Hampstead Man

A 76-year-old Hampstead man was killed and his wife injured Sunday evening in an accident east of Westminster, according to state police at the Westminster barracks. The driver, William Harris of the 500 block of Houcksville Road was pronounced dead at Carroll County General Hospital, police said. His wife, Patricia Harris, was flown in serious condition to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where she was released yesterday, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Harris apparently drove his Oldsmobile Delta 88 through a stop sign on Coon Club Road at Gorsuch Road North about 6:10 p.m., said Lt. Terry L. Katz, the barracks commander.

For Mark Bilger, deputy chief state fire marshal, fire service is a natural extension of family life. His parents are life members of the volunteer fire company in Hereford, where Bilger was reared on company fund-raisers and became a volunteer firefighter at 16. Bilger, a Hampstead resident, recently took command of the Western Region office of the state fire marshal, and the 37-year-old can't imagine a job with more diversity and challenge. "It's all I really ever wanted to do," Bilger said recently in Westminster before commuting to his Hagerstown office, which serves as a base for Allegany, Garrett and Washington counties.

A Hampstead man was sentenced yesterday to eight years in prison for assaulting an off-duty Sykesville police officer outside a Westminster fast-food restaurant last summer. The length of the sentence imposed by Carroll Circuit Judge Luke K. Burns against James Stephen Long, 23, stunned spectators, including family members. Prosecutor Brian DeLeonardo called the eight-year term "unexpected." However, DeLeonardo said he and Officer Shawn D. Kilgore, the victim of the assault, were pleased.

A Hampstead man who is a suspect in three convenience store armed robberies over two days was arrested early yesterday in Westminster after state police in Carroll and Frederick counties compared notes about the robberies. State police in Frederick said a man brandishing a screwdriver held up a 7-Eleven store on Route 26 in Libertytown shortly after 6 p.m. Monday. Witnesses reported that the suspect drove away with an elderly passenger in a gray Ford pickup truck without a tailgate. State police in Carroll County were investigating a robbery Sunday morning at the 7-Eleven store on South Main Street in Union Bridge, where a man armed with a screwdriver threatened a clerk, grabbed money from the register and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Hampstead man gets year for probation violation in DWI caseA Hampstead man who violated probation by failing to report to a drinking and driving monitor was sentenced yesterday to a year in the county jail, court records show.Charles E. Brittain IV, 23, of the 4300 block of Downhill Trail was given credit for having served 15 days in jail on the driving-while-intoxicated charge.Court records show Brittain was pulled over for speeding in Westminster in April 1997. He was charged with speeding -- more than 15 mph over the limit -- and drunken driving when his blood-alcohol content registered 0.11, slightly above the legal limit for state motorists.

A Hampstead man died of injuries in a one-car accident on Route 30 south of Manchester early yesterday, state police said.Donald E. Toms Sr., 50, was airlifted to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he died after the crash at 12: 50 a.m. at Cape Horn Road.According to state police, a 1978 Ford Econoline van driven by Toms was traveling south on Route 30 when the vehicle went out of control, ran off the right side of the two-lane roadway and slammed into a utility pole.Hampstead council meeting rescheduled for TuesdayThe mayor and Town Council of Hampstead have rescheduled the regular monthly council meeting to 7: 30 p.m. Tuesday at Town Hall.

A Hampstead man, who must serve consecutive life terms without parole if released from a secure state mental health facility, was sentenced yesterday to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to violating probation and possessing firearms while on probation.The sentences concurrent to the life terms were imposed yesterday by Carroll Circuit Judge Francis M. Arnold and mean that Smith Harper "Skip" Dean III, 40, would serve no added time, if he is transferred from Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center, said State's Attorney Jerry F. Barnes.

A Hampstead man accused of e-mailing child pornography to a New Jersey girl, 11, and sexually assaulting a neighborhood girl, 8, is being held in an isolation unit at the county jail in lieu of $55,000 bail.Calvin Gary Horelick, 47, of the 4800 block of Hillock Lane may post 10 percent, or $5,500, and be released while awaiting trial in the two cases.Horelick, who was arrested Saturday, was placed in isolation at the Carroll County Detention Center in Westminster for his protection, a jail official said.