Baltimore County

When two leaky 1,800-gallon propane tanks caught fire at the Coca-Cola plant in Baltimore County, Md., last week, the Washington County Special Operations Team and a local heating company went to the rescue. On Thursday, a forklift operator at the plant had damaged the propane tanks, which leaked several hundred gallons of the flammable liquid, said John Bentley, special ops deputy coordinator. Firefighters from Baltimore County put out the 50-foot flames shooting from the tanks but the heat had melted the valves, making it impossible to shut them off completely, Bentley said.

ANNAPOLIS - Tuesday's announced closing of a troubled Baltimore County state facility for mentally challenged people will not bring new dangers to a similar facility in Hagerstown, a state Cabinet secretary said. Rosewood Center in Owings Mills, Md., will be shut down once all of the patients are relocated, which is expected to take 18 months, Gov. Martin O'Malley's office said. A main concern at Potomac Center on Marshall Street in Hagerstown is whether it will get any of Rosewood's clients with criminal backgrounds.

The following Republican and Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate in Maryland will compete in primaries on Sept. 12. The Green Party candidate will be on the ballot only in the Nov. 7 general election. Republicans · Ray Bly, Howard County · Earl S. Gordon, Montgomery County · Thomas J. Hampton, Anne Arundel County · John Kimble, Prince George's County · Edward Raymond Madej, Anne Arundel County · Daniel Muffoletto, Howard County · Richard Shawver, Carroll County · Michael S. Steele, Prince George's County · Corrogan R. Vaughn, Baltimore County · Daniel "Wig Man" Vovak, Montgomery County Democrats · Benjamin L. Cardin, Baltimore County · David Dickerson, Baltimore County · George T. English, Montgomery County · James H. Hutchinson, Montgomery County · Anthony Jaworski, Montgomery County · A. Robert Kaufman, Baltimore city · Allan Lichtman, Montgomery County · Thomas McCaskill, Prince George's County · Kweisi Mfume, Baltimore City · Josh Rales, Montgomery County · Dennis F. Rasmussen, Baltimore County · Bob Robinson, Harford County · Theresa C. Scaldaferri, Prince George's County · Mike Schaefer, Baltimore city · Charles Ulysses Smith, Baltimore city · Blaine Taylor, Baltimore County ·...

Philip Baker-Shenk, right, of Sharpsburg, is shown with presidential candidate Sen. John McCain recently at a campaign stop in Baltimore County, Md. Baker-Shenk helped organize McCain's appearance at the Baltimore County Lincoln Reagan Day Dinner. He is the Western Maryland 6th District Chairman of the Maryland McCain Campaign and is past chairman of the Washington County Republican Central Committee. Standing between McCain and Baker-Shenk is former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich. 

Washington County Commissioner James R. Wade will be a guest today on Maryland Public Television 's "Newsnight Maryland" program. The topic to be discussed is taxpayer spending for sports teams. The program airs at 7 p.m. Wade will join John Moag, managing director of the Maryland Stadium Authority, and Dennis Coates, associate professor of economics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

ANNAPOLIS - Four of six Washington County delegates voted against a Baltimore County condemnation bill Tuesday, possibly jeopardizing the chances of having South Mountain designated a state battlefield this year. The Maryland House of Delegates voted 90 to 35 to give Baltimore County the power to displace up to 1,600 people. "This is still nothing but a land-grab motivated by greed. They call this revitalization. I call it rape," said Del. Diane DeCarlo, D-Baltimore/Harford.

Two Montgomery County, Md., residents filed for the 6th Congressional District race on Wednesday, the state's candidate deadline day, meaning 13 people will compete for their parties' nominations in the April primaries. U.S. Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, the Republican incumbent, is seeking his 11th term this year. In a GOP primary on April 3, he will have seven challengers, including Peter James of Germantown, who filed on Wednesday. Ron Little of Gaithersburg also filed to run on Wednesday, the fifth candidate on the Democratic side.

Martin S. Kaetzel of Hagerstown is part of the latest graduating class of the Maryland Natural Resources Police, the agency said Friday. Kaetzel will be assigned to Baltimore County. Eight officers are in the class that graduated Thursday at the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Center in Sykesville. Other new officers will be assigned to Calvert, Anne Arundel and Kent counties. The NRP says it enforces conservation, boating, traffic and criminal laws, and is the lead agency for homeland security on Maryland's waters.

From staff and AP reports Former Democratic governor William Donald Schaefer and Republican Timothy R. Mayberry, a Boonsboro resident, appeared headed for a general election contest for Maryland comptroller. The winner will succeed the late Louis L. Goldstein. With 57 percent of the precincts reporting, Schaefer had 125,974 votes, or 54 percent. His closest competitor in the balloting was Baltimore comptroller Joan Pratt, with 54,458, or 23 percent. Mayberry had 35,975 votes, or 27 percent, to Michael Steele's 27,109, or 20 percent.

Man guilty of discharging gun in store By JULIE E. GREENE / Staff Writer A Hancock man received probation before judgment Monday after pleading guilty to discharging a firearm in a liquor store in Hancock, officials said. Douglas Burnett, 33, of Main Street, has paid almost $800 in restitution to the owners of two vehicles damaged by the bullet after it went through a wall of the store, his attorney, Wiley Rutledge, told Washington County Circuit Judge Donald E. Beachley.

A team of four students from Salem Avenue Elementary School, including Mariama Cham, Journey Reed, Caleb Everhart and Andrew Harris participated in the Destination Imagination Regional Tournament March 2 at South Hagerstown High School. The team competed in an improvisational challenge called "Change in Realitee. " After drawing a slip with a dramatic change and then a communication technique, they then had five minutes to put together a scene using only eight plain white T-shirts.

More than 400 members and guests of the state's largest general agriculture organization gathered for the 97th Maryland Farm Bureau Annual Meeting and Convention Dec. 2-4 at the Clarion Resort Hotel in Ocean City. The event was highlighted with the annual awards banquet where Baltimore County took the Silver Bowl award for its outstanding program work in the past year.  Baltimore County was one of 10 counties to receive gold ratings in all six of the program areas. The honors are given for member benefits/membership, legislative affairs, women's leadership/agriculture education, young farmers, leadership development, and outstanding county Farm Bureau program.

Two Montgomery County, Md., residents filed for the 6th Congressional District race on Wednesday, the state's candidate deadline day, meaning 13 people will compete for their parties' nominations in the April primaries. U.S. Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, the Republican incumbent, is seeking his 11th term this year. In a GOP primary on April 3, he will have seven challengers, including Peter James of Germantown, who filed on Wednesday. Ron Little of Gaithersburg also filed to run on Wednesday, the fifth candidate on the Democratic side.

New congressional districts an assault on representation To the editor:   The voters of Western Maryland, and Western Maryland economic interests have been cheated by the recent redistricting of Maryland congressional districts. We all know that Maryland is a very small geographic state and that the vast majority of the population of Maryland lies within the very strongly Democratic Party-controlled areas of Baltimore, Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County, Prince Georges County and Montgomery County.

Martin S. Kaetzel of Hagerstown is part of the latest graduating class of the Maryland Natural Resources Police, the agency said Friday. Kaetzel will be assigned to Baltimore County. Eight officers are in the class that graduated Thursday at the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Center in Sykesville. Other new officers will be assigned to Calvert, Anne Arundel and Kent counties. The NRP says it enforces conservation, boating, traffic and criminal laws, and is the lead agency for homeland security on Maryland's waters.

Although Washington County was largely spared from Hurricane Irene damage last weekend, it will be included in an emergency declaration for Maryland counties affected by the storm. Kevin Lewis, the county's director of Emergency Services, said the county helped other parts of the state cope with the hurricane. Seven firefighters from Funkstown and Hancock helped Ocean City firefighters in Wicomico County from Saturday to Monday. And a three-person, swift-water rescue team with Washington County's Special Operations unit went to Baltimore County, then was called to help in Cecil County on Sunday, Lewis said.

Washington Co. Commissioners vote to reduce amount of loan to T. Rowe Price The Washington County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to reduce the amount of the county's conditional loan to T. Rowe Price from $810,000 to $736,206. The county approved the loan in February as an incentive for the global investment management company to build a 60,000-square-foot backup data-recovery center at the intersection of Md. 632 and Rench Road. At that time, the company projected it would invest $75 million in the facility.

APRIL 22, 1914-JUNE 25, 2009 SYKESVILLE, Md. - Mary Emma Allen, who for the last year lived at Fairhaven Retirement Community in Sykesville, (Carroll County), Md., died Thursday, June 25, 2009 at age 95. Until May, she had lived at Fairhaven with her sister, Helen Elizabeth (Beth) Joerdens, and her brother-in-law, Philip Joerdens Jr., who survives. Beth passed away Wednesday, May 13, 2009, at age 91. Mary Emma was born April 22, 1914, in Halethorpe, Md., to Bertha Allen (nee Steinacker)

NOV. 22, 1929-APRIL 21, 2009 FALLING WATERS, W.Va. -- Charles Garnett Copple, 79, of Falling Waters, died Tuesday, April 21, 2009, at his home with his family while under the care of Hospice. Born Nov. 22, 1929, in Shelbyville, Ind., he was the son of the late Paul Garnett Copple and Ursla (Polankas) Copple. He was a high voltage cable splicer for the Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. He also was a past commander of DAV Chapter 8. He is survived by his wife, Mary Virginia (Rowley)

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- A battle over the measurement of wealth is pitting two metropolitan counties against the rest of Maryland. At issue is when the state should compile "net taxable income" data from tax returns to calculate state aid. If the measurement date moves from Sept. 1 to Nov. 1, as has been proposed before, it would shift millions of dollars away from Baltimore and Montgomery counties to other counties. Washington County Public Schools would have gained as much as $3.8 million in fiscal year 2008, according to Anthony Trotta, the school system's chief legal counsel.