Taylorsville

Bail was set at $1 million yesterday for a Mount Airy contractor accused of killing a Taylorsville psychologist he had worked for and owed $300,000. Randall H. Gerlach, 56, of the 13000 block of Manor Drive in Frederick County was arrested Wednesday on a charge of first-degree murder of Rodney R. Cocking, a National Science Foundation official who disappeared Feb. 23. Carroll District Judge Marc G. Rasinsky said Gerlach is entitled to bail, but he set the amount at $1 million and ordered that Garlach be placed on a home-monitoring program and surrender his passport if he posts bond.

A man with a handgun robbed a Taylorsville convenience store early Friday and fled on foot, said the Maryland State Police at Westminster. A man dressed in black entered the 7-Eleven food store in the 4200 block of Ridge Road just before 12:30 a.m., displayed a handgun and demanded cash from a clerk, police said. No one was injured, and the man fled with an undisclosed amount of cash toward westbound Liberty Road, police said. The robber was described as a black male, age 20 to 25, about 6 feet tall and weighing 160 to 179 pounds.

25 Years Ago: Hiltgunt Zassenhaus Brings Inspiring Message to 360 South Carroll Graduates -- "Only what you give, you will have." This was a summary statement Dr. H. Margaret Zassenhaus left with 360 graduates on Friday, June 6th, at South Carroll High School's eighth commencement exercises. Coming at the end of a brief but highly inspiring message, this summary statement reflected upon the previous comments she had made. She spoke of peace a highly relevant topic on "D Day" to a German national who personally fought the Gestapo.

Fires Mount Airy: Firefighters responded at 4: 49 p.m. Monday to a truck fire on Interstate 70. Units were out 32 minutes. Winfield: Firefighters from Winfield, Mount Airy and New Windsor responded at 2: 13 p.m. Monday to a reported trailer fire on Route 27 in Taylorsville. Units were out 14 minutes. Winfield: Firefighters from Winfield and Sykesville responded at 9: 54 a.m. Monday to a gas line struck on Ronsdale Road. Units were out 32 minutes.

"It's getting tough to farm around here," says Taylorsville farmer John Condon. "It's probably more profitable to plant houses."The rural community at the junction of Liberty Road and Route 27 in Carroll County is still mostly farmland, but the wave of development is just eight miles to the east in Eldersburg."Every year my father and I debate about what to do," explained Condon, 28, a third-generation farmer who has lived all his life in Taylorsville. "Farm prices have fallen across the board, and it's not a very profitable situation."

25 years ago: Farmer-members of Southern States cooperative will observe the 50th anniversary of the organization at a meeting Aug. 14 at Big Pipe Creek Park. Service was first extended into Maryland in 1934. Southern States, Taneytown, which offers local service on Southern States supplies, was organized in 1942. During the past fiscal year (1972-1973), it had a dollar volume of more than $1.1 million. The local cooperative serves approximately 700 farmer-members. The Carroll Record, July 19, 1973.

Two major subdivision proposals, the first for Carroll since passage of the county's growth-control law, will be heard today by county officials.Joel C. Kaufman, a Westminster developer, seeks to build 41 more upscale houses on his Sun Valley Farms subdivision off Cherokee Drive near Routes 27 and 26 in Taylorsville. If approved, the custom-built houses would cost $300,000 or more each and sit on 1-acre parcels.Walter D. and Sylvia B. Dell of Finksburg hope to turn 70 acres of farmland into a 47-lot subdivision near Deer Park Road and Gamber Road (Route 91)

Rabbi Seymour L. Essrog, 64, takes on an international role today, but his first allegiance remains with his burgeoning congregation in rural Carroll County.Essrog will be installed in Jerusalem as president of the Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative Movement, a worldwide organization that is the interpretive body on Jewish law and standards for Conservative Jews. He has no plans to forsake the nearly 150 families of Beth Shalom, the Taylorsville synagogue he came to in 1993.Since he became its leader, Beth Shalom has grown nearly tenfold in members.

Hazel Lail Nolen, 77, beautician, real estate agentHazel Lail Nolen, a former Baltimore beautician and real estate agent, died Nov. 21 of Parkinson's disease at a Taylorsville, N.C., nursing home. She was 77.Mrs. Nolen, a former Ellicott City resident who moved to North Carolina in 1990, worked as a beautician, then as a real estate agent for Crane & Crane.The former Hazel L. Campbell was born and raised in Taylorsville, where she graduated from high school in 1937.She was married in 1980 to H. Sadtler "Rusty" Nolen, retired Maryland deputy banking commissioner, who died in 1986.