Nave

Heavy overnight rains, joining some still-melting snow, closed two roads in the western section of Carroll County yesterday morning.Officials at the county Bureau of Roads Operation said the waters from the Monocacy River closed Keysville Frederick County Road at the county line and Baumgardner Road just off Keysville Frederick County Road.Mumma Ford Road at the county line was covered with water, and traffic was forced to move with caution along the roadway, but it was not closed.All three roads are in the Detour-Keysville area, which is known for its frequent flooding because of the Monocacy River and Big Pipe Creek nearby.

The state's second-highest court has overturned a $4 million verdict by a Baltimore County jury last year, which found that a defectively designed steering column on a Nissan pickup truck caused the death of a Carroll County man who died in a 1994 crash.The Court of Special Appeals ruled yesterday that evidence presented by lawyers for the family of crash victim Donald A. Nave failed to prove the design defect.The family's lawyers presented testimony during the trial showing that the steering column should have collapsed like a telescope on impact during the accident, but instead severed Nave's aorta, killing him instantly.

The county cannot afford to spend $6.4 million upgrading its emergency radio system, Carroll Planning Commission members decided during a work session yesterday.The commission placed the $860,535 for the system -- requested for fiscal year 1994 -- on a list of projects to be added to the capital budget if money becomes available."We have a serious budget crunch that goes far beyond this project," Planning Director Edmund R. Cueman said before the work session. "If money becomes available, the commissioners can choose which projects they want to pursue."

,A Virginia bill collector and financial consultant has been ordered to serve to five months in a halfway house, two years of probation and a 19-month suspended sentence for bilking Maryland National Bank out of $2.5 million.James E. Stuckey, 64, the founder and former president of Pan American Financial Corp in Arlington, Va., received the sentence late yesterday from Judge Frederic N. Smalkin in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.Stuckey, who was extradited from Switzerland last fall, went to trial earlier this year.

Piles of dead sheep and goats have been dumped in a rural area of Carroll County four times in the past six weeks, prompting an investigation that includes police, road crews, agricultural and animal agencies. About 35 animals have been removed from the Marston area in southwest Carroll near the Frederick County line, said Jay R. Nave, administrative supervisor of the county Bureau of Roads Operations. About evenly divided between sheep and goats, many were so decomposed that it was difficult to determine the numbers, much less a cause of death.

A 37-year-old Mount Airy man, who helped pull a motorist from his burning pickup after it collided with a jackknifed tractor-trailer in Taylorsville last month, was given a Maryland State Police "Good Citizen Award" at the Westminster barracks yesterday.Thomas S. Humphries, who was driving behind Donald A. Nave when the crash occurred at Route 27 and Braddock Road, assisted in pulling the fatally injured driver from his vehicle and carrying him to a nearby field to await medical aid."Mr. Humphries' efforts epitomize the highest standard of civic involvement by risking his own life to save a fellow citizen.

Completion of the county's new emergency radio system will be delayed because of a state error in selecting a construction site in Sykesville for a communications tower, officials say.The system was expected to be operating by mid-November, said Howard S. "Buddy" Redman Jr., administrator of the county's Office of Public Safety. But the county learned earlier this month that the tower site on the grounds of Springfield Hospital Center was earmarked for use by Maryland State Police for part of its new training facility.

A traffic survey has led the Town Council to all but rule out a crossing guard as the solution to residents' concerns about unsafe conditions near Mount Airy Elementary School.Results of a traffic survey of North Main Street and Watersville Road near the school have council members looking for alternatives.At the council's regular monthly meeting Monday, a county roads official delivered the results of a 96-hour study of intersection traffic. The news wasn't very encouraging.Of the more than 1,800 carsthat traverse the intersection each day, about 1 percent obey the posted speed limit of 15 mph near the corner, said Jay R. Nave, of the county Bureau of Roads Operation.

Two strategically placed street signs would make life safer for one South Carroll family.Jeff Smith and Clare Tolan are asking the county to post "Deaf Pedestrian Walking" signs at two intersections on Macbeth Way, near their home.No such sign exists in the county standards, said Jay Nave, acting traffic control chief for Carroll County."The county conforms to the state [manual of] 'Uniform Traffic Control Devices' to make its signs, and that one is not available," said Mr. Nave.Eugene Bailey, assistant supervisor of state Sign Operations, said, "Plenty of signs not in the manual can be made."

Gray skies, still-bare trees and aged tombstones would suggest a scene to inspire the pen of Stephen King and not the playful shenanigans of the Easter Bunny.But guess who showed up at Loudon Park Cemetery yesterday?The Easter Bunny and some 300 candy-loving youngsters, who took part in the cemetery's first egg hunt -- part of Loudon Park's efforts to show the neighborhood and the city that the family-owned and -operated graveyard "has a heart.""Our reason for doing this is to be a part of the community," said Marie Loewer-Nave, director of family services at the cemetery.