April 24

Damon Dubose was shot to death on Sunday night in the 3500 block of Woodland Ave.

16-year-old Keonya Christian-Cannon helped 13-year-old shooting victim Angel Burrell. Burrell was a bystander when a fight broke out over West Baltimore gang turf on Friday.

County police are seeking two tall white men in a small maroon pickup truck. On April 14, the men hit another car in White Marsh, stabbed one of the passengers in that car, then rammed the other car repeatedly. Meanwhile, city police are still searching for the man who killed Charles Erdman after a minor traffic accident on March 3. The driver was a black man in a Ford Explorer with stolen plates (link goes to video of accident), and there were 1 or 2 passengers in the SUV.

Early Saturday morning, Anthony Crowder Jr. opened fire in the parking lot of a Baltimore County bar and wounded four people. He faces four attempted first-degree murder charges and four charges of first-degree assault.

Baltimore Bloods member Jamal Winchester pleaded guilty to two charges of murder.

Sunday's fire at a Dundalk office building was arson.

The defense rests for Charles Eugene Burns.

Ballistics fraud Joseph Kopera and a Baltimore County ballistics expert came to essentially the same conclusions in James Kulbicki's case, but reached those conclusions in very different ways.

Hamm remembers viewing the BPD as a model of "how not to police," and wants to changes the department's ways.

Note to criminals: When going to court on charges that you scammed a car dealership, don't drive a stolen car.

April 23

29-year-old Van Maurice Johnson was fatally shot in the back early yesterday morning in the 1900 block of W. Lombard St.

Cheyenne Hoope, 27, was throwing a party at his White Marsh house when he was stabbed to death by a party crasher. 26-year-old Jason Madigan was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

Matthew Tracy was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash after he hit a Pennsylvania man who was changing a flat tire early Sunday morning.

On Saturday, Donnell Brown was shot in the back on McCulloh St. On Friday, a 57-year-old Washington man was shot outside a house in the 300 block of Scott St.

A 24-year-old man was shot by police in Morrell Park on Sunday after hitting an officer and throwing him off the porch. On Saturday morning, a BPD officer shot a man on S. Bentalou St. during a police chase.

A suspicious, three-alarm fire mysteriously broke out in two separate places within the same Dundalk office building.

The Rockville High School principal suspended 26 students for cutting class for a party.

April 21

Antonio Moore may have been caught, but Michael Francis and Sierra Anderson are still missing.

A 13-year-old girl was shot in the stomach as she watched a fight on the street in the Western. (Also in the same link, someone started a fire at Moravia Park Elementary School, and Charles Bernard Carder got one year for sharing his online collection of 1,800 child porn photos.)

Perv du jour: Robert Bower Reeves got six years on federal charges of possessing child porn. He still faces state charges for allegedly molesting a 12-year-old girl.

Turns out that Troy Gross, the guy who got shot by a retired cop while robbing the Wachovia Bank on Northern Parkway in February, was a witness in the trial of Corey McMillon. McMillon was facing murder charges in the Remington group home killing from last year, but now those charges are dropped. McMillon, however, is still serving life for another murder.

Speaking of bank robbers, Robert Nathaniel Brown got 11+ years for a September bank robbery. Brown was caught after leaving behind an envelope with his fingerprints on it.

Former gun dealer and 2nd Amendment activist Sanford Abrams is being charged with multiple firearms violations.

Doc Cheatham is writing a letter to the FBI to tell them he disagrees with their findings on Robert Clay.

April 20

Three people were killed within three hours. Kevin Randall was shot to death in the 200 block of N. Mount St. at 9:45 on Wednesday night; about an hour later, Johnnie James was shot in the head in the 300 block of S. Bentalou St.; and shortly after midnight, Christopher Wayman was shot in the head in the 2400 block of Seabury Rd. Another man was shot at the same time as Wayman, and is in critical condition at Shock Trauma.

A man's body was found next to railroad tracks in New Windsor.

A 17-year-old was shot yesterday morning in the 1300 block of N. Gilmor St.

Essex 16-year-olds Kyle Meredith and Mateusz Dybala will both be charged as adults with first-degree assault in the burning of Payton Potochney.

Former BPD officer James Kulbicki got life for the shooting death of his mistress, Gina Nueslein. Now, a new gun expert for the defense claims that Kulbicki's gun could not have killed Nueslein, and the testimony of fake forensics expert Joseph Kopera was completely wrong.

The feds say that Robert Clay committed suicide.

Charles Eugene Burns' defense lawyer says some blood and a hair from Lilly Phelps isn't enough evidence to convict his client.

Steven Ellison, the man who died in December after struggling with several AAC officers, died from "cocaine induced agitated delirium" not police induced beatdown.

The family of Ernest Oliver has filed a $25 million wrongful death suit against the city. Oliver was killed by a police officer last August when he was shot in the back.

A warrant has been issued for former BPD officer Michael Nelson, who is charged with participating in an insurance scam.

HoCo police are using MySpace to help solve crimes.

Thanks for the arsenic, Allied Chemical.

Evening

The Public Defender's Innocence Project has taken over the case of Sgt. James Kulbicki, who has been in jail for 14 years for the murder of his babymom.

Kenneth Mahai, 28, of the 2800 block of Galuline Way was indicted on first-degree murder and other counts. Court documents allege on October 25, 2005, Jermaine Morrison, 24, was found with multiple stab wounds in the 1700 block of Malvern Street. The defendant was identified [by someone?] through photo arrays. Morrison died as a result of his injuries at Hopkins Bayview Hospital. An arraignment is scheduled for May 9, 2007 before Judge Martin P. Welch, Room 228, Courthouse East.

The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Michael Ellerbe, 24, of the 2500 block of Marbourne Avenue, on first-degree murder and other counts. Court documents allege on February 11, 2007, a triple shooting occurred in the 1800 block of West Baltimore Street. The first victim, Alusine Kamara, at left, was fatally shot and was the 33rd murder victim recorded in the city so far this year.

Police have issued a report about the arrest of Gerard Mungo Jr., age 7. But according to the link there at WBAL, it's only one page long. Says the page, among other things, "The issue in this matter is not whether the arrest itself was legal in the eyes of the law. Operating a dirt bike in Baltimore City is illegal pursuant to Baltimore's Public Local Law, and arresting juveniles seven years old and older is authorized by State law." ... wasn't the point that Mungo was sitting on and not operating said bike?

Dropping by North County High School in drag to visit Sierra Monet Anderson was a bad move for attempted-murder and kidnapping suspect Antonio Moore, who was arrested today on Holbrook Street.

Yes indeed, A $12K raise (8 percent) for Hamm.

Yet another (alleged) attempted insurance-company-grifting cop in the city! Michael Nelson and his wife Tierra are charged with faking a car theft and accident. It says a warrant has been issued, which must mean he's at large. Never ef with an insurance company!

WTF?! A Gaithersburg man, Larry D. Moore, called his child's elementary school and made threats involving VA Tech after being told the school wouldn't keep his kid indoors for recess.

Customs agents have seized 300 pounds of cocaine from the ship Alianca Shanghai, which "which originate in Ecuador and was on its way to New York."

WTF?
Not Baltimore, but surely a national lowpoint in child custody... Alec Baldwin leaves a fucktified message for his ten-year-old daughter Ireland at his ex Kim's house, calling her a "little pig." We know some of you hate it when tabloid news gets passed along here. But imagine someone who's kind-of-famous saying these things knowing someone could tape it... what must happen in private to the not famous?!

April 19

New precedent: the Supreme Court upholds the 2003 Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. Quote of the day: "I wish I was a girl so I could get an abortion!" --John Waters, 101 Things I Hate

A man's body was found in a marshy area of Westport in the Southern yesterday. His death has been ruled suspicious. Over in the Southwestern, the bodies of a man and woman that were found on March 29 in a Normount Ave. rowhouse have been identified as Philip Hines and Dontrelle Nesmith. Their deaths have also been deemed "suspicious."

Life + 20 for Party Shooter
Tuesday Judge M. Brooke Murdock sentenced Ricardo Watson, 35, of the 1000 block of East Hoffman Street to life in prison for murder and a consecutive 20-year prison term for a handgun count. A Baltimore City Jury convicted Watson February 13, 2007 of first-degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. On March 25, 2006 Watson and the victim, Darren Green, 21, were attending a party at a house in the 1200 block of Maple Leaf Court in the Oldtown neighborhood. Watson shot Green eight times at point-blank range in the torso.

Kevin Klink was indicted yesterday on murder charges for the death of Robert Brazell. Klink also faces riot charges related to the fight at Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City.

Perv du jour: 24-year-old Richard David Morris, a registered sex offender, almost succeeded in his plans to take three 8-year-old boys on a vacation to Florida.

April 18

Eight AAC schools went on lockdown after an appearance by wanted alleged killer Antonio Moore at North County High.

Ink recounts the murders of Tavon Campbell, Brent Flanagan and John Daughtry.

Six former staff members of Bowling Brook Preparatory School were indicted for the death of Isaiah Simmons. Meanwhile, Simmons' family says misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment against the employees are grossly inadequate.

The family of Payton Potochney says charges against two 16-year-olds who poured acid on a Middle River slide are also grossly inadequate

Lilly Phelps was the first of four women found murdered in Harford County last summer, and jury selection in the trial of suspected killer Charles Eugene Burns began yesterday.

Gregory Kane writes about the three consecutive life sentences that were handed to group-home killer Derrick Taylor.

17-year-old Brandon Burton was arrested and charged with the November 21 murder of Tereem Taylor.

Annapolis police arrested Carlos Rice and charged him with murdering Aaron Brown last Sunday on Madison St. in Annpolis.

Allan Clark, a homeless man in AAC, was arrested for the April 5 murder of another homeless AAC man, 53-year-old Michael Evans.

Sheila D. tells Park Heights residents that help is on the way. In a shocking turn of events, the Mayor and Pat Jessamy are forming a sub-committee to "come up with a strategic plan at all levels."

Zoning Board says no to JoHo bros.

A pole-dancing contest, "Miss Polemiscuous," has the Frederick liquor board examining the Big Easy tavern.

Beware of the Goodwill Lotto fraud.

Quote of the day: "I think jail has a telling effect on some people, especially if they are young and dumb like your son is."
-- Baltimore County District Court Judge Bruce S. Lamdin

At a hearing today, Judge Roger W. Brown sentenced Derrick Taylor, 27, of the 4000 block of Ridgecroft Road, to three consecutive life-without-the-possibility-of-parole prison terms and another consecutive 60 years for three use of a handgun in the commission-of-a-crime-of -violence counts. A Baltimore Jury convicted Taylor February, 27, 2007 of three counts of first-degree felony murder (murder committed during the commission of a felony), three counts of use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. The jury also convicted Taylor of several handgun counts but failed to reach verdicts on first-degree murder (premeditated) and several second degree murder counts and assault counts. Judge Brown declared a mistrial on those counts and the state entered a nol pros on those counts following the sentencing hearing today. On January 10, 2005 Taylor shot and killed Nathan Gulliver, 49, Antwon Arthur, 38, and Steven Matthews, 36, at a drug and alcohol recovery house in the at 540 block of West 27th Street. A second defendant in this case, Corey McMillon, is serving a prison term of life plus 20 years for a previous murder conviction and faces an April 20, 2007 trial date for his alleged involvement in this case.

The Baltimore City Grand Jury has indicted Keith Vaughn, 34, of the 4500 block of Pen Lucy Road for the first-degree murder of Antonio Brown, 16. Court documents allege on September 6, 2006 Keith Vaughn and two other suspects approached Antonio Brown and two other persons in 100 block of Diener Place, and Vaughn produced a handgun and shot Antonio Brown to death. Vaughn is held without bail at the Baltimore Detention Center. An arraignment hearing is scheduled for May 15, 2007 before Judge Lynn Stewart.

At a hearing today Judge Allen L. Schwait sentenced Reginald Williams, 35, of the 400 block of East Eager Street, to five concurrent life in prison terms. Williams was the serial rapist who struck around the Read Street area in the Central District. He pled guilty October 26, 2006 to three counts of first-degree sex offense, one count of third-degree sex offense, one count of rape and three counts of second-degree assault. Judge Schwait also sentenced Williams to a concurrent 30 years in prison, 10 years for three separate counts of second degree assault. Williams is eligible for enhanced penalties due to his criminal record and the State filed its intent to seek those penalties. Williams faced the maximum penalty, life in prison, for each of the sex offenses. Williams sexually assaulted five women over the span of three weeks between December 3-22, 2005. On December 22, 2005 police attempted to arrest Williams in the 1200 block of W. Saratoga Street when he fled into an alley and pulled a gun. Officers shot Williams in the leg.

Scheduled tomorrow:
Re-arraignment for Brandon Grimes, 21, of the 800 block of Cator Ave. 9:30AM tomorrow before Judge Martin P. Welch.
The City Grand Jury indicted Grimes February 12, 2007 for first-degree murder and attempted robbery deadly weapon. Court documents allege on January 9, 2007. Brandon Grimes fatally shot Baltimore City Police Detective Troy Lamont Chesley, Sr.

The murder and child abuse trial of Annette High, 48, of the 1600 block of Mountmore Court, 9:30AM tomorrow before Judge John M. Glynn. The BCGJ indicted High August 28, 2006 for first-degree murder and child abuse. Court documents allege that on April 17, 2006 High beat Kayah Jackson, 14 months, about the face and neck while acting as caretaker in her home. The baby died at University Hospital on the same day.

April 17

The woman's body found in a creek in AAC has been identified as 46-year-old Svetlana Coontz.

Johnnie Toomer, the alleged shooter who attacked three kids and one adult last week, is being held without bail.

Idle Hands: The theories of who poured sulfuric acid on a slide in Middle River Saturday may prove right: two 16-year-olds have been arrested. Apparently they were just curious and wanted to see "if the chemical would burn the plastic."
The toddler who was burned by the acid underwent surgery yesterday.

Police labeled Michael Jay Francis as "critically missing" after recovering the car that was used in Francis' kidnapping and finding his bloody clothes inside the trunk.

A bad breakup led to the drive-by shooting that left an 18-year-old man and 17-year-old girl wounded in Darlington. Two 18-year-olds were arrested and charged with attempted murder.

Perv du jour: Baltimore County substitute teacher Stephen Williams Stauffer pleaded guilty to stalking a 10-year-old girl, sometimes with binoculars and a gun in his car. He didn't get any jail time, but he's totally not allowed to stalk her anymore.

Honorary perv du jour: Phillip Wilson of Finksburg, who was found guilty of fourth-degree sexual offense and second degree assault against two young girls.

Dead perv du jour: Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro, who may have molested hundreds of children prior to his death in 1989. The Jewish Times ran the story because "There are young men whose lives were changed forever because of his acts. Some of these men are more figuratively 'dead' than Rabbi Shapiro will ever be."

Someone vandalized the MARC signal house at Dorsey Station.

April 16

One of the students injured at Virginia Tech today by a currently unknown gunman was sophomore Justin Klein, a graduate of Catonsville High.

A 16-year-old-boy was shot in the arm, and arrests: Kenneth Mahai for the murder of Mark Robinson [#54 of 2007] and Keeco Stern, 18, and Kwamie Stern, 17, for killing Jermaine Morrison (2005).

More on the Middle River acid-on-the-playground incident and its toddler victim, Payton. There was a similar event in Austin, TX park on Thursday (though this involved muriatic acid instead). Creepy.

Johnny Toomer was ordered held without bail at his bail review this morning.

A baby shower turned deadly in PGC, ending with the death of uncle-to-be Jerrod A. Falls in a hail of bullets.

Maryland State Police shot Scott Perry to death after a car chase down your boyfriend's street in Elkton, Cecil Co. Fortunately Trooper Nitz sustained no permanent damage.

The Liquor Board has new legal power to check IDs and applicant backgrounds. Cheers!
(Is it illegal for a child molester to own a bar?)

Dalesios's of Little Italy has been cleared of harboring typhoid.

You know we couldn't go a single day without one ... a sex offender, that is. Today we have Raymond Strong of Port Deposit, who's charged with four counts of raping a 15-year-old he met on MySpace.

Bad Times in AAC:
- AAC and city police are looking for shooting victim Michael Jay Francis, 21, last seen being forced into the trunk of a stolen car, driver/shooter Antonio Moore, 20, and Moore's girlfriend, Sierra Monet Anderson, 18.
- Aaron Brown, 44, was shot to death in Annapolis.
- The body of a middle-aged woman was found floating in a tributary of the Patuxent River Tuesday in Davidsonville (down the southeast by Bowie).

April 15

WTF?! Someone poured sulfuric acid on the playground equipment at Victory Villa Elementary in Middle River, sending a two-year-old to the hospital.

Oh good, the Sun says our gang problem's hemorrhaging.
Actually, it sounds like the problem's doing pretty well for itself.
For would-be Blood teens, "you get a secret handshake, you get some special clothes, and automatically, you've got 300 friends" and may get to learn Swahili. As for cops, "having gang members openly wearing colors and identifying themselves publicly makes it easier to track criminal activity." And the neighbors get BBQs!
...though (in Part I) gang founders admit "we never fed the people like the Black Panthers did."

PdJ: Bethesda dentist David E. Fuster of MoCo, who fled to Mexico after being accused of drugging a 15-year-old with nitrous oxide and raping her.

Jemini Jones wants his job and reputation back.

BMore living tip: if you suspect someone's overdosed, give e'm mouth-to-mouth instead of trying to set their fingers on fire.

Four-Legged Neighbors

In the most recent poll, 35 percent of you said that it would be okay under some circumstances to poision a neighbor's obnxious dog to death!
Tough town!

April 14

An 11-year-old boy was shot in the shoulder yesterday at around 5 p.m. at the intersection of Baker and McKean.

Johnnie "Smurf" Toomer of the 2900 block of East Monument Street was arrested for Thursday April 12's, quadruple shooting in Broadway East, but there's still no known motive. It does seem the the 20-year-old was the target, not the kids, and the 20-year-old was a witness for the upcoming murder trial of Allen Little, who accused of shooting William Kirkpatrick, 16, and Stanley Dorsey, 31, on Belnord Street on October 18 of 2005.

It's a mockery of the bail bond system!
Defendants are ordered to post big-bucks bails, but the city's bail bondsmens' low low prices get them out on the cheap.

Fenyanga Muhammad tells Richard Sher that police shot him four times for no reason. Jablow: witnesses at the scene tell a different story.

Annie Linskey has more on the search for Terrance Randolph's three killers, including the detail that Don Papa Blake, aka Shamvoy Smith, "reached out to the Baltimore police shortly after arriving in the city in late 2005 and told them that he was from California and had plans to straighten out the city's gangs." Yesterday she detailed Jordanna/ Jiordanna Wagner 's taped testimony about how the three took Randolph to the basement of 1900 block of Division St. for "discipline."

Scary stat: Through March 31, Baltimore police reported 161 shootings in Baltimore — a 32 percent increase from the same time last year.

Spyware is letting stalkers take fucking with victims to a new level.

Once again, courthouse workers are protesting the filthy conditions.

Federal court judge Garbis: touching and tipping in PGC strip clubs doesn't lead to crime.

Not the Pine Knots!

The Sage Report recounts some Baltimore gang names from the early 1850s, including the Hell's Delights, the Gumballs and the Pug Uglies.

Evening

The 10-year-old boy shot yesterday was the cousin of the witness to a double murder, the case scheduled for trial today. BUT the latest news is it wasn't a case of witness itimidation at all... somebody was just trying to steal a jacket. Well, that's a relief!

Neil Rivers, 20, was killed trying to stop Deandre Lamont Williams, 18, from taking a dirtbike. His family is outraged that Williams was out of jail to commit the murder in the first place, and that he got only 50 years.

Shaidon "Papa Don" Blake was found guilty of second-degree murder and conspiracy in the death of Terrence Randolph, 19. Two other co-defendants, Janet Johnson and Jermile Harvey, were also found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy. "Prosecutors said Blake is a high-ranking member of the Bloods who came from California to get Terrence Randolph and other gang members in line."

Dawson sister: seven family members were killed because they "Believed," were not given promised protection.


Police have released a composite of the Fredneck hit-and-run killer, left.

City bank robber Terron Moore got 11 years 4 months. If only the teller had used a prophylactic excessive-customer-service-technique to disarm him from the gitgo ...

If you still own a radio...

I'll be on Ed Norris on 105.7 this morning from 11:30-12:30.

April 13

The body found after a house fire on the 2600 block of W. Coldspring Ln. had been beaten and stabbed.

Sheila D. is outraged because at least six people were shot in the city on Thursday, including three children and one man who were shot on N. Bradford St.

The man who was stabbed in throat in Pigtown was identified as Eric Zurawski. Also, two people were shot on W. Lombard St., one person was shot on W. Pratt St., a boy was shot on Callow Ave., and a 19-year-old woman's car was stolen at gunpoint on E. Preston St. after she stopped to avoid hitting a pedestrian.

Commissioner Hamm says "You can't arrest your way out of a problem. You just can't."

Maryland's Court of Appeals says the family members of Angela Dawson have no grounds for a suit against the city.

Fenyanga Muhammed says the BPD shot and arrested him for no reason.

The family of Lindsay Bender are offering a $5,000 reward for information about the driver of a green pickup truck that was involved in Wednesday's fatal road rage accident near Frederick.

William Parrish, who was arrested last month for holding a woman against her will in Finksburg, was charged with unauthorized use of his ex-wife's Visa card and throwing a propane tank at an ex-girlfriend.

Steven Gossard of Washington County got two years for punching an 11-year-old girl and knocking her out.

Perv du jour: Thomas Carroll pleaded guilty to raping a 17-year-old girl 14 years ago, after DNA evidence was discovered that linked him to the crime.

I don't even know how to summarize the story of George Robert Chaney III in one sentence, so just go read about his most recent arrest.

April 12

"Of the 42 people charged with gun crimes in Baltimore between Jan. 1 and March 21 of this year, 24 suspects — or 57 percent — had been previously charged with gun crimes a total of 52 times."
How'd this happen? They're out on bail and out of jail, and that's the way it goes.

Tavon Campbell, 20, was shot to death shortly after midnight in the 2600 block of E. Madison St.

"John Daughtry, 25, was identified Tuesday as the man shot in the chest at an unknown location about 6 p.m. Monday, then staggered to his home in the 100 block of S. Morley St." ; also, a 20-year-old man was shot in the chest but survived.

WBAL reported at noon that two women were shot while walking on the West side, no motive or suspects.

A "suspicious body" was found by firefighters at 4 a.m. in the basement of a house in the 2600 block of West Cold Spring Lane (aka Coldspring Avenue). Wonder if we'll ever hear of it again ... ?

Yesterday's Fredneck road rage victims were ID'd as driver Christian M. Luciano, 28, and passenger Lindsay L. Bender, 25, both from Harrisburg PA. Speaking of road rage, sound advice the Sun's Googled for us from the Dane County Sheriff's Office in Madison, Wis.):

Almost nothing makes another driver angrier than an obscene gesture ... Avoid making any gestures that might anger another driver, even 'harmless' expressions of irritation like shaking your head.

(JZ's video on the link above is actually about Duke lax. Isn't it nice how Reade Seligmann says "If police officers and a district attorney can systematically railroad us with absolutely no evidence whatsoever, I can’t imagine what they’d do to people who do not have the resources to defend themselves.")

April 11

Rozza Alston, 29, of the 1600 block of Saint Paul Street, pled not guilty at arraignment today. He was criminally charged March 16, 2007 with attempted first degree murder, attempted second degree murder, assault, armed robbery and plain-old robbery. Court documents allege that on January 26, 2007 Alston accosted an elderly female victim in the parking lot of a Kentucky Fried Chicken located at 1821 Saint Paul Street demanding her purse. When the victim refused, he allegedly stabbed her numerous times in her hand, arm and chest. Police arrested Alston on February 3.

Jean Sierra, 21, of Owings Mills, MD pled not guilty at arraignment today. He was indicted by the Baltimore City Grand Jury for multiple counts of robbery, armed robbery and assault. Court documents allege that on January 16, at approximately 2:30 a.m. Sierra pointed a handgun at a group of three off-duty law-enforcement officers, (Jason E. Dietsch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Virginia state trooper and bagpipe player Michael McCann, and a Marie Burkhead, all in town for the funeral of Troy L. Chesley Sr) with the intent to rob them in the 2800 block of O'Donnell Street in busy Canton Square. Police responded and searched the area and detained Sierra, who was then allegedly identified by the victims. Sierra remains held without bail at the Baltimore City Detention Center.

Speaking of the garbage problem, how great would that be if we could ban plastic bags.

No, it isn't an old headline... charges will finally be officially dropped against David Evans of Bethesda and two other Duke lax players indicted for rape and kidnapping in May of last year.

Rodricks: Community "call-in" urges criminals of the Western to get a clue.

PdJ: CarlCo's James Allen Gregory, 62, has been released from jail after serving 27 months of a 36-month sentence for a violation of parole in Washington State. Gregory violated parole by being hired as a handyman at the Rainbows and Reasons daycare center in Westminster in 2001, where he was charged with sexually abusing two 3-year-old girls at the day-care center and other locations and was given a 15-year suspended sentence. It's all very confusing.

Two people were killed by a white man in a basball hat during a Fredneck road-rage incident.

Baltimore Crime collectable: the "Baltimore City Police / Policing the City that Bleeds" patch. Notes the description: "This patch was designed by some of the Baltimore City Police Department Officers because of the high Homicide rate in Baltimore City. They feel they have no support from the Mayor or City Council, so this was a patch that was designed to show their displeasure with the lack of support."

USS Constellation a Fraudulent Frigate!

According to Wikipedia, Harborplace's USS Constellation is a fraud! It's not the first US Navy vessel to put to sea, as city plaques proclaimed to schoolchildren for 137 years, but an 1850's Navy war sloop altered to look like a 1797 frigate!
Oh, my.

A letter:

Just saw your post about the Connie. I used to work there as a shipwright. Although there are people who will swear with their dying breath that it's the Frigate Constellation built in 1797 (I'm doing this from memory, forgive me if I get the details wrong), general consensus, including the current management, is that it was a new boat built in 1854. There was some kind of Naval chicanery with the money from congress back in the 1850s—they weren't allowed to build a new boat, so they said they were restoring the old one, but they pretty much restored it out of existence. I believe there was a book written on the subject recently by a guy named Footner. During a major restoration a few decades ago, they tried to make it look like the original, and did a bunch of stuff that later had to be undone in the most recent restoration (1990s).

So Boston beats us on the oldest ship, with the Constitution, but the USS Constellation has some pretty cool history, including slave trade interdiction off the coast of Africa and running famine relief to Ireland. Seems harsh to call it a fraud, I prefer to think the people who believed it was the frigate were just misguided. One important thing—although it was altered to look like the frigate, it got altered back, so what you see there between the water taxi and the paddle boats is the 1854 sloop.

Still, when you look at memorabilia on Ebay and such, the older stuff will say "USF Constellation" with an F for Frigate, and the new stuff will say "USS Constellation" with an S for either Ship or Sloop, I can’t remember. There are any number of old armchair sailors who can talk about this for days on end. I tend to tune out after "Not the original? Okay."
More importantly, I made the mast in the middle at the very top after the last one was struck by lightning.
Cheers,

Chris L.
Former boatbuilder