Graduates: The Compleat List

OK, we might be biased on this subject because we happen to be related to one member of the Class of 2009 who walked across the Merriweather stage this year, his diploma handed to him by another member of Team Talk. But ExploreHoward did a nice job providing the full list of every student. See it here.

Beware "Dad" The Paver

Living in a neighborhood where the paving crews are scheduled to arrive any day, this warning from HoCo PD certainly caught our attention:

Howard County police are urging residents to beware of a scam in which two thieves posed as driveway pavers and stole valuables from an elderly couple.

The suspects approached the victims at their home on Montgomery Road in Ellicott City and offered driving paving services. Once the victims agreed to retain the services, the suspects distracted the victims, entered the home and stole a safe containing jewelry and cash.

The suspects are described as white males with foreign accents. The first suspect is between 50 and 60 years old and has a heavy build. The second suspect is younger with a medium build and called the older suspect “dad.” The suspects drove a copper-colored Ford truck.

Police urge citizens to be cautious when approached by a peddler or solicitor. Peddlers and solicitors are required by the county to present an identification card obtained from the Office of Consumer Affairs. They are also required to affix a metal tag issued by the Office of Consumer Affairs to the right rear side of the vehicle. If you ask a peddler or solicitor to leave, they must do so immediately.

Finally, soliciting is only permitted between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. For more information on peddling and soliciting in the county, call the Office of Consumer Affairs at 410-313-6420.

Police are asking anyone with information or who may have been a victim to call 410-313-3200. Callers may remain anonymous.

Recycle Those Analog TVs

From HoCo gov:

On June 12, 2009, all broadcast television stations in the United States will transition from an analog broadcast to a digital broadcast, impacting any television that is not directly connected to cable or satellite television. The Howard County Bureau of Environmental Services is asking residents who have decided NOT to continue using their analog TVs to recycle those TVs instead of throwing them away.

Howard County Government suggests two options for TV recycling:

· The Alpha Ridge Landfill Resident’s Convenience Area at 2350 Marriottsville Road is open to residents Monday through Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and accepts televisions, computers, keyboards, printers, scanners, laptops, VCRs, radios, cables and more for recycling. Residents are reminded that the County does not recycle electronics through the curbside recycling program.

· Best Buy’s Customer Take-Back Program allows customers to bring in their old TVs (32 inches or smaller) at no charge. Customers are limited to two televisions per person, per day and console TVs are not accepted.

For more information about recycling an old TV or other electronics, contact the Bureau of Environmental Services at 410-313-6444 or visit them at www.howardcountyrecycles.org.

Pygmy Goats!

We love animal stories. The HoCo conservancy's blog has pics of the farm's newest livestock. Pygmy goats. They are soooo cute. (We hope they don't mind if we repost a pic)

What is the Howard County Conservancy?

The Howard County Conservancy is a land trust headquartered at Mt. Pleasant Farm in Woodstock, Maryland, a 232-acre farm that is 300 years old. In addition to providing information about land conservation, the Conservancy and its many volunteers offer year-round environmental education and special events for adults and children.

Local Man Indicted In 2003 Shooting

The ExploreHoward blog reports that a grand jury has handed down an indictment in a previously unsolved 2003 shooting. No word on what was the break in the case.

Clarence Mitchell Banks, Jr., 26, formerly of Stevens Forest Road, has been indicted for first-degree murder in the shooting death of Terrence Armstead, 34, of Columbia, Wayne Kirwan, a spokesman for the Howard County state’s attorney said Thursday.

Armstead died after being shot several times in the Dorsey’s Forge Apartment complex, in Oakland Mills, in the early morning hours of July 26, 2003.

His killing was one of three homicides that occurred over a 10-month period in Oakland Mills in 2002 and 2003.

Banks is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for the Dec. 12, 2005 armed robbery of a Columbia gas station and is in the custody of the Maryland Division of Corrections, according to Kirwan.

Merriweather Makeover

The ExploreHoward blog says the folks over at Merriweather Post Pavilion spent $1 million sprucing up the place.

A new building that houses a concession stand and bathrooms was built to be energy-efficient, following the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. The roof will include live grass that collects rainwater and helps avoid runoff.

Other green improvements include a biodiesel fueling station and the addition of several hundred trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses. The improvements include new sculptures and landscaping, such as a 15-foot-tall chicken made out of farm equipment, a grass maze and a 26-foot-tall boulder sculpture.

Visitors can also play rock-and-roll-themed pinball machines as part of a new “Music Pinball Hall of Fame Arcade.” Games cost a quarter and proceeds from the attraction will go towards establishing a National Pinball Museum in Maryland...

The revamped Merriweather will have three times as many bathrooms as it does now and is expanding its menu to include quesadillas, pitas, crab cakes and pizza

Turning Away Ambulances

WaPo reported in Sunday's paper on the problem of hospitals across the region diverting ambulances carrying all but the most critically ill and injured patients because of emergency room overcrowding.

The newspaper said the diversions force many less-critical patients to travel farther for care, increasing costs and potentially causing dangerous delays.

Here's what the paper said about HoCo General:

Different jurisdictions use different criteria about when to limit ambulance traffic. Maryland has two categories -- yellow alerts for when emergency rooms are too crowded to accommodate additional patients and red alerts for when emergency rooms lack beds for patients who require monitoring, such as those with cardiac problems.

Hospitals and local health authorities have tried to improve but have come up short.

Howard County General Hospital was on yellow alert 8 percent of the time in 2004 and 26 percent last year, The Post analysis found. It is the county's only hospital, so during those alerts, ambulance patients might be sent to Montgomery, Prince George's or Baltimore counties. Depending on where the patient is picked up, travel could take twice as long and tie up emergency medical service crews longer than authorities would like. Hospital officials said that despite the alerts, they rarely send patients to other hospitals but that those who are less critically ill face longer waits because of crowding.

Hospital officials in Howard said part of the problem can be attributed to population growth in the county, especially among elderly residents seeking care. This summer, Howard General will expand its emergency room for the second time in eight years, adding 18 beds. But that probably will not be enough with 5,500 new homes planned in Columbia and significant growth expected around Fort Meade because of military base realignment in the region. The issue has prompted the Howard County Citizens Association to form a task force to examine emergency care in the county.

"We're trying to make [the emergency room] as streamlined and efficient as possible to see the maximum number [of patients] we can see, but space continues to be a limitation," said Walter Atha, head of the hospital's emergency room.