Early voting y'all

It has begun. There are five early voting sites in the city open today, tomorrow and next week. Got your sample ballot? Ready to choose your choices? As usual there's a lot of more on the ballot than you may have heard of, including lots of choices that aren't really choices. Somebody's running against Ben Cardin? Yeah, good luck with that, libertarian guy and dudes whose last names end in a vowel. And while I guess it's good on principle that somebody's running against John Sarbanes, who's ever heard of Paul Drgos or tea party candidate Eric Knowles? Voters will also be able to vote for six judges for the circuit court, a judge for the appellate circuit, court of appeals, special appeals at large, and special appeals appellate circuit 6. But one can only vote for them, as they're all running unopposed. So what's the point of voting again? Oh right, ballot questions! More audits! More gay marriage! Less gambling! More third-party candidates on our boards and commissions! Zoo and museum, didn't we just borrow a bunch of money for you 10 minutes ago? That's cool, I like art and animals, so more pretend money for you too! A longer term for people elected in 2011? What the heck, why not?! Whee! God bless murica!

179/ Missing 12 y/o girl

Paging Nancy Grace, 12-year-old cute white female missing from Dundalk: "Sarah Schriefer, an 12 year old White Female with black hair and blue eyes, approximately 5 feet 4 inches tall, 135 Pounds. She was last seen wearing: purple hooded sweatshirt with black pants, black strapped style sandals, unknown colored bookbag, acne. She was last seen near: 7430 School Ln in Dundalk MD, on Tuesday October 23 2012 at 11:30PM. We need your help. Please check your yard, complex and vehicle. If you have any information about Sarah Schriefer, please call the Baltimore County Police Department at 410-887-7320."

Alonzo Gladden*

Unlike Navyman/Poly grad Alonzo Gladden, right, shot to death whilst unloading groceries for his grandmother with his brother, the murder of 26- y/o shooty, slashy street hustler James "Eddy Kane" Utley on Wednesday "didn't get a passing mention in the Police Department's briefing to the news media.*" (Is that so wrong?) ((wonder if he nicknamed himself after this rapper?)) Utley was shot in the 1400 block of E. Preston Street in front of some boarded-up houses near Big Bill's Liquors. @RectorSun also Tweeted another Oliver shooting 11 hours ago: "Oliver shooting: Man, 32, operating taxi service shot by passenger(s) after attempted robbery; crashed into parked car; critical condition" 

And a story in the Sun today about the constant threat of robbery for food delivery drivers.*

Homicide detectives announce arrest warrant for Veronica Alston for obstruction in homicide case of Monae Turnage -http://t.co/fQUSdFri

CV courtwatcher Steve recounts a burglar caught by a cop toting a stolen refrigerator sentenced to time served.

Here come the anti-6 school scare ads

178/ Fenton twitters

34mJustin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Fatal shooting victim last night was 24 yr old active duty US Navy.* He and his brother shot at while exiting car, motive unknown. .. Neighbors say Alonzo Gladden, the Navy member killed last night, was very quiet, respectful. Had only been in town a few hours. ... They speculate shooting mustve been case of mistaken identity. Police: When shooters realize who they killed,will be "heavy burden to carry"

Concealed-carry arguments did kick off yesterday in Richmond, with an ASA for MD (not Doug Gansler) arguing that the state has a compelling interest in controlling the carrying of guns in public, and the gun-rightsers' lawyer Alan Gura arguing that gun ownership on demand is a human right.

Fern Shen on the sad lists of deceased students and faculty at the School Board.

Oh my, Stash, the former 98 Rock deejay (real name Stephen Gregory Smith, 49), is going to jail-- six months in the HarfCo tank for driving under the influence* of Four Loko and causing a 3-car accident that injured five people, including a disabled veteran. (Wonder which flavor it was? Peach? Green Apple?) The Harford Aegis reported that Stash's 'rap sheet' includes 56 tickets, 32 traffic convictions, another DUI nine months before the accident and a marijuana arrest. The night of he accident his wife, mad that Stash was drunk, threw him out of the house he shares/d with her and their five kids.  

:(

It's been two years and a day since the death of the marvelous Judge John Prevas,* right.  ... "he rarely made reference to the fact that he had himself been a city crime victim, shot in the arm with a blast from a shotgun in 1972 ... 'I'm sure I would have gone into private practice had it not been for that.' ... Prevas had colorful moments, to be sure. In 2002, he ordered a police detective to do 25 push-ups for missing court,* and had another locked up [for missing court]. When it was revealed that it was not the police department's fault, but city prosecutors, he did not apologize, but said the punishments should serve a warning.  In 2006, he received a rare public reprimand for 'angry and uncontrollable' shouting from the bench." He's also remembered for sending to jail "Don Papa" Blake for the gruesome murder of teen Terrance Randolph (& mailing me the case files, which haunt me to this day), Catholic child rapist John Merzbacher, and Willie Featherstone, the killer of 15-year-old Friends School student Trudy Levin.

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Four shootings overall overnight, including a second fatal: James Utley, 26, killed in 1400 E Preston St; same block as the Dawson House..  Bpd is primary but NCIS will be involved too

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Baltimore Police ‏@BaltimorePolice Confirmed Shooting-Caroline&Preston St. Eastern District. Adult male victim. Detectives notified.

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

For the record: looks like Sgt Robert Snead is Batts' right hand man, filling the role Pete Sullivan (now retired) held with Bealefeld

22hJustin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Editorial board: The state says barbers need 1,200 hours training; why none for security guards w police powers? http://bsun.md/S4shCK *

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Police: Two girls, 13, sexually assaulted in woods near Catonsville High. http://bsun.md/Rkmwyx*

ps. readers, if you want to get the crime blog posted in your Facebook feed you need to request to join, then from the FB Group page select "all posts" under "notifications." Because of a newish FB policy only promoted posts will show up consistently in your feed unless you request otherwise. FYI.

Big Boyz' Bondsman Gets Big House Boot

collegehumor.com via Pinterest

Oh those bad boyz of bail! Kick em all out! Big Boyz bail bondsman  Ethan Nochumowitz (Nochumowitz?!) was barred from Central Booking. Said his lawyer Andrew Graham, "was not impolite, nor did he raise his voice. He was assertive." Hrm.

Another police-involved shooting

3000 block of Spaulding Ave., Fenton has some haunting photos but no deets yet.

Arthur Holt (BPD photo)

The Ink has last week's two murders and ID's the 19-year-old killed as Darius Taybron, notes he's this year's 23rd teenager, also one Arthur Holt, 19, right, was arrested for killing Tavon Welchel, 18  and our "hundredth homicide," on Pratt Steet last June.

 City council bill: no garbage allowed in trash cans.

Two car Abduction/Robberies in Roland Park

Yesterday (10/23), victims were a woman, 40 and resident of Upland Road, and a 19-year-old riding a bike up Roland Avenue. Suspects are a thick-built white man with a shaved head and a black man, both in lighter-colored sedan cars.* Or is is the same pair together in a Dodge Stratus? ... there's a speed camera on the SW side of Roland at Coldspring and one at Charles north of Lake, but nothing in that Roland Ave corridor, FWIW. Would you be willing to have your license plate scanned on Roland Ave.?

Concealed carry, y'all, whut whut?

The Washington Times says arguments will kick off tomorrow down in Richmond in the concealed-carry case, aka Wollard v.  Gallagher (in the meantime there are also a ton of other fascinating issues on the dockets, including the Merzbacher case* (The child rapist w/ the thief lawyer that Prevas sent to jail), UPS being sued by one Peggy Young, allegedly forced from her job for getting pregnant, and  transgender prisoner Ophelia De'Lonta suing for gender-appropriate accomodation. Doug Gansler will be arguing the less-guns position, BCounty resident Raymond Wollard will be rep'd by lawyers from the Second Amendment Foundation of Bellevue, WA. 

In the meantime the court of BCrime mostly supports no-cause concealed carry permits:

good idea	98 (57%)
bad idea	54 (31%)
I have no idea what you're talking about.	18 (10%)

Votes so far: 170
Poll closed 

In the meantime I'll bet anyone on here a buck that the first person shot by a permitted concealed weapon in MD after this law passes will not be a criminal. Blog as my witness, send me your email and I will Paypal you $1 if the first recipient of a concealed-carried bullet is actually shot during the commission of a crime. But if it's a kid accidentally shooting their face off, road-rage BS, domestic murder/suicide or some doucheburger in the ER w/ their nards shot off you little gunslingers better pay up.

ps.  the MD suicide rate in 2010 was 48th in the country, at 8.7 per 100,000 ... wonder what it'll be a year after concealed-carry?

Ihtisham Butt.

The Brew reveals that outgoing finance director Edward Gallagher left the city an unholy accounting mess full of major errors that have already cost the city $1.4 million in auditing fees and could endanger the city's bond rating and ability to borrow money to fix our decaying sewage system. The finer points of Gallagher's legacy include $9.7 million in water-billing errors, miscalculated depreciation costs and an utter lack of internal audits.

Page Croyder reports a major "melt down" at the Public Defender's office, she says "at leave five" "white older men" were "tossed out into the street"and countless other employees were demoted with "no warning, no indication of poor performance, no request to change what they were doing, nothing," Elijah Cummings' brother Bob's job survived the purges, natch.

"A Baltimore City Circuit Court jury convicted Ihtisham Butt, 32, yesterday for sexually abusing the 14-year-old daughter of his former girlfriend."

Have you seen this robber who stuck up the 7-11 at Harford and S. Wolfe Sts?

Twitterations:

Brandon M. Scott ‏@CouncilmanBMS

The Latest City-Wide Comstat Crime Data Is Available herehttp:// tinyurl.com/9sc4gqm  via @openbaltimore @baltimorepolice

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Dozens of crimes that occur in Baltimore schools go unreported as part of zero-tolerance rollback,reports @foxbaltimorehttp://foxbaltimore.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wbff_dozens-city-school-crimes-not-reported-police-16022.shtml …

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Anthony Batts was confirmed last night as Baltimore's 37th police commissioner; Jim Kraft abstained and didnt say why http://bsun.md/Ri7PMD *

Michael A. Scarcella ‏@MikeScarcella

The government's legal fee tab in a #FOIA case in San Francisco: nearly $480K. http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news/journalist-awarded-more-400000-foia-case-against-fbi … #FBI

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Police identify weekend shooting victim (2500 E Hoffman) as 19 y/o Darius Taybron. Suspect was on a bike. Police need tips: 410-396-2100.

I ain't one to judge, but ...

Good for the Deuce-- a month after Anthony Anderson's homicide by cop, they're still covering the story, noting no charges have yet been filed.

A man was shot at 1:44 a.m. in Woodlawn, he's "clinging to life"

Older burglar Kevin Younger, 50, was arrested for stealing from the Utrecht art supply store* more than a year ago after his fingerprint was found on a newsbox outside.

Loni Haggins (Examiner/FB)

Look, I ain't one to judge, but what could a 30-year-old woman possibly see in a 17-year-old boy? Former cheerleading coach Loni Haggins of Bowie may spend up to a year in the pen to contemplate that question after pleading guilty to the attempted sex abuse of a 17-year-old boy-- attempted abuse that left her insperminated with her now one-month-old child. So given that this kid is technically a victim of rape, will he have to pay child support?

So someone splain Question K to me more plz. Everyone who is in now gets an extra year added on to their term?.. and there might be an Anthony Brown/StephRB ticket in 2014? Ennteresting. Who else thinks that DieBold is going to steal the election in Ohio and Florida for R-Money?

Speaking of ballot questions, this is the last day to opine on the concealed-carry question that's supposed to come before the 4th circuit starting tomorrow, so vote _^ if yr gonna, varmints. Just think, by Christmas we could have heat-packing husbands canoodling in the streets! 

Schmuck of the year.

It's a black fly in your Chardonnay, it's realizing you shouldn't have had someone killed 10 minutes too late. Scared stupid that his million-dollar stolen-check scheme would implode, one Tavon Davis hired a man to kill co-conspirator Isaiah Calloway ... then realized too late that the sentences for murder tend to be higher than sentences for fraud. 

Watch out for that tree

Another teen fatally shot, a 19-year-old at E. Hoffman and N. Milfton* (Milton?). Broadwater notes his is the city's 175th homicide according to him, it's the 177th according to our blog t(r)oll (was someone removed?). A 60-year-old man was shot to death in the 3100 block of Garrison Blvd.
 The bifurcating of victim ages is sad/interesting: six victims under 20 in the past month, and five over the age of 40, and five female victims since 9/18. There have been three child homicide victims so far this year, Maya Carr, (5), Olivia Palmer (6 months) and Desmare Braxton, 1.

"Bitch if I lose my house job or wife, you will lose your life!"  Fenton follows up on the use of "special police"-- aka security guards who look like police, act like police, but don't have police training or accountability*. Not just Tenable Protection but 30 more "extralegal" agencies ranging from the venerable campus cops of MICA and JHU to gawd-knows-who. ... what could possibly go wrong?

Police pursuit of an alleged gun-toting drug dealer ended with a suspect dead after his car hit another car, six Dunbar High football players and then a tree.