River Hill Tops People Tree

From the public schools, a look at overall athletic performance by high school teams:

People Tree Cup Standings

The People Tree Cup recognizes overall excellence in interscholastic athletics by a Howard County public high school. For scoring purposes:

• Points are assigned to those schools participating in each eligible varsity sport upon the completion of a particular athletic program and the awarding of the county trophy.
• If 12 schools compete, the county trophy winner will gain 12 points, second place will gain 11 points, and so on.
• Half points are gained in the event of a tie.
• At the completion of the school year and after all county trophies have been awarded and points tallied, the People Tree Cup will be awarded to the school that produced the highest number of points.

The People Tree Cup was awarded for the first time during l978-l979 school year.

People Tree Cup 2007 Standings
Final standing after the 2006-2007 seasons.

01. River Hill (200.5 points)
02. Atholton (199.5)
03. Mt. Hebron (184.5)
04. Glenelg (182)
05. Centennial (177.5)
06. Howard (144.5)
07. Wilde Lake (140)
08. Reservoir (134.5)
09. Hammond (132.5)
10. Oakland Mills (105)
11. Long Reach (101)
12. Marriotts Ridge (92.5)

People Tree Cup Winners by Year

2007 - River Hill
2006 - River Hill
2005 - Mt. Hebron
2004 - Glenelg
2003 - River Hill
2002 - Mt. Hebron
2001 - River Hill
2000 - River Hill

1999 - River Hill
1997 - Centennial
1996 - Centennial
1995 - Centennial
1994 - Centennial
1993 - Centennial
1992 - Centennial
1991 - Oakland Mills
1990 - Oakland Mills

1989 - Oakland Mills
1988 - Centennial
1987 - Centennial
1986 - Oakland Mills
1985 - Glenelg
1984 - Mt. Hebron
1983 - Centennial
1982 - Centennial
1981 - Centennial
1980 - Centennial

1979 - Centennial

Mike Makes Good

Looks like the folks in St. Mary's are pretty happy with their new schools superintendent, former Howard County assistant superintendent Michael Martirano. Test scores there are up and within a few points of this county's, and St. Mary's is set to open a science and engineering academy and Southern Maryland's first charter school. Here's a passage from a WaPo profile:

"So how did an ambitious 48-year-old educator end up in an area known for being far away and self-contained?

More than a few eyebrows were raised two years ago when Martirano announced he would leave his position as the director of school administration in Howard to become St. Mary's superintendent, but the Frostburg native said he is convinced his new district will soon be seen as a destination.

'We're a good school system on the precipice of being a great one,' Martirano says frequently.

From some, it might seem boastful, but supporters -- and there are legions of them -- say the first superintendent to come from outside St. Mary's in many years has the right combination of big-city experience and small-town charm to get the job done.

Parents love his easy interaction with their children and his commitment to improving test scores. Teachers compliment his nurturing attention that they say never feels stifling. Board of Education members say his lofty goals are infectious. Former superintendent Patricia M. Richardson retired a popular figure, but she never generated anywhere near Martirano's buzz."

Poku's Plight

The headline says "Help for Homeowners" but so far Columbia resident Kwaku Atta Poku is out of luck in his fight to reverse the foreclosure on his home. Poku and his family were evicted after a snafu in their refinancing, even though he made every payment. The Sun's follow up on Poku's plight quotes state lawmakers, and the governor's spokesman, expressing interest in making changes to Maryland's foreclosure process, which is apparently the fastest in the nation.

Oral History

The folks at the Columbia Archives have latched onto an interesting idea for Columbia's 40th -- they are inviting people to come by and record their memories of the town. These recordings will be transferred to CDs and made available to the public at the archives and the public library (we are thinking about turning the recordings into Internet podcasts once they are available, assuming that's OK with everyone). The library also plans to collect oral remembrances from older Howard residents.

The Columbia Flier said it liked the "This is Your Life" project so much "we've decided to steal it." The weekly is asking people to send in 100-word or less essays on their Columbia experiences.

The archives is taking oral histories June 9 and 10. Call 410-715-3103.

Lucky and Not

Talk about a reversal of fortunes.

Several of the local papers told the story of a Columbia woman who won the county's housing lottery this week. She now has the right to buy a discounted home on the Oakland Mills street where she was reared, where her parents still live, where one brother returned recently and another owns investment property. Talk about a cosmic coincidence.

Meanwhile, the Sun has a piece on a poor guy who lost his west Columbia home to foreclosure through apparently no fault of his own. Despite making regular and timely monthly mortgage payments, there was a screw up when he refinanced and there is no legal record that he ever paid off the original loan. Oh, there is a photocopy of the front of a check, showing one had been written to pay off the original loan but not the back showing it had been cashed, which the court requires. The title company involved is now defunct, and according to the story, the owner has pleaded guilty to fraud charges in an unrelated matter. And the mortgage company has lost the original Deed of Trust.

Fireworks!

Speaking of birthdays, sounds like the Columbia Festival of the Arts will be having a fireworks display on Friday, June 8 and Saturday, June 9, as part of LakeFest events at Lake Kittamaqundi.

Pioneer Power

There will be no pooh-poohing Columbia's 40th b-day in these quarters. We're totally in the tank for a party. For starters, we wouldn't be here unless those hardy few made a town out of the place. Literally. We remember a particularly anguished discussion between the parents about the risks of moving way out to this farm country between Baltimore and Washington. In those days, there was no network of superhighways; you got here from Washington on a two-lane Route 29. There was just one grocery story and a small village square. The schools were newfangled and didn't hew to the traditional. Columbia in the early days was a place where a college got its start in an inflatable bubble and the town center was so sleepy that they launched hot air balloons from where the library is now. We could go on.

The point is the folks who came here in the early days took a chance; many left predictable, comfortable lives, and tried something new. We think that's kind of inspiring.