Bethel Road

Finksburg-area residents are ready for a fight if the county planning commission recommends the rezoning of hundreds of acres of woodland and farmland for industrial use.Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission will meet Thursday to discuss proposed revisions to the county master plan. They include proposals to rezone nearly 500 acres at Bethel Road and Route 140 in Finksburg.The 75 residents who attended a recent Finksburg Planning Area Council meeting made it clear they oppose rezoning the Bethel Road site, designated for agriculture and conservation.

Route 140 was closed in both directions near Bethel Road in Carroll County for a little over an hour this afternoon as crews worked to clean up diesel fuel leaking from a tanker that overturned, according to the Maryland State Highway Administration. The tanker overturned near a Royal Farms store between Westminster and Sykesville around 12:30 p.m. The road reopened before 2 p.m., but the tanker remains overturned in the Royal Farms parking lot, according to highway officials.

A story in Wednesday's Carroll and Howard editions should have made clear that the current auto-emissions testing station on Bethel Road near Route 140 in Carroll County will remain in operation until the end of this year.

Finksburg-area residents are ready for a fight if the county planning commission recommends the rezoning of hundreds of acres of woodland and farmland for industrial use.Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission will meet Thursday to discuss proposed revisions to the county master plan. They include proposals to rezone nearly 500 acres at Bethel Road and Route 140 in Finksburg.The 75 residents who attended a recent Finksburg Planning Area Council meeting made it clear they oppose rezoning the Bethel Road site, designated for agriculture and conservation.

County business leaders are asking Carroll's planning office to evaluate a square-mile site north of Route 140 and east of Bethel Road in Reese for use as an industrial park.Little was said about the property other than its size -- "600 to 800 acres" -- yesterday at the monthly meeting of the county Economic Development Commission. Although specific acreage has not been identified, the terrain consists mostly of rolling woodland, groves of trees surrounded by clearings and farmland.The target area is across Bethel Road from another industrial property, Telemecanique, an electrical components manufacturer that closed its plant in August 1993.

POLICE* Westminster: A Manchester resident reported to city police that someone severely scratched the side of her vehicle while it was parked at the Cranberry Mall lot Tuesday. She estimated the damage at $1,000.A resident of Bloom Road told state police someone broke the driver's window and trunk lock of her car and stole cassette tapes valued at $250. The vehicle was parked at the house Tuesday when the theft occurred.A 16-year-old student of Westminster High School reported to state police that someone slashed and punctured all four tires of his 1984 Ram Charger while the vehicle was parked at the school Monday.

PoliceMount Airy: A Mount Airy resident told state police that someone used a key to enter his vehicle while it was parked at a Ford dealership in the 300 block of Century Drive between 8 p.m. Monday and 5: 30 p.m. Tuesday. A cellular telephone and charger were stolen. The loss was estimated at $70.FireMount Airy: Mount Airy units responded at 8: 51 p.m. Wednesday for an open 911 line in the 1400 block of N. Main St. Units were out 12 minutes.Winfield: Winfield firefighters responded at 6: 39 p.m. Wednesday for a field fire in the 5600 block of Bethel Road.

WESTMINSTER -- Twenty-seven employees at the Telemecanique Inc. plant on Bethel Road voluntarily quit their jobs earlier this month as part of an effort to reduce the work force, a company official said.The company has been restructuring since selling its Route 140 building last year and consolidating manufacturing at 2002 Bethel Road.A county official said last week that he expects the company to phase out its operations here in 12 to 18 months, but the company said that no such decision has been made.

FIRE* Reese: Reese and Westminster responded for a fire alarm on Bethel Road at 5:40 a.m. Thursday. Units were out for 10 minutes.Reese and Westminster were dispatched for a house fire on Bethel Road at 2:52 p.m. Wednesday. Units were out for 15 minutes.* Westminster: Westminster investigated a report of smoke on Long Valley Road at 10:12 a.m. Thursday. Units were out for 10 minutes.Westminster responded to the Cranberry Square Shopping Center on North Center Street for a broken water line in a cleaner's shop at 7:52 p.m. Wednesday.

Route 140 crash victim in serious conditionA 71-year-old Baltimore woman injured in a car accident at Route 140 and Bethel Road Thursday afternoon was listed in serious but stable condition Friday at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.Inez Margaret Bull of the 1600 block of Waverly Way drove into the path of a 1992 Ford Econoline 250 van as she tried to cross Route 140 from the north side of Bethel Road.She was driving a 1988 Oldsmobile Firenza.The five men in the van were not seriously injured.

As the county's Planning and Zoning Commission begins a tour today of 10 industrial and commercial sites that Carroll economic development officials want rezoned for business development, Westminster leaders are refusing to extend city water and sewer service along Route 140 to one key property.Carroll County's Economic Development Commission has been eyeing a nearly 500-acre parcel near Route 140 and Bethel Road in Reese for more than 18 months and has recommended commercial zoning for the conservation and agricultural land.

Carroll should keep 471 acres of agricultural and conservation land north of Route 140 and east of Bethel Road for use as an industrial park in about 10 years, a real estate consultant has advised county officials.The site -- consisting of eight parcels of rolling woodland, clearings and farmland -- is across Bethel Road from an industrial property once used by Telemecanique Inc., an electrical components manufacturer that closed in August 1993.Carroll's Economic Development Commission has been eyeing the Bethel Road property near Finksburg as a potential industrial site for more than 15 months.

A Baltimore County woman, who was accused of assaulting Wal-Mart employees who tried to stop her from carrying merchandise out of the Westminster store, was released yesterday on an unsecured $3,500 bond, court records show.Police said a shopper was subdued by an off-duty Baltimore police officer, after she grabbed Kenneth Barker, a security officer, kicked Andrew Sewell, the store manager, and bit Eileen Kilby, an employee.Witnesses told police the woman shouted, "I have AIDS," after biting Kilby and trying to make her way to a nearby car.John Emminizer, the off-duty officer, came out of the store and, seeing the disturbance, announced he was a police officer and told the woman to stop, police said.

If a large industrial park is to be built five miles southeast of Westminster, county and city officials say many obstacles need to be overcome.The county should build an industrial park of at least 400 acres or more, officials believe, to attract industry, generate jobs and increase Carroll County's commercial tax base.Half of the county's 72,000-person work force travels to work outside the county each day and the county's commercial tax base accounts for only 12.08 percent of revenues, according to John T. Lyburn Jr., the county's economic development director.

County business leaders are asking Carroll's planning office to evaluate a square-mile site north of Route 140 and east of Bethel Road in Reese for use as an industrial park.Little was said about the property other than its size -- "600 to 800 acres" -- yesterday at the monthly meeting of the county Economic Development Commission. Although specific acreage has not been identified, the terrain consists mostly of rolling woodland, groves of trees surrounded by clearings and farmland.The target area is across Bethel Road from another industrial property, Telemecanique, an electrical components manufacturer that closed its plant in August 1993.

PoliceMount Airy: A Mount Airy resident told state police that someone used a key to enter his vehicle while it was parked at a Ford dealership in the 300 block of Century Drive between 8 p.m. Monday and 5: 30 p.m. Tuesday. A cellular telephone and charger were stolen. The loss was estimated at $70.FireMount Airy: Mount Airy units responded at 8: 51 p.m. Wednesday for an open 911 line in the 1400 block of N. Main St. Units were out 12 minutes.Winfield: Winfield firefighters responded at 6: 39 p.m. Wednesday for a field fire in the 5600 block of Bethel Road.

A 71-year-old Baltimore woman was in critical condition at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore last night after she drove her car into the path of a van on Route 140 east of Westminster.Margaret Inez Bull, of the 1600 block of Waverly Way, was taken to the hospital by state police helicopter. She was alone in the car and was unconscious after the 1:40 p.m. crash, Tfc. Doug Reitz said.None of the five men in the 1992 maroon Ford Econoline 250 van was seriously injured.The trooper said Ms. Bull, who was driving a white 1988 four-door Oldsmobile Firenza, pulled away from a stop sign on the north side of Bethel Road to cross Route 140.The van, driven by Gary Bauerlien, 34, of Taneytown was headed west in the left lane and could not avoid her car, the trooper said.

State police are searching for a 5-year-old registered quarter horse apparently stolen from a farm on Silver Run Valley Road on Sunday. Officers said they were called to the farm about 8 p.m. when the horse and a saddle were discovered missing.Investigators said the horse is owned by the Maryland Horse Reserve Center in Kensington. The horse and saddle are valued at $5,800, police said.POLICE* Westminster: A resident of Johahn Drive reported someone shattered the glass of his front door with a rock Sunday.

Carroll County's planned purchase of the former Telemecanique building to be used as headquarters for the Board of Education makes little sense from any perspective.If the county commissioners -- W. Benjamin Brown, Donald I. Dell and Richard T. Yates -- go through with this purchase, the board will be long remembered for squandering millions of taxpayer dollars on this boondoggle.There could hardly be a worse location or a worse building for the school headquarters.The Telemecanique site on Bethel Road in Reese is not an appropriate location for a government department of 250 people.