Waugh Chapel

A 4.5-mile car chase on Routes 3 and 32 by county fire marshals and police Tuesday ended in the arrest of a 41-year-old Millersville man on drug and traffic charges.Francis A. Howard, of the 1400 block of Hoppa Road, was charged with possession of crack cocaine and driving on a suspended license.Fire Marshals James Stallings and Michael Pyle were investigating recent arsons near the intersection of Route 3 and Waugh Chapel Road about 8 p.m. when they saw a 1981 Ford Escort pull into a dirt driveway off Waugh Chapel Road, police said.

Eight homes were evacuated Friday afternoon and a section of Waugh Chapel Road closed while Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. crews repaired a ruptured gas line, county police said yesterday.A worker for Jones Intercable drilling under the sidewalk of the 800 block of Vacation Drive hit the gas line about 3:30 p.m. County firefighters evacuated nearby houses and county police closed Waugh Chapel Road for about 90 minutes, police said.No one was injured in the incident, police said.Woman hurts her head when she falls off carA Baltimore woman suffered head injuries Friday evening when she fell from the trunk of a friend's car while the friend was driving around the parking lot of the Maryland Correctional Institute at Jessup, state police said.

Developer Robert DeStefano is edging closer to winning widespread support for a change in a county zoning law that would allow him to build a retail and residential project on 66 acres along Waugh Chapel Road and Route 3.Crofton Civic Association and the Four Seasons Community Association -- together representing about 5,000 households -- voted Monday to support Mr. DeStefano's Village at Waugh Chapel development and the legislation that would make it...

The developers of the Village at Waugh Chapel in Crofton compare the proposed shopping and residential complex to everything from the Champs Elysees in Paris to Main Street, America -- anything but a traditional shopping center.The latter is exactly what area residents and county planners do not want to see built on the 71 acres at Route 3 and Waugh Chapel Road.Developer Robert DeStefano has submitted the conceptual design plan to the county, six months after the County Council approved landmark legislation to allow the suburban community center.

Community meetings, planning snags and government red tape held up a one-of-a-kind development in west Anne Arundel County for five years, but developers broke ground yesterday on the Village at Waugh Chapel, an unprecedented combination of homes and stores that is expected to serve as a model for town centers countywide.The new village will include shopping, restaurants and entertainment in the same square as senior housing and child development centers."It's going to be a beautiful facility, not just a shopping center," said Brian Gibbons, president and chief executive officer of the Erwin L. Greenberg Commercial Corp.

In the mind of a 9-year-old it must seem eons ago. Imagine, 1967, a dark age before Nintendo, compact discs and VCRs, when the bulldozers tore into an old farm to make way for an elementary school in Odenton.Rachel Frieder's eyes grew wide at the very thought: 25 years ago. Imagine."THAT'S long," said Rachel, of Odenton, who attends fourth grade at Waugh Chapel Elementary School, which last week celebrated its silver anniversary. "I think they were a lot stricter" in the school in those early days, she guessed.

A NEW Roman Catholic parish is being born in the Waugh Chapel Road area in Gambrills. Development of the parish is in response to the rapidly expanding population in the West County communities of St. Joseph in Odenton, Our Lady of the Fields in Millersville and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Crofton.The new parish's first Mass will be celebrated at 9: 30 a.m. Sundayat Waugh Chapel Elementary School, off Indian Summer Drive in Four Seasons. All are invited to attend this service and to consider membership.

October will be a busy month for the Odenton Volunteer Fire Department.From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Company 28 will hold its annual open house, which coincides with fire prevention week.Highlights include Sparky the Clown, Smokey the Bear, refreshments for the family, tours of the Fire Department, and fire and safety information for children.The fire house is on Route 175, just south of Route 32.*The Faith Community Church Ladies Fall Luncheon is being held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the church, 1306 Waugh Chapel Road in Gambrills.

Police arrested another youth yesterday on charges of calling in a bomb threat to Arundel High School.The 17-year-old boy from Gambrills was charged as a juvenile with making a false report to police and was being held at the state juvenile detention center in Laurel.His arrest is the eighth in a month by county police in a spate of bomb threats at schools.It was unclear whether the teen-ager is suspected in any of the other threats phoned to Arundel High School.He is not a student there or at any other county school, said Jane Doyle, schools spokeswoman.

SWIMMERS, take your marks! For many area swimmers, summer really begins Saturday morning when the Central Maryland Swim League opens its 1998 season.On the opening weekend schedule, the CATS from the Crofton Swim and Tennis Club play host to the Tidal Wave of Chartridge Swim Club; the Navy Junior Seals will swim against the Waugh Chapel Seahorses at the swim club pool on Waugh Chapel Road; Crofton Country Club's Crocodiles meet the Cruisers from Country Club...