Olney Mill Community Association

The Olney Mill Picnic will be held at the Family Park again this year (the park with the ponds and baseball diamonds). Food, music, games, magic and the opportunity to get to know your neighbors! The Family Park entrance is on Willow Grove Road, and there is easy pedestrian access from Treadway, Mount Olney Lane, and Olney Mill road. Come join the fun from Noon to 3 pm. Residents are encouraged to walk to the park, since nearby parking is very limited (non-existent, actually). It’s an Olney Mill tradition and our Nation’s Birthday!

Urgent Notice for Olney Mill Residents: Sometime from April 28 to May 10, Montgomery County will be spraying insecticide to control gypsy moth caterpillars. The gypsy moth is the most serious pest of hardwood trees in Montgomery County and state wide. The caterpillars feed on the leaves, often causing defoliation that damages trees and sometimes causes trees to die. Only areas with high numbers of gypsy moths are being treated. The date of the application will depend on weather conditions. M-NCPPC plans to have staff in the Family Park to keep residents off the trails and out of the park during the spraying.

The insecticide B.t. will be applied by a helicopter flying approximately 50 feet above tree top level. Applications will begin at dawn and continue as long as weather conditions are favorable for spraying. Application to a specific area is usually completed in 15-30 minutes. The spray dries on leaves in approximately 30 minutes. The spray contains the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.). To be effective, B.t. must be eaten as the caterpillar feeds on leaves. There is no evidence that the use of B.t. poses any risk to humans, domestic animals, or the environment. A good source of information about the insecticide is available on the internet at

For more information about the Gypsy Moth Suppression Program, please see the website:

Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, Gypsy Moth Suppression Program: Daytime phone (240) 777-7700; 24-hour hotline (240) 777-7788.
E-mail: AskDEP@montgomerycountymd.gov

On Saturday, May 3, from 8:30 am until noon, OMCA and the Greater Olney Civic Association (GOCA) are sponsoring an Olney area litter clean-up as part of the extended Earth Day activities. Although OMCA and other homeowner associations and service organizations already host their own clean-up efforts, many of the main roads in the Olney area continue to have a great deal of trash and other debris. We invite all of you who care for the quality of our environment to dedicate a few hours to help cleaning up some of these worst areas. Student Service Learning (SSL) hours will be credited to students who participate. Some of the areas we are targeting are safe for younger family members. Others are along very busy highways such as Georgia (97), Olney-Laytonsville Road (108), Bowie Mill or Brookeville Road. We are particularly in need of dedicated adult volunteers who can work along these more dangerous sections of roads.

In order to coordinate this event, it is essential for volunteers to sign up in advance so that we can arrange for distribution of materials (bags, gloves) and assign specific areas to clean. Please email Dennis Twombly (Parks & Common Areas Liaison) to sign up, or call (301) 443-9334. In case of significant rain, we will re-schedule the event for the following day, Sunday, May 4. Any last-minute announcements will be posted on this OMCA web site (www.olneymill.net).

If you cannot participate this time, but want to sign up for our general volunteer list, send your name and email address to Dennis. We will notify you of any upcoming OMCA cleanup activities or other projects.

OMCA, GOCA, and everyone in our community will be most grateful for your help!

Dennis Twombly (OMCA) & Bob Beard (GOCA)

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 (click “Contact OMCA — Parks & Common Areas”) 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 (www.olneymill.net).

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

Seasons Greetings!! Our annual Tree Lighting will be held at the Olney Mill House this Sunday, December 2, starting at 7:00 pm. Note that the Mill Stream mistakenly listed the event as being on December 1. It will be on Sunday, as usual. We are hoping for a Special Visitor to arrive at 7:30 (don’t tell your kids, but bring your cameras)! We will be serving hot chocolate, apple cider, cookies, and a few other treats, compliments of OMCA. The Cub Scouts will be tending the bonfire outside the Mill House. As with last year, we will hand out tickets to see Santa. There will be 6 groups of tickets (A-F), and one ticket will be given to each family. Pick yours up when you arrive. When your group letter is called, you can join the line. We are doing this so parents can visit with other Olney Mill residents and kids can run around and stay warm rather than spending the evening in line. Those who don’t get tickets will go last, but everyone will definitely have a chance to visit with Santa.

The Children’s Holiday Party will be at Belmont Elementary on Saturday, December 1. Set up will start at 12:00 noon.

We urgently need parent volunteers to help with both of these events. Please call Dennis Twombly at (301) 570-0394 or (301) 461-4357.

See you this weekend!!

The third orientation class for the Neighborhood Watch program will be held Thursday, November 15, at Rosa Parks Middle School beginning at 7 pm. Officers from the Montgomery County Police Department will discuss the 911 system, and recognizing gang activity. Refreshments will be provided!