December 30, 1990
Although the County Commissioners denied his department's request for semi-automatic weapons, Sheriff Grover N. "Sam" Sensabaugh plans to use confiscated drug money to buy 20 of them anyway. The cost of the 9mm semiautomatic handguns is $7,000, Sensabaugh says. In addition to the money from drug busts, the department will trade in its old .38-caliber revolvers to help defray the costs.
AIDS lesson approved
After months of debate, the school board approves a controversial program to teach fourth-graders about AIDS. Students will need parental permission to take the one-day lesson and see a 15-minute videotape explaining the deadly disease. Although a pilot program introduced earlier this year won parental support, a handful of parents told the school board they believed the program could stir an unhealthy curiosity about sex among naive 9- and 10-year-olds.
Upscale development OK'd
The County Planning and Zoning Commission approves a preliminary subdivision plan for 147 homes -- surrounding a private golf course -- at prices ranging from $350,000 to $500,000 per unit. The Challendon development is planned for a 618-acre tract zoned conservation, bordered by Gillis Falls Road and Route 27 northeast of Mount Airy. A site plan for the proposed 18-hole golf course will be submitted and reviewed separately from the subdivision plan.
Day-care costs
Carroll day-care operators of before- and after-school programs call for the public school system to act as a partner rather than a landlord. School officials have announced revised guidelines for using rooms after school, including a fee increase. Day-care associations, which currently pay the same fees as other profit-making community groups, would be charged an annual rate of $2.67 per square foot.
Tales of horror
The trial of two Marston brothers, each charged with three counts of animal cruelty at their 112-acre farm, opens with tales of horror. Chief county animal control officer David R. Stair said 30 percent to 50 percent of the approximately 250 animals on the farm were sick or malnourished and wallowing in their own excrement. In his opening statement, Baltimore defense attorney Roland Walker said the brothers -- Carroll Lynn Schisler, 44, and August "Fred" Schisler, 38, routinely purchase sick animals at auction and nurse them back to health.
On probation
Western Maryland College's campus safety director is reprimanded and placed on probation by a college administrator who charged the director's testimony before the county liquor board tarnished WMC's image. Joseph Owsianiecki was subpoenaed to testify before the board on liquor violations at the college; two days later his supervisor wrote a letter chiding him for failing to give background information "to the point of misrepresentation." County law enforcement sources call the actions against Owsianiecki, the third safety director in three years, the latest chapter in strained relations between a college bent on preserving its peaceful image and a security department confronting student drug and alcohol abuse.
Mount Airy wants more
When 294 Mount Airy residents responded to a survey, they said they wanted more movie theaters and clothing stores, a swimming pool and recreation center and Mount Airy's small-town character to be preserved.
Town administrators, who sent the survey to 1,600 households, say the results will have a bearing on the shape of the town's comprehensive Master Plan, due to be completed in early 1991.
Police seek armed robber
State police in Westminster are seeking a man who robbed a New Windsor woman at gunpoint after she withdrew money from an automatic teller machine. Police said the robbery occurred around 1 p.m. on a Sunday at the Maryland National Bank machine in the Carrolltowne Mall. The victim, who was on her way back to her car, surrendered her money after the suspect threatened her with a six-inch survival knife, police said.
Prosecutor probes case
State Special Prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli begins his investigation into the January search of County Commissioner Jeff Griffith's car by the county Drug Coordinating Committee. Montanarelli said he took the case in June after county State's Attorney Thomas E. Hickman resigned from the state commission that selects special prosecutors because of conflict of interest; Hickman's office runs the coordinating committee.
Cash in on recycling
Jackson S. Haden, who owns a Baltimore County trash removal business, gambles that interest in recycling is more than just a fad. He put $2.5 million toward converting the old Congoleum plant in Finksburg into Phoenix Recycling Inc. Carroll County sells to Haden all the recyclables it collects in the red bins placed in towns; after Haden processes the recyclables, he sells them to companies that use the material.
Fire company buys land
