Rockburn

We hate to tell you, kids, but summer's almost over.You have just one more week for those long days of skating, swimming, and hanging in trees. These favored activities will compete with your parents' agenda: visiting clothing and school supply stores to outfit you for your next school year.And the schools are readying themselves for you.One example is Rockburn Elementary in Elkridge, which opens for its second year.The school's first year was an unqualified success, due to the efforts of staff, community members and parents.

Karen Druffel can walk outside her door in Elkridge almost anytime and find people from all over the region using the Rockburn Skills Park for mountain bikers and trail runners. The attention is impressive, considering the park is not even supposed to be fully functional until June 2, says Druffel, a volunteer with the nonprofit Mid-Atlantic Off Road Enthusiasts (MORE), which spearheaded the park's creation. "The community has been phenomenal," she said this week. "We were a bit worried because there are people who are pro-biking and people who are anti-biking.

THE IMMEDIATE neighbors are not the only local residents dismayed as fields and woodlands are transformed into housing developments.Last week's column recounted the anguish of people on each side of one new project near Rockburn Elementary School, Rockburn Run -- Polly and Joe Thornton, and Mary and Earl Strain.The column prompted a call from Patrick O'Brien, who with deep emotion told of growing up in the area on his family's land -- and how he was glad he was not there to see the house where he had grown up come down.

A private group will be allowed to build a mountain bike training course in Rockburn Park in Elkridge, following a unanimous Wednesday vote by the county's Recreation and Parks Board to go ahead with the contested project. The board had delayed a March vote on the matter after a contentious two-hour hearing in which people opposed to the project said it would bring more traffic, parking problems and loitering, as well as nighttime activity and drug use. Opponents also complained that the project had been rushed through without sufficient notice.

ROCKBURN Elementary fifth-graders Heather Stebbins, Katie Hutchinson and Jaime Vonella have a jump on a journalistic career.In a project for the school's Gifted and Talented program, the youngsters have developed a new column, Kids' Korner, for the PTA's quarterly newsletter, Thumbs Up at Rockburn.The Korner has featured news stories on "Fish-steria" and the school's music program, interviews with teachers Ruth Layne, Jody Tuszynski and Kayla Johnson, and fellow students' opinions on how computers will help people in the future.

A rug for Rockburn? Ken Alban, capital budget director for Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks, says resurfacing Rockburn Branch Park's soccer/football/lacrosse fields off Landing Road in Ilchester with artificial turf is being considered, although no plans are in place. "Our fields at Rockburn are in deplorable shape," he said. "We reseeded them and hope they'll come back. But they're rough, rocks are working back to the surface, and they just don't get enough time to rest.

ROCKBURN Elementary School PTA has announced its officers for the 1997-1998 school year.The new president is Ann Thompson; vice president, Genice Linaburg; secretary, Jeri Abernathy; treasurer, Eileen Bednar; and PTA council delegate, Janey Sowald.With its PTA officers in place, Rockburn needs a few items for next year.A snow blower is on the wish list. Call Principal Earl Slacum if you have a suggestion.The school also needs help with the cost of producing the PTA newsletter.The PTA distributes 625 copies of its five issues each year.

Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks will present the Great Snipe Hunt! for children ages 4 to 7 and their parents from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Rockburn Branch Park in Elkridge. A campfire, crafts and s'mores are planned, followed by a hay ride and trek into the woods to search for the "Rockburn snipe." Children should bring a large brown paper bag and a flashlight to catch and release the imaginary creature. The cost is $15 a family. Information or to register: 410-313-7275; text telephone, 410-313-4665.

Slim Harrison bows the fiddle and calls directions for the Virginia reel in the gymnasium of Rockburn Elementary School.Teachers Mike Wall and Eileen Bottamiller ("Mrs. B") dance with the fifth-graders in Bill Ferguson's class. Physical education teacher Chris Seidel has danced in other classes.Harrison is 6 feet 5 inches tall and wears a black hat, dark plaid shirt, black jeans and cowboy boots. A bugle kazoo, two harmonicas, a tricycle horn, a siren whistle and something he calls a "kasousaphone" are duct-taped to the harmonica holder wrapped around his neck.

Earl H. Slacum's students surprised him with the biggest thumbs up of his life yesterday morning. Congratulating their prin cipal on being named the 1995 Maryland PTA Educator of the Year, Rockburn Elementary School's 50"He comes around to the classes every morning and gives us a thumbs up," said fifth-grader Sarah Closson, 11. "It shows us that he cares about us. He cheers me up when I'm down."Mr. Slacum, 51 years old and a 14-year veteran of the Howard public schools, was honored Saturday night at the Maryland PTA Convention in Ocean City for his work at Rockburn and in other county schools.

An offer by a group of mountain bikers to build and maintain a $30,000 skills course in Elkridge at no cost to Howard County is drawing opposition from neighbors and others concerned about the activity it might attract. The course at Rockburn would be the first of its kind in Maryland. But some neighbors say the project would invite more traffic and parking overflow into their communities while increasing trespassing, illegal night riding and drug use. Supporters, some of whom also live near the park, express excitement that the course is being offered for free, and criticize opponents for not wanting to share the park with mountain bikers.

Chris Nystrom has only one problem with life in Howard County: There isn't a bike trail connecting his Elkridge home and his workplace in Baltimore. Nystrom and his wife, Melanie, chose their house on a cul-de-sac off Kerger Road for its proximity to the county's 450-acre Rockburn Branch Park and its several miles of trails. The park is a two-minute bike ride away and bumps up against Patapsco Valley State Park, which boasts even more trails sought after by off-road cyclists. And not long after moving from Federal Hill in Baltimore, Nystrom hooked up with a few dozen other bikers to map out a 24-mile loop they ride before dawn twice a week.

Cyclocross -- As part of its "Step Up to Health" campaign, Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks will join forces with the Baltimore-based Lateral Stress Velo's cycling club and team to sponsor an inaugural "Rockburn Cross." The event, which is to begin at 10 a.m. Sunday at Rockburn Branch Park in Elkridge, is a hybrid between high-speed bicycle racing and technical mountain-bike racing, and includes man-made hurdles and natural obstacles that require riders to sometimes dismount and run with their bikes.

Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks will sponsor its Great Snipe Hunt -- a hay ride and trek into the woods to search for the (imaginary) Rockburn Snipe, largest of the species. Bring a large brown paper bag and a flashlight. The event for children ages 4 to 7 with parents will be held from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Rockburn Branch Park in Elkridge. No harm will come to the snipe. The cost is $20 for a family of up to five people. Registration is required because space is limited.

Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks will present the Great Snipe Hunt! for children ages 4 to 7 and their parents from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Rockburn Branch Park in Elkridge. A campfire, crafts and s'mores are planned, followed by a hay ride and trek into the woods to search for the "Rockburn snipe." Children should bring a large brown paper bag and a flashlight to catch and release the imaginary creature. The cost is $15 a family. Information or to register: 410-313-7275; text telephone, 410-313-4665.

Mary Jane Daniels and her husband wanted to relocate, so they put their villa on the market. The first weekend, they had three prospective buyers, but none submitted a contract. Weeks went by, then months. The problem was not the condition of their home, its location or the asking price. The problem was one over which the Elkridge couple had no control: public perception. They lived in Rockburn Woods, a 21-villa development completed in 1994. But that is when the county officially referred to Rockburn - and other developments like it - as "housing for elderly" and restricted residency to people at least 60 years old. Today, the politically correct phrase is "age-restricted" housing, and the starting point is five years younger.

There should be some new games in Howard County this winter, thanks mostly to a new field at Rockburn Park. Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks recently installed a synthetic outdoor field at Rockburn Park, enabling games to be played over the winter and teams to start spring practices earlier. It is a big reason why parks officials are trying to start new flag football and outdoor soccer programs this winter. Community sports supervisor Mike Milani said the new field is similar to what the Baltimore Ravens use at M&T Bank Stadium.

After 25 years, a plan to develop parts of Rockburn Branch Park in Elkridge is forging ahead, and Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks officials are hoping a proposed historical area there will give the project a boost. Officials are requesting $500,000 in capital funding from the county to begin construction on what would be the first historical project in a regional park in Howard. The area would include the 19th-century Pfeiffer Corner Schoolhouse, the Clover Hill on Elkridge house, which dates to 1772, and two log cabins on the property.

In the past few years, the Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks has tried to figure out how to keep some of its fields playable. Department officials crunched numbers and looked at the various costs involved in making overused fields safe for residents to play on. That's when they found something interesting. They realized that, over the long term, paying for and installing an artificial surface would be economically feasible. "We would almost break even," said Gary J. Arthur, director of Recreation and Parks.

There should be some new games in Howard County this winter, thanks mostly to a new field at Rockburn Park. Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks recently installed a synthetic outdoor field at Rockburn Park, enabling games to be played over the winter and teams to start spring practices earlier. It is a big reason why parks officials are trying to start new flag football and outdoor soccer programs this winter. Community sports supervisor Mike Milani said the new field is similar to what the Baltimore Ravens use at M&T Bank Stadium.