Scott Smith

Concert -- Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts will present a Valentine's Day Emerging Artists Showcase at 7:30 p.m. today at 801 Chase St., Annapolis. The show will feature singer-songwriter couples Jen and Scott Smith (above), Brian Gundersdorf and Katie Graybeal, and Andy Fox and Denise O'Brien. Tickets are $15, $10 for students, seniors and MHCA members. 410-280-5640 or www.marylandhall.org.

An article in yesterday's Howard County edition of The Sun incorrectly characterized the campaign contributions of Columbia attorney Vincent M. Guida and of the law firm of Lloyd, Kane, Wieder and Willis. Mr. Guida gave $155 to the campaign of District Judge Lenore R. Gelfman and Columbia attorney Jonathan Scott Smith. The law firm of Lloyd et. al. gave Judge Gelfman and Mr. Smith $810.The Sun regrets the error.When it comes to financial support, District Judge Lenore R. Gelfman and Columbia attorney Jonathan Scott Smith are well positioned in Tuesday's primary vote for two Howard County Circuit Court judgeships.

The bitterly fought primary battle for two Howard County Circuit Court judgeships ended yesterday with the strong prospect of a similar round of campaign hostilities this fall.Both major slates of candidates -- one made up of two sitting judges appointed by Gov. Parris Glendening last fall and the other composed of their two leading challengers -- survived the primary to run again in the fall general election.With 83 of 85 precincts reporting last night -- all but absentee ballots -- the two sitting judges, Diane O. Leasure and Donna Hill Staton, took the county's Democratic primary.

Are Gelfman, Smith tough on crime? What about governor's 0) fund-raising?As members of a family who lost our father to a repeat drunk driver, we feel compelled to respond to claims made by the Judge Lenore R. Gelfman-Jonathan Scott Smith campaign that they would be tough on crime if elected as Howard County Circuit judges.In November 1992, our father, Dr. Saleem Alam Shah, was killed by a repeat drunk driver. Finally, in October 1993, a guilty plea was heard by Howard County District Court Judge Lenore Gelfman.

A new cable TV commercial launched by the sitting judges' campaign depicts the likely front-runner in the Howard County Circuit Court race, District Judge Lenore R. Gelfman, as a lenient judge and a hypocrite, and the challengers promptly labeled the ad misleading.The 30-second spot -- which will run 122 times from late last week through Sunday on Comcast cable stations CNN, TNT, Discovery and A&E -- tries to poke holes in the challengers' tough-on-crime campaign theme by charging that:Gelfman is one of District Court's strongest proponents of criminal rehabilitation.

Deborah Klos, a registered nurse living in a modest townhouse in Columbia's Harper's Choice village, is like a lot of voters in Howard County -- not sure how to vote in the circuit court judges race but deeply concerned about crime."

Howard County politicians and attorneys are following intensely the primary campaign for two county Circuit Court seats, but so far the acrimonious race is barely registering with the electorate. Mos interviews with a sampling of county residents.In about 65 such interviews with Sun reporters during the past 1 1/2 weeks, few prospective Howard voters could name any of the candidates without prompting.The response of Greta Stockman, 38, of North Laurel was typical: "There are a man and woman who are running and are talking bad about the other two women that are running."

Howard County's bar association is so sharply divided by the heated Circuit Court race that in a recent poll of its members, none of the five candidates gained enough support to win the organization's endorsement.It was the first time in the association's history that no candidate in a judicial race won the 70 percent approval from lawyers surveyed that is required to earn the group's endorsement, said Fred Howard Silverstein, president of the 420-member association."It certainly does seem to indicate there is a division," he said.

Crime is hardly a menace in Ellicott City's Bethgate neighborhood, with its well-groomed lawns and sturdy brick homes miles from inner-city violence.But Jonathan Scott Smith -- who alone among the candidates for Howard County Circuit judge has shown the kind of political instincts handlers can't teach -- simply counted the burglar alarms as he canvassed the neighborhood last Sunday afternoon.He knew these were his people, or potentially so."You know what I like about what you said on TV?" said Harold Kirkwood, a retired highway engineer whose Postwick Road home hasn't been robbed in 25 years but who tracks crime by listening to his police scanner.

Howard County politicians and attorneys are following intensely the primary campaign for two county Circuit Court seats, but so far the acrimonious race is barely registering with the electorate.Most prospective voters seem at a loss to name even one of the five judicial candidates, according to a recent round of informal, on-the-street interviews with a sampling of county residents.In about 65 such interviews with Sun reporters during the past week and a half, few prospective Howard voters could name any of the candidates without prompting.

M ilk rests so exclusively - and solidly - on its performances, especially Sean Penn's marvelous characterization of Harvey Milk, that audiences won't realize how strong its mojo is until an assassin's bullets break the spell. It's not a great movie, but it is an enlivening and unusual one: an effervescent political film that also packs a knockout punch. As Milk, Penn provides the most embracing, democratic portrait of an American figure since Henry Fonda's young Abe Lincoln - and Fonda was playing Lincoln in his lawyer days.

Concert -- Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts will present a Valentine's Day Emerging Artists Showcase at 7:30 p.m. today at 801 Chase St., Annapolis. The show will feature singer-songwriter couples Jen and Scott Smith (above), Brian Gundersdorf and Katie Graybeal, and Andy Fox and Denise O'Brien. Tickets are $15, $10 for students, seniors and MHCA members. 410-280-5640 or www.marylandhall.org.

Date of birth: March 1, 1963 Party affiliation: Republican Professional background: Founder and operator of seven small businesses during career; currently owns of investment company and general contracting company. Educational background: Associate's degree, Anne Arundel Community College. Personal: Annapolis resident; avid sailor; sailed to Ireland, Canada and the Caribbean multiple times; enjoys spending most of his spare time with his wife and son. 1.) Why are you running for Congress?

The Ruins Scott Smith Alfred A. Knopf / 336 pages / $24.95 Ever the Boy Scout, Jeff crouches down and tears a blank page out of his notebook. Uncapping his pen, he draws the first sign, a skull and crossbones. On another page, he writes SOS. On still another, he writes HELP. And on a fourth, he writes DANGER. Jeff and his three friends take the day trip of a lifetime in Scott Smith's horror thriller, The Ruins. After a three-mile hike through the Yucatan, the four 20-somethings are taken hostage by a tribe of Mayas, who represent only one of the dangers the hikers must face.

Naked Blue Hometown -- Baltimore Current members --Jen Smith (pictured), vocals and guitar, Scott Smith (pictured), guitar; John Thomakos, drums; Mike Davis, bass; Mark St. Pierre, percussion; Glenn Workman, keyboards Founded in --1991 Style --Americana rock Influenced by --The Beatles, Patty Griffin, Radney Foster, Shawn Colvin Notable --Soon after Naked Blue formed, it signed with Viceroy Records and cut a debut album. The label went defunct, and the band released four records on its own. Quotable --"The independent thing works out great for us, because we can do things on our own schedule," Jen said.

On December 1, 2005, ELIZABETH J."Betty" SMITH, beloved wife of Randy Smith, devoted mother of Terry Neukam, Scott Smith, and Chris Smith, loving sister of Robert March, beloved grandmother of Shane Smith, Kara Smith, Scott Smith, Allyssa Smith, Ryan Neukam, and Rosie Smith. Friends may call at HUBBARD FUNERAL HOME INC., 4107 Wilkens Avenue on Sunday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. Services will be held on Monday at 12 noon at the funeral home. Interment Meadowridge Memorial Park.

The Big Bad Wolf hooked me, I have to admit, with his description of the collard greens: large leaf greens, not chopped, cooked with fatback the way they should be. I love barbecue, but I don't love the nondescript sides that often come with it. At the Big Bad Wolf's House of Barbeque, just about everything is made fresh with big, bold flavors. And then the back story intrigued me. For the last eight years, Scott Smith (otherwise known as the Wolf) worked at fine dining restaurants, including Charleston, Le Petit Louis and Corks.

On July 12, 2004, G. VERNER SMITH, 73 of Spring Hill, FL. Mr. Smith was born in Chester, PA. He was a graduate of PMC (now Widener University). He came to Spring Hill from Towson, MD, where he worked as a Sales Rep for Carey Machinery & Supply Company. He founded Verco Inc., a material handling installation company and also built several houses. He is survived by his wife, Joan Leet Smith of Spring Hill, a daughter, Stacy S. Faulkner of East Grant Rapids, MI, and two sons, V. Scott Smith of Longwood, FL, and Spencer L. Smith of Radford, VA. He is also survived by seven grandchildren, a brother W. Lehman Smith of Hancock, NH. The family request memorial gifts be sent to Save the Manatee Club, 500 N. Maitland Avenue, Maitland, FL, 32751.

It was an ideal way to start for No. 7 Chesapeake last night, an omen of sorts - Chris Grove's unconventional first-period pin of Severna Park's Mike Zazarino - and the defending Class 4A-3A state champ Cougars were far from through in their highly anticipated Anne Arundel County showdown with the No. 10 Falcons. Right after, Seppi Serio ground out a key 8-4 decision over Walker Babington, and then consecutive pins from Jake Couch, Chad LaPlanche and Tom Parry - a combined 4 minutes, 37 seconds on the mat - sent the Cougars on their way to a 49-24 win over the visiting Falcons.

Howard County's African-American community has pressured WJZ-TV into changing a policy that allowed reporter Dick Gelfman to rent station equipment to help his wife battle -- and ultimately defeat -- the county's first black judge.After agreeing to the new policy last week, WJZ-TV General Manager Marcellus Alexander announced it -- through a spokesman -- at a forum sponsored by Howard's African American Coalition in Columbia yesterday."To avoid even the hint of any perceived or real impropriety," Alexander's statement said, "WJZ-TV will not solicit -- or accept -- any political advertising production."