Land Rover

As you can imagine, divers working on the recovery team after the Inner Harbor water taxi accident found some curious things in the murky depths. For recreational anglers, there was this head-scratcher: thousands of feet of 500-pound test monofilament, with 11/0 galvanized steel J-hooks attached about every 3 feet. One diver became tangled in the line and had to hack his way out with a knife. An unmanned submersible had to be raised and cleared of snarls. Could this be evidence of illegal commercial long-lining in the Chesapeake Bay?

Land Rover North America will close its headquarters in Lanham next year, part of a move announced yesterday by parent Ford Motor Co. to consolidate its three British luxury automobile brands. Ford already had announced plans to relocate Land Rover's top executives to California, a move now under way. But yesterday's announcement means that the 100-employee operation remaining in Maryland will be gone by the middle of 2002. "The office building will close, but everyone in Lanham will be offered a job somewhere," said Simon Sproule, a spokesman for the new division.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from police reports in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Baltimore City Western District Arrests: Sgt. Schuyer Denham and Officer Mark Korman were in the 300 block of N. Monroe St. about 2 a.m. Monday when they stopped a 1997 Nissan Pathfinder that was being driven without lights. A check showed the SUV was taken in a carjacking July 17 in the 1900 block of N. Fulton Ave. Arrested and charged with auto theft was the driver, Lamar Lomax, 20, of the 3300 block of Piedmont Ave. and his passenger, Donnell Taylor, 20, of the 2300 block of Edmondson Ave. Lomax also was charged with traffic violations.

Calvert Hall College high school in Towson has expelled six students who broke into the Lutherville house of a classmate and held a raucous beer party over the Memorial Day weekend. One of the boys suspected of breaking into the house has been charged with first-degree burglary, Baltimore County Police Cpl. Ronald Brooks said yesterday. The boy, whose name was not released because he is a juvenile, was charged at the Cockeysville precinct June 3, Brooks said. No court date has been set. At Calvert Hall, a school official refused to identify the six boys who were expelled but said they were juniors.

RECENTLY, my teen-age son saw a Honda Civic that had just been hit by a Chevrolet Suburban. The Civic had been traveling on the straightaway and the Suburban had come out from a side street and hit the back of the smaller car, sending it hurtling across a nearby field like a corkscrew. He said it was obvious that the "jaws of life" used by rescue workers had been necessary to extract the Honda's driver and that when he looked at the interior of the car, it was splattered with blood. "You know," he said, "the really sick thing is that the driver of the Suburban probably went home and bragged to everyone that his SUV had barely a dent."

When the air gets so heavy and dirty that it sits on the Baltimore skyline like an old wool Army blanket, I start thinking about camping. I am thinking about it right now. This past week was just a calling card for the humid weeks of summer ahead. Time to plan a trip to the hills of Pennsylvania or Virginia, or the mountains of northern New England. Sure, you can spend on camping gear the equivalent of the gross national product of some small nation. You'll look wicked cool setting up under the trees with stuff from The North Face or Sierra Designs.

Needle craft Seattle's sky-piercing icon, the 607-foot tall Space Needle, reopens this week after a $20 million renovation. Closed since last fall, nearly every aspect of the 38-year-old landmark has been updated. At its base, two-story glass and steel walls make up a new Pavilion Level. Old restaurants were gutted and replaced by SkyCity, a new eatery featuring Pacific Northwest fare. And the observation deck now boasts an unobstructed, 360-degree view of the city -- something visitors haven't seen since the Space Needle's opening day at the 1962 World's Fair.

Since the opening of the Honda assembly plant in Marysville, Ohio, in 1982, the international automobile sector has grown into a major force in the U.S. economy, accounting for 1.3 million jobs and total compensation of close to $50 billion a year.This was the conclusion of a study released yesterday by the University of Michigan's Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation.David E. Cole, director of the study group, said he was surprised at the impact on the U.S. economy from such auto manufacturers as Honda, Toyota, Land Rover, Nissan, Volvo and Volkswagen, and said he hoped the information would be used to educate government officials in determining policy related to trade, regulations and economic development.

It's dinner time for the top of the food chain.Somewhere out in the tall grass, through the miasma of a dripping hot and humid South African afternoon, the lions are ripping apart one of nature's losers.The tip-off is the vultures, the undertakers of the bush, sitting quietly in the dead-tree tops. Maybe two dozen, perched patiently on the sun-bleached branches, their red, dime-size eyes focused on the distance.Our Land Rover from the Londolozi Private Game Reserve lurches and bumps on a kidney-rattling path through the scrub, making its way toward a stand of shade trees in a large oval clearing.

Land Rover North America Inc., the Lanham-based importer of Land Rover vehicles, used a touch of royalty yesterday in dedicating its new corporate headquarters.Princess Alexandra, first cousin to Queen Elizabeth II, was given the honor of unveiling a dedication plaque affixed to a large quarried rock in the lobby of the 60,000-square-foot structure.The Prince George's County company is the U.S. marketing arm for vehicles manufactured by Land Rover in Solihull, England.The new, two-story, headquarters is the second phase of a more than $12 million building program that began last year with the construction of an adjacent vehicle demonstration course.