Mount Airy

It's mid-May, and Maryland State Police Cpl. Daniel Pickett is reviewing crime stats for the first two weeks of the month in Mount Airy: eight arrests, one of them a juvenile; six stops for driving under the influence of alcohol; and six traffic accidents (two involving alcohol). His troopers responded to 346 calls, about 24 a day, eight per shift. They performed 21 criminal investigations, "everything from deaths all the way down to destruction of property." The trooper pauses, remembering he's talking to someone from Baltimore.

Comment puts teacher on leave A Howard County high school teacher has been put on paid administrative leave after making a racially insensitive comment to an African-American student, school officials said Thursday. The teacher, a world language instructor at Reservoir High School in Fulton, has been on leave since March 5, the day the incident occurred, according to school system spokeswoman Patti Caplan. The school system also filed a hate-bias incident report with the Howard County Police Department, police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said.

In Maryland, it is still possible to enjoy a ham made from homegrown hogs and smoked in a local meat-processing plant. Recently, I visited the Mount Airy Locker Co., run by Thomas Wagner on Main Street in Mount Airy, which transforms hogs to ham in about one week. At the beginning of the week, Wagner calls a Frederick County farmer and tells him how many of the animals to bring to the plant. After the white Yorkshire hogs, which on average are about 5 months old and weigh about 260 pounds, are processed, the meat cutters in the plant deliver the rear legs to Boe Smith.

Susan M. Smith, a retired administrative assistant who enjoyed collecting antiques, died Sunday of cancer at Howard County General Hospital. The longtime Mount Airy resident was 64. Susan Marie Gordon was born in Lebanon, Pa., and later moved to Towson with her family. She was a 1962 graduate of Towson High School. Mrs. Smith had worked as an administrative assistant with the Prince George's County Board of Education and, in the early 1970s, with Auerbach and Simmons, a Silver Spring law firm.

While millions of Americans sat before TV sets on Tuesday night watching presidential election results, Jennifer Seidel was in her kitchen with a laptop, fixated on the Carroll County Board of Elections Web site. The Mount Airy resident sought to know how she fared among three other candidates vying for two open spots on the county's school board, which meant she spent much of the evening repeatedly pressing the refresh button. Around midnight, Seidel got the news: She placed first in balloting with 37 percent of the vote.

Arthur J. Brett, a retired Social Security Administration official who was active in veterans affairs, died Thursday of cirrhosis at his Mount Airy home. He was 76. Mr. Brett was born and raised in Milwaukee, where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Marquette University in 1953. He served in the Army during the Korean War and remained an active reservist, attaining the rank of lieutenant. He went to work for the SSA in 1958 and was transferred to headquarters at Woodlawn in 1964.

A West Virginia man was arrested Friday on a warrant charging him with homicide by motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol in a two-car collision Thursday night that killed a 64-year-old Mount Airy man and injured five others, Howard County police said. Joel Nathaniel Wareham, 22, was taken into custody at his home in Martinsburg, W.Va., on a warrant charging him with multiple offenses in the crash, police said in a news release. Police said they were awaiting test results to determine Wareham's blood-alcohol content but added that based on statements and evidence, they believe he was under the influence of alcohol and had been speeding.

Barbara Keith joined the Mount Airy Jaycees six years ago, and in only a year she became president of the group. She threw herself into planning social events to go along with the organization's traditional activities: the spring and fall yard sales, the Thanksgiving baskets, the Christmas party for underprivileged children, the Easter egg hunt. But a dwindling membership is prompting the chapter - Carroll County's last - to disband. "We wanted to close ourselves down," Keith said, explaining the decision earlier this summer.

Murray D. Ryan, a retired Johns Hopkins University public relations worker and active Lions Club member, died of heart failure Wednesday at Good Samaritan Transitional Care Unit in Lebanon, Pa. The former Parkville resident was 89. Mr. Ryan, the son of dairy farmers, was born and raised in Mount Airy. He was a 1938 graduate of Mount Airy High School. During World War II, he served as a radio technician with the Army in the Pacific. Mr. Ryan worked at Hopkins' Homewood campus for many years before retiring in the 1980s.

Book club introduces biography category June book clubs at the Glenwood branch library include a new club focused on biography that will meet at 7 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month. The group will discuss The Death of Sigmund Freud: The Legacy of His Last Days, by Mark Edmundson, at 7 p.m. June 4. The library's Contemporary Fiction book club will meet at 7 p.m. June 2 to discuss The Whole World Over by Julia Glass. The group meets on the first Monday of each month. Around town Teen space : The Glenwood Community Center's game room for teens is open 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.