Dutch Ruppersberger

CLARIFICATION A mispunctuated item in yesterday's editions of The Sun was unclear about items that the Lutherville Volunteer Fire Company will buy with funds from a federal grant program. According to an announcement from U.S. Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the fire company will use the money to buy 45 sets of protective "turn-out gear" and new equipment used in rescues from collapsed buildings, and also to replace outdated high-pressure air bags used in building collapses. Anne Arundel: Annapolis Judge withholds bail for murder suspect A 19-year-old man charged with murder in the fatal shooting of an Annapolis man Saturday was ordered held without bail by a judge yesterday.

Allowing Baltimore County police to take their cruisers home would be impractical and extremely expensive, a report released yesterday by the Ruppersberger administration has concluded. The report, prepared by the Office of Budget and Finance, responds to a study that county Auditor Brian T. Rowe prepared two months ago lauding the benefits of a take-home program. But the new report takes Rowe to task on several fronts, saying his analysis "significantly underestimates" costs, "uses incorrect data" and includes "significant errors."

CATONSVILLE -- Parts of the historic Catonsville High School building on Bloomsbury Avenue can be demolished during a coming renovation, the county Landmarks Commission has voted.The commission approved Thursday the demolition of the two wings added in 1930 despite protests from community activists who say the destruction is an example of the county government's lack of respect for historic preservation.The school, vacant since 1990, is to be converted into a $6.3 million community center with state and county funds.

The two major-party candidates for Baltimore County executive agreed last night that the school system's teachers and principals should be paid more but disagreed on what to do about the county's group homes for troubled youths. Democrat James T. Smith Jr. and Republican Douglas B. Riley met face-to-face to discuss education issues at a forum at Loch Raven High School. Riley sought several times to blame Smith for the policies of the current county executive, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, whom he accused of being a micromanager of the school system.

BALTIMORE COUNTY Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger has moxie. Instead of running for cover and avoiding the challenges to his East Side condemnation authority, Mr. Ruppersberger yesterday invited opponents to take him on in a series of seven debates. Opponents had hoped to defeat the measure through a county-wide referendum. Instead of trying to discourage this effort, Mr. Ruppersberger -- with television cameras rolling -- signed a petition to bring the measure to the voters. Mr. Ruppersberger has always maintained that condemnation authority is a small, but necessary, tool in his plans to revitalize the communities of Essex-Middle River, Yorkway and the Liberty Road commercial corridor.

More than a dozen prominent Baltimore Democrats, including Mayor Martin O'Malley and City Council President Sheila Dixon, endorsed C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger for Congress yesterday, saying he has been a friend of the city in his years as Baltimore County executive. Ruppersberger's opponent, Helen Delich Bentley, announced she will be getting help from a notable mayor of her own - Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, will appear at a function on her behalf the Sunday before the election.

Measure to condemn homes is approved, heads to governor The General Assembly gave final approval yesterday to legislation that will enable Baltimore County to condemn and redevelop hundreds of properties in Essex-Middle River and two other aging neighborhoods. The Senate voted 35-4 to accept relatively minor amendments put on the bill by the House of Delegates, including more generous relocation benefits for uprooted residents and businesses. The measure -- a victory for County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger -- now goes to Gov. Parris N. Glendening, who is expected to sign it into law. Essex-Middle River residents facing displacement have reportedly lobbied for a veto.

C.A. DUTCH Ruppersberger's name won't be on the Baltimore County ballot this fall, but some folks have made the referendum on S.B. 509 -- which would allow for condemnation in the east-side redevelopment effort -- a vote on his political future. If the measure goes down to defeat, they say, the county executive's gubernatorial ambitions go down with it. Nonsense. Win or lose, the referendum on condemnation is an inexact measure of long-term political victory or defeat. Consider former County Executive Spiro T. Agnew.

Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger is seeking $74 million for local projects in the fiscal 2008 federal budget, mostly for roads, mass transit and other infrastructure to accommodate growth at Maryland military bases, he said yesterday. Ruppersberger, a Democrat whose district includes Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground, said that improving mass transit to handle thousands of new defense workers coming to those installations "is one of our highest priorities." The congressman made his comments in Linthicum during the annual luncheon for the Fort Meade Alliance, the lobbying arm for the Army post.