Susan Gray

Susan B. Gray is surely the cat with nine lives. Since the November election in which she was defeated soundly by County Executive Charles I. Ecker, Ms. Gray has been virtually absent from the public arena. Before that, she had been rebuffed so many times by courts and county office holders that she was becoming known as the woman who could never win. Still determined, Ms. Gray emerged last week to ask the Maryland Court of Appeals to over turn the county's 1990 General Plan and the comprehensive rezoning that followed.

On December 15, 2003, PRISCILLA CORRINE STRUCK, beloved wife of the late Francis A. Struck, devoted mother of Patricia A. Preisinger and her husband Ronald, cherished grandmother of Kelly Noonan and Scott Preisinger, caring great-grandmother of Savannah and Nathan; loving sister of Ronnie and Bickey Gray; sister-in-law of Susan Gray. Services will be private. Arrangements by Peaceful Alternatives Funeral & Cremation Center.

Highland attorney Susan B. Gray capped seven years of community activism last night by winning the Democratic primary for county executive.County Council Chairman C. Vernon Gray, no relation to the county executive primary winner, Board of Appeals Vice Chairwoman Evelyn Tanner, council aide Mary C. Lorsung and retired businessman Riaz H. Rana also scored wins yesterday in their County Council races.Ms. Gray led from start to finish in her upset over Columbia lawyer Sue-Ellen Hantman, the former chairwoman of the local Democratic Central Committee.

Harry Brodie joked that he is the kind of Democrat who "felt like I had to take a shower" after leaving a Republican Party campaign office in Columbia recently. But he is adamantly against the big Maple Lawn Farms development planned near his Fulton home, not to mention two others nearby, and he is backing Republican Sandra B. Schrader for state Senate - not Democrat C. Vernon Gray. Voters like Brodie are vital to Schrader's bid to win election as the new District 13 state senator, because there are 10,533 more registered Democrats than Republicans in the southeastern county district, which also has 11,000 independent voters.

On December 15, 2003, PRISCILLA CORRINE STRUCK, beloved wife of the late Francis A. Struck, devoted mother of Patricia A. Preisinger and her husband Ronald, cherished grandmother of Kelly Noonan and Scott Preisinger, caring great-grandmother of Savannah and Nathan; loving sister of Ronnie and Bickey Gray; sister-in-law of Susan Gray. Services will be private. Arrangements by Peaceful Alternatives Funeral & Cremation Center.

After reading Kevin Thomas' column in The Sun for Howard County on Sept. 25 concerning his nightmare that Ellen Sauerbrey becomes governor of Maryland, I could not sleep until I had an opportunity to respond.Let me begin by stating that an Ellen Sauerbrey administration would certainly not be a nightmare, but rather a breath of fresh air for Maryland. In Ellen Sauerbrey, we finally have a candidate who has the integrity and strength of character needed to bring accountability and responsibility back to state government.

Affordable Housing and Crime in Long ReachRegarding the editorial, "Crime Watch in Kendall Ridge" (Aug. 2), I am afraid you are letting the cart block the view of the horse. The real issue that we as neighbors in Long Reach Village are fronting is that two-thirds of the affordable housing existing in Columbia today is in the east side villages. Twenty-one percent of that is in Long Reach alone. Town Center, Dorsey's Search and the beautiful new River Hill areas have zero. Oakland Mills and Wilde Lake have 8 and 9 percent respectively.

Former state Senate President James Clark Jr. and 19 other county Democrats said yesterday that they are ignoring party loyalty and supporting Republican County Executive Charles I. Ecker in his re-election bid."The time has arrived when the welfare of Howard County must take precedence over partisan politics," Mr. Clark said in a prepared statement drafted by leaders of a political action committee formed last week.After telling his audience that his Ellicott City farm has been the site of "some pretty successful political announcements" in the past, Mr. Clark extolled Mr. Ecker as "the most suitable and experienced candidate on the ballot," who "in the face of the worst recession to hit Maryland in the last 50 years . . . enabled Howard County to weather this storm."

The residents of Howard County, even those who vehemently oppose her, owe Susan B. Gray an acknowledgment. The Democratic candidate for Howard County executive has brought attention to the important issue of growth. She has made an election that otherwise might have been a sleepwalk for popular incumbent Charles I. Ecker something that challenges voters' intellect.After having raised the growth issue, though, what sort of future does Susan Gray offer Howard County? The answer to that drives us to the conclusion that Ms. Gray is unsuited to assume the mantle of chief executive of one of Maryland's most popular and rapidly growing suburban jurisdictions.

Why Ecker merits a second termShortly we'll be marching into our polling places to choose officials we feel will best govern us over the next four years. We, who followed our daily papers (for me, The Sun), had a steady stream of positive press these past four years on Dr. Charles I. Ecker as our county executive. There simply was to be no contest -- we all must have felt Howard County had a gold mine in Chuck Ecker.What troubles me is at the last minute an opponent appears on the scene with a "single" issue of "stop growth."

COUNCILMAN C. Vernon Gray may have a difficult time explaining why he waited until the political preseason to step to the forefront of the growth-control debate in Howard County.Although the Democratic councilman, to his credit, proposed legislation earlier this year to require fiscal impact studies for mixed-use centers, he has mostly remained in the background on the contentious issue of growth control.Now he is advocating bold growth restrictions on the eve of the 1998 race for county executive, which he may decide to enter.

Susan B. Gray is surely the cat with nine lives. Since the November election in which she was defeated soundly by County Executive Charles I. Ecker, Ms. Gray has been virtually absent from the public arena. Before that, she had been rebuffed so many times by courts and county office holders that she was becoming known as the woman who could never win. Still determined, Ms. Gray emerged last week to ask the Maryland Court of Appeals to over turn the county's 1990 General Plan and the comprehensive rezoning that followed.

Howard County's experiment with growth management is dTC approximately three years old and showing signs of success.It is so successful, in fact, that the County Council is poised to consider only minor changes to the adequate public facilities legislation approved in 1992, which placed a cap on the number of housing units that can be constructed each year.Under the current law, a formula determines the extent to which the county can absorb new development, primarily by looking at its impact on elementary schools.

Let's face it, Susan Gray has got to be the Oliver North of Howard County politics.The retired lieutenant colonel lost his bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia, despite the strong possibility that he might ride to victory on a wave of anti-incumbent fervor, fueled in no small way by an opponent with skeletons cascading from his closet.The one thing Susan Gray did not have going for her was a Chuck Robb. Otherwise, she seemed to be pushing many of the right buttons, energizing the race with her attacks on growth in Howard County.

Ecker on jobs: Where's the beef?I, for one, plan on voting for Susan Gray for Howard County executive. Every politician tries to boast of their intent to bring industry and jobs to their locale. The current GOP county executive used this tactic effectively in 1990 and to a degree is trying this tactic again this year.However, let's look at his record. The highly publicized Coca-Cola bottling plant has not been built and his claim of producing more jobs for this county keeps his promises running on empty.

Why Ecker merits a second termShortly we'll be marching into our polling places to choose officials we feel will best govern us over the next four years. We, who followed our daily papers (for me, The Sun), had a steady stream of positive press these past four years on Dr. Charles I. Ecker as our county executive. There simply was to be no contest -- we all must have felt Howard County had a gold mine in Chuck Ecker.What troubles me is at the last minute an opponent appears on the scene with a "single" issue of "stop growth."

Howard County -- one of the fastest growing, must affluent and best-educated communities in the nation -- was not supposed to have such a fierce race for county executive this year.The incumbent Republican, Charles I. Ecker, had grown so powerful since his narrow upset win in 1990 that few were willing to run against him. Many politicians who coveted the job looked elsewhere this year.So great was his popularity that it appeared Mr. Ecker would win re-election by default until late June, just two weeks before the deadline for entering the race.

The residents of Howard County, even those who vehemently oppose her, owe Susan B. Gray an acknowledgment. The Democratic candidate for Howard County executive has brought attention to the important issue of growth. She has made an election that otherwise might have been a sleepwalk for popular incumbent Charles I. Ecker something that challenges voters' intellect.After having raised the growth issue, though, what sort of future does Susan Gray offer Howard County? The answer to that drives us to the conclusion that Ms. Gray is unsuited to assume the mantle of chief executive of one of Maryland's most popular and rapidly growing suburban jurisdictions.