Big Concert in New Bel Air High School Auditorium
It was exciting to see the new Bel Air High School from the inside, and this was an occasion to see and ‘listen up’ the new auditorium. Right off, the acoustics are fantastic, plenty of leg room and beautifully appointed.
The reason for my visit Sunday afternoon was prompted by a member of the band filling me in on the concert and the need to get away from the massive cleanup resulting from the winds and rains recently.
The Bel Air Community Band presented a benefit concert for “Band Together” an instrument donation program. The Band Together program is for school kids who can’t afford to rent or buy an musical instrument but want to learn.
Band Together accepts both used instruments and monetary donations for the furtherment of folks who enjoy creating music.
The band consists of approximately 80 musicians even though it looked much larger on the stage Sunday. It’s a big band, with big sound and they carried the audience of near capacity on a ‘big musical journey.’
Second of the selections, “ Bombasto March” was invigorating…zestful and full of life tingling every ear and heart in the place.
The third selection, “El Camino Real- A Latin Fantasy” begins like a road trip to Las Vegas then settles down to a dreamy, tranquil fantasy in Spain that gallops off in search of Don Quixote. This was one of two favorites for me and much of the audience. El Camino Real is a great piece of music written expressly for wind band by Alfred Reed.
Even though ‘Amazing Grace’ is a big favorite I’ve had enough of it…same is true for all the memorial services that always include the 23rd Psalm…there must be other selections of powerful meaning for those occasions. Albeit, the arrangement of this ‘Grace’ was well done, meaningful and tight.
Just once I’d like to hear a full band play “Precious Memories”.
Another outstanding arrangement was that of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”. I have not seen the Jack Sparrow trilogy at the theater so this was pure delight conjuring up images of the sea, ships and adventure. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the arrangement.
At this point I do wish the director/conductor Scott Sharnetzka would lay down the microphone and spend less time speaking to the audience. He is obviously a fine director with all the right moves. I personally found some of his interjections unnecessary.
The announcer/host, Robert Wooters did an adequate job without further comments seemingly offered up too often by Sharnetzka…after all, this was not a competition for a “Late Show” announcer spot.
The program concluded with members of the band being joined by middle school and high school guests playing in the community band. What an opportunity for young musicians to join in with the veterans.
What a treasure for the county…this super band receiving and deserving a standing ovation at the completion of the program. I did not see one politician there…just moms and family of those who were playing, and lots of others, like myself, who wanted to see this great new facility and hear wonderful images that take us miles away on a rainy day.
The next concert for this outstanding community band will be Sunday, May 2, at 3 p.m. Same venue, the impressive Bel Air High School auditorium. These events are free of charge and those who might have instruments to be donated to those less fortunate are urged to do so.
March 15, 2010 at 8:49 pmHarford Habitat for Humanity Project wins US Green Building Council’s Young Professionals Award
From Harford Habitat for Humanity:
The First LEED-certified Modular Home Ever Built by High School Students in the USA was the winner as one of the Green Projects of the Year for 2009
(Bel Air, MD) – The Maryland Chapter of the US Green Building Society, an organization committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for our nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings, recognized Harford Habitat for Humanity (HHH) and Harford Technical High-School recently for their partnership to create the “Habi-Tech Project,” a LEED certified modular home, by naming the project the winner of the 2009 Young Professionals Award. Dave Guttman, HHH Construction Manager, Mike Svezzese, Harford Tech Carpentry Teacher, and Principal Chas Hagan accepted the award recently on behalf of the partnership.
Bank of America, Harford Technical High School, Habitat for Humanity and other community businesses and organizations worked together to build the home in 2009. The house is an example of a sustainable, energy-efficient building that the partners hope others will follow.
“Building this LEED certified home was an amazing project,” says Joann Blewett, Executive Director of HHH. “This partnership was truly a first of its kind, and thanks to our donors, the students and our partner family we demonstrated that creating affordable green homes can be done by real people, in real communities, when we all work together.”
Students began working on the 1008 square foot, two bedroom modular home at the start of the school year, and completed the home in May 2009. For the Habit-Tech Project, students followed the guidelines for the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System set by the U.S. Green Building Council. They incorporated a number of green building components into the home including recycled insulation and drywall, a rainwater collection system, an energy efficient HVAC system, energy efficient windows and appliances, and a gray water re-use system.
For 2010, HHH is again partnering with Bank of America, Harford Technical High School and other donors and sponsors to build another LEED Certified home. For more details, visit www.harfordhabitat.org .
March 12, 2010 at 5:40 pmTea Party to Picket Rep. Kratovil’s Bel Air Office
Bel Air Tea Party organizer Tony Passaro has issued the following call to picket Congressman Frank Kratovil’s Bel Air office over health care reform:
Frank Kratovil, self styled “Blue Dog Democrat” (a Democrat that purportedly votes Conservative) is in reality a “Yellow Dog” (a fake Conservative that kisses Pelosi’s Butt).
Kratovil is wavering on whether or not he should vote to support Obamacare….
Let’s help him make up his mind………
Come on out with the Bel Air Tea Party Patriots as we picket Frankie’s office on Main Street in downtown Bel Air (cattycorner and south of the Green Turtle) and remind him that his re-election depends on his voting AGAINST Obama’s Health Care Bill.
See you in front of Frankie’s Office on the 16th.
Tuesday, March 16th from 4-6pm.
Town Hall Moving to Main Street?: Former BB&T Building “Under Contract”
The decision whether to renovate the Town of Bel Air’s aging building on Hickory Avenue or move town hall to a new location was one of the keystone issues of last fall’s town election. Now, there may be an answer.
The former BB&T Bank building on Main Street in Bel Air is “under contract”, according to the real estate firm handling its sale, and a source close to the deal told The Dagger that the town is the buyer and will move its administrative offices and meeting space to that location.
The former BB&T building is currently under contract, according to Donnell “Beetle” Smith of RKS Realty. However, Smith declined to identify the prospective buyer, saying only that the transaction was in a study period expected to last through mid-April. Following that period, Smith said he expects the deal to move to settlement in mid-May.
The Bel Air Police Department will take over the Hickory Avenue building, while the town’s Planning and Zoning Department will be reunited with other town services at the Main Street location, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing nature of the transaction.
David Carey, chairman of the Town of Bel Air’s Board of Commissioners, would not comment on the issue.
BB&T vacated the building more than a year ago for a new facility on Baltimore Pike at the former location of Bel Air Pontiac.
The town has sought a new home for its offices for several years, and commissioned Frederick Ward Associates to do a study of the cost of renovations to the existing building, which put the number at $5 million. According to the source, the purchase and renovation of the BB&T building would cost the town a total of less than $4 million.
Town Commissioner Robert Preston said the town made an offer on the building last year, which was not accepted. He would not confirm whether the town had submitted a new bid which was accepted.
“There’s been no decision made at this time. A lot goes into making a decision like that,” Preston said. “The final decision has not been made.”
March 7, 2010 at 7:00 pmThe Trial That Never Was: The Back Story Why H. Rap Brown Fizzled, Even A Car Explosion Backfired In A Masterpiece Of Ineptitude
Working as a photo-journalist during the turbulent 60’s and 70’s had it’s moments of terror and fear, as bombings and fires raged with anger of blacks and whites confronting each other. One such night of fear and anxiety came in Harford County as the H. Rap Brown trial was to open in a few days.
The trial never happened,….in Bel Air…after a car with two black men inside exploded along Route 1 and Toll Gate road, while the town was under ‘lock down’ because of threats the police received from supporters of Mr. Brown.
The story I wrote and the photographs taken were shared with Time-Life magazine in New York….
From Time magazine comes this account of what happened next:
“Two black militants were killed when their car was blasted to bits while they were riding on a highway south of Bel Air, Md. The dead were Ralph Featherstone, 30, and William (“Che”) Payne, 26. Featherstone, a former speech therapist, was well known as a civil rights field organizer and, more recently, as manager of the Afro-American bookstore, the Drum & Spear, in Washington. Both were friends of H. Rap Brown, whose trial on charges of arson and incitement to riot was scheduled to begin last week in Bel Air. Reconstruction of the car’s speedometer indicates it was traveling about 55 miles an hour when it blew up.
Police believed that Payne had been carrying a dynamite bomb on the floor between his legs and that it accidentally exploded. A preliminary FBI investigation supported that theory. Friends of the dead men contended that white extremists had either ambushed the pair or booby-trapped their car, perhaps trying to kill Brown. But police pointed out that Featherstone and Payne had driven in from Washington without notice, cruised around Bel Air briefly and seemed to be headed back. That assassins could plot and move so quickly defies belief.
Although Featherstone had not been known as an extremist, friends said that he had grown markedly more bitter in the past year. Police cited a crudely spelled typewritten statement found on his body: “To Amerika:* I’m playing heads-up murder. When the deal goes down I’m gon be standing on your chest screaming like Tarzan. Dynamite is my response to your justice.” Brown, meanwhile, was nowhere to be found.”
For me that night will forever remind me of fear of the unknown. Like the fears we all share today, in 1970, fears of racial unrest and upheaval were on everyone’s minds. I had worked that night along the roads leading into Bel Air, the county seat….and had stopped by the Armory in town for a coffee with some troopers. Nothing was going on, the town was quiet, which was good, so I headed home.
As I drove my VW bug past Saint Margaret church I heard a blast that scared the life out of me and yet, I turned around in the roadway and followed my senses onto Bond street and southbound on Route 1. The smell of death was in the air as I came on the scene…body parts hanging in trees along the side of the road, fuel and car parts strewn along the highway…police and fire crews arriving one after the other.
Life as it was would never be the same in this sleepy little town…and racial outsiders, agitating even had the black population of Bel Air upset and afraid of what would happen next. Most of my friends in the black community were confused by all the outsiders picketing and demanding the things many of the locals already had….jobs, respect and homes here in town.
It was a job of a life-time for me, fresh out of college with an English literature and history degree, and given the chance to write for the biggest newspaper in Harford County…beyond my wildest dreams. Plans were to teach in the county, and the pay for me would have been $5000 a year. The editor of the Aegis was John D. Worthington, III, a goodly man, a bit of a rounder, rough around the edges…so we got along fine.
The only thing he said to me when he hired me on was, “Write it the way you see it…just put down what you know as fact and we’ll never have a problem.”…That was it…no sermon, no booklet on the ‘whys and wherefores’ of the Aegis….just get out on the scene, tell it like it is, and play it right down the middle.
There’s more to the story, but seeing the photo of the ‘Featherstone’ car was enough to conjure up some memories of the long, strange trip to where things are today in my life.
And sometimes, when I come across some things from the past days, I feel they should be shared, to better understand one another…and myself.
My Diary From Those Days
March 9,1970 Monday
9:30 Judge Harry Dyer, Jr.s courtroom…William Kunstler , Brogue Barrett pic in front of courthouse…
1:30 Court adjourned, then reconvened…another pic of Kunstler and Clarence Davis, arm in arm coming out of courthouse. Good pic.
5 p/m check w/all police, barracks, town, sher.dept.
March 10 Tuesday
8:30 hit police tty’s..(teletypes on press board)
10 be at courthouse, pic of H. Rap (Brown) coming into courtroom…
10-22 pic…brown doesn’t show. Word is he’s in HdG at ‘safe house‘ on Revolution street, owned by Dr. Spry.
11 a/m benson barracks, check w/Mrs. Cooper, re: any new stuff on Brown
12 Conowingo post, dam…to NOrth East barrack…same thing, no news, quiet
4 Fallston, accidental shooting, get pic…I.B. Andrews
5 Benson barrack, check in
7 back in town, state police command post at Bel Air Armory, Otis Trost man to see, ‘it’s quiet, thank God”
Leaving town to go home…fire sirens, explosion, follow the lights, to toll gate road and Rte. 1…big explosion, stuff still in the air, smells of death…
Stay put…on scene, Col. Tom Smith MSP arrives fast…stay with it
1 a/m…write it out…Robbie’s waiting, must write out, with pic, cut lines…
March 11…film and contact of explosion
9 a/m WCBM calls me…why?
Bill Bruns, life magazine, wants two images of explosion.
10 Bob Comes, Sher.Dept.
4 p.m. Cover Bill Veeck Press Conference at Harford Community College, w/pic
6 pm…teach class at HCC, sixth week, tonight open darkroom, after lecture.
Reaction
“The photo is right up front is naked, raw, in your face. Right away, in the first paragraph I recall the horror of that event…for although I was physically only a kid, a mere 15 years old at the time of the incident, I was much older than that. Having the older brothers, I had the luxury of being enlightened to the 60’s, the dissent, the questioning of authority in an age when it had to be done, and the unleashing of a new read on moral values that the 50’s had tried to suppress,” said Patrick Wallis, copy-editor for Mr. Holden
“I had always been intrigued and appalled by the civil rights movement, from the early days of the 60’s. I grew up in a lower income town, full of transients and plenty of poor folk, many black, and many of them my playmates from childhood. I recall being a voracious reader in those days and I was always hungry to hear more and see more pictures to learn as much as I could about the plight of the black man. I could never understand the inhumanity dealt to whole generations, blatant and public humiliation and hatred heaped upon them everywhere they turned. I cried out in my soul at the horror of how one whole race of people could be so subjugated, so much so that by the time the mid 60’s turned the corner and Motown came around and James Brown and the whole Black culture got on that dissent bandwagon and stood up and told White America to look out ‘cuz a change was going to come…and they didn’t exactly mean the sit down and talk it over change that the good reverend spoke of…it was revolution time and they were going to lay claim to burning down all of that ugly history. I kind of understood how they would be pissed and rooted for their victory in some naïve way, that is, until a few years into that debacle I realized we were all going to burn in hell for the way we lived unless we found a way out of the mess and calmed down. Never really happened. The hippies burned out for the most part and a few carrots of freedom were dangled in front of the Black masses to appease them, but economically, culturally, holistically, they were still the downtrodden.”
“Many years have passed since then and the poor folks stay poor and lines of what’s right and wrong get blurrier every day. The Black Man as a whole, I feel, never fully got the right message…and that’s where it stays confusing, because did they remain hookers and deadbeats and absent fathers and good for nothings because they were kept down for so long or is it simply because they rose to their Peter Principal and then stopped. Same could be said for poor White Trash, the Appalachian Waifs, the lost souls who just drift through time. Don’t know that anyone’s at fault for anything anymore except I’m sure we’re all partly to blame for the sad way we’ve treated each other and how disparate our souls have gotten.”
“But, I digress. The mystery is cleared. I had never fully understood what had happened to those two blokes in the car that blew up. I was for sure that the bomb had been planted. Perhaps I didn’t read up on it because I just wanted to believe in the mystery and maybe was pulling for a bit of anarchy from the Congo. Dunno. I’m glad it was only a bomb that went off by accident and the two fools who thought they could pull off that kind of revolution got a taste of Karma, a full course actually. This town and the country itself was certainly not the same and God forbid it would have been a lot worse if their promise of destruction had been delivered.”
“Either way, we walk in shit most of the time, mostly our own. It’s good we wear shoes and wipe our feet.”
“Thanks for the memory and the history lesson,” Wallis.
March 7, 2010 at 4:24 pmEagerly Awaited Concert a “Smash” at Amoss Center
It was a night fit for getting out and about and listening to the world-famous Charlie Zahm bring his unique brand of Celtic music to Harford County Saturday evening at the Amoss Center on Thomas Run road.
Zahm is one of the most popular soloists performing incredible Irish, Scottish and Australian music in America and abroad.
The famed singer with his baritone voice that’s been described as ‘a resonant sounding trill’ totally compliments the Celtic tunes he sings and plays accompanied by his acoustic guitar. His performance Saturday has been long awaited, by throngs of contains who follow this gifted and talented performer.
Word has it for the fans in this area, Zahm will appear sometime in April at the historic Jerusalem Mills.
Throughout the evening Charlie along with the versatile fiddler Tad Marks and internationally famed percussionist Cheryl Prashker performed two sets to the total delight of everyone in the hall.
Weaving magical moments of Scottish and Irish history lessons, the magical Zahm interjected wry comments between numbers to the delight of everyone in attendance.
Since this legend was old enough to sing he has entertained audiences of all ages with the melodies he first heard in the Scottish province of his mother’s birth, Ontario, Canada. Along the trails across the country he has taken time to write his own brand of evocative lyrics…which he performed Saturday as well…a song to the apple blossoms we all experience in the summer as words and music take the audience miles away without leaving the theater.
Many fans recall with gusto the time when Charlie was invited by the famed ‘Scotland Black Watch’ to sing with them….an honor only bestowed by the ‘Black Watch’ on those whose talent and voice can measure up to their own high standards.
Zahm powered through song after song with the driving, classically trained Prashker and the high-flying fiddle work of Marks. All in all, the audience was filled to capacity following the evening’s performance.
Saturday’s exclusive performance benefited the Historical Society of Harford County and the restoration of the Hays House Museum. Co-ordinating the evening, Maryana Skrownski, beamed following the performance, calling the evening a total success. “We fortunate to have someone of Charlie’ stature come to play for the county.”
Fans and those uninitiated to this Celtic wonder, will have to wait until he gets back in this area again to hear ‘live’ this incredible voice and talent.
March 5, 2010 at 8:15 pmAmerican Music Concert by the Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra at Bel Air High
From the Harford Center for the Arts:
The Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra will perform an American Music concert Saturday, March 6, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. at Bel Air High School, 100 Heighe Streeet, Bel Air, MD 21014.
Sheldon Bair is the Founder and Music Director of the SSO.
The concert will include the following:
*John Philip Sousa- “The Fairest of the Fair”
*William Grant Still- Symphony No. 1 “Afro-American Symphony”
*Patrick Burns- “Remembrance”
*Benny Russell- “The Little Gift” from “The Darfur Chronicles”- Conductor: Brian Folus
*Tracey Rush- “Spirit of Freedom”
*Sheldon Bair- Variation on “Be Thou My Vision”
*Stacey Zyriek- “I Choose the Mountain” Soprano: Emma Zyriek
Tickets available on TicketLeap at www.ssorchestra.org
March 3, 2010 at 9:36 pmMallamo: Del. Impallaria’s Bill “Provides Real Property Tax Relief to All Property Owners and Residents of Maryland”
The following letter was sent by John P. Mallamo of Bel Air:
HB 653 Real Property Tax Relief
On 25 February the Maryland General Assembly House Ways and Means Committee conducted the first reading and public hearing on HB653, Constitutional Amendment.
This Bill introduced by Del Richard Impallaria, (R-7) provides Real Property Tax Relief to all property owners and residents of Maryland. Important features of the Bill include:
1. A fixed cap on property assessments. Real Property Tax Assessments are limited to the lower of the Consumer Price Index or 2% per assessment period, unless and until a property is purchased or transferred.
2. Protection to property owners affected by government action. Property owners will not receive full cash value appraisals and increased assessments from the base value of their properties purchased as replacements for properties affected by actions resulting from eminent domain, government purchase, governmental activity resulting in inverse condemnation. What this really means is that if a property owner loses property to a government actions, the property owner can purchase a like property without receiving a levy of a full cash value assessment that would be otherwise associated with a transfer of property.
3. Protects property transfers between spouses from full cash value appraisal. Transfer between spouses includes transfer to a trustee for the beneficial use of a spouse; transfer upon death; or transfer to a spouse or former spouse resulting from agreement or decree of dissolution of marriage or legal separation.
4. Protects property transfers from full cash value appraisal if the property is a principal residence and the transfer is between family members.
What does all of this mean to property owners.
First it means that the assessed value of a property is set at a base year. The assessed base value cannot be increased by assessment above the Consumer Price Index or 2 percent in any period. The only time the full cash value can be recomputed is on purchase or change of ownership. This applies not only to primary residences but to business properties and second or other homes as well. By contrast the present assessment process establishes a new value for properties based on area sales, and construction costs. Property assessments under this system have risen by as much as 60% in one assessment period.
Second transactions by property owners whose property is affected by government actions, and who subsequently purchase similar replacement properties are not considered as purchases or transfers. The base value of the affected property is transferred to the replacement property.
Third, property transfers between family members, spouses, former spouses and surviving spouses, under conditions described above are not considered purchases or transfers , and the base value is not increased by a new appraisal.
Residential property owners benefit because property assessment increases are limited to the lower of the Consumer Price Index or 2 per cent.
Business property owners receive the same protection from increasing assessments.
Residents who do not own property, but who deal with business in Maryland that do, will see the decrease in the cost of doing business reflected in the price of goods they purchase.
Local and state government benefit because they have a predictable source of revenue.
If you agree that this Bill will provide Real Property Tax Relief, then send a note asking members of the Maryland State Legislature House of Delegates Ways and Means Committee to vote in favor of the Bill. Their names and E-mail addresses are listed below.
sheila.hixson@house.state.md.us
annmarie.doory@house.state.md.us
joseph.bartlett@house.state.md.us
kumar@kumarbarve.com
joseph.boteler@house.state.md.us
jon.cardin@house.state.md.us
page.elmore@house.state.md.us
bill.frick@house.state.md.us
ron.george@house.state.md.us
jim.gilchrist@house.state.md.us
carolyn.howard@house.state.md.us
jolene.ivey@house.state.md.us
Anne.Kaiser@house.state.md.us
peter.murphy@house.state.md.us
LeRoy.Myers@house.state.md.us
john.olszewski@house.state.md.us
craig.rice@house.state.md.us
justin.ross@house.state.md.us
Christopher.Shank@house.state.md.us
melvin.stukes@house.state.md.us
frank.turner@house.state.md.us
jay.walker@house.state.md.us
John P. Mallamo
Bel Air, MD
Police Seek Armed Robber of Whiteford and Bel Air Armed Convenience Stores
From Maryland State Police:
On 03/02/10 at approx. 2246 hrs., an individual entered the High’s Dairy Store, 2420 Whiteford Road, Whiteford, MD. 21160 and demanded cash while implying he was armed with a handgun. The suspect fled on foot with a small amount of currency.
Approx. 25 minutes later, the same suspect entered the 7-Eleven Store at 1520 Conowingo Road, Bel Air, MD. 21014 and demanded cash from the clerk.
The suspect is a white male, approx. 18 to 25 yrs of age, blue eyes, 5-5 to 5-7, approx. 140-160 lbs.
Both robberies are being investigated by the Maryland State Police @ the Bel Air Barrack “D”.
Health Department Offers Another Harford Mall H1N1 Vaccination Clinic
From the Harford County Health Department:
Bel Air, MD – February 23, 2010 – On Saturday, February 27, 2010, the Harford County Health Department will conduct another public, walk-up H1N1 flu vaccination clinic at the Harford Mall. Both injectable and mist forms of the H1N1 vaccine will be available at no cost to the general public between 10:00am and 2:00pm, on a “no-appointment, walk-up” basis near the indoor entrance to Macy’s Department Store.
The Harford County Health Department continues to reach out to local communities, having implemented H1N1 flu vaccination clinics throughout the county in Aberdeen, Bel Air, Belcamp, Cardiff, Forest Hill, Havre de Grace and Jarrettsville, as well as on a “walk-in” basis at their Woodbridge operations center on regularly scheduled dates throughout recent months.
Harford County Health Officer Susan Kelly states, “Our last H1N1 vaccination clinic at Harford Mall was a tremendous success even though it occurred on the date of the first major snowfall, here. We hope that the convenience offered to shoppers by our being there will result in another great turnout this Saturday. We want to remind the public that H1N1 is expected to stay in circulation for at least a few more months, and perhaps longer. The very best protection against serious illness that may result from H1N1, is vaccination that is safe and that has proven very effective.”
For more information about the H1N1 virus or to obtain current information about vaccination clinic schedules, visit the Harford County Health Department website at www.harfordcountyhealth.com or call 410-612-1779.
