Village Association

Wilde Lake village officials are asking residents expecting to receive mailed absentee ballots to come to Slayton House, the village association headquarters, and pick them up instead. The bulk mail of roughly 2,800 absentee ballots, mailed late last month, have not been accounted for, said Bernice Kish, the village manager. She said the post office is trying to trace the mailed ballots. Wilde Lake elections are scheduled for April 22. Kish said the absentee ballots have to be signed by residents and returned by the election date.

Wilde Lake village officials are asking residents expecting to receive mailed absentee ballots to come to Slayton House, the village association headquarters, and pick them up instead. The bulk mail of roughly 2,800 absentee ballots, mailed late last month, have not been accounted for, said Bernice Kish, the village manager. She said the post office is trying to trace the mailed ballots. Wilde Lake elections are scheduled for April 22. Kish said the absentee ballots have to be signed by residents and returned by the election date.

Harmony vigil plannedClergy from 11 denominations will share a prayer vigil at Lake Kittamaqundi in Columbia Sunday in an effort to promote ethnic, racial and religious harmony in the community.The 7 a.m. vigil was suggested during an informal meeting May 2 of elected officials, civil rights leaders, county employees, business executives and clergy.The meeting, at one of the participant's homes, was an attempt to "use the negative feelings and emotion coming out of the Rodney King incident and turn it to some positive end," said James E. Henson, county human rights administrator.

Columbus Day fest Where can you see a bocce tournament, a grape-stomping competition and former Saturday Night Live star Joe Piscopo? Try the 114th annual Columbus Day Parade, which takes place Sunday along with other festivities. The parade includes a Christopher Columbus impersonator, a float competition, unicyclists, antique cars and performances from Marine and high school bands. The route begins at Mount Vernon Place and ends at Central Avenue. A post-parade concert will pay tribute to Frank Sinatra, and former Mayor Thomas J. D'Alesandro III is scheduled to appear.

Columbus Day fest Where can you see a bocce tournament, a grape-stomping competition and former Saturday Night Live star Joe Piscopo? Try the 114th annual Columbus Day Parade, which takes place Sunday along with other festivities. The parade includes a Christopher Columbus impersonator, a float competition, unicyclists, antique cars and performances from Marine and high school bands. The route begins at Mount Vernon Place and ends at Central Avenue. A post-parade concert will pay tribute to Frank Sinatra, and former Mayor Thomas J. D'Alesandro III is scheduled to appear.

A new crime-prevention calendar will be given free to Owen Brown village residents later this year, courtesy of the state.The village board won a $2,400 grant from the governor's Office of Crime Control this month to produce a calendar with advice on how to prevent being robbed, burglarized or harassed."

Columbia's villagers braved their fifth straight rainy election day Saturday, voting out an incumbent village association board member inOakland Mills and failing to cast enough ballots to validate the election of board members in Owen Brown.Incumbent Diane Beil received 128 votes to come in seventh in a field of eight candidates for the Oakland Mills village association board, which made the race the most competitive in Columbia.In contrast to the 397 votes cast in Oakland Mills, only 172 voters turned out in Owen Brown, where incumbents Marilyn Newhouse and Jay Stearman and newcomer Wanda Hurt sought to fill three available board seats.

Representatives from Columbia's villages came to a tentative agreement last night with members of the Columbia Council over their future relationship, putting to rest -- at least temporarily -- a power struggle between the two groups.About 50 village representatives and nine of the 10 council members met in the Columbia Association boardroom to discuss the council's controversial decision last week to remove Village Association employees from the CA benefits plan.After about two hours of discussion, the council -- an elected group that oversees CA -- agreed to help the villages make the transition to paying their employees benefits.

The rebels urge the citizenry to "throw the tea in the harbor" and stage a "residents' revolt," but all but a few Columbia residents are still paying and sipping their tea.The Alliance for a Better Columbia is trying to get Columbia residents riled up over the way the Columbia Association collects "taxes," its annual levy of 75 cents per $100 of assessed value on all property originally developed by the Rouse Co. for the city."

For 22 years, Arthur Mumford has kept Columbia going.As supervisor of building maintenance for the Columbia Association, Mumford's primary responsibilities was to make sure everything worked in Columbia's village and neighborhood centers.On Thursday, he will make his last commute to his Capitol Heightshouse."We're certainly going to miss him, because Arthur knows where everything is in this building. If anything goes wrong, you'd always call him," said Ruth Bohse, manager of the Owen Brown village association.

The charm of Mount Washington Village in North Baltimore is a little hard to find these days amid jackhammers, cranes and caution tape, which some business owners say have hurt sales. In January last year, the city's Department of Public Works began what was supposed to be a one-year project to replace a sewer main. But the project to install about 1,000 feet of sewer 25 feet below ground stopped two months later when workers hit granite boulders that equipment could not penetrate. Workers were forced to abandon the micro-tunneling machinery, which had allowed them to complete 25 feet per day, and resume work by hand, which slowed progress to 4 feet.

Anne S. Darrin, a former Columbia village manager, pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing about $65,000 in village funds during a four-year period to pay for personal expenses, ranging from cellular phone bills to aprons for a family-owned restaurant.The embezzlement, which officials put at more than $120,000, focused intense attention on village finances and deepened a rift between the 10 villages and the Columbia Association, which provides much of their funding. The case also highlighted how much the Dorsey's Search Village Board relied on its once-trusted manager.

Representatives from Columbia's villages came to a tentative agreement last night with members of the Columbia Council over their future relationship, putting to rest -- at least temporarily -- a power struggle between the two groups.About 50 village representatives and nine of the 10 council members met in the Columbia Association boardroom to discuss the council's controversial decision last week to remove Village Association employees from the CA benefits plan.After about two hours of discussion, the council -- an elected group that oversees CA -- agreed to help the villages make the transition to paying their employees benefits.

The power struggle between Columbia's two branches of government promises to heat up tonight when Columbia Council members and village leaders meet to debate their deteriorating relations and the future shape of local rule.Village leaders say they're extremely angry about what they view as the latest effort by the 10-member council to undermine them: an announcement that many village employees will no longer be eligible for the Columbia Association's employee benefits plan.At a strategy meeting Tuesday night at Linden Hall in Dorsey's Search, about 25 to 30 village representatives discussed hiring a lawyer to seek a restraining order against the council.

Sting targets had convictions for drunken drivingI read your editorial on Jan. 13 on the Howard County sting operation ("Driving without a license"). I appreciated your article on Jan. 8 and the subsequent editorial, but all of the people ordered in were previously convicted of a drunken driving offense that caused the suspension of their driver's licenses.They were ordered to see their monitor of the Drinking Driver Monitor Program, part of the state Division of Parole and Probation. The public should know that a good percentage of the probationers caught for driving while suspended -- and therefore breaking the law and violating their probation -- may be drinking and driving again.

Facing the first fiscal year in which the Columbia Association will have a spendable surplus, the Columbia Council last night heard the financial wishes of the planned community's 10 villages during the annual unveiling of pre-budget requests.At least two villages -- Dorsey's Search and Harper's Choice -- have suggested using the projected fiscal year 2000 surplus to reduce the rate of assessment for the lien fee, a kind of property "tax" on Columbia homeowners, as well as lower the cost of the Package Plan, a membership package that provides residents admission to certain community pools and health clubs.

Columbia's last village is searching for its identity.The new residents may find it by opposing the county government's road plans, starting a village association, or both.About 45 homes are now occupied in Pheasant Ridge, the first neighborhood in River Hill, the 10th village of the 25-year-old planned city.Residents would like to take over the River Hill village association, which is now run by a village board consisting of the President of the Columbia Association, Padraic Kennedy, Columbia Council Chairman John Hansen, and three representatives from the Rouse Co., Columbia's developer.

A west Columbia column in the Aug. 16 edition of The Sun for Howard County gave erroneous information about the Wilde Lake village's one-person, one-vote campaign. Free raffle tickets will be issued regardless of whether a person votes for or against the proposal.Columbia residents of all races and ethnic backgrounds are invited to the county's first Black Festival of Arts and Culture (Black FESTAC '95), sponsored by the Black and African Arts and Culture Promotion Organization.The event will be held 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at Howard Community College.

A new crime-prevention calendar will be given free to Owen Brown village residents later this year, courtesy of the state.The village board won a $2,400 grant from the governor's Office of Crime Control this month to produce a calendar with advice on how to prevent being robbed, burglarized or harassed."

A west Columbia column in the Aug. 16 edition of The Sun for Howard County gave erroneous information about the Wilde Lake village's one-person, one-vote campaign. Free raffle tickets will be issued regardless of whether a person votes for or against the proposal.Columbia residents of all races and ethnic backgrounds are invited to the county's first Black Festival of Arts and Culture (Black FESTAC '95), sponsored by the Black and African Arts and Culture Promotion Organization.The event will be held 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at Howard Community College.