Taneytown

UNION BRIDGE - A 26-year-old man from Pennsylvania was arrested this week and charged in the June robbery of a Union Bridge convenience store. Michael Joseph Springer, 26, from Waynesboro, Pa., was arrested Aug. 9 by deputies of the Carroll County Sheriff's Office. The sheriff's office said that on June 14, at about 2:20 a.m., deputies responded to a hold-up alarm at the 7-Eleven in the 100 block of Main Street in Union Bridge. Deputies said that a white male wearing a black hoodie, white mask and black gloves had entered the store displaying a handgun and demanded money from the cashier.

From Syd Lea's home in Taneytown, the Pennsylvania line is less than two miles away. When the accomplished cyclist ventures outside from his home gymnasium, he often crosses the Mason-Dixon Line as part of his training regimen. That's not the only boundary that he has crossed during his cycling career. The 26-year old from northwestern Carroll County has traversed the world several times on the way to becoming the premier cyclist among American Special Olympians. Lea was a top winner for Team USA in the recent Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece, earning three of the team's 10 gold medals in the international competition.

Keith Myers Brown, a retired Carroll County builder and big-game hunter, died Saturday of a cardiac arrest at Carroll Hospice Dove House in Westminster. The longtime Taneytown resident was 86. The son of a schoolteacher and a homemaker, Mr. Brown was born and raised in Union Mills. He was a graduate of Charles Carroll High School. A lifelong trumpet player, during his teenage years he played with the Westminster Municipal Band, William F. Myers Band, and the Lyric Concert Band of Hanover, Pa. During the 1940s and 1950s, he was a member of several Carroll County dance bands.

A 44-year-old man was found dead inside of his Taneytown home Friday afternoon, and investigators believe he may have been killed by an explosion, according to Maryland State Police. Carey M. Landskroner of the 400 block of Red Tulip Court was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy conducted Saturday at the chief medical examiner's office in Baltimore indicates that he may have died as a result of an explosion. The manner of death is unclear, but state police have ruled out homicide.

At a time in life when retired couples often consider downsizing with the goal of uncomplicating their lives, Jean and George Smorse took a different path. In March 2000, the couple moved to Taneytown in northern Carroll County, where they purchased a home in the development of Meadowbrook. The builder allowed George Smorse, a 76-year old retired electrician and avid woodworker, to customize several interior elements of the two-story Colonial-style home while it was under construction.

A man armed with a shotgun fired at cops — hitting a sergeant in the center of his knit cap with "wadding," the plastic cap that contains pellets. Officers retreated but heard the man racking his shotgun and firing off more blasts in the residential neighborhood. "Come get me!" he shouted, according to authorities, as he barricaded himself inside his house on Red Tulip Court in Taneytown. Maryland State Police swarmed, called in a tactical response team, used a loudspeaker to talk to the 41-year-old suspect and approached the house in an armor-plated vehicle.

A man accused of shooting at Taneytown police officers Thursday night has been arrested, according to Maryland State Police. Just before 7:30 p.m., officers from the Taneytown Police Department went to the 400 block of Red Tulip Court for a report of shots fired, authorities said. They approached the rear of the home and found a man holding what appeared to be a shotgun. The officers said the man cursed at them, adding "come and get me," and then shot at them, according to police.

Baltimore County police have identified the Carroll County man who was found in a burning car in Upperco last week. John David Metcalf, 48, of the 4600 block of Buffington Lane in Taneytown was found March 12 after county police and fire responded to reports of a vehicle fire in the 4600 block of Black Road. He was dead at the scene. After an investigation, police determined that the engine in Metcalf's vehicle caught fire when he stopped in the parking lot of Grace United Methodist Church in the 4600 block of Black Rock Road.

on October 7, 2009, , Mass of Christian Burial celebrated at 11:00 A.M. on Monday at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 44 Frederick Street, Taneytown. Interment will follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends on both Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 P.M. at the Myers-Durboraw Funeral Home, 136 East Baltimore Street, Taneytown. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions to either, The Gasior Children's Fund, c/o Adams County National Bank, P.O. Box 3129, Gettysburg, PA 17325 or Carroll Hospice Dove House, 292 Stoner Avenue, Westminster, MD 21157.