Howard year in review

Then: Residents opposed to plans for Centennial Gardens, a low-income housing development in Ellicott City, call for an independent investigation into the county?s Housing Commission.

Now: An audit of the commission is under way; Centennial Gardens was scrapped.

FEBRUARY

Then: Former Mount Hebron High School student Robert Brazell Jr., 18, of Ellicott City, dies after being hit with a baseball bat during a brawl at Mount Hebron High involving 20 students.

Now: A grand jury indicts Corey Lehnhoff, 18, of Ellicott City, on first- and second-degree assault, dangerous weapons and riot charges. Former Oakland Mills High wrestler Kevin Klink, 18, of Columbia, is indicted on murder charges for swinging the bat at Brazell and is at the county?s detention center awaiting trial in February.

Then: Police want to use stun guns, but some county officials question whether enough research is available on the weapons? safety.

Now: The County Council passed a measure in March allowing police to use Tasers; the police department launched a pilot program in July, arming 25 officers with Tasers.

MARCH

Then: Ayten Icgoren, of Columbia, agrees to supervised probation and psychological evaluation in Howard District Court after being arrested and accused of hoarding more than 100 diseased and dead cats.

Now: Icgoren is appealing her criminal conviction for animal cruelty and awaiting trial in January.

Then: Councilwoman Courtney Watson proposes a measure that would eliminate two-family dwellings on residential lots of least 12,000 square feet to prevent new housing from being squeezed into existing communities.

Now: The bill dies, but the County Council passes a related measure requiring lots for two-family dwellings to be at least 16,000 square feet.

APRIL

Then: Activists want the County Council to table a bill extending public water and sewer to about 70 acres at Turf Valley in Ellicott City in favor of more environmental testing on the former golf course land.

Now: The measure passes, as does a requirement that Turf Valley landowners test the land for contaminants before building on the former golf course.

Then: Howard Transit starts offering new stops every half-hour at routes serving Columbia Mall, and earlier and later service on some routes, among other changes.

Now: After mounting complaints, three buses are added for seniors and riders with disabilities as well as hybrid cars to the HT Ride system, and repairs are expedited.

MAY

Then: Howard restricts residents? water use, because repairs to the eroding water main serving Howard and Anne Arundel counties are still not complete.

Now: The ban was lifted in September; repairs to the Baltimore County water main have been completed.

Then: The $225,000 restoration of the Woodlawn Slave Quarters in Columbia is completed.

Now: Activists are considering restoring structures on the Columbia Association-owned property and creating an educational component that could become a stop on a historic trail running through Howard.

JUNE

Then: A grand jury indicts Kirsten Ann Kinley, a former special education teacher at Marriotts Ridge High School, on third-degree sex offense charges after she was arrested and accused of having sex with a 15-year-old boy.

Now: Kinley is in the county?s detention center.

Then: Charles David Richardson, 23, of Columbia, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Trae Davon Allen, 19, and Alevtina Zhilina, 40, both of Columbia, in Columbia?s Running Brook community.

Now: Richardson is in the county?s detention center, awaiting trial in July.

JULY

Then: Columbia?s City Fair may celebrate a community founded 40 years ago on inclusiveness and acceptance, but a gay rights support group has its banner stolen from its booth.

Now: The banner was never recovered; the Columbia/Howard County chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays purchased a new one in September.

Then: County Executive Ken Ulman says he found out his housekeeper was an illegal immigrant and fires her.

Now: Ulman says he has not hired a new housekeeper or cleaning service.

AUGUST

Then: Adrian Maldonado, 23, is sentenced to 30 years in prison for stabbing to death Marvin Harding during a 2006 dispute over a woman in an Elkridge hotel on Route 1.

Now: Maldonado is in Jessup Correctional Institution.

Then: Mount Hebron High School Principal Dave Brown says the school is ready to open, but Help Mount Hebron says renovations should be “seriously considered.”

Now: A committee has been debating aspects of the renovation after the school board voted to recommend $50 million be budgeted to fix the school in the coming years.

SEPTEMBER

Then: Rats are found on campus at Mount Hebron High in Ellicott City.

Now: School officials say no indication of rats has been seen on the school property or inside the building.

Then: A large bigleaf magnolia, discovered in West Friendship, could be crowned a National Champion Tree.

Now: Nonprofit American Forests will announce the champion trees in the spring.

OCTOBER

Then: Howard officials unveil a plan ? not insurance but services with a fee ? to give uninsured county residents access to health care.

Now: Health officials expect to complete the plan in January for launch in July.

Then: Wilde Lake High School in Columbia has two confirmed cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureas.

Now: The school system stopped confirming cases when the number at county public schools reached 11 in mid-November, at the suggestion of the health department, which said updating wasn?t necessary unless cases suggested an outbreak.

NOVEMBER

Then: Police identify the body of Nancy Riggins, a month after her husband Paul Stephen Riggins, led police to her body. He was convicted for her murder in 2001 in Howard?s first “no body” homicide case.

Now: Riggins is in the Jessup Correctional Institution.

Then: Howard Circuit Judge Lenore Gelfman suspends the remainder of Melissa Burch Harton?s sentence after she pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the strangulation death of Natasha Bacchus Magee, 31, of Stewartstown, Pa.

Now: Harton, 27, is living in Columbia.

DECEMBER

Then: Several health professionals oppose a Howard Public Schools policy that would allow confidential information about a student?s pregnancy to be shared with principals and parents.

Now: The school board is expected to vote on the policy this month.

Then: State?s Budget Director T. Eloise Foster is found guilty of a drunken-driving charge in Howard District Court.

Now: Foster is on unsupervised probation, provided she abstains from alcohol for one year and completes 10 hours of community service by Feb. 28.