Kable

Westminster Common Council adopted a $17.3 million budget last night for fiscal 2001 that gives city employees a 2.5 percent pay raise and maintains water and sewer rates and property taxes. The budget is about $325,000 larger than the current fiscal budget. The new fiscal year begins July 1. City employees will receive a 2.5 percent raise, plus $240. City employees received a 2 percent raise last year. The budget also increases the pay for entry-level police officers from $28,023 to $31,209 annually.

FOR THE KABLES, fall means cooler weather, football games and more than 100 jars of apple butter. In a fledgling family tradition, the Westminster family spent the last weekend in October peeling about 11 bushels of Stayman, Winesap, Golden Delicious and Red Delicious apples to create this autumn treat the old-fashioned way. "We had a good time. It was a lot of fun," said John Kable. The Kables made the apple butter for the first time last year, in a 40-gallon kettle that John's wife, Robin, bought at an auction for his birthday.

Bleak at best.That was the picture facing the South Carroll volleyball team seven weeks ago when the Cavaliers traveled to North Carroll for an important Carroll County match.The team's top setter, Melissa Gettemy, had her right hand in a cast and no one knew when she would return to action.The team's top hitter, Nicole Spencer, seemed a little lost without Gettemy around to get her the ball.In general, South Carroll was a team lacking communication on the floor and plagued by one breakdown after another in all phases of the game.

For Bill and Christine Elliott, readying their 18th-century farmhouse for the Sykesville Christmas Historic House Tour was mostly a matter of putting away the tools, spackle and paint. The Elliotts' home - which is called the Moses Brown House by history buffs and "the haunted house" by neighborhood kids - is a work in progress after four years of renovations. While some rooms resemble construction zones, that hasn't stopped the Elliotts from decorating the house with the trappings of a country Christmas for Sunday's tour.

An article in yesterday's Carroll County edition of The Sun should have reported that 91 percent of those served at Safe Haven, a Westminster homeless shelter, had lived in the county a year or more.The Sun regrets the error.As Carroll County and Westminster officials wrangle over where to build a homeless shelter, some merchants and residents say the issue has opened an old wound -- problems with indigents in the downtown business district.The County Commissioners plan to move the Safe Haven shelter from the 200 block of Stoner Ave. beside the Westminster Senior Activities Center, but city residents have opposed two proposed sites -- on Center Street near the county administration building and at city-owned property on Goodwin's Quarry Road.

The cows are losing ground to dogs and cats as suburbia takes over farmland in Carroll County, but even rarer is the veterinarian who will see creatures great and small."

IT WAS A DARK, DRIZZLY day when I visited Linwood Church of the Brethren outside Union Bridge.As I walked to the basement level, I was wrapped in the warmth of four women who were busy putting the stitches into a huge quilt spread on a quilt frame. These women, Thelma Dayhoff, Virginia Hook, Mary Garver and Joanna Hesson, and a fifth woman who wasn't there that day, Frances Lowman, are the Linwood Church of the Brethren Quilting Circle.The quilting circle originated in 1918. In those days, the women gathered in their homes to do their stitching.

Annie Wu, Bryn Mawr -- Wu captured her third straight Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland championship with a win over Roland Park sophomore Lindsey Katz, 6-0, 6-1. The two had split their regular-season matches before meeting in the final. Wu, a senior, finished 11-1. She was a No. 1 singles player for four years. "She is a very focused player who gets the job done," Roland Park coach Kate Brendler said. Coach of the Year Kate Brendler, Bryn Mawr -- Bryn Mawr captured the IAAM A Conference championship by finishing the regular season with a 12-0 record.

When South Carroll senior defender Geof Weisenborn first picked up a lacrosse stick in his freshman year, he didn't think of getting a college scholarship or even making the All-County team.He had played football since the fourth grade and always thrived on the contact. Some friends told him about the similar contact in lacrosse and he figured it would be a good way to keep in shape during the spring.It wasn't long before lacrosse replaced football as his No. 1 sport."My first year, I had a hard time with my stickwork and it took some time just learning the game and all the rules," said Weisenborn.

The names are basically the same at South Carroll, but with a year of experience behind them, the Cavaliers are looking to win a lot more matches this fall.Coach Debbie Barnes went with a youth movement last year, relying on six juniors and three sophomores. Despite their 4-11 record, the Cavaliers stayed in most matches and improved as the season went along."We're not going to be a powerhouse or anything like that, but I think we'll be very competitive and win our share of games this year," Barnes said.