Olney Mill Community Association

This coming Saturday, April 5, the Olney Mill Community Association (OMCA) will be sponsoring its 5th OMCA Spring Clean-up. Bring your families and friends to join us for our annual celebration of Earth Day! Last year, nearly 70 volunteers collected litter, cans, bottles, and other items throughout our local parks and along roads and trails. Maryland National Capital Parks & Planning (M-NCPPC) will provide gloves and trash bags, and they will give Student Service Learning (SSL) hour credits for student volunteers. After the Clean-up, we invite everyone to join us at the Oakley Cabin on Brookeville Rd (100 yds east of Grayheaven) for a pizza lunch, compliments of OMCA.

We will meet at 8:30 am at three different staging areas: 1) the Olney Mill House on the corner of Olney Mill Rd and 108, 2) the Olney Family Park on Willow Grove, 3) The Olney Neighborhood Park on Charline Manor. We need 2-3 people helping at the Mill House location. The rest should go either to the Family Park or Charline Manor Park where much larger areas need to be covered.

Be sure to bring a rain coat if the weather looks at all threatening. You should also wear jeans and long-sleeved shirts to avoid scratches from branches. Wear waterproof boots even if it’s clear because many of the grassy areas may be swampy. We will be asking for a few adventurous individuals to collect trash from the stream-beds and ponds. If you are interested, dress accordingly and please let us know if you can do this when you arrive at the staging area.

Please pass the word to anyone you think might be able to participate, even if they are not Olney Mill residents. The more people who join us, the more we can accomplish! Please contact Dennis Twombly by phone (office, 301-443-9334; cell, 301-461-4357) or by email if you plan to attend so we can distribute the volunteers appropriately. Sunday is our official “rain date”. If it’s just drizzling lightly by 8:30 Saturday morning, we will go ahead that day as scheduled. Any last minute announcements or postponements will be posted to the web sited by 8:00 am on Saturday morning.

We hope you can join us for this worthwhile and enjoyable experience. Please write down the above contact numbers so you call us about any last-minute changes.

See you Saturday!

The Egg Roll will be held on Monday, March 24 at the Olney Family Park on Willow Grove at 12:00 – NOON! Remember to bring a basket for each child to collect the eggs. The egg roll, egg race and egg toss will take place immediately after the egg hunt on the basketball court. Everyone is welcome, and help from parents is greatly appreciated (and needed)! Call Ginger for more information and to volunteer – 301-570-0394 (before 10:00am) or 301-461-9588 (after 10:00am).

BAD WEATHER (?) – the weather report is calling for variable early morning rain/snow but clearing by noon. If the rain is light, the egg hunt will proceed on schedule. A downpour means we will have to cancel the event. There will be NO raindate – sorry! The decision to cancel will be made by 11:00am – check back here at the web site for last-minute announcements. No updates means we’ll see you at the park!

Hop on over to Olney Mill’s Easter Egg Hunt on Monday, March 24th at Noon at the Olney Family Park
(entrance on Willow Grove Road).
Check this website for information on re-scheduling if the weather turns bad on the 24th.

The first Neighborhood Watch program organizational meeting is planned for Sunday, February 24th, 2-4 pm, at the Longwood Community Center. All Olney Mill residents are encouraged to attend. Planned topics for discussion include:

1. Establishing ways to alert Olney Mill residents of incidents occurring in the community (e-mail list, phone tree, web site message, etc.)
2. The role of “block captains” and how we might implement this feature into our program
3. Secure Neighborhood Watch signs to be posted at the entrances into Olney Mill

The address for the Longwood Community Center is:

19300 Georgia Avenue
Brookeville, Maryland 20833

Olney Mill residents on Clover Hill Lane report that their truck and van were broken into on Sunday, February 17. Cash and credit cards were stolen.

Vehicle burglaries tend to occur in clusters in communities. There have been numerous vehicle burglaries in Tanterra and greater Olney in recent days. Olney Mill residents should be prepared!

Some tips: Lock your car and truck doors, even if they are parked in your driveway. Do not leave valuables in your car or truck. This is especially true of keys and garage door openers. Please don’t leave spare keys to your house or other vehicles in your cars or trucks. Don’t leave the garage door opener in a car parked outside your garage.

The Olney Mill Community Association Board announces the launch of the new OMCA website:

olneymill.net

The new website will be the Community Bulletin Board for upcoming activities and the primary means of contacting the OMCA Board regarding Community concerns.

See this space for upcoming events. View Color Versions of The Millstream! And check this website for photos of our community events!