Shooting Near The Owen Brown BB Courts

From HoCo PD:

Howard County police are investigating a shooting that occurred Thursday night in Columbia. The victim, 18-year-old Keontae Johnson of the 6500 block of Overheart Lane, is in stable condition at Shock Trauma after being shot in the torso.

Police were called to Johnson’s residence around 7:30 p.m. for a report that he was injured. Through investigation, police believe two groups of teenagers, including Johnson, became involved in a fight near a basketball court in the 6700 block of Cradlerock Way. During the fight, someone fired a handgun, striking Johnson. Johnson went home and a friend called 911.

Detectives are still investigating the cause of the dispute. Police are offering a $1,000 reward and are asking anyone with information to call 410-313-3200.

Trotter Road Done By August?

A River Hill correspondent sent this our way, and we are of course grateful.

Trotter Road has been closed to through traffic for the extension of water and sewer lines for a new residential development. The Department of Public Works expects that the contractor will be done with the construction phase in about 2 weeks. After that, the Bureau of Highways will repave Trotter Road. Repaving is expected to take a couple of days.

So, the whole project should be complete by the end of July (weather permitting)!

Amusement Park Discounts

From HoCo Gov:

The Howard County Department of Recreation & Parks, through the Maryland Recreation Parks Association, is offering discounted tickets to area theme and water parks. Tickets are for one-day visits and in some instances, season passes are available. Attractions include: Busch Gardens, Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags America, Water Country USA, Kings Dominion, Dorney Park, Hershey Park, Dutch Wonderland and Sesame Place.

Tickets may be purchased in person or by phone at the Howard County Department of Recreation & Parks headquarters, 7120 Oakland Mills Road, Columbia, (410) 313-7275; or at the Glenwood Community Center, 2400 Route 97, Cooksville, (410) 313-4840.

Tickets may be purchased by credit card or cash only at these sites from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., through August 28. Because tickets are discounted there may be some restrictions regarding use. For additional details regarding pricing, visit Recreation & Park’s Web site and click on “Amusement Park Tickets” under “What’s New.”

The Public Housing Windmill

An Ellicott City public housing project called Ellicott Gardens includes a real live windmill to generate energy, according to this post by the Washington Business Journal.

The windmill was a gift to the county by Old Town Construction, the project's general contractor and former owner. The company sold the property to the county over a year ago.

The windmill will contribute to the energy needed for the building's public areas including the corridors, lobby, parking garage, and gym. The windmill will generate about 400 kilowatt hours per month - to offer a little perspective, a compact fluorescent light bulb used all month would equal about 18 kilowatt hours.

Movies At The Mall For $1

We saw this offer on the mall's Web site:

$1 Movies for Charity. Wednesdays at 10am. All Summer Long.

All admission and concessions proceeds* from AMC Summer MovieCamp will benefit Variety – The Children's Charity and The Will Rogers Institute.

Families, schools and organizations alike are invited to see great kids' movies during AMC Summer MovieCamp. This fun-filled program brings you:

# $1 movies from June 17 – August 5
# Shows starting at 10:00am every Wednesday
# Great field trip opportunities – groups can purchase tickets one week in advance starting June 10 at the box office or online.

For more details, including a Movie Schedule, go here.

HoCo General Readies New Wing

The HoCo Hospital is about to show off some snazzy new digs, according to this story in the HoCo Sun:

Its 90 private rooms, centralized outpatient center and enhanced support services should add up to a "dramatic reduction" in emergency room wait times by next year, president and CEO Victor Broccolino said.

Two departments are already operating in the space and others are moving in this week, but patient rooms won't be ready until early August. Then, the hospital will boast a net increase of 18 beds, while it incrementally converts the rest of its semi-private rooms to private ones.

The new rooms will be equipped with sleep sofas. (We sure could have used one of those after not one, but two members of the Talk Team spent the past year in extended stays. It can be darn hard to nap on a tiny armless chair).

We were curious about this passage:

"Patient safety and community expectations were the two main drivers," he said, stressing that private rooms are critical to preventing infections, disturbances and human error such as a patient's medication accidentally being given to a roommate.

How often does that happen?! Probably not much given the fact you can't get an aspirin without repeating your name and date of birth for the nurse to check.

Fireworks On The 4th

The festivities officially begin at 5p at Lake K. on Saturday, but we all know the blankets reserving choice viewing spots will be out way before that. Here's a link to the county's brochure for the event.

And don't miss the River Hill and Longfellow parades!

River Hill's Tenth Annual Independence Day parade will be held this Saturday, July 4 starting at 9:15 a.m. Great Star Drive will be closed to all traffic starting at 9:15 a.m. through the duration of the parade. Howard County police will be on the streets monitoring traffic. In addition to the police officers, the River Hill Community Association is looking for resident volunteers to help direct traffic. Please contact Mary Harris at 410-531-1749 if you are interested in being a part of this wonderful community tradition.

The Longfellow parade starts at 10 am and begins at Longfellow Elementary School on Hesperus Drive and ends at Eliots Oak Road. Community softball game will begin at 12:30 p.m. at Cedar Lane Park, in Columbia.