Co. looks into sales scenarios By Carrie Ann Knauer, Times Staff Writer

Co. looks into sales scenarios By Carrie Ann Knauer, Times Staff Writer

Friday, January 04, 2008

Business retains investment banks to explore options

Landmark Communications Inc., parent of the Carroll County Times and The Weather Channel, announced Thursday to its employees that it has hired national investment firms to explore selling the divisions of the company.

Frank Batten Jr., Landmark chief executive and chairman, sent out a memo Thursday to company employees announcing that the company has retained investment banks J.P. Morgan and Lehman Brothers “to explore strategic alternatives, including the possible sale of Landmark businesses.”

Pat Richardson, publisher of the Carroll County Times, told employees Thursday that she learned of the company’s decision Wednesday. An 18-year Landmark employee who served several years on the company’s newspaper acquisition team, Richardson said Landmark’s properties are prized assets that are likely to attract attention of other media organizations.

“There’s been a lot of consolidation of the media; we see it every day,” Richardson said. “We are still the local paper for Carroll County, and that’s not going to change, no matter who owns us.”

[…]

Other Landmark newspapers in Maryland include the Community Times, The Advocate weekly papers, Homes magazines and the recently purchased Capital Gazette Communications publications, including The (Annapolis) Capital, The Bowie Blade-News, The Crofton News-Crier, Waterfront Living Magazine, The Maryland Gazette, The West County Gazette and The South County Gazette.

The Virginian-Pilot contributed to this report.

Read Ms. Knauer’s entire article here: Co. looks into sales scenarios

http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2008/01/04/news/local_news/newstory3.txt

20080104 Company looks into sales scenarios by Carrie Ann Knauer

20070912 Carroll County EAC votes to promote recycling by Carrie Ann Knauer

EAC votes to promote recycling

By Carrie Ann Knauer, Times Staff Writer

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

The Carroll County Environmental Advisory Council, charged with the task of reviewing solid waste management strategies, has started drafting a new framework of managing waste and a plan that does not include a waste-to-energy incinerator.

After months of listening to presentations on different solid waste management system alternatives, members of the EAC started discussing concrete recommendations to make to the Carroll County Board of Commissioners at Tuesday’s council meeting.

The six members of the nine-member board who were present voted unanimously to recommend the commissioners adopt a paradigm shift in the county from the old style of “solid waste management” to a new method of “resource management,” which emphasized waste reduction, reuse and recycling at the household and business level, before materials end up in the county’s hands.

A separate motion was passed to make recycling the driving element of the county’s resource management strategy by setting up a system that allows the county to manage the waste stream by increasing funds for public education of recycling efforts and by phasing in mandatory recycling of specific commodities.

Read the rest here: EAC votes to promote recycling

For other recent articles by Carrie Ann Knauer with the Carroll County Times, or click on Knauer watch.

For more information on Waste Management and Waste to Energy issues please click on: Environmentalism Solid Waste Management; Environmentalism Solid Waste Management Waste to Energy; or… Energy Independence or Environmentalism Solid Waste Management Recycling or the label, Environmentalism.

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20070827 A dream come true: Feather Fund helps girl purchase the pony she has always wanted By Carrie Ann Knauer, Carroll County Times Staff Writer

20070827 A dream come true: Feather Fund helps girl purchase the pony she has always wanted By Carrie Ann Knauer, Carroll County Times Staff Writer

Carroll County Times

A dream come true: Feather Fund helps girl purchase the pony she has always wanted

By Carrie Ann Knauer, Times Staff Writer
Monday, August 27, 2007

Skylar Hull, 9, pets her Chincoteague pony, Nevaeh’s Precious Angel, given to her by the Feather Fund, at her Manchester home Thursday.

Skylar Hull wrote in her Feather Fund application essay that she has wanted a pony since she was 5 years old.

“Every time I had a birthday, I’d ask ‘Is there a pony in the pasture for me?’ ” said the 9-year-old Manchester resident.

Skylar’s dreams came true this month when a local charity, the Feather Fund, helped her purchase a Chincoteague pony.

Each year, the Feather Fund receives about a dozen applications from children who want a Chincoteague pony, said Lois Szymanski, a member of the board of directors. The organization sees distributing the ponies as a way for children to learn responsibility, care and respect, as well as teaching the concept of “giving back” that was embodied by Carollynn Suplee, who inspired the creation of the organization.

The applications are evaluated by the board of directors. They are looking for children who can’t afford to buy a pony by themselves and for evidence of a strong work ethic.

Skylar was chosen for her efforts to raise money on her own, and for her passion for wanting a pony, Szymanski said.

“She eats, sleeps and dreams ponies,” she said.

Skylar’s mother Barbara Hull said her daughter had always loved ponies, but when she started helping their neighbor muck out horse stalls and clean their hooves, she and her husband realized it was more than a fleeting interest.

[…]

Read the entire article here: A dream come true: Feather Fund helps girl purchase the pony she has always wanted


Reach staff writer Carrie Ann Knauer at 410-857-7874 or carrie.knauer@carrollcountytimes.com.

HISTORY OF THE CHINCOTEAGUE PONIES

The legend is that these ponies swam ashore from a Spanish vessel that had capsized off the coast, around the year 1600. Once on the islands, they became stunted under the harsh environment. To keep from starving, they ate coarse saltmarsh cordgrass, American beachgrass, thorny greenbrier stems, bayberry twigs, seaweed and even poison ivy. The horses bred down to the unique breed known today as the Chincoteague Pony.

There are two groups of these ponies descended from the original Arabian horses that survived the legendary shipwreck.

The Virginia Herd consists of approximately 130 ponies and is owned by the Chincoteague volunteer fire department. The ponies graze in the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, located on the Virginia portion of Assateague Island.

The Maryland Herd consists of approximately 140 ponies and is owned by the Maryland Park Service.

The famous annual “Pony Round-up” and “Pony Swim” is held each year during the month of July. The Chincoteague Volunteer Firemen herd the ponies off their island at slack tide, through the seawater channel to Virginia. On the last Wednesday of every July, the ponies are gathered for the sale the next day.

Source: The National Chincoteague Pony Association

THE FEATHER FUND

The Feather Fund was created in 2003 to carry on the memory of Carollynn Suplee, a woman who purchased her first pony to donate to Lois Szymanski’s daughters in 1995, even though they were strangers.The two families met at the annual Chincoteague Island Pony Swim and Round-Up sale. For the Szymanskis, it was a tradition, but Suplee, then a resident of Herndon, Va., was there for the first time on a visit to her husband’s mother.

Szymanski’s daughters, Ashley and Shannon, had saved $500 and wanted to buy a pony, though their parents knew that the ponies sold for much more. After watching 40 ponies sell at the auction at prices well over the girls’ savings, the girls started to give up hope, when they were introduced to Suplee.

Suplee had come to the auction to purchase a pony and donate it back to the island, part of her way of “giving something back” after recently surviving brain tumor surgery. Suplee had missed the opportunity to purchase the ponies that were set aside to be re-released, so she had decided to buy a pony for a child that couldn’t afford the price on their own.At first the family resisted, but then saw how much the act meant to Suplee and accepted. The girls bought a brown foal with a white feather-shaped mark on its shoulder and named him Sea Feather.

The Suplees continued to return to the island for several years to purchase ponies for children or to release them into the wild. But in 2003, her cancer returned, and she passed away that November. The Szymanskis, Suplee’s family and friends, decided to honor Carollynn Suplee’s memory by continuing her mission. They named the organization the Feather Fund because Suplee believed feathers were signs from God, as referenced in the Bible’s Psalm 91.

Source: www.featherfund.org

http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2007/08/27/news/local_news/newsstory1.txt

20070827 A dream come true: Feather Fund helps girl purchase the pony she has always wanted By Carrie Ann Knauer, Carroll County Times Staff Writer

Labels: Annual events Chincoteague Pony Auction, Non-profits-charities The Feather Fund, Animals horses Chincoteague Pony, US state Virginia Delmarva Chincoteague, Media journalists Knauer - Carrie Ann Knauer

Related:

People Carroll County Szymanski – Lois Szymanski

US state Virginia Delmarva, Non-profits and charities Carroll Community Foundation, Animals horses, Non-profits and charities, US state Virginia, Maryland county Eastern Shore Delmarva

20070611 Recent local newspaper coverage of the proposed airport expansion

A listing of recent local newspaper coverage of the proposed airport expansion

June 11^th, 2007

For more posts on “Soundtrack” about Carroll County Regional Airport go to: Carroll County Regional Airport

Kelsey Volkmann coverage in the Baltimore Examiner:

Airport’s night-light, fuel pump broken - 06/12/2007
Commissioners are scheduled to vote today on whether to lengthen the runway at Carroll County Regional Airport in Westminster. But a source familiar with airport operations questions whether an expansion is appropriate when it can’t seem to keep up with basic maintenance.
http://www.examiner.com/a-775756~Airport_s_night_light__fuel_pump_broken.html

Airport meeting disappoints - 06/08/2007
Residents opposed to the lengthening of the runway at the Carroll County Regional Airport said they were disappointed by their meeting with county commissioners Thursday.
http://www.examiner.com/a-770037~Airport_meeting_disappoints.html

Residents against expansion petition county lawmakers - 06/05/2007
It was a two-pronged attack.
http://www.examiner.com/a-763822~Residents_against_expansion_petition_county_lawmakers.html

Carrie Knauer coverage in the Carroll County Times:

Airport expansion: Impact of proposal examined

The much-debated airport expansion plan, which is part of the Carroll County Regional Airport Master Plan, includes a longer runway, new hangars and other amenities to attract more business to the airport and nearby business parks. But some residents... Jun. 11, 2007; scored 775.0

Residents share mixed feelings

On Tuesday, the Carroll County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote on the Carroll County Regional Airport master plan, which includes recommendations to build a new 6,400-foot runway north and west of the existing runway. While residents who ... Jun. 11, 2007; scored 775.0

More ire for airport

Protesters seek injunction against commissioners After failing to receive an injunction to prevent the Carroll County Board of Commissioners from voting on the airport master plan today, members of Concerned Citizens United took their protest from th... Jun. 12, 2007;

Runway in need of funds

Airport expansion opponents who met with Carroll County commissioners Thursday walked away from the table discouraged, saying they believe the commissioners have already made up their minds to go forward with the expansion. Ron Buczkowski, Cheri Grub... Jun. 8, 2007;

Westminster Eagle coverage of the airport expansion matter:

Neighbors decry impact of airport expansion 05/30/07 - By Katie V. Jones

The deterioration of quality of life -- whether by pollution, traffic or lack of security -- was the biggest concern presented last week to the Board of County Commissioners at a public hearing re...

Issues related to airport proposal need clear review

05/24/07 - Guest Opinion by Cindy Parr — Chief of Administrative Services for Carroll County Government In recent months, much has been written about the Carroll County Regional Airport's (CCRA) proposed expansion effort.

This letter is intended to serve as a clarification of the facts as they...

News Briefs 05/23/07 - CCPS cuts $8.9 million from requested budget

As the Board of County Commissioners wraps this year's budget process, the public school system acted last week to trim $8.9 million from its initial...

Letters 05/23/07 - Airport debate hasn't been as open as it should be

I appreciate The Westminster Eagle's attestation that the nuances of the proposed airport master plan may perhaps be too much to be adequately ...

Airport options face public

05/16/07 - By Jim Joyner

To build or not to build ... or maybe to build a little or a lot.

Those are the questions being posed for the future of the Carroll County Regional Airport, and they are also the subject of ...

Airport master plan needs to circle the field before landing 05/16/07 - EDITORIAL

Next week's budget hearing on the proposed master plan for Carroll County Regional Airport promises to be high-flying -- the options for upgrades at the airport already have a followin...

Letters 04/11/07 - Residents will see airport expansion impact in taxes

Raise your hand if you own a corporate jet. I rest my case -- so much for an expansion of the airport directly benefiting local citizens.

W...

Dropping a hot potato in the commissioner's laps

04/11/07 - By David Grand

That's how I'd describe the dilemma the commissioners find themselves in, having to choose between expanding the airport's runway for the county's financial gain -- by being able to handle larger ...

No happy landing for Sage study 04/05/07 - By Katie V. Jones

Local residents took the opportunity on Monday to sound off on a recent study on the economic impacts of a proposed expansion of the Carroll County Regional Airport.

Many in the large crowd that...

News Briefs 03/28/07 - Sage to present findings of county airport study

Anirban Basu of the Sage Policy Group will host a public meeting next Monday to discuss the findings of a study on the economic impact of Carroll...

2004052 Author turns story of Silver Run silver mine into a children's book by Carrie Ann Knauer

2004052 Author turns story of Silver Run silver mine into a children's book by Carrie Ann Knauer

Author turns story of Silver Run silver mine into a children's book by Carrie Ann Knauer

By Carrie Ann Knauer, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Lois Szymanski, children's author and assistant to the director of the library at McDaniel College, said that she was always interested in the history and legends of her hometown in Silver Run.

When she first heard about the legend of the silver mine in Silver Run, she was intrigued and wanted to find more about it. She ended up turning her research into a children's book called "Silver Lining" about two girls hearing the legend of the mine and then trying to find it.

Szymanski gave a talk at the Historical Society's monthly box lunch talk Tuesday on the legend of the silver mine in Silver Run. While she may not be a historian, Szymanski said she has done a lot of personal research on the silver mine and other local pieces of history.

[…]

Read the rest of the article here: Author turns story of Silver Run silver mine into a children's book by Carrie Ann Knauer

Reach staff writer Carrie Ann Knauer at 410-857-7874 or carriem@lcniofmd.com.

http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2004/05/12/news/local_news/news5.txt