Good bye, train enthusiasts. Hello, bikers. Sykesville’s about to get leather and all kinds of other biker stuff. And two storefronts in one of the town of Sykesville’s best old buildings will no longer be empty.
In Step Leather is moving in where Wiley Purkey has moved out.
Instead of kids buying trains at Christmas, we’ll have bikers buying…well, whatever bikers buy at Christmas. It should be an odd and interesting addition to town.
Here’s a quiz for our readers. What’s wrong with the sign?
If you missed the county commissioner candidate’s forum in Sykesville, you’ll get another chance to watch Doug Howard pick on Michael Zimmer (the candidate who listens) at the Eldersburg Library on September 9th between 7 to 9 p.m. Watch the Sykesville event here.
The other candidates are Marcel van Rossum and the lone and lonely Democrat, Hugh McLaurin.
The forum’s being presented by the Freedom Area Citizens’ Council and will also include the candidates for State Delegate in area 9B, which is us.
Republican Candidates Larry Helminiak and Susan Krebs both have huge signs up around the area. Krebs is with Ehrlich promising lower taxes and more jobs, which is going to be awesome, while Helminiak’s sign boldly trumpets that he’s “The Only Consistent Conservative,” which would appear to mean that Krebs, who has beaten him twice before, is not a consistent conservative.
And then, of course, there’s Anita Riley, the Democrat, who doesn’t seem to have any signs anywhere, not to mention a website, and whose non-presence all over the area can’t help but go unnoticed. (Did that make sense?) She ran in 2006 and lost to Krebs by about 8000 votes.
Here’s one of Helminiak’s signs. Nice picture, Larry, sorry we didn’t do it justice.
It sits downtown abandoned in time. Someone has decided to save it.
Check out the Blue Caboose Project.
Well, as you may know by now, Sykesville’s only Town Councilwoman is no longer Sykesville’s only Town Councilwoman. Leslie Reed has resigned, citing scheduling conflicts as her reason.
The town’s looking for someone to fill the vacancy. We’ll get more information on that, but it looks like you don’t actually have to get elected, you just have to volunteer and hope they pick you.
Of course, you’ll only be on the council till May 3 of next year, and then you’ll have to run again.
Here’s the official town announcement.
The Town of Sykesville is seeking a candidate to fill a vacancy on the Town Council. Those interested in filling this vacancy must be a Town resident, a registered voter and must have lived in the Town for at least one year. The successful candidate will serve until the next election, May 3, 2011, at which time they will have to run for election in order to fill the remainder of the term that expires May, 2013. Interested candidates should submit a letter of interest and resume to the Mayor and Town Council at the Town House 7547 Main Street, Sykesville, MD 21784 or by email to town@sykesville.net by close of business on Monday, September 13, 2010. The Mayor and Town Council will appoint the replacement at the September 27, 2010 meeting. For more information contact Matthew Candland, Town Manager, at mcandland@sykesville.net or 410-795-8959.
So you think Carroll County politics are boring? You clearly haven’t been reading Chaos Comes to Carroll, where you’ll see stuff like this.
It takes mudslinging and irreverence to new levels.
All the would-be commissioners for the Sykesville and Eldersburg district were in downtown Sykesville for a candidate forum the other night.
You can see the whole show at this cool Carroll Media Center Website. It’s good stuff.
The massive 3.6 magnitude earthquake that ripped through Sykesville this past Friday tipped a lawn chair in a residential backyard and woke several residents up. This photo of the damage was first displayed on the Sykesville Main Street Facebook page and has since gone viral on the Internet.
According to witnesses, no one was sitting in the chair at the time of the catastrophe, and the resident who owned the chair was able to stand it back up.
Casualties throughout the area were light to non-existent, although several residents claimed that the quake disturbed their sleep, and at least one reported falling out of bed. Damage so far has been estimated at less than $7.
Many residents were shocked by the power of the quake and its ability to tip over a cheap plastic lawn chair. As one of the many alarmed commentators on the Main Street Sykesville page put it, “Oh, the humanity.”
Indeed.
So maybe we need a winery. We’ve got a liquor store, we’ve got the Cork & Bottle. We’ve got Eldersburg, which almost sounds like a type of wine, probably cheap. And we had our first wine festival. But the County has an entire wine trail.
Of course, there’s only three wineries, so it’s not a vast trail, but it’s a start and it sure sounds like fun. Check out the County’s nice promotional video and brochure. All you need’s a map and a designated driver and you’ve got a great Saturday afternoon.
And if you’re interested in the entire Maryland wine trail scene, well, here you go. There are over 40 wineries around the state and 8 wine trails.
Someone from Sykesville Online needs to go out and sample this stuff.
It’s not quite as bad as the oil leak in the Gulf, but it’s probably worse if you live around Quick Fox Court in Eldersburg. 70,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled from a manhole. Fortunately this is day old news, and everything is back to normal.
Here’s the verbatim scoop from the country government.
Sewage overflows into unnamed stream
June 22, 2010 – On the afternoon of June 21, the Carroll County Bureau of Utilities was informed that sewage was overflowing from a manhole behind 1410 Quick Fox Court in Eldersburg. An estimated 70,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled from the manhole. It flowed through several hundred feet of grass, leaves and lowlands before going into an unnamed tributary, which went into a second unnamed tributary and into Piney Run Creek.
The cause of the overflow was determined to be a blockage of rubber gloves, towels and grease in the sewer main. The blockage was removed from the main line and flows were restored to normal within less that an hour and a half after the County became aware of the issue. Lime was applied around the affected area.
Officials at the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Carroll County Health Department were notified. Signs have been posted informing residents to avoid contact with the contained area until further notice. Questions about the overflow should be directed to the Bureau of Utilities at 410-386-2164. Any questions related to health concerns should be directed to the Health Department at 410-876-1884.
Apparently so. Here’s a video on the subject. It’s well-done.
It’s worth a look just to see the homeless woman with a learning disability who has to read everything upside down.
It’s a little boring, and the video stops a lot (Comcast’s fault?), but if you want to watch the County Commissioners discussing the county budget, here’s the action. (Such as it is.)
Here’s a sad sight in downtown Sykesville – on one side of the street a historic building with a modern bruise inflicted by a careless truck driver, and on the other, a beautiful lost dog.
Hopefully we’ll fix the building and catch the hit and run driver. (The Town is seeking information on the semi that clipped the building. Call 410-795-8959.)
But will we find the dog?
Okay, you saw our giant fire hydrant and now you’re worried, but don’t panic if you see some mysterious hydrant flushing going on this weekend. (Unless they’re flushing orange.) It’s not the water stealers, it’s the Carroll County Bureau of Utilities.
They’ll be doing some routine flushing of fire hydrants in Eldersburg, including subdivisions from Pine Knob Road to Liberty Road and from Sykesville Road to Mineral Hill Road from Monday through Friday, starting Tuesday, April 6th through Friday, April 30th between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. each weekday.
You might experience a small loss of pressure and cloudy water lasting up to an hour when the hydrant is flushed in the immediate area. If that happens, they recommend you open the faucets in your home and let the water run until it runs clear. And you probably shouldn’t use high water volume appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers, etc., during the periods of low pressure and cloudy water.
Now if your water is spraying orange into the street or a mysterious truck shows up and starts siphoning the hydrant, that’s another matter altogether.
