Taylor Manor

When Samantha, a German shepherd, sees Joan Bartholomew of Columbia put on her green T-shirt and get out a harness, she knows it's time for work.In another part of the county, Gandalf and Hambleton, two English setters, watch expectantly as Shari Sternberger of Highland fills their backpacks with toys and puts on her green shirt.With everything in order, the two women and their canine companions share a car ride to a hospital, where they will spend the next few hours visiting patients.Mrs.

At Our House, Ernest Jordan has gone from peddling drugs in West Baltimore to rebuilding houses and his life.During his past 18 months at the nonprofit Ellicott City residential school for troubled teen-agers, Ernest has been working 40 hours a week to learn construction skills and spending his evenings studying for his General Educational Development certificate, the equivalent of a high school diploma."

Remember the weekend they drew the winning number for that $11 million Lotto jackpot? It was an especially bad one for a woman we'll call Iris.Her father was a drug addict bookmaker; her mother is still hooked on bingo games. Since her inner-city Baltimore childhood, Iris has been playing poker and betting on horses. But whether she went to the track or found a game of cards, she always played the lottery, betting between $30 and $100 a day for as long as she can remember.She smiles when she hears that the lottery isn't supposed to be addictive because it hasn't the pace of the horses or casino games.

A plan to bring a nonprofit home for troubled boys to Mount Airy worries residents who fear that the juveniles might visit their troubles on western Howard County.But the home's executive director says those worries are misplaced, that the 5-year-old nonprofit program is geared toward making carpenters, high school graduates and better neighbors out of teen-agers who have had problems but have no history of violence.On the grounds of Taylor Manor in Ellicott City since July 1994, Our House Youth Home serves eight young men, who range in age from about 16 to 21, battling foster care woes, drug problems, minor criminal histories and learning disabilities.

SHAFFERS MILL Road is near the westernmost point of Howard County, within a few miles of Carroll, Montgomery and Frederick counties.Although homes on 1-acre lots are nearby, the Long Corner community is clearly in the country. Farmers here raise crops and cattle, apparently without bothering one another or nonfarming neighbors who have lived in the agricultural community for years.When a real estate agent brought Richard Bienvenue to a 55-acre farm here, he knew it was the perfect atmosphere for his miniature Boys Town U.S.A.

After trouble in school and trouble with the law, Daniel Levy's life was beginning to look up. His grades were improving. His parents were hopeful.It all ended early Monday morning on a rural two-lane road in the southern section of Howard County, when the Columbia youth and two teen-age friends crashed into a utility pole. All three were pronounced dead within hours."We're devastated," said Michael Hall of Highland, whose 14-year-old daughter, Angela Marie, died in the crash. She "was at the wrong place at the wrong time."

It all started 85 years ago when Isaac H. Taylor, then a 20-year-old from Baltimore aiming to make his fortune, bought a modest building on Ellicott City's Main Street.Taylor and his son Irving S. Taylor went on to quietly purchase about 450 acres in and around Ellicott City's historic district and build two local institutions, the defunct Taylor's Furniture store on Main Street and the nationally known Taylor Manor psychiatric hospital on College Avenue.Now, the Taylors are developing part of their land holdings known as the Autumn View development near Bonnie Branch Road, stirring accusations from a coalition representing about 1,000 neighbors that the Taylor family is insensitive to their interests.

What some see as the future for children with serious emotional problems in suburban Baltimore could become history this week.In the next few days, the Children's Guild of Baltimore will decide whether to close its special education extension program in Howard County."

Taylor Manor Hospital has laid off 25 employees and closed its intensive care unit in an effort to streamline patient services, the medical director said."

QUICK. WHAT color are yield signs? Of course. They're yellow with black edging and lettering. Everyone knows that. Last month, a number of readers commented on yield signs, in particular, the yield sign from the Route 100 west ramp onto Long Gate Parkway. Ellicott City's Carl Whitmire responded to these comments, in particular, to Steve Clarkson, who said regarding yield signs and Maryland drivers: "Heck, most of them don't even know how to spell it. They view a triangular yellow sign as a challenge.