RIP, Frank Melvin Papa Bear Conaway Senior

Frank Melvin "Papa Bear" Conaway senior, pater familias of a troupe of local circus bears, was found dead in bed in his Ashburton abode by his cub Frank. He was 81.

Conaway was elected to the MD House of Delegates in 1971 and was elected as the city's Clerk of the Court in 1998. 

He's survived by wife Mary, former Registrar of Wills, current Registrar of Wills Belinda Conaway, dereistic city council member Frank M. Conaway Junior (D-40th), some woman named Monica, and at least four grandchildren: Ray, Frank Melvin the 3rd, Lacynda and Kelly, the latter three of whom were arrested for pot dealing in 2013.

FMC Sr. was well-known for his family-themed campaigning at intersections and in median strips, and known around city office buildings for his spiffy style, which included well-cut broad-shouldered suits with pocket squares, jaunty bow ties and his trademark crumb-duster moustache. His rambling tangents at the city Criminal Justice Coordinating Council were often peppered with colorful turns of phrase ("Baltimore is turning into a Dodge City, a Deadwood, or more aptly, a Tombstone from the days of the Wild West, where gunfights erupted spontaneously and lawlessness reigned supreme.") and he also liked to repeat that adage about that owl.

He was also the reluctant defendant in that no-go 2006-2007 gay-marriage lawsuit Conaway v. Deane v. Polyak, the reluctant target of the karate kicks of blogger Adam Meister, and is the only person in history to lose elections to both Willie Don and Stephanie R-B. 

He was by all accounts a derelict office manager; under his tenure the Clerk's office regularly lost or improperly accounted for millions of taxpayer dollars and a 2010 legislative audit that found his office lost a prodigious $43.4 million in 33 months. 

But in a time before the Internet he glad-handed and bear-suited his way to an indelible political name brand, one that's kept voters checking off his family name on ballots more than four decades, and was one of those surprising, quirky characters that made living in this great city so worthwhile. 

We should all be such wise old bears.

Gears Ground

George Vonn King Jr.

Wat. Nineteen-year-old George Vonn King Jr. was Tased five times, sedated. City prosecutors determine he died of "natural causes."* If only there was some way to record interactions between police and citizens...

So, apparently in spite of whatever lip service they've offered up in the past SRB and Batts are fighting police cameras tooth and nail, arguing that the city council doesn't have the authority to force them on the police department. Admin's lawyer: "you can argue all you want." Meanwhile I got a long message from a purported cop about this--

"listen i know we have bad cops out there. I want them gone just as much as the next. i was born and raised in this city and a cop myself. cameras on cops will not fix the problem in this city. cameras are going to make the good cops like myself a robot for many reasons. just because a camera is on it will not change a cop who has a bad adjective. He will just find other ways to get the job done." 

Oh, okay, so retail stores, banks, etc. shouldn't be able to train cameras on the till even if $5.7 million goes missing, because the "bad" employees will just figure out another way to steal? If cameras are such an outrage, where was the mayor's office as we all became subject to license-plate scanning technology, when our tax money was frittered away on hundreds of (apparently worthless) surveillance cameras all over the city, and that time we all became test subjects for military drones? Also total bullshit: the claim that it'll cost $7 million to equip the city's 2000-something officers with cameras-- that's about 10 times more than the companies that make the cameras claim they cost, 10 times more than other jurisdictions claim to pay. And even if cameras do cost $7 million, so what? That's sofa-cushion change compared to the largesse this administration has ladled out to developers (eg. $393 million for Harbor Point*), a veritable Starbucks tip compared to the ridiculous overtime costs and other hinky business police stick us with.

In East Baltimore, a "torture house." The Sun has helpfully included a selection of Tweets if you want to share this information with your "social networks."

Ps. If you missed the 10+-something hours of Frank M. Conaway Jr. rambling on like a lunatic before he took them down,* a helpful citizen set up a mirror site.

Delegate Has Idea

A 19-year-old man was shot to death in Waverly last night in the 600 block of 38th Street.* A double shooting today killed a guy* in the 5200 block of Denmore Avenue, which runs parallel to Park Heights next to the racetrack. If Denmore Avenue sounds familiar, in April 2010 36-year-old Anthony Walker was killed in the 5300 block; in March 2009 Anthony Underwood was killed in the 5000 block by one Farron Tates, aged 16; in December 2008 another shooting at 5016, in 2007 Damon Smith, 40, was found killed in an alley behind the 5000 block.


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Also notable: Fenton says that only two of the year's 22 murders so far have been solved.

Six life sentences plus 100 years for Robert G. Moore, whose greatest hits include threatening a pregnant prosecutor*, calling himself a sovereign citizen, murder conspiracy* and shooting people to avenge the murder of wrestler Darian Kress.

The city will pay $200,000 to the wife of Tyrone Brown, shot 12 times by off-duty officer Gahiji A. Tshamba behind the Red Maple. The Brew reports that the judge said that there was evidence of "deliberate indifference" by the police department.

Del. Frank M Conaway Jr. has sponsored a bill to put cameras on police. If it passed that would be so great I'd even quit bringing up Baptist Gnostic Christian Eubonic Kundalinion Spiritual Ki Do Hermeneutic Metaphysics: The Word: Hermeneutics every time his name comes up.

The City Council approved a speed-camera audit investigation last night, in spite of objections from Kraft, Cole, Holton, Spector, Welsh and Reisinger. You can also read the $278,000 audit yourself online.* And note the city will also pay another firm $237k going ahead to monitor "engineering services, documents and preparing of standard operating procedures and business rules" for a program that no longer exists. 

Insanity is Hereditary

Justin George reports the city's 7th homicide.*

Anthony Anderson's family is keeping the pressure on for charges to be brought following Anderson's death in custody.

Del. Frank's Ki Dos in Trouble

Speaking of family names, three young Conaways have been arrested for pot dealing. Frank Melvin the 3rd and sisters Lacynda and Kelly Conaway are nieces of disgraced, defeated city council member Belinda and kids of Baptist Gnostic Christian Eubonic Kundalinion Spiritual Ki Do Hermeneutic Metaphysicbipolar Delegate Frank M. (just M) Jr. (D-40th), son of the kooky City Court Clerk Frank M. Sr. and Register of Wills Mary Conaway. I demand mugshots!

BWHAHA! Booze-cruising legislator Don Dwyer blames his turning to the bottle on the gays and other Republicans, reports Rodericks: "I felt a tremendous amount of pressure in my family. You take those personal issues [and] add betrayal on the professional side, and it really gets to be overwhelming." The "betrayal" he felt came when three other delegates, including two Republicans, changed their minds and voted for the same-sex marriage bill that became state law on Jan. 1. "That betrayal really affected me," Dwyer said. "I was physically ill. You pour your heart into an issue like that and it's devastating." No Don, that was the DT's.

DOUBLE BWHAHA! Speaking of bags of dicks, Hassan Giordano reports that homohating /vote-suppressant jailbird Julius Henson aspires to run for a Senate seat against his former employer Nathaniel McFadden for the city's 45th district. Talk about biting the broom you rode in on. ...surely McFadden had Henson sign a non-disclosure/non-compete before he hired him? ... And like Henson even wants that job-- you know he just wants to bleed the beast and get at that GOP war chest. Well, why not, don't hate the player, hate the game. What do you think he'll name his party boat ... ? 

And huzzah, a compromise on the pit bull ban.

Monday 2008

This, we don't see everyday here: A woman who goes by the name of Princess Marie (and is allegedly in a cult) has been charged with the starvation death of her child.

It wouldn't be Harm City if we didn't have some gunsmoke...

Plenty of nonfatal offenses happened this weekend, according to the Blotter. But hey, if it didn't result in someone dying, then not such a big deal right? I mean, the victims can just buy new things...

Stephen Janis and Luke Broadwater do two fine jobs in discussing the William Brown case as seen by the possible victims, and the aftermath in the community he was from.

Adam Meister discusses the oddity that is Frank Conaway, Jr. I've had a chance to meet him and his very humorous father in the past. I gotta say, Frank Jr. came across as pretty stuck up - which was kind of shocking for a guy that's a clerk working for daddy turned politician/chauffeur. Sheesh. Frank Sr., Mary, Belinda, and Frank Jr. Take that, Kennedys!

Oh, and before I forget: Free Kwame!