20080521 Recent Westminster Eagle columns by Kevin Dayhoff

Recent Westminster Eagle columns by Kevin Dayhoff

May 21, 2008

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Pecoraro makes 'superdelegate' stand in advance of convention

Kevin E. Dayhoff Wednesday, May 21

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Political and presidential historians are often quick to point out that the Democratic Party is the oldest political party in the Unites States.

However, many folks may not be aware that much of the roots of the party are arguably in Maryland.

The U.S. Democratic Party, and specifically, the Maryland Democratic Party "is among the oldest, continuous existing political organizations in the world," according to a brief history of the Maryland Democratic Party written by Carroll County historian and former Maryland Secretary of State John T. Willis.

Mr. Willis is considered by many to be a nationally known authority on political history -- especially Democratic Party history.

In his historical account he notes that it was on this day in 1827, "that a meeting of Andrew Jackson supporters organized a political structure in the State designed to help one of the national founders of our Party win the PresidencyÉ"

Five years later, on May 21, 1832, the first national political convention of the Democrat Party was held in Baltimore.

According to Willis, it "was held at the Atheneum (and Warfield's Church) É located on the southwest corner of St. Paul and Lexington Streets. Twelve delegates from each county and six delegates from Baltimore City were invited to attend."

From 1832 to 1872, eight of the 12 Democrat party national conventions were held in Baltimore. Considering that two of the main routes to Baltimore, from all points west, travel through Carroll County, an historian's imagination can run wild as to what national political figures may have passed through Carroll in those days.

Fast-forwarding to the present, as the Democratic primaries draw to a close, presidential historians are looking forward to a very busy summer.

However, one portion of the drama of the longest presidential campaign in history may be coming to an anti-climatic finish, as presidential candidate and Illinois Senator Barack Obama seems to be close to a mathematical edge over his rival for the Oval Office, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.

In one important development that made national news, just last Friday, Westminster Common Councilmember and Democratic National Convention superdelegate Greg Pecoraro endorsed Senator Obama.

[Read full story]

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Pictures are worth a thousand words, but not the whole picture
Last Wednesday, the Humane Society of the United States released videotape of an "undercover investigation" which claimed to show the "shocking abuse of 'downer' cows occurs not just at slaughter plants but É at livestock auctions and stockyards around the country," according to the humane society p...
[Read full story]

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For this year's prom, 'Come as you are' ... and stay a while
May is prom season in Carroll County -- one of the most anticipated nights on a young adult's calendar.

It's also the time of the year when many young adults are looking forward to the end of the school year or graduation ceremonies and parties.

The celebrations bring another set of challenges ...
[Read full story]

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College may be expensive, but the experiences are priceless
Any family with a high school senior is well aware that April is crunch time for the college selection process.

In conversations with parents and students over the last several months, folks have told me that they are simply overwhelmed with myriad factors that must be considered in choosing a col...
[Read full story]

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Rhodes offers a helping hand to those in need
Recently I had an opportunity to catch-up with one of Carroll County's true whirlwinds, Laura Rhodes.

We first compared notes on the Rock Ball, this week's fund-raiser for Granite House, one of the largest nonprofit mental health care organizations in Carroll County.

Rhodes is currently program ...
[Read full story]

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More Headlines Dr. Herlocker set a pace in more ways than one
Days of bicycles, playgrounds, swamps and turkeys
Jeff Morse incident is a lost opportunity
Inns and hotels important in the early history of Carroll County
Hypocrisy and poor money management plague client No. 9
Beet juice, Romeo and Juliet and the 1856 Guano Islands Act
Trouble with trash is nothing new, but the technology may be
Don't let 'wrap rage' leave you in stitches
Looking at Bowling Brook one year later
'Tech Tax' will have crippling impact on Carroll
It's easy to demonstrate for peace; harder to work for it
How culture and song can save a nation
Dr. Martin Luther King's enduring words
Courthouse history seems to match theatrical flair of current case
Something we really must talk about

Austin's Legendary Oat Willie's, In Art

Austin's Legendary Oat Willie's, In Art

20080515 Westminster Eagle: Pictures are worth a thousand words but not the whole picture by Kevin Dayhoff

Pictures are worth a thousand words, but not the whole picture

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05/15/08 By Kevin E. Dayhoff

Last Wednesday, the Humane Society of the United States released videotape of an "undercover investigation" which claimed to show the "shocking abuse of 'downer' cows occurs not just at slaughter plants but É at livestock auctions and stockyards around the country," according to the humane society press release.

One of the stockyards "investigated" was the Westminster Livestock Auction.

In a carefully choreographed press conference, Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle played the video shot at the WLA and said: "This is just pitiful. É This poor creature, too weak to move, just left there to languish and to die."

In the first seconds of the video, a cow that is unable to walk is shown in the unloading gate at the livestock auction.

In an interview last Thursday, Jim Horak Sr., owner of the livestock auction since 2004, said a hired trucker unloaded the cow at a busy moment that evening; just as "the man who handles the gate was (away) moving other cattle that had just been unloaded."

When the gatekeeper returned minutes later, just after the cow was unloaded; he found the cow down. Horak said that upon being told that the auction did not accept livestock that cannot walk, the driver refused to take the cow back and quickly left.

The cow was immediately, "carefully," moved outside of the gate and offered alfalfa hay, according to Horak. Meanwhile, the owner of the cow was called and told the WLA would not accept delivery of the cow and that the owner had to come back and pick up the animal. The owner refused, Horak said.

Horak said he has handled thousands of animals and no one -- until the Humane Society of the United States -- questioned him before about how the yard handles animals.

Indeed, one of the immediate mysteries about this incident is how a Humane Society undercover investigator happened to be there for the brief period when this particular cow, out of thousands of animals, was still in the unloading chute.

The fact that the cow was humanely moved is obvious. One critical advocacy of the humane society is that diseased and sick cows are being inhumanely "dragged and prodded with inhumane handling methods, and increasing the threat of carrying and passing disease."

I can imagine that if the cow had been handled inhumanely it would have appeared on the "undercover" video.

Later in the week, Fox 5 television reported that the Humane Society of the United States knew the cow was not sick or diseased and in fact knew the cow had just had an operation for a twisted stomach.

One has to wonder -- how the Humane Society knew that piece of information?

The day following the auction, the Humane Society said the cow "was filmed by ... investigators in an advanced state of physical distress. Her breathing was labored and she flailed helplessly on the ground. She had no protection from the elements and was without food or water for almost a day."

However, Horak said that in spite of the fact that it could not stand (because of the surgery), the cow was not in distress.

As far as the cow staying outside overnight; that's what cows do. They rarely, if ever, come into the farmhouse to watch TV at night.

Furthermore, Horak said an employee checked on the cow at daybreak the next morning and gave it water and hay.

The cow died. Hours after the video was shot, the Humane Society of the United States called the local humane society which came out and euthanized the cow. The national Humane Society branch then put a picture of the dead cow on its press release.

If I ever have stomach surgery, please don't take a video of me not being able to walk; then claim that I've been abused and have me euthanized by the Humane Society.

Also, just FYI, I'd prefer not to have a picture of my dead body on a press release.

In a statement last Wednesday, the Maryland Department of Agriculture said it is investigating. That's fine. Perhaps they'll include in their review the Humane Society of the United States' "undercover investigation."

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at: kdayhoff at carr.org.

20080518 Sunday Carroll Eagle running chron as of May 18 2008

Sunday Carroll Eagle on "Soundtrack"

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

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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.

Read the entire column here: Alcohol, prohibition, mysterious women and the roaring '20s

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Roads, reservoirs, property rights and four-letter words

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05/09/08 EAGLE ARCHIVE by Kevin Dayhoff

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

History frequently mentions street projects. In the Westminster municipal election of 1890, the issue bitterly dividing the community was the condition of the streets. Some 550 citizens voted to decide whether or not the city should take out a bond for $25,000 for street upgrades.

Nearly 40 years later, on April 27, 1927, an emergency bill was passed in the General Assembly that authorized Westminster to borrow "Seventy-five Thousand Dollars, to be secured by a bond issue É (to) be used and applied exclusively to the paving and improving of the streets, curbs and gutters of the town."

Alas, then-Gov. Albert C. Ritchie vetoed it.

(The year of 1927 was not a good one 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. What did we ever do to Gov. Ritchie?)

Speaking of roads, a reader's question asked why there are so many sharp curves on old county roads?

The answer is: In days gone-by, roads went in between and around property lines. Agricultural fields and property lines were more important than straightening out roads and using eminent domain -- the means by which government takes land for public projects -- was out of the question.

And that leads to another question posed in the past several months, asking if Carroll County government has ever used eminent domain to acquire property? The short answer is no, never.

Eminent domain is a four-letter word in Carroll. Property rights have always been a sacred cow in Carroll County.

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Panic, depression, recession ... and Dick Cheney in a rabbit suit

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05/02/08 EAGLE ARCHIVE by Kevin Dayhoff

This is the time of the year when a young man's fancy turns to the budget process of Carroll County government and the eight municipalities.

In reading through historical economic accounts (which beats reading the most recent fiscal accounts, by the way) budget processes have never been easy.

The economy dominates the news these days; especially the number of people losing their homes to foreclosure.

Read the entire column here: Panic, depression, recession ... and Dick Cheney in a rabbit suit

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Westminster came of age by following railroad tracks

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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]

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

04/13/2008 by Kevin Dayhoff

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

04/06/2008 by Kevin Dayhoff

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

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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"

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

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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.

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

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03/14/08 EAGLE ARCHIVE by Kevin Dayhoff

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

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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

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Traffic always made us see red

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Traffic always made us see red

02/29/08 EAGLE ARCHIVE By Kevin Dayhoff

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."

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

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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?"

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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

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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

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Shedding a little light on early Christmas tree decorations

December 23, 2007 EAGLE ARCHIVE by Kevin Dayhoff

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

December 16, 2007 EAGLE ARCHIVE by Kevin Dayhoff

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20071104 The Sunday Carroll Eagle column of October 28 2007

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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

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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]

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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]

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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]

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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]

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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

20080518 Sunday Carroll Eagle running chron as of May 18 2008

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.

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