Gamber

On November 11, 2003, CHARLES DEWEY GAMBER, JR.; loving husband of Shirley M. Gamber; beloved father of Linda G. Abato, and Charles D. Gamber, III; loving grandfather of Wendy E. Evans, Julie K. Evans, Sheena N. Gamber, Casey M. Gamber, Ashley E. Gamber and Charles D. Gamber, IV; beloved great-grandfather of Angel M. Gamber; loving brother of Catherine G. Musgrove. Family will receive friends on Thursday and Friday, from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9, at HARRY H. WITZKE FAMILY FUNERAL HOME, INC., 4112 Old Columbia Pike, Ellicott City.

A Carroll volunteer fire company is pushing for a change in the law that would give it and other volunteer fire departments in the county more chances to sell raffle tickets and bolster their budgets. Officials in the Gamber and Community Volunteer Fire Company propose amending a provision in state law that limits Carroll fire departments to holding one raffle per year with a prize worth $2,500 or more, or five raffles with prizes worth less than $2,500. Because raffles and other fund-raisers are crucial to the survival of volunteer fire companies and to the ability to buy much-needed equipment, the departments should not be restricted to one large raffle a year, said Jeannie Green, a volunteer with the 135-member Gamber organization who is working on a proposal to present to the county's General Assembly delegation.

A Carroll volunteer fire company is pushing for a change in the law that would give it and other volunteer fire departments in the county more chances to sell raffle tickets and bolster their budgets. Officials in the Gamber and Community Volunteer Fire Company propose amending a provision in state law that limits Carroll fire departments to holding one raffle per year with a prize worth $2,500 or more, or five raffles with prizes worth less than $2,500. Because raffles and other fund-raisers are crucial to the survival of volunteer fire companies and to the ability to buy much-needed equipment, the departments should not be restricted to one large raffle a year, said Jeannie Green, a volunteer with the 135-member Gamber organization who is working on a proposal to present to the county's General Assembly delegation.

Calvary United Methodist Church will hold its annual Christmas At Calvary holiday bazaar from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the church, 3939 Gamber Road (Route 91), Gamber. Christmas crafts, a country store, toys, quilts, a bake table and silent auction will be featured. An oyster platter lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and carryouts will be available. Information: 410-795-9343. Dinner and dance set at Gatehouse Museum The Sykesville Gatehouse Museum will hold its World War II/USO dinner and dance Saturday at the Sykesville-Freedom District fire hall.

On July 29, 2003, ELIZABETH J. MITCHELL of Ellicott City, beloved wife of the late Donald C. Mitchell; devoted mother of Nancy Rock and Gregory Mitchell and wife Beth, and the late Thomas Mitchell; loving sister of Glen Gamber, Francis Gamber, and Clara Rossbach; devoted grandmother of Daniel Bullinger, Christopher, Matthew, Steven, Evan, and Bryan Mitchell. Relatives and friends may call at HUBBARD FUNERAL HOME INC., 4107 Wilkens Avenue, Baltimore, on Friday, 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M., where a Memorial Mass will be held Saturday at 10 A.M. in Heartland Chapel, 3004 North Ridge Road, Ellicott City.

Vernon John Sill Sr., who operated a produce farm in Carroll County for more than 50 years, died Oct. 27 of kidney and heart failure at the Lorien nursing home in Columbia. He was 77 and had lived in Gamber more than 50 years. Born in North Branch, Baltimore County, Mr. Sill was a 1942 graduate of Catonsville High School and was active as a young man in the Wards Chapel Methodist Church. When his father's farm was flooded to make way for Liberty Reservoir years ago, the family relocated to land nearby in Gamber.

LAST FALL was an unsettling time in southern Howard County, to say the least. While residents were reeling, along with the rest of the nation, from the shock of the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, another unthinkable event rocked our community less than two weeks later -- a tornado ripped through the region, leaving a path of destruction through North Laurel and Savage. What residents might not know is that the prompt and efficient response of emergency services that day was orchestrated by a man tucked away in a windowless basement room in the George Howard Building in Ellicott City.

Twenty-seven years to the day after a Howard County sheriff accepted the first set of keys to the first official sheriff's car, Howard Sheriff Charles M. Cave sat in a near-exact replica yesterday and turned the key. "Let's fire this thing up," Cave said, as the car, a powder blue 1974 Dodge Coronet purred and its owners, sheriff's employees Deputy Terry Chaney and security officer William Gamber Sr., watched. It took less than five minutes yesterday to unveil what took the two men nearly two years to conceive and create - a copy of the first car assigned to a county sheriff.

A 60-year-old Gamber-area man was killed yesterday afternoon when an empty logging truck apparently rolled down his steep driveway and struck him as he was walking, according to state police at the Westminster barracks. John Carroll Kibler of the 3500 block of Nicholson Road was caught and dragged several yards before falling under the older model, six-wheeled International truck weighing more than 10,000 pounds, said Lt. Terry L. Katz, barracks commander. Paramedics found the victim dead at the scene of the 12:15 p.m. accident.

A 60-year-old Gamber-area man was killed yesterday afternoon when an empty logging truck apparently rolled down his steep driveway and struck him as he was walking, according to state police at the Westminster barracks. John Carroll Kibler of the 3500 block of Nicholson Road was caught and dragged several yards before falling under the older model, six-wheeled International truck weighing more than 10,000 pounds, said Lt. Terry L. Katz, barracks commander. Paramedics found the victim dead at the scene of the 12:15 p.m. accident after receiving a report of an unconscious person in the driveway.