Garver

Baghdad, Iraq -- The U.S. military released a senior member of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's movement yesterday at the request of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The decision, officials said, was made with the hope of easing tensions between al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and U.S.-led forces in Iraq. Sheik Ahmed Shibani, who had been in prison for 2 1/2 years, was handed over to the office of the Shiite prime minister. "In consultation with the prime minister and following his request, coalition leaders determined that Sheik Shibani, who was detained since 2004, could play a potentially important role in helping to moderate extremism and foster reconciliation in Iraq," Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman, said in a statement.

"Jest a Second!" -- the sequel to James Sherman's comedy, "Beau Jest" -- takes place one year later. So it's perfectly fitting that Totem Pole Playhouse is presenting the sequel exactly a year after its success with "Beau Jest."Like "Beau Jest," "Jest a Second!" is being directed by Wil Love, the popular Baltimore-based actor and director who is a longtime favorite at this Fayetteville, Pa., summer theater. In the new comedy, which opens Tuesday, the hero and heroine have married and are expecting a child.

A 15-month-old boy was injured after walking behind a car that was backing out of the family driveway Saturday morning in Sykesville, state police said.The toddler, David Wayne Garver, of the 6200 block of Margin Ave. was flown to the Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore where he was treated and released, a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday.State police said the driver, David Scott Grogg, 25, of the 3400 block of Nottingham Road in Westminster, was not charged in the accident because the child was too small to be seen.

On November 29, 2007, GLADYS MAE, 94 year old, formerly of Reisterstown; beloved wife of the late William Jacob Brown, Sr., loving mother of Dorothy Mae Barber, Patricia LeCompte, Joan Steger, Sarah Farron and Linda Styron. She was predeceased by her son, William Jacob Brown, Jr. Also survived by 16 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and three siblings, Jessie Garver, Nancy Ross and William Gill. Funeral services will be held on Monday, December 3, 2007, at 10 A.M., at the ECKHARDT FUNERAL CHAPEL, P.A., 11605 Reisterstown Road, Owings Mills, Rev. Gary Glanville officiating.

Services for Carl W. Schaller Sr., a former superintendent at Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., will be held at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Barranco & Sons Severna Park Funeral Home, 501 Ritchie Highway.Mr. Schaller, a resident of Severna Park for 41 years, died Wednesday of cancer in Leesburg, Fla. He was 84.Mr. Schaller was born in Germany and came to the United States at the age of 19. He worked for Maryland Shipbuilding for more than 37 years, retiring as a superintendent in 1965.Mr.

Tom Hammonds, a reserve forward for the Washington Bullets, was charged yesterday with transporting a handgun after a state trooper stopped his car to give him a speeding ticket.Hammonds, 23, of Columbia, was stopped at 9:45 a.m. on Route 32 and charged with driving his 1989 Ford four-wheel drive vehicle at 72 miles in a 55 mph zone.Trooper Barry D. Garver said he spotted a handgun on the center console inside the car, and a subsequent search turned up 60 rounds of ammunition in the glove compartment.

Two incumbents and three newcomers to town politics are vying for three council seats in New Windsor today.Terry Petry, running for a third four-year term, and Ronnie Blacksten, seeking a second term, are being challenged by J. Edward Green, Kevin G. Null and Paul G. Garver.Longtime Councilman D. Kenneth Grimes decided against a sixth campaign and announced his retirement last month.The five candidates have campaigned with fliers, phone calls and door-to-door visits to get a sense of what the 395 registered voters in the county's smallest town want.

Baghdad -- U.S. troops have detained hundreds of Iraqis, including four wanted as suspected insurgents, and dropped thousands of leaflets from airplanes, promising up to $200,000 reward for help in recovering three missing American soldiers captured Saturday by Islamic radicals, Army officers said yesterday. At least 460 people had been held for questioning, although an undisclosed number have been released, the U.S. military said. More than 4,000 American troops continued to sweep the orchards and farmland around Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad.

New Windsor Mayor Jack A. Gullo Jr. has declined to run for a third term, but will not bow out of town politics. Gullo has asked for an appointment to the Town Council. If appointed, he hopes "to provide a bridge between the past and future." "I hope to be the link to efforts of the past, so that our community will have continued successes in the future," Gullo said. After the budget hearing and a closed executive session last night, the mayor handed council members a letter asking them to consider him for the vacancy created by Councilman Paul Garver's resignation in February.

New Windsor residents will get a 5-cent break on their 1998-1999 property taxes, the Town Council decided yesterday in voting 3-2 to adopt a tax cut.However, town residents probably will see an increase in quarterly water-usage fees.The council majority endorsed the proposal of Mayor Jack A. Gullo Jr. to reduce the municipal property tax rate -- already the lowest among Carroll's eight incorporated towns -- from 45 cents to 40 cents per $100 of assessed value.Council members reported mixed sentiment among residents after the introduction last month of the town's proposed $263,000 budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 and the accompanying tax cut.The budget adopted last night is about $3,000 less than the current year's.