September 23

Police need help finding 81-year-old Nevolia Duvall, left. She has Alzheimer's and apparently went missing from a Brooklyn bus stop. She was last seen in a black hat, green raincoat and black tennis shoes.

The suspected killer of two men is a 15-year-old Zachary James, who seemingly has no parents.

Witness to a horrible botched execution in Ohio testified for the Evans appeal.

There's a new head of the Baltimore FBI office named Bill Chase. Good luck, guy.

So stupid it must be true: An Examiner editorial claims that though city residents pay $4.2 million a year to rescue their towed cars, the city actually loses money on the deal.

Robbery and theft and the jacking of a '95 Chevy Malibu, tags SAJ T16, in the Blotter.

Why was an Israeli man taking pictures of the Harbor tunnel?

The U of M College Park has the third-highest number of violent crimes in 2005.

No crimal charges will be filed against the teen mom whose car dragged a toddler down the street in Westminster.

Vigil in Better Waverly for Antonio Gilmore

About 75 people from the victim's family and church as well as Waverly area residents and merchants gathered outside the Waverly Blockbuster at 8:30 p.m. Friday night to mark his passing and to consider how best to stem the rising tide of violence in the other Baltimore. The one without the luxury condos, espresso bars, and omnipresent police. The one full of people who don't know whether they're more afraid of sudden, senseless gang violence or sudden, senseless false arrests. Some plan to enlist a coalition of area churches in the quest for law & order in these neighborhoods. Baltimore churches have a habit of being coopted by the administration. Something about grants. As the sorrow fades, we'll have to see if the anger doesn't.

September 22

Not a crime, but should be: Sections of Guilford Avenue, Calvert Street and St. Paul Street will be closed tomorrow to film "Live Free or Die Harder."

What the?! Did Mike Miller, president of the MD Senate, punch a man in the jaw?

Eric "Ericky C" Tate was arrested for shooting Anthony Taylor Jr., 20, and Adrian Holiday, 19, (196 & 197*) last Sunday on Lanvale Street. Police say Taylor was a member of the local Bloods and the shooting was related to a territorial dispute.

*Anne Linskey's number is right in the middle of my estimate, so let's just assume she's done her homework and go with what she says for the sake of simplicity for the time being, shall we?

William Deshields was arrested for shooting Angelo Stringfellow in 2001.

So stupid it's almost believable (almost): the Examiner reports that Baltimore City police officers shredded confidential files that were protected by a court order because the department ran out of folders.

A corrections officer testified yesterday that he saw a co-worker stomp on Raymond Smoot. Meanwhile, JZ (I think it was) reported last night that Smoot was a jailhouse informant who took advantage of his position to get extra food and make phone calls.

Death squad: we're not really sure what the three-drug cocktail does.

Mary Ann Saar: rehabilitation programs make prisons safer.

In Lanham, Christopher Kargbo pled guilty to manslaughter for his part in robbing and killing Dr. Thomas Gay in the driveway of his Mitchellville home.

Sun coverage of the Espinoza/Canela sentencing. Canela: "I didn't do any of this ... I, too, had dreams, and they've been taken away from me. I loved my cousins very much and everybody in my family. I would have given my life for them."

Rodricks: It's hard to feel diminished by the deaths of strangers.

Uh oh. A MD woman has died from spinach-related e. coli poisioning.

September 21

A 26 year-old man was found murdered behind an elementary school on Gold Street in West Baltimore. Anne Linskey says this is the 198th murder this year, the same number as this time last year. That count doesn't agree with either of the numbers in the Ink, from the SA's office or counted here ... where do you think they're from?

Policarpio Espinoza and Adan Canela got two life sentences each.

Northern District Commander: McAbier can move home safely if she wants to.

Horrible: the tale of Howard County domestic violence victim Samira Salmassi.

Police are targeting underage drinking with a vengeance. Speaking of Power Plant Live, the City Paper's Best of Baltimore Party is tonight at the Ram's Head from 6:30-9:30, with free foods and drinks. I just know because someone told me, though-- for the second year in a row we didn't get invited.

Do the walk! You know it girl!
In the Senate race, the "race thing" drags on. Now the National Black Republican Association has aired a pro-Steele radio ad that Steele calls "insulting."

Op-Ed by Galt

"It's just the reality of living." - Martin O'Malley, on the City's failure to provide a reasonable level of ongoing safety for the community of firebombed association president Edna McAbier of Harwood.

You cold, cold motherf#@ker, you. See the Sun article. It's pretty darn clear that they want more frickin' police! The Northern District commander responds to the challenge of higher murders in the area by noting that reported assaults are down. Yeah, reported everything is down, because the people who report get firebombed and told "it's just the reality of living." Well, reality bites. And so does this administration. Vote Ehrlich, vote Dukakis, vote FDR for all I care, but jeez don't vote this moron into higher office.

John Galt


in the news:

And for those who didn't catch Jayne Miller's piece on phony crime reduction statistics, it's here at WBAL news. I believe the administration has sent out some sort of defense of its figures.


Also, the reward for information leading to the arrest of the murderer of Antonio Gilmore of the Blockbuster in Better Waverly has been increased.


This one's got nothing to do with Baltimore, but it captures the mindset of our worst hoodlums and, it would appear, our Mayor as well. "Get over it."

Bloods and Gorillas battle it out in South Charles Village in the Sun article, but don't let that stop you from living here.

In Baltimore, government against the people steals cars, violates civil rights, and shreds the evidence.

Sept 20 Evening

A new Baltimorean Blogger named Hoodlum challenges conventional wisdom with footnotes in the entry "American Police: Overpaid for Easy Work."

In Howard County, a woman who survived an encounter with serial killer Charles Burns spoke to WJZ. Two more women's bodies have been found near Aberdeen.

WJZ repeats the husband-as-suspect story in the death of Roxanne Amick. County Police want to hear from anyone who may have noticed her green minivan at the Perry Hall shopping center between 2 and 3 p.m. last Wednesday.

The whole Vernon Evans thing is just gross and sad. Why don't we have a firing squad?

Former Baltimore County officer James Blankenship Jr. got 18 months for sexual abuse of a minor.

Schaefer's not shutting up in his final days: he blames Ehrlich for voting debacle: "responsibility is with the head, and not somebody else, saying you didn't do this and you didn't do that. Plenty of time, plenty of money, it just wasn't done." Meanwhile, the city's top election official Gene Raynor has declared himself a "deficient" and walked off the job.

International editon:
Ha! Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez called Bush "the devil," claims he left stink-cloud of evil at the UN.

Hungarians: Economics are a Riot!

September 20

The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Zachary James, 15, of Towanda Avenue for first-degree murder. Court documents allege on September 4 Michael Freeman suffered a fatal gunshot wound in the 3400 block of Park Heights Avenue, then succumbed to his injuries at Sinai Hospital.

A family describes a terrifying ordeal with the rouge cops of the Eastern, who, they say, stole $28,000.

The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services has awarded a $4 million-plus contract to Cogent Systems of California to digitalize and archive five million fingerprint, palmprint, and latent hard copy records. The state will then (one hopes) have a system set up that can digitize inked fingerprint and palmprint cards and mug shots. The system will also be compatable with the company's Bluetooth-enabled mobile fingerprint capture device. The future is now.

Jury selection began yesterday in the trial of corrections officers Dameon Woods, Nathan Colbert and James Hatcher, accused of beating Raymond Smoot to death at Central Booking.
Update: the jury es muy blanco.

You know you're a bad doctor when ... :
an expert testified yesterday in the Vernon Evans Jr. appeal that the MD death squad is "not qualified" to kill people.

Stephen Janis tolerates a City Council meeting so you don't have to.
Re. the Clay case: "No one's in a hurry to discuss public safety until everyone is safely elected."

Diddy: Standing on the corner at 45 "ain't a hot look."

Former Baltimore Police Officer Daniel J. Shanahan has written a book "for all the excellent Law Enforcement officers who shortened their careers by crossing the thin blue line and venturing into the wrong territory; sometimes into criminal territory. Therefore permanently tarnishing their badge, reputation, family, and all the good that badge stands for. This book is for the police officers that could not find their way back, wanted to make a difference, and unfortunately, could have."

Cardin's pesky blogger has been ID'd as one Ursula Gruber; turns out she has something to say about the illegal use of Wal-Mart employee discount cards as well.

In the Baltimore City Circuit Court Richard Cort began a class-action suit, suing CareFirst for prematurely charging higher rates to older people.

Congrats to Liz and Public Information Officer Joe Sviatko on the City Paper BOB awards. (But what's up with the CP inventing "Best" categories that are really 'Worsts"?)
Anyway, thanks to everyone who voted for this site! Two years of BOBs (and of not being invited to the party, WTF?)

White County People Dept.
First thought: "why is there this long story about this murder? Oh I see, it's about white county people."
Second thought: Is it responsible journalism to publish a story that someone is being questioned about a murder ... but not mention until halfway down the page that he's not a suspect?

John Coles pled guilty yesterday to the murder of ex-girlfriend Alice Tremper. He got 30 years for stabbing her to death in front of her 8-year-old-daughter.

Former Department of Homeland Security press aide Brian J. Doyle, 56, pleaded no contest yesterday to charges that he had a "relationship" with an undercover sheriff's detective posing as a teenage girl.

In Bel Air, a man in (what appears to be) a Bill Clinton mask tried to abduct a teenage snowball-stand worker.

False claims of violent crime reduction ??

I just saw a really good piece of investigative journalism from WBAL's Jayne Miller. Remember, in response to concerns about overstatinbg the decrease in violent crime in Baltimore, the O'Malley administration cited lower trauma case counts at Baltimore's trauma centers to justify its claims of 40% reduction.

In fact, as Jayne reveals in an interview with weaselface Health Commissioner Joshua Scharfstein, those numbers only included incidents admitted at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Univ. Maryland Trauma, which are the two largest trauma centers.

They fail to include any data from Johns Hopkins-Bayview or Sinai Trauma, which as it happens is the one institution whose trauma admissions actually increased during the period under consideration.(O'Malley's term of office).

When you add those figures, the reduction in shock trauma gun cases looks less like 40% and more like 25%. You can see Scharfstein's memo to police Commr. Hamm at this location.

Scharfstein sqirms in his chair and insists that he thought the interview had been rigged in advance so as to ensure he wouldn't be embarrassed by new facts and leaves the room. Oops.

I love Jayne Miller.

Now, as I was saying, what ever happened to that independent audit of the City's crime numbers ????


Speaking of violence

About 80% of survey respondents think the City is not safer...

...among whom may be the two women shot on Sunday morning on the 3000 block, Frisby Street in Better Waverly or the resident of the 2600 block, North Calvert Street in Charles Village who woke around the same time Sunday morning to find an intruder had invaded their home. Details in the Police Blotter.

Flying fur alert!

♥Jayne Miller♥ reported on BAL tonight that the reduction in handgun-related crimes, with all four trauma centers taken into account, was 25.9 percent last year-- as opposed to the 40-something the O'Malley administration put out there a few months ago (based on two hospitals). Twenty-six percent is still an admirable figure and no cause for shame, but when Jayne confronted the young health commissioner, Joshua Sharfstein, with the figures... oy yi yi vay! He nearly cried, then got bitchy and huffed out! Ah, the petulance of youth.

Your wish...

Here's what crime looks like in Baltimore.

You see in the center where a grey (low-criminality) area is surrounded from the East and the South by a J-shaped band of green/yellow? That's called Charles Village. See the dark green plume up the east side of Greenmount, through its surrounding neighborhoods? That's called home. About where the J turns and heads Northward is called Better Waverly. The red spot just below is Barclay/Harwood.

The crime would be so easy to wipe out, given a couple hundred cops, because everything around it is pretty okay. This is why the Greenmount corridor is sometimes called the spinal cord of crime in Northern Baltimore.

All it would take would be a Mayor with some cojones.

September 19

A double homicide in the 2300 block of Lanvale Street. ... If you'd like to know how many homicides we've had so far this year, call Dr. David Fowler of the Medical Examiner's office at 410-333-3063. There have been about 194-204, but only he knows for sure.

"I couldn't stay silent." the Sun's Matthew Dolan tells the tale of Edna McAbier, who may never be able to return to her beloved Harwood neighborhood, even though the Bloods who bombed her house are in jail. Sigh. Says a neighbor, "she brought it on herself."

WBAL covers the federal court appeal of Vernon L. Evans, Jr.

WJZ: a hearing re. reopening the Robert Clay case may be held this month.

Carl Evans was convicted of murdering his stepdaughter Breaunna Floyd, 13.

Wow, I remember this story (or one like it) from a few years ago: the Orthodox Jewish community is rallying to support Cynthia Ohana; her abusive control-freak of an ex-husband Ephraim won't grant her a divorce.

OMG!! Bill himself is coming to Maryland October 17 to help O'Malley raise money!

Correction: the body of Roxanne Amick, 40, was found wrapped in a blanket (it sounds like on the side of Belair Road), her van was found at the mall.

September 18

Baltimore County Police identified two bodies found on Friday: Elvis Furman Garcia, 35, of Hanover was found shot by the side of Sulphur Spring Road. And Roxanne Stitz Amick, 40, of Nottingham was found in her van in the Perry Hall Crossing Shopping Center.

The FBI has released official stats for 2005. They're no surprise since they're straight from the police department, but if you want them, here they are.

The murder trial of Brian Christopher Cooper, 21, of McHenry Street, is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. tomorrow before Judge Albert J. Matricciani, Jr. A Baltimore City jury convicted Cooper of first-degree murder April 28, 2003 and he was sentenced to life in prison June 26, 2003. The Court of Special Appeals vacated that murder conviction July 6, 2005 ruling Cooper's Miranda rights were violated. Says the state,

Court documents allege that on April 16, 2002 Cooper and Elliott Scott, 21, argued in front of an unlicensed taxi stand in the 2600 block of West Fairmount Avenue. After the argument, which occurred shortly before midnight, Mr. Scott walked toward his home with a female neighbor. Cooper got a "hack" to drive him home where he got a knife and returned to the neighborhood looking for Mr. Scott. Cooper allegedly found Mr. Scott on North Catherine Street, chased him into the alley behind his home in the 2500 block of West Fayette Street, and stabbed Mr. Scott three times. Mr. Scott underwent emergency surgery at the Shock Trauma Unit and described his assailant before succumbing to his injuries.

Guy Gordon Marsh, 60, spent 14 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit.

Four Harford County homicides last summer may have been the victims of Charles Eugene Burns of Kingsville.

Three inmates were indicted for attempted murder for an attack on two prison guards on March 29 in Jessup.

Examiner editor employs royal "we," quotes C.S. Lewis, opines police video of man being punched in jaw could incite riots* a la CA 1992.

Arguments over whether executing Vernon L. Evans Jr. could constitute cruel and unusual punishment are expected to start this week in federal court in Baltimore.

Purse-snatching, robbery, a stolen NASCAR jacket and some almost-stolen gutters in the Blotter.

Bones found Friday in Harford County turned out to belong to some kind of animal.

In PGC, while answering a domestic call, a police officer shot and killed a man. PGC officers have been incolved in two fatal shootings so far this month.

The Maryland Dems are inviting folks to an evening with Hillary R. Clinton on Monday September 25 at the UMD Conference Center in Adelphi. If you'd like to go, RSVP to one Melissa Campbell at (301) 858-8818 or mcampbell@mddems.org.
Ps., general admission is $250, students are $75, and a (clothed) photo op is $2,500.

Did you know? Yesterday was "Constitution Day."

Quote of the day, from David Simon: "The problems that we're depicting in [The Wire] have been going on and have been unattended to in any comprehensive way for 40 or 50 years ... The notion that any single politician or any single administration should have blame affixed for what we're trying to discuss here is simplistic and ridiculous. ... You'd have to blame every administration going back to McKeldin and Mandel."

* History Corner: The 1992 Rodney King riots were not just in L.A. but throughout the state, with the burning and looting far north as Oakland and Berkeley. Other major anti-police riots include Watts, 1965; Stonewall, NYC, 1969; the Tompkins Square Park Police Riot, 1988 NYC; the Brixon Riots, UK, 1981, 1985 and 1995; the Cape Town "Purple Rain" riots; and Paris, 2005.

Just posting the link to the wbal survey

Residents appear to take issue with O'Malley's assertions that Baltimore is much safer. See the survey results. When over three quarters of respondents say it's not safer,...that's a story. Especially when the sample size (n>750) is substantial.

September 17

The man shot in Catonsville was ID'd as Dejuan Carlos Lumpkins, 24. Like the other two recent County murders, Lumpkins' death is a total mytsery.

Elections chief Linda Lamone to local boards of elections: fix polling problems or it's your ass. Baltimore elections president: "much of the training is done by Diebold ... if Diebold isn't competent, why did [Lamone] hire them?"