Bills would extend city landfill's life
BALTIMORE -- City Council President Mary Pat Clarke yesterday introduced legislation that would prevent Baltimore's Quarantine Road Landfill from accepting trash generated outside the city.
Currently, the Quarantine Road landfill is filling up faster than city officials anticipated because it accepts trash from the entire metropolitan area.
The landfill opened in 1985 and was expected to last 19 years. But now, with a final section scheduled to be constructed in the coming months, the 143-acre landfill is expected to reach capacity in 2001.
At yesterday's council meeting, Ms. Clarke also introduced two other bills aimed at extending the landfill's life. One would ban the direct disposal of crushed motor vehicles and other "convertible solid waste" that has not been incinerated. The other would ban the disposal of yard waste, recyclable materials that account for nearly 18 percent of landfill demand, Ms. Clarke said.
Councilman Anthony J. Ambridge, a 2nd District Democrat, introduced a bill that would require gun retailers to remove the firing pins from weapons until they are sold.
Fire injures 6; 4 children escape
BALTIMORE
BALTIMORE -- Four children were caught by neighbors as they were dropped from a third-floor window to escape an East Baltimore rowhouse fire that injured at least six people late last night.
Authorities said five children were injured in the fire in the 1600 block of Ashland Ave., reported about 11:40 p.m. A girl about 3 years old was in critical condition.
The blaze apparently began on the first floor of the building, swept to the upper floors, and damaged two neighboring homes, officials said.
Man jailed, fined for dumping chemicals
BALTIMORE
BALTIMORE -- A Virginia man was sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $1,000 yesterday for dumping hazardous chemicals in the Bohemian National Cemetery in Armistead Gardens.
Timothy W. Bradford of Cross Junction pleaded guilty in Baltimore Circuit Court to unlawful transportation of ignitable waste without proper documentation. Bradford, 28, was the groundskeeper for the cemetery and facilities manager for Pinnacle Industries Inc., a Baltimore contracting firm also charged in the incident.
The charges stem from the discovery in December 1990 of three 55-gallon drums and 116 assorted 5- and 1-gallon containers of various solvents in a wooded area at the cemetery.
The chemicals had been used to clean the outsides of buildings by a pinnacle subsidiary that went out of business in 1990. Bradford was paid $1,462 by Pinnacle to dispose of the drums, according to Bernard A. Penner, an assistant attorney general.
Judge David Ross imposed a jail sentence that was 15 days shorter than the one requested by the state, but did require Bradford to pay the state's requested fine.
Pinnacle, which pleaded guilty to the same offense in February, is scheduled to be sentenced May 13.
Bail denied Va. man accused in kidnap try
BALTIMORE -- A Virginia man accused of trying to kidnap the children of a wealthy Korean man was ordered detained without bail yesterday by U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Paul M. Rosenberg.
Heon Sik Park, 39, of Alexandria was arrested in Baltimore Friday by the FBI and Baltimore police as he was heading to Pennsylvania to rent a safe house where he allegedly planned to hold the hostages for $4 million ransom, authorities said.
Magistrate Judge Rosenberg yesterday appointed the federal public defender's office to represent Mr. Park, who said through translator that he was unable to afford a private attorney. A detention hearing was scheduled for tomorrow.
Mr. Park is charged with solicitation to take hostages and attempted hostage-taking. Officials allege that he planned to kidnap Kim Sun Jong, a junior at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and Kim Yun Jong, a freshman at Brown University in Providence, R.I. They are the sons of Kim Hoo Jong, whom authorities describe as a real estate investor in South Korea.
An FBI affidavit says Mr. Park sought help from Korean Power, which it describes as an organized crime group that operates in Washington and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs.
Drug dealer sentenced to life with no parole
BALTIMORE
BALTIMORE -- A Baltimore Circuit Court judge yesterday sentenced a drug dealer to life in prison with no chance of parole for the fatal shooting of a cocaine addict last year.
Anthony M. Brown, 30, of the 1600 block of E. 32nd St., was described by Judge John N. Prevas as a "predatory individual" who showed no pity for the victim, Jerome Echoles, 30.
Mr. Echoles' family testified at yesterday's sentencing that he was a troubled person who couldn't come to grips with his drug problem. On June 8, Brown shot him in the chest with a 9mm
revolver at a house on Carswell Street.
Prosecutors said the motive was robbery, because Brown stole money that Mr. Echoles had taken to the house to buy cocaine.
Brown, a ninth-grade dropout who has a lengthy criminal record, asked for sympathy from the judge, saying he was sorry for what happened and that he fired the gun accidentally during the robbery.
But Judge Prevas imposed the life sentence, along with an 18-year sentence to be served consecutively for a handgun violation.
"We've got too many ninth-grade dropouts, armed with guns and fueled by cocaine," the judge said, noting that the defendant posed a danger to society.
Getaway car is found from Goldseker robbery
TOWSON
TOWSON -- Baltimore police have recovered the $45,000 black Lexus automobile robbers used last week to cart away the $200,000 worth of loot they stole from a wealthy Baltimore County couple's home.
The car was recovered about 10 a.m. yesterday after city police received a complaint about an illegally parked car in the 900 block of Aisquith St. in East Baltimore.
Sgt. Stephen R. Doarnberger, county police spokesman, said the car was towed to Towson, where detectives working on the robbery case later pored over it for fingerprints or other clues. He said the vehicle was left "in fine shape."
The car belongs to Sheldon and Shelley Goldseker, who were at home April 20 when two robbers came to their Caves Valley home, bound them, and robbed them of about 100 pieces of jewelry, several thousand dollars in cash, furs and the car.
Mr. Goldseker is chairman of the Morris Goldseker Foundation of Maryland Inc., which last year gave $970,000 in grants to help the poor.
Roadwork to begin Essex, Towson
TOWSON
TOWSON -- Beginning this week, single lanes will be closed between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. along two sections of Eastern Avenue in the Essex area and one segment of York Road in Towson due to road resurfacing, according to the State Highway Administration.
The Eastern Avenue work includes the section from Rolling Mill Road to the Beltway, which will cost the county $359,000, and a portion from Mace Avenue to the Back River Bridge, which will cost $114,000.
Resurfacing work on York Road in Towson will stretch from Fairmount Avenue near the Beltway to Bellona Avenue. It will include installation of new concrete barriers on the edges of the bridge over the Beltway to increase safety. The cost of the project is $359,000.
P. Flanigan and Sons contractors won bids to do all the work, expected to be completed this summer.