BALTIMORE COUNTY DIGEST

The Baltimore Sun

Assault victim dies; murder count pending

A Baltimore County man, previously charged with attempted murder in the baseball bat-beating of a man last month, faces a murder charge after the victim died from his injuries this week, police said.

The murder charge is pending against Zachary Weisenborn, 18, of the 9400 block of Avondale Road in the Carney area, Baltimore County police said yesterday.

Jose Perez, 44, of the 2600 block of Moore Ave. in Baltimore, died Tuesday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, and a medical examiner ruled after an autopsy the next day that the man's death was a homicide, caused by head injuries and complications, police said.

Police called just before 7 p.m. June 22 to an area near Pine Grove Middle School on Old Harford Road found Perez injured and nonresponsive. He was taken to Shock Trauma and placed on life support.

Witnesses reported that Perez had been in an argument with a man at a gas station. When the dispute continued at the school parking lot, Perez hit the man in the head with a broken golf club. Weisenborn, who was an acquaintance of both of the other men, then hit Perez in the head with a bat and continued hitting him in the head when he was on the ground, according to police.

Weisenborn was arrested nearby shortly after the beating and, charged with first- and second-degree assault and attempted second-degree murder, has been held without bail at the county detention center, police said.

Perez' death is the county's 21st homicide of the year, compared with 19 at this time last year.

Towson

Smith recovering from surgery

Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. is recovering from shoulder-replacement surgery and is expected to be out of work for at least another week, his spokesman said yesterday.

Smith, a second-term Democrat from Reisterstown, needed the procedure to relieve pain in his right shoulder, according to spokesman Donald I. Mohler. Smith underwent a less radical operation last summer.

"He is doing well, and the doctor says that he can begin easing back into his schedule at the end of next week," Mohler wrote in an e-mail yesterday.

Josh Mitchell

Pikesville

Body found near nursing home

Baltimore County police found the body of an 82-year-old man near a nursing home in the Pikesville area yesterday, five days after he walked out of the home.

There were no obvious signs of foul plan when police found the body of Semen Binder near the Milford Manor Nursing Home, police spokesman Bill Toohey said. Police were awaiting autopsy results. Binder walked out of the home, in the 4200 block of Old Milford Mill Road, at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, police said.

Economics

County panel sees steady growth

A panel of business leaders that advises the Baltimore County Council on economic trends projected yesterday steady economic growth over the next year.

The real estate market in the county, as well as in the region, has hit a major lull, but other factors, including consumer spending and relatively low unemployment, point to a "moderately robust" economy, the Baltimore County Economic Advisory Committee reported.

"For our revenue side, that tells us it's not all gloom and doom," said Mary P. Allen, who, as acting county auditor, works for the County Council.

The council relies on the panel's advice to project county tax revenue and determine whether to change the government's spending practices.

Even as the committee expects the economy to grow steadily, county officials are expecting to take in less revenue in the fiscal year that began this month, mainly because of declining real estate sales.

Keith J. Dorsey, the county's budget chief, said that he expects the number of county home sales for this fiscal year to be 20 percent fewer than the number of sales in the fiscal year that began in July 2005, when the market peaked.

Josh Mitchell

Infrastructure

2 spans to be shut for repairs

Two bridges in Baltimore County will be temporarily closed for repairs, officials said yesterday.

A bridge on Long Green Pike, just south of Long Green Road, will be closed for temporary repairs to be completed by the end of the month, and a new deck is to be built on it this fall, officials said.

The deteriorating, 28-foot bridge, built in 1916, had been posted to restrict vehicles weighing more than 10 tons and had been scheduled for renovations later in the year, but July 6 the structure was compromised when heavy construction machinery crossed it, officials said. Traffic was channeled to one lane and repairs were made over the weekend, but engineers deemed it unsafe. While it is closed, northbound traffic will be detoured to Glen Arm and Harford roads, and southbound traffic will be detoured to Long Green Road and then to Manor Road.

An 80-year-old bridge on Dunk Freeland Road in northern Baltimore County is to be closed, starting Tuesday, for more than seven months while a replacement span is built. Parts of the new, $582,000 bridge will be covered with decorative stone designed to fit the locale, officials said. The new bridge is scheduled to open March 1. Until then, traffic will be detoured to Harris Mill, Lentz, Old York and Bond roads.

White Marsh

Ambulance, truck collide; 4 hurt

Four people were taken to hospitals yesterday after an ambulance collided with a pickup truck at an intersection near White Marsh Mall, authorities said.

An ambulance from the Perry Hall fire station was carrying a "low-priority" patient when it collided with the truck at Honeygo and White Marsh boulevards shortly before 11 a.m.

A paramedic and emergency medical technician were taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, officials said. The male patient in the ambulance when the collision occurred was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. A man in the pickup truck was taken to the same hospital for observation.

Events or news items for the Baltimore County Digest may be submitted to baltco.news@baltsun.com. Information should be sent at least 10 days in advance of the event.

Because of incorrect information supplied by Baltimore County police, an article in Friday's editions of The Sun included an incorrect age for a man who, authorities said, died of injuries he suffered in a beating. Jose Perez was 24 years old, police said yesterday.The Sun regrets the error.
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