College Of Baltimore

The death of a man whose badly decomposed body was found Thursday evening in Rosedale is being investigated as a homicide, police said yesterday. Patrick Carroll Pearce III, 41, was killed by a gunshot wound to his upper body, an autopsy found yesterday. Police did not have any suspects and knew of no motive in the death. Pearce's body was found at 7 p.m. Thursday in the 600 block of Todds Lane, police said. Officers were called there after a person walking in the area began going through some trash along a driveway and found the body.

Johns Hopkins University faculty will offer 32 presentations covering issues in prevention, treatment and diagnosis of diseases affecting women from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. today at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel. Topics of the 13th annual health conference, titled "A Woman's Journey," include aging, heart disease, breast cancer, global warming, stress, weight loss and depression. The keynote speaker is Leslie Mancuso, president and chief executive officer of JHPIEGO, a Johns Hopkins affiliate and international health organization that works to improve health care conditions in 50 countries.

Circus See Cirque Voila! See an acrobatic show featuring juggling, comedy, high-wire artists and more in Cirque Voila! at Community College of Baltimore County. Tickets are $25. The 7 p.m. show is in the B Building Theatre at CCBC, Essex, 7201 Rossville Blvd. Call 410-780-6369 for information.

Indicators Tuesday -- September pending home sales Wednesday -- October retail sales, Producer Price Index Thursday -- October Consumer Price Index, weekly jobless claims Friday -- October industrial production, capacity utilization Events Monday Veterans Day observance -- U.S. government bond markets and related financial commodities markets will be closed. Tuesday Small business opportunities in Dundalk -- Free information session by Lisa Fischer, owner of the Village Coffeehouse, presented by Community College of Baltimore County, Dundalk, 11:15 a.m., Village Coffeehouse, 3 Commerce St., Dundalk.

The Community College of Baltimore County has taken the unusual step of issuing an apology after its phone lines jammed and it was forced to cancel hundreds of adult education classes this fall -- its first season operating the county's adult education program.The college, which operates campuses at Dundalk, Essex and Catonsville, took over the evening adult education program from the county school board in July as a way to collect an additional $1.8 million in state subsidies. The college receives state funds for each student it enrolls.

In Baltimore CountyTowson University to hold discussion on hate crimes tomorrowTOWSON -- A forum on hate crimes, sponsored by Towson University Multicultural Institute and the county Human Relations Commission, will be held from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow in Towson's University Union. Maryland U.S. Attorney Lynne A. Battaglia will be keynote speaker.A panel of experts will address topics such as "Confronting a Hate Crime -- What to Do?" The forum will include a discussion about how Baltimore County Police Department deals with hate crime incidents.

In Baltimore CountyIce cream social set for ninth-graders at Overlea High SchoolOVERLEA -- Overlea High School's ninth-graders will get a chance to meet their teachers and have a snack at an ice cream social on campus tomorrow.The event, which will begin at 7 p.m. in the auditorium, will introduce students and their parents to Overlea's Falcon Academy, a new program designed to help ninth-graders make the transition to high school, said Kevin Howard, ninth-grade counselor.Teams of four teachers -- one each for math, social studies, English and science -- will work with the same group of students all year and will work with each other to help individuals, he said.

Community college will better serve adult learnersWhile the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) would have preferred a smoother "opening day" for the newly adopted Community Education program, we remain enthusiastic about this opportunity to extend our service and expertise ("Registration debacle prompts an apology," Oct. 5).In fact, recent experience leaves us even more optimistic about the future of community education.As The Sun's editorial noted, the "silver lining" to the start-up problems we've experienced is realizing what a tremendous market for lifelong learning exists in our backyard ("CCBC stumble," Oct. 6)

In Baltimore CountyMan flees courtroom after he's sentenced to one year in jailCATONSVILLE -- A man who had just been sentenced to a year in jail for a probation violation ran from the District Court building yesterday, eluding bailiffs and police, and drove away in his car, police said.Kevin Eric Dempsey, 29, of the 2700 block of Elsinore Ave. in Northwest Baltimore bolted from the courtroom in the 900 block of Walker Ave. when Judge Robert J. Steinberg pronounced sentence yesterday morning, said Baltimore County police spokeswoman Cpl. Vickie Warehime.

Gardner Pond, a longtime professor of liberal arts at the Essex campus of the Community College of Baltimore County, died Saturday of a heart attack at his home in Baltimore. He was 65.A politics and philosophy professor who taught at Essex for 36 years, Dr. Pond played a major role in guiding the growth of the school over three decades.During his tenure, the eastern Baltimore County school mushroomed from a tiny institution with temporary buildings to a modern campus with more than 10,000 students.

Kathy Lilley sees her academic counseling office at the Community College of Baltimore County as almost like the front desk in a hospital emergency room. A middle-age truck driver looking to become an apprentice electrician might be followed by a 20-year-old unsure how to translate academic skills into a paying career. No matter what the problem, Lilley's staff tries to find a solution within the college's catalog of courses and job-training programs. With the recession wiping out thousands of careers, their advice has never been more in demand.

Here are some events Wednesday celebrating Earth Day: Anne Arundel County St. John's College: Students will demonstrate rain barrel installation, 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., at two sites on the campus in Annapolis. Pinkney Hall, on the east side of campus, facing McDowell Hall, and the Carroll Barrister House, an administrative building on Prince George Street. Once they are attached to existing downspouts, the barrels catch and reduce the first onslaught of storm water from roofs. The water then seeps through attached hoses to water surrounding plants and shrubbery, which filter out pollutants.

Make the wealthy pay more FICA tax Given the current economic meltdown, is there any rational reason to keep the FICA income tax cap at the current maximum of $106,800? As it stands, tax revenue from FICA, some $838 billion in 2006, represents approximately 35 percent of federal tax revenue. Eliminating or altering the cap could go a long way toward reducing the horrific deficits with which we risk saddling our children and their children, and probably their children. President Barack Obama, who indicated he might reconsider the cap during his campaign, could keep his promise not to increase taxes for those earning less than $200,000 by leaving things as they are for people with incomes from $106,800 to $200,000 and dropping the cap for those above the higher figure.

3 teens pick wrong victim; one is seized, two sought Three teenagers picked the wrong man to rob Monday night in an alley in West Baltimore. One was arrested, and police were seeking the other two. Police said the man was sitting in his parked car in the 100 block of S. Mount St. when he was approached by three teenage boys who talked to him about drugs and asked the man to meet them in an alley behind nearby Lemmon Street. There, police said, one of the boys brandished what appeared to be a small-caliber handgun and demanded the man's money.

Baltimore police released yesterday the name of the woman whose body was found Aug. 15 in Herring Run Park and said she was a student at the Community College of Baltimore County at Essex. Kiuna Jackson, 19, of the 1300 block of Windemere Ave. in the Ednor Gardens-Lakeside community had no criminal record or associations with criminals, said Agent Donny Moses, a police spokesman. About 7 a.m. Aug. 15, a jogger discovered her body lying on rocks under the Harford Road bridge between a paved trail and Herring Run. Moses said an autopsy by the state medical examiner's office determined that Jackson had been strangled.

Meeting to address CO concerns Concerned about a series of carbon monoxide-related calls this summer, Baltimore County fire officials will hold a town meeting at 7 p.m. today in the Cove Village area to educate residents on how to prevent CO poisoning. The meeting at the Middleborough Volunteer Fire Department, 1913 Middleborough Road, is co-sponsored by Sawyer Realty Holdings Co., which manages the 94 townhomes in Cove Village. Residents are urged to attend the meeting to learn about Sawyer's plans for abating the CO problems and to share questions and concerns.

Cancer society honors Severna Park The American Cancer Society will honor Severna Park Middle School students and staff tomorrow for their outstanding fundraising efforts for cancer research and other programs. The school raised $19,813.13 - the most of any school and the second most of any organization in the region - in the annual Daffodil Days campaign. This is the 11th year in which Severna Park Middle has been the top school fundraiser in the region, and this year's total is more than $8,000 above what the school raised a year ago. Grasmick visits Broadneck school State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick was scheduled to visit Broadneck Elementary School on Friday to honor the school for being named a Maryland Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.

White Marsh Collision leaves one dead, one hurt A Northeast Baltimore woman was killed and a Perry Hall woman was injured when their cars collided yesterday morning on Philadelphia Road in White Marsh, county police said. Karen D. Johnson, 32, of the 7700 block of Fredkert Ave. was killed when her eastbound 1994 Dodge Shadow crossed the center line and hit a westbound 2002 Ford Escape driven by Margaret A. Mosmiller, 53, of the 4800 block of Galley Road in Perry Hall, police said. The crash occurred about 8:30 a.m. on Philadelphia Road near Silver Spring Road, police said.

Elizabeth V. Didier, a retired elementary school teacher, died of cancer Friday at her Grasonville home. The former Hamilton resident was 73. Born Elizabeth Voelker in Baltimore and raised in East Baltimore, she was a 1950 graduate of the old St. James the Less Commercial School. After raising her family, she earned an associate's degree at the Community College of Baltimore and a bachelor's degree in teaching from Loyola College, where she also earned a master's degree. She was a reading and English specialist.

Pharmacist accused in sex scheme Baltimore County police said yesterday that they arrested a former CVS pharmacist and charged him with trading drugs for sex. Ramon Bautista Juta, 54, of the first block of Trumpet Court in Perry Hall was charged with two counts of possession of narcotics with the intent to distribute, possession and distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, forgery of prescriptions and prostitution, police said. Juta had worked at the CVS in the first block of Compass Road in Middle River, police said.