Waterloo

The parents of emotionally troubled students in Howard County must feel they've gotten a raw deal. The county Board of Education last week rejected a proposal to split a program for seriously emotionally disturbed pupils between Waterloo and Stevens Forest elementary schools. Officials were pushing the proposal as a way to lessen the strain of having all the students attend Waterloo, where the program has been housed for 20 years.But parents at Stevens Forest objected vehemently, the board folded and, in the process, the families of emotionally disturbed children have been shortchanged.

A recent article about the declining marriage business in Elkton suggested there was an "unconfirmed" report that Babe Ruth had been married there ("Wedding chapel and amenities for sale in Elkton," Dec. 28). Such reports are not only unconfirmed, they are completely untrue - despite the claims of several publications, including the Cecil County government tourism Web site. At the age of 19, after his first season in professional baseball, George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. married Helen Woodford, a waitress whom he met in Boston.

About 70 Waterloo Elementary students will continue walking to school now that the county school board has decided not to reinstate bus service.In a unanimous vote yesterday, the five-member board upheld school Superintendent Michael E. Hickey's decision to end bus service to Kendall Ridge neighborhood students after the Columbia Association built a pathway that connects their homes to Waterloo.Board members, all of whom noted that they had walked the heavily wooded path, said they felt the walkway was just as good or better than pathways in other school districts.

A semitrailer went off the right shoulder of northbound Interstate 95 at about 11:30 a.m. Friday, killing the driver, Maryland State Police said in a statement Friday evening. Troopers from the Waterloo Barrack responded to the scene just south of Route 175 in Jessup where David Arturo Espinoza of Culloden, Ga., was pronounced dead. Police said they do not know yet why the truck went off the road, up an embankment and into a wooded area, where it overturned. The truck was carrying about 45,000 pounds of cargo that had to be loaded onto a separate vehicle at the scene, police said.

School officials who had planned to move about 40 children from special education classes in Cedar Lane School to Stevens Forest Elementary this fall have instead decided to move them to Waterloo Elementary.Educators changed plans after determining there would be problems in partitioning areas at Stevens Forest for the classes, said Associate Superintendent James R. McGowan.Transferring the children from Cedar Lane is an effort to balancethe early childhood center at Running Brook Elementary School, whichis in Columbia and serves families living west of Route 29, with a similar center on the east side, said Sue A. Brown, special education supervisor.

Waterloo Elementary School's program for severely emotionally disturbed students would be scaled back next school year under a proposal to transfer half of those pupils to Stevens Forest Elementary School.The proposal, part of a school system redistricting plan, caps a yearlong battle by the parents of some Waterloo students who claimed that the school's emotionally disturbed pupils are disruptive and depress the school's test scores.Waterloo, which for 20 years has been the location of the county's central program for elementary school students with severe emotional problems, now has about 20 such students, down from 40 last school year.

Mothers of Waterloo Elementary School's students are invited to have breakfast at the PTA-sponsored "Muffins for Moms" at the school, 5940 Waterloo Road and Route 108, at 8:15 a.m. April 25.Information: 313-5014.*Sisters United Now will hold its first meeting at 6 p.m. April 20 at the Other Barn, Oakland Mills Shopping Center.The nonprofit group of black businesswomen was organized to nurture business relationships and foster positive energy and growth with common values, interests and concerns.

Waterloo Elementary School's nearly 20-year-old magnet program for seriously emotionally disabled children could be dismantled as early as next year, as school officials struggle to find the best way to meet those students' needs.The highly praised program's uncertain fate comes at a time when some parents say the school lacks staff to deal with its 13 percent enrollment of emotionally disabled students -- the highest percentage among county elementary schools."We just want our numbers to be handled," says Cathi Hill Morrison, Waterloo PTA president.

One-hundred state troopers reported for work yesterday at the realigned Special Operations Division in Waterloo -- a "one-stop shop" police officials say will provide quick response to large-scale crimes, emergencies or disasters anywhere in Maryland.The centrally located barracks in Howard County will be headquarters for a strike force, a police dog unit, the commando-like Special Tactical Assault Team Element (STATE), a motorcycle unit and soon, a crash investigative team.Before the realignment, some of the units were part time, scattered around the state.

It's one of those stories that sounds like it could have happened only in the movies.West Virginian John Roby was a World War I doughboy in the trenches in France when a German bullet whistled in and hit him in the chest.It would have killed him instantly if it hadn't been stopped by the Bible he was carrying in his shirt pocket.Roby escaped injury that day in 1917, though a stray bullet claimed his life as the war was ending.Seventy-four years later, the Bible, an angled slash onits brown fabric cover showing the path of the bullet, is on loan from Roby's family for Waterloo Elementary's first school museum.

Matilda B. Wolfe, a retired secretary and former Dundalk resident, died July 9 of gangrene at a nursing and rehabilitation center in Waterloo, Iowa. She was 89. Matilda Belton was born in Baltimore and raised in Highlandtown. She was a 1936 graduate of Eastern High School. Mrs. Wolfe, who moved to Waterloo in 1992, had worked for more than a decade as a secretary at what is now DLA Piper. Earlier, she had been a secretary in the labor relations department at the old National Brewing Co. plant in Highlandtown.

The Family Support Committee of the Howard County Base Realignment and Closure Task Force is seeking military families who have moved or are moving to Howard County to join focus groups. The groups will be asked to discuss the needs and concerns of military families, why they chose to move Howard County, support services they use, and services they would like to have. The groups will meet from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Waterloo Elementary School, 5940 Waterloo Road, Elkridge; 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. May 14 at Pointers Run Elementary School, 6600 Trotter Road, Clarksville; and 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. May 15 at Forest Ridge Elementary School, 9550 Gorman Road, North Laurel.

The owners of two eastern Howard County liquor outlets received stiff fines for serving underage patrons and ignoring other board rules. The county's Alcoholic Beverage Hearing Board imposed a $3,000 fine on Barbara Parkinson, John Curtis and Michael Halkos, licensees of the Wild Buffalo Grill in the 10000 block of Washington Blvd. in North Laurel. A $1,500 fine was imposed on Grace Chong and Mary Soon Kim, license holders of Waterloo Liquors in the 6500 block of Old Waterloo Road in Elkridge.

Justin Homassel, 8, a second-grader at Waterloo Elementary School, seemed perfectly comfortable taking the stage Friday and speaking in front of a school assembly. "Thank you for everyone that's giving in money to support my cause," he said into the microphone. His fellow students cheered. Justin was born with cystic fibrosis, a disease that means, in his words, "there's mucus in my lungs, and it's hard to breathe." His teacher, Meggen Vannostrand, said, "He has to take a special pill every day before he eats."

George Washington apparently was no stranger to Howard County -- though his travels through the area were not always without incident, if the historical marker on U.S. 1 near the Waterloo Barracks of the State Police in any indication. The marker notes that Thomas Spurrier's tavern once stood at a nearby crossroads connecting two important overland routes during the Colonial era. "George Washington stopped at least 25 times between 1789 and 1798," the marker states. "His diary noted July 18, 1795; 'Dined and lodged at Spurrier's where my sick horse died.

The Howard County Board of Education reopened the elementary school redistricting process last night when three of the five members voted to hold a public hearing to discuss additional options. "I feel as if we made a mistake," in boundary lines drawn for the coming school year, said Sandra H. French, the board's chairman. New enrollment projections contradict older data the board used in setting boundaries. The latest numbers suggest Jeffers Hill and Bellows Spring elementary schools will be crowded by the 2004-2005 school year, and Waterloo Elementary will be severely under-enrolled.

The State Board of Education has ruled that the Howard County school district's most recent boundary-line revisions will stand unaffected this fall. Barry Budish, parent of a Waterloo Elementary pupil, appealed a decision in March to redistrict a Columbia neighborhood from one elementary school to two others in an effort to relieve crowding. Budish said the school district did not follow proper procedures when it decided to move 94 children from Waterloo to Jeffers Hill Elementary and 50 to Phelps Luck Elementary.

Matilda B. Wolfe, a retired secretary and former Dundalk resident, died July 9 of gangrene at a nursing and rehabilitation center in Waterloo, Iowa. She was 89. Matilda Belton was born in Baltimore and raised in Highlandtown. She was a 1936 graduate of Eastern High School. Mrs. Wolfe, who moved to Waterloo in 1992, had worked for more than a decade as a secretary at what is now DLA Piper. Earlier, she had been a secretary in the labor relations department at the old National Brewing Co. plant in Highlandtown.

Developers planning subdivisions in eastern Howard County or projects that require conditional-use permission must meet with neighbors before submitting plans to the county. The next meetings are: Monday at 6:30 p.m. at 5100 Dorsey Hall Drive, Ellicott City, about a conditional-use request by Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, 12580 Clarksville Pike. Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the model home at 5825 Rockburn Woods Way, Elkridge, about a proposal for nine units on 2.66 acres on the Ferguson/Dasher properties, 6232-6236 Waterloo Road.

Once a week, fourth-graders Andrew Kuczmarski, Kelly Schwab and Cassie Gettinger volunteer to give up their recess. While their classmates shoot hoops and climb on Waterloo Elementary's playground equipment, these three children tend the school's butterfly garden. "It's not like you're inside on a beautiful day," said 9-year-old Andrew. "You're going outside and you're helping your school." Waterloo was designated a Governor's Green School in 1999, receiving recognition for inclusion of environmental awareness in its curriculum, community outreach programs and maintenance of the school facility, including the butterfly garden.