Sweetheart Cup

Shares of EarthShell Corp. rose 14 percent yesterday after the company announced that it has won approval to supply a greater number of McDonald's Corp. restaurants with its biodegradable packaging. Shares of the Santa Barbara, Calif., company, which has an operating agreement with Sweetheart Cup Co. Inc. to manufacture some of its products in Owings Mills, rose 38 cents to close at $3.13. That is far below the high reached in March 1998 - the month EarthShell went public - of $23.56. EarthShell said yesterday that it won approval to supply 300 McDonald's restaurants with its biodegradable Big Mac containers.

Commissioners have hurt Hampstead The Sun's recent article regarding Hampstead's slowness to accept the new Sweetheart Cup facility was both revealing and misleading "Town slow to accept facility"(Oct. 1). It revealed major differences in philosophy and attitudes between the leaders of Carroll County and Hampstead regarding development. For the last five years, Hampstead's leadership has steadfastly maintained that growth (residential, commercial or industrial) should provide positive contributions that mitigate its overall impact on the community.

When Hampstead compared its future development to the capacity of its sewer plant, it came up short - by nearly 125,000 gallons a day. The town of 4,500 has asked Carroll County, which owns and operates the plant, to pay for an engineering analysis and develop alternatives. "We have to have a facilities plan that balances," said Councilman Larry H. Hentz Jr. "We have repeatedly asked the commissioners for a plan for this area and received lip service." Among the developments that will need sewer service is North Carroll Middle School, which is scheduled for extensive renovations that will include linking to the Hampstead sewer system in 2003.

Despite lobbying against construction of a diesel fuel tank at Sweetheart Cup's distribution center last fall, Hampstead officials said last night they have no plans to publicly oppose a new proposal for a tank there. "While it's not perfect, it's better than what it was before," Hampstead Mayor Christopher M. Nevin said at last night's Town Council meeting. The last proposal placed the above-ground fuel tank within 225 feet of homes on Houcksville Road - well within the 600-foot distance required by county zoning regulations.

The county commissioners offered yesterday to help Hampstead with any emergency that might result from the construction of a berm on top of a municipal water main at the Sweetheart Cup plant on the outskirts of town. But Hampstead officials said county assistance is not a realistic remedy. "To be honest, these leaks seem to occur at 2 in the morning. They never seem to happen in the middle of a sunny day," said Ken Decker, town manager. "I don't think the county is going to give us the pager numbers for their Public Works people, nor should they.

The Hampstead Town Council has tentatively approved a redevelopment plan for the old Hampstead Elementary School, a move Mayor Christopher M. Nevin hopes will hasten transfer of the building from county to town control. Nevin calls the project, which would transform the Main Street building from a vacant schoolhouse into a low-cost apartment complex for seniors, the pillar of Hampstead's downtown revitalization effort. But the town's efforts to gain control of the building have become mixed up in the contentious relationship between Hampstead leaders and Carroll County's commissioners.

Community Service Develops Better CitizensIn his Dec. 1 letter, J. Edward Johnston Jr. criticized the state's plan to infuse a community service requirement within the public education curriculum. I feel that the positive impact of this decision far outweighs any negatives.There is a great deal more to education than simply the material covered within the classroom. Education is much more than the simple mastering of skills that can be quantitatively measured through testing.True education requires exposure to and interaction with the community.

Two boxes will arrive at Hampstead's door next year: One is called Wal-Mart; the other, Sweetheart Cup Co.When the boxes are opened, cars and trucks will stream out and come back in, sometimes as many as 623 more per hour than usual along congested Route 30.Residents fear not so much that things in Hampstead will change, but that they will get worse.The owners of Bob's Variety Store worry that the increased traffic will go beyond the rush-hour crawl that already keeps patrons from their doors.