School In Westminster

Two new high schools -- one in Eldersburg and the other in Westminster -- are on track to open by 2002 and will accommodate up to 2,800 students, under a plan approved by the school board and county commissioners yesterday.In an unusual joint meeting of the boards at dawn, officials ended a two-month battle over the schools and agreed to open one, Century High School in South Carroll, at its original size of 1,200 students with the option of expanding classroom accommodation by up to 400 seats if needed.

A 14-year-old Carroll County middle school student was struck by a car while crossing the street to board a school bus yesterday morning, Maryland State Police said. About 8 a.m., Christopher Vain-Dolan was walking from his home on the eastbound side of Deer Park Road, near Bollinger Road, when the driver of a 2000 Volkswagen Beetle heading east on the road failed to stop and hit the teenager, State Trooper A.J. Hall said. The bus was stopped in the westbound lane, with its warning lights on and "stop indicator" out. Rachel Cosden, 21, was driving the Volkswagen, police said.

In the first days of her last year of high school, 16-year-old Brittany Decker hugged her teachers - and mouthed off to them. Sometimes scowling and sullen, the girl who already had been kicked out of three Carroll County high schools swept notebooks from her desk to the floor and punched lockers in frustration. Piercings hugged the arch of her eyebrow and flashed from her nose and tongue. Nine months later, Brittany rolls her eyes in disgust when friends act up. She earned an A and B in her first community college classes this semester and plans to apply next year to four-year, Christian colleges.

Carroll County: Westminster Girl, 13, charged in knife possession A 13-year-old girl was arrested at East Middle School in Westminster Tuesday afternoon and charged with possession of a deadly weapon, Capt. Randy Barnes, spokesman for the Westminster police, said yesterday. The Westminster girl came to school with a 7-inch folding knife in her backpack, and other students notified school authorities, although they were not threatened, Barnes said. The girl was released to her mother, he said.

Name: Matt BairHonored by The Carroll County Sun for: Getting eight hits and batting in four runs during the South Penn League finalsto help lead the Taneytown Cardinals past the New Oxford (Pa.) Twinsto win their second straight league titleAge: 23Residence; hometown: WestminsterOccupation: Employed by National Building Leasing Inc. in WestminsterEducation: Graduate of Westminster High School; graduate of East Middle School in Westminster; graduate of Robert Moton Elementary School in WestminsterFamily: Mother: Tinia Byers, secretary at Carroll County General Hospital in Westminster; Father: Emerson, owner of the National Building Leasing Inc. in Westminster; Sister: Heather, senior at SalisburyState University in Wicomico County; Brothers: Jeremy, attends West Middle School in Westminster; Michael, attends Robert Moton Elementary School and Jon-David Byers, attends Charles Carroll Elementary SchoolPlace of worship: Grace Lutheran in WestminsterActivities/hobbies: basketball, golfAccomplishments: Earned two varsity letters in both baseball and basketball at Westminster High, participated on the Westminster High cross country teamRecipient's comments: "It was good to play well coming out of a slump in the middle of the season.

County school projects have been shifted around in the last two months like tiles in a Scrabble game, but the letters still spell the same word: M-O-N-E-Y.Westminster should get a second high school by 2002. That's the intention of both the school board and at least two county commissioners, a consensus reached in a quarterly meeting yesterday.But whether the commissioners can find a way to pay for the approximately $30 million project is unclear. After tentatively approving reducing the "piggyback tax," the county's share of the state income tax, the commissioners now might have to keep the tax at the higher rate to pay for school projects.

Ashleigh HamburgElementary studentAshleigh Ann Hamburg, a 6-year-old student at Robert Moton Elementary School in Westminster, died Sunday at Johns Hopkins Hospital of complications after heart surgery.The Westminster native liked to ride with the 4-H Therapeutic Riding Club of Carroll County.A memorial Mass will be offered at noon today at St. John's Roman Catholic Church, Westminster.She is survived by her parents, Kurt Joseph and Pamela Barrett Hamburg of Westminster; her paternal grandmother, Julia Hamburg of Lady Lake, Fla.; her paternal great-grandmother, Elizabeth Hadley of Lexington, Ky.; her maternalgreat-grandmother, May Barrett of Catonsville; and aunts, uncles and many cousins.

Name: Boomer WarfieldHonored by The Carroll County Sun for: Winning the 189- pound weight class in the Carroll County Wrestling Tournament last weekend at Francis Scott Key and having a 17-2-1 record this season going into regionalsAge: 17Residence; hometown: WestminsterEducation: senior at Westminster High School; graduate of East Middle School in Westminster; graduate of Robert Moton Elementary School in WestminsterFamily: Mother: Sherry, machine operator...

County and school officials have agreed to a revised schedule of building new schools and expanding others in a plan that will cost $101 million by 2003 -- a plan that also moves up projects such as a new high school in Westminster and a new middle school in Hampstead.But the schedule delays a new middle school in Westminster for two years, until 2002, and delays renovation of North Carroll Middle School until 2003.School board President C. Scott Stone was taken aback when Steven D. Powell, the county's director of management and budget, presented the plan, which the County Commissioners had approved earlier this month.

Once a week, 72 students arrive at Winters Mill High School in Westminster dressed in green Class A Army uniforms -- black polished shoes and all. Their jackets are neatly pressed, their ties and name tags straight. They wear crisply pointed garrison caps. In the afternoon, they stand at attention in two rows in the school hallway as other student-officers inspect their uniforms from the tops of their caps to the tips of their shoes. The 72 students are part of Carroll County's first high school Junior ROTC program, an Army-sponsored program that began at Winters Mill in the fall.

School board member Thomas G. Hiltz, Once a week, 72 students arrive at Winters Mill High School in Westminster dressed in green Class A Army uniforms -- black polished shoes and all. Their jackets are neatly pressed, their ties and name tags straight. They wear crisply pointed garrison caps. In the afternoon, they stand at attention in two rows in the school hallway as other student-officers inspect their uniforms from the tops of their caps to the tips of their shoes. The 72 students are part of Carroll County's first high school Junior ROTC program, an Army-sponsored program that began at Winters Mill in the fall.

Student charged with arson in fire at Westminster High A 15-year-old Westminster High School student was arrested yesterday after authorities said a small bathroom fire at the school forced the evacuation of all students and caused a girl to suffer an asthma attack. Carroll County Sheriff's Office spokesman Maj. Thomas Long said the male student, who was not identified, was taken to the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School in Baltimore County after fire marshals arrested him. Charged with arson, he is accused of starting a fire in a bathroom trash can filled with paper towels about 11 a.m. yesterday, authorities said.

Clutching felt-tip markers, the pupils reflected for a few moments before silently approaching the oversized sheet of paper taped to the wall to jot down solutions to the question: "What can we do to help the people at our school to accept, respect and embrace each other's similarities and differences?" Within minutes, about a dozen pupils filled the paper with messages scrawled in a rainbow of colors. Their responses ranged from simple courtesies to bolder acts of selflessness. "Eat lunch with them," Katlyn Starner, 11, a sixth-grader at Westminster Middle School, wrote.

Samuel A. Morris, a Westminster Boy Scout who swam and played soccer and football for teams in the region, died Wednesday at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda of injuries he suffered when a car struck him while he was on the way to his school bus. He was 15. A former student at Mount St. Joseph High School in Baltimore and Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, Samuel moved to Bethesda with his mother, Laura Decker, and her fiance, John Moustakas. He most recently attended Bethesda Chevy-Chase High School, where he was a sophomore honor student.

You would have thought there was a rock star entering when Trooper Caitlin McElhenny came into the lunchroom at West Middle School in Westminster. "Trooper Cate, are you gonna sit with us?" yelled one boy from a crowded bench. "I'll be there in a second," said McElhenny, who high-fived another boy. Sixth-graders soon surrounded her, while others begged for her to sit with them. "I ate one nugget at each table yesterday," she said. Another girl tugged at her. "Trooper Caitlin, when are you gonna show us what's on your gun belt?"

You would have thought there was a rock star entering when Trooper Caitlin McElhenny came into the lunchroom at West Middle School in Westminster. "Trooper Cate, are you gonna sit with us?" yelled one boy from a crowded bench. "I'll be there in a second," said McElhenny, who high-fived another boy. Sixth-graders soon surrounded her, while others begged for her to sit with them. "I ate one nugget at each table yesterday," she said. Another girl tugged at her. "Trooper Caitlin, when are you gonna show us what's on your gun belt?"

You would have thought there was a rock star entering when Trooper Caitlin McElhenny came into the lunchroom at West Middle School in Westminster. "Trooper Cate, are you gonna sit with us?" yelled one boy from a crowded bench. "I'll be there in a second," said McElhenny, who high-fived another boy. Sixth-graders soon surrounded her, while others begged for her to sit with them. "I ate one nugget at each table yesterday," she said. Another girl tugged at her. "Trooper Caitlin, when are you gonna show us what's on your gun belt?"