CARROLL COUNTY WESTMINSTER — Suspect has her day -- in two courts
WESTMINSTER -- Pamela S. Davis finally had her day in court yesterday. Make that two courts.
Instead of defending herself at a scheduled jury trial in Carroll Circuit Court against marijuana-dealing charges filed against her in May, Ms. Davis, 47, spent most of the day arranging bail in District Court on new charges.
She appeared in District Court in the morning on charges filed against her Monday, when the county's drug task force raided her Liberation counterculture clothing store and seized alleged marijuana seeds.
Then she went to Circuit Court for her trial on the May charges. But Judge Francis M. Arnold postponed it at the request of the District Court judge.
After that, sheriff's deputies took Ms. Davis back to District Court, where she paid the required 10 percent of her $15,000 bail in $10 and $20 bills.
Then she went outside, lighted a cigarette and cried.
"You know what's the worst thing about all of this?" she said.
"Everything I believe in and love about this country is crumbling right in front of me."
More discussion needed of proposed regulations
HOWARD COUNTY
ELLICOTT CITY
ELLICOTT CITY -- The Howard County Council agrees with residents and developers that there should be more discussion of the planning department's revision of the county subdivision regulations.
Council Chairman Paul R. Farragut, a 4th District Democrat, said Monday night that the council would table legislation adopting the new regulations until after the council holds a work session on them Dec. 10. The earliest the council could vote on the proposals would be Jan. 4.
"I would like to be one small voice speaking for the general public and request relief from being overwhelmed by planning and zoning regulation proposals," said William Waff, president of the Savage Community Association.
The subdivision regulation amendments were included among other bills discussed in a public hearing. Because they were last on the agenda, Marsha McLaughlin, deputy director of the Department of Planning and Zoning, could not begin her 20-minute slide presentation until 10 p.m.
The three main areas of revision, Ms. McLaughlin said, are protection of historic structures and burial grounds, redefinition of open space to require more recreational space and additional environmental protection, and greater use of landscaping to create a buffer between different types of development.