Union Bridge

Bowling Brook Preparatory School was long regarded as a rare gem in Maryland's troubled juvenile justice system, a place that took in delinquent teens and turned them into well-mannered young men. The residential program for juvenile offenders has been the subject of intense criticism since a youth died there in January, yet some of its supporters were disappointed yesterday to learn that it will close next week. An emotional Del. Donald B. Elliot, a Republican representing parts of Carroll and Frederick counties, called the closing of Bowling Brook a "sad ending to an outstanding institution."

In the race for Union Bridge mayor, former Town Councilman Scott W. Davis is challenging incumbent Bret D. Grossnickle, who was appointed when Perry L. Jones Jr. was elected to the Carroll County Board of Commissioners in 2002. Three men are also campaigning for two seats that are up for grabs on the five-member council, which currently has four female members. One of those seats belongs to Councilwoman Sarah Black, who has decided not to run for re-election. The council's only male, incumbent Donald D. Wilson, will face challengers John T. "Tommy" Hyde III and Edgar C. Wentz in the May 8 municipal nonpartisan election.

In Westminster, Sam Rinehart Leppo was chief of police, but in his nearby hometown of Union Bridge, he was remembered yesterday as "Sam, just Sam" -- friend, neighbor and family man."Unless you really knew Sam, you wouldn't know he was a police chief," said Will Farver, as he stood outside the Union Bridge volunteer fire station to pay his respects to Mr. Leppo, 53, who was killed in an automobile accident Wednesday afternoon in Frederick.Farver was one of about 1,000 people, including 400 uniformed police officers and firefighters from across the state, who gathered at the fire station and lined the streets of the tiny Carroll County town for Mr. Leppo's funeral.

A 12-year-old boy suffered smoke inhalation yesterday in a fire at a two-story duplex in Taneytown, authorities said.A faulty window air conditioner caused the fire, which began in a second-floor bedroom on Courier Court, officials said.The boy discovered the fire when he was awakened at 11: 16 a.m. by a smoke detector, state fire marshals said.The boy, who was not named, and two occupants fled the house.Firefighters from Taneytown, Harney and Union Bridge took 15 minutes to extinguish the blaze, which caused an estimated $45,000 worth of damage.

50 years ago: Dance enthusiasts are in for a treat when the nationally known Glenn Gray and his Casa Loma orchestra make their appearance at the Westminster Armory Nov. 17, under the auspices of the Westminster Athletic Association. The Case Loma band has long been known on the radio as one of the best bands in the land and Westminster is fortunate in being included in the Eastern tour of this orchestra. -- Democratic Advocate, Nov. 11, 1949.75 years ago: The Chamber of Commerce has placed signs at convenient places leading to our city to attract pedestrians entering this city.

A Hagerstown man who attended a Civil War re-enactment in New York last summer has sued William Wickham, accusing the Detour man of assaulting him.Michael B. Wicklein, whose company is Video Vision of Hagerstown, seeks $200,000 in damages for alleged assault and battery in a civil case filed last week in Carroll County Circuit Court. It names as sole defendant "William `Dirty Billy' Wickham," of the 7500 block Middleburg Road in Detour.According to the lawsuit, Wickham became angry and struck Wicklein in the face and body July 18 in Genesee Village, near Rochester, N.Y.Neither Wicklein nor Wickham could be reached for comment.

Carroll County authorities are looking for a suspect in the rape of a woman in a remote area early Friday after she left work in Union Bridge.The 30-year-old woman, who is not being identified to protect her privacy, described the suspect to state police as white, between 20 and 30 years old. She said the man was thinly built, about 6 feet tall, and 160 pounds. He was unshaven, disheveled, had short blond hair, and wore a T-shirt and cut-off blue jeans.According to state police, the woman's unlocked car was parked outside her place of employment before she left work about 3: 10 a.m. The man came up from the back seat and forced her to drive to a remote location where he assaulted her.The woman was treated at Carroll County General Hospital and released, state police said.

WHAT ARE YOU doing this summer?For some of us, the week or two during the summer months that we count on for rest and rejuvenation is barely in the planning stages. But some neighbors in Union Bridge are all but packed and ready to go on an unusual vacation.Judy Blair, Nick Digiacomantonio, John Gartrell, Milton Griffin and Susan Smith are Volunteers in Mission for the United Methodist Church. They will spend nearly two weeks in July repairing a church that suffered hurricane damage on the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico.

FireUnion Bridge: Firefighters from Union Bridge, Westminster, New Windsor and New Midway in Frederick County responded at 8: 02 a.m. Thursday to smoke in a building in the first block of N. Main St. Units were out 36 minutes.

FireUnion Bridge: Firefighters responded at 5: 27 a.m. Wednesday to an auto fire in the 1100 block of Clearview Road. Units were out 26 minutes.

On Monday, Aug. 17, 2009, Maurice Tyson Tregoning Sr A funeral service will be held Thursday, Aug. 20 at 10:00 A.M. at Hartzler Funeral Home, 6 E. Broadway, Union Bridge. Interment will be in St. Paul's Lutheran Cemetery, Uniontown. The family will receive friends at the funeral home Wednesday, Aug. 19 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 P.M. Memorial donations may be made to Mt. Union Lutheran Church, c/o Claude Bohn, P.O. Box 1060, Union Bridge, MD 21791, or Carroll Hospice Dove House, 292 Stoner Ave., Westminster, MD 21157.

Herbert Ray "Speedy" Kennedy, a retired Lehigh Portland Cement Co. electrician and an avid outdoorsman, died Monday of complications from colon surgery at Frederick Memorial Hospital. The Union Bridge resident was 81. Mr. Kennedy, the son of a Portland Cement Co. heavy equipment operator and a homemaker, was born and raised in Union Bridge. After graduating from Elmer A. Wolfe High School in 1945, he enlisted in the Navy and served in Cuba and Panama aboard the submarine tender USS Orion.

If the 465-foot Lehigh Heidelberg Cement tower were in downtown Baltimore, it would be the fifth-tallest high- rise, an unassuming structure in a busy skyline. But the structure dominates Union Bridge, a pastoral Carroll County town of just over a thousand people that's known for its quaint antique stores. "At night, they light the tower up like Cape Canaveral," said Union Bridge Mayor Bret Grossnickle. "Opinions vary on whether it's an eyesore. It's been around so long that people are used to it."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to require cement plants - which are among the nation's leading air polluters - to reduce emissions of mercury and other contaminants by more than 80 percent by 2013. The regulations are the first seeking to govern what is discharged when limestone, clay and other materials are cooked into the main ingredient in concrete. The proposal would require plants such as the Lehigh Cement Co. kiln in Carroll County to install equipment or make other changes to limit release of toxins.

Originally settled as a farming community in the 1700s and later known as Buttersburg because the town's general store operator would take local butter for payment on goods, Union Bridge didn't get its current name until 1820. This came after a bridge was built over the Pipe Creek and swampland. Because residents on both sides of the bridge pitched in to help, it became known as Union Bridge. Today the sleepy country town located just 11 miles outside Westminster in rural Carroll County offers residents an amiable retreat.

For some people, picking out that perfect Christmas tree and cutting it down themselves is the only way to go. Here's a sampling of some of the farms where you can find the perfect tree to decorate this holiday season: Allegany Pleasant Valley Tree Farm -- 333 Gorsuch Road, Hyndman, Pa. / Open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays. 888-347-8733 or pleasant valleytreefarm.com. Baltimore County Feezers Farm -- 3700 Wards Chapel Road, Marriottsville / Open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekends through Dec. 16. 410-461-5654 or feezers farm.

In the race for Union Bridge mayor, former Town Councilman Scott W. Davis is challenging incumbent Bret D. Grossnickle, who was appointed when Perry L. Jones Jr. was elected to the Carroll County Board of Commissioners in 2002. Three men are also campaigning for two seats that are up for grabs on the five-member council, which currently has four female members. One of those seats belongs to Councilwoman Sarah Black, who has decided not to run for re-election. The council's only male, incumbent Donald D. Wilson, will face challengers John T. "Tommy" Hyde III and Edgar C. Wentz in the May 8 municipal nonpartisan election.

Bowling Brook Preparatory School was long regarded as a rare gem in Maryland's troubled juvenile justice system, a place that took in delinquent teens and turned them into well-mannered young men. The residential program for juvenile offenders has been the subject of intense criticism since a youth died there in January, yet some of its supporters were disappointed yesterday to learn that it will close next week. An emotional Del. Donald B. Elliot, a Republican representing parts of Carroll and Frederick counties, called the closing of Bowling Brook a "sad ending to an outstanding institution."

In the wake of the death of a student, Bowling Brook Preparatory School has decided to postpone its breakfast fundraiser. Although the death was not related to the fundraiser, the school has suspended the monthly event, where students served the community of Union Bridge. "I suspected this would happen," said Union Bridge Mayor Bret Grossnickle, of the postponed breakfast. "It seems like they did such a good job with those kids, they were always so good at the breakfasts. I hope what happened was an isolated incident and they get it worked out, and hopefully people won't over-react to what happened."

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit on behalf of a 28-year-old female employee who was fired from the Lehigh Cement Co. plant in Union Bridge in March 2005, commission attorneys said yesterday. Amanda R. Stevens, a laborer at the Union Bridge plant and quarry from October 2001 until her termination, was subject to sexually offensive gestures, pictures, pranks and comments from male co-workers, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.