Illegal Signs

While the Severn River Association objects to a plan to sell advertising along the B & A Trail, the Greater Severna Park Council voted Tuesday to let the parks department and Neall administration settle thematter.Late last month, B & A Trail Park Superintendent David Dionne began distributing handbills offering merchants the opportunity to post 36-by-10-inch signs along the trail for a $250 annual fee.In response to the plan, the SRA's executive committee drafted a letter to County Executive Robert R. Neall opposing commercializationof any kind along the 66-foot-wide right of way."

It's taken many years, but it looks like Harford County finally has a good plan for dealing with those illegal commercial signs that litter roadsides and median strips throughout the county: volunteer sign removal crews. Meanwhile, the state law prohibiting the signs, which amount to little more than litter, has been strengthened and the new version goes into effect this weekend. Technically, putting signs in public rights of way like median strips has never been allowed, something to which any law-abiding citizen who has applied for and received a sign permit could attest.

In one of the biggest zoning enforcement sweeps in county history, 16 Benfield corridor businesses were cited last week and given until Tuesday to get rid of their illegal banners and signs.The businessowners, however, complained that the sweep through their region was unfair because it places them at a disadvantage to their non-Benfieldarea competitors."My problem is not with enforcement of the sign code," said Severna Park Inn Discount Liquors owner Bob Cancelliere. "I live here, andI agree that we have to beautify the road.

In Baltimore City Elderly man killed in fire at house on North Broadway An elderly man was killed yesterday in a house fire on North Broadway, Fire Department officials said. The blaze started about 2:30 p.m. in the 1800 block of N. Broadway, said Kevin Cartwright, a department spokesman. Firefighters had the fire under control within 15 minutes after they arrived, Cartwright said. As they fought the blaze, search and rescue workers scoured the three-story house and found the victim inside.

A tanker carrying propane crashed into the Bay Bridge toll plaza late yesterday afternoon, causing backups for several miles and injuring the driver. The tanker was eastbound on U.S. 50 about 4:30 p.m. when it struck a pickup truck and another vehicle before rolling into an E-ZPass lane of the toll plaza. Cpl. Pamela Thorne, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, said five vehicles were involved. The driver of the tanker was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

It's the cheaters that annoy Dan Nataf so much; the ones who post political signs illegally."When people are populating the area with illegitimate signs, they are creating an image of false support," said Mr. Nataf, a Severna Park Democrat running for the House of Delegates. "It's plainly unfair for those who obey. We lose out."Candidates for county and state offices are told about the rules of the political name game when they register to place their names on the primary ballot, said Gary Bowman, chief of the outdoor advertising section of the State Highway Administration.

THE ISSUE: -- Legislation proposed by Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens would severely limit those ubiquitous roadside signs on county roads advertising everything from cheap mortgage rates to open houses to landscaping businesses. The so-called "bandit signs" are an effective form of mass advertising, but many residents don't like the clutter and say the signs could cause accidents as drivers slow down to read them. Are the signs really a problem? Dangerous signs are also an eyesore Bandit signs create a hazard because, in most cases, you are driving while trying to read them, and/or you are trying to write down a telephone number to call for that service.

Cephas Richardson wanted to refinance a house along Lorraine Avenue in Charles Village. But instead of calling a bank, he called a number he saw on one of the "We Buy Houses" signs in the neighborhood. Richardson was told he could get a $100,000 refinance. All he had to do was show up at a building on Mulberry Street with $5,000 in cash. "I never went," said the vice bishop of Greater Jerusalem Church in Waverly. Richardson eventually got a $65,000 loan from a reputable lender and didn't let his house slip through his fingers.

Candidates for local office blanketed Baltimore with thousands of signs this weekend, as the "green machine" campaign team of Mayor Martin O'Malley and placard-waving volunteers of his opponent Andrey Bundley -- among many others -- took advantage of the first weekend that it was legal to put up lawn signs. City sanitation enforcement workers have ticketed the campaigns of Bundley and O'Malley for illegally posting signs on public property, utility poles or other forbidden areas. More than a dozen improper Bundley stickers were observed on utility poles yesterday, and the candidate said no one told him that this was wrong.

Want to make lots of money at home and be your own boss? Need a new day care center? Want to drop your waist size fast? Just look at the signs posted illegally along roadsides all over Howard County. But lately, you may have to look twice, because of those big, bright orange "Violation" notices pasted over the phone numbers. Robert C. Porter, the county's only sign inspector, gets the credit for that. He and community leaders say many more people hate the signs than benefit from them.