Annapolis crime rises 7.6% over past 3 months
Annapolis' crime rate increased 7.6 percent in the past three months, fueled largely by a sharp jump in assaults and robberies.
Car thefts were the only serious crime that decreased compared with 1991, and the number of rapes and burglaries rose only slightly, according to the Annapolis Police Department's third-quarter report.
The number of assaults in Maryland's capital increased 50 percent, from 52 between July and September 1991 to 78 during those months this year.
Drug-related violence has spurred most of the steady crime increase, Officer Dermott Hickey, a police spokesman, said.
In the first six months of the year, the number of car thefts in Annapolis increased by 44 percent, prompting city police to warn residents to lock their car doors while running errands. The number of car thefts dipped in the past three months by nearly 3 percent.
Circuit judge rules in utility's favor
Annapolis has been ordered by a Circuit Court judge to issue a permit allowing Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. to expand its Tyler Avenue substation.
Judge Bruce C. Williams said the city erred in denying a conditional use permit to BG&E; in July 1991.
The City Council had rejected BG&E;'s plans for a $4 million expansion of the substation because of concerns from neighbors about reports linking electromagnetic fields from power stations to cancer.
But in an Oct. 6 decision, Judge Williams said the council decision was "arbitrary and capricious." He also said the city permitted too much hearsay information to be included in testimony taken during hearings last year on the issue.
The city has 30 days to decide whether to appeal, City Attorney Jonathan Hodgson said.
Man hospitalized in beating with vacuum
A 27-year-old Annapolis man was hospitalized with major head injuries yesterday after being beaten over the head with an upright vacuum cleaner, city police said.
Annapolis police found Rick Moore of the 2700 block of Judson Place lying in the street near the intersection of Clay and West Washington streets about 9:30 p.m. Monday. He was semiconscious and bleeding from large gashes to his head and hand, police said.
He was flown by MedEvac helicopter to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he was in critical condition yesterday.
Police said he was beaten with a vacuum but had no other information on the case yesterday.
Lamb appointed chief of national group
County Councilwoman Maureen Lamb, an Annapolis Democrat, has been named chairwoman of the Education, Children and Families Subcommittee of the National Association of Counties (NACo).
The subcommittee is part of NACo's Human Services and Education Steering Committee. NACo's 12 steering committees form the policy-making branch of county government. Their recommendations on county legislative goals are presented to the nation's county officials at NACo's annual conference. If approved, these recommendations become part of NACo's platform, which is given to Congress and the president.