Boot Camp

The County Council added its voice last night to the growing chorus rising in opposition to a proposal to locate the state prison boot camp at Tipton Army Airfield in western Anne Arundel County.The council, by a 6-0 vote, approved Councilman David G. Boschert's resolution opposing the boot camp relocation. Councilwoman Maureen Lamb, an Annapolis Democrat, abstained.Gov. William Donald Schaefer set his sights on Tipton after an earlier attempt to relocate the Herman L. Toulson Correctional Boot Camp to property on the northern edge of Fort Meade was thwarted by the opposition of community groups and county, state and federal legislators.

U.S. Army Col. Kent D. Menser obviously wasn't paying attention when Anne Arundel County Executive Robert R. Neall got burned for trying to build a jail in Glen Burnie without telling anybody. Otherwise, he wouldn't have waited so long to tell Odenton residents that the state-run Herman L. Toulson Correctional Boot Camp may soon be moving to Fort George G. Meade.Colonel Menser, whom the Army has ordered to retire June 30, has done a great job of reaching out to the Odenton community. That is why civic leaders were so surprised that the boot camp proposal -- a mere idea when last they heard of it -- has moved far enough along that a specific site has been identified: across Route 175 from the Seven Oaks community.

Three men who escaped Tuesday evening from the state prison system's Herman L. Toulson Boot Camp in Jessup were being sought last night in a Baltimore carjacking. The men were identified as Phillip Schimminger, 24, of Baltimore, serving 8 1/2 years for burglary; Gerald Shaffer, 29, of Baltimore County, serving 2 1/2 years for robbery; and Matthew Gibalia, 19, of Johnstown, Pa., serving 7 1/2 years for theft. Yesterday evening, after getting a ride at Howard and 25th streets from a boy, 16, working as a hack -- an unlicensed taxi driver -- they forced him out of and took his brown 1984 Chevrolet Caprice about 6:20 p.m. at Falls Road and Hillside Avenue, police said.

A Boot Camp fundraiser will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday April 20 at City Dock to raise money for the annual KidWalk. The ladies of Even Keel, Easy Street and Precision Pilates will sponsor the Boot Camp, featuring fitness activities for all levels, from warm-up to a walk, jog or run through parts of Annapolis and Eastport. A $10 donation is requested. The KidWalk will be held at 7 a.m. May 2 at the Naval Academy Stadium. The 5-kilometer walk begins at 8 a.m., with festivities from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. The minimum cost is $25 for adults, $10 for children 12 and under, and $50 for families of up to four members.

When Gov. William Donald Schaefer gave up on moving the state prison boot camp from Jessup to Fort Meade four months ago, critics from Congress to the local community association thought they had won.Not quite. While the governor's spokeswoman, Page Boinest, stresses it is unlikely that Mr. Schaefer will try to move the boot camp to Fort Meade, she said her boss will not send a letter to the Pentagon to officially end the quest."We have not formerly withdrawn that as a site," Ms. Boinest said.

The Fort Meade garrison commander announced yesterday that he has recommended that the Herman L. Toulson Correctional Boot Camp be relocated from Jessup to the Odenton Army base.Col. Robert G. Morris III told a gathering of unhappy community leaders and elected officials that after weighing many factors -- including community risk and economic impact -- he decided that moving the program to Fort Meade would benefit both the base and the program and would not harm residents.Colonel Morris said he forwarded his recommendation to First U.S. Army and Fort Meade Commander Lt. Gen. James H. Johnson Jr., who also approved it. It now goes to an assistant secretary of the Army for final approval.

Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski took off for the Senate on Thursday afternoon to cast her vote for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, after leaving Mercy Medical Center in downtown Baltimore, where she had undergone ankle surgery July 27 and what she called rehabilitation "boot camp." From a wheelchair, she said, "My vote will be cast for her" and called the Supreme Court nominee "my fellow Nancy Drew reader." The senator described how she fell on steps after leaving a July 19 afternoon Mass at the Basilica of the Assumption.

County officials are reviewing a proposal by the District of Columbia to add a boot camp for 25 nonviolent juveniles and young adults on probation to its detention center in Laurel.The Superior Court of the District of Columbia hopes to add the $1.4 million, 30-room camp to Forest Haven, the detention facility for offenders between ages 14 and 26, said Ulysses B. Hammond, chief executive officer of the District of Columbia Courts.The 30-day boot camp, at the corner of River Road and Center Avenue off Route 198, is expected to run eight times a year.

Maj. Robert E. Clay, the demanding former Marine who ran the state's boot camp prison, has retired after 21 years in the state penal system.Major Clay helped plan the boot camp in Jessup and was in charge when it opened in August 1990.At the age of 43, Major Clay delighted in joining the grueling exercises and runs that characterize the boot camp regimen.Officials named no successor for Major Clay, who officially leaves April 1.In a statement released by the Division of Correction, Major Clay gave no reason for his resignation other than saying it was time to move on.The prison, formally known as the Herman L. Toulson Correctional Boot Camp, has graduated 12 classes totaling 417 inmates.

State Del. Marsha G. Perry says she was unpleasantly surprised once to find two inmates from Maryland's prison boot camp working in the garage of the House office building in Annapolis, with no correctional officers in sight.The Crofton Democrat, whose district is being considered for a boot camp, has introduced a bill that would not only require that boot camp inmates be supervised constantly, but would also incorporate into state law which types of prisoner could be allowed in the program.