A grass-roots effort to force a referendum on the County Council's rezoning of dozens of properties in March has produced nearly enough signatures, said Angela Beltram , an organizer of the drive, which was launched last month.
This week, Beltram and half a dozen other activists presented 4,868 signatures for verification to Betty L. Nordaas , director of the county's Board of Elections. Organizers say they'll have until June 10 to gather 5,000 verified signatures of Howard voters to place the rezoning ordinance on the November 2006 ballot.
"We're way ahead of schedule," said Beltram, who, along with other activists, has sought signatures at libraries, schools and businesses in the Route 40 corridor, Elkridge, Clarksville, Columbia and Marriottsville, among other communities. Organizers dismissed the idea that the petition drive was focused on overturning a rezoning sought by Bethel Korean Presbyterian Church in Ellicott City, which wants to expand.
"To me it has nothing to do with the church," said Marriottsville resident Ellen Rhudy . "We could see the development marching along [Route] 99. It's about developers getting their way 100 percent of the time."
But County Council Chairman Guy Guzzone (D-Southeast County) said the board turned down many requests during the comprehensive rezoning process of the past two years. Although he expects the organizers to gather the signatures they need, he said the effort appeared to center on "the Korean church and a couple of properties that people are not happy with."
Horse-Riding Lessons Resume
Lessons resumed last week at the Columbia Horse Center in Laurel, which was closed in late March after a neurological illness, linked to equine herpesvirus, killed three horses.
The state veterinarian's office and local officials said the horses that will be used for lessons are showing no signs of the virus and are segregated from horses under treatment. One new case is being treated successfully, according to a news release from the Maryland Department of Agriculture. Officials say there's no reason to believe that the virus has moved off the Laurel farm.
The equestrian center offers lessons for children and adults. It houses about 80 horses; half belong to the center, and the rest are privately owned. All of the afflicted horses belonged to the center. The shutdown forced the cancellation of riding lessons and a spring break camp.
