Hammerman

A troubling speech by one of its students has prompted North Baltimore's Gilman School to re-examine its long-standing relationship with the celebrated Lancers Boys Club and its founder, Baltimore Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman. Gilman officials have temporarily barred the Lancers, a Baltimore civic club that Hammerman has headed for more than 50 years, from using the school's facilities pending resolution of what they call "community concerns." Those concerns stem from a speech delivered Monday by a 17-year-old senior who stunned a crowd of 450 people by relating what he called "a dark, deep secret."

Patrick Anthony O'Doherty, a colorful Baltimore trial lawyer who was considered an expert on complex insurance and personal injury cases, died Saturday of prostate cancer at his Catonsville home. He was 73.He had stopped working because of illness three weeks ago."He loved what he was doing and died with his boots on," said former Baltimore Circuit Chief Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman, a friend and colleague for nearly 40 years. "Even though he was in pain, he was still going to court. It was his love."

Armed with a camera and wearing a hard hat, David M. Hammerman rushed amid yesterday morning's showers to the Calvert Ridge subdivision in Elkridge, with several inspectors from his inspections, licenses and permits office in tow.Hammerman, director of the Howard County agency, arrived after learning that builder Ryan Homes had ordered a bulldozer to remove truck tires, lumber, a metal drum, a water heater and other debris buried years ago -- the likely sources...

Armed with a camera and wearing a hard hat, David M. Hammerman rushed amid yesterday morning's showers to the Calvert Ridge subdivision in Elkridge, with several inspectors from his inspections, licenses and permits office in tow.Hammerman, director of the Howard County agency, arrived after learning that builder Ryan Homes had ordered a bulldozer to remove truck tires, lumber, a metal drum, a water heater and other debris buried years ago. They are the...

The longest-serving trial judge in Maryland history hangs up his robes today -- and he is not happy about it."I'm not retiring. They're retiring me," says Baltimore Circuit Chief Judge Robert I.H. Hammerman.After 37 years of deciding other people's fates and disputes, Hammerman says this choice is being made for him: He will turn 70 tomorrow, the mandatory retirement age for judges under Maryland law.He sees little sense to being forced out because of his age, especially since he is fit enough to walk up the five flights of stairs to his courtroom two or three times each day, he still needs only four hours of sleep each night, can beat 20-year-old opponents at tennis, and plays an hour of squash five times a week.

Hyman Aaron Pressman's name was misspelled in a front-page article yesterday about naming a building in downtown Baltimore after the former city comptroller.The Sun regrets the errors.In his 28 years as Baltimore's financial watchdog, Hyman Aron Pressman loved igniting political controversy by exposing city waste, fraud and abuse. The colorful comptroller and poet politician enjoyed the limelight so much that he installed television lights in his City Hall office at his own expense for news conferences.

Calling the 1996 shooting outside the Volcano's nightclub "a tragedy for the whole community," a Baltimore Circuit Court judge sentenced gunman Kevin Lamont Richardson to 300 years in prison for killing two college students and wounding four other people.Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman said he had no choice but to impose the maximum sentence for the crimes because of Richardson's disregard for human life when he opened fire on a crowd outside the club in the 1000 block of Greenmount Ave. on Oct. 24, 1996, in an attempt to kill an "enemy" of his.Hammerman told Richardson, 25, that he had brought tragedy to the families of six innocent people, and left his three children to grow up without their father.

Describing the shooter as a man with a mouth full of gold teeth and an angry face, a key state witness took the stand yesterday in the trial of a man accused of killing two college students and wounding four people outside a Baltimore nightclub.Ali J. Ellis said he was three to five feet from the man who fired a 9 mm handgun into the crowd outside Volcano's nightclub early Oct. 24, 1996, and that he had "no doubt whatsoever" that Kevin Lamont Richardson, the defendant, was the man."The shooter was so close, and it was so fast that we didn't have time to react," Ellis testified yesterday during the trial in Baltimore Circuit Court.

No vendetta against Judge HammermanI want to clarify some points concerning Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman, chief judge of Baltimore City Circuit Court, in the Oct. 8 article, "City judge acquitted of leaving crash site," and the Nov. 3 letter, "Hammerman gives his side of accident."The trial judge -- John H. Garmer, chief administrative judge for Baltimore County Circuit Court -- was not the original judge on the docket. A district judge (Alexandra Williams) held the case to the very last and then had it transferred to be heard by Judge Garmer.

Hammerman gives his side of accidentI write to set the record straight on the traffic incident I was involved in that was covered so prominently in The Sun.In a letter supporting me, Thomas E. Bower stated that The Sun may be piqued because I publicly criticized the paper as not being as good as in former years. I made that comment only in a totally private gathering.It should be understood that the only charge before the court was leaving the scene of an accident without identifying myself.