District Court

Alan Marvin Resnick, a retired Baltimore District Court judge who represented Northwest Baltimore in the state legislature for 16 years, died of prostate cancer Tuesday at his home in the city's Tuscany Canterbury section. He was 75. Judge Resnick was born in Baltimore and, after his early years in Mount Airy, moved with his family in the 1930s to the Park Circle section of the city. He was a 1946 graduate of City College and earned his bachelor's degree in 1950 from the University of Maryland.

Services for Judge Fred E. Waldrop, who served on the District Court bench in Baltimore County from its establishment in 1971 until his retirement in 1984, will be held at 1 p.m. tomorrow at the Leroy M. and Russell C. Witzke Funeral Home, 1630 Edmondson Ave., Catonsville.Judge Waldrop, who was 63, died of cancer Monday at his home on Drawbridge Court in Catonsville.He retired on medical disability after tests showed that damage from an apparent cerebral hemorrhage in 1981, for which he was hospitalized several months, and the pressures of his work could combine to endanger his health.

Twenty-eight names appear on the list of candidates to fill a vacant judgeship in the District Court for Harford County, including two of four candidates still in the running for a Harford County Circuit Court judgeship.The position became vacant when Judge John S. Landbeck Jr. decided not to seek another 10-year term in February amid allegations that he had made inappropriate remarks or gave unwelcome attention to several women in the courthouse.Candidates to succeed Judge Landbeck include Diana A. Brooks of Thomas Run, north of Churchville, and Jay Elliot Robinson of Forest Hill.

Anne Arundel County's Judicial Nominating Commission forwarded seven candidates to fill a vacancy on the county's District Court to the governor Friday. The commission interviewed 22 applicants and selected the following nominees: John P. McKenna, Danielle M. Mosley, Charles Jay Muskin, Charles F. Obrecht Jr., Thomas J. Pryal, Charles E. Middlebrooks and Frederick M. Paone. The governor may select from the seven nominated candidates, or ask for more applicants to consider. The position became available when two District Court judges were promoted in June to the county's Circuit Court.

Two more African-Americans than previously reported have applied for a vacancy on the Howard County District Court bench -- boosting the number of black candidates to four of nine.The state's Administrative Office of the Courts reported last week that seven attorneys had advanced their names for the vacancy created by the elevation of Judge Lenore R. Gelfman to Circuit Court.But yesterday, Michael O'Malley, assistant state court administrator, said two other applications "were inadvertently placed in the wrong location."

Thirty-one lawyers, including a former judge and former Republican committee chairman for the county, are seeking 10-year appointments to two positions on the District Court bench. At least seven candidates are current or former prosecutors, at least two were unsuccessful Republican candidates for local office and one is a federal EPA lawyer. Several are past applicants for judgeships. David S. Bruce, a former District Court judge appointed to Circuit Court, lost a race in November to retain his position on the Circuit Court.

In her shared office in the Howard County District Court building, Kimberly A. Vasco is ready for action. She has a jar of Jolly Ranchers on her desk and coloring books, crayons and bubbles in her desk drawer. She's put together informational brochures and introductory letters. She is also accumulating cases - 40 at last count - to take on, beginning next month, in the often-hectic, often-packed criminal courtrooms of District Court in Ellicott City. As the newest victim/witness advocate in Howard County, Vasco also is taking on that program's newest role, thanks to a state grant.

The scenario was fairly typical: A young woman, her car missing, approaches a District Court commissioner to file criminal charges. As a video crew recorded every movement on a recent morning, the actors, both court employees, followed the process from the application to the information to the swearing to the truth. Similar scenes would play out in various offices in Prince George's County's Upper Marlboro court building throughout the day as videographers moved from commissioner to cashier to clerk to courtroom, filming scenes that will be condensed into a five-minute explanatory video.

Carroll County's new multimillion-dollar District Courthouse appears to be back on track for design and construction money in state budgets for 2000 and 2001, county officials said yesterday.In December, officials discovered what they described as a glitch in the project: Construction money that was supposed to have been in the state's next fiscal budget was omitted from a preliminary draft.But Steven D. Powell, county director of management and budget, said the project is expected to receive $7.6 million in construction funding in 2001, and $63,000 for design in the 2000 budget.