Merry Christmas to everyone who is taking the time to read the paper on this Christmas Day.
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Hats off to Howard County businessman Kingdon Gould Jr., who came up with a wonderful fund-raising idea for the Leukemia Society. He signed up 20 Howard County business people to participate in a Celebrity Brain Quiz Contest. People like Harry Ratrie, Don Reuwer, Jennifer Sclafani, Dick Talkin, Don Trufant, Jack Whiteside and Maurice Simpkins appeared before a Celebrity Brain Education Board made up of Dwight Burrill, president of Howard County Community College; Ryland Chapman, headmaster of Glenelg County School; Howard County Executive Charles Ecker, and Michael Hickey, superintendent of Howard County Public Schools, to answer 20 written questions and one oral question.
Blaise Cooke, CEO of the Harkins Group, won the contest and won the title of the smartest businessman in Howard County.
This contest was so much fun that the Leukemia Society plans a state contest next year.
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Congratulations to David Julian, marketing director of Baltimore's CFL team and the son of Emerson Julian, former city councilman, and Donna Patterson, general manager of the Baltimore Arena, who had a rather extraordinary Christmas shopping experience.
They were at one of their favorite stores, Nouveau, on Charles Street when David asked Donna to take a look at a piece of jewelry to see if she liked it as a gift for someone else. Right in the middle of the case was a beautiful engagement ring for her from David. Donna accepted, and out came the champagne.
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Maestro David Zinman is feeling pretty perky these days, after having to cancel several concert appearances earlier this month because of high blood pressure.
Zinman did make an appearance at the BSO's holiday party, where he expressed some regret about being away from the orchestra for so long during his forthcoming eight-month sabbatical.
But he is looking forward to completing a book and has big plans for the presents the orchestra and staff gave him -- golf lessons, a golf watch that not only tells time but also keeps score, and a copy of the popular CD-ROM software game, Myst.
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Former state Sen. Eddie Turner was given a Christmas present from the town of Centreville -- a reserved parking place for one year.
According to Neal LeCompte, who has a CPA business in Centreville, Turner is the oldest practicing member of the Queen Anne's County Bar Association and is in his office every day.
So he and Scotty MacGlashan, the town's new clerk of the court, contacted Town Commissioner Sara Jane Davidson who helped with the project. She got the parking place for Turner, with the proviso that LeCompte and MacGlashan pay for the "reserved" sign.
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Theara J. Ward left Baltimore when she was 13 years old to dance with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Now this actress, once called a baby ballerina, is having a ball as the Ghost of Christmas Future in the new large-scale "A Christmas Carol" which runs through Jan. 1 at the Paramount in New York's Madison Square Garden. The show's score was written by the late Howard Ashman's musical collaborator, Alan Menken.
Theara and the rest of the cast will gather Jan. 3 in a recording studio to begin working on an "A Christmas Carol" album. She said that one of the nicest things about being in the show is watching the faces of the children in the audience, cast and choir.