Liberty Reservoir

Authorities are continuing a search for a man missing since Sunday afternoon after he and two friends went swimming in Liberty Reservoir. Maryland State Police say the men were illegally swimming in the manmade lake about 5:45 p.m. The man, believed to be in his 20s, attempted to swim across a 100-yard cove with another friend. Police say the friend made it, but the other man tired midway through and attempted to turn back. He went underwater and could not be found by his friends, according to a police spokesman.

A later start to the walleye season has resulted in the largest member of the perch family being "the most abundant fish species" in Deep Creek Lake, according to Al Klotz, Western Regional Fisheries Manager for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The season, which began Wednesday, starts with a daily creel limit of five and 15-inch minimum size limit. Klotz said several walleyes more than 20 inches long have already been spotted or caught. Aside from Deep Creek Lake, walleye are plentiful in the Youghiogheny River Reservoir, Jennings Randolph Lake, Savage River Reservoir, Potomac River and Liberty Reservoir.

In his talk this month regarding the history of Liberty Reservoir, James Slater Jr., water resources program manager for the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, said most of the water in Carroll County stays here a while, but not for long. Slater, a Finksburg resident and former compliance and environmental programs director for the county, spoke Nov. 17 at the Finksburg Library, at the monthly meeting of the Finksburg Planning and Community Council. He said Carroll's outward flow of water is because of a geological formation called Parr's Ridge, which intersects the county at a southwest by northwest angle.

Just about the only excitement in the semi-rural residential neighborhood near the intersection of Oklahoma and Bennett roads, in Eldersburg, is provided by occasional errant motorists who misjudge the sharp downhill curve on Oklahoma where it approaches Bennett from the northeast and either end up in a ditch or in somebody's yard. But the billboard-sized banner that one homeowner recently put in his front yard - along with dozens of smaller signs that pepper Oklahoma Road - reveal that this neighborhood, where old and new residential subdivisions abut a few remaining farms and a stretch of the Liberty Reservoir watershed, is in the midst of a controversy.

Baltimore County police were searching Liberty Reservoir on Wednesday evening after finding a car there that belongs to a city firefighter recruit who was reported missing Tuesday when he failed to show up for training. Rodney E. Goggins Jr., 20, of Randallstown, last spoke to his mother about 9 p.m. Sunday, said Baltimore Fire Department spokesman Kevin Cartwright. Tracey Goggins said her son asked her to watch his 8-month-old daughter that night, then went to his girlfriend's house in East Baltimore.

The Carroll County Sheriff's Office reported Tuesday that the body of a Baltimore City man missing in the area of Liberty Reservoir since Sept. 9 had been found. According to the Sheriff's Office account, Baltimore City Watershed Rangers patrolling the reservoir were stopped by a motorist just before 9 a.m. on Sept. 13 along Liberty Road (Route 26) reporting an object floating in the reservoir north of the Liberty Road bridge. With the assistance of a Baltimore County Police Helicopter, rangers located a partially decomposed body in the water and called Sheriff's Office deputies and the Rescue Dive Team from the Gamber and Community Volunteer Fire Company to assist.

Carroll County Sheriff's Office reported on Saturday, Sept. 10, that it was aiding in the investigation of a Baltimore City man who went missing early on Friday, Sept. 9. Just before 11 a.m. Saturday, a Maryland State Trooper patrolling Route 26 near the Carroll and Baltimore county line found an unattended 2002 Honda Accord parked along the shoulder at the Liberty Reservoir bridge near Eldersburg Police said the vehicle was owned by 44-year-old Christopher Anthony White of Baltimore.

The body of a Baltimore City Fire Department recruit who was last seen May 29 was found Sunday afternoon in the Liberty Reservoir, police said. The body, which had no obvious signs of trauma, was identified as Rodney Earl Goggins, Jr., 20, said Major Phil Kasten of the Carroll County Sheriff's Office, which is continuing to investigate the death. "This entire ordeal has been especially troubling to the recruits and the members of the department. We all had held out hope and optimism of his return," said city Fire Department spokesman Kevin Cartwright.

After 13 years of filings, pleadings, hearings, denials, court appeals, refilings, etc., a five-acre chunk of Liberty Reservoir's "conservation area" -- where little or no development is supposed to occur -- has been rezoned for industrial use in Carroll County. That could bode ill for the entire Baltimore region.The rezoning has been relentlessly pursued by the landowner, who also owns a heavy equipment and trailer business across Westminster Pike (Route 140) in Finksburg. He ran into strong opposition from Carroll's planning staff, the county Planning and Zoning Commission, its Water Resources Bureau and Health Department, Baltimore's planning department, and the Baltimore Regional Council of Governments.

Maryland Natural Resources Police reported that they stopped a 15-foot boat in Liberty Reservoir near Eldersburg on Saturday and arrested its operator.Gerald A. Clark, 28, of Glen Burnie was charged with operating a boat while intoxicated, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Natural Resources Police said.The charge carries a maximum fine of $1,000 and/or one year in prison, according to the spokeswoman.FIRE* Eldersburg: Sykesville responded to a trash container fire in the 1900 block of Liberty Road at 9:46 a.m. Sunday.

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In his talk this month regarding the history of Liberty Reservoir, James Slater Jr., water resources program manager for the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, said most of the water in Carroll County stays here a while, but not for long. Slater, a Finksburg resident and former compliance and environmental programs director for the county, spoke Nov. 17 at the Finksburg Library, at the monthly meeting of the Finksburg Planning and Community Council. He said Carroll's outward flow of water is because of a geological formation called Parr's Ridge, which intersects the county at a southwest by northwest angle.

The Carroll County Sheriff's Office reported Tuesday that the body of a Baltimore City man missing in the area of Liberty Reservoir since Sept. 9 had been found. According to the Sheriff's Office account, Baltimore City Watershed Rangers patrolling the reservoir were stopped by a motorist just before 9 a.m. on Sept. 13 along Liberty Road (Route 26) reporting an object floating in the reservoir north of the Liberty Road bridge. With the assistance of a Baltimore County Police Helicopter, rangers located a partially decomposed body in the water and called Sheriff's Office deputies and the Rescue Dive Team from the Gamber and Community Volunteer Fire Company to assist.

The body of Christopher Anthony White, 44, was found in the Liberty Reservoir in Carroll County Tuesday morning, police said. White, of Baltimore, was reported missing Friday, according to a statement by the Carroll County Sheriff's Office. Just before 9 a.m. Tuesday, Baltimore City Watershed Rangers patrolling the reservoir were stopped by a motorist on Route 26 who reported something floating in the water north of the Liberty Road Bridge, police said. White's body was found in the water, about 20 miles northwest of Baltimore.

Carroll County Sheriff's Office reported on Saturday, Sept. 10, that it was aiding in the investigation of a Baltimore City man who went missing early on Friday, Sept. 9. Just before 11 a.m. Saturday, a Maryland State Trooper patrolling Route 26 near the Carroll and Baltimore county line found an unattended 2002 Honda Accord parked along the shoulder at the Liberty Reservoir bridge near Eldersburg Police said the vehicle was owned by 44-year-old Christopher Anthony White of Baltimore.

Baltimore County Police are investigating the non-fatal shooting of two people in Baltimore County early Sunday morning. The incident occurred at 4:40 a.m. at Chapeldale Road and Liberty Road, police said, about a mile from Liberty Reservoir. No further information, including the genders of the victims, was available.

A 65-year-old Carroll County man drowned in Liberty Reservoir yesterday afternoon after he tried to swim across a stretch of water and failed halfway, state police in Westminster reported.Perry M. Humpel of the 1400 block of Raincliffe Road in Sykesville had apparently been drinking before the incident at 1: 40 p.m., Trooper Danielle Barry said.Two men were fishing on the banks of the reservoir when they were joined by a woman who brought Humpel with her, Barry said. The drowning occurred on reservoir property, about half a mile down a gravel fire road leading off Pine Knob Road and a mile east of Route 32 near Eldersburg.

A new bridge carrying Nicodemus Road over Liberty Reservoir between Baltimore and Carroll counties will open to traffic after almost two years of construction, the Baltimore Department of Transportation announced Wednesday. The department, which maintains the bridge because it falls within the city-owned reservoir system, said the concrete replacement bridge is scheduled to open to vehicles and pedestrians at 3 p.m. Friday. The new two-lane bridge is 552 feet long. The city began the $8.2 million replacement project in October 2009 with the demolition of the old bridge, built in 1952.