20-40-100 Years Ago -- Aug. 17

Aug. 17—100 Years Ago

Aug. 17, 1922

A.W. Ecker, of Woodsboro, with his two sons, Frank and Mehrle, has purchased the Thurmont mills and elevator and beginning yesterday, business was started under the firm name of A.W. Ecker and Sons. Mr. Ecker was formerly manager of the Woodsboro branch of the Glade Valley Milling Company of Walkersville and Woodsboro. He has been in the milling business for about 35 years. He is a well-known business man and is a former judge of the Orphan's Court of Frederick county.

Two freight cars broke loose from a freight train backing into the Pennsylvania Railway yards about 3 o'clock yesterday morning and tore along the tracks at a tremendous rate of speed. The stop block at the end of the track just south of East Patrick street was broken off, and the cars left the tracks, one of them overturning. Several brakemen were on the cars when they broke loose. The brakemen clung to the cars until they struck the block when they jumped, escaping injury. The car that upset was loaded with Nash automobiles. The other car contained fixtures for Frederick's new hotel.

The crime wave that has swept over this vicinity during the past week, shifted to Union Bridge, about twenty miles from Frederick, yesterday when Theodore Karpamva, a Russian, shot and instantly killed his wife, Mrs. Clara Karpamva, and then killed himself. The tragedy was enacted about three miles from Fritztown, near the border of Frederick and Carroll counties, where Andrew Fritz last Saturday night shot and killed two men then fired a bullet through his own brain. It is said that Mrs. Karpamva came to Union Bridge in company with a man named Jack Bonsava. The latter worked at the Tidewater Portland Cement plant for a while and later was killed by a man whose home he attempted to enter. After his death, it is understood that Mrs. Karpamva went to live with another employee of the plant, named Nicholas Shamatha. Karpamva came to Union Bridge to take his wife back to New York State. When she refused he shot her three times, then shot himself through the heart.

40 Years Ago

Aug. 17, 1982

The last Frederick countian who registered to vote Monday night finished filling out her form at exactly 9 p.m., registration deadline. She was one of 247 people who registered Monday and will be eligible to vote in the upcoming Sept. 14 primary. The party breakdown was 115 Democrats, 103 Republicans and 29 Independents.

The architect's rendering of the new Frederick County Jail — to be built on 23 acres of land in the Ballenger Creek Water and Sewer District — was on view for the commissioners Monday morning during an agenda workshop. They are awaiting final approval of the plans by the state prior to advertising the project for bids. An Oct. 15 groundbreaking tentatively has been set.

(Editor's note: The archives for this date in 1972 are not available.)

20 Years Ago

Aug. 17, 2002

In the four months since water use restrictions were imposed in Frederick, police and code inspectors slapped city residents with nearly $3,000 in fines for breaking the strict water rules, including $25 tickets for children playing under sprinklers or in kiddie pools. Some call the enforcement heavy-handed and blamed Mayor Jennifer Dougherty. "I'm sorry that any household gets a citation but we have to protect the water supply," Ms. Dougherty said Friday. "The enforcement may seem heavy-handed, but we are not allowed to turn on sprinklers, whether children play in them or not." She said the city reservoirs have less than a 45-day supply of water remaining, and a drinking water shortage could occur by Sept. 15 if the city doesn't get substantial rains.

Can you really cure jet lag by shining a light on the back of your knees? Is "bubble fusion" a miracle source of cheap energy? Well, no. The universe, it turns out, is not turquoise. And the Earth is not, after all, in danger of being struck by a mile-wide meteor on Oct. 26, 2028. These scientific "discoveries," proclaimed in prestigious journals and duly reported in the popular media, now are destined for science's scrap heap, exposed as errors, miscalculations or frauds.