Janey

A 30-year-old Annapolis man, convicted twice last year of beating up his girlfriend, was found guilty yesterday of murdering her by stabbing her 58 times, dumping her body in woods and burning the stolen car police say was used in the slaying.Richard E. Janey of the 100 block of Obery Court was convicted by an Anne Arundel Circuit Court jury of second-degree murder, accessory to murder, conspiracy to commit murder and arson in the December 1994 death of Susan McAteer, an Annapolis woman he had dated.

More than two dozen residents turned out last night for a report on possible solutions if a tie vote were to occur again in a New Windsor election -- as it did in May for the first time in the town's 155 years.Had the town held a run-off election, it could have been sued -- and would have lost -- because there is no provision in its charter for another election, said Neal M. Janey, a municipal law expert who was asked to research the situation.Last night, Janey outlined the report prepared after the town election May 11 produced a tie for one of three open council seats.

Former City Solicitor Neal M. Janey is working for Baltimore again.Janey, who left Baltimore's top legal post in the fall to become a partner in Miles & Stockbridge, will receive up to $15,000 to be the city's representative on a three-member arbitration panel to decide unresolved contract issues with the firefighters' and fire officers' unions.The Board of Estimates, a five-member panel of the city's top elected and appointed officials, yesterday unanimously approved the contract with Janey, who did not attend the weekly meeting.

Nearly six months after she was briefly snatched from her Glen Burnie home in a midday break-in, Janey still clutches a teddy bear for comfort - and yesterday the man charged with the crime was sentenced to five years in prison. "You essentially took a member of that family," Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Michele Dane Jaklitsch told Kenneth M. King, 25, who pleaded guilty to burglary in the incident. But Janey is no ordinary family member - she is a white-throated capuchin monkey worth $7,000.

City Solicitor Neal M. Janey said yesterday that Baltimore is not considering a compromise that would allow Odell's, the troubled North Avenue nightclub, to reopen.Mr. Janey also took issue with a story that ran yesterday in The Sunthat said Odell's owner and the city might strike a compromise that would allow the club to operate."The suggestion was that yet another deal is in the offing, and that is just not the case," Mr. Janey said. "The city's position is that the zoning board has ruled and . . . in effect, they're closed down."

"Six months ago, the doctor told us that our 4-year-old daughter might die before morning," recalls Janey, 27, the mother of three, who's been married to Greg for six years. "But lTC then a miracle occurred: Mary was granted another remission -- her third since she was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 19 months old." Though Janey and Greg are both grateful and hopeful, the past few years have been very hard on their marriage, as well as on their two other children. But while Janey yearns to re-establish the closeness they used to have, Greg seems more distant than ever.

"RAIN," by Kristy Gunn. 95 pages. Atlantic Monthly Press. $15It's a good thing this novel is only 95 pages, because it would be near-impossible for the reader to survive the tension and sadness that bubble up through every word. This must be what it feels like to drown, reading this book, knowing that death is inevitable and pointless, though preventable.Janey is 12, her brother Jim is 5, and together with their drunken, socialite parents they spend their summers on a lake. Janey teaches Jim to swim, makes sure that he is fed and tucked in and cared for and gives him all the stability and attention that their narcissistic parents do not. Each day the two escapetogether on some new watery adventure, in which every detail, every shrub, seems ominous.

An Annapolis woman who admitted her role in a 1994 murder was sentenced to 14 years in prison yesterday by an Anne Arundel Circuit Court judge who said her drug habit was no excuse for her actions.Wanda R. Hall, 32, of the 1000 block of Bay Ridge Road received the maximum sentence from Judge Bruce C. Williams for being an accessory after the fact to second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Susan McAteer of Annapolis."This is another tragic result of drug use, but I don't think we can look at this as just another case of drug use being responsible," Judge Williams said.

You can still have a lunchtime drink on The Block, according to a tentative agreement worked out between Baltimore officials and owners of the adult entertainment district.The agreement, reached sometime over the summer, would settle a lawsuit filed against the city by Block owners by easing some restrictions -- particularly a ban on daytime operating hours -- imposed in a city law passed last year. An amended bill is now before the City Council."The Block is going to survive and stay open and hopefully flourish.

One of two private attorneys hired to represent City Council members in a federal investigation of their financial and political dealings has dropped at least some of them as clients. Several council members have said they are meeting individually with City Solicitor Ralph S. Tyler this week to discuss new legal representation. It was not clear if attorney Neal M. Janey, who was assigned 10 members of the 19-member council, continues to represent any of them. Janey did not return repeated phone messages seeking comment.