Ymca

The Howard County YMCA in Ellicott City, stung by recent criticism that its asking price for some of its land may scuttle a deal for a sorely needed new elementary school, is fighting back. Troy S. Weaver, the branch's executive director, wrote to the nonprofit group's 7,000 members that the county public school system is offering "significantly less than the appraised value" for the land off Montgomery Road, across from Long Gate Shopping Center. The letter, which some members received last week, said that "a sale at this rate would not generate the funds needed to move forward with a [construction project]

Several weeks after introducing expansion plans that include selling some of its Ellicott City land for a Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, the Howard County YMCA is seeing red - literally. At community forums Tuesday night and last night, the YMCA and its allies in the expansion project were confronted by hundreds of local opponents, many of them clad in red to signal their objections to the plan. Residents have attacked the proposal, saying a Lowe's store will exacerbate traffic congestion on Montgomery Road (Route 103)

Softball games have resumed on area YMCA playing fields, but with fewer teams and some procedural changes -- a result of a $300,000 lawsuit filed last year over a collision at second base.The suit, brought by injured second-baseman Jacquelynne Stafford, alleges that an opposing player, Kevin Greenway, deliberately ran into her as he tried to get to second base on a two-out force play in a 1994 game at White Marsh. He has insisted that he fell into her by accident after tripping while trying to slide.

Ground was broken yesterday for a $47 million project that will transform the Memorial Stadium site into senior housing for 500 people and the city's largest YMCA. The event, attended by about 250 people, was a victory for the Rev. John R. Sharp, president of Govans Ecumenical Development Corp, the nonprofit group that will build Stadium Place. Preservationists and others sued unsuccessfully to stop the state-funded demolition of the 1954 stadium, and state Comptroller William Donald Schaefer fought the project because he felt the old stadium and land along East 33rd Street could be put to better use. "Stadium Place is moving from the drawing board at GEDCO to 1000 E. 33rd Street," Sharp told the audience, many of whom were neighbors and seniors interested in becoming residents.

Amid the smell of hot dogs, sawdust and wood stain, hundreds of people gathered yesterday inside the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg YMCA to get a preview look at the newly constructed building that stands on the site of the former Memorial Stadium. It was the first open house for the facility on East 33rd Street in Waverly, now almost complete after about five years of planning and nearly 18 months of work. Some landscaping and a few finishing touches still need to be done, but the YMCA at Stadium Place is scheduled to officially open with an expected 4,000 members Sept.

The Baltimore metro area keeps growing, but at the YMCA of Central Maryland, membership is fairly flat. Donations are flat. The streams of money critical for expanding services, updating old centers and reaching more people - flat, flat, flat. It's not an unusual story for charities, which are struggling to meet mounting needs at a time when there's more competition for donors, for government grants and - in the Y's case - from snazzy private health clubs. So the Y's new chief executive is opting for a game plan that an increasing number of large nonprofits are following: Be more like a for-profit.

Pardon me, but when your team wins the Super Bowl, you gotta shout.Hail to the Redskins!*Some Severna Park kids really live life in the fast lane: they are members of the Severna Park YMCA Swim Team (SPY), and they have just recorded their 110th straight victory -- 442 to 264 over Mid-Delmarva.Earning Top 16 YMCA times were Kristin Nelson, 11; Katie Ball, 12; and Chris Scheier, 14.Triple winners at the Delmarva meet were: Brandi Care, 10; Laura Bodine, 11; Eric Sloan, 18; and Nora Grannell, 15.*The Severna Park Newcomers Club invites all whoare new to the community for coffee and companionship at 7:30 p.m. Tues.

On the hallowed turf where Johnny Unitas passed his way into the Hall of Fame and the Orioles played their way into the World Series, where a future governor watched baseball with his dad and a mayor-to-be courted his future wife, a crowd gathered yesterday to witness what they called the new Miracle on 33rd Street. City and state officials and leaders of nonprofit, religious and community groups came together to dedicate the first pieces of Stadium Place, a $50 million development with senior housing and a YMCA on the site of the old Memorial Stadium.

The teenage campers huddled together to boost one of their own over a wooden beam 8 feet above the ground. The goal: Get everyone over it without falling. Heaviest and tallest went first, so they could support the lighter ones on the other side. The strongest person, who could climb over by himself, went last. "We didn't have any rush-ins and failures," counselor Kyle Felix told the group, before congratulating them on a job well- done. The group of 14 teens are in the middle of a new two-week, leadership-in-training program at Camp Letts in Edgewater, run by the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington.

It was a bitter 43 degrees outside, one of winter's last gasps before spring. The wind whipped through the trees surrounding the Towson YMCA, and bundled, morning gymgoers hurried through the front door. But on the Y's tennis courts, "The Commish," 77, gave a macho shrug. "This is warm," he said, tennis racket in hand. He was wearing wind pants, a blue winter jacket and a white baseball cap. "You should have seen us in the snow." The "Commish" -- short for Commissioner, a title earned when he remembered the score one day -- also goes by the name of Andrew A. Lioi, a retired attorney from Hamilton.