St Mary's County Blog

We had a pretty good snow storm roll thru St Mary’s this last weekend. The roads around the county had good snow removal resources in place. Between state and county road crews, all public roads received the attention they required and citizens were generally able to commute to their destinations at a reasonable rate.

The South County Business Association (SCBA) held a combination meeting and "Pot Luck" dinner at The View Lounge.  Sharing of local business information and education is always an advantage to any buisiness and the SCBA December meeting proved to be a valuable resource for both.  The evening was a big success and all of those who attended enjoyed the many choices of tasty dishes that were provided by members.
The next meeting of the South County Business Association will be held on January 11th, 2010 at 7 PM.  To obtain more information about South County Business Association, vist this link [click here].

The Piney Point Lighthouse Museum and Park will offer an exhibit that depicts five different periods in time. The museum and holiday exhibit will be open 12 noon to 4 p.m. on December 12, 13, 19, and 20 and daily from December 26 through January 3, 2010. Admission is $3 per adult, $2 for senior citizens and military personnel, $1.50 for children 6 to 18, and free for kids 5 and under. All are invited to the museum’s Christmas Open House on Sunday, December 13 from 12 noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

For more information, please call the museum at 301-994-1471.

A new website for the South County Business Association has been published. The South County Business Association represents our business community located in the southern portion of St Mary's County.


The slogan for the South County Business Association is "Visit South County". Using this easy to remember slogan, the South County Business Association published a new website with the domain name of: http://www.visitsouthcounty.com/ which takes you to the association's blog.

The organization decided to use a blog in an effort to control cost, flexibility and all of the advantages afforded with the use of a social media site.

Although the site is new, it has a large amount of information in reference to available resources for southern Maryland.

The Board of County Commissioners for St. Mary’s County announces that Derick Berlage has been appointed as the Director for the County’s Department of Land Use and Growth Management, effective April 15.

Berlage has over 20 years of experience in land use and zoning issues in Maryland and served as Chairman of the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission. In that position he was Chief of the planning and parks functions for Montgomery County and served as Chairman of the County’s Planning Commission. His career includes service in the private sector as a senior real estate attorney, and additional public service as Chairman of the Montgomery County Council’s Land Use Committee and Chairman of the National Capital Transportation Planning Board.

He earned his Law Degree from the New York University School of Law and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from Princeton University. He is an active member of the American Planning Association and Urban Land Institute. “We are fortunate that Derick Berlage has agreed to lead this county department as we address important land use challenges and opportunities,” said Jack Russell, President, Board of County Commissioners for St. Mary’s County. Richard Hall, Secretary, Maryland Department of Planning, has worked with Berlage and added, “Derick Berlage is the right person for this job in St. Mary’s County. I have worked with him on the State’s Growth Task Force and he has been a great contributor; his experience will be very helpful as St. Mary’s County continues its efforts to manage growth and preserve its rural character.” The Land Use and Growth Management Department was created to enhance the quality of life for present and future generations through protection of the natural environment balanced with orderly growth, while ensuring our customers both guidance and effectiveness of the land use regulations. For more information about this department, log on to http://www.stmarysmd.com/ and click on Land Use and Growth Management under the Services box.

Note from Larry - The information above was provided by Karen Everett. Karen is the Public Information Officer for St. Mary's County Government

Our St. Mary's County Public Schools have a web based application called Home Access Center (HAC). HAC is tightly intergrated with the Teacher Access Center; the new electronic gradebook system used by our teachers. It is designed to be easy to use and equally as easy to share information between teachers, school officials, and parents.

The link that I am providing will give you access to the St. Mary's County Public School's webpage. On this page, you will find the HAC documentation and a video tutorial.

Here is the link: http://www.smcps.k12.md.us/students.aspx

Take care,
Larry

St Mary's County Blog is an easy place to locate items of interest to those of us in the southern Maryland area.

I have to be honest, when I was trying to think of a name for this blog that everyone would associate with St Marys County, it was hard. I realize that the name I ended up with appears to be an obvious choice. But, I had a ton of great names that I could choose from. Just think about all of the things that all of us in the southern part of the state take for granted that may have made fantastic names. One that I really like was "The Blinking Light". I know you are probably asking what does that have to do with southern Maryland, much less St Marys.

Here is the inspiration behind that name. If you head south in the state of Maryland and you want to go all the way down to Point Lookout State Park. You will have to go thru the southern most intersection of Md Route 5 and Md Route 235. Guess what you will see at that intersection? That's right, a blinking red light!

Although that would make a great name, I think the more appropriate name is simply St. Mary's County Blog.