Accident Scene

Carroll State's Attorney Jerry F. Barnes has asked Howard County prosecutors to handle a trial involving the son of Carroll County Commissioner Richard T. Yates.His request that a visiting prosecutor be assigned to the case of Kenneth Edward Yates is a routine effort designed to avoid any appearance of impropriety, Barnes said yesterday.The younger Yates is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 10 in District Court on charges that he failed to stop after a traffic accident and that he gave a false statement to a police officer.

Carroll State's Attorney Jerry F. Barnes has asked Howard County prosecutors to handle a trial involving the son of Carroll County Commissioner Richard T. Yates.His request that a visiting prosecutor be assigned to the case of Kenneth Edward Yates is a routine effort designed to avoid any appearance of impropriety, Barnes said yesterday.The younger Yates is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 10 in District Court on charges that he failed to stop after a traffic accident and that he gave a false statement to a police officer.

Two Columbia men were killed yesterday when their speeding car crashed on Harpers Farm Road, launching one victim 20 feet into roadside woods and trapping the second in the crumpled sedan for two hours.Howard County police released few details after the 7: 45 p.m. accident in the Village of Harpers Choice, but said the two men were Columbia residents believed to be in their late teens or early 20s.Police said the brown Honda Accord was sheared in half as it hit a curb, then a tree and flipped into nearby parkland.

The 33-year-old man who was killed Monday when he ran onto the Jones Falls Expressway and was hit by a van was identified yesterday as Antoine Douglas of Northeast Baltimore, police said.Police traffic investigators say the man may have intentionally walked into the side of the van, but they have no conclusive proof that he wanted to commit suicide. Mr. Douglas was carrying papers indicating that he was receiving psychiatric treatment and his mother, Mary Douglas, told police he was diagnosed as a manic depressive.

Some Maryland State Bar Association officials are red-faced about the organization's response -- or lack of one -- to last month's fiery train accident in Silver Spring.Seven years ago, the state bar was one of the first in the country to deal with such tragedies, creating a "disaster information plan" to shield accident victims and their families from unscrupulous lawyers.But in the hours after the crash, as some attorneys canvassed the crash scene, gathering up clients and their multimillion-dollar lawsuits, the state bar was strangely absent.

Maintenance of effort: good compromise2 The writer is the Under Secretary of the Army.Strange way to seek NFL returnAs a recently transplanted Ohioan, I had mixed emotions when the news of the Cleveland Browns moving to Baltimore was announced. Now I am even more confused at the recent turn of events regarding the new stadium.This was a key part of enticing Art Modell to move the team to Baltimore.Now, after all these years of whining, wailing and moaning, about how they had been robbed of their beloved Colts, (which I can fully understand)

The misdemeanor case against millionaire La-Van Hawkins came to an abrupt end yesterday when a judge declared that he'd heard enough of the squabble between the fast-food restaurant owner and a police officer over a traffic problem.Judge Askew W. Gatewood Jr. dismissed a charge that Mr. Hawkins hindered a police officer and found him guilty only of a $20 violation of obstructing traffic."I've tolerated this case longer than I should have," the judge said after the prosecution presented its evidence.

Mount Hebron High School has an active Students Helping Other People (SHOP) group. The student organization is now focused on sponsoring Prom Promise activities, to advance drug and alcohol awareness among prom-goers.Hebron's prom will take place early this year, May 6.Wednesday, the Howard County Fire Department, Bethany Station will join the SHOP young people and the state police MedEvac unit to simulate the scene of an alcohol-related accident.Four student volunteers will be accident victims.

A Harford County sheriff's deputy and a Havre de Grace police officer were injured and their patrol cars heavily damaged in separate accidents last week, law enforcement officials said.One of the accidents was blamed for a two-hour power outage for about 1,450 Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers.A sheriff's department spokesman said a 33-year-old Street man was arrested Wednesday on charges of motor vehicle theft a few hours after the 1984 Ford truck he was driving struck two vehicles, one of them a deputy's cruiser, at an accident scene on Route 165.Matthew Irvin Kern of the 1300 block of Macton Road was apprehended later at his home and was released on his own recognizance after a hearing before a District Court commissioner in Bel Air, said Sgt. Edward Hopkins, the spokesman.

A Maryland State Police trooper and a woman riding in the marked police vehicle with him were taken to a hospital after the vehicle was rear-ended in Westminster yesterday afternoon.Names of the injured and the driver of the second auto were not immediately available.Investigators said the trooper was driving north on Pennsylvania Avenue south of Route 140 and slowing for traffic ahead when the accident occurred about 5:20 p.m.The female driver of the Honda Civic that struck the police car was not injured, they said.