Route 175

On Friday, October 31, 2003 DORIS E. (nee Johnson), beloved wife of the late Sylvester T. Banks, Sr.; devoted mother of Sylvester T. Banks, Jr.; dear grandmother of Renard Banks and Renae Ross; loving great grandmother of Melanie Banks and Renard Banks II. A Memorial service will be held at 11 A.M. on Thursday, November 6 at the Witzke Funeral Homes, Inc. of Columbia, 5555 Twin Knolls Road (Route 175 and Thunderhill Road). Interment private.

Howard County police have identified the driver who died late Saturday in a two-vehicle accident at Route 175 and a northbound ramp of Interstate 95 as Daniel Rodriguez Sevilla of the 9000 block of Watchlight Court in Columbia's Long Reach village. The passenger in Sevilla's 1997 green Saturn - Melbin Y. Manzanares of no specified address - was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center and released yesterday, a hospital spokeswoman said. Police said Sevilla entered the intersection at Route 175 and the I-95 ramp on a red traffic signal about 11:20 p.m., and his vehicle was struck by a silver-colored 1996 Dodge Avenger traveling east on Route 175. The driver of the Dodge, Kristina E. Biernack of the 6000 block of Ivy League Drive in Catonsville, was uninjured, police said.

Electricity began trickling back to darkened American and Canadian cities yesterday, but economic jolts from Thursday's power outage are continuing to touch people well beyond the boundaries of the blackout. Consumers on the East Coast and beyond, undoubtedly thankful for light and water, were forced to wait for Amtrak and Wall Street to ramp back up, the U.S. mail and FedEx deliveries to return to their schedules and phone lines to clear up. An estimated $30 million in retail sales has already been lost, and Internet usage dropped about 20 percent to 30 percent below average around the same time the lights went out Thursday.

Fort Meade has changed the hours of its visitor control center and several other gates. The Reece Road visitor center will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. One-hour parking in the lot will be authorized only during these hours. When the visitor center is closed, those without military identification can receive a one-day pass at the Reece Road/Route 175 gate, which will be staffed 24 hours a day. The Mapes Road/Route 32 gate will also be staffed 24 hours a day. The gate at Route 175 and Mapes Road will be open from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. (outbound traffic only)

About 100 area residents streamed into an auditorium last night to offer comments about the future Blandair Regional Park in Columbia - most of them more interested in a road leading into the 300 acres than the way the land might be used. Neighbors in Glenmont oppose plans to give visitors access to part of the park through Summer Hollow Lane, which dead-ends in their community at the north side of the property. They fear it will add to the traffic that they already deal with as drivers take a shortcut between Route 108 and Phelps Luck Drive.

Maryland State Police arrested two Florida men yesterday on charges that they were transporting nearly $500,000 in suspected heroin along Interstate 95 near Oakland Mills. Jairo L. Gonzalez, 23, of the 100 block of North Shore Drive in Miami Beach and Alberto Puente, 47, of the 2300 block of 174th St. in Miami were each charged with trafficking heroin, possession of a large amount of narcotics and possession with intent to distribute heroin. Police say they stopped Gonzalez, who was driving his white 1995 Mitsubishi Galant, and Puente, who was in the passenger seat, for speeding about noon on I-95 near Route 175. Police said the two men acted suspiciously.

A group of Howard County residents broadly agreed last night on the best uses for Blandair, the 300-acre wilderness in the core of Columbia. The citizens committee, which is planning the park-to-be, voted unanimously to include space for athletic fields, picnic areas, pavilions, forest and wetland preserves, trails, a children's garden, nature center and playground, and to retain a buffer of land around a cluster of historic buildings. The Blandair Committee also agreed that access should be provided to both sides of the park from Route 175 and that a portion of Oakland Mills Road should be closed as it runs through the south end of the park so that drivers won't cut through.

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers is opening a new location in Columbia next week, the newest outlet to join a burgeoning group of restaurants clustered around Dobbin Road and Route 175. The restaurant in the Columbia Crossing II shopping center is scheduled to open March 31, offering 202 seats in a 6,500- square-foot facility, and bringing 100 jobs to the area. The location is part of the Colorado-based chain's effort to expand on the East Coast, spokeswoman Kim McBee said. "We're growing throughout the country," she said.

A 44-year-old Laurel man who ran a red light and crashed his pickup into a black Mercedes turning from Route 108 onto Route 175, killing an Ellicott City computer consultant, was convicted yesterday of auto manslaughter. Robert Ice of the 300 block of Brock Bridge Road acted in a "grossly negligent manner" when he sped through the light, apparently without slowing or braking, despite the signs and stopped cars that warned of a red light ahead, Howard Circuit Judge James B. Dudley ruled yesterday.

On February 28, 2003, HILDA V. HEIM,"Ellicott City Middle School Teacher"; beloved wife of the late Joseph M. Heim; devoted mother of J. James Heim and his wife Elizabeth and Katherine Warren and her husband David; loving sister of Mary Lee Bowen and the late Gloria James; adored grandmother of five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and many nieces, nephews and a host of friends. Friends may call at the WITZKE FUNERAL HOME OF COLUMBIA, INC., 5555 Twin Knolls Road (1st exit off route 175 & Thunderhill Rd)