The new City Council met for the first time Monday and approved Mayor W. Benjamin Brown's recommendations for chairpersons of the council's standing committees.
Brown presented the five-member council with new assignments for the five committees. The council approved the list of appointments, which are shuffled every two years.
The committee chairpersons approved Monday are: Finance, Stephen R. Chapin Sr.; Public Improvements, Rebecca A. Orenstein; Public Works, Edward S. Calwell; Public Safety, Kenneth A. Yowan.
Also council liaisons to various boards were approved Monday. They are: Planningand Zoning, Chapin; Parks Board, Yowan; Personnel, Orenstein; and Solid Waste Management, Brown.
REZONING IS REQUESTED
The County Commissioners are expected to decide within four weeks on a request to rezone 5.2 acres in Finksburg near the Liberty Reservoir from conservation to industrial.
The Carroll Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended against the request, saying the zoning of the parcel reflected in the 1981 Finksburg and Environs Comprehensive Plan remains valid.
It also cited a 1983 commissioners' decision rejecting a similar rezoning request for the parcel and comments filed in oppositionto the proposal by the county health and water resource agencies andBaltimore City.
James and Carla Uhler of Reisterstown, Baltimore County, have requested that a portion of the 10-acre tract they own north of Route 140, east of Route 91, be rezoned to extend the industrial district.
A rezoning hearing took place Monday.
An attorneyand witnesses for the Uhlers argued that the area surrounding the tract had changed since 1981, one of the requirements for receiving rezoning approval.
James Uhler did not reveal development plans for the parcel.
The commissioners rejected the request in 1983 largely because of the parcel's proximity to the Liberty Reservoir, which provides drinking water to Baltimore City. Carroll Circuit Court upheld the commissioners' decision in a 1985 ruling.
The County Health Department recommended denying the request for four reasons, including its proximity to the reservoir and the potential adverse environmental impacts from industrial uses.
The County Bureau of Water Resource Management cited a reservoir watershed agreement between Baltimore and Carroll counties pledging to limit "additional urban development zoning" within the watersheds.
Brent Hartley, a Baltimore City watershed management director, said the city would support the commissioners' decision, but urged that measures be taken to control storm water runoff and erosion if rezoning is approved.
But he cautioned that granting the request "could set a precedent and open similar landsto more intensive uses."
William R. MacDonald, attorney for the Uhlers, said the land is best suited for industry, not conservation --which allows one residential lot for every three acres. Sufficient buffer exists to protect the reservoir, he said.
POWELL WILL RETIRE
DATELINE: TANEYTOWN
TANEYTOWN -- City Manager Neal W. Powell formalized his retirement plans in a letter submitted to the mayor and the City Council last week.
The council discussed the letter, dated May16, in an executive session Monday following a meeting to discuss proposed revisions to the city's sprinkler ordinance.
After the executive session, Mayor Henry I. Reindollar Jr. said the city will advertise immediately for a new city manager. In his letter, Powell statedhis retirement would begin July 1.
Powell, 70, was appointed citymanager in 1978. Prior to his appointment, he served as a councilmanand as a mayor. He is a former president of the Maryland Municipal League.
Powell, a Kansas native who has lived in the city since 1945, also wrote in his letter that he would be available to "assist in training my successor."
BALLAS DECISION DUE
The state Board of Education could release its decision today on Eldersburg parent Susan Ballas' appeal of a Carroll bus stop policy.
Larry Chamblin, a Maryland Department of Education spokesman, said the decision, if made, could be released during the board's regular monthly meeting, which concludes this afternoon.
Ballas presented her appeal to the state board at its April meeting. Chamblin said if the board did not release a decision at the conclusion of that meeting, it would likely do so the following month.
Ballas has appealed the Carroll board's decision not to grant her a waiver to the district's pupil transportation policy, which allows one morning and one afternoon bus stop. Exceptions are made for emergencies or parents with consistent work schedules and who need day care elsewhere for their children.
Ballas, a nurse whose work schedule changes weekly, sought a waiver to allow her third-grade daughter to get off at another bus stop, 1 mile from theirhome, two days a week.
School attorney Rochelle S. Eisenberg asked the state board to uphold the Carroll board, which is responsible for transporting 20,000 students daily.
Carroll educators have saidtoo many parents abused the former policy, revised last summer, and continual changes in stops caused extra worry.
POETRY WINNER NAMED
DATELINE: WESTMINSTER
WESTMINSTER -- The English Department of Western Maryland College has announced the winners of this year's John P. Barthel Poetry Competition.
The first-place prize of $50 was awarded to Eileen Shields Fisher of Westminster. Her poem, "Coldspot," examines a brilliant yet fleeting moment of well-being.
Fisher holds a bachelor's degree from WMC and is enrolled in the master's degree program in liberal arts.
The second-place prize was awarded to Cinda Gibbon of Cashman, Pa., for her poem, "Driving Home with my Step-Daughter on Earth Day," and third place went to Daniel Mills of Olney, Montgomery County, for his poem, "Boy, about 14, sitting and watchingthe window, splitting heirs and atoms."
Gibbon is enrolled in theMLA program and Mills received his bachelor's degree in English and religious studies in May.
In 1985, the competition was endowed by a gift from Mildred P. Barthel in memory of her husband, Dr. John. P.Barthel, who died in 1983, to support an annual poetry competition at the college for 10 years.
Only WMC students may enter. The required subject matter for the contestants is "the home and family."
Kathy Mangan, poet and English professor at WMC, served as the competition coordinator.
Here's Fisher's winning entry:
Coldspot
Mykitchen smells of fresh bread and daughters, warm and hopeful, believing all is still possible.
I nibble from a bowl of seedless blackmarinating olives (balsamic vinegar the secret).
Daughters, like measured portions of suffering, should be given only to those who canwithstand the experience.
I am frightened by their soft sturdiness.
I may not be up to daughters.
The train whistle seeps into the house from the middle of town, where no one lives.
Warning: Someone is going to find out I have this and they will come to steal it away.
I ask my daughter if she wants peach or raspberry jelly.
She replies, "Both."
POOL OPENING DELAYED
DATELINE: HAMPSTEAD
HAMPSTEAD -- Despite hopes the town pool would open by Memorial Day, Councilman Gary W. Bauer said it may not be ready until later next week.
Bauer said one problem will be painting the interior of the pool, which still had water in it by Tuesday. The pool must be dry for three days before painting and for three days afterward.
The pool thisyear will be run by the Carroll County YMCA, on an agreement with the town. Memberships are $75 for an individual and $100 for a family.
BENZ BENEFIT PLANNED
Members of Faith Baptist Church in Hampstead are planning a banquet next month to help their pastor pay for a bonemarrow transplant in July.
The Rev. Bert Benz of Manchester foundout last summer he had leukemia and would not live more than three to four years without a bone marrow transplant.
Blood drives in thecommunity failed to locate a perfect match to donate marrow to Benz,but doctors now are willing to use marrow from his daughter, Lauren, 12.
Although Lauren matches only four of her father's six antigens, the fact that she's a blood relative helps boost the chance of the transplant working, Benz said.
The transplant, to be done at theUniversity of Kentucky in Lexington, will cost Benz $50,000 above what his insurance will pay.
He has raised $14,300 so far, he said.
The benefit dinner will be at 7 p.m. June 14 at Martin's Westminster and will include entertainment by Christian performers, he said.
Cost is $20 a person. For reservations, call Martins at 876-1500.