Choking

Bail was revoked and additional charges were filed against a 35-year-old Westminster man who was accused last month of assaulting the mother of his infant son.State police in Westminster arrested Kenneth E. Kern Thursday night on charges of telephone misuse and violating a protective order the woman obtained to prevent him from contacting her after the alleged assault Sept. 10.Bail on the new charges was set at $100,000 in District Court Friday morning. Prosecutors said Kern was served with a bench warrant signed by visiting Circuit Judge Elsbeth L. Bothe on Friday that revoked the $75,000 bail he posted Sept.

A 35-year-old man was held in lieu of $75,000 bail yesterday after his arrest on assault charges stemming from a domestic violence complaint in Westminster.Kenneth E. Kern of the 600 block of Washington Road was accused in charging documents of slapping and choking the mother of his 6-month-old son, and threatening to kill her at 1: 26 a.m. yesterday.The woman, who was not identified to protect her privacy, told police that Kern became angry after learning that she planned to move out of the residence tomorrow.

Let's see if I get this straight. Latrell "Throat Boy" Sprewell is now a victim. Two lawyers with dollar signs where their X and Y chromosomes should be filed a $30 million lawsuit for lost wages and damages on his behalf.Sprewell and his lawyers continue to argue that he was punished "too harshly." Exactly what punishment Sprewell feels is warranted for choking his coach is not clear, but I suspect he figures being sent to his room without supper would have been too harsh. Deep down, Sprewell feels he did nothing wrong.

Nearly 50 friends, family members and church parishioners chatted in a Baltimore County courtroom yesterday as they waited to support Haralabos S. Stavrakas' petition for a reduction in his 10-year sentence for choking and beating his former girlfriend.But they grew silent when Stavrakas' victim took the stand."I'm able to walk down the street without looking over my shoulder because Bobby's off the streets," Meghan Fowble said in a trembling voice, referring to the 26-year-old Stavrakas.

A man with a gun in his waistband robbed an Edgewater convenience store Tuesday of an undisclosed amount, county police said.Pat Clark, a clerk at High's in the 100 block of Central Ave., told police a man in a gray hooded sweat shirt walked in about 9 a.m. and demanded money. Clark complied and the man left the store in a small white car, heading toward Davidsonville.Two teen-age boys on bicycles pushed a 75-year-old woman to the ground Tuesday along Ritchie Highway in Brooklyn Park and took her purse, county police said.

Two different sports, two different attacks on authorit figures.The American League suspended Oriole Roberto Alomar for five games for spitting in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck.The NBA suspended Latrell Sprewell for one year for choking and threatening to kill his coach, P.J. Carlesimo.On the list of sporting atrocities, Alomar's actions might have been less offensive than Sprewell's.But that much less?Sorry, don't think so.The difference is, NBA commissioner David Stern decided enough was enough, more than a year after baseball blew the chance to make a similar stand.

A 36-year-old motorcyclist from Baltimore City was killed last night in Laurel by a hit-and-run driver, county police said.The victim was riding a 1995 BMW motorcycle north on Washington Boulevard near Freestate Drive about 8 p.m. when he was struck from behind by a white Ford van. The driver of the van, which had damage to the left headlight area, fled the scene, police said.The victim was dead on arrival at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, police said. His name was being withheld until relatives could be notified.

PARENTS QUICKLY LEARN that young children can choke to death from lots of seemingly harmless objects, from balloons to small toys to large pieces of food. It's part of a long list of warnings about dangers to wee ones of commonplace items.Toy manufacturers regularly label many wares as suitable only for children above age 3, precisely because of the choking danger.New mandatory labeling requirements went into effect last year, enforced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, along with tougher standards for toys for use by younger children.

A part-time school bus driver at Chesapeake Bay Middle School in Pasadena pleaded guilty to assault and battery yesterday for choking a 14-year-old student during a dispute on a bus.Henry Bieman, 72, of the 200 block of Severn Road, Millersville, entered an Alford plea of guilt as a result of the Dec. 13 incident at school.An Alford plea means Bieman is not admitting guilt, but acknowledges that the state has enough evidence to convict him if he were tried.Bieman was sentenced to five years' unsupervised probation by Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr. and granted probation before judgment, which means the conviction will be stricken if he completes the probation.

A 6-year-old Joppatowne kindergartner who called 911 to get emergency help for his choking mother was awarded a gold 911 pin in front of his classmates Wednesday, county emergency operations officials said.Steven Sieracki was at home with his mother and 5-year-old sister, Erica, on Jan. 31 when Margaret Sieracki suffered aseizure and began choking.Steven dialed 911 and gave Ron Davis, a dispatcher at the Emergency Operations Center, information necessary to send medical assistance.Steven stayed on the line with Mr. Davis and was able to assist his mother by relaying first-aid instructions to her until help arrived.

Baltimore prosecutors have dropped charges against a woman accused of first-degree murder in the death of her boyfriend. She had told police that he had been choking her when she stabbed him. Tiesha Sakeyra Bennett, 27, was charged in July in the death of Jermaine Womack, 32, on June 22 in the 300 block of Charter Oak Ave. But the charges were dropped in Baltimore District Court on Sept. 3, according to online court records. Bennett's defense attorney, Ivan J. Bates, said city prosecutors overreached in accusing Bennett of murder.

A 27-year-old Baltimore woman who told police that she fatally stabbed her boyfriend because he was choking her has been charged with first-degree murder in his death, according to court records. Tiesha Sakeyra Bennett, of the 300 block of Charter Oak Ave. in North Baltimore's Kernewood community, was arrested Thursday and ordered held without bond in the death of Jermaine Womack, 32, who died June 22 after suffering a stab wound. Charging documents filed by homicide Detective Donald Diehl describe the investigation into the events leading up to the killing as "complex."

Man charged with impersonating police An Annapolis man was charged with impersonating a police officer and disrupting school activities after approaching a woman, then trying to enter a Catholic school, city police said. The victim said she was driving to work about 9 a.m. Tuesday at Main and Conduit streets when a man came up to her car and told her that he was an undercover police officer. He then tried to open her car doors, but they were locked. She soon pulled over to call 911 and noticed him trying to get into the front door of the Fine Arts Building of St. Mary's School, 111 Duke of Gloucester St. It was locked, so he tried the front doors of the elementary school, which were also locked.

There's a proper way to set a table for dinner, to address the Queen of England, to break up with your girlfriend. And according to Major League Baseball, there's also a proper way to handle a player who tries to choke the air out of a team official. Apparently, you don't stop paying him. Michael Weiner, the general counsel of the players association, said the union planned on filing a grievance yesterday, claiming that the Houston Astros improperly terminated Shawn Chacon's contract a week after the pitcher shoved general manager Ed Wade to the ground and began choking him. In the real world, you can lose your job if you leave the fryer unattended at a fast-food joint.

This column explores a highly entertaining subject: the difference between choking and coughing. Sometimes in Janet's World we must take the unlikely, potentially controversial subject and pursue it purely for the sake of The Sun copy editors downtown. These former English majors have to read a lot of stories about depressing news events, and painstakingly check them for accuracy and integrity. Late in the week, the Janet's World column comes across their desks, and all of their training goes out the window.

Children as young as 6, looking for a free and "dreamy" high, are engaging in a potentially deadly practice many call "the choking game," a new report says. A federal study of news reports has identified 82 deaths in 31 states from 1995 to October 2007. Fifty-seven children died in 2005 and 2006 alone. But even if they survive, say experts at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the "game" might leave them with permanent brain damage, seizure disorders or other disabilities.

Another review has found troubling conditions at the Rosewood Center for developmentally disabled residents, leading a state agency to reimpose a ban on admitting new patients and requiring a part-time independent monitor to help protect current residents at the Owings Mills site. "We really felt there had to be a continued presence given what we've found and the history," said Wendy A. Kronmiller, director of the Office of Health Care Quality, part of the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Let's get one thing straight right off the top. I don't like Bob Knight one bit, and it wouldn't bother me a whole lot if he announced his retirement from college basketball and entered the senior division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The guy is a bully and a dinosaur, which has kept him from being fully recognized as one of the greatest basketball coaches in history; and he is unrepentant, which makes it even easier to focus on all that makes him so dislikable. That's why you could find a Bob Knight historical highlight reel playing regularly on every cable sports channel yesterday, though the incident that showered all this unwanted attention on the Texas Tech basketball program would have passed right under the SportsCenter radar if it had involved any other coach.

KITCHEN TIP To chop nuts quickly, place them on a cutting board and chop with two chef's knives held parallel to each other in one hand. Use the other hand to guide the knives through the nuts. From "The Best Kitchen Quick Tips," by the editors of Cook's Illustrated candyusa.org This site from the National Confectioners Association has fun Halloween facts, tips for cooking with candy, party-planning ideas and information on choking and allergies to keep your little trick-or- treaters safe next Tuesday.

Last summer, Ivy Nicole Mayhew told an Anne Arundel County court that her husband tried to strangle her. In neat, loopy handwriting, the Arnold woman wrote that her husband, Aubrey Bernard Mayhew Jr. shoved her against a car, wrapped his hands around her throat and choked her in her driveway. The couple's 3-year-old son watched from a truck. After letting his wife go, Mayhew threatened her. "You're lucky the kids are around, wait until we're alone," he said, according to her account of the ordeal, detailed in her application for a protective order.