Harassment

It's safe to say that once Baltimore's police commissioner publicly names you as a "catalyst for violence" and says his officers will "try to keep very good track" of you, you're going to attract some attention from law enforcement. For nearly two years, Donatello Fenner attracted that kind of attention. But what police saw as keeping close watch on a man they call a ranking member of the Young Gorilla Family - a gang that in 2007 helped pile 10 bodies in East Baltimore's Barclay neighborhood - his family saw as nothing more than preventing the father of three from escaping his troubled past.

A former waitress at a Double T Diner in Anne Arundel County filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit Thursday in federal court against the restaurant chain and the son of one of its owners, alleging she was subjected to sexual advances, gropings and graphic profanity. The suit by the 27-year-old woman is the latest in a decade-long string of legal actions - including two suits by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - against the Double T chain by former waitresses who claimed they were sexually harassed by managers and other employees.

A third Baltimore woman has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against State Farm Insurance Co. and one of its agents, Obie A. Sorrell, alleging that he sexually harassed her in the Randallstown office where they worked. Thomasine Price says she was subjected to crude behavior, insults and sexual propositions by Sorrell since shortly after she was hired a year ago. In November, two other women made similar allegations against Sorrell in a lawsuit filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court.

A day after two Baltimore County women sued their supervisor, a State Farm insurance agent, and State Farm Annuity and Life Insurance Co. on grounds of sexual harassment, assault and defamation, a company representative said Wednesday that it would investigate the allegations. Jen Alvarez, a State Farm spokeswoman in Virginia, said that company officials had not had an opportunity to study the filing, and she would not discuss personnel issues. "What we can tell you is that we take any allegations of this nature seriously and will be thoroughly investigating the matter," Alvarez said.

Two women who work for a State Farm insurance agent in Randallstown sued him and his corporate employer Tuesday, saying he repeatedly subjected them to sexual harassment, vile insults and a hostile work environment. Kristi Mitchell and Veronica Cobb are seeking at least $4 million in punitive damages from the agent, Obie Sorrell, and State Farm Annuity and Life Insurance Co., a Fortune 500 company based in Bloomington, Ill., that has 17,000 agents and 68,000 employees. Mitchell has been an office manager for State Farm since February 2002, and Cobb was hired in May as a customer-service manager.

Two women who work for a State Farm insurance agent in Randallstown sued him and his corporate employer Tuesday, saying he repeatedly subjected them to sexual harassment, vile insults and a hostile work environment. Kristi Mitchell and Veronica Cobb are seeking at least $4 million in punitive damages from the agent, Obie Sorrell, and State Farm Annuity and Life Insurance Co., a Fortune 500 company based in Bloomington, Ill., that has 17,000 agents and 68,000 employees. Mitchell has been an office manager for State Farm since February 2002, and Cobb was hired in May as a customer-service manager.

A s meetings go, Monday night's open house about proposed regulations to protect striped bass was a head scratcher. Members of the group with "conservation" in its name were saying very unconservationlike things. So were other recreational anglers. Essentially, they want to continue to harass, unencumbered by rules, egg-laden female striped bass as they swim to their spawning grounds in the upper Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in March and April. Harass is a harsh word, I know.