anne Arundel this summer, and most of it is free.Banks, neighborhood merchants and cultural arts foundations are sponsoring summer concert series at parks, fields and parking lots, where concertgoers can take a blanket or lawn chair and relax with a picnic dinner to the steel guitar sound of Hawaiian swing or country music, big bands, bluegrass, folk or blues."

Hang on to your beach umbrella. The whirlwind that is knocking days off the calendar like petals from a spent geranium is determined to end our summer before we are ready.While there is still time, pack your bags and hustle the pooch off to the kennel. But before you leave, don't forget to protect your home.Officer James W. Meyer, community coordinator for the Eastern District, offers these reminders: "Let the right people know your plans. Tell a trusted neighbor, and stop by the police station to fill out a request form for police to check your house while your are gone.

TODAY FLOWER ARRANGING SHOW Visit the U.S. National Arboretum, 3501 New York Ave. N.E., Washington, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, and see the annual Sogetsu Ikebana Flower Arranging Show. Free. 202-245-4523 or www.usna.usda.gov. PERENNIAL AND HERB DAY Purchase perennials and herbs from local and regional vendors at the annual fest, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at Cylburn Arboretum, 4915 Greenspring Ave. $4 parking fee. 410-367-2217. TODAY THROUGH AUG. 6 FURNITURE EXHIBIT Browse the exhibit Baltimore Painted Furniture, Revisited: The Art of David Wiesand, featuring benches, chairs, tables and bookcases inspired by early 19th-century Baltimore designs, through Aug. 6 at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, City Park, Hagers-town.

The county library system has wrapped up its summer reading program and estimates that nearly 9,500 participants -- 1,500 more than last year -- enjoyed the games, activities and guest performers.Several prizes were offered as reading incentives, and the grand prize -- tickets to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va. -- was won by a 10-year-old girl at the South County branch in Deale.Although the branch with the most participants was Edgewater, with 1,385, Severna Park finished a close second with 1,127 young readers.

Owens taking course in emergency first aid from fire department County Executive Janet S. Owens will be trained in emergency first aid by the county fire department. At the department training facility in Millersville, she will learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation and how to use a defibrillator. "The defibrillators are in county buildings, and she felt it was important that she learn what they're all about," said Owens' spokesman, Matt Diehl. "Everyone should be trained, and the county executive is taking the lead."

The Annapolis Jewish Festival, sponsored by Congregation Kneseth Israel, opens at noon Sunday at Hilltop and Spa roads. The festival features continuous entertainment, kosher foods, storytelling, folk dancing, arts and crafts, and rides and games for children. The entertainment includes the JSU Dance Troupe, the Zemer Orchestra, Cantor Yehoshua Redfern, Jon Simon on jazz piano and the bands Shir Delight and Lox & Vodka. Children's activities include storytelling at 1:15 p.m. and 3:45 p.m., and songs with Rabbi Yankov Chaitovsky at 2:15 p.m.Admission is $2, with children under 12 free.