Farmers Bank

After almost 19 years of driving a bus for the city of Annapolis, Amelia D. Wallace has gotten to know most of her passengers. She always greets them with a welcoming smile as they board and often tells them stories about her son, a standout high school football player. So when a nervous-looking man came aboard in June, Wallace took notice. Then, when the bus made a routine stop and the man anxiously departed, the veteran driver for the city's Department of Transportation knew something was wrong.

Meeting on small farms will be held next monthThe Maryland Cooperative Extension of the University of Maryland and Harford Community College will present the first Mid-Atlantic Small Farm Conference on Oct. 1 and 2.The first day's sessions will be held at the Aberdeen Holiday Inn; the second day's program at Harford Community College's Higher Education Advanced Technology Center.John E. Ikerd, extension professor of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri-Columbia and an advocate of small-scale agriculture, will speak on Oct. 1.A tour of three small farms is planned.

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.

For three weeks Boots has been lying in limbo in a veterinarian's freezer while her distraught owner fights for a cemetery plot to bury her beloved dog.Elaine Smith bought the plot -- her fourth, actually -- at Elkridge's well-known Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park three years ago. But now she can't bury her 15-year-old black and brown mutt.The troubled cemetery was sold two weeks ago and the new owner hasn't disclosed plans for the eight-acre, 22,000-plot property, home to the deceased pets of former Gov. William Donald Schaefer and Blaze Starr, the stripper.

Patapsco Valley Bancshares buys data processing firmPatapsco Valley Bancshares Inc. of Ellicott City, the parent company of Commercial and Farmers Bank, has bought Central Maryland Service Corp., a data processing company.Patapsco Valley Bancshares was formed as a holding company in September 1996 for Commercial and Farmers Bank to expand its range of services.The purchase of Central Maryland Service Corp. will allow the company to provide financial information and accounting systems, electronic delivery systems (including online branch automation)

Baltimore County police are canvassing Catonsville for a man who robbed a Farmers & Commercial Bank branch on Frederick Avenue between Bloomsbury Avenue and Bishops Lane yesterday morning, police said.At 9: 15 a.m., shortly after the bank opened at 9 a.m., a man entered the bank and demanded money from a teller. No customers were in the branch at the time. When the teller did not comply immediately, the man started shouting but did not threaten the teller or show a weapon, according to police.

New positionsCurtis named associate to president at Villa JulieVilla Julie College announced that Catherine A. Curtis has been named administrative associate to the president of the liberal arts college in Stevenson.A native of West Virginia now residing in Westminster, Curtis earned her doctorate in rhetoric and composition from Ohio State University and has served on the faculties of Towson State University and the University of Houston. Steve Libowitz has been named director of news and information at the Johns Hopkins University.

25 years ago (week of Jan. 9-15, 1972):Representatives of the Rouse Co. stated that Columbia did not have adequate fire protection east of U.S. 29. They claimed that more than 2,000 housing units had been built in the Oakland Mills and Long Reach areas in the previous two years without a corresponding increase in emergency services. County officials responded by saying that the area in question already had top priority for a new fire station.Linwood Children's Center announced plans to construct a $100,000 dormitory at its facility in Ellicott City, which would enable it to house 16 children.

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.

The former assistant to the Howard County Tourism Council's executive director admitted this week she forged more than $11,000 in council checks -- writing them out to herself and then cashing them.Shannon Shirley pleaded guilty in Howard County Circuit Court Monday to uttering a false document. Court records say she fraudulently signed the names of the council treasurer and president on the checks.She was given an 18-month suspended sentence and five years' probation and was ordered to repay the stolen funds.