Temporary ice rink at mall is financial burden, owners say
A temporary ice skating rink at The Mall in Columbia has opened after more than eight weeks of construction delays, but it now is a financial burden, the owners claim.
Mall management had hoped the facility would attract families and help sluggish sales at the mall's new entertainment plaza. Rink owners say they hope to draw customers as the year's busiest shopping season grinds to a halt, and they would like to stay longer if mall management would allow it. Lance Curran, a partner in Tri-State Ice Management, said the company has proposed building a permanent facility at the mall that could be used for other activities during warm months.
Money to fund 911 center, training for drug court
Howard County will use $117,640 in federal funds to strengthen the ability of county police to deal with major disasters by equipping a full backup 911 center in the Southern District police station and upgrading the county's mobile command abilities.
The county is adding $13,105 in required matching funds for that project and for a companion effort to start training people to operate a proposed drug court for the county. The drug-court training is expected to cost $13,412.
The federal grant is smaller than last year's by more than $10,000, according to Nancy Barr, the Police Department's grants coordinator, because it is based on the county's crime rate, which has been dropping.
Free program to help smokers quit is expanding
Howard County is expanding its 1-year-old smoking-cessation program for government workers. The program, which offers free help to anyone who lives or works in the county, is the most comprehensive anti-smoking effort in Maryland.
The 10- to 12-week "Cadillac" model program features virtually every known medical, psychological and financial aid to participants, and has achieved a 40 percent success rate after six months, said Shanta Williams, director of tobacco control for the county Health Department.
County employees may attend meetings and screenings during working hours. The program, financed with $137,000 of state tobacco lawsuit settlement money, has enrolled 43 county workers this year, compared with 50 at this time last year, Williams said, even though the course has been offered to more government agencies. The decline in the number of participants is one reason that help is being offered to anyone in the county, she said.
Phonics program gaining popularity in elementaries
Every year, more Howard County schools adopt the Saxon Phonics program, which they must pay for themselves and which typically costs about $5,000. Most schools use the program in kindergarten through second or third grade.
Centennial Lane and West Friendship elementaries added it this year, raising the number of county elementary schools that use it to about 15 out of 37. "I sent some of my teachers toward the end of last year over to Ilchester to investigate it," said West Friendship Principal Corita Oduyoye. "They came back ranting and raving about how wonderful it was and what they saw the children doing."
But other school administrators and teachers say they have doubts about the program.
Property assessment increase averages 9.7% in some areas
Portions of eastern Howard County saw a 9.7 percent average increase in property assessments, according to reassessment notices mailed to property owners throughout the state Friday. Howard is limited by an annual assessment cap of 5 percent.
"We're going to have predictably stable growth in property taxes for at least the next few years. It really has had the effect of smoothing out the revenue increases," said Raymond S. Wacks, Howard's budget director.
Columbia man, 24, indicted in killing of UM student
One of two area men accused in the stabbing death of a University of Maryland sophomore has been indicted on murder charges.
A Prince George's County grand jury returned an indictment Thursday for common law murder, common law riot and assault against John Ryan Schlamp, 24, of Columbia in the death of Brandon James Malstrom, 20, during an off-campus party in College Park in November. The indictment moves the case, which had been scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Prince George's District Court yesterday, to Circuit Court.