Boonsboro

In a warm summer day in July 1827, the patriotic citizens of Boonsboro decided to erect a monument to the father of our country -- thus helping to perpetuate George Washington's place in history and, at the same time, ensuring their own.The tower they began that July 4 was the first monument dedicated to Washington's memory. And while the one in Washington may be more grand and the one in Baltimore may be more of a landmark, nothing can take that distinction away from this Western Maryland town.

The top-ranked Century boys have been solid all season and got off to a strong start on the rain-filled first day of the state track and field championships Thursday at Morgan State. Century finished the first day - which has events for Class 1A and 2A schools - in first place with 55 points. The Knights have a comfortable lead over Oakdale (28), from Frederick County, in the Class 2A division. Julian Woods and Jake Stefanick each gave the Knights a victory. Woods took first in the long jump (22 feet, 3.25 inches)

COLLEGE PARK -- Sophomore David Garey scored on a 5-yard run and Watkins Mill held off a late charge by Montgomery County rival Winston Churchill en route to a 10-6 win in the Class 4A state football title game last night at the University of Maryland's Byrd Stadium.The victory gave Watkins Mill (11-2) its first state championship, as well as redemption for a 7-6 loss to Churchill (12-1) earlier this season.Gary scored on a 5-yard burst with 3:05 left in the third quarter to give the Wolverines a 7-0 lead.

Even in Nora Roberts' world, truth can be stranger than fiction. In the best-selling author's books, the smart, sexy heroines solve crimes, rescue loved ones and always get the guy. And in mountainous Western Maryland, Roberts' new boutique hotel has just as improbable - and rose-colored - a back story. As a longtime resident of nearby Keedysville, Roberts watched the old inn on Boonsboro's main street, which dated from the 1790s, slowly decline. In 2007, the romance novelist and her photographer husband, Bruce Wilder, who has run the Turn the Page Bookstore Cafe across the street for more than a decade, decided to fix up the old three-story inn, turning it into a romantic, B&B-style boutique hotel.

In 13 regular-season wins, the Francis Scott Key Eagles frequently came up with the clutch hit.In yesterday afternoon's Class 1A South region opener against visiting Boonsboro, that wasn't the case.It was the third-seeded Warriors who came forward with the big at-bat.Jason Bowers' sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh was the biggest. It was the difference as Boonsboro advanced with a 6-5 win over Francis Scott Key in Uniontown.Two costly Key errors in the first three innings helped provide five runs for the Warriors (13-6)

BOONSBORO -- The hot-hitting Francis Scott Key Eagles were looking to pick up right where they left off at regular-season's end, when they traveled to Boonsboro to face the Warriors in the opening round of the playoffs yesterday.Boonsboro pitcher Tom Thompson had other ideas.The junior right-hander was untouchable for five innings yesterday, at one point retiring 14 batters in a row.By the time Key got to him with three runs in the sixth, Boonsboro already had built a comfortable 8-0 lead.

Boonsboro man, 24, dies in I-695 motorcycle crash A 24-year-old Boonsboro man was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle and crashed into a guardrail on a Baltimore Beltway off-ramp in Glen Burnie late Wednesday night, Maryland State Police said. Robert Dabbondanza's motorcycle slipped through the guardrail and slid about 130 feet on the off-ramp from Interstate 695 to Route 2, police said. It was unclear yesterday whether he had been wearing a helmet. Dabbondanza was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he was pronounced dead shortly after the 11:50 p.m. accident, police said.

Francis Scott Key third baseman Matt Haines supplied much of the offense and came up with some nifty glove work to help lead the Eagles to a 7-4 victory over visiting Boonsboro yesterday in a Monocacy Valley Athletic League game.Haines drove in two runs with a single in the second to give the Eagles (3-7) a 5-2 lead and added a two-run double in the fourth. In the top of the fifth, he came up with the fielding play that Key coach Bob Caples said "broke Boonsboro's back."With the bases loaded, one out and Key leading 7-3, Haines cleanly fielded a hard grounder, touched third and went to first for a double play to end the inning.

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.

BOONSBORO -- It is cold and rainy outside. Inside it is surreal. We are somewhere in Western Maryland, standing in an old shopping mall being bumped and nuzzled by a group of 15 or so llamas.They look like large, woolly Tinker Toys with huge, cylindrical trunks, stick legs, and proud, erect heads. They are in the middle of something called "the llama parade", in which they will exhibit themselves to their potential buyers in the llama auction that will shortly begin.They have names like Jumpin' Jack Flash, Mamie Eisenhower Regal, and Sinatra SI07.

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.

Allison Severance grew up on a farm in Howard County. So when she and her husband, Rick Henry, began looking for a house, her childhood experience helped shape the search: It had to be special; it had to possess charm; and it couldn't be new. They found it over the mountains in Searchwell Farm, built circa 1800 in the Washington County town of Boonsboro. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the farmhouse, along with five outbuildings, was built of limestone by Germans who migrated south from Pennsylvania through the Cumberland Valley.

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.

The two mothers knew each other. They'd bump into each other at the store in their small Western Maryland town. Their girls even played together and had a sleepover. So Laureen Angle could only say it was "very difficult" yesterday morning when she saw the other mother, Kathleen Ann Harris, admit in federal court that she sold the fatal dose of methadone to Angle's 17-year-old son. In a case that rocked Washington County last summer, the 39-year-old woman pleaded guilty yesterday to a single count of illegally supplying prescription painkillers to Boonsboro high school students, including Harry L. "Trey" Angle, who died in July.

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.

BOONSBORO -- Wilde Lake's run-and-shoot offense misfired under a heavy rush as three-time defending state champion Wildecats were stunned by Boonsboro, 48-7, in a Class 1A semifinal playoff game before 2,500 at Boonsboro last night.Second-seeded Boonsboro (10-1) made its first state playoff appearance in 18 years memorable by recording 1A footballits first playoff victory in convincing fashion, scoring on five successive first-half drives."We're a run team. That's what we do best and we saw other teams doing that successfully against them," said Boonsboro coach Mark Anders.

The towns of Boonsboro and Sykesville have much in common, but it isthe differences that stand out.While their mayor-and-council governments serve similar populations, town facilities here are notable enough that Boonsboro's mayor and Economic Development Commission visited Sykesville on Saturday to get a look at programs and projects that they hope to emulate.Officials from the Washington County town asked about Sykesville's recycling program and downtown parking.Boonsboro Mayor Skip Kauffman said he came to Sykesville after getting to know Mayor Lloyd R.Helt Jr. and other officials from Maryland Municipal League conventions and hearing about their programs.

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.