Rash

Rodney Rash was 15 and stubborn when he left his family's dairy farm in Woodbine in Carroll County to go to Southern California to learn the horse-racing business.A friend gave him a list of five trainers to contact. At the bottom of the list was the name of a legend, Charlie Whittingham."A friend told me to not even bother going to Mr. Whittingham. He wouldn't even take me," Rash said. "So, of course, I went to Mr. Whittingham first. I just showed up at his doorstep. I got to his barn really early, 3:45 a.m. He showed up 15 minutes later, and I asked him for a job. He sized me up and said he didn't have any work for me. I started walking away when I ran into his old foreman, Mr. Ed Lambert.

Baltimore officials announced yesterday that they have picked five design teams to compete to redo Rash Field and add a parking garage beneath it. City officials say that they hope that the Joseph H. Rash Memorial Park -- which opened in 1976 -- will be completely redeveloped in time to allow Baltimore to host a spring 2009 stop of the Volvo Ocean Race in the Inner Harbor, should it choose to return to the city. The park is located on the southern portion of the Inner Harbor. About 9.3 acres, the open space extends from the Maryland Science Center to the Rusty Scupper restaurant.

To the passer-by, the Rash brothers farm is a postcard of idyllic country life: Green pastures of timothy and alfalfa slope down to lazy streams. A white clapboard farmhouse and grain silos stand clustered together like a family portrait. At sunset, when the land is washed in an orange glow, it is easily one of the prettiest scenes in Carroll County.But the Rash brothers -- Edwin, Glenn and Claude -- are farmers, not poets. A land's beauty alone, they say, is not enough to pay the bills."Farming is done in the area.

Take your mark, get set and participate in Hadassah's "Check It Out Challenge" Sunday at Rash Field. Runners and walkers are invited to take on a 5K run/walk, which begins on Key Highway and winds through Locust Point. Walkers and leisurely strollers can take part in the 1.5-mile fun walk along the Inner Harbor waterfront. Note that no pets are permitted on either course. And no headphones, skates or scooters may be used on the 5K course. Awards will be presented to the top three male and female overall runners and to the top three male and female runners in each of seven age categories.

Two South Carroll farmers want to plant luxury homes and a golf course on their 360-acre Eldersburg property.The project to sow $300,000 homes and an 18-hole golf course where crops used to grow on the Eden Mill Road parcel once again will be presented to County Commissioners, as a hearing on the zoning changes needed for the development continues tomorrow.Shifting the property from agricultural to a combination of residential-40,000 and conservation zoning would pave the way for the upscale housing development planned on the farm owned by Claude R. and Glen I. Rash.

Baltimore is working out final details on an agreement for a miniature golf course on Rash Field at the Inner Harbor.In March, the city granted exclusive negotiating rights for the course to Group Seven Inc., which includes Carl Stokes, a school board member and former City Council member.But after the city's top lawyer ruled that the project must be put out for bid, the city issued a request for proposals.In May, the Department of Recreation and Parks chose Group Seven over the only other bidder, Maryland Art Place, a nonprofit art gallery, which wanted to put its acclaimed artists-designed Art Links Baltimore course on the site.

Come for the beer. Stay for the volleyball. In many ways, that's the initial strategy of Lee Corrigan, organizer of this weekend's Toyota Pro East beach volleyball tournament. Toyota Pro Beach East Tour Today; Rash Field; seating free Schedule: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (final around 3 p.m.)

Two new members this month will join Carroll's three-member county Board of Zoning Appeals, including a retired farmer whose property was the subject of the county's largest rezoning petition.The county commissioners have appointed Claude R. Rash, a Woodbine resident whose family ran a South Carroll family farming operation, to a three-year term. Mr. Rash will replace John Totura, a 10-year board member who has been serving as as chairman.The commissioners appointed Damian L. Halstad, a Westminster attorney, to fulfill the remaining two years of former commissioner John L. Armacost's term.

Eczema is the name for a group of skin diseases characterized by dry sensitive skin; red, scaly rashes; and severe troubling itch. Dr. Mark Lowitt, a dermatologist at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, discusses the condition: * The most common type of eczema, called atopic dermatitis, is seen in both children and adults, and often occurs in people with a personal or family history of allergic disease such as hay fever, allergies, or asthma. * The most remarkable symptom of eczema is itch.

Hoping to encourage greater public use of a stretch of waterfront parkland that has become Baltimore's front yard, the Schmoke administration has launched an international design competition to generate ideas for Rash Field and the west shore of the Inner Harbor.The Baltimore Development Corp. advertised yesterday for expressions of interest from landscape architects, urban designers, architects and sculptors who would like to propose ways to revamp 20.6 acres of the Inner Harbor shoreline south of the twin pavilions of Harborplace.