Random House

The county Planning and Zoning Commission approved site plans yesterday for the expansion of two Westminster businesses and ordered a study of road development in the Freedom Area.By unanimous vote, the seven-member commission approved plans by Random House Inc. to expand its facility on the northeast edge of Westminster. The project calls for the construction of a 278,500-square-foot warehouse.Work on the building, which will be attached to an existing warehouse on the site, is expected to begin in June, according to Randy Bachtel of BPR Inc. The Westminster engineering firm has been working on the project for several months.

For anyone who has ever dreamed of meeting a famous author, it doesn't get much easier than attending next week's Random House Book Fair, an annual fund-raiser for the Carroll Community College Foundation. The literary lineup includes nationally known authors Mary Downing Hahn, Alice McDermott, Da Chen, Peter Straub and Michael J. Gelb. The event, which begins Tuesday, features author lectures and book signings, workshops, children's activities, book sales, a book auction and music. The week culminates in a book fair at Carroll Community College, 1601 Washington Road, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 11. "The Random House Book Fair has grown by leaps and bounds," said Paula Langmead, fair chairwoman.

Random House Inc., Carroll County's largest private employer, will provide financial counseling today to more than 100 workers who are being offered voluntary early retirement because of advancements in technology. "A combination of new technology and changes in the way our business processes operate -- changes that were prompted by the new systems we're using -- have required adjustments," said Jeffrey A. Sprinkle, who oversees distribution at the Westminster facility. The company last week offered voluntary early retirement to employees who will be 55 or older by Dec. 31, and laid off "a handful" of information technology employees, Sprinkle said.

Even by warehouse standards, Random House's Westminster Distribution Center is enormous.It has more floor space than 10 Wal-Marts, bookshelves that are seven stories high and more volumes than the world's largest library.Each week, Random House packs and ships 4 million books out of Westminster, about twice the number available in the Enoch Pratt Free Library's main library and 26 branches.Yet the center is not big enough.This 24-hour-a-day city within a city -- where safety crews rappel down 70-foot stacks, books zip along conveyor belts and forklifts are dispatched by radio commands -- is getting bigger.

State legislators agreed yesterday to award Bertelsmann AG, the parent of publishing giant Random House, a $2.5 million grant to help renovate and expand its national distribution facility in Carroll County.Richard C. Mike Lewin, state economic development secretary, said the grant was critical to retaining 900 jobs in Maryland."We just couldn't take a chance at losing those jobs," he said.William Barry, senior vice president for distribution at Random House in New York, said Maryland's offer was "very impressive" and helped the company make its decision to locate its sole national distribution facility in Westminster.

Twenty-three teams representing 11 area businesses took part in a charity volleyball tournament to benefit the Carroll County Division ofthe American Cancer Society.Random House G, one of seven teams sponsored by the publishing firm, won the event at Western Maryland College's Gill Physical Education Learning Center with a 6-0 record, said Karen Gold of Random House.Though not all pledge sheets had been turned in as of Tuesday afternoon, Gold said the $100 per team entry and those pledge sheets already turned in had netted the Cancer Society about $2,000.

FDR By Jean Edward Smith Random House / 859 pages / $35 At the conclusion of the conference at Casblanca, Morocco, in January 1943, Winston Churchill accompanied Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the airport. The prime minister watched as the president was helped up the runway. He then returned to his limousine and told the driver to depart before the plane took off. "It makes me far too nervous," he sighed. "If anything ever happened to that man, I couldn't stand it. He is the truest friend; he has the farthest vision; he is the greatest man I have ever known."

The percentage of Americans -- about 1 in 3 -- who describe themselves as "very happy" has remained about the same since the 1950s, even though the average person's income has doubled since that time. -- National Opinion Research Center and The Progress Paradox by Gregg Easterbrook (Random House, 2003)

The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life By Tom Reiss Random House / 449 pages / $14.95 This exhilarating, best-selling biography tracks the fantastic, intercontinental tale of Lev Nussimbaum, a Jew from the Caucasus who impersonates a Muslim prince and becomes a best-selling writer in Nazi Germany.

Random House Inc.'s plans to turn Westminster into its national distribution center encountered a delay yesterday when the county commissioners asked for more time to discuss a rezoning request that is crucial to the company's expansion plans.In a unanimous decision, the commissioners agreed to wait up to 30 days before voting whether to allow Westminster Rescue Mission to rezone its 39-acre property from residential to industrial use.Random House wants to buy at least 9 acres of that property so it can build a 600,000-square-foot warehouse.