Thunderhead

Butch Kenyon and Sonny Dixon are the tenpin and duckpin Bowlers of the Month for March, respectively, at Thunderhead Westminster bowling center.Kenyon started bowling when he was 13, and the left-handed Hampstead resident never lost his love for the tenpin game.For five years he was employed by Thunderhead Westminster. Today he bowls in four leagues: Tuesday in the Dirty Dozen league at Westminster, Wednesday late and Friday early at Westminster, and on Thursday he drives to Taneytown for the fourth league.

If you bought a lottery ticket for the Powerball drawing on Saturday in Dundalk or Taneytown, you might be $1 million richer. The Maryland Lottery announced Monday that two second-tier Powerball tickets worth $1 million were bought in the state - one at the Giant on Merritt Boulevard in Dundalk and one at the Thunderhead Bowl and Grill on Old Taneytown Road in Taneytown. Neither winner has come forward yet. The winners have 182 days to claim their prizes, the lottery said. Lottery officials said nearly 26,000 people in Maryland won $4 or more through Saturday's drawing, and urged those who had purchased tickets to check to see if they are winners.

Thunderhead Westminster conducted its Bowler of the Year tournament last weekend -- a pins-over-average format for the first three placers in the Bowler of the Month tournaments that are held during the fall/winter season.Because Thunderhead is a split house, duckpins and tenpins, a champion is crowned in each sport.Jamie Fritts captured the tenpin title and Rick Stallings was runner-up.John Harrell won the duckpin crown and Oly Hooper took second place.Fritts moved to Finksburg last September just in time to join the fall/winter bowling season at Thunderhead.

Taneytown Economic Development Commission will hold its monthly business breakfast at 7:30 a.m. June 6 at Thunderhead Bowling Centre at Routes 140 and 832. State Sen. David R. Brinkley, Frederick-Carroll Republican, a member of the budget and taxation committee, will discuss "What's Next?" The cost for breakfast is $5.50, payable at the meeting. Reservations are required by Wednesday at 410-751-1100.

They settled the question of who the Bowler of the Year is in both duckpins and tenpins at Thunderhead Lanes in Westminster Sunday. And it wasn't easy.You had duckpin bowlers the likes of Brett Welsh and Sonny Dixon. In tenpins, the ranks included Kenny Barrick, Fay Gross, Jim Murk and Sue Meloy.Meloy, wife of Baltimore County police officer Skip Meloy, bowls at Thunderhead on the Wednesday Harrison Hi-Rollers League and carries a 151 average. Her high game is 257, her high set 645.In March she was the Bowler of the Month with 117 pins over her average.

"I'd like to see more seniors join us on Monday mornings at Thunderhead (Westminster)," said Henry Wheeler. "It's informal, it's great exercise and it's inexpensive."Added Irene Wheeler, "We have a great time. If you're over 60 years old, you're going to feel right at home. I guess most of the bowlers are over 65."Henry and Irene Wheeler moved to Carroll County four years ago from Connecticut to be closer to their family. Henry, 70, didn't start bowling until three years ago; Irene became interested in the game about the same time, "but she used to bowl about 30 years ago," Henry said.

There's a new face at Thunderhead Lanes in Westminster.Stacie Barnes was born and raised in Carroll and lives in Westminster with herhusband, Steven, and 7-month-old son, Kyle.Stacie and Steven bowl together in the Monday Night Doubles League at Thunderhead Westminster.Stacie just started bowling last September and has a 98 average with a 154 for a high game. Steven, who's been bowling since he was about 10, carried a 127 average during the fall/winter season and has a139 average so far in the summer league.

Warning: if you're a man and you bowl at Thunderhead Lanes in Westminster, your ego may be in danger. This summer the women are doing a number on the pins -- tenpins, duckpins, makes no difference.Item: Gladys Harman is the Duckpin Bowler of the Year.Item: Debby Shike is the Tenpin Bowler of the Year.Item: Pat Cattaneo has banged out two 267 games on the tenpin lanes in the past month.Harman, a cashier at Martin's supermarket, lives in Westminster with her tenpin-bowling husband, Richard, and bowls in the Monday Morning Mixer and Wednesday Ladies leagues at Thunderhead.

Small chains of two, three and four bowling centers are scattered across the nation -- often owned and operated by a single organization -- and usually are clustered together in a relatively small geographical area.If you connect the dots between the three Thunderhead bowling centers, starting in Gettysburg, Pa., you'll have a gentle curve, south to Taneytown and east to Westminster, each only a few miles apart.That, in itself, is not unusual.But on consecutive days in mid-November, bowling lightning struck the Thunderhead centers; a rarity occurred that was a first for this area.

Rick Rebert wasn't born in a bowling center -- but he didn't miss bymuch.His family operates the Thunderhead Bowling Centers in Westminster, Taneytown and Gettysburg, Pa., and he's been involved since he was 7. Fourteen years later, he's still active in the business."

Taneytown will hold its second Swing into Spring from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Taneytown Memorial Park. At the park, visitors will find spring flowers, plants, arts and crafts, food vendors and entertainment, including clowns and children's activities. The DePaul Singers will perform a "Salute to Broadway" at noon on the center stage. Visitors can ride a trolley to the downtown area for shopping at local merchants. The trolley also will travel to Northwest Middle School for the Student Leadership Team's Celebrate Diversity Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Taneytown Economic Development Commission will hold its monthly business breakfast at 7:30 a.m. April 11 at Thunderhead Bowling Centre at Routes 140 and 832. Del. Donald B. Elliott will discuss "What Has or What Has Not Happened in Annapolis, " a look at this year's General Assembly session. The cost for breakfast is $5.50, payable at the meeting. Reservations are required by Wednesday at 410-751-1100.

CHARITY BOWL 2002 will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday at Thunderhead Bowling Centre in Taneytown. This is the third year Thunderhead has sponsored the fund-raiser, which benefits needy Carroll County residents through the United Way Community Partnership of Carroll County. The idea is the brainchild of Nancy McCormick, Taneytown's economic development director. "I did one of these when I was in Michigan," she said. "It was a huge success." The Thunderhead event apparently is experiencing the same success.

One candidate passed out packets of flower seeds, making the point that Carroll County's gateways should be more beautiful. Another wore Old Glory on his tie and said he has dreamed of serving the people since he was a kid - just a few years ago. Two incumbents who rarely see eye to eye sat side by side and barely spoke. Speaker after speaker promised to control growth, manage growth or slow growth. Everyone vowed to polish the county's image and run the government like an efficient business.

JEREMY RODKEY IS bowling his way toward an international tournament. Randy Hobbs, also a Taneytown teen-ager, is parlaying his love for the sport into scholarship money. Jeremy, who recently won first place in a statewide competition, will leave this weekend for the Coca-Cola International Youth American Bowling Alliance competition in Winter Haven, Fla. Competitors will arrive from all over the world. Jeremy, 14, said he first had to qualify at a local bowling center, in this case, Thunderhead Bowling Centre in Taneytown.

NEARLY A DOZEN women from Taneytown Senior Center have completed a quilt that depicts the life and times of Carroll County. Work on the quilt, which will be on display at the Maryland Municipal League convention in Ocean City this summer, began at the suggestion of Taneytown Mayor Henry C. Heine Jr. Heine, president of the Carroll County chapter of the league, asked the women if they could make a quilt to display with others from Maryland cities at...

Today is the final day for the Thunderhead Taneytown Duckpin DoublesTournament that has been running since Feb. 9.There's still timeto try for the top prize of $500.As of last week, the team of Paul Snyder and Judy Arnold were leading with a total of 1,069, just 13 pins in front of Doreen Blizzard and Don Bollinger.Snyder of Mount Airy bowls in the Mount Airy Lanes Wednesday Major League. He only bowls one night a week because, "I'm a first sergeant in the Reserves, and that commitment cuts down on my free time."

The Tourism Council of Carroll County is bringing the renowned Harlem Wizards and their full-court basketball fireworks to Westminster again to take on the Carroll County Shooting Stars at 7 p.m. March 16 at Western Maryland College. The game is the Tourism Council's only fund-raiser, said Steve Kerkam, president. The Wizards, a team featuring former NBA and college stars, will take on a squad of local basketball enthusiasts, several from area recreational teams. Coming back as the Wizards' on-court jester is crowd favorite James "Speedy" Williams, who appeared in the movie Above the Rim. Williams keeps the game moving and the opponents on their toes with his never-ending chatter and slapstick.

GET THOSE BOWLING shoes out. Charity Bowl 2000 will be held from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday at Thunderhead Bowling Centre in Taneytown. The event will benefit United Way Community Partnership of Carroll County. "Charity Bowl 2000 is our first fund-raising event of this type in Carroll County," said Sandy Sipes, regional office coordinator for United Way Community Partnership of Carroll County. "We are hoping that it will be successful and will become an annual event." Participants may pledge 5 cents to 15 cents a pin during the fund-raiser.