Hyattsville

HYATTSVILLE -- A Prince George's County District Court judge yesterday dropped assault charges against a former University of Maryland women's basketball player who allegedly attacked a teammate.Judge Josef Brown dropped charges against Kalisa Davis, 21, of Williamstown, N.J., accused of hitting McDonogh grad and former Maryland guard Sonia Chase, 21, during an incident after an Oct. 27 practice.The twice-postponed trial -- for which Davis was charged with second-degree simple assault -- was originally scheduled for Feb. 23, then for March 2 before yesterday.

A five-day search for the stolen white sedan owned by a 74-year-old Silver Spring accountant who was strangled last week in a Jessup motel ended yesterday when Howard County police located the car on a police impound lot in Hyattsville -- where it had been since a few hours after the man's body was discovered.Howard County detectives found the four-door 1990 Buick Park Avenue through an inter-agency computer search, matching the car's license number with one scanned by Prince George's County police about 7 a.m. Thursday.

A Howard County district judge postponed yesterday the bail hearing of a 27-year-old Hyattsville man accused of strangling a Silver Spring acquaintance in a Jessup motel.Judge Louis Becker, communicating with the suspect through a Spanish interpreter, permitted public defender Jane McGough extra time to consult with the man, Marcos Olvera Ramirez. The hearing could be rescheduled for today.Mr. Ramirez is being held without bail at the Howard County Detention Center in Jessup. He is charged with killing Shelton Woodrow Thigpen, 74, of the 8100 block of Piney Branch Road at the Cedar Motel in the 8000 block of U.S. 1 shortly after midnight June 23.Police said the victim's car was found abandoned in a Hyattsville neighborhood.

Hervey G. MachenFormer congressmanHervey G. Machen, who served in the Maryland House of Delegates for 10 years and in Congress for four, died Tuesday of cancer at his home in Annapolis. He was 78.He had lived in Prince George's County and practiced law in Hyattsville until his retirement about 10 years ago. He represented the county in the Maryland House from 1955 until 1964. In 1964 he was elected to House of Representatives from the old 5th Congressional District.He served on the Armed Forces Committee while in Congress, and continued to support the protection of the Chesapeake Bay and especially the Patuxent and Potomac rivers, work in which he had been active since early in his tenure in the Maryland House.

Hyattsville -- Ever since the University of Maryland went through its massive metamorphosis some two decades ago, every new head, whether ''chancellor'' or ''president,'' has proclaimed the university's ambition for ''top ten'' distinction. Even during its present painful economizing, Chancellor Donald Langenberg insists that it has not abandoned its mission to reach that mythical summit.May I humbly suggest how the university can get there quickly and inexpensively? Declare victory! Unfurl a banner that reads:TOP TEN!

HYATTSVILLE -- A Prince George's County District Court judge gave former University of Maryland wide receiver Kevin Washington 18 months probation yesterday after the player entered a guilty plea to theft and forgery charges.Washington, 19, a Dunbar High graduate, was suspended from the football team in August after university police arrested him on Aug. 14 for allegedly stealing credit cards and blank checks from his roommate in late July. Police said he forged the checks to buy food from Domino's Pizza and Pizza Hut.The verdict of Judge Gerard F. Devlin also stipulated that Washington perform 60 hours of community service during his supervised probation and that he makes restitution -- $411.

HYATTSVILLE -- Prince George's County police charged 30 members of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue with criminal trespass yesterday for impeding the operation of a Hyattsville clinic.About 70 members of the group were outside Reproductive Health Services on Riggs Road when the medical facility opened at 7:30 a.m., authorities said. Seventeen adults and 13 juveniles were charged with trespassing and interference.Several of the protesters forced their way into the building, shackled themselves together and refused to leave.

Alice Sykes, who taught in Baltimore schools, died Tuesday of pneumonia at the Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park.A memorial Mass for Mrs. Sykes, who was 89 and lived in Hyattsville, will be offered at 1 p.m. today at St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church, Caroline and Oliver streets.Mrs. Sykes taught in public elementary schools in Baltimore from 1925 until 1927 and again from 1961 until 1968. The former Alice West was a native of Media, Pa., and a 1924 graduate of Temple University.

HYATTSVILLE -- Two themes swept through the hearing held by the governor's redistricting committee last night: Create a minority district and a separate one for favorite son Representative Steny H. Hoyer, D-5th.About 80 residents and political officials turned out last night for the 11th of 13 hearings held by the five-member commission charged with advising Gov. William Donald Schaefer on the redrawing of legislative and congressional lines that is done every 10 years.Mr. Schaefer, seated in the front row at the hearing room of the Hyattsville Municipal Building, got the advice firsthand from voters.

HYATTSVILLE -- Odir Arias was 14 and playing soccer in his native Intipuca, El Salvador, when soldiers surrounded the field to "recruit" Odir and his teammates.Odir was later freed because of his tender age, but the next year he had an even closer call. He was again almost forced into the Salvadoran army while dancing at a party. It was then that Odir's father, supporting the family by working menial jobs in Los Angeles, decided to pay a "coyote" to smuggle his son into the United States.

Stephen A. Seard, a Polytechnic Institute graduate enrolled in a university engineering program, died of heart disease Saturday while playing in a church-sponsored league basketball game. The Randallstown resident was 20. Family members said Mr. Seard had a coronary artery defect that contributed to his death. Born in Baltimore and raised in Randallstown, he graduated in 2006 from the Polytechnic Institute, where he played varsity football. At his death, he was a junior at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C., where he was majoring in engineering.

HYATTSVILLE -- When Tom Bacote and his five volunteers walked into Ebony Barbers to talk with the clientele yesterday, their message was simple: Be sure to vote on Tuesday. That all the customers and 12 of the 13 barbers - all African-Americans - were supporters of Barack Obama was beside the point. Bacote's get-out-the-vote effort in Prince George's County, underwritten by a San Francisco-based advocacy group called PowerPAC, is part of an eight-state campaign to increase voter turnout in African-American communities for the presidential primaries.

Hyattsville -- Maryland quarterback Josh Portis had a confession to make, and a small cafeteria filled with wide-eyed, waist-high elementary school students looked up at him yesterday morning, waiting for it. "I told them," he said. "I was like, `Unfortunately I made a mistake in the classroom by looking on somebody's paper.'" It was a mistake that cost Portis his eligibility for the 2007 season - a year, as it turned out, the Terps definitely would have used him - and one he told the students at Lewisdale Elementary School not to repeat.

A 64-year-old Baltimore man was among six people convicted this week at a federal trial in Greenbelt of being members of a large cocaine and heroin ring, prosecutors announced yesterday. At the center of the case was Paulette Martin, 59, of Takoma Park, whom prosecutors accused of taking out insurance policies on her drug contacts and then cashing in hundreds of thousands of dollars when some of them died. In addition to Martin, those convicted late Thursday by a federal jury were Learley Reed Goodwin, 63, of Hyattsville; Reece Coleman Whiting, 64, of Baltimore, Derrek Lewis Bynum, 34, of Hyattsville; Lavon Dobie, 46, of Washington; and LaNora Ali, 53, of Hyattsville The jury was unable to reach a verdict for one remaining defendant, Ruby Bertine Harden, 34, of Dundalk.

Prince George's County police are investigating a weekend shooting in Hyattsville that left two men dead. Officers responding to a call about the sound of gunshots in the 5300 block of Quincy St. at 11:11 p.m. Saturday arrived to find two men with multiple gunshot wounds, according to Cpl. Kim Brown. Jose Martin Fernandez, 31, was pronounced dead at the scene. The second victim, taken to Prince George's Hospital, died at 2:05 a.m. yesterday, Brown said. His identity was withheld pending notification of relatives.

On May 7, 2005 LOENA A. DRYDEN "Peggy" of Hyattsville, MD, wife of the late Leslie Powell Dryden, loving mother of Leona Baumgart of Los Gatos, CA, Ann Scoles of Hyattsville, MD and Barbara Meehan of Brookeville, MD, sister of Dorothy King, grandmother of Shawn Scoles, Damian Scoles, Kevin Meehan, Stephen Baumgart, Michael Meehan and David Baumgart, great-grandmother of Nicholas Scoles and Sarah Scoles. Relatives and Friends may call at GASCH'S FUNERAL HOME, P.A., 4739 Baltimore Ave., Hyattsville, MD on Friday, May 13 10AM to 12 Noon, where Services will be held at 12 Noon.

Redevelopment projects in Hyattsville and Crisfield have been tapped for state help under "Priority Places," the Ehrlich administration's version of Smart Growth focused on revitalizing existing communities in Maryland. The two projects -- one to revive the U.S. 1 corridor through Hyattsville, a Prince George's County community, and the other to build homes and shops along the waterfront in Crisfield, Somerset County's faded "crab capital of the world" -- would receive state planning assistance and priority for any state funds that might be available, though none specifically accompanies the designation.

On Friday, January 21, 2005 AGATHA G. CLUNE of Hyattsville, MD wife of the late Martin J. Clune; mother of Richard Clune and his wife Joy, Daniel Clune and his wife Elizabeth, Patricia Galgano and her husband Michael, Sharon Rudzinski and her husband Paul, Mary Ann Weisner and her husband David and Dennis Clune; grandmother of 11; great-grandmother of 14 and Duncan. Friends may call at Gasch's on Sunday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Monday at 10 at St. Jerome's Catholic Church, 5205 43rd Ave., Hyattsville, MD 20781.

On Monday, December 13, 2004, SANTINA MARIE "SHORTY" MIZELL, of Hyattsville, MD; beloved wife of the late Harold Mizell; mother of the late Joseph F. Balsamo; sister of Sr. Frances Theresa Balsamo, CGS; grandmother of Gary, Joe and Harry Balsamo. Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at Sacred Heart Home, 5801 Queens Chapel Rd., Hyattsville, MD on Wednesday, December 15, at 9:30 A.M. Interment Gate of Heaven Cemetery. Arrangements by De Vol.

Dr. Felix D. "Phil" Paolucci, a retired surgeon and former president of the medical staff at Providence Hospital in Washington, died of cancer Sunday at his Hyattsville home. He was 80. Dr. Paolucci was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., and earned his premed degree in 1943 from St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights. After serving in the Navy from 1943 to 1946, he entered Georgetown University School of Medicine and graduated cum laude in 1947. He maintained a surgical practice in Washington and was senior attending surgeon at Providence Hospital from 1954 to 1986.