Finksburg

Zach Teal is just 17, but his love for books led him to write one of his own and to volunteer more than 250 hours at the Finksburg branch of the Carroll County Public Library. "Two hundred and fifty hours is quite unusual for our teen volunteers," said Heather Owings, who was volunteer coordinator at the library and now works at the North Carroll branch. Zach logged those hours over the course of three years, performing such tasks as making crafts for story times, signing in reading program participants, even wearing a mouse costume for a reading of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

Zach Teal is just 17, but his love for books led him to write one of his own and to volunteer more than 250 hours at the Finksburg branch of the Carroll County Public Library. "Two hundred and fifty hours is quite unusual for our teen volunteers," said Heather Owings, who was volunteer coordinator at the library and now works at the North Carroll branch. Zach logged those hours over the course of three years, performing such tasks as making crafts for story times, signing in reading program participants, even wearing a mouse costume for a reading of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

The body of a young man was found Wednesday morning in a wooded area alongside a road in Finksburg, police said. Westminster resident Caleb Lee Mott, 17, was last seen early Tuesday walking from a friend's house nearby where his body was found in the 2100 block of Sandymount Road, according to the Carroll County Sheriff's Office. There were no apparent signs of trauma to his body, police said. Mott's body, which was found about 11 a.m. Wednesday, has been taken to the State Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy.

James Edward O'Meara Jr., founder of a commercial construction company and a World War II veteran, died Saturday of heart failure at his Glyndon home. He was 90. The son of a masonry company owner and a homemaker, Mr. O'Meara was born in Baltimore and raised in Cedarcroft. He was a 1940 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School, and during World War II he enlisted in the Army and served as a combat engineer in the Philippines and Biak Island, building airstrips. After the war ended in 1945, Mr. O'Meara returned to Baltimore, and studied architectural drawing at the Maryland Institute College of Art , from which he graduated in 1948.

The Carroll County Sheriff's Office is reporting that the body of a Westminster teen was discovered Wednesday morning in Finksburg near Sandymount Road. At about 11 a.m., deputies responded to a wooded area along the 2100 block of Sandymount Road for a report of an unconscious male, believed to be deceased. Arriving deputies found a deceased white male, in his late teens to early 20s, lying a short distance from the roadway. Detectives have identified the body as that of 17-year-old Caleb Lee Mott, of Westminster.

The Office of the State Fire Marshal said this week that an explosion that occurred at a Finksburg home last month was due to a resident mistaking an improvised explosive device for a decorative birthday candle. The explosion occurred on the evening of Aug. 16 in the 2700 block of Piedmont Hollow Drive, Finksburg. According to the fire marshal's office, the residence was damaged, and three people were injured, when the device was mistaken for a candle and lit during a birthday celebration.

Quick response by high school friends and a nearby kayaker likely saved the life of a 16-year-old Carrollton teen who was pulled from the swollen Patapsco River during the heavy rains of Sept. 7 at the village of Patapsco near Finksburg. Three teens - David Rugemer, Tyler Hartman and Abraham Ramos - had been floating on the river, but at the confluence of the Patapsco and Aspen Run, the current became intense. All three swimmers were pulled toward the south bridge across the river.

Two petitioners are seeking approval from the Carroll Planning and Zoning Commission to rezone land in the Finksburg area near Route 140 and the Baltimore County line.James and Carla Uhler, of Reisterstown, Baltimore County, have requested that about five acres designated conservation be rezoned to industrial. The property is on the north side of Route 140, just northeast of the intersection with Route 91.A similar request submitted by the Uhlers was rejected in 1983 by the planning commission, said planner Steve Horn at Tuesday's monthly meeting.

The death of a Westminster man Monday in an industrial accident at a Finksburg business remains under investigation by state safety officials but appears to have been caused by the employee's error, state police said yesterday. David Alan Harvilak II, 31, of the 100 block of E. Main St. was pronounced dead after his left arm became ensnared about 3: 30 p.m. in machinery used to wrap plastic on 15-foot rolls of a laminate, police said. He was trying to remove debris from the machine when he was pulled in and pinned by a 10,000-pound roll of the product at Congoleum Corp.

Westminster council bans tree 'topping'Routine tree "topping" will become illegal in Westminster Dec. 24.The City Council took the advice of tree specialists and banned topping -- severely cutting back limbs on a tree crown to remove the canopy and disfigure the tree. The ban, approved at Monday night's council meeting, becomes effective in 10 days.Kirby Barger, a State Highway Administration landscaping employee, quoted an article from a tree publication that said topping will increase tree decay and is a destructive practice.

FINKSBURG — The next meeting of the Finksburg Planning and Citizens' Council will be held Thursday, Feb. 23, beginning at 7 p.m., at the Finksburg Library, 2265 Old Westminster Pike, Finksburg. On the agenda is naming a nomination committee for the annual FPACC elections, as well as discussion of issues affecting the community.

The Carroll County Sheriff's Office said on Tuesday that an autopsy has revealed no foul play in the death of a 17-year-old whose body was found last month along a road in Finksburg. According to the Sheriff's Office, the Maryland State Medical Examiner's Office said Caleb Lee Mott died from natural causes related to diabetes. The medical examiner's autopsy found no signs of trauma during the examination, the sheriff's office reported. At approximately 11 a.m., on Oct. 12, sheriff's deputies responded to a wooded area along the 2100 block of Sandymount Road for a report of an unconscious male.

A Hampstead woman was sentenced on Friday, Oct. 28, to eight-and-half-years in prison for her role in the September 2009 robbery of a Finksburg pharmacy. Victoria Jean Reid, 26, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz to the 102-month term, to be followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit an armed robbery and using a gun during the robbery. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Sippel. Officials said Joseph Wagner, 26, of Baltimore, has also pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced in June to also serve 102 months in prison.

The body of a young man was found Wednesday morning in a wooded area alongside a road in Finksburg, police said. Westminster resident Caleb Lee Mott, 17, was last seen early Tuesday walking from a friend's house nearby where his body was found in the 2100 block of Sandymount Road, according to the Carroll County Sheriff's Office. There were no apparent signs of trauma to his body, police said. Mott's body, which was found about 11 a.m. Wednesday, has been taken to the State Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy.

FINKSBURG - The Carroll County Sheriff's Office reported Sept. 21 that twin brothers from Howard County had been arrested and charged with a pair of burglaries last month in the county. Timothy Brian Feick and Matthew Dean Feick, 26, of Clarksville, were charged in the August burglaries of pharmacies in Finksburg and Woodbine. On Aug. 4, sheriff's deputies responded a burglar alarm at the King's Pharmacy in the Woodbine Shopping Center just after 2 a.m. Investigators found the pharmacy's front window shattered and more than $13,000 in medications missing.

The Office of the State Fire Marshal said this week that an explosion that occurred at a Finksburg home last month was due to a resident mistaking an improvised explosive device for a decorative birthday candle. The explosion occurred on the evening of Aug. 16 in the 2700 block of Piedmont Hollow Drive, Finksburg. According to the fire marshal's office, the residence was damaged, and three people were injured, when the device was mistaken for a candle and lit during a birthday celebration.

A robber got away with an undisclosed amount of cash from Stubby's Pizza, Wings & More, a carryout on Route 140 in Finksburg, Wednesday night after threatening two young employees, Maryland State Police said. A man entered the store in the 2800 block of Baltimore Blvd. (Route 140) about 9 p.m., approached employees and demanded cash from the register, said Trooper Danielle Barry of the criminal investigation section. Owner John Hunt said the business was robbed about a year ago in a similar manner.

Quick response by high school friends and a nearby kayaker likely saved the life of a 16-year-old Carrollton teen who was pulled from the swollen Patapsco River during the heavy rains of Sept. 7 at the village of Patapsco near Finksburg. Three teens - David Rugemer, Tyler Hartman and Abraham Ramos - had been floating on the river, but at the confluence of the Patapsco and Aspen Run, the current became intense. All three swimmers were pulled toward the south bridge across the river.