Waterloo Road

POLICE LOG* Oakland Mills: 6400 block of Waterloo Road -- A mail box was damaged on Tuesday.

For 50 years, Don Sekira has watched Howard County morph from a sleepy farming community into one of the nation's most affluent areas. The manager at Kendall Hardware store in Clarksville has seen plenty, but violent crime has been almost nonexistent. That's why Sekira was alarmed to learn that masked gunmen robbed the Pizza Hut restaurant next to the hardware store Sunday night - the second armed robbery of a business in the area in 10 days. "It's uncommon for Clarksville," Sekira said yesterday just before going on his lunch break at the store in the 12200 block of Clarksville Pike.

POLICE LOG* Elkridge: 6500 block of Waterloo Road: Someone kicked open the rear door to AJ's Pizza, took cash from a register and searched through file cabinets before leaving shortly after midnight Sunday, police said.

On August 19, 2007, RUTH MABEL McCREA (nee Parr). Beloved wife of the late William J. McCrea; devoted mother of Linda L. Rayne, Barbara M. Vinson, and the late Ellen V. Karfgin; mother-in-law of David Karfgin; grandmother of Kimberly Campbell. Memorial services will be held at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, 6400 Waterloo Road (route 108), Columbia, MD, on Friday, August 24 at 11 A.M. Interment private. Those desiring may make memorial contributions to Stella Maris Hospice, 2300 Dulaney Valley Road, Timonium, MD 21093 or to the American Cancer Society, 8219 Town Center, P.O. Box 43025, Baltimore, MD 21236.

POLICE LOG* Elkridge: 6800 block of Old Waterloo Road: Someone stole several items from a trunk of a 1990 Mazda MX-6 between 10 p.m. last Sunday and 7:45 a.m. last Monday.

POLICE LOG* Jessup: Dorsey Run Road/Waterloo Road: Someone stole seven rims and seven Bridgestone tires from a red 1993 Mack truck Thursday or Friday. The property was valued at more than $2,400.* Annapolis Junction: 10600 block of Riggs Hill Road: About 145 gallons of gas were siphoned from three trucks parked outside Video Concepts Wednesday, police said.

POLICE LOG* Ellicott City: 3700 block of Valerie Carol Court: A burglar who entered through an unlocked door was scared away when a resident yelled at him on Tuesday afternoon.7700 block of Waterloo Road: A Burgundy 1986 Chrysler Lebaron with Maryland tags YGC42 was stolen between Monday and Wednesday, police said.

In the news Parade magazine and the anti-hunger organization Share Our Strength are organizing the third annual Great American Bake Sale to help feed the hungry. The campaign, which continues through Jan. 29, encourages Americans to hold bake sales in their communities and donate the proceeds to Share Our Strength. Money raised will go to charitable groups helping to fight childhood hunger. For more information or to register a bake sale, go to greatamericanbakesale.org. Kitchen Tip If you have an oven that vents the excess heat out the top of the stove through a back burner, then you can place your dinner plates on that unlit burner to warm them.

BETTY (MARY E. KOLVBACH) ALLEN, age 86, of Ellicott City passed away February 9, 2005, at Somerford Place, Alzheimer's Assisted Living Facility in Columbia. Surviving are her beloved husband of 68 years, Harry L. Allen; her mother, Mary A. De Vilbiss, age 105, of Augsburg Nursing Home; two loving daughters, Betsy Allen, DE, Sue Thompson and husband Jim, Cumberland and a son Hank, CA; two grandsons, George V. Kelly and wife Sherri, Cumberland and Timothy L. Kelly, Cumberland; one great-grandson, Tyler M. George, Cumberland.

On June 29, 2004, GEORGE T. CURTIS, 87, of Hanover, and formerly of Howard County, MD. He was the husband of Catherine R. (Strong) Curtis. A memorial service will be held at 11 A.M, Saturday, August 7 at Trinity Episcopal Church, 7474 Washington Boulevard, Elkridge, MD, with Rev. John Steiner IV, officiating. Interment will be in Trinity Episcopal Cemetery at Peiffer's Corner, Waterloo Road, Ellicott City, MD.

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: Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Reese & Carney LLP, 10715 Charter Drive, Suite 200, Columbia, for a conditional-use proposal for the Church of Latter-day Saints, 6020 Ten Oaks Road, Clarksville. Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Savage Volunteer Fire House, 8925 Lincoln St., Savage, for a proposal to build eight homes on 1.93 acres of the Scovitch property on Washington Avenue in North Laurel.

Howard County has a new restaurant to crow about. The Rooster Cafe opened Sept. 9 in the Lark Brown Shopping Center, off Old Waterloo Road in Elkridge. Chef and owner Mark Schek says the menu features organic ingredients that can make the difference between average and excellent cuisine. "The quality of organic foods is better," said Schek, a member of the Chef's Collaborative, a Boston-based organization that promotes sustainable agriculture. "There are no chemicals, and you know it's fresh because with organic foods the produce must move quickly.

The crime report is a sampling of crimes in Howard County compiled from police. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 410-313-3700. East Columbia Flowerstock Row: 8800 block, Long Reach. A man was walking home March 5 when another man demanded his wallet and then assaulted him. The attacker fled on foot. Oakland Mills: 7000 block, Oakland Mills Road: A man armed with a handgun robbed a Pizza Boli's of an undisclosed amount of cash Friday and fled on foot. Green Mountain Circle: 10700 block, Wilde Lake.