Court Building

A 23-year-old man was fatally struck by a car in front of the Glen Burnie District Court building Wednesday night, according to Anne Arundel County police. Joshua Paul Reitz of the 200 block of Carroll Road in Pasadena was pronounced dead at the scene at about 9 p.m. An initial investigation showed that Reitz was trying to cross the southbound lanes in the 7500 block of Ritchie Highway when he was struck by a 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix that was traveling in the far left lane and was driven by Clifford Smith, 24, of Glen Burnie.

A 23-year-old man was fatally struck by a car in front of the Glen Burnie District Court building Wednesday night, according to Anne Arundel County police. Joshua Paul Reitz of the 200 block of Carroll Road in Pasadena was pronounced dead at the scene at about 9 p.m. An initial investigation showed that Reitz was trying to cross the southbound lanes in the 7500 block of Ritchie Highway when he was struck by a 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix that was traveling in the far left lane and was driven by Clifford Smith, 24, of Glen Burnie.

A preliminary design for a new Circuit Court building has been received warmly by an Annapolis historic preservationist group, which said the building fits in with the city's Colonial character."

Like a game of musical chairs, Howard County's circuit courts are moving later this year — to the same temporary Columbia quarters now being used for county government offices while renovations to its main complex in Ellicott City are under way, county officials said. Work on the three-building government complex is due for completion by August, and the courts could move later in the fall, according to county public works director James M. Irvin. Irvin told the County Council on Tuesday that the move will allow $4.5 million in safety and accessibility improvements to be made to the crowded circuit court building, since there is no money to replace the historic Ellicott City structure, which was last renovated and enlarged in 1988.

The state is about to give one block of Roscoe Rowe Boulevard in Annapolis a $100,000 face lift that will bring the thoroughfare one step closer to the tree-lined look proposed in a 1990 design.The upgrading of the south side of Rowe between Farragut Road and Taylor Avenue will be done along with construction there of the new $11.2 million Robert F. Sweeney District Court of Maryland building.At the urging of local architects, landscape designers and community activists, the state revised its design for this portion of the roadway and the court building to more nearly meet guidelines for a "ceremonial entrance" to Annapolis set out in the 1990 plan, according to Ward 2 Alderman Dean L. Johnson.

An unplanned inspection of Howard County's Circuit Court building has turned up a series of fire code violations - including exposed wires, overloaded outlets and storage too close to sprinkler heads - in the cramped, historic structure. Fire and risk management officials visited the building two weeks ago at the request of the sheriff's office to update the court's evacuation plan. But that visit turned into an inspection when a fire official noticed violations, said fire Chief Joseph Herr.

Marble columns designed by one of early America's premier architects will be installed outside an Annapolis court building after being rescued from a state-owned field near the Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup. Eight columns designed by Benjamin Latrobe will be put in place Saturday outside the Robert F. Sweeney District Court Building. Latrobe designed the columns for the Baltimore Exchange and Custom House, which was built between 1816 and 1820. The columns were transferred to the Court of Appeals building in Annapolis when the exchange building was torn down in 1901-1902.

The Anne Arundel County District Court must find a new home because of a statewide reorganization of courthouse employees.Voters passed a referendum in November that transferred supervision of the Clerkof the Court's office in the 23 counties and Baltimore from the comptroller to the judicial branch. That doubled the size of the Circuit Court's work force and requires more administrators, District Court Chief Judge Robert Sweeney said.Sweeney said judicial officials want to build a new district courthouse and convert the existing court building, adjacent to the stateCourt of Appeals, into administrative offices for the state court system.

In the South Baltimore community of Brooklyn, the city has built a road that goes nowhere. Complete with sidewalks, street lights and fire hydrants, it cost the taxpayers $590,000 and dead-ends on a vacant piece of land.The land, near the intersection of Potee and Garrett streets, is the future site of a district court building that has yet to be funded by the General Assembly.Despite the uncertain date of the court's construction -- which has been delayed for several years -- the city went ahead and built the half-block extension of Garrett Street 2 1/2 years ago."

An $11.3 million, state-of-the-art District Court building being dedicated today is, its critics say, unattractive, domineering and out of sync with the historic look of Annapolis.Though ceremonies will be held at 5 p.m. today, no cases will be heard in the building for a week. The court will be relocated from the Tawes Office Building across the street Friday, while judges are at a conference.The new Robert F. Sweeney District Court Building is named for the retired first chief judge of the statewide District Court system.

Three people were rescued yesterday from a malfunctioning elevator in the Baltimore County Courts Building in Towson that suddenly dropped a few feet after stopping at the lobby, a county Fire Department spokeswoman said. One man was taken to Sinai Hospital as a medical precaution, but did not have life-threatening injuries, said Elise Armacost, the spokeswoman. Two teenage boys who were in the elevator refused treatment and left with their mother, she said. Fire and rescue personnel arrived at the building on Bosley Avenue after a call was received at 10:56 a.m. saying that people were trapped in an elevator, she said.

At the Edward F. Borgerding District Court Building in the city of Baltimore yesterday, there was nothing special. Defendants marched in, with the usual respect for the law, wearing hooded sweat shirts and jeans with the belt lines yielding to gravity. They mumbled into their sneakers when they stood before judges. There were 38 cases on the Northwest District docket, and 67 more on the Western docket. Somewhere in Montgomery County, Doug Duncan will hear about such routine business, and take it to the bank.

JERUSALEM - The Israeli Supreme Court has upheld the nation's right to build a barrier on land inside the West Bank, though it ordered the government to reconfigure a section because it left five Palestinian villages isolated. In a 9-0 ruling yesterday, justices rejected the reasoning last year of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which deemed portions of the barrier in the West Bank illegal because they amounted to a de facto annexation by Israel and infringed on the rights of Palestinians left cut off from schools, work and family members.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court debated yesterday whether the words "under God" transform the Pledge of Allegiance from a daily display of patriotic unity into a form of state indoctrination in a religious belief. Dr. Michael Newdow, the California father who won an appeals court ruling declaring the pledge unconstitutional, represented himself before the justices and insisted the reference to God must go. "I am an atheist. I don't believe in God. And every school morning, my child is asked to stand up, face that flag, put her hand on her heart and say that her father is wrong," he said.

Grace G. Connolly, The remodeled, somewhat cramped office on the ground floor of the Baltimore County Circuit Court Building in Towson speaks to the philosophy and style of the new sheriff in town. And, R. Jay Fisher quickly adds, to his roots in the North Baltimore neighborhood of Hampden, where he was raised. There's his new office furniture, purchased at an office discount store. The handsome chairs across from his desk appear to be brown leather, but they're really an imitation. Even the heavily starched designer oxford shirts he favors most days when not in uniform can be found on sale at a local department store.

Ehrlich budget has millions for projects in Howard County Times may be tight, but Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s first capital budget includes nearly $10 million for a new Howard Community College performing arts building and millions more for development of two Howard County parks and three local school projects. "We were hoping. We really have a major shortage," said a grateful college vice president, Lynn Coleman, who said dance students now worry about hitting their heads on the ceiling of a makeshift practice area.

As part of a move to increase security, parking meters will be removed from directly in front of the Carroll County Courthouse Annex this week, and Westminster city workers plan to remove a stand of pine trees behind the building.Circuit Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr., Carroll's administrative judge, asked the city for the changes in a letter to the mayor and council dated Feb. 18. He noted plans for a new Maryland District Court building that will increase the size of the court complex in the area of Willis, Court and Ralph streets, and Greenwood Avenue.

2 projects in county receive grants for historic restoration Two historic restoration projects in Anne Arundel County -- an Annapolis home of African-American families in the 19th century and a museum' reconstruction of America's first operational radar -- have been awarded preservation grants. They were among 18 awards totaling $470,000 announced yesterday at a state preservation conference by the Maryland Commission for Celebration 2000, in partnership with the Maryland Historical Trust and Preservation Maryland.

Howard County officials are aiming to open the county's first-ever drug court in the District Court building by fall -- as long as hoped-for federal funding comes through. District Court, the home to minor criminal, traffic and civil cases, is a natural starting point for the county's efforts, said Howard District Judge Louis A. Becker III, a co-chair of the planning team that has been studying the idea. Not only does the court traditionally serve as a first stop for criminal cases as they make their way through the system, it also has more room and resources than the space-strapped Circuit Court building up the street, he said.

Baltimore needs a new downtown courthouse specifically for criminal cases - at an estimated cost of $135 million - to replace "dysfunctional" facilities in the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse and Courthouse East, according to architects hired to assess physical needs of the Circuit Court system over the next decade. The consultants recommended that Baltimore's 102-year-old Mitchell Courthouse on North Calvert Street be restored to accommodate civil cases only and that Courthouse East, also on Calvert Street, be converted to offices for the state's attorney and other court functions.