In those deals, BB&T of Winston-Salem, N.C., announced plans to buy Equitable Bank of Wheaton in a $52.6 million stock swap, and M&T Bank of Buffalo announced a $3.1 billion merger with Allfirst Financial Inc., which has a strong presence in Maryland and Pennsylvania through its Allfirst Bank branches.

Commenting on the fact that more small banking entities are being swallowed by large, national or regional "mega banks," Columbia Bank President John Bond said he sees the deals as an opportunity for the remaining community banks.

"I think this puts us in a position, along with some other community banks, where we can differentiate ourselves, differentiate our style, from these large banks and do well," said Bond, immediate past chairman of the Maryland Bankers Association. "I think this works to our advantage."

Bond added, "Certainly it's good for BB&T; they're continuing to expand their business in the area. M&T has a good reputation, and I think this is one of the first big Northern banks to come down into Maryland. But the fact is that whenever these large mergers take place, it's disruptive. You have to convert systems, a lot of times you have to change customers' account numbers, and the relationships change; you have to do business with different people. And people tend not to like change."

According to reports released this week, both Columbia and another community bank company in the region, Sandy Spring Bancorp, based in Sandy Spring, are doing well on their own. Columbia reported a 34 percent increase in net income, $2.74 million, for the third quarter of 2002, compared to the same period in 2001, and record assets totaling $991 million as of Sept. 30. Sandy Spring Bancorp reported record net income for the third quarter of $8.3 million, a 39 percent increase compared to the same period in 2001, with net assets at a record level of $2.3 billion as of Sept. 30.

A $20 million Head Start

Danya International, a Silver Spring health communications company with revenues of about $25 million a year, has landed a contract renewal for its work with Head Start. The federal Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children and Families, has awarded another one-year logistical support contract with three option years -- total value about $20 million -- to Danya, which has operated the contract for Head Start since October 1999.

Danya provides Web-based and database support for tracking and monitoring the activities and costs of Head Start programs in the country.

"Our role is to make sure they are all functioning at the necessary level," said Jeff Hoffman, founder, president and CEO of Danya. With mostly federal government clients, Danya provides communications, research, evaluation, technical assistance, marketing, public relations, training and meeting/events planning services.

The company's name?

"It came from my two children: my daughter, Daniella, and my son, Yaniv," said Hoffman.

Star Diner 'doing fine'

Although there is some concern that there are more vacant storefronts in the upscale Kentlands town center development in Gaithersburg than tenants and residents would like, reports of one restaurant's demise are not true.

Marty Kobrin, owner of Star Diner, says he did file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July, but it was a temporary move, it is over and done with, and the restaurant is doing fine. Kobrin says the bankruptcy was not an indication that the restaurant was on the ropes. Instead, he said, it involved protecting himself from creditors while dealing with a dispute with a former partner, regarding $30,000 that the partner believed was owed to him by Kobrin. Kobrin says he settled for an undisclosed amount. The case was filed July 31 and voluntarily dismissed on Sept. 23 with no objections from creditors, said Kobrin's attorney, Richard H. Gins of Gins & Greenfield, P.C., of Washington, D.C.

But Kobrin says the vacant shops near his restaurant do not help his business, predicting that the situation in Kentlands will take some time to improve. * *