Dump Truck

City enters negotiating pact for new Waxter Center Formalizing a step they took in July, city officials announced yesterday that they were entering an exclusive negotiating agreement with a Baltimore development team to redevelop an aging Mount Vernon senior center. Baltimore Development Corp. and the Baltimore City Commission on Aging and Retirement Education are pursuing a contract with MtV2 Development, led by Howard Chambers, to build a new Waxter Center. The $62 million deal involves a land swap in which Chambers would receive the Waxter Center property at 1000 Cathedral St., on which he wants to build a mixed-use residential and retail tower.

After fixing up his new Bethany Beach house this summer, David Destino was eager to relax with his family there over the Labor Day weekend. But first the Ellicott City man had to navigate one of the Eastern Shore's more treacherous routes, a rural road that authorities say is poorly equipped to handle heavy holiday traffic. There on eastbound Route 404, a partially divided two-lane highway, a dump truck rear-ended the 2003 Ford Explorer that Destino was driving Friday afternoon, Maryland State Police said.

A state prison inmate who was hit by a truck and killed Thursday while working along the Capital Beltway was identified yesterday as Rodney Jennings, 28, who had been serving a two-year sentence for possession of drugs with intent to distribute. Maj. Priscilla Doggett, a spokeswoman for the Division of Correction, said the prison system is suspending road work crews from the Herman L. Toulson Boot Camp in Jessup until better safety standards can be established. The incident was the second fatality involving a Division of Correction highway crew member in the past three months.

Howard County : Simpsonville Several vehicles involved in crash A dump truck carrying asphalt erupted in flames during a multiple-vehicle accident yesterday afternoon that closed westbound Route 32 in the Howard County community of Simpsonville during rush hour and caused backups on nearby U.S. 29. One injured person was taken by ambulance to Maryland Shock Trauma Center; three people with minor injuries were taken to Howard County General Hospital, fire officials said.

Woman helped issue fake driver's licenses A car dealership employee admitted in court papers yesterday that she helped secure 162 driver's licenses for applicants who should not have been able to obtain them, federal prosecutors announced. Ana Maria Lorena Creque, 45, of Adelphi pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt to conspiracy to produce and transfer unlawfully produced Maryland driver's licenses. According to the plea agreement presented in court, Creque worked for Y2K Auto Sales Inc. in Beltsville, where she prepared paperwork for car titles and tags.

A 17-year-old Westminster teenager died when his sport utility vehicle collided with a dump truck and both trucks overturned at Route 31 and Tahoma Farm Road in Westminster yesterday morning, state police said. Charles P. Diegel of the first block of Wentworth Court died at the scene about 7:15 a.m. Diegel's black Mercury Mountaineer failed to yield the right of way to the dump truck, which was traveling east on Route 31, according to the state police preliminary investigation. At the intersection, Diegel had been stopped behind a school bus before making a right turn and striking the dump truck, police said.

Baltimore: McHenry Tunnel Israeli questioned after taking photos An Israeli man was questioned and released last night by Maryland State Police after he snapped some photos while driving south through the Fort McHenry Tunnel. Acting on a tip from a motorist, state police stopped the 24-year-old man, who was not identified, on Interstate 95 in Prince George's County about 7 p.m., according to police spokesman Gregory Shipley. Police took him to the College Park barracks for further questioning.

A fatal accident and a dump truck that spilled asphalt on a roadway snarled traffic for hours yesterday in Anne Arundel County, delaying school buses and commuters throughout the morning while parts of Interstate 97 and Route 100 were closed, authorities said. Travis Stephen Dyer, 26, was killed when his pickup veered off the westbound side of Route 100 near Lake Waterford Road, struck a guardrail and overturned. Dyer, of Pasadena, was not wearing his seat belt, state police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after the 6:50 a.m. accident.

Snow removal. Breaking up potholes and paving roads. Paying for the fuel to power those expensive trucks. These tasks are not among the everyday concerns of kindergartners, or even fourth-graders. But Carroll County public works employees had a captive audience at William Winchester Elementary School in Westminster, as workers showed off their hydraulic excavators, V-blade plows and dump trucks on the grassy fields behind the school. "This is a great way to expose them to the different occupations there are in Carroll County," said Megan Rhine, a fourth-grade teacher who brought her class to the demonstration.

BALTIMORE City drug abuse agency hires new director Denver's top drug policy official has been selected to lead Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems, the quasi-governmental agency that oversees drug treatment in the city, Health Commissioner Dr. Peter L. Beilenson said yesterday. The new director, Adam Brickner, has led Denver's office of drug strategy since 2000 and previously served as coordinator of Denver's drug court. His office has dealt with a drug problem that, while not on the scale of Baltimore's, has grown in size and complexity in recent years.