20080516 The Sunday Carroll Eagle: Alcohol, prohibition, mysterious women and the roaring '20s by Kevin Dayhoff

Alcohol, prohibition, mysterious women and the roaring '20s

05/16/08 EAGLE ARCHIVE by Kevin Dayhoff

Prohibition became the law of the land after the 18th Amendment went into effect on Jan. 16, 1920, but Carroll Countians had already voted to outlaw the sale of alcohol six years earlier in 1914.

Throughout the roaring '20s, until prohibition was repealed on Dec. 5, 1933, by the 21st Amendment, many legendary accounts of stills, moonshiners, speakeasies and enforcement raids became a part of a folklore and story-telling tradition in the county.

If only half of the stories are true, Carroll County must have been an interesting place back then.

A May 18, 1923, newspaper account stirred the kettle about one such event -- a May 5 raid on the North Branch Hotel by prohibition agents.

As a result, the paper reported: "More than 300 signatures were attached to a petition filed Tuesday in the office of Amos W. W. Woodcock, United States District Attorney, asking for the closing of the North Branch Hotel, at North Branch, on the border of Baltimore and Carroll counties."

Even before that, on Dec. 15, 1922, the old Democratic Advocate railed about the "law of unintended consequences" in an editorial titled, "Does Prohibition Prohibit?"

It says, "The United States has now been subject to constitutional prohibition for nearly three years. During that time there has been more drunkenness, more deaths from alcoholism, more theft, more robbery, more murders and other heinous crimes, than ever transposed in the history of the United States during a similar period prior to the enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment.

"Young men and boys who were never seen at a saloon during the old wet regime now get gloriously hilarious on home brew home-made wines and last, but not least, hard cider.' "

Certainly Carroll Countians did not find these events "gloriously hilarious" and they were in such an uproar over concerns about lawlessness, crime and enforcement of prohibition that a "Law and Order League for Carroll County" formed in August 1926.

An Aug. 6, 1926, newspaper account reported the "executive committee of the Law and Order League for Carroll County met in the Community Room, 3rd floor, Wantz Building, Monday evening, August 2nd. In attendance was a list of who's who in the county, including a representative of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

"Mr. George Mather, president of the organization, presided. Rev. E. R. Spencer, pastor of the M. E. Church, in Mt. Airy, led in prayer."

High spirits, indeed

From prayer and booze we get to bravery and last week's Sunday Carroll Eagle trivia question, which asked: Who was the Confederate cavalry commander who was delayed on his way to the Battle of Gettysburg by "Corbit's Charge" as his unit came through Westminster on June 29, 1863?

Many folks got it right.

Elaine and Bob Breeding, Herb Howard, Matt Candland, Robbie Foster, Ruth Anderson and Mike Devine all knew that it was Major General, CSA, James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart, who died at the age of 31 on May 12, 1864.

His wife, Flora, "wore the black of mourning for the remaining 49 years of her life," according to Civil War historian Derek Smith.

This week's winner of the coveted Sunday Carroll Eagle mug is none other than Matt Candland, who also happens to be town administrator for Sykesville.

He may very well be one of the few folks in Carroll County who are aware that on April 17, 1931, the portion of Sykesville located in Howard County since 1904, seceded from the town and "unincorporated." But that's another story.

For this week's trivia question, let's stick with storytelling and booze.

Who was the Baltimore writer who earned fame for his detective novels written between 1923 and 1934? Here's a hint: Alcohol, prohibition, and mysterious women played a prominent role in his classics, which included "The Maltese Falcon" and "The Thin Man."

I have often wondered just how much the newspaper accounts of the distillery raids, bootleggers, robberies, and mayhem in Carroll County influenced his work.

Just imagine Sam Spade roaming around Carroll County looking for the black figurine in "The Maltese Falcon." Perhaps the hotel that the character, Joel Cairo, was staying was really the North Branch Hotel in Carroll County.

At any rate, this author maintained a torrid romance with Lillian Hellman for 30 years until his death in 1961.

Can one imagine this writer and Ms. Hellman sitting at the counter at Baugher's for lunch as they visited for a day in the country? I certainly can.

If you know who this famous author is, drop me a line at kdayhoff@carr.org, and I might just pull your name for the coffee mug. And please put Sunday Carroll Eagle in the subject line. Thanks.

When not reading old detective novels, Kevin Dayhoff can be reached at kdayhoff@carr.org.

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=978&NewsID=902857&CategoryID=19662&show=localnews&om=1

20080516 The Sunday Carroll Eagle: Alcohol, prohibition, mysterious women and the roaring '20s by Kevin Dayhoff

20080511 Roads, property rights, recklessness, four letter words, reservoirs, and ruin by Kevin Dayhoff

Roads, property rights, recklessness, four letter words, reservoirs, and ruin

Long version of my Sunday Carroll Eagle column for Sunday, May 11, 2008

By Kevin Dayhoff (826 words)

Writer’s note: A shorter version of this column appears in the Sunday Carroll Eagle on May 11, 2008: Roads, reservoirs, property rights and four-letter words Below please find an earlier – longer draft of the column… KED

---

Road construction and maintenance has always been a hot topic in Carroll County and recently, funding street maintenance is the cause of great concern for Westminster officials in the budget process.

History frequently mentions discussion of funding street maintenance in Westminster. In the Westminster municipal election of 1890 the issue that bitterly divided the community was the condition of the streets. Approximately 550 citizens voted in that election to decide whether or not the City should take out a bond for $25,000 for street improvements.

In another example, on April 27, 1927, an emergency bill was passed in the Maryland General Assembly that authorized Westminster “to borrow Seventy-five Thousand Dollars, to be secured by a bond issue… not exceeding four and one-half per cent… (to) be used and applied exclusively to the paving and improving of the streets, curbs, and gutters of the town…”

However, Governor Albert C. Ritchie vetoed it. 1927 was not a good year for Westminster in the Maryland legislature. Another bill passed by the legislature provided “for the extension of the (city) limits of Westminster.” It was also vetoed.

This leads me to a reader’s question from some time ago: why there are so many sharp curves on old county roads. The answer is that the roads went in between and around property lines. In days gone-by, agricultural fields and property rights were far more important than straightening out roads and using eminent domain was totally out of the question.

This brings to mind a question poised by a number of folks in the last several months: has Carroll County government ever used eminent domain in its history to acquire property?

The short answer is no – never. Eminent domain is a “four letter word” in Carroll County. Property rights have always been a sacred cow in Carroll County.

In days gone by, our county population was considerably smaller and we were a close-knit community; therefore government was always able to come to mutually agreeable terms when it came to projects involving the good of the greater community.

The long answer is that a number of years ago - in the only example of eminent domain even being discussed was a convoluted road right-of-way dispute in the southern part of the county. A solution was eventually found in which eminent domain was ultimately not used.

Recently, the term, eminent domain, has been used rather recklessly by folks that are obviously not aware of our history and traditions.

Which brings us to the anniversary of another reason eminent domain is so unpopular in Carroll County – Liberty Reservoir. One reader has asked whether or not Carroll County used eminent domain for Liberty Reservoir. Oh my goodness, what a sore subject. Again, the short answer is no – wrong government; that was Baltimore City.

On April 10, 1931, Governor Ritchie signed into law the “Legislative Act of the Patapsco River Basin,” which allowed Baltimore City to condemn and completely destroy the town of Oakland Mills in Carroll County. (Governor Ritchie must have really not liked Carroll County.)

Ill feelings about that legislation have long-since become a part of the “personality” of Carroll County. Diana Mills Scott has written an excellent account of the (horrible) “story of a Carroll County community lost to the waters of Liberty Reservoir,” for the Historical Society of Carroll County and our own Bob Allen wrote about it in the Jan. 6, 2008, edition of the Sunday Carroll Eagle ("Awash in History.")

The legislation said: “The City of Baltimore had complete authority to remove mills, factories, workshops, stores, farms, churches, graveyards, school houses, dwelling houses, out houses, or anything that hindered the updating of the Baltimore City water system.” (I’m not making this up.)

Salt is poured in the wound every time Carroll County government has to write a check to Baltimore City for Carroll County water made available by Liberty Dam(n).

Okay, now that we have got that little bit of unpleasant history behind us; last week’s Sunday Carroll Eagle history trivia question must have been much harder than I anticipated. I asked: “What American president made a whistle-stop appearance in Westminster on May 4, 1912?”

It was President Theodore Roosevelt. Only one person got it right. The person who got it right must be hiding in an undisclosed location with Vice-President Dick Cheney as they only identified themselves as “PATMD1950.” Another day – another mystery.

For this week's Sunday Carroll Eagle trivia question for the famed coffee mug, let’s try Civil War history. Who was the legendary Confederate cavalry commander, who was delayed on his way to the Battle of Gettysburg by “Corbit’s Charge,” as his unit came through Westminster on June 29, 1863. On this date in 1864, he was mortally wounding in Battle of Yellow Tavern in Virginia.

Think you know? Drop me a line at kdayhoff@carr.org, and I might just pull your name for the incredible coffee mug. And please put Sunday Carroll Eagle in the subject line. Thanks.

When he is not watching the History Channel with a big bowl of grits, Kevin Dayhoff can be reached at kdayhoff AT carr.org

Eminent domain Carroll County Commissioners

20080511 Roads, property rights, recklessness, four letter words, reservoirs, and ruin by Kevin Dayhoff

20080426 The Sunday Carroll Eagle

Sunday Carroll Eagle on "Soundtrack"

Saturday, April 26

Westminster came of age by following railroad tracks

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=978&NewsID=895826&CategoryID=19662&show=localnews&om=1

04/21/08 EAGLE ARCHIVE by Kevin Dayhoff

One of my fondest memories of growing up in Westminster is the railroad. More than 50 years later I still live within easy earshot of the train whistle as the train chugs its way through town.

The railroad is interwoven throughout much of the fabric of Westminster history.

Joseph... [Read full story]

---

Fire in Westminster and a hunk-a hunk-a burning love in Hampstead

04/13/2008 by Kevin Dayhoff

---

King’s sad anniversary reminds us of Carroll’s own history

04/06/2008 by Kevin Dayhoff

---

Parades, impact fees, mail service ... and Dwight Dingle in a bathtub?

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=978&NewsID=890542&CategoryID=19662&show=localnews&om=1

04/02/08 by Kevin Dayhoff

EAGLE ARCHIVE

Time for a little spring-cleaning, in which we'll catch up with answering some readers' questions.

Recently I was asked about Easter parades in Westminster. I have no recollection of any such parades, but local historian Joe Getty noted in an article he wrote a number of years ago for the Historical Society of Carroll County that, "Easter Monday parades were held in Westminster in 1884, 1885, and 1887. After a short lapse, a large parade was held in 1892"

---

Rolling out a few good eggs, and our Easter Sunday best

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=978&NewsID=888582&CategoryID=19662&show=localnews&om=1

03/26/08 by Kevin Dayhoff

EAGLE ARCHIVE

Happy Easter. Yes it's not quite warm outside, although warmer weather should be around the corner. And yes, it seems like Christmas was just yesterday.

We all have favorite Easter memories. For those of us who grew up in a church, Easter marked the opportunity to wear our "Easter Sunday best," i.e. new clothes.

---

Palm Sunday 1942 was a time of high snow and higher anxiety

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=978&NewsID=885695&CategoryID=19662&show=localnews&om=1

03/14/08 by Kevin Dayhoff

EAGLE ARCHIVE

Many people have been commenting about how early Easter is this year. In fact, the last time Easter was as early as March 23 was 1913.

But a later Easter doesn't ensure good weather for Holy Week. I wonder how many readers remember the Palm Sunday blizzard of 1942. It was the fifth worse snowstorm in Carroll County history, as folks were greeted by 22 inches of snow on March 29, 1942.

20080316 The Carroll Sunday Eagle: Palm Sunday 1942 was a time of high snow and higher anxiety by Kevin Dayhoff

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2008/03/20080316-carroll-sunday-eagle-palm.html

---

20080309 The Sunday Carroll Eagle: “History will know us by our trash”

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2008/03/20080309-sunday-carroll-eagle-history.html

Sunday Carroll Eagle: “History will know us by our trash”

Sunday Carroll Eagle March 9, 2008 by Kevin Dayhoff

I cannot find my March 9^th, 2008 Sunday Carroll Eagle column on the Westminster Eagle web site.

Pasted below, please find the column as it was written. It is my understanding that the column was altered for publication…

Ever since the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, many of us has felt that the best management approach to solid waste was source reduction and recycling. It would take 18 long years to get the Maryland Recycling Act passed in 1988. That legislation required a recycling rate of 20 percent.

Twenty years later, getting the recycling rate increased is still illusive. In 1998, on the 10-year anniversary of the law, the Baltimore Sun ran a lengthy analysis in which the Maryland General Assembly member who spearheaded the recycling initiative, Montgomery County Sen. Brian Frosh, admitted “that recycling has been costlier than expected. His 1988 bill predicted significant cost savings…”

Later in the article, the $250 million cost of recycling 2.5 million tons was compared to the $83 million it would’ve cost to landfill it instead. The rest of the article went downhill from there.

Those of us who are opposed to landfilling were less than pleased. Four decades after the first Earth Day, the recycling rate in Carroll County is only around 30 percent.

20080309 The Sunday Carroll Eagle: “History will know us by our trash”

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2008/03/20080309-sunday-carroll-eagle-history.html

---

Traffic always made us see red

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=978&NewsID=881679&CategoryID=19662&show=localnews&om=1

Traffic always made us see red

02/29/08 By Kevin Dayhoff

EAGLE ARCHIVE

The concern over traffic congestion, safety and speeding tend to surface with every discussion of growth and quality of life in Carroll County. I was recently approached by folks and asked how I felt about red light and speeding cameras, and it got me thinking about Carroll County's past attempts to marry growth and speed control.

Perhaps the first mention of an effort to address the problem of speeding in our county came on or about June 20, 1839. According to a history of the Westminster Police Department, it was then that a speeding ordinance was passed stating:

"No person shall run or drive through the town of Westminster at an improper gait except in case of necessity."

---

The life, and the lasting local influence, of Robert Moton

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=978&NewsID=873699&CategoryID=19662&show=localnews&om=1

02/01/08 EAGLE ARCHIVE by Kevin Dayhoff

Construction continues these days at the site of the 28,000-square-foot former Robert Moton School on S. Center Street in Westminster -- it's across from the Carroll County Health Department.

After approximately $2.3 million in renovations, the Carroll County Board of Elections, Carroll Department of Recreation and Parks and Change Inc., a nonprofit that works with the developmentally disabled, are slated to move their offices there.

Questions about the old school building are posed to me from time to time, but the question I'm asked most frequently, especially from younger folks who are new to Carroll County, is "Who was Robert Moton, anyway?"

---

For 115 years, Westminster's band of brothers ... and sisters

January 13, 2008 EAGLE ARCHIVE by Kevin Dayhoff

20080113 Westminster Municipal Band: For 115 years, Westminster's band of brothers ... and sisters

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2008/01/20080113-westminster-municipal-band-for.html

For 115 years, Westminster's band of brothers ... and sisters

Sunday Carroll Eagle

01/11/08 by Kevin E. Dayhoff

EAGLE ARCHIVE

Below please find the long – unedited version of the column…

Just before the holidays got into full swing, I had the pleasure of attending the Westminster Municipal Band’s end of the year Christmas party and annual meeting.

It is certainly not a very well kept secret that this former Westminster Mayor and his family are madly in love with the Westminster Municipal Band. And it's not just because I'm a washed-up trumpet player.

Usually when one thinks of the Westminster Municipal Band, visions of “Mom, Country, and Apple Pie” come to mind.

The purpose of leadership today is to build community. Certainly one of the chief builders of our community has been the Westminster Municipal Band.

However, the rich history of the band includes being part of rapid deployment force to hotspots around the globe, a machine gun section, and a rumored reputation of being a heavy metal grudge-garage band. Who knew?

If a Greek mythologist were to write the history of the Westminster Municipal Band, they would write the Band's Mother is the history and tradition of the Westminster Community and the Father is the 29^th Division National Guard Regimental Band. That Greek mythologist would also want to write that the band's ancestral home is Belle Grove Square and that it's midwife was Mayor Joseph L. Mathias.

The roots of the present Westminster Municipal Band are found in 1920, but “there are records of a Westminster Band dating back as far as 1860,” according to the band’s director, Sandy Miller, in a July 2004 interview.

However, to the best of our knowledge, it was 1893 when it was first incorporated as the Westminster City Band of Carroll County.

It was around this time that Company H First Infantry Maryland National Guard was organized in Frizzleburg in 1898. This unit later evolved into the famous 29^th Division of the Maryland National Guard. Part of the Westminster Municipal Band's lineage can be traced back to the First Maryland Infantry Band consisting of the Westminster Units of the Maryland National Guard.

20080113 Westminster Municipal Band: For 115 years, Westminster's band of brothers ... and sisters

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2008/01/20080113-westminster-municipal-band-for.html

---

Shedding a little light on early Christmas tree decorations

December 23, 2007 EAGLE ARCHIVE by Kevin Dayhoff

---

Christmas reminds us of worry, and glory, of downtown business

December 16, 2007 EAGLE ARCHIVE by Kevin Dayhoff

---

20071104 The Sunday Carroll Eagle column of October 28 2007

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2007/11/20071104-sunday-carroll-eagle-column-of.html

Gist worried about being forgotten but not quite gone

The Sunday Carroll Eagle column of October 28 2007

Below please find my October 28^th, 2007 column and it was submitted.

Sunday Eagle

Ghost Stories in Carroll County

October 28^th, 2007 by Kevin Dayhoff

Of the horror stories of Carroll’s yesteryear, none was greater than the very real fear of being buried alive. In today’s world, society’s collective faith in the modern advances of the medical arts has gone a long way in alleviating the fear of being buried alive; a fear which was rampant in the 1800s.

A few years ago, local historian Jay Graybeal retold an account by Ruth Gist Pickens about the fear of being buried alive held by one of Carroll County’s most prominent citizens in the 1700s, Colonel Joshua Gist.

It seems that Colonel Gist maintained a coffin in a portion of his bedroom for the last years of his life; “into which he would have his personal servant lay him out and then call the family to comment on his appearance. Each time he would ask them to promise not to bury him until the third day after his death.”

20071104 The Sunday Carroll Eagle column of October 28 2007

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2007/11/20071104-sunday-carroll-eagle-column-of.html

---

---

When it comes to beets, timing is everything

IN THE GARDEN WITH MR. BEE

I haven't grown beets for a while. So when I mentioned to Judy, my wife, that I'd learned of a variety -- "Lutz Green Leaf" -- that remains tender as it grows larger, she suggested that I sow some seeds right away.

Timing is important, you see, especially when it comes... [Read full story]

---

Two for the Show

They come from opposite ends of the county and their sports are as different as night and day, but Tyler Mullen of South Carroll High School and Cammeron Woodyard of Winters Mill have one thing in common -- they each ended their high school careers as state champs.

And without their leadership and... [Read full story]

---

Stream is proving ground for healthy water

On a chilly late March morning, Ted Hogan, an environmental scientist with Hunt Valley-based URS Corp., threads his way through briar patches, bogs, locust groves and back yards as he follows a meandering stream that runs through several Eldersburg subdivisions.

Now and then, Hogan, a cont... [Read full story]

---

Spring is a great time to get kids reacquainted with outdoor Carroll
MOM ON A MISSION

It's taken some time, but spring appears to finally be arriving. The days are getting warmer, my weeping cherry is turning into a beautiful fountain of pink and the birds are flocking to our feeders.

Hearing the kids' faint voices outside on the swing set while I'm making dinner...
[Read full story]

---

More Headlines News Briefs

Movies

Honorable Mentions

Greenmount Station on a fast track after expansion

Education Notes

Greenmount Station's Crab and Cheddar Quiche

Stage Presents

Parades, impact fees, mail service ... and Dwight Dingle in a bathtub?

New Windsor agency helps distribute life-saving device

News Briefs

Movies

I wanted to teach about 911, but instead I dialed a wrong number

'Hotel' Reservations

For pages, Annapolis is an open book

Education Briefs

Your Top 10 ...

Rolling out a few good eggs, and our Easter Sunday best

Rejoice, Christ is Risen

Oh deer, spring is here

News Briefs

Movies

Local acts soar to Top 10 in Carroll's 'Idol' competition

Fighting the urge for an Easter bonnet and all the thrills upon it

Education Briefs

Captain Dan rides on the seafood wave

'Sitting' pretty means having faith in who's watching the kids

Reaching Out

Palm Sunday 1942 was a time of high snow and higher anxiety

News Briefs

Movies

Helping people kick butts

Fighting the 'Fix'

Eye of the Beholder

Bevy of basket cases

Asking 'why' should come before offering 'what I think'

Traffic always made us see red

Toy show, auction connects with childhood memories

Our 'cherry-ice' trees offer a delicious winter scene

News Briefs

Museum unveils Taylor's 'wild' vision

Movies

Display of Pride

Birthday gifts? Tread lightly ... in high heels and boxing gloves

A turtle's pace, but a day of reckoning for Solomon

Working on the Railroad

To raise healthier kids, should we get more physical in school?

Researching a few 'first class' experiences in Carroll County

News Briefs

Movies

Maggie's continues to grow on Westminster

Chicken Champagne

All Aboard!

What the wiki?!

Web series helps teens connect to the world

The life, and the lasting local influence, of Robert Moton

Sportsman's Hall ... and airplane hangar

Skating history, from party 'crashing' to fitness

Reaching Out

News Briefs

Movies

Mason bees buzz in as honeybees buzz out

Education Notes

Coming clean to ease pain of cancer

All Skate!

We can't understand the kids, but in this case it's a good thing

20080402 Patuxent Publishing Company president Jim Quimby departing

Patuxent Publishing Company president Jim Quimby departing

Quimby led company's expansion into Carroll County

04/02/08 By Jennifer Broadwater

The president of Patuxent Publishing Co., which publishes the Eldersburg Eagle, will leave the company in early May.

Jim Quimby, who has served as president of Patuxent since 2000, will depart May 2 as part of a reorganization of the company, he said March 25.

Patuxent is operated by The Baltimore Sun Co., which, along with Patuxent, is owned by Tribune Co., a Chicago-based company owned by Sam Zell.

(Disclosure: I write for the Westminster Eagle and the Eldersburg Eagle, also owned by “Tribune”. Tribune also owns the Baltimore Sun – and as a matter of fact, I also write for the Sunday Carroll Eagle which is distributed in the Sunday edition of the Baltimore Sun – see: 20071021 Baltimore Sun: “To our readers”)

Sun publisher and CEO Timothy Ryan announced Quimby's departure in a statement. Ryan did not return telephone calls seeking comment on Quimby's departure.

Beginning April 9, Trish Carroll will take over as senior vice president of the Baltimore Sun Media Group's "targeted print" publications, which include those produced by Patuxent and its sister company, Homestead Publishing, in Harford County, and b, a free daily tabloid The Sun intends to launch in mid-April.

Headquartered in Columbia, Patuxent publishes 18 newspapers in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., metro areas, and several magazines and local telephone directories. Its 275 employees work in offices in Westminster, Columbia, Ellicott City, Laurel and Towson.

Carroll worked for The Sun for 16 years, in a variety of roles before taking a job directing operations and technology at The Olympian, a McClatchy Co.-owned newspaper in the state of Washington.

'A true professional'

Quimby will leave the company after 37 years in the publishing business, including nearly eight years at the helm of Patuxent.

Quimby, 55, of Harford County, described his tenure at Patuxent as a "phenomenal" experience. He said he is unsure of his next step.

"My first words to her were, 'Congratulations, you just got the best job in the whole world,' " Quimby said he told Carroll. "It's a phenomenal opportunity to work at a place like the community newspapers."

His career began in 1970, when he landed a job selling advertising for Harford County-based Susquehanna Publishing, which was purchased by The Baltimore Sun Co. in 1989.

He later worked in operations, press and packaging, circulation and distribution. He helped merge two competing newspapers in Harford County to form Homestead Publishing Co., for which he served as general manager.

In September 2000, he was named president of the Baltimore Sun Community Newspaper Group, which includes Homestead and Patuxent.

During his tenure as president, the company expanded into Carroll County with its purchase of The Eldersburg Eagle from founder David Greenwalt and the creation of The Westminster Eagle. It launched The Sunday Carroll Eagle in 2007.

Patuxent purchased Chesapeake Home magazine in 2005 and the Ellicott City-based The View newspapers in 2007.

Reporter Jay Thompson contributed to this story.

20080316 The Carroll Sunday Eagle: Palm Sunday 1942 was a time of high snow and higher anxiety by Kevin Dayhoff

Last Sunday’s, March 16^th, 2008 Sunday Carroll Eagle column was:

Palm Sunday 1942 was a time of high snow and higher anxiety

03/16/08 by Kevin Dayhoff EAGLE ARCHIVE (806 words)

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=978&NewsID=885695&CategoryID=19662&show=localnews&om=1

Email this story to a friend

Many people have been commenting about how early Easter is this year. In fact, the last time Easter was as early as March 23 was 1913.

(I think they had wooden jelly beans back then.)

But a later Easter doesn't ensure good weather for Holy Week. I wonder how many readers remember the Palm Sunday blizzard of 1942. It was the fifth worse snowstorm in Carroll County history, as folks were greeted by 22 inches of snow on March 29, 1942.

It also included an important "first," as noted in a newspaper article: "Our municipal authorities, for the first time, saw fit to clear the greater portion of Main Street, and some of the important cross streets.

"Whatever the cost, we would say it certainly was an important step. ... The work was done by Thomas, Bennett and Hunter, road contractors, using their large road graders. The removal was rapid and proved to be a most successful method."

That Sunday, just months after America entered World War II, was a time a great anxiety.

One newspaper editorial explained: "1942 will enter in the midst of the (most) destructive war the world has ever known. The picture is a dark one, filled with doubts, uncertainties, a year that will test the mettle of our citizens, our men in service, but there is no doubt that all will stand the test and unite in the defense of our country, our flag and our president."

During that Palm Sunday of 1942, peace on Earth was, unfortunately, not in the minds of all. One fear on the minds of local folks was, "What to do in the event of an air raid?"

At the end of 1941, the "Air Raid Warden for Carroll County," W. Warfield Babylon, published a full newspaper page with detailed instructions as to what to do if the enemy were to launch an air raid on Carroll County.

It was a different time and a different era.

How many of us can remember the "Civil Defense Shelters" scattered through the county? How many had air raid shelters in the basement of their homes?

The air raid instructions began with advice that, alas, could be useful even today:

"Above all, keep cool.

Don't lose your head.

Do not crowd the streets, avoid chaos, prevent disorder and havoc.

You can fool the enemy.

If planes come over, stay where you are.

Don't phone unnecessarily.

The chance you will be hit is small."

Of course, the anxieties of the 1940s have been replaced by the anxieties of 2008, including rapidly increasing prices for essentials, taxes and concerns about the economy.

Yet one challenge Carroll did not have in 1942 was debt. An historical reference to a Jan. 2, 1942 article in The Sun touted that the Board of County Commissioners "paid off $25,000 to make Carroll County debt-free.

"Carroll County was probably the only county in Maryland in 1942 that could claim such a distinction. With a tax rate of 90 cents on $100, Carroll had the lowest tax in the state with the exception of Queen Anne's County. Two-thirds of tax money collected from county residents went to fund schools."

***

Today, Palm Sunday is here and many of us can't wait for spring.

Christians celebrate today as "Passion Sunday" -- the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem to a path covered with palm branches. The crowds that greeted him also waved palm branches. (One can read all about it in Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-44; and John 12:12-19.)

Palm Sunday can appear anywhere on the calendar from March 15 to April 18. If you're like me, you wonder why the dates vary from year to year.

It's because Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the "Paschal Full Moon." To make it even more a mystery, the Paschal Full Moon is not an astronomical event, but a date calculated by folks with a huge Excel spreadsheet in 325 AD.

Really.

Of course, I don't bother remembering when Palm Sunday and Easter occur on the calendar -- I just ask my wife. Women have mysterious powers that allow them to know these things.

Hope springs eternal

Heading back to 1942 again, Bob Hope hosted the 14th Academy Awards at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. Best picture was, "How Green Was My Valley."

OK, movie buffs, for this week's Sunday Carroll Eagle coffee mug, what was the other famous movie from 1941, often heralded as perhaps the best film ever made -- yet it did not win the Academy Award for best picture? Here's a hint: In the spirit of spring, think of the word, "Rosebud."

Think you know? Send me an e-mail at kdayhoff@carr.org and we'll draw one winner from the magic hat.

Heck, I'll even fill the mug with jelly beans. (Not the wooden kind.)

When he's not dreaming of spring, Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at kdayhoff AT carr.org.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.

www.kevindayhoff.net http://www.youtube.com/kevindayhoff http://www.livejournal.com/

E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr.org or kevindayhoff AT gmail.com

His columns and articles appear in The Tentacle - www.thetentacle.com; Westminster Eagle Opinion; www.thewestminstereagle.com, Winchester Report and The Sunday Carroll Eagle – in the Sunday Carroll County section of the Baltimore Sun. Get Westminster Eagle RSS Feed

“When I stop working the rest of the day is posthumous. I'm only really alive when I'm writing.” Tennessee Williams

NBH

*****

The Sunday Carroll Eagle: October 28, 2007 - On October 28^th, 2007 the publication for which I write, The Westminster Eagle and The Eldersburg Eagle, (which is published by Patuxent Newspapers and owned by Baltimore Sun); took over the Carroll County section of the Baltimore Sun.

“The Sunday Carroll Eagle ” is inserted into the newspaper for distribution in Carroll County. For more information, please contact:

Mr. Jim Joyner, Editor, The Westminster Eagle

121 East Main Street

Westminster, MD 21157

(410) 386-0334 ext. 5004

Jjoyner AT Patuxent DOT com

For more posts on “Soundtrack” click on: Sunday Carroll Eagle

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/search/label/Sunday%20Carroll%20Eagle

20071028 The Sunday Carroll Eagle introduction

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2007/10/20071028-sunday-carroll-eagle.html

Also see: Monday, October 22, 2007: 20071021 Baltimore Sun: “To our readers”

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2007/10/20071021-baltimore-sun-to-our-readers.html