Year in review 2006: Carroll County

Now: Margaret Wolf started as city administrator in October.

Then: Westminster Council proposed hikes in water and sewer fees and property taxes.

Now: Residents brace themselves for a 20 percent increase in water and sewer fees and a property tax hike.

MAY

Then: Joseph Getty, Gov. Robert Ehrlich?s policy director, filed an appeal in Carroll Circuit Court to overturn Judge Michael Galloway?s ruling delineating five commissioner districts.

Now: Court of Appeals ruled that elections would have to be among three at-large commissioners because only the state legislature decides on districts. Carroll?s delegation is expected to revive the districting map bill.

Then: Officials questioned whether an investigation would reveal the source of a contamination of methyl tertiary butyl ether, a gasoline additive, in a well at a Finksburg trailer park.

Now: Officials continue to combat MTBE in residents? wells.

JUNE

Then: Sykesville Town Council scrapped a 3-cent property tax increase because of a residents? petition.

Now: Tax rate remains at 33 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

Then: Father of a Westminster Marine filed a defamation lawsuit against the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church for protesting at his son?s funeral.

Now: Evidence is being gathered by lawyers for plaintiff Albert Snyder and defendant Fred Phelps.

JULY

Then: The Humane Society sought a ban against chaining dogs outside for more than 12 hours a day and from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Now: Commissioners voted to prohibit dog chaining for more than 12 hours a day but dropped the time-specific clause.

Then: Carroll Joint Neighborhood Association, a residents? group, opposed a proposed runway expansion at Carroll?s airport.

Now: Commissioners are expected to decide this year about the expansion.

AUGUST

Then: A former secretary from South Carroll High School was arrested for embezzling more than $200,000 raised through athletic events and fundraisers.

Now: Wendy Sue Bowers will be sentenced in January; Carroll school officials pledged to tighten controls over accounts.

Then: Parents and officials toured South Carroll High School to see some of the problems of decades-old school.

Now: A facilities report is due in January or February.

SEPTEMBER

Then: Challenger Michael Zimmer bumped out incumbent Commissioner Perry Jones Jr. in the Republican primary. Jones blamed negative ads the Carroll County Republican Club ran.

Now: Zimmer won in the general election. Scott Hollenbeck, president of Carroll?s Republican club, and Suzanne Primoff, its treasurer, face election law violations.

Then: Residents and commissioner candidates debated whether Carroll should adopt code home rule, which would allow commissioners to pass laws locally.

Now: The referendum failed; commissioners are finalizing their wish list for state lawmakers.

OCTOBER

Then: Carroll Schisler, owner of a Carroll farm quarantined after a pig tested positive for trichinosis, testified in federal court that he didn?t know how 100 pigs disappeared from his farm.

Now: Schisler rejected a plea deal instead of going to trial in Carroll Circuit Court on charges of animal cruelty and selling contaminated meat. Court dates were pushed back because the lead investigator was wounded in the line of duty.

Then: Carroll County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People blasted the Taneytown Volunteer Fire Company for not punishing firefighters who allegedly harassed their only black colleague.

Now: Firefighter Pernell Hammond, who registered the complaint, has not filed a lawsuit.

NOVEMBER

Then: Teenagers were attending sex parties and playing risky sex games, said a substance abuse prevention coordinator for an outpatient treatment agency in Westminster.

Now: The School Board may vote on expanding eighth-grade sex education to include contraceptive methods.

Then: Taneytown declared English the city?s official language.

Now: Del. Patrick McDonough, who represents Baltimore and Harford counties, vowed to revive a bill this year making English the state?s official language.

DECEMBER

Then: Police searched for a suspect in a home invasion when an Eldersburg family was tied up and a son was kidnapped at gunpoint.

Now: Trooper Eric Workman, who was investigating the home invasion, is recovering after being shot when serving an arrest warrant for Steven Tyrone Jones, one of the suspects who died from police fire.

Then: Rachel Cosden, 21, of Westminster, failed to stop for a school bus? flashing lights and hit ChristopherVain-Dolan, 14, as he was boarding the bus.

Now: State police have not filed charges.