Essex

Baltimore County police were at the scene of a barricade situation at a home in Essex early Wednesday. The incident was reported to police at 2:40 a.m. on Reaching Court after a man got into an argument with a tow truck driver, according to police. No one else besides the man was believed to be inside the house, and no one has been injured, police said. Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

A man was shot and wounded early Saturday on a street in Essex, according to Baltimore County police. Authorities had few details Saturday morning. Police said the shooting occurred on the street about 2 a.m. in the 1000 block of Mace Ave., just south of Route 702, also known as the Southeast Freeway. The area is residential, with a mix of single family homes and apartments. Police could not immediately provide an age of the victim or say where or how many times had been shot.

Monday, Aug. 9, for about the fifth time in the last year, the water main at the corner of Back River Neck Rd and Old Eastern Ave. broke. I arrived home (after being rerouted due to road closures again to find out there was no water. Possibly The Baltimore Sun has an investigative reporter that can look into this situation. One lane has been closed at this location for months, and traffic backs up. That area of the road is lower than the rest and is full of potholes. Why hasn't this main been fixed properly and the hole closed?

Two men confronted another man in an Essex barbershop Wednesday afternoon and shot him, police said. Baltimore County police responded at 2:34 p.m. to the business in the 600 block of S. Marlyn Ave., near Homberg Street and Deep Creek. A 39-year-old man had been injured and he has been taken to an area hospital for treatment. His injuries were not life threatening. The motive for the shooting is still under investigation, police said. Police placed schools in the area on alert status as a precautionary measure.

A man was fatally struck by a car in Essex Tuesday night. The man has been identified, but police have not been able to notify his family, said Lt. Robert McCullough, spokesman with Baltimore County police. The incident happened in the 400 block of Eastern Boulevard, near Mace Avenue just after 10 p.m. No additional detail s were available. jkanderson@baltsun.com

Two men confronted another man in an Essex barbershop Wednesday afternoon and shot him, police said. Baltimore County police responded at 2:34 p.m. to the business in the 600 block of S. Marlyn Ave., near Homberg Street and Deep Creek. A 39-year-old man had been injured and he has been taken to an area hospital for treatment. His injuries were not life threatening. The motive for the shooting is still under investigation, police said. Police placed schools in the area on alert status as a precautionary measure.

Suspicious powder was found this morning at a processing center of the U.S. Census Bureau in Essex, though it was found to be harmless. The Baltimore County police and fire departments were called around 10 a.m. to the U.S. Census Bureau's Data Capture Center, in the 8400 block of Kelso Drive, to examine a package containing a small amount of powder, said Elise Armacost, the fire department spokeswoman. "We did not evacuate the building, no one was showing symptoms, there were no transports," Armacost said.

A 19-year-old was stabbed by a juvenile in Essex on Wednesday night, police said. The teen was stabbed in his left side and was taken to Johns Hopkins Baywview Medical Center with nonlife-threatening injuries, said Lt. Robert McCullough, spokesman with the Baltimore County Police. The incident, which occurred in a residential area in the 800 block of Arncliffe Road at about 8:07 p.m., grew out of an argument, McCullough said. No additional details were available Wednesday night.

Baltimore County Police have identified a woman who died Friday while in police custody after an altercation. Officers responded to a report that a woman had taken a shirt and another item from a car near Hawthorne Road and Eastern Boulevard, according to police. The first officer spoke to the woman, Mary Beth Crocker, 41, of the first block of Ridgemoor Road, but then Crocker turned and ran. The officer caught her, but Crocker began assaulting the officer, stabbing him with a pen and attempting to grab his weapon, police said.

The people of Essex are distressed. The redistricting plan that the Baltimore County Council approved Monday splits their councilmanic district -- moving 14,000 Essexites from the 5th District into the 7th District. That not only lumps residents of Essex with those in Dundalk, whose community identities are vastly different and competitive, but also, and more important, breaks up what has traditionally been a Democratic stronghold.But what did the people expect? In the last election, the 5th and 7th districts threw over Democratic incumbent Dennis Rasmussen and supported Republican Roger Hayden for county executive.

A 36-game losing streak dating to 2005, including an 0-12 season in 2011, had the sophomores on the CCBC-Essex women's lacrosse team considering calling it quits this year. "Last year we didn't win any games," said sophomore midfielder Paige Orpin (Perry Hall Christian). "I think only maybe two of them were close. I wasn't sure if I wanted to play anymore. " Sophomore attacker Alexandra Breslin-Spinnato (Eastern Tech) was similarly frustrated. "It was really hard," she said.

A monthly Storytime at Essex Library includes all the trappings familiar to its pre-school participants — books, puppets, songs, games and a crafts table. But this program, organized by Spanish language students at a nearby high school, gives children the chance to listen, sing and play in two languages. "Welcome to la granja, amigos," said Chesapeake High School sophomore Amanda Ambrose, who donned a straw hat and jeans in keeping with farm theme of the hour. During the bilingual story hour, the hosts switch back and forth from English to Spanish as they read to and entertain the children.

Baltimore County fire officials battled an early-morning boat blaze that spread to the dock of the Essex Marina on Sunday, a department spokesman said. Officials responded to the marina after receiving a call around 3:37 a.m. from neighboring residents who reported an "explosion" and a "loud pop" at the marina, the spokesman said. When officials arrived, the boat was fully engulfed in flames and the dock was also on fire, according to the spokesman, who said officials used foam to extinguish the blaze.

An Essex man pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges for hanging a dead raccoon on the porch of a black family in Middle River two years ago, according to a plea agreement released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday. Joshua Wall, 20, hanged the raccoon by a noose on the family's porch in April 2010 after a fight between a child who lived with Wall and the son of the victims' family, according to the agreement. Wall conspired with four unnamed people, but he was the only one charged in the incident.

An Essex man has been indicted on civil rights charges stemming from an April 2010 incident in which a dead raccoon was found hanging from a noose on a Middle River family's front porch. According to the indictment, which comes nearly two years after the incident, Joshua Wall conspired with four unnamed people to hang a dead raccoon from the familiy's porch on April 29, 2010.  Wall is the only person charged in the case; the other co-conspirators are listed only by their initials.

In another example of state and local government's abuse of power, Baltimore County officials have taken it upon themselves to evict pilots from the Essex SkyPark, a site they have occupied for 60 years. All of the members of the Essex SkyPark Association are middle-class, hard-working people who have been responsible members of the Essex community. The real truth is that county officials are exercising their power for money. The county's intent is to use the 500 acres of the air park as a forest mitigation bank to charge county developers fees to offset their environmental responsibilities.

Husband and wife and three kids in a station wagon: The quintessential picture of the American family. Only not in this case, in which the family was literally blown to bits and the few remains of the station wagon so twisted and charred it took police several hours to realize it wasn't a mini-van.The explosion that destroyed a family in Essex Monday night was grotesque. Photos and television footage of the blast's effects made folks gasp. One officer likened it to the Chase train wreck a decade ago -- so horrific you had to see it to believe it, he said.

A 63-year-old woman and a 41-year-old woman believed to be her daughter died Monday night in a fire in an Essex rowhouse, Baltimore County firefighters said. The Fire Department has not identified the victims. Neighbors said two women, Carolyn Himmelheber, and her daughter, Stacy Himmelheber, lived in the house at 907 Arncliffe Road. Fire investigators on Monday night were continuing to investigate the cause of the blaze, in which two dogs died as well. Friend and neighbor Joyce Page, 73, said she had seen smoke wafting onto the street and went out on her porch to see where it was coming from.

Baltimore County police have identified the victims of a fatal fire Monday in Essex as a mother and daughter. Carolyn Lee Himmelheber, 63, and Stacy Lynn Himmelheber, 40, both lived at the rowhouse in the 900 block of Arncliffe Road in the Middlesex neighborhood. Investigators estimate that the fire caused $25,000 of damage to the two-story brick residence, originally owned by Carolyn Himmelheber's parents. The women had lived there nearly all their lives. The home was not equipped with smoke detectors, investigators said.