Essex Man

City Council President Lawrence A. Bell III charged yesterday that a recent amendment to the aid-for-accountability schools legislation that eliminated a five-year sunset provision exposed a "hidden agenda" on the part of the state legislature."

Baltimore County police are searching for an Essex man who has been charged with first-degree murder and carjacking after an Aug. 10 incident outside a tavern, originally thought to be a hit-and-run.Shawn Timothy Long, 23, of the 800 block of Frankewitz Road is being sought after the state medical examiner's office ruled the death of 58-year-old William Albert Ehinger Jr. a homicide.Police said Ehinger of the 2400 block of Holly Neck Road was struck by a car outside a bar in the 1800 block of Eastern Blvd.

The death of a 19-year-old Essex man in a fire at his home yesterday was ruled a suicide by investigators, Baltimore County fire and police officials said.Joshua Allen McAlister died in the fire in the first block of Terrace Road on a cul-de-sac off Eastern Boulevard.After the fire was extinguished, a suicide note was found in the mailbox of the house, police said.The fire began at 7: 04 a.m. and was contained in 15 minutes, said Battalion Chief Mark Hubbard, spokesman for Baltimore County Fire Department.

TOWSON -- The final round of public hearings in the county's quadrennial comprehensive rezoning process will begin tomorrow night when the County Council meets at Franklin High School, 12000 Reisterstown Road, to hear concerns about issues in the 3rd Councilmanic District, which covers Owings Mills and the north and western county.A hearing on issues in the southwestern 1st District is scheduled for Thursday night at Lansdowne High, 3800 Hollins Ferry Road. Another on issues in the northwestern 2nd District will be held Sept.

An Essex man testified yesterday that when Baltimore County police Officer William R. Goodman tried to take his fingerprints at the Essex Precinct on July 29, 1995, Goodman used racial epithets and repeatedly struck him.But some testimony given by convicted drug dealer Melvin Maddox in Baltimore County Circuit Court conflicted with that of officers who testified this week against Goodman, who faces several charges in the incident.Goodman, who has been suspended with pay and could face a three-year prison term, was indicted by a county grand jury on a hate-crime charge, accused of using a racial epithet against Maddox, 25, at the Essex precinct.

A Baltimore woman was arrested Monday afternoon on theft charges after she tried to steal more than $500 worth of clothes from a Lerner store in the mall at Marley Station, county police said.Rixie Groay, 26, the manager of the store, told police she noticed two women take clothes from a display rack about 4:30 p.m. and hide them in a shopping bag. Both women then left the store without paying for the merchandise. Two mall security officers stopped one woman, but the other escaped in a a black Toyota Camry, police said.

A Baltimore woman testified yesterday that Mark Phillip French told her that he shot and critically wounded a Baltimore County policeman who had stopped his pickup truck Oct. 31.Lisa M. Morton, of the 1500 block of N. Bethel St., passed the information on, and it eventually led police to Mr. French and his 17-year-old girlfriend.Mr. French, 29, of the 300 block of George Ave., Essex, is on trial in Baltimore County Circuit Court, charged with attempted murder in the shooting of Officer James E. Beck early last Halloween, the armed robbery of an Essex man whose complaint led Officer Beck to stop the pickup, and handgun charges.

A 70-year-old Essex man was convicted yesterday of sexually abusing his granddaughter over a period of more than five years in her Harford County home.A Harford Circuit Court jury of seven women and five men deliberated 3 1/2 hours before finding the man guilty of two counts of a third-degree sexual offense, and one count each of battery, assault and child abuse.Judge Stephen M. Waldron revoked the defendant's bond, sending him to jail pending a pre-sentence investigation.The man, whose name is not being divulged to protect the identity of the victim, faces 10 years each for the sexual offense convictions; 20 years each for battery and assault and 15 years for child abuse.

An Essex man convicted of murdering a friend received a 40-year prison sentence yesterday in Baltimore County Circuit Court, while continuing to insist that he shot in self-defense.Glenn Tyrone Elliott, 24, of the 1400 block of Maple Ave. glared around the courtroom as he was led in for sentencing in the Oct. 7 shooting of Robert Leonard "Lenny" Simmons Jr. Elliott, tall, bald and wearing a bright blue running suit, swiveled constantly in his chair at the defense table as the attorneys, his grandparents, his mother and Mr. Simmons' mother addressed Judge Alfred L. Brennan.

TOWSON -- Baltimore County police have charged a 22-year-old Essex man with the rape and near fatal beating of a 26-year-old Chase woman who was found crawling from a wooded area off Bourque Road in Middle River early Friday morning.A man originally arrested and charged with the crime has been released.Police said Byron M. Stewart, of the first block of Beech Drive, was arrested yesterday afternoon and charged with first-degree rape, attempted murder and assault with attempt to maim.He is being held at the Cockeysville station without bail pending a bail review hearing today.

Three teens charged in robbery of cabdriver Three people were charged in connection with an armed robbery Thursday of a cabdriver at Arundel Mills mall, Anne Arundel County police said. Police said that about 9 p.m., an Associated Cab Co. driver was in his cab when two men with handguns demanded his money, which he gave them. The men met up with a third person and they all ran toward a hotel, according to police. Officers went to the back of the hotel, where they arrested three teens from Severn - Lorenzo Lamar Jones, 18, of the 7800 block of Huguenot Court; Deshawn Manigault, 18, of the 1800 block of Oriole Court; and a 15-year-old boy - and charged them with armed robbery and related counts.

Over the protests of his mother, a 29-year-old Essex man was sentenced Wednesday in Baltimore County Circuit Court to 20 years in prison for a 2008 carjacking in which he almost made off with a 7-year-old boy who was sitting in the vehicle. Thomas J. Frazier was given an additional five years behind bars for burglarizing his mother's house, a crime unrelated to the carjacking but which was consolidated with it for sentencing purposes. "It was traumatic for the little boy," prosecutor Rachel Karceski said after the hearing, referring to the ordeal he suffered at Frazier's hands Oct. 16 in White Marsh.

Theft charges dropped against school employee Prosecutors dropped a Baltimore District Court case Tuesday against a former public schools employee accused of stealing payroll checks. In July, Latanya Bunch, 37, was charged with three counts of theft over $500 and four counts under $500, but prosecutors declined to prosecute this week. Their reason was not immediately available. Bunch, who worked as a secretary at Reginald F. Lewis High School, says she lost her job over the charges, which she says she's innocent of. This is the second time Bunch has been charged with crimes that prosecutors ultimately dropped.

Panel backs utility regulation The Senate Finance Committee has approved legislation to give Maryland regulators more authority to direct utilities to build new power plants. The 6-4 vote Tuesday sends the measure to the full Senate. The bill would restore some of the authority the state's Public Service Commission lost after the state decided to deregulate in 1999. High energy bills have caused many lawmakers to consider the 1999 decision a mistake, but industry representatives say markets have not had enough time to translate deregulation into cheaper electricity bills.

Police say boy, 14, fatally shot during argument Police reported they were checking several leads in the fatal shooting yesterday afternoon of a 14-year-old boy in the city's Parklane community, adding that his death appeared to be the result of an argument he had with another boy over a girl. The victim was identified as Juan Johnson of the nearby 4600 block of Reisterstown Road. Johnson was the city's fifth homicide victim under the age of 18 this year. Shortly before 1:30 p.m., Northwestern District police responding to a report of a person shot in the 4400 block of Pall Mall Road near Wylie Avenue found Juan lying in the street, bleeding from at least one gunshot wound to the head, said Officer Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman.

Essex man, 26, charged with injuring boy who died An Essex man has been charged with severely injuring a 2-year-old boy left in his care who later died, Baltimore County police said yesterday. Arron A. Bogan, 26, of the first block of Cedar Drive was arrested Thursday and charged with first-degree child abuse, police said. Jordan Adams, his girlfriend's son, died early Friday at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was being treated for head injuries, said Bill Toohey, a police spokesman. Jordan's mother, Heather Meyers, left the boy with Bogan at his apartment for a few hours Oct. 28 and returned to find her son asleep, according to court documents.

Essex man fatally shot in parking lot at home An Essex man was fatally shot in a parking lot in front of his residence early yesterday, Baltimore County police said. Joram Shijenje, 34, of the 1100 block of Tace Drive was found dead of a gunshot wound shortly after 1 a.m., police said. Officers were called to the area after residents reported hearing gunshots. Tace Drive is in a residential community south of Southeast Boulevard and just north of Sandalwood Elementary School. Detectives said they did not know of a motive for the killing, and no arrest had been made.

Man killed in fire in Reisterstown A man died in a fire near Reisterstown yesterday, county fire officials said. The fire started about 11:45 a.m. in a single-family home in the 200 block of Church Road. Firefighters found heavy fire in the front of the house and smoke throughout. Robert Eugene Peeling, 48, was dead in a front bedroom, the Fire Department said. Firefighters said they were familiar with the address because they had made medical calls there in the past. The man lived alone, the department said.

A 20-year-old Essex man died yesterday after being shot outside his home when he confronted two men who were walking on his property, police said. James Neil Rivers Jr., a former three-sport athlete at Kenwood High School, was shot about 7:45 p.m. Thursday in his driveway in the 700 block of Cedar Road, Baltimore County police said. As dozens of friends and family members gathered in the hospital waiting room, Rivers died yesterday morning at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, his family said.

NATIONAL Alito hearings draw to a close Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. sparred for the last time with Senate Democrats, emerging from four days of sometimes fierce, sometimes lackluster confirmation hearings with few political wounds. pg 1a WORLD Saudi pilgrimage turns deadly At least 345 worshippers were killed in a stampede at one of Islam's holiest sites yesterday, tainting the annual hajj pilgrimage to the Muslim religion's birthplace in Saudi Arabia. pg 8a MARYLAND Ehrlich veto overridden The state General Assembly overrode Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s veto of legislation requiring Wal-Mart to pay more for employee health care.