Meade Village

WHEN A POLICE OFFICER issues an order to stop, most of us obey. Those who don't usually find themselves in trouble. Failure to obey seems to be at the heart of the case that ended up with Fabian Gray, a 16-year-old Meade Village resident, being hospitalized with a variety of injuries.Eyewitness accounts differ, but every one seems to agree on a few facts. Last Friday afternoon, the teen-ager was riding a dirt bike on Meade Village Circle back and forth at speeds of up to 60 mph. Sgt. Brian Heger, with the Youth Activities Program in the western Anne Arundel County community, stepped onto the street to talk to the teen.

County police foot patrols have returned to Meade Village in Severn in an attempt to get residents involved in anti-drug efforts before warm weather brings an inevitable increase in street crime."

County police Cpl. Gordie March stood in the center of Meade Village and couldn't help but smile as children rushed up to police officers -- many on their own time -- to claim trinkets, T-shirts and circus tickets, or to hear uniformed officers sing rock 'n' roll."

Drenched in sweat, Richard Creek heaved another shovel full of dirt from the pile and carefully spread it in front of the Meade Village Community Center.He was celebrating his birthday Saturday sweltering in the heat to fill in the beaten-down lawn. With some grass seed and a fence to keep people from running across the yard, Creek hoped to create a nice green entrance to the dilapidated community center.A half-dozen Meade residents labored next to Creek under the noonsun and teased him about his age. Creek bragged that he got up at 6:30 that morning to decorate his own yard with flowers.

Head Start instructor Yolanda Oliver, her hands joined at the heart, bowed her head to her young pupils. "Namaste," Oliver said to the room of preschoolers sitting cross-legged on purple yoga mats. "The good girl in me sees the good girls in you and the good boys in you." "Namaste," the 15 boys and girls repeated, giggling as they bowed to Oliver and to one another. Then -- their minds and bodies reinvigorated by the nearly hourlong yoga session -- they filed back into their classroom for playtime at the Meade Village Head Start center.

POLICE LOG* Jessup: Burglars stole $1,684 in tools from a pickup truck parked in the 2000 block of Orchard Avenue in Jessup sometime between Dec. 3 and Tuesday.* Meade Village: Burglars stole an outdoor public telephone between Dec. 1 and Thursday that was installed on Meade Village Circle. The phone was valued at $1,000.

Undercover county police arrested three men and a juvenile Friday after a series of drug buys in several West County neighborhoods.Derrick L. Love, 26, of the 6500 block of Quiet Hours in Columbia was charged with fourth-degree burglary. Nathaniel C. Harris, 19, of the 1700 block of Meade Village Circle in Severn was charged with distribution of counterfeit drugs; Johnny E. Mack, 38, of the 100 block of Pinecove Ave. in Odenton and the juvenile from Meade Village were charged with distribution of crack cocaine.

Two county police officers pulled over a driver Tuesday for running a stop sign in Meade Village, then wound up chasing him into an apartment where they arrested him.Keith Lamont Martin, 35, of the 300 block of Highland Drive in Glen Burnie was charged with assault, drug possession, trespassing, reckless endangerment, burglary, failure to stop for a stop sign, fleeing and eluding police, and driving on a suspended license.Officers Robert Vane and Thomas Kohlmann were in Severn about 12: 30 a.m. when they saw a 1994 Geo fail to stop at a sign at Meade Village Road and Circle Road.

County police arrested three Severn youths and a Severn man Tuesday on theft charges after they discovered a bicycle theft ring was operating in their neighborhood.A community security guard told police that he saw four teen-agers on Meade Village Circle just after 4: 30 a.m. with several bicycles. The guard became suspicious because one bicycle was small and obviously made for a toddler. He approached the teens, but they ran, so he called police.Responding officers stumbled upon 10 bicycles, some dismantled, behind the 1600 block of Meade Village Circle, police said.

Woman reports break-in, assaultA Meade Village woman told police she was assaulted Sunday by a man who broke into her home in the 8100 block of Meade Village Circle.According to the report, officers were called to the home at 6:40 a.m. to settle a domestic dispute. When they arrived, a man told them the suspect had kicked open the front door, then ran upstairs to the bedroom and began hitting a woman there. The man broke up the struggle and began fighting with the suspect, who ran from the house before police arrived.