Mount Airy

Mount Airy is at a crossroads, literally and figuratively.A small town in Carroll's southwest corner with a population of 3,762, it is being buffeted by growth taking place all around it. Its planners and politicians are working to develop a strategy to preserve its small-town feel and identity while allowing it to grow.Many of the town's problems can be traced to its location. The line between Frederick and Carroll counties divides the town in half -- right down Main Street. The Howard County line sits less than a mile from the southern end of town, and the northern sliver of Montgomery County also is about a mile from town.

After an absence of nearly 30 years, the sport of jousting will return to Mount Airy next month as part of the town's centennial celebration.The tournament will be held July 3 at the Mount Airy Fire Company Carnival Grounds on Twin Arch Road from noon to 5 p.m. The event is free to the public.Mount Airy centennial committee member Oliver Baker said he suggested having a jousting tournament because the committee wanted "something of the olden days" to mark the centennial.From the 1920s to the 1940s, jousting tournaments were annual events at Mount Airy's Wildwood Park.

Teresa M. Bamberger, Mount Airy's first town planner, will leave town government at the end of this month to join a civil engineering, land planning and surveying corporation.Bamberger, 31, has spent 5 1/2 years in a job that included revising a comprehensive plan and guiding subdivision and commercial center plans through the review process for the growing community.The pace of growth has quickened in Mount Airy as the four-corners town at the junction of Carroll, Frederick, Howard and Montgomery counties has become a bedroom community, particularly for people who work along the Interstate 270 corridor.

Zoning panel delays action on bowling lanesThe Mount Airy Planning and Zoning Commission delayed action Monday on site plans for a proposed addition to Mount Airy Bowling Lanes.Owner Joseph Rineer has proposed adding 12 tenpin lanes on the west side of the building on Center Street. The bowling alley now has 12 duckpin lanes.Planning commission members asked Mr. Rineer to resubmit his plans after he addresses concerns about storm water management, forest conservation and parking.In other matters, the commission approved the final 100 lots of the Twin Ridge development, which is located off Route 144.The commission rescheduled its June meeting.

Hard-working, home-grown historians dedicated to preserving the legacy of Mount Airy's pioneer spirit are putting together a publication destined for an important place on local library shelves."

A development proposal favored by Mount Airy officials has been squelched by the county commissioners. But the town hopes to bring the county around to its view at a meeting this month.A developer's plan to build up to 200 single-family houses on 137 acres of farmland northwest of Mount Airy was greeted with enthusiasm three months ago by town officials.The town's Planning and Zoning Commission recommended annexing the land owned by Leo and Elizabeth Kraft. The county planning office supported the proposal and recommended that the county commissioners grant a waiver allowing the developer, Magna Holdings of Baltimore, to build at a higher density than the one unit per acre for which it is zoned now.This month, in a move that surprised Mount Airy officials and the county planning staff, the commissioners refused to grant the waiver.

An elderly Frederick County woman was killed yesterday when she failed to grant the right of way to a tractor-trailer at an intersection about three miles southwest of Emmitsburg.Police said Dorothy E. Duley, 80, of the 13900 block of Prospect Ave. in Mount Airy, was driving west on Md. 76 at 9:45 a.m. when she ran a stop sign at U.S. 15.Ms. Duley's 1977 Chevrolet Nova was struck broadside on the driver's side by a northbound 18-wheel tractor-trailer driven by Barry Ray Newhouse, 49, of Middletown, Pa.Ms.

"The Origins of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth," published last year by Baltimore native Eric Diggs, last week won the prestigious Coretta Scott King Award for best children's book illustration.The book was the first published by Mr. Diggs' Sights Productions, which is based in Mount Airy. He said Friday the firm will publish three more books this spring, including "The Rebellion of Humans," which will continue the story begun in "The Origins of Life on Earth.""The Origins of Life on Earth" earlier was named the Best American Children's Book About Africa by the African Study Association.