Eldersburg

"Don't assume this is a two-hankie book. It is not. You will cry, but you will also laugh. You will experience not only anger, but also gratification. And in the end, you will be uplifted. " - Eileen Rudnick, from her book, "The Glass Between Us" Eldersburg resident Eileen Rudnick is living proof that sometimes out of the worst, the best can come. The evening of Oct. 3, 2000 was just another mild Tuesday, another relatively uneventful day ... until the moment that everything changed for Rudnick, a wife, mother of two, grandmother of two and an accountant.

Faith Child Development Center's pre-kindergarten class celebrated its graduation ceremony May 16. Colorful graduation hats decorated the bulletin board and graduation streamers hung from the ceiling. But the mood was far from cheerful after the event, as the staff of the school shut its doors to students and their families for the last time. On May 11, Faith Lutheran Church announced that Faith Child Development Center, which has offered classes for ages 2 through pre-k for 12 years, would not reopen next school year.

When Frank Spruill first looked into franchises more than 30 years ago, he found three options: fast food, automobiles or books. "It was a no brainer," Spruill laughed this past week, standing inside his Little Professor Book Center in Eldersburg. Soon after deciding to pursue the book market, he opened Little Professor in the Carrolltown Center in 1977, where it was located until six years ago, when it moved to its current location at Liberty Station Shopping Center on Liberty Road.

When Frank Spruill first looked into franchises more than 30 years ago, he found three options: fast food, automobiles or books. "It was a no brainer," Spruill laughed this past week, standing inside his Little Professor Book Center in Eldersburg. Soon after deciding to pursue the book market, he opened Little Professor in the Carrolltown Center in 1977, where it was located until six years ago, when it moved to its current location at Liberty Station Shopping Center on Liberty Road.

A woman was killed after two cars collided Sunday morning in Eldersburg, Maryland State Police said. A Chrysler making a left turn from Liberty Road onto Georgetown Boulevard collided with a Nissan shortly before noon, police said. Myrtle Coghill, a passenger in the Chrysler, was taken to the Carroll Hospital Center, where she was pronounced dead. The driver of that vehicle, Wallace Coghill, of Sykesville, was taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, police said.

Just about the only excitement in the semi-rural residential neighborhood near the intersection of Oklahoma and Bennett roads, in Eldersburg, is provided by occasional errant motorists who misjudge the sharp downhill curve on Oklahoma where it approaches Bennett from the northeast and either end up in a ditch or in somebody's yard. But the billboard-sized banner that one homeowner recently put in his front yard - along with dozens of smaller signs that pepper Oklahoma Road - reveal that this neighborhood, where old and new residential subdivisions abut a few remaining farms and a stretch of the Liberty Reservoir watershed, is in the midst of a controversy.

Weeks ago, when 5th District County Commissioner Doug Howard scheduled his April 30 meeting with Eldersburg residents, he assumed it would be the usual "get-together" where the commissioner gives updates on ongoing issues such as the county budget, funding for schools and the future of the beleaguered Carrolltown Center mall. But by the time this past week's meeting rolled around, a more pressing matter steam rolled other issues aside - namely the controversial proposal to build a 235-unit retirement facility on the 16-acre Ely property near the Oklahoma and Bennett roads in Eldersburg.

State police say they have arrested two boys in connection with vandalism and thefts in the Eldersburg area that left a swath of vehicles, homes and road signs damaged by spray paint. The Maryland State Police's Westminster barrack received calls early Saturday morning about the crimes and said they arrested the boys later that day, charging them with malicious destruction of property, possession of a controlled dangerous substance and theft. Police recovered about $300 in property stolen from the spray-painted vehicles.

ELDERSBURG - A 21-year-old Westminster man was arrested on Jan. 4 after the county Sheriff's Office said he was driving a vehicle that struck at least five parked vehicles, three mailboxes and a stop sign in the Harvest Farms and Carroll Highlands communities of Eldersburg. Early Wednesday morning, a resident reported a white truck that struck a mailbox. The vehicle description was broadcast and a State Trooper patrolling the area located and stopped the truck traveling a short distance from the scene.

Dante Liberatore works a room in a way that few restaurateurs care to, or dare to, these days. We saw him compel a sour patron to concede that her wait for a table had been exactly as long as he said it would be. She wasn't thrilled, but her husband was. Later we heard him tell a diner at a nearby table that if she still didn't like a pasta dish the kitchen remade for her, he would eat it himself. She didn't like it, and he ate it. That's part of the fun at Liberatore's of Eldersburg.

"Don't assume this is a two-hankie book. It is not. You will cry, but you will also laugh. You will experience not only anger, but also gratification. And in the end, you will be uplifted. " - Eileen Rudnick, from her book, "The Glass Between Us" Eldersburg resident Eileen Rudnick is living proof that sometimes out of the worst, the best can come. The evening of Oct. 3, 2000 was just another mild Tuesday, another relatively uneventful day ... until the moment that everything changed for Rudnick, a wife, mother of two, grandmother of two and an accountant.

Weeks ago, when 5th District County Commissioner Doug Howard scheduled his April 30 meeting with Eldersburg residents, he assumed it would be the usual "get-together" where the commissioner gives updates on ongoing issues such as the county budget, funding for schools and the future of the beleaguered Carrolltown Center mall. But by the time this past week's meeting rolled around, a more pressing matter steam rolled other issues aside - namely the controversial proposal to build a 235-unit retirement facility on the 16-acre Ely property near the Oklahoma and Bennett roads in Eldersburg.

Just about the only excitement in the semi-rural residential neighborhood near the intersection of Oklahoma and Bennett roads, in Eldersburg, is provided by occasional errant motorists who misjudge the sharp downhill curve on Oklahoma where it approaches Bennett from the northeast and either end up in a ditch or in somebody's yard. But the billboard-sized banner that one homeowner recently put in his front yard - along with dozens of smaller signs that pepper Oklahoma Road - reveal that this neighborhood, where old and new residential subdivisions abut a few remaining farms and a stretch of the Liberty Reservoir watershed, is in the midst of a controversy.

Edward M. Budelis, a retired Baltimore County public school educator who established the work-study program at Catonsville High School, died Wednesday of a heart attack at Carroll Hospital Center. The longtime Eldersburg resident was 85. The son of a tailor and a homemaker, Edward M. Budelis was born in Baltimore and raised in Morrell Park. He attended the old St. Charles Seminary in Catonsville and graduated in 1944 from Calvert Hall College High School. He enlisted in the Army during World War II and served with an infantry unit in Europe.

A woman was killed after two cars collided Sunday morning in Eldersburg, Maryland State Police said. A Chrysler making a left turn from Liberty Road onto Georgetown Boulevard collided with a Nissan shortly before noon, police said. Myrtle Coghill, a passenger in the Chrysler, was taken to the Carroll Hospital Center, where she was pronounced dead. The driver of that vehicle, Wallace Coghill, of Sykesville, was taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, police said.

ELDERSBURG - The South Carroll Business Association will host its annual 2012 SCBA Community Showcase Saturday, March 31, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event will be held at Century High School, Ronsdale Road, Eldersburg, and will include business booths and exhibits, community demonstrations, food and more. Events include a balloon artist, flower pot decorations, martial arts demonstration and a silent auction. For more information, go to http://www.southcarroll.org.

Section six has opened at Eldersburg Estates in Eldersburg, where Masonry Macks Homes Inc. is building 210 homes on lots from one-quarter acre to one-half acre.Standard features in the Carroll County community include gas heat and hot water, full basements, six-panel Colonial doors, prewiring for telephone and cable TV, central air conditioning, and public sewer and water.The Hillstead is a 1,823-square-foot Colonial with a front porch and a beginning price of $177,300.The first floor has a foyer, guest closet, 13-by-13-foot living room, 10-by-11-foot dining room, 12-by-11-foot kitchen, powder room, 15-by-11-foot family room and one-car garage.

Board of County Commissioners President Doug Howard will host an open meeting Oct. 27 to discuss bicycle paths and walking trails in the Freedom Area. The meeting will start at 7 p.m. at the South Carroll Senior Center, 5928 Mineral Hill Road, Eldersburg. County staff will be on hand to discuss the trails presently available in the area, proposed trails and the processes by which trails are designed, developed and implemented.

A reception to announce the winners of the annual Eldersburg Photo Contest, sponsored by the Carroll Eagle and Eldersburg.Net, will be held Friday, Feb. 10, 5 to 6 p.m., at the Eldersburg Library, 6400 Hemlock Drive, Eldersburg. The event will include a slide show of the entries and the announcement of the winners. The public is invited. Entries had been posted on Eldersburg.Net for viewing and voting, and winners were determined through a blended rating of the online votes and a judging panel.

The Sykesville Town Council adopted a resolution this week stating its disapproval of the proposed state legislative redistricting plan, one that would place the town in a legislative delegate district split between Carroll and Howard counties. And in a Jan. 10 letter to Gov. Martin O'Malley, Mayor Michael Miller suggested the redistricting plan runs, "contrary to the state's Constitution" because it "does not give due regard to jurisdictional boundaries. " "The Town believes that … removing the southeastern part of Carroll County and moving it to a much larger district in Howard County, is inappropriate and will have a dramatically negative impact on the Town of Sykesville," Miller wrote.