Lansdowne

Proximity to Interstate-95, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and the Baltimore Beltway was one of the factors in the move by Special Olympics Maryland from its current location in Linthicum to a business park off Washington Boulevard. Merritt Properties announced Sept. 7 that Maryland Special Olympics is moving to 3701 Commerce Drive in Merritt's Beltway Business Community. Relocating to the west side of Baltimore will provide Special Olympics Maryland with easier access to a large part of the state, according to a release from Merritt.

Kaiser Permanente will open a new medical facility in Lansdowne next year as part of a long-term strategy to double the number of patients it serves in the Mid-Atlantic region in the next decade. The health care provider said Wednesday that the 130,000-square-foot building will take a one-stop-shopping, approach, with many specialty services offered under one roof, much like California-based Kaiser's facilities on the West Coast. Kaiser also will build three other new facilities by 2013 in Montgomery County, Fairfax County, Va., and Washington.

Officers in Baltimore County's Violent Crimes division are investigating a robbery and shooting in the Lansdowne area Thursday. Officers were called to the 2900 block of Lakebrook Circle at about 8 p.m. and found a 32-year-old man who said he was robbed by two mean wearing masks. Officers have yet to determine what was stolen. The victim, whose address has not been released, was shot in the leg during the incident and was taken to an area hospital for treatment. His injuries are not life-threatening, police said.

A second woman has been charged in the bleach and Pine-Sol fight that temporarily shut down a Baltimore County Walmart in the fall. A Baltimore County grand jury has indicted Ebony Odoms, 27, of Reisterstown, on charges of first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and destruction of property in connection with the Oct. 8 fight. The chemical fumes from the incident caused 19 people to be taken to area hospitals. Odoms is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday. "Whatever she did was only in self-defense," said her attorney Stephen R. Tully.

A teenager has been charged in the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old boy during a dispute last month in Lansdowne, Baltimore County police said Monday. Armando Cele Hernandez, 16, of the first block of Birdnest Court was charged as an adult with first-degree murder. Police have said the victim, Keon Dobbs, 17, was found lying face-down in a vestibule of a house, suffering from a shotgun wound. The shooting occurred about 2:30 p.m. March 22 and prompted authorities to lock down two nearby schools.

No. 6 Milford Mill used different kinds of presses for four quarters to stifle Lansdowne's offense and win, 75-52, in boys basketball Wednesday. Tevin Hanner had 20 points and 16 rebounds for the Millers (3-0), who led by 25 midway through the fourth quarter. Nick LaGuerre had 20 points for Lansdowne. No. 10 Oakland Mills 79, Hammond 44: The host Scorpions (5-0) had another huge third quarter, scoring 21points to beat the Bears (3-2). Greg Whittington finished with a game-high 28 points.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police recovered the body of a man who had fallen from a 24-foot pontoon boat in the Assawoman Bay near 126th Street, Ocean City Saturday evening. The body of Jordan Craig Hock, 23, was recovered Sunday at 9:50 a.m., according to a spokesman for Natural Resources Police Monday morning. This is Maryland's 16th fatal boating accident victim of the year. According to a release from Natural Resources Police, the boat was being operated by Robert Stanley Holmes, 53, of Lansdowne.

A man was found fatally shot in a field near Lansdowne on Saturday morning, according to Baltimore County police. Cpl. John Wachter of the county police reported that the victim had been shot in the back. Someone called police at 6:37 a.m. after seeing the man lying in the field at the intersection of Illinois Avenue and Annapolis Road. Police did not have an identification of the victim or suspects in the case. Homicide units are continuing to investigate the shooting.

A man was fatally shot in Lansdowne early Tuesday morning, according to Baltimore County Police. Officers responded to an apartment on Silerton Court at 12:10 a.m. and found a man suffering from gunshot wounds. He was taken to St. Agnes Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police. Investigators have identified the victim as 18-year-old Tyran Dasean Smoot, who lives on Silerton Court. Police said witnesses saw a man approach Smoot from around the corner and fire a gun at him. The case is being investigated and no further information was available Tuesday afternoon.

Moments after Lansdowne's 4-0 loss to North Caroline in the Class 2A state championship game, Lansdowne principal Lyn Whitlock smiled as she walked off the field with the school's finalist trophy. "I think their being here shows they have such strength of character," she said. "We're very, very proud of them. Their performance this season and that of our softball team, which was also a finalist and our track team, which went to states, have provided us with a lot of excitement. And on top of their athletics, they're all very good students.

Police officers shot and wounded a man Thursday who was driving a car linked to an armed robbery after chasing the vehicle nearly 30 miles from southern Anne Arundel County to Lansdowne, according to a Baltimore County police spokeswoman. During the chase up Interstate 97, police said, the man waved a handgun out of the window of the car. The pursuit involved state troopers and officers from Baltimore City and Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties. Detective Cathy Batton, the Baltimore County police spokeswoman, said the chase began about 11 a.m. on Solomons Island Road, southwest of Annapolis, and ended at 11:48 a.m. at Virginia Avenue and Fenor Road in the Baltimore Highlands neighborhood.

About 15 vehicles driving on the inner loop of Interstate 695 in southwestern Baltimore County were damaged Monday night after hundreds of rocks from a railroad overpass fell onto the busy highway, according to Maryland State Police. No injuries were reported, but vehicles were damaged with dents, scratches and cracked windshields, police said. Police began receiving reports from motorists just before 7 p.m. that rocks were falling from the Hollins Ferry railroad overpass. Officials from the State Highway Administration responded to the scene and helped clear rocks from I-695, which was temporarily closed.

Police said Friday that pedestrian error was to blame in the death of a 16-year-old girl who was struck by a car in the Baltimore Highlands neighborhood. The girl who died Thursday afternoon was identified as Bridget Catherine Herold, of the 4400 block of Fenor Road. She was struck by a small SUV at about 4:45 p.m. while she was walking near the intersection of Annapolis Road and Ohio Avenue, according to Baltimore County police. Elvira Urias, 19, of the 100 block of Cherry Lane in Glen Burnie, was identified as the driver.

Baltimore County police have identified the pedestrian struck and killed by a tractor-trailer Friday in Lansdowne-Baltimore Highlands. Charles Valentine, 36, of the 3100 block of Bero Road, was talking to a neighbor, who was in the driver's seat of a van parked at Bero Road and Carlsbad Court, when the truck struck him shortly after 9:00 p.m., police said. Valentine was crushed against the van and then fell into the roadway, under the rear wheels of the truck, police said. He was pronounced dead at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Baltimore County police say they believe an 18-year-old man found stabbed to death in a wooded area of Curtis Bay was killed sometime last week in Lansdowne. Ryan Wesley Jackson, of the 3600 block of West Bay Ave., had been reported missing on Oct. 14 after his girlfriend hadn't seen him for two days, county police said. On Oct. 15, his family visited a home in the 700 block of Rambo Court where they believed he might be. "The family went over there, and was able to go into the home," said Det. Cathy Batton, a county police spokeswoman.

Officers in Baltimore County's Violent Crimes division are investigating a robbery and shooting in the Lansdowne area Thursday. Officers were called to the 2900 block of Lakebrook Circle at about 8 p.m. and found a 32-year-old man who said he was robbed by two mean wearing masks. Officers have yet to determine what was stolen. The victim, whose address has not been released, was shot in the leg during the incident and was taken to an area hospital for treatment. His injuries are not life-threatening, police said.

FREDERICK -- Centennial's Kurt Weitzel pitched one of the best games of his life against second-seeded Lansdowne in the Class 3A state baseball championship game yesterday at McCurdy Field.Unfortunately for Weitzel and fourth-seeded Centennial, Lansdowne's Randy Musgrove pitched just a bit better and notched a 3-0 victory.Musgrove (8-0) pitched a three-hitter, retired the first 10 batters and pitched to just two batters over the minimum. He struck out eight and walked none during the 85-minute contest.

A county front-end loader, weed-killer and workers whose hands itched with poison oak have uncovered a piece of early Lansdowne history that community volunteers hope to refurbish into a local landmark.A few weeds are the only greenery now amid a mesh of dead brambles and stalks around the white and gray gravestones of the Courseys, a prominent Lansdowne family.Before the lush undergrowth was cleared, the Coursey family cemetery was untended and largely forgotten despite the role the family played in beginning Lansdowne in southern Baltimore County.

Damon Paul Gerber, a retired Baltimore County Police Department captain who founded its K-9 service, died of multiple organ failure Wednesday at Harmony Hall in Columbia. The former Mount Airy and Lansdowne resident was 87. Born in Sykesville and raised in an orphanage, he was a welder at the Bethlehem Steel shipyard during World War II. He joined the Baltimore County Police Department and served for many years at its Wilkens Avenue District. A 1969 News American article, written when a new police dog training facility opened, said the center "grew out of the vision of Capt.