Arundel Digest

Schools redistricting plan moves ahead

Parole - The Board of Education yesterday voted to send the superintendent's redistricting proposals for south county and the Mountain Road corridor schools to public hearing without any changes.

The board could have approved any other plans, including plans submitted by the community committees, but did not.

Under the superintendent's proposal, 74 students who live in Boone's Estates, a mobile home community off Marlboro Road in Lothian, would be moved from Lothian Elementary to Tracey's Elementary.

In north county, 147 Riviera Beach students would be moved from Chesapeake Bay Middle School to George Fox Middle School to keep them in the Northeast feeder system. Also, students in the new Tanyard Springs neighborhood would move from Solley Elementary School to Marley Elementary School, from the Northeast district to Glen Burnie.

The two public hearings will be scheduled for later this spring.

New BWMC building to open next week

Glen Burnie - Baltimore Washington Medical Center will give tours of its new patient building this weekend, part of the hospital's $117 million expansion project.

The 224,000-square-foot building is set to open for service Monday. The open house is scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

The event will include free health screenings, refreshments and giveaways that include free Southwest Airlines tickets to anywhere in the United States, officials said.

The new building includes 111 patient beds, seven finished floors and two shell floors for future expansion.

Other hospital changes include a new courtyard, cafe, gift shop, discharge lobby and a 15,000-square-foot emergency department addition, which opened in July 2008.

Shuttles planned at Fort Meade

Fort Meade - A new shuttle service is being planned for Fort George G. Meade to bring workers from two nearby train stations to their offices on the post.

The program still is in the planning stages, and will first run as a temporary pilot program, said Bert Rice, executive officer at the fort. The shuttle buses will pick up employees at the Odenton and Savage MARC train stations, where the driver will check ID cards.

The shuttle service is based on a similar one run by the National Security Agency, the largest organization at the fort.

The Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, process is slated to bring about 5,700 new jobs to the fort, and the expansion of other organizations will bring about 17,000 more.

'Polar bears' to plunge this month

Sandy Point - The plungers are back.

The annual Maryland State Police Polar Bear Plunge is scheduled for Jan. 24 at Sandy Point State Park, which sees people dipping into the frigid bay water in an effort to raise money for the Special Olympics of Maryland.

Registration for Plungapalooza 2009 starts at 8 a.m. and plunges in the Chesapeake Bay will take place at 1 and 3 p.m. Participants must have a minimum donation of $50. Plungers raising more money are eligible for other premiums, beginning at $500.

For registration and more information, visit www.plungemd.com.

On Saturday, about 250 climate activists from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., are scheduled to participate in the Chesapeake Climate Action Network's fourth annual Polar Bear Plunge at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Merrill Center on Herndon Road. Sign up at http:// www.keepwintercold.org/.

- From staff reports