Wilde Lake Village

Investigator Lila Boor of the Howard County Office of Consumer Affairs and Pfc. Holly Burnham of the Howard County Police Department will speak about telemarketing fraud and weapons of fraud from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tuesday at Slayton House on the Wilde Lake Village Green. They will discuss Internet safety from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Feb. 17 at Historic Oakland, 5430 Vantage Point Road, and home repair fraud March 17 at Slayton House. The presentations, sponsored by the Town Center and Wilde Lake community associations, are for ages 50 and older.

"Family to Family II," a benefit concert of original music, will be held at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 15 at Slayton House in Wilde Lake Village Green. Baltimore pianist and composer Robert Hitz and his students will perform original music for piano, voice guitar and flute. Tickets are $10. Checks can be made out to the Family Crisis Center, which is to receive all the proceeds. Tickets will be held at the door. Information or to reserve tickets: 410-655-8361. Fashion show planned Aug. 17 "Fall Into Fashion," a show featuring clothes by Coldwater Creek, will be presented at Slayton House at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 17. A luncheon is part of the show.

The Town Center Community Association will sponsor an Environmental Action Group to educate and foster environmentally positive action in the community. The group, which will be led by Town Center board member Stephen Meskin, will meet at 7 p.m. Jan. 8 and 22, and on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, at Historic Oakland, 5430 Vantage Point Road. Information or registration: 410-730-4744. `A Jazz Advent' to help Agape House Kittmaqundi Community Church, 5410 Leaf Treader Way in Town Center, will sponsor "A Jazz Advent," with vocalist Sara Jones and the Young Brothers (Tim Young on piano, Al Young on percussion)

The central library, 10375 Little Patuxent Parkway, will offer "All Together Now," a series of programs of songs, stories and activities for children and adults. All ages are welcome to participate in the 30-minute programs, which begin this week and are offered at 11 a.m. Fridays through March 30; 11 a.m. Saturdays through May 26; and 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Wednesday through May 16. Registration is not required. "Play Partners," a series of programs for infants and toddlers to 23 months with an adult, will be offered at 6:30 p.m. Mondays, March 5 through April 30; and at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 6 through May 15. The 20- to 30-minute program includes stories, baby games and musical activities, followed by a short play time.

The Wilde Lake Community Association will hold a candidates forum for those running for the Wilde Lake Village Board and Columbia Council at 7:30 p.m. April 17 at Slayton House on Wilde Lake Village Green. Residents are invited to meet the candidates and discuss issues. New residents are invited to pick up a welcome packet and a gift. Information: 410-730-3987. Bridal showcase in Town Center The Town Center Community Association will sponsor a Bridal Showcase at Historic Oakland, 5430 Vantage Point Road, from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. April 15. Vendors from the Baltimore-Washington area will display their wares, including food, music, floral designs, photographs and bridal and formal clothing.

The Yoga Center of Columbia will continue to offer classes at Slayton House on Wilde Lake Village Green. "Baby and Me" is offered at 6:15 p.m. and "Adult Yoga" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays. A six-week session is to begin Feb. 20. The cost is $90; $18 to drop in. "Senior Yoga" will be offered from noon to 1:30 p.m. Thursdays, Feb. 22 through March 27. The classes are slower paced and emphasize yogic breathing and stress reduction. The cost is $78 for six weeks or $15 to drop in. Columbia lien payers can request a 10 percent discount.

Atholton High School will hold an Information Night for parents of eighth-graders who will be coming to Atholton as ninth-graders in September. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the school auditorium. Students will have an opportunity to visit the school for an activity day in June and an orientation in August. Information: 410-313-7068. Around town Volunteers sought -- In response to the closing of the Giant Food store in Wilde Lake Village Center, the village board has established the Wilde Lake Village Center Partnership Committee and is seeking volunteers to serve on the panel.

Slayton House Theatre in Wilde Lake Village Center will show the sixth of nine films in its Marvelous Movies and More film series, the 1955 classic, Rebel Without a Cause, at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Film critic Mike Giuliano will lead a short discussion after the film. Dessert and coffee are provided. The cost is $7; $6 for senior citizens and students. Raffle prizes will be offered, and those who attend are encouraged to bring old tapes, digital video discs, compact discs and books to trade, sell or exchange.

On June 22, 1967, The Sun reported the official dedication of Wilde Lake: "Rarely have so many dignitaries seemed so enthusiastic about walking through mud or standing under a hot sun while a flock of ducks was mercilessly maneuvered into position by sailboats for a dramatic gush of water jets." At the event, Columbia founder James W. Rouse called the dedication "truly a beginning, a peek under the tent. It is the removal of the guards from the gate for the first time." Forty years later, residents of Wile Lake village - named along with the lake for the president of the insurance company that provided Rouse with $25 million in financial backing - are proud of its status as the starting point for the planned community.

After 30 years in the Wilde Lake Village Center, Ridings Village Liquors will close by the end of April.Columbia Management Inc. (CMI), a division of the Rouse Co. which manages Columbia's 10 village centers, says it is negotiating with at least two other liquor stores to move into the village center off Twin Rivers Road.The liquor store is one of the original businesses in Columbia's first village center, which still features the original village center design, built around an enclosed mall.

The Wilde Lake Village Center is the prime guinea pig for change after the Howard County Council voted this week for a new zoning process to redevelop Columbia's aging village centers, but no one knows what the result will be. The planned town's oldest retail center stands half-empty now, since a small Giant supermarket closed three years ago followed by Produce Galore and several other tenants. But Kimco Realty, the center's owner along with five others, no longer has a firm idea for what to do with it. Kimco Vice President Geoffrey Glazer made it clear after Tuesday night's County Council vote that this time he will be coming to the residents for a discussion, not presenting them with a plan.

Slayton House Conservatory Camp, to be held at Slayton House in the Wilde Lake Village Green, has announced the appointment of Nathan Rosen, a teacher at Atholton High School, as its new director. Rosen has been teaching and directing plays and musicals at Atholton since 1997. He is a graduate of St. John's College in Annapolis and holds a master's degree in theater arts from the University of Maryland, College Park. The Conservatory Camp is open to experienced drama students in grades eight through 12 by audition.

Investigator Lila Boor of the Howard County Office of Consumer Affairs and Pfc. Holly Burnham of the Howard County Police Department will speak about telemarketing fraud and weapons of fraud from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tuesday at Slayton House on the Wilde Lake Village Green. They will discuss Internet safety from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Feb. 17 at Historic Oakland, 5430 Vantage Point Road, and home repair fraud March 17 at Slayton House. The presentations, sponsored by the Town Center and Wilde Lake community associations, are for ages 50 and older.

The American Association of University Women will meet at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 10 at Clyde's Restaurant in Columbia. The group will discuss the book We Are Our Mothers' Daughters by Cokie Roberts. Current and prospective members are invited to attend. Information: jenniferingram@comcast.net or 410-740-4276. Army Field Band The U.S. Army Field Band will perform a saxophone recital at 3 p.m. today in the ballroom of Historic Oakland, 5430 Vantage Point Road, Columbia. The program is free, but seats should be reserved: 410-730-4744.

Devotees of James W. Rouse, the urban planner who spearheaded the founding of Columbia more than 40 years ago, can be prickly about change, especially if they fear it might compromise the legendary founder's ideas. But if testimony at a public hearing last week is any indication, the planned community's residents are receptive to a proposed amendment that would alter the process by which village centers - linchpins of the town Rouse conceived and designed - can be modernized. "No one really seems to oppose [redevelopment]

The Hickory Ridge Community Association will hold a Holiday Craft Shop from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. today at Hawthorn Center, 6175 Sunny Spring. Admission is free. Information: 410-730-7327. Traffic study Marty Wells of Wells and Associates will discuss the traffic study of General Growth Properties' General Plan for downtown Columbia at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10 at the Town Center Community Association's village board meeting. Meetings, which are open to the public, are held at Historic Oakland, 5430 Vantage Point Road, Columbia.

In March, Kimco Reality Corp. announced a plan to raze and rebuild much of the Wilde Lake Village Center, adding 500 apartments. The Village Board, residents, and other interested parties expressed many concerns. On Aug. 4, Kimco presented the same plan at a Village Board meeting and received many of the same objections. The plan is based on demolishing the present commercial buildings. This would displace the present tenants and jeopardize their livelihoods. The needs of the local residents are being dismissed.

In celebration of National Night Out, a national crime-prevention campaign encouraging neighbors to build a sense of community, the Wilde Lake Community Association will offer a pizza party for village residents from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 5 at Slayton House in the Wilde Lake Village Green. Tickets, which are limited to the first 100 people, are available at Slayton House. The event will be held rain or shine. National Night Out is designed to help communities pull together to fight drugs and crime and to promote police-community partnerships.

For residents of the Wilde Lake community home to last week's homicide, as well as surrounding Columbia villages, the issue is simple: safety. "We came to find out that we're safe," said Nichole Hickey, 62, who lives in Columbia's Harper's Choice neighborhood. Hickey was one of about 50 people who attended a community meeting held by Howard County police Monday night at Slayton House in the Wilde Lake village center. Police held the meeting to address concerns in the wake of a "tragedy in the community," said county police Chief William McMahon, referring to the fatal shooting of Bryan Antoine Adams Jr., 20, April 9 in the 10400 block of Twin Rivers Road in front of the Wilde Lake village center.

The Town Center Community Association will hold a candidates forum, when residents can ask questions and discuss issues of concern with candidates for the Town Center Village Board and the Columbia Council, at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the auditorium at Vantage House, 5400 Vantage Point Road. Village elections will be held on April 26. Information: 410-730-4744, The Wilde Lake Community Association will hold a candidates forum for candidates for the Wilde Lake village board and Columbia Council at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Slayton House in the Wilde Lake Village Green.