Tevis

On February 10, 2006 DOROTHY BERRY "DOTTIE" of Westminster wife of the late Stanley H. Tevis, Jr.; mother of Stanley "Jack" Tevis III of Westminster, Margaret L. "Peggy" Tevis of Arlington, VA and the late Charlotte A. "Singy" Tevis; mother-in-law of Beth Tevis of Westminster, grandmother of Victoria E. "Tory", Andrew H. "Dru" and Katerine "Kate" Tevis; sister of Betty Ernst of Baltimore and the late Charles K. Berry; brother-in-law of Albert Ernst of...

A Carroll County jury found a local oil company responsible for polluting wells with a hazardous gasoline additive and awarded four Finksburg families $395,000 in damages, according to court records and lawyers for the case. The six-person jury in the class action lawsuit reached the verdict Wednesday after three days of deliberations. Clifford Keffer, the named plaintiff whose house was closest to a Tevis Oil-owned Jiffy Mart gas station that emitted methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, was awarded $230,000.

If last night's public hearing before the Westminster City Council had been a referendum on Stanley H. "Jack" Tevis' plans for a gas station and small grocery store, Mr. Tevis would have won.Several speakers pointed out that the hearing was supposed to be about a zoning text amendment that would bar certain types of businesses from coming into Westminster's central business district.But the timing of Mr. Tevis' proposal for the Farmers Supply Co. property -- and the fact that gas stations are on the list of businesses proposed for exclusion -- made it the focus of the two-hour hearing.

Residents of a block in Finksburg whose wells were infected with a hazardous gasoline additive are asking a Carroll County jury for a minimum $1.5 million civil judgment against the oil company found by the state to be responsible for the pollution. A six-person jury will begin deliberations Monday in Carroll County Circuit Court to decide whether a Tevis Oil-owned gas station tainted wells in a neighboring community with methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE. If the jury finds Tevis at fault, it can award monetary damages.

Charlotte Anne "Singy" Tevis, a vice president of S.H. Tevis & Son Oil Co. and painter, died of an aneurysm Monday at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She was 58. Ms. Tevis, who was born in Baltimore and raised in Westminster, was a 1963 graduate of the Devereaux School in Devon, Pa. Ms. Tevis, a Park Heights Avenue resident, earned a bachelor of arts degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1967. During the 1970s, she owned the Main Street Boutique in Westminster. Since 1985, she had been a vice president of S.H. Tevis & Son Oil Co., a family-owned business based in Westminster.

Dorothy B. Tevis, an oil company board chairwoman and Carroll County patron of the arts, died in her sleep Friday at her Westminster home. She was 91. Dorothy Berry was born in Baltimore and raised in the 1900 block of W. Mulberry St. She was a 1931 graduate of Western High School and earned a bachelor's degree in home economics from Western Maryland College in 1935. She also did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin and the Johns Hopkins University. From 1937 until 1941, she taught home economics in Baltimore public schools.

Even critics who disagree with Stanley H. "Jack" Tevis III's plan to put a gas station and small grocery store in downtown Westminster have nothing negative to say about the man himself.Mr. Tevis, 48, the third generation of his family to head Tevis Oil Inc., a local heating oil and gasoline business, has a reputation as a nice guy. He also has a reputation as an astute businessman who is quick to spot an opportunity and turn it into dollars.His plan to put a gas station and large convenience or small grocery store on the Farmers Supply Co. Inc. property at Liberty and West Green streets sparked a public debate over what downtown Westminster should become.

The blacks and whites of old family photographs have become the grays, creams, and muted shades of burgundy and olive in Singy Tevis' oil paintings.Ms. Tevis, born Charlotte Anne but nicknamed Singy before she was old enough to know why, collects her own family photos and those of strangers. She picks up black-and-white photos at flea markets and auctions for inspiration."I like the black and white photographs," she said. "It gives me a lot of leeway in terms of color. It's easier to see more clearly with black and white."

Stanley H. "Jack" Tevis III has gone to extraordinary lengths to promote his proposed gasoline station and convenience store development on the Farmer's Supply property in the heart of Westminster. He has purchased a full-page ad explaining his plan. Mr. Tevis even invited people to attend a "public hearing" where he gladly fielded questions about his project.If other developers followed Mr. Tevis' example, they wouldn't be so universally despised. When Mr. Tevis initially proposed his gasoline station and convenience store project, he proposed constructing a rather utilitarian-looking project.

A decision by Chevron to trade 65 of the company's Maryland gas stations to Exxon for 59 in Florida will not affect those in Carroll County, station owners said Friday.The five county stations -- located in Westminster, Manchester, Union Bridge, Taneytown and Winfield -- are not part of the exchange because all are owned by Tevis Oil Co. and not Chevron, said Gus Hook, Tevis' petroleum sales manager."It will be business as usual under the Chevron sign for these five locations for an indefinite period," Mr. Hook said.

A Carroll County jury is expected to continue hearing evidence next week in a class action lawsuit accusing a local oil company of polluting water wells with an additive linked to cancer in lab animals. At least a half-dozen Finksburg residents are suing Tevis Oil Inc. after methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, detected in gasoline at a company-owned Shell station at Suffolk Road and Route 140 was found to have affected 23 neighboring wells in 2002. Witnesses for the plaintiffs were called this week in the case, which accuses Tevis of negligence, trespass and nuisance.

`Connections' Works of all shapes and sizes spanning several media are featured in the exhibit Connections: Collage and Assemblage at the Carroll Arts Center. Artists Ellen Alt, Shara Banisadr, Cynthia Beljan, Tom Block, Cara Ober and others have pieces in the exhibit. Connections: Collage and Assemblage runs through March 24 in the Tevis Gallery of the Carroll Arts Center, 91 W. Main St. in Westminster. Admission is free. Hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursdays.

Carroll Community College is offering "Secrets of Success for Small Business Owners from Small Business Owners." Owners of small businesses, or those thinking about starting a business, can eat with a successful small-business owner and learn the "secrets" of their success. Programs are: Breakfast with Carol Cahall of the Main Event Inc. from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Oct. 11 at Olive Leaf Cafe, 1001 Twin Arch Road, Mount Airy. Dinner with Bob Coffey of Coffey Music from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Oct. 24 at Johansson's Dining House, 4 W. Main St., Westminster.

Water from a well serving about 40 homes in a Finksburg trailer park has tested positive for contamination from the gasoline additive MTBE, according to the Carroll County Health Department. Officials from the county and Maryland Department of the Environment are uncertain of the contaminant's source, said Brian Flynn, water quality supervisor for the Health Department. Preliminary tests at area gas stations and an auto-parts junkyard near Sullivan's Trailer Park along Old Westminster Pike yielded negative results, Flynn said.

On February 10, 2006 DOROTHY BERRY "DOTTIE" of Westminster wife of the late Stanley H. Tevis, Jr.; mother of Stanley "Jack" Tevis III of Westminster, Margaret L. "Peggy" Tevis of Arlington, VA and the late Charlotte A. "Singy" Tevis; mother-in-law of Beth Tevis of Westminster, grandmother of Victoria E. "Tory", Andrew H. "Dru" and Katerine "Kate" Tevis; sister of Betty Ernst of Baltimore and the late Charles K. Berry; brother-in-law of Albert Ernst of...

Dorothy B. Tevis, an oil company board chairwoman and Carroll County patron of the arts, died in her sleep Friday at her Westminster home. She was 91. Dorothy Berry was born in Baltimore and raised in the 1900 block of W. Mulberry St. She was a 1931 graduate of Western High School and earned a bachelor's degree in home economics from Western Maryland College in 1935. She also did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin and the Johns Hopkins University. From 1937 until 1941, she taught home economics in Baltimore public schools.

A Westminster businessman who wants to build a gas station and small grocery store on an historic downtown property will take the unusual step of presenting his case directly to the public tonight.Stanley H. "Jack" Tevis III, president of Tevis Oil Co., is to outline his plans for the former Farmers Supply Co. Inc. property at a 7 p.m. public meeting at the site. The property, at Liberty and Green streets, includes a stone building at 12-14 Liberty St.Mr. Tevis was reluctant to discuss his plans publicly yesterday.

Business people planning to build a downtown convenience store, sandwich shop and gas station got a look last night at the Westminster Historic District Commission's ideas on how to make it fit the neighborhood.Stanley H. "Jack" Tevis III, president of Tevis Oil Co., and his mother, Dorothy Tevis, the board chairwoman, said they would have their engineers and architects look at a commission sketch but made no commitment. They plan to build a 24-hour Jiffy Mart and Subway sandwich shop with a drive-through window and gas pumps on an unused lot at West Main and Carroll streets.

Patricia Bentz is paying big money, already, to stay warm this winter. Her most recent bill to fill the oil tank that heats her Monkton home and provides hot water: $1,000. "There's nothing I can do about it," she said. Across the region, people have been watching the price of gasoline creep up nearly every time they pass a service station. But many are only now receiving their first shipments of heating oil for the coming winter. "There's going to be sticker shock," said Ray Henry, a managing member of Husky Heating, an Ellicott City-based fuel company.