Meade Village

Two men, one armed with a sawed-off shotgun, robbed a couple in Meade Village Sunday morning, county police said.Richard William Swann, 37, of Laurel, and his girlfriend, Terry Mae Paetow, 30, of Fulton, had stopped their car in the 1700 block of Meade Village Circle at 12:20 a.m. and asked two men standing on the street if they had seen Ms. Paetow's sister.The men walked to the driver's side of the car. One of them took out a sawed-off shotgun and demanded money.After the couple handed over their cash, the men ran down the street.

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.

It was hard to lock up the police substation in Meade Village at nights this summer because of one 9-year-old girl and her penchant for reading."It was fun," said Vera Pack, who came in second place in a police-sponsored contest and won a red mountain bike and helmet. "When you didn't have anything to do, you could go and read in the library.""We almost had to pull you out of there at night," said Officer Arthur G. Foote Jr., one of several officers who works in Meade Village as part of a neighborhood anti-drug program.

U.S. Rep. Ben Cardin toured Meade Village yesterday and praised residents and police officers for turning what was once a drug- and crime-plagued neighborhood into a haven for children.But the congressman, who also represents one-third of Baltimore, wondered if the successful "Take Back our Streets" program has strong underpinnings."My main concern is maintaining this," Mr. Cardin told members of the Anne Arundel County Housing Authority during a meeting before his tour. "Five years from now, will it continue?

For five years, the residents of Meade Village knew Building 14 only as an eyesore: defaced with graffiti, broken windows, floors and walls smeared with mud and paint, and plagued by a distinctive odor.All traces of damage were gone yesterday, as Jerline Daniels showed off her new one-bedroom "garden" apartment, in the first building to receive a face lift as part of the village's new improvement plan."When I came to this apartment it was really bad," said Ms. Daniels, who has lived in Meade Village for about three years.

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."

Man critically hurt in Severn shootingA 19-year-old Washington, D.C., man was shot and critically dTC wounded yesterday morning near Meade Village in Severn.Myron Antoine Harrilson of the 300 block of Ridge Road in the district was listed in critical condition yesterday at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.County police said Mr. Harrilson was walking on a path that connects Meade Village to Van Bokkelen Elementary School shortly after 2 a.m. when he was approached by four men, one of whom said, "What's up?"

Hats off to Anne Arundel County school bus contractor Willie Nixon and a group of business owners who know the meaning of civic responsibility for giving two of that county's poorest, most troubled neighborhoods a desperately needed resource -- transportation.Many of the people who live in Pioneer City and Meade Village have no cars, which translates into no work and no access to health care, addiction and family counseling, and other services to help lift them out of despair. Not long ago, a number of residents who completed a computer-training course at Van Bokkelen Elementary wanted to continue adult education studies in Annapolis, but could not because they had no transportation to get there.