Carroll County

Carroll County posted some of the highest scores in the state in the 2012 Maryland State Assessment scores released this week. More than 89 percent of students in Carroll passed the tests in every category but eighth-grade math. MSA exams in reading and math are given to students in the third through eighth grades, and the results are ranked in the categories of basic, proficient and advanced — the latter two of which constitute a passing score. Carroll students also showed improvement from last year in every category except for fourth-grade math, where they nonetheless passed at a rate of 94.6 percent.

A grand jury in Carroll County has indicted a sex offender registered in Maryland and Pennsylvania on 20 counts of sexual offenses involving minors, according to a statement issued by the Maryland State's Attorney's Office. The grand jury registered the indictment against David Michael Blaker, a 31-year-old Taneytown resident currently incarcerated in Pennsylvania. The move is the culmination of a six-month investigation by the Carroll County Advocacy and Investigation Center, a division of the State's Attorney's Office.

A Silver Spring man crashed his homemade gyrocopter into a field in Carroll County Tuesday afternoon after hitting a power line, officials said. Sheriff's deputies found Amirkhanian Shahram, 58, in the 700 block of Oak Tree Road in Westminster about 4:30 p.m. with no apparent injuries. The power line the gyrocopter hit as it was coming to land was not severed, and no residents lost power. The gyrocopter was heavily damaged and is being investigated by Federal Aviation Administration and other officials.

A man in Carroll County was checking his mailbox Wednesday afternoon when he discovered a pipe bomb, the Office of the State Fire Marshal said. The man was not injured. The mailbox was described as "rural," in the 3800 block of McMullen Road in Taneytown, the fire marshal said. The home's owner, James A. Sandel, found the bomb about 4:15 p.m. and called 911. The bomb was disposed of, and McMullen Road was closed for about five hours. Anyone with information about who placed the bomb in the mailbox is asked to contact the Office of the State Fire Marshal at 410-859-7152.

Stu Grantham, Century SPORT WRESTLING BOYS STATS -- Wrestling in the 171-pound weight class, Grantham (29-9 prior to regionals) finished third at the recent Carroll County tournament and entered last weekend's regional meet as a No. 6 seed. SIDELINES -- A private in the Maryland Army National Guard, the senior is scheduled to depart for boot camp in Fort Sill, Okla., in July. He hopes to eventually make a career as an officer in the Army. Another goal is to someday become an educator.

With a layup midway through the fourth quarter of Wednesday night's game, North Carroll senior Caitlin Bach became Carroll County's all-time leading scorer in girls basketball. Bach, a 5-foot-11 forward, scored 29 points in a 60-16 win over visiting Brunswick to boost her career points total to 1,516, eclipsing the record of 1,514 set by Melanee Wagener of South Carroll in 1988. After the record-setting basket, Bach was mobbed by her cheering teammates and shed a tear or two of relief.