Gamber

The Carroll Planning Commission has worked out a compromise that will allow construction to begin on a long-proposed 57-home development off Route 32 near Gamber. The point of contention was a 4,300-foot road ending in a cul-de-sac that will serve as the main access to many of the homes in the Lakeland Heights development. Gamber Fire Department officials had said they might have trouble getting water to homes at the end of the road. The commission allayed those concerns by requiring the developer to build a 30,000-gallon water tank from which firefighters would be able to run lines to any property on the 203-acre site.

Despite chilly weather, 29 fifth-graders were outside Mechanicsville Elementary School yesterday morning, whooping with joy when their parents pulled into the main driveway. The parents had driven to the school on Route 32 in Gamber to get American flags drawn on the windows of their cars, sport utility vehicles, minivans and trucks - and to donate to a scholarship fund for children who lost a parent in the terrorist attacks Sept. 11. In groups of five, the pupils eagerly approached waiting vehicles - some so high off the ground that the children had to strain on tiptoe to reach the windows.

The Carroll County commissioners bestowed commendations yesterday on members of Gamber and Community Volunteer Fire Company, thanking them for their timely response to the tragedy in New York City last week. When New York police sent the first fax asking for aid, about 30 Gamber firefighters were on standby, ready to leave. "There was not a member of our station who didn't want to respond, and that was true throughout the county," said Chief J. Ronald Green, who dispatched 17 members of his fire company to New York on Sept.

The Carroll County commissioners bestowed commendations yesterday on members of Gamber and Community Volunteer Fire Company, thanking them for their timely response to the tragedy in New York City last week. When New York police sent the first fax asking for aid, about 30 Gamber firefighters were on standby, ready to leave. "There was not a member of our station who didn't want to respond, and that was true throughout the county," said Chief J. Ronald Green, who dispatched 17 members of his fire company to New York on Sept.

Maryland State Police have charged two men with arson in an early-morning fire Sunday that caused an estimated $30,000 damage to a Gamber home. No one was home at the time, police said. Charged with first-degree arson and conspiracy to commit arson are Gilbert W. Binder, 32, owner of the home in the 3300 block of Sykesville Road and Jonathan Samuel Carnaggio, 19, of Taneytown. Investigators said Binder is accused of hiring Carnaggio to burn the house. An incendiary device placed in the basement of the one-story frame home caused the fire, authorities said.

Maryland State Police have charged two men with arson in an early-morning fire Sunday that caused an estimated $30,000 damage to a Gamber home. No one was home at the time, police said. Charged with first-degree arson and conspiracy to commit arson are Gilbert W. Binder, 32, owner of the home in the 3300 block of Sykesville Road, and Jonathan Samuel Carnaggio, 19, of Taneytown. Investigators said Binder is accused of hiring Carnaggio to burn the house. An incendiary device placed in the basement of the one-story frame home caused the fire, authorities said.

Commercial contractor Joseph W. Schmitz Jr. of Gamber has owned more than 40 Chevrolet trucks over the years, and had always been pleased with their performance. So, when he noticed that his 1997 Chevrolet Astro van was pulling to the right, and violently so upon braking, he returned it to the dealership for service. Between October 1996 and July 1997, mechanics at Chevrolet dealerships in Glen Burnie and Westminster tried seven times to fix the problem. Seven times they failed. Finally, engineers for General Motors Corp.

Wrestler Greg Skipper is "Mr. Excellent." He weighs 260 pounds, has two-toned black-and-bleached-white spiked hair, long thin sideburns and talks about moves like the "corporate cutter," where you lock your arms around the head and leg of an opponent and then flip him over your head. Skipper, 17, who lives near the Carroll County community of Gamber, said Mr. Excellent is (in his best ring announcer imitation) the "un-dee-sputed" heavyweight champion of Ground Breaking Wrestling - a title earned on Saturday nights spent tossing his friends around a wrestling ring in his back yard for the past year.

A 15-year-old Gamber boy was arrested Monday in the setting of three brush fires in a Gamber subdivision. State fire marshals charged the boy with arson threat, malicious burning in the second degree, and maliciously and negligently setting fires. He was released to his father Monday and will be tried as a juvenile. Deputy State Fire Marshal Ted Meminger said that marshals are investigating the incident, in which pine brush and a mailbox were set on fire in the Deer Park Estates subdivision early July 13.

The state fire marshal's office and Maryland State Police are investigating a series of arsons in the Gamber area. Firefighters responded at 4:06 a.m. yesterday to a mailbox on fire and three pine brush fires in the Deer Park Estates subdivision. Ten firefighters worked 30 minutes to control the fires. A passer-by discovered the fires, said deputies from the fire marshal's office, who determined that all four fires were incendiary. Damage to the mailbox was estimated at $35. No other structures were damaged in the fires.