Boonsboro

BOONSBORO -- Deep in the woods above town, Walter Lawson and his boys help others make beautiful music.In their hands, fat rolls of sheet metal and long tubes of copper become the graceful curves and polished bells of some of the world's finest French horns.To the untrained eye and ear, Lawson horns might look ordinary. But to music's hottest lips, including several in Baltimore, a Lawson horn is worth a year's wait.Each one is crafted to exacting specifications and adjusted to the player's needs.

BOONSBORO -- They do it for the challenge, for the "Kodak moments," and because it feels so good when they stop.One thousand runners will thunder across the starting line here tomorrow morning for the 37th annual JFK 50-Mile ultramarathon. They will thump up 1,190-foot South Mountain, pick their way along the rocky Appalachian Trail and gut it out along 26 miles of the C&O Canal towpath before reaching the finish line in Williamsport."It's the closest I come to a self-induced death," says Jon Acton, a 13-time participant.

BOONSBORO -- Deep in the woods above town, Walter Lawson and his boys help others make beautiful music.In their hands, fat rolls of sheet metal and long tubes of copper become the graceful curves and polished bells of some of the world's finest French horns.To the untrained eye and ear, Lawson horns might look ordinary. But to music's hottest lips, including several in Baltimore, a Lawson horn is worth a year's wait.Each one is crafted to exacting specifications and adjusted to the player's needs.

BOONSBORO -- A 70-year-old Alzheimer's patient who had been missing about 12 hours from his Frederick County home was found yesterday on a road in neighboring Washington County after a search involving six government agencies.John Jacob Gilroy, who was last seen by his family Friday night, left his home in western Frederick County on foot. The family searched for three hours before contacting the police.The missing man was found on Reno Monument Road in Washington County, about five miles from his home.

Former Union Bridge Mayor Edward L. Williar died Tuesday at the Fahrney-Keedy Nursing Home in Boonsboro. He was 83.His grandson, Ed Williar of Union Bridge, said Mr. Williar suffered from diabetes. The disease had led to the amputation of both his legs, he said."When he and my grandmother realized he would need medical care and they would have to do some work on the house for him, they sold the house where they had lived for 47 years on Main Street," he said.Mr. Williar entered the nursing home, and his wife of 64 years, Irene, moved to Boonsboro to be near him."

BOONSBORO -- While the troops under his command primped and practiced yesterday for a battle they knew they would lose, "Brig. Gen." Bob Drane squatted under a white canvas awning and explained how he was going to die.A bullet would hit him in the chest, he said, just as a battalion of North Carolina infantrymen charged forward to reinforce the Confederate left flank. His men would drag him to a quiet spot in the woods, and he would bleed to death. The bugler would sound taps.And today, he'll do it again.

The annual Bags of Plenty campaign to collect food for the needy is hoping donors will make a bus stop this weekend in Towson or Glen Burnie for its "Stuff-a-Bus" event.From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow, Mass Transit Administration buses will be outside Giant Food stores at Perring Parkway and Joppa Road in Towson and the Southdale Shopping Center at Ritchie Highway and Mountain Road in Glen Burnie.lTC The event is sponsored by Giant, the MTA and radio station MIX 106.5-FM.

HAGERSTOWN -- A former teacher's aide accused of having sex with two of her high school students pleaded guilty $l yesterdayto misdemeanor charges of contributing to the delinquency of minors and providing them with alcohol.Brenda Sue Hargett, 35, admitted to having sex with two Boonsboro High School youths, ages 16 and 17, and giving alcohol to them and another 17-year-old.L Hargett entered her plea in Washington County Circuit Court.Pub Date: 10/07/98

Almost a year later, Maryland's ace volunteers are still at it, except for Takoma Park crime-fighter Carrie Spicer, 91. She finally left the Takoma Park Police Department in December after 11 years of recording the comings and goings of burglars and muggers.Ms. Spicer was one of 12 recipients of the 1995 Governor's Volunteer Award given in April to such stalwarts as a Baltimore chef, Boonsboro garage mechanics, master gardeners in Howard County, a Randallstown engineer-inventor and tree planters along Maryland roads.

The Francis Scott Key Eagles have come a long way in a short time this season.Their 6-5 win over visiting Boonsboro yesterday in Uniontown was a case in point.The Eagles, who have won five of their last six after a 1-4 start, came back from three-run and one-run deficits. Senior Billy Baker snapped a 4-4 tie in the sixth inning with a bases-loaded single that scored two.Senior pitcher Mike Crawmer went 6 2/3 strong innings to get the win and Bill Suter came in to get the final out with runners on second and third.

The Crystal Grottoes Caverns in Boonsboro was discovered in 1920 when the area was being quarried. The natural formations dangling on illuminated walkways were saved because of their beauty and commercial potential.

BOONSBORO-- --The crumbling limestone hotel at the center of this 18th-century Western Maryland town was to be the heart of its revival, a return to glory at the hands of a 21st-century romance novelist. But an early morning accident at the Boone Hotel sparked an explosive blaze, leaving a smoldering hole in the town's historic Main Street and destroying writer Nora Roberts' plans to reopen a bed and breakfast there this summer. "My family and I are stunned and heartbroken by the devastation of the fire," Roberts said in an e-mail to The Sun. "We're grieving, too, for the other buildings damaged and involved, and deeply concerned for the families who were displaced.

Woman admits role in fatal overdose A Boonsboro mother admits she sold a fatal dose of methadone to a high school student and agrees to help prosecutor's case against her boyfriend. Price of electricity going up BGE customers can expect to pay about 5.5 percent more this summer because of new federal rules on whosesale pricing. Governor's State of the State Gov. Martin O'Malley issued a short wish list in his annual address: fight violent crime, help slow foreclosures, ease the energy crisis and protect the bay. Killer apologizes to victim's family Brandon T. Morris waited until the last day of his sentencing hearing to apologize to the family of slain corrections officer Jeffrey A. Wroten.

BOONSBORO -- The characters are stirringly romantic, by turns witty and tempestuous, flirtatious and elusive. The setting is Main Street, in a small town tucked in the side of a mountain and shrouded in history. And the plot? Stay tuned because it continues to unfurl in the hands of author Nora Roberts. The prolific romance writer - someone calculated that she sells 21 books every minute - is hard at work spinning her next amorous tale. This time, though, the end result will be not words but rooms, not pages but high-thread-count sheets, not a book but a bed-and-breakfast that promises to draw even more of her fans to a town that quickly is turning into Noraboro, Md., 21713.

COLLEGE PARK -- Forgive South Carroll coach Marcia Kunkel if the coincidence is a little too much for her. In 1994, Kunkel played on a Centennial volleyball team that defeated South Carroll for the Class 3A state title. Saturday, she will be on the bench as her Cavaliers (12-6) play Boonsboro for the Class 1A state volleyball championship. South Carroll took advantage of its superior defense and passing to defeat Havre de Grace, 25-15, 25-16, 22-25, 25-14, in the state semifinals yesterday at Ritchie Coliseum at the University of Maryland.

BOONSBORO -- Laureen Angle tried to save her son. She drove him to substance abuse counseling after his drunken-driving arrest at 16. She noticed when he was skipping school in this Western Maryland town and called him on it. She even wrote to the judge, asking for help after the court-ordered intervention programs failed to stop his drinking and pot smoking. The mother of three lost her battle in late July when 17-year-old Harry L. "Trey" Angle died in his sleep from a fatal combination of alcohol and methadone - a drug prescribed for heroin addiction that she never knew he was abusing.

A federal grand jury indicted two people on charges of supplying prescription painkillers to Boonsboro high school students, including one who died in July, prosecutors said yesterday. Robert Carroll Eichelberger, 36, of Hagerstown and Kathleen Ann Harris, 38, of Olney appeared in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on drug-trafficking charges connected to the distribution of methadone, oxycodone and hydrocodone to high school students. Eichelberger and Harris are accused of distributing methadone July 25 that led to the death of a Boonsboro student.

Minerva L. Zimmerman, a homemaker and former Baltimore resident, died of an infection Wednesday at Washington County Hospital in Hagerstown. She was 87. The former Minerva Knode was born and raised in Boonsboro. She was a graduate of Boonsboro High School and during World War II worked as a seamstress at Frederick Tailoring Co. and at Koppers Co. Mrs. Zimmerman, who had formerly lived in South Baltimore and Brooklyn, moved to Hagerstown in 1990. She enjoyed crocheting and watching NASCAR races.

On March 14, 2007, HOWARD W. AMOS, of Boonsboro, MD. He was formerly employed with U.S. Government Printing Office. He was a member of Shriner Kena Temple and veteran of the U.S. Navy during World War II; beloved husband of the late Kathryn Irene Green Amos; loving father of Howard W. Amos, Jr. and wife, Marcia of Columbia, MD; loving grandfather of Howard W. Amos, III and wife Erin of Baltimore, MD; great-grandfather of Rachel Kathryn Amos. Friends may call at Bast Funeral Home, 7606 Old National Pike, Boonsboro, MD, Friday from 4 to 8 P.M. Memorial services will be held 1:30 P.M. , Saturday at Salem United Methodist Church in Keedysville, MD. Private burial will be at the convenience of the family.

On April 5, 2006, EMORY E. RUDY; beloved husband of Harriett H. Rudy (nee Hoy); devoted father of Glenn B. May III, and Todd C. May and his wife Michele; beloved son of Margaret P. Rudy and the late Emory Emanuel Rudy; dear grandfather of Dulaney Hope May. Also survived by many loving family members. Friends may call at the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc., 1050 York Road (beltway exit 26A), Friday, 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. where a Funeral Service will be held Saturday at 9 A.M. Interment Boonsboro Cemetery, Boonsboro, MD. The family suggests Memorial Contributions in his name to Stella Maris Hospice, 2300 Dulaney Valley Road, Timonium, MD 21093.