Farmers Bank

A Baltimore County jury yesterday convicted Benjamin Franklin Boisseau Jr. of first-degree murder and other charges for his role in a Randallstown bank robbery last October that left two women dead and two others injured.As the forewoman delivered the guilty verdicts, Boisseau, 23, stared mournfully at the judge, while the husband of one of the tellers murdered at the Farmers Bank & Trust Co. grasped the hand of the branch manager, Barbara Mitchell Aldrich.Mrs. Aldrich, who survived the shootings to call for help, wiped from her eyes the tears she had held back Tuesday when she calmly described how Boisseau's companion methodically shot her and three other employees, one by one, as they lay helpless on the floor of the bank vault.

Charles L. Schelberg, a retired Eastern Shore banker and a World War II veteran who served with the Navy in the Pacific, died June 19 of pneumonia at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Queenstown resident was 86. Mr. Schelberg was born in Wilmington, Del., and raised in Towson, where he graduated in 1942 from Towson High School. He attended Washington College for a year before enlisting in the Navy in 1943. Mr. Schelberg was a seaman assigned to the destroyer escort USS Abercrombie, where he was a member of an anti-aircraft gun crew and performed damage-control duties.

Farmers National Bancorp. of Annapolis, the holding company for the dominant and oldest bank in Anne Arundel County, is slated to be sold to First Virginia Bank in a stock and cash deal valued at $151.9 million."They are a very sound bank, with good lending principles," said Richard F. Bowman, chief financial officer of First Virginia. "We viewed that market as highly desirable."A $7.2 billion regional bank based in Falls Church, First Virginia already has 37 branches in Maryland. It will be acquiring a bank that has 32 percent of the banking market in Anne Arundel County, according to John W. Coffey, a banking analyst for Robinson Humphrey Co. Inc., an Atlanta-based stockbrokerage.

Wayne Archie Cawley Jr., who advised Maryland farmers to sell their produce to local consumers while he was the state's agriculture secretary, died of a stroke Monday at his Denton home. He was 84. "Don't sell wholesale when you can get the retail price," he said in a 1991 Sun story in which he told farmers they should consider all financial options, including participation at neighborhood markets. He also lobbied national chains to promote Maryland-grown vegetables and fruit, and local chickens.

A man wearing sunglasses robbed an Ellicott City bank yesterday afternoon after suggesting to employees that he carried a weapon in his coat, Howard County police said.Around 12:45 p.m. the robber entered the Commercial and Farmers Bank in the 8500 block of Route 40, less than a minute's drive from police headquarters. The man approached a teller and, after implying that he had a gun hidden under his dark waist-length coat, demanded cash, police said.The teller complied, and the man fled with an undetermined amount of money.

"We just didn't want to get caught."Benjamin Franklin Boisseau Jr. gave police just "these seven words" to explain why four bank employees were shot as they lay helpless during a robbery on Oct. 26, a Baltimore County prosecutor told a jury yesterday."That idea, when combined with greed, has cost us two human lives" and left the two survivors "in a state of horror and incredible pain," Assistant State's Attorney John P. Cox said in his opening statement.Mr. Boisseau, 23, of the 3100 block of Clifton Ave., is the first of two men who will be tried in the murders that occurred during a robbery of the Farmers Bank in Randallstown.

The Bank of Glen Burnie said yesterday that it has reached a settlement with Ellicott City's Commercial & Farmers Bank in a lawsuit over forged checks.Michael P. Gavin, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Glen Burnie bank, said the settlement stems from checks illegally endorsed by Brian H. Davis, the former trucking company executive who is now serving a 63-month sentence after pleading guilty to federal bank fraud and tax evasion charges last year.Davis, who is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution at Cumberland, pleaded guilty Tuesday to contempt of court charges stemming from fraudulent check and credit card use unrelated to the Bank of Glen Burnie.

Farmers Bank will reopen Monday on a limited schedule for a temporary period, said spokeswoman Jacquelyn Lebow. The bank will draw on staff from affiliated banks to reopen.

Howard E. Harrison III of Glenwood was recently elected to the boardof directors of Commercial & Farmers Bank.Harrison's family created, owned and operated the Enchanted Forest theme park from 1954 until 1988. His business interests now include serving as president of Marina Development Corp. and a partnership in Bucklew, Harrison & Associates, a local advertising agency.

County police are searching for two men who robbed the Farmers Bank of Crofton yesterday. At 10:53 a.m., two men carrying guns entered the bank branch at 2151 Defense Highway. Police said one man ordered the bank employees to lie on the floor while the other collected an undisclosed amount of cash. Police said a search of the area was unsuccessful.

Three men and a woman have been indicted on federal charges in a series of armed bank robberies in four Maryland counties that netted at least $100,000, the office of the U.S. attorney for Maryland announced yesterday. The suspects were identified as Donte Rolando Harris, 28, and Billy Campbell Harding, 25, both of Baltimore; Juan Deante Dixon, 30, of Randallstown; and Sherone Denise Barnes, 39, of Waldorf. Harris, Harding and Barnes are in federal custody, while Dixon is a fugitive, officials said.

County police are searching for two men who robbed the Farmers Bank of Crofton yesterday. At 10:53 a.m., two men carrying guns entered the bank branch at 2151 Defense Highway. Police said one man ordered the bank employees to lie on the floor while the other collected an undisclosed amount of cash. Police said a search of the area was unsuccessful.

Beer will soon be served again in historic Reynolds Tavern in Annapolis -- along with English tea. The 255-year-old building at a prominent location on Church Circle has been bought by a local couple who plan to reopen it this summer as an English pub, tearoom and bed-and-breakfast. The large brick building has been empty for more than three years as its owners -- Farmers Bank of Maryland, the Historic Annapolis Foundation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation -- searched for a preservation-minded buyer with a viable business plan.

Beer soon will be served again in historic Reynolds Tavern in Annapolis - with English tea. The 255-year-old building in a prominent location on Church Circle has been bought by a local couple who plan to reopen it this summer as an English pub, tearoom and bed-and-breakfast. The large brick building has been empty for more than three years as its owners - Farmers Bank of Maryland, the Historic Annapolis Foundation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation - searched for a preservation-minded buyer with a viable business plan.

JUST OVER a month ago, Mike Lannon learned that Christmas in April-Anne Arundel County Inc. would build a wheelchair ramp for him at his Cape Cod-style Eastport home. A group of volunteers built the ramp in a day's time less than two weeks later. "One day, a construction man was here measuring," Lannon says. "He set everything up, and a couple of weeks later a crew of about 10 people showed up at 7:30 in the morning to build the ramp. They were done by 5 p.m." Lannon, who had been a volunteer firefighter in Annapolis for nearly four decades, is grateful for the ramp, which is discreetly located behind pine trees in front of his home.

Some say, if you love something set it free. That's the approach the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Historic Annapolis Foundation are taking in an attempt to save the 253-year-old Reynolds Tavern on Church Circle in Annapolis. The groups, which share ownership of the tavern with Farmers Bank of Maryland, are accepting proposals for the sale or long-term lease of the pre-Revolutionary War building, which has been vacant nearly two years. "We'd like to see it back in business and see people using it," said Daniel Sams, director of preservation services for Historic Annapolis.

Nearly two months after it agreed to buy a small bank on the Eastern Shore, Mercantile Bankshares Corp. said yesterday that it would acquire Farmers Bank of Mardela Springs in a transaction valued at roughly $3.9 million.Directors of both banks approved a definitive agreement to merge Farmers Bank, which has $28 million in assets, with Peninsula Bank, a Princess Anne-based Mercantile affiliate that has 16 branches.The acquisition bolsters Mercantile's presence on the Eastern Shore. In October, the Baltimore-based banking company agreed to acquire Home Bank, which has more than $46 million in assets and five offices, three of them in Ocean City.

Beer will soon be served again in historic Reynolds Tavern in Annapolis -- along with English tea. The 255-year-old building at a prominent location on Church Circle has been bought by a local couple who plan to reopen it this summer as an English pub, tearoom and bed-and-breakfast. The large brick building has been empty for more than three years as its owners -- Farmers Bank of Maryland, the Historic Annapolis Foundation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation -- searched for a preservation-minded buyer with a viable business plan.

Some say, if you love something set it free. That's the approach the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Historic Annapolis Foundation are taking in an attempt to save the 253-year-old Reynolds Tavern on Church Circle in Annapolis. The groups, which share ownership of the tavern with Farmers Bank of Maryland, are accepting proposals for the sale or long-term lease of the pre-Revolutionary War building, which has been vacant nearly two years. "We'd like to see it back in business and see people using it," said Daniel Sams, director of preservation services for Historic Annapolis.