Grants and Donations
Thank you to Kathie Peterson, Ruth Walls, the Robison Family, Wayne Davis, Elizabeth Alban, Karl Ginter, Ann Meixner, Rosemary Robinson, Monica Sturdivant, and James Bowman for their monetary donations to Voices of Laurel. We are grateful.
Board News
Our Board of Directors reported some notable achievements in the last quarter of 2023:
Board member Jeff Krulik is one of three curator/producers for the film, We Are Fugazi from Washington, DC, which had multiple sell-out screenings at the AFI Silver throughout February, and has screened since in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and more. The film was included in The Washington Post’s top movies of 2023.
Board member Carl DeWalt was reelected to his seat on the Laurel City Council, representing Ward 1.
Carl once again hosted the Annual LARS Christmas fundraiser on Dec. 16 at Oliver’s Tavern. The event is dedicated to the late Dawn Hoffman, who started it many years ago.
New Book: Capital Centre: A Retrospective
We had hoped to receive the shipment of our latest book before the end of the year, but it took a bit longer to print when we upgraded to hardcover. The books have been printed and are en route to us via cargo ship, and are now scheduled to reach U.S. Customs in New York by mid-January. We will begin processing orders as soon as we receive them. Our apologies for the delay, but having seen an advance copy of the book, we’re sure it will be worth the added wait. You can order it on our website (laurelhistory.com) and we’ll post an update on our Facebook page as soon as we have books in hand.
Rich, Kevin, and Jeff were interviewed on Robbie White’s radio show, Forbidden Alliance, on WOWD in Takoma Park, about the Capital Centre book. The show ran three hours and provided us an opportunity to share many stories about the venue.
Election Coverage
Our Fall 2023 issue featured an extensive Voters’ Guide for this year’s historic Mayor and City Council Election. Staff Writer Diane Mezzanotte interviewed all 16 candidates running for office—a feat that no other local newspaper managed to accomplish—and provided readers with an equitable, conversational overview of their ideas and aspirations for city leadership. This marked our second Voters’ Guide—the first being the Fall 2021 edition that came on the heels of the Laurel Leader’s demise.
Little Free Libraries
We’re donating copies of our books, Laurel at 150 and Postmark Laurel to Little Free Libraries around town! Visit littlefreelibrary.org or download the app to learn more about this program and to locate nearly a dozen boxes throughout Laurel. Take a book and share a book!
Upcoming Presentations
On Feb. 16, Kevin will present “The KKK in the 1960s” at the North Laurel Community Center. Virtually all activity of the Ku Klux Klan from Howard County through the greater Laurel area in the late 1960s was the work of a single narcissistic publicity hound. He was so bad that the Klan kicked him out. 11 AM. FREE.
Sometime this Spring (date TBD), Kevin will present the story of the Columbia Mall, from vision to development to its opening in 1971, which changed the face of retail shopping in the whole area. Time and date will be announced on our Facebook page. Howard County Library Miller Branch. FREE.
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