Mayor lifts police hiring freeze
In an effort to ease increased concerns about crime in Baltimore, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke is lifting a Police Department hiring freeze so 50 additional officers can be placed on the streets by May.
Speaking to about 200 employees at the University of Maryland's downtown campus yesterday, Mr. Schmoke called crime the city's No. 1 issue. "We have to take some steps now to let people know we are doing as much as we can to fight crime," Mr. Schmoke said.
The new hires should sharply reduce the number of vacancies on the police force. In January, 86 jobs were vacant in the 2,967-person force. The city stopped filling the vacancies late last fall to save money in the face of state budget cuts.
Last month, a series of kidnappings from parking garages shocked the city. One victim was slain.
Mr. Schmoke has been attempting to calm the jitters of people who work downtown by scheduling a meetings with them. The mayor has set a citywide "town meeting" for Monday night at War Memorial.
MVA called lax:
Maryland State
A review of Motor Vehicle Administration procedures found the agency's internal security lax and chastised the MVA for not spelling out security policies to employees, state Transportation Secretary O. James Lighthizer said yesterday.
"We've got to do a better job of putting into writing the procedures for handling documents," Mr. Lighthizer said.
He declined to release copies of the report, which he ordered last week to assess the MVA's vulnerability to fraud.
The issue arose in the wake of publicity surrounding Dontay Carter, 18, who allegedly obtained a duplicate driver's license in the name of a 37-year-old man he is charged with abducting and killing.
The MVA review was prepared by the Transportation Department's internal audit division. Mr. Lighthizer received it Monday.
Releasing the full document, he said, would be tantamount to advertising ways to defraud the MVA.
Instead, officials distributed a one-page summary with scant details. But a source within the department described the full report as "very, very critical."
Home builder:
Anne Arundel County
A Charles County builder that touts its homes as both custom-built and affordable is branching out into Anne Arundel County.
American Family Homes has entered an arrangement with Century 21 Realty, whose agents will help customers find and purchase land. The St. Charles-based builder would build a home on the site from one of 30 single-family models.
American Family's houses, ranging from two-bedroom, ranch-style to four-bedroom, two-story, all-brick homes with more than 2,000 square feet of space, cost $65,000 to $112,000, excluding land and site work, such as grading and clearing.
Staffers fired:
Baltimore County
Three key staffers of the Baltimore County Economic Development Commission have been summarily fired by the new director, Kenneth C. Nohe.
Anthony J. Haley, deputy director of the commission; Patricia Krug, office manager; and Patrick L. McDonough, a commission staffer who managed County Executive Roger B. Hayden's 1990 campaign, all said they were read a short statement about their "philosophical differences" with the boss, who was accompanied by one of Mr. Hayden's police bodyguards late Monday. Then they were told to leave.
Neither Mr. Nohe nor Mr. Hayden would comment on the firings, saying they are "personnel matters."
But the executive said that, in general, the commission "is doing exactly what we want it to do."
Commission Chairman A. Samuel Cook said he was upset about the firings and considered resigning, but decided to stay at Mr. Hayden's urging. "I think they [Mr. Haley and Mrs. Krug] did an outstanding job," he said, adding that his task now is to unite the commission so it can continue its work.
Bombing arrests:
Carroll County
Four people have been arrested in a series of pipe bombings last week in Carroll County, a fire official said.
David William Smith, 23, of Westminster, was arrested yesterday and charged with possession of a pipe bomb, possession of explosives with intent to terrorize and manufacturing of a pipe bomb, said Deputy State Fire Marshal Bob Thomas. A 14-year-old and two 17-year-olds also were arrested and charged, he said.
Mr. Smith is being held in the Carroll County Detention Center on $10,000 bond. The juveniles have been released to the custody of their parents.
Mr. Thomas said the bombs detonated March 4 and destroyed mail boxes and a cable television junction box, disrupting cable service in the area.
New priests:
Harford County
St. Mary's Assumption Eastern Catholic Church in Joppa is organizing educational, cultural and religious programs with the addition of two more priests and a lay leader.
The staff will organize pilgrimages and retreats, establish a church museum and religious shop and develop programs for building shrines.
St. Mary's opened last year as the first of several churches to be located at the Historic Church Village, developed off Mountain Road and Interstate 95 by the National Catholic Museum and Institute.
The 106-year-old structure is the former St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church of Fallston. It was dismantled piece-by-piece and reassembled at the Joppa site.
Mayor lifts police hiring freeze
Baltimore City
In an effort to ease increased concerns about crime in Baltimore, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke is lifting a Police Department hiring freeze so 50 additional officers can be placed on the streets by May.
Speaking to about 200 employees at the University of Maryland's downtown campus yesterday, Mr. Schmoke called crime the city's No. 1 issue. "We have to take some steps now to let people know we are doing as much as we can to fight crime," Mr. Schmoke said.
The new hires should sharply reduce the number of vacancies on the police force. In January, 86 jobs were vacant in the 2,967-person force. The city stopped filling the vacancies late last fall to save money in the face of state budget cuts.
Last month, a series of kidnappings from parking garages shocked the city. One victim was slain.
Those incidents heightened the fear of crime, Mr. Schmoke said, adding: "The perception is that crime is on the rise and is affecting the day-to-day decision-making of many people."
Mr. Schmoke has been attempting to calm the jitters of people who work downtown by scheduling a series of meetings with them. One session was scheduled for today at noon at Mercy Hospital. Also, the mayor has set a citywide "town meeting" for Monday evening at the War Memorial.
Mr. Schmoke said the city is working on several fronts to confront crime, including:
* Moving to generate funds to pay for extra security and other services in the downtown area. Specifically, the mayor is pushing a plan in Annapolis to raise city property taxes on commercial real estate by 5 percent throughout downtown Baltimore. The money raised, an estimated $2.3 million a year, would be put toward paying for the services in the commercial district.
* Performing security audits of downtown parking garages and having police on scooters patrol inside the garages.
Layoffs may be void:
Maryland State
The state may have to reinstate some of the workers it laid off in the past year because of violations in their seniority rights.
Administrative law judges have concluded in a recent series of rulings that the state should have allowed some senior workers to "bump" junior workers out of their jobs before laying those senior workers off.
About 200 people may be affected, officials said.
Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. had ruled that the administration could ignore seniority rights as it eliminated jobs during the past year to help cut budget shortfalls. The administrative rulings go against Curran in some cases, but the final decisions may end up in court.
"The number of individuals involved, the money involved and the specific rejection of two opinions by the attorney general make this a truly significant holding," said Stephen Awalt, counsel to the Maryland Classified Employees Association, a state employee union.
Mr. Awalt referred to a ruling in late February upholding the seniority rights of 100 state employees fired from 14 state agencies and departments. "I expect the state's lawyers to appeal," he said.
Whale sticks around:
Maryland State
The wayward whale that wandered into Chesapeake Bay this week apparently has found a temporary home in the waters off the Bay Bridge, according to an eyewitness and state officials.
The 35-foot whale was last seen yesterday at about 1:30 p.m. just south of the bridge near Kent Island.
Larry Gaigler, 35, a telecommunications technician from Pasadena, said he was heading east on the bridge behind a slow-moving truck about 1:30 p.m. yesterday when he saw the whale's back and its blow hole in the water just south of the span.
The whale apparently was first spotted about 10 a.m. Monday near the mouth of the Potomac River. Watermen and pleasure boaters watched it swim near the bridge Monday afternoon.
Officials said the Virginia Marine Science Museum in Virginia Beach, Va., has been monitoring at least eight humpback whales since December, and that the 35-footer may be part of that pack.
To report a sighting, call the Marine Mammal Stranding Network at (800) 628-9944.