Last night the Girl Scout leaders held their community meeting. Jessica Kemper, the coordinator for the Bollman Bridge Elementary cluster was pleased to discover the interest in Daisies, the kindergarten level of Girl Scouts.
Last year there was one troop, this year there are four. The Daisies meet, in groups of eight to 10, either in Bollman Bridge or in the homes of the leaders.
This year Jenny Jones and Dana Volmerhausen lead Troop 2120. Cindy Clemens and Roxanne Mino lead Troop 2111. Margot Chassee and Linda Campbell lead Troop 1761, and Sandy Swindburne and Shelley Engel lead Troop 678.
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Cub Scout Pack 617 holds its annual Fellows Cake Bake in the Bollman Bridge cafeteria on Tuesday. This year the theme is "Life on Other Planets." I don't know about this. Last year the theme was "Creepy Crawlers."
My husband and nephew participated, baking in my kitchen. Now, the deal is that no female participation is allowed. That means they locked me out. They locked Noel's mom out. They locked Mandy out. They asked me for food coloring, gummy frogs and marzipan. They wanted my jelly roll pan.
"Don't you want to know where the cake mix is?" I shouted through the door.
"No, thank you," was the polite reply. I got nervous. They were baking from scratch.
Finally, we female exiles were permitted back in. There on a bed of hot pink cotton candy (the rules say all the decorations must be edible) lay a chocolate jelly roll log, covered with gummy frogs and marzipan turtles. It was beautiful. It was creepy. And as we discovered later that night when we bought our cake from the scouts (you didn't think Mark and Noel would let anyone else buy that cake), it was delicious.
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On Nov. 6, Anna Spring of Hammond Middle School will receive the Middle School Physical Education Teacher of the Year award from the Maryland Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Henry Dahlen will receive a merit award. Congratulations to both of you!
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Today is Reward Day for Hammond Middle's students. In recognition of the student body's excellent school citizenship, shown by considerate behavior, appearing on time and prepared for classes and for using positive language, the students will receive an hour of fun activities at the end of the day.
"So often we focus on the negative. We like to highlight the positive. Because there are a lot of kids doing right these days," ++ said David Lovewell, principal.
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Speaking of doing right, here's an update on Hammond's Kids Helping Kids program with Head Start.
On Nov. 11, 54 preschoolers from Head Start will visit Hammond. Each child will be paired with two eighth-graders, who will accompany the children to a special activity; they will listen to a storyteller. Afterward, the eighth-graders will give each child a book, them sit down and read together.
Ideas for future activities include a band concert and a trip to the National Aquarium.
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Red Ribbon Drug Free Week begins Monday. This countywide program encourages kids and adults to be drug- and alcohol-free. At Hammond Middle, Tami Bond, the health educator, is sponsoring an all-red day.
So sometime next week, watch out for scarlet men and fuchsia women at the bus stops. At Laurel Woods Elementary, the students have several activities planned.
Weis Market will loan the students paper bags, which the students will decorate with anti-drug messages, then return to Weis.
During the week, shoppers at that supermarket will enjoy the student's art work. An anti-drug banner decorated with children's handprints will be hung in the Laurel Woods cafeteria, then moved outside to hang on All Saint's Road.
The students will take a drug- and alcohol-free pledge, then go outside to designated trees and decorate them with red ribbons.
The final drug-free activity planned is a parade Friday. The ghosties and supermen of the usual Halloween parade will wear red ribbons on their outfits.
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Last weekend the Savage Volunteer Fire Company held it's 55th annual awards banquet to honor the top 10 responders.
Held in the Great Room of the Old Weave Building at Savage Mill, the dinner was dedicated to the memory of John and Ginny Booher, life members of the SVFC and the Ladies' Auxiliary.
Terry Thomson of the Clarksville Fire Department acted as the master of ceremonies. Bill Fleshman, president of the Maryland State Firemen's Association, was the featured guest.
Scott Sanders and Billy Johnson received the Chief's award. Jim Arndt received the President's award. Frank Baker was named Officer of the Year.
The top 10 responders are: Chris Johnson, with 771 responses; Monroe Feeser, 458 responses; Scott Sanders, 421 responses; William Johnson, 338 responses; Ray Wines, 323 responses; Chuck Givens, 306 responses; Mark Thornton, 289 responses; Norman Wines, 276 responses; Jeremy Wierney, 254 responses; and Joseph Weston Sr., 233 responses.
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The newest La Leche League group announces its Nov. 4 meeting. The meetings are held in the Savage library, off Gorman road, at 10:15 a.m. the first Wednesdays of the month.
This month's discussion topic is "The Art Of Breast-Feeding." Cindy Clemens will guide the discussion, but she says that the group is very responsive to questions. She invites new mothers to bring their babies -- "we don't want to separate mothers and children."
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Alice and Myrtle Phelps will host the Nov. 12 meeting of the Savage Homemaker's Club. The club program topic is "Gift of Life." The meeting begins at 11 a.m. in Carroll Baldwin Hall Foundry and Baltimore streets in Savage.