Way Downstream

In Anne Arundel County, you won’t see as many casual, and illegal, signs lining county roads. Seven thousand illegal signs have been removed, along with 11,479 trash bags of garbage, all by jailed workers. Over the past eight months, inmates contributed some 8,114 hours picking up roadside trash. Labor: free. Landfill tipping fee: $145,712. Not having to look at roadside litter: priceless …

Paul Flynn with the floating reefs on which Circle C’s oysters grow.

In Annapolis, Program Open Space is contributing $840,708 to make two parks more people-friendly. Approved by the Board of Public Works (Gov. Martin O’Malley, Treasurer Nancy Kopp and Comptroller Peter Franchot), the grants are part of an improvements package that included 13 parks in six counties.

At Bay Head Park, $655,000 will create three athletic fields with outdoor lighting, a playground, a concession/restroom building and parking areas. Truxtun Park got two separate grants: The first, for $77,138, will renovate two picnic pavilions and install outdoor cooking grills and picnic tables. The second, for $108,570, will replace failing, aged outdoor lighting on two softball fields with energy efficient lighting.

Program Open Space is funded by our real-estate transfer-tax dollars …

In Glen Burnie, one business is hooking into March Madness to enhance worker morale. Starting March 20, travel company Travel Advantage Network turns on plasma televisions, sets up games and brings on basketball-themed snacks. A 10-foot screen projects the NCAA college basketball playoff games at all times, and wading into the office pool could win an employee a weekend getaway to a Cambridge spa …

In Calvert and St. Mary’s counties, recreational anglers, aquaculturists and citizens are working together to restore oysters to the Chespeake ecosystem. Following the patented plan of aquaculturist Richard Pelz of Circle C Oyster Ranch, the anglers of Coastal Conservation Association Maryland, Patuxent River Chapter established 25,000 oysters in floats. The oysters will live in St. Mary’s St. Thomas Creek for two years before, freed, they’re planted in a permanent sanctuary on the Patuxent River. Homeowners on Calvert County’s Hellen Creek plan the next crop of water-purifying bivalves …

In Washington, D.C., lifting a federal ban on growing hemp could liberate America from dependence on foreign oil and clean up our air, water and lungs while fueling our cars. The non-profit think tank Reason Foundation promotes hemp as a wonder plant. In the field, it’s cheaper and less demanding of fertilizer and pesticides than most other crops, notably corn, the current source of much ethanol. Harvested, it would not only power our vehicles but also clothe our bodies. Its fibers substitute for polyester, cotton, fiberglass and concrete. Reason Foundation says people won’t be inhaling this crop: Marijuana cultivated for drug value contains between three and 10 percent of the active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol. Hemp typically contains 0.3 percent or less …

Our Creature Feature comes from Macedonia, where a bear has been convicted of theft for stealing honey after frustrating a beekeeper’s best efforts to keep the creature away with loud strange music called turbo-folk.

In Beekeeper v. Bear, Zoran Kiselock testified that he did keep the bear away from his hives for weeks with music by Serbian turbo-folk star Ceca — until his generator ran out of power, Reuters reported.

Then back came the hive-wrecking bear, prompting a court in the city of Bitola to pronounce the bear guilty of theft and damage. Under Macedonian law, the state was ordered to pay Kiselosk the equivalent of $3,500 since the bear had no owner and — as far as we know — no money …