Carroll Digest

Hampstead police display new sign to deter speeders

The Hampstead Police Department unveiled yesterday its newest method to try to slow motorists driving through town - a speed sentry display sign.

The display panel features a data logging system that alerts drivers to their speed. The system also will allow the police to analyze vehicle speeds and target areas for enforcement of speed limits.

The display was purchased with town funds and donations from State Farm Insurance, the Carroll County Health Department's CRASH Coalition in cooperation with the Maryland State Highway Safety Office, and concerned citizens.

The sign was demonstrated at the town police station.

Two businesses offer free shredding of documents

Two local Carroll County businesses - Secured Shredding Services and New Windsor Bank - will hold a shredding event Saturday for residents who want to dispose of documents.

County residents may bring one box or bag of confidential documents to be shredded free of charge by Secured Shredding's truck, which will be parked from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at New Windsor Bank in the College Square Shopping Center in Westminster.

The event is being held to raise awareness of the need to protect against personal identity theft.

Information: 410-861-8169.

County to recycle electronics Saturday

Carroll County government will hold its annual electronics recycling event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Northern Landfill, 1400 Baltimore Blvd., Westminster.

The following items will be accepted at no charge: Central Processing Units, or CPUs, monitors, printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, laptops, cell phones, copiers, televisions, videocassette recorders, calculators, stereo electronics (no speakers), adding machines, fax machines, and computer components (circuit boards, hard drives and fans).

Information: Recycling Office, 410-386-2633.

Abandoned car found in Liberty Reservoir

A Carroll County sheriff's deputy making a routine check of a boat ramp at Liberty Reservoir early yesterday spotted a submerged car with its headlights shining.

Deputy Noah Parker saw the gray 2000 Toyota about 2:30 a.m., said Maj. Thomas H. Long, a Sheriff's Office spokesman. Fire Department rescue units from Sykesville and Gamber, which has a boat for water rescue, were sent to the reservoir ramp on Oakland Mills Road in Eldersburg and determined that no one was in or near the car. A tow truck pulled it out about 3:30 a.m.

The car is owned by an Owings Mills man who told Baltimore County police he did not know it had been stolen from his home on Pleasant Hill Drive sometime after 9 p.m., Long said.

"Apparently, [someone] just took it for a joy ride and decided just to let it go into the water," Long said. "The ramp is an incline, so if you stop and push ... it will just continue down into the water."