February 18

After a quiet few days, two people have been murdered: a teenage boy was fatally shot in the stomach on Druid Hill Avenue, and north of Fell's Point.

Fredericka Moseley died from a stab wound to the neck after a violent struggle.

Hamm stands behind the numbers.

In AA County, Savoy Stanley Saunders was found guilty of child abuse and two counts of second-degree murder for shaking his five-month-old son Jeremiah to death. Also, four people attacked and shot a 15-year-old boy.

Oh, classy. MD's perinneal "egomaniacal spectacle" and state comptroller sent an illegible note to the aide he ogled ... and simultaneously sent out Xeroxed copies of the note to the press.

February 17

A dead white female baby was found in a bag in Riverdale Park.

James Reigle, 46 and a five-time sex offender got a federal life sentence for child pornography.

In the first witness-intimidation verdict under the new post-Dawson laws, Clyde Meadows appeared before Judge John Miller yesterday and pled guilty to obstruction of justice. Under the terms of the plea agreement, announced in open court, Meadows had to admit guilt, which he did. Meadows must appear as a State's witness in the case of Amanda Johnson, scheduled for March 27 or 29 (there's confusion about the date since it was written down on the form as the 29th but verbally announced as the 27th...), and Meadows must stay away from the State's witness for the State vs. Timothy Meadows and Kenneth George, scheduled for April 12. Assuming the conditions are met, the agreement calls for Judge Miller to sentence Meadows to a suspended three-year prison term and three years of supervised probation on April 24. Meadows had been being held on bail but was released yesterday under terms of the agreement. That's right, he's out. Super!

Sun editorial: "accuracy in crime reporting is essential to assessing public safety". Which begs the question, how accurate of a sample is the "sampling of crimes" that is the blotter?

The allegation: After dirty doc Marc Fishman took over, conditions at Tamar's House in Park Heights got so bad a woman had to give birth unassisted on the floor.

WTF?! Are you kidding me?! As Baltimore cops were stalking war protestors on York Road, significant parts of The Port of Baltimore were sold to a Dubai company. Says Ruppersberger, "There could be weapons of mass destruction that could come into our ports, so we need to be on top of this." Yeah, ya think?

The story ain't over til we say it is, old man.

Hampden residents may be interested to know that the trial of Kenneth "Oracl" Ellis, age 35 and charged with malicious destruction of property, is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, February 21, in courtroom one, Wabash Avenue District Court.

February 16

If you voted Ehrlich you need to send this girl a get-well card and an apology. (right, Michael Williamson).

A man shot in PG County was identified as 20-year-old Tayvonne Bell of Laurel.

Jason Wells, 23, moved to Cape Cod to escape Baltimore's violence, then met his end in Sandwich at the hands of Daniel Prunty in a crazy drama.

Remember Emily Cagal? Her ex-boyfriend was sentenced to life for her murder.

Karja Hansen, 21, was shocked to find out that a guy she dated was not just 'a little bit of a jerk' but the (allegedly) homicidal jerk Christopher Gaumer.

A Jessup man was arrested for the second time in three days for trying to choke the same woman.

Kelley Briggs, the Harford County mom whose child overdosed on methadone, will serve five years.

Bobby Wayne Rhoades was arrested for tampering with baby formula.

The pills-for sex doctor is now also facing a $5 million lawsuit.

Sheila Warham: Hey sluts, you had the chance to be responsible before you took off the pants.

Unshockingly, Duncan is in favor of the crime audit.

A black market for golf gear in Towson?

Thank heaven for little girls, and that Schaefer's ogling was caught on tape! And you can stop the video on individual frames! You can her WillDon say "oh my... "! See the woman to Ehrlich's left bite her nails and look away quickly, and the woman in beige start laughing like, "There goes crazy grandpa again!" Coffeegirl, 24, has her hair down and has on this white sweater that's so tight her boobs are like a front fender, and she sticks her rack right in the old man's face. Ehrlich hugs himself and rocks like a mental patient. A stunning mediation on the frailty of the human connection and the ravages of age. Hello, Murrow.

Power Law.

February 15

Ink: "Only" two murders* last week, both on the west side of town. Lamont Smith was shot on West Lombard Street, and the body of Linwood Thomas, 48, was discovered in a house near Gwynns Falls Park.

How many books could a book cook cook if a book cook could cook books?

More turmoil in cop-land: the union board of directors ousted their elected leader, Lt. Frederick V. Roussey, and assigned him to the most disheartening job available, liason to the Juvenile Justice Center.

Reginald Williams pled not guilty at his arraignment this morning. A jury trial was scheduled for May 5 before Judge Watts.

Jemini Jones, Brian J. Shaffer and Steven P. Hatley pled not guilty at their arraignment this morning. A jury trial was scheduled for May 31, also before Judge Watts. (Why does Shirley have to do everything around there?)

Rouge SW flex officer Vicki L. Mengel was fined $150 for gambling.

William D. Schaefer, 84, caused a fracas when he ogled one of Ehrlich's office girls as she served him coffee during a Public Works meeting.

News from Far-Flung Regions:
A body believed to once have belonged to an AA County armed robbery suspect was found in the woods near College Park.

A man was shot in downtown Annapolis.

There was a second arrest in the case of the only shooting in Carroll County last year. Also out that way, Kristen Wright, 26-year-old teacher, was charged with heroin posession. (Unless that's a typo, she's one hard-driving junkie to get a Master's degree and start teaching high-school English by 21.)

Twenty-six-year-old Michael Ketterman was found guilty of inviting a 40-year-old neighbor to his house for a beer, then raping her.

*Sun murder reportage score: 1/2 = 50 percent, a solid F. Their quarterly averege so far is a D-minus, which eerily matches the Tribune Co.'s stock valuation. Other bad news for the Sun: the paper's lawsuit against the governor was rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals.

February 14

BAL: Police reported 269 homicides for 2005, but the medical examiner's office reported 275.

Baltimore's 35th homicide victim was a 29-year-old man shot in the 2500 block of W. Baltimore Street.

Abdul Karim Alvez-El, 20, was arrested for the murders of Ricky Medley, 19, and Martrell Brown, 16 (finally Martrell gets in the Sun). Also, Devon B. Harrod, 22, was arrested Friday and charged with attempted murder in the Feb. 4 shooting of 21-year-old Erica Harris.

Sierra Swann, now 19, pled guilty to the starvation deaths of her one-month-old twin daughters.

Valentines in the wrong box Dept: There's Glen-Burnie-area high school employee Henry Mouzon, 34, who got two months in jail for sex with a 16-year-old student. And James Mark Blankenship, accused of sexual contact with a 13-year-old student at Dundalk MIddle School.
Down Ellicott City way, a six-year-old boy claims he was fondled in a Chick-Fil-A bathroom by a blond man with a goatee who drove a yellow Hummer. And Happy V-Day to all the cheaters out there-- don't get busted!

Are there gangs in Harford County not founded by cows? Sheriffs say so...

The gaming trial of John Anthony Allen, Joshua Timothy Barley, Vicki Lynn Mengel, Michael James Stewart and James Bradley Lukens was scheduled to begin 1:30 this afternoon in courtroom one, North Avenue District Court.

Arraignment is scheduled for 9:30 tomorrow morning for Baltimore police officers Jemini Jones, 28, Brian Shaffer, 31 and Steven Hatley, 27, before Judge Lynn K. Stewart, 215 Mitchell Courthouse. The BCGJ indicted Jones, Shaffer and Hatley January 6 following an independent Grand Jury investigation. It's alleged that on December 27, 2005 following some kind of an investigation by Officers Jones, Shaffer and Hatley involving two women, ages 22 and 18, the officers transported the women back to Southwestern Police District where one officer allegedly had sexual intercourse with the 22-year old female in an office of the District station and the two others did nothing to stop it.

Judge Stewart is also shceduled to preside over the arraignment for Reginald Martinez Williams, 35, also scheduled for 9:30 tomorrow. (Who is in charge of the docket, and why do they keep double-booking this woman?) The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Williams January 23 for first-degree rape, four counts of first-degree sex offense and three counts of second-degree assault. Court documents allege that between December 20-23, 2005 Williams raped and sexually assaulted three victims. Williams allegedly pulled a gun on police officers on December 23, 2005 while they were arresting him and the indictment charges him with three counts of second-degree assault in connection to that incident.

Duncan: Fauxnuts?

The Duncan ABC/Afro forum (right-- and the kid on his shoulder was a coincidence!) was sleepy and only had like 50 people including the cameraman, a homeless guy sleeping in the back row and about 12 Morgan students who were probably there for the extra credit.
Duncan was actually heart-tuggingly compelling when he said that he was one of 13 kids and had five of his own and his dad was a teacher and his mother believed that religious life was the highest calling and civil service the next-highest and that education was the key to most of the state's social ills. His delivery was extremely well-paced ("who's looking out for" ... two-beat-drop ... "the kids?"). But the only time he got any cadence up was in the intro when he was like, "more than 40 percent of kids in the city don't graduate from high school, and that's just. not. good. enough." Al Sharpton he is not. Then he took about 10 audience questions. The highlight was some 20-year-old wide boy from Silver Spring who rambled about an identity thief who stole his grandma's house which caused the family to become homeless and how he sent some letter to Duncan's office and never got a response.

Not much said about crime, I guess he'd already commented on it earlier in the day and his main platform points are in the Post.

The O'Malley ABC 'fro forum is March 14.

February 13

The man on death row accused of killing eight-year-old Marciana Ringo has just been granted a new sentencing hearing by the Maryland Court of Appeals.

In the blotter, a 27-year-old man was stabbed in the back North of Patterson Park, and a Hopkins student was robbed of a laptop by a man with a kitchen knife while walking less than a mile away in Butcher's Hill.

It's really touching, the sacrifices police officers make for the public good.

Dan Rodericks is all like, LaFawn, get off the reefer.

Skip the Simpsons and tent your own fingers at the Scary-Mommy show: Jayne Miller willl be grilling Hamm re. the crime numbers controversy on tonight's 6 p.m. WBAL newscast. Meanwhile, fecund fomenter Doug Duncan jumped on the city crime issue with both feet on the Eddie Norris show, and scored the endorsement of top prosecutor Mrs. J., though she did concede that she still finds the mayor "cute."

With support like that: "Supporters say Dixon's survived ethics questions before"

Did you know? Maryland's law defining marriage as only being valid between a man and a woman went undramatically into effect 33 years ago.

February 12

Trendwatch '06:
"Dis"-related homicides
Power Law
Reality Economics
Duncan explaining the Issues Affecting the African-American Community for free.
Dirty Doctors

News
O'Malley: "No one's ever come forward with reams of crime reports that were dropped in a Dumpster."

HowCo Jury: 26 "Tickle Me Elmos" + one strangled doctoral student= Involutary Manslaughter

A tale in which for the second-in-a week Radio Shack robbery suspect came to meet an unfortunate end.