Laurel

Laurel police apprehended last night a 45-year-old man who fired a gun and barricaded himself in his Prince George's County home for nearly six hours. After Jack Miller Sr. failed to respond to negotiators, Laurel emergency response and SWAT officials used tear gas and Tasers to draw him out, police spokesman Jim Collins said. Miller was alone. Miller was being taken to a local hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, Collins said, adding that charges, if any, may depend on the evaluation's outcome.

The Laurel College Center, a partnership between Howard and Prince George's community colleges, invites members of the community to drop in between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday for a free, no-obligation information session. Opportunities to improve job prospects can be discussed; those who attend can take a tour of the center, talk with academic and career advisers and learn how to enroll and register for credit and noncredit courses. Registration is open for the fall semester, which begins Aug. 27. Registration for noncredit courses is continuing.

The Savage Historical Society will meet at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Faith & Ministry Center, 9032 Baltimore St. (use the entrance off Foundry Street) in Savage. The Rev. Galen R. Menne will discuss "Savage: A Town Once Known for its Picket Fences." The 2008 historical calendar and the society's World War II Veterans Project also will be discussed. The Savage Historical Society's 2007 calendar, "Sketches of the Savage I Remember," which features the art of Laurence H. Whitehead Sr., can be ordered.

The public fishing season opens today at Cash Lake at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel. The season runs through Oct. 15 (except for federal holidays.) Anglers with a refuge fishing permit can fish from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. through August, and from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. during September and October. The lake, off Route 197 between Laurel and Bowie, has a fully accessible pier and restroom facilities. Anglers can also fish at the refuge's North Tract entrance, off Route 198, through most of the year.

The Savage Historical Society will meet at 7 p.m. March 19 at the Faith & Ministry Center, 9032 Baltimore St., Savage. Carolyn Adami will discuss "A Look at Slavery and the Underground Railroad in Howard County." The program was rescheduled because of inclement weather. Ronald Coleman, a social worker and resident of Savage whose ancestors were slaves on a rice plantation in South Carolina, will give a brief history of Amazing Grace and sing an a cappella version of the hymn. Admission is free and open to everyone.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel is ending its hunting season about two weeks earlier than scheduled. The season was to continue until Jan. 31. Small-game hunting, deer-archery hunting, a restricted hunt by youths and a half-day restricted firearm hunt are affected. Administrative, management, public safety and law enforcement concerns are the reasons for the early closure. The refuge plans to offer opportunities for hunting in the fall. Information: http:--patuxent.

Xtra Heat's first foal, Southwestern Heat, will make his Maryland debut as a 2-1 morning-line favorite in a $30,000 maiden race at Laurel Park on Wednesday. Xtra Heat, formerly a dominant female sprinter based at Laurel, won the 2001 Eclipse Award for top 3-year-old filly. Southwestern Heat, a son of Gone West, was transferred to the barn of Tim Salzman two months ago after starting five times in Kentucky under trainer Dale Romans, recording three third-place finishes.

Registration is open for winter classes sponsored by the South Laurel Recreation Council for children, teens and adults. Classes, which are held at Montpelier, James Harrison and Oaklands elementary schools and Montpelier Carriage House, begin Jan. 16 and thereafter. Yoga, tai chi and Pilates are offered, as are ballroom dance, salsa, Latin dance, Latin line dance and country line dance classes. Also offered are scrapbooking, self-defense, stamping, tea basics, chess, exploring cryptograms and codes, knitting and floral design.

The Ladies Auxiliary of the Savage Volunteer Fire Company Inc. will present a Basket Bingo at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Savage Fire Hall, 8925 Lincoln St. Admission is $15 in advance; $17 at the door, if tickets are available. Admission includes 20 games and door prizes; two jackpot games are extra. Come hungry and patronize the kitchen. Information or to purchase tickets: 443-259-0565. CrossRoads Baptist moves to new home CrossRoads Baptist Church, known for many years as Laurel Baptist Temple, has moved to 10290 Old Columbia Road and adopted its new name.

Minority-pact law will set compensation targets in city Baltimore will set specific targets for how much money black- and Hispanic-owned subcontractors should receive from companies that bid on city work under legislation signed yesterday by Mayor Sheila Dixon. At a City Hall bill signing, Dixon praised the law - which will reauthorize and revise the city's minority-owned business program - as an important measure to ensure that minority- and women-owned businesses receive a slice of the wealth generated by city spending.

The owners of Laurel Park want to build 775 residences and more than a half-million square feet of offices and retail shops near the racetrack's entry road from U.S. 1. MI Developments Inc. of Ontario, the parent of Magna Entertainment Corp., which owns the track, has scheduled a public information meeting on the new Howard County proposal at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Savage Library on Gorman Road. The company did not return phone calls seeking comment. The residential units probably would be apartments, with some townhouses, said Howard County planning director Marsha McLaughlin, who received a briefing on the 64-acre project Sept.

On Wednesday, September 30, 2009, RICHARD A. "Rick" ROBERT, beloved husband of Mary Jo Robert, father of Richard Paul Robert, brother of Alice Quattromani, Cecile Tomasso, Irene Theriault, Rene Robert and Rita Gilbert. Also survived by three grandchildren. Family and friends are invited to call on Friday, October 2, 2009 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 P.M. at the Donaldson Funeral Home, P.A., 313 Talbott Ave., Laurel, MD 20707. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, October 3, 2009 at St. Nicholas Catholic Church, 8603 Contee Rd, Laurel, MD 20708 beginning at 11 A.M. If desired, memorial donations may be made to Hospice of the Chesapeake, 8724 Jericho City Dr., Landover, MD 20785.

LAUREL - - Davidson horse trainer and owner Hubert "Butch" Cave had a hearty laugh Saturday when someone told him she decided to bet on his horse, Sumacha'hot, in the Maryland Million Classic because his "wife" had passed along a tip that the horse was going to win. "I'm not married, and I'm not even dating anyone," Cave said, shaking his head. "So I don't know where that came from. When you own racehorses, the women tend to run the other way." Still, someone was out there talking up Sumacha'hot, and whoever it was, she seemed to know something few others did. The 4-year-old horse, which Cave picked up for $5,000 in a claiming race less than a year ago, won the $200,000 Maryland Million Classic on Saturday at the 24th running of the Jim McKay Maryland Million in front of 19,622 at Laurel Park.

On September 5, 2009, Curtis Lee Evans, Jr Relatives and friends may call at Donaldson Funeral Home, P.A., 313 Talbott Ave., Laurel, MD on Thursday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 pm pm

Et cetera Toronto wins MLL crown on last-minute goal at Navy Shawn Williams scored his second straight goal with 45 seconds remaining Sunday before an announced 7,003 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis to give the Toronto Nationals a 10-9 victory over the Denver Outlaws and their first Major League Lacrosse championship. Williams' game-winner was assisted by Joe Walters (Maryland); his tying goal with 4:30 left came on a pass from Jeff Zywicki. Horse racing: : Apprentice Dusty Ryder Shepherd, 18, won the riding title at the 11-day Laurel Park summer meeting with 10 victories.

Kennedy "Ken" Rice, a financial planner and a fitness enthusiast, died July 31 of a cancerous brain tumor at his Cape St. Claire home. He was 37. Mr. Rice was born in Washington and raised in Laurel. He was a 1990 graduate of St. Vincent Pallotti High School, where he had been a defensive tackle on the school's football team for four years. He also had been a starter on the school's undefeated 1989 team and had earned all-conference honors that year. In 2008, he was inducted into the St. Vincent Pallotti High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

On June 17, 2009, in Towson, MD, LAUREL J. CHAMBERS (nee Eustace); formerly of Scotch Plains, NJ; beloved wife of the late Frederick John Chambers and devoted sister of Charlotte Fekete of Chatham, NJ.; dear aunt of Deborah Gianatasio and her husband, John of Chatham, NJ, and Robert Chambers and his wife, Mary Ann and their family. Mrs. Chambers had served as President of the Scotch Plains woman's club when she lived there, A memorial mass will be offered in Our Lady of the Fields Church, Chatham, NJ, on Saturday, August 8 at 10 A.M. Interment private.

* The Lupus Foundation of America Greater Washington Chapter will host a kickoff party from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at Della Rose's Tavern, 1501 S. Clinton St., Baltimore. Proceeds will benefit Baltimore's second annual Walk for Lupus Now, to be held in September. Tickets are $15 per adult and $9 per child; $5 and $4 per ticket will benefit the upcoming walk. Go to baltimorelupuswalk.org. * Laurel Regional Hospital and the Laurel Lions Club will hold a blood drive in conjunction with the American Red Cross from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 4 in the hospital's J.R. Jones Conference Room at 7300 Van Dusen Road, Laurel.

Government is often said to move slowly, but it does move, as many of those involved in planning a new 51-acre park and a 63,000-square-foot community center in North Laurel can attest. Bulldozers should be appearing within the next few weeks in what are now woods and grass between the rear of Laurel Woods Elementary School and Whiskey Bottom Road, and the $25.2 million combined facility is to open in October 2010 - after a mere two decades of effort for what most acknowledge is an old, settled area without enough public amenities.

Gambling and horse racing interests are teaming up in an effort to revive the prospects of slot machine gambling at Laurel Park, despite the failure of the track's owner, Magna Entertainment Corp., to make a qualified bid there - and despite The Cordish Cos.' eminently qualified bid for a competing site at Arundel Mills Mall. This is exactly the kind of news that justifies cynicism about Maryland's slots program and the sort of wheeling and dealing that marred the legalization of slots in Pennsylvania, which was entangled for years in corruption scandals and lawsuits.