Montgomery County

POTOMAC -- A handyman hired to help paint a stately home in this wealthy Washington suburb was charged yesterday with killing the podiatrist who owned it, the doctor's three daughters and another house painter, leaving friends and fellow doctors traumatized.Each of the victims was beaten -- their bodies found bound and gagged in separate rooms of the $700,000 home on Twining Lane, say investigators and court documents filed last night.Police identified the dead as Dr. David Marc Goff, 46, and his daughters Andrea Robyn Goff, 22; Sheri Helene Goff, 19; and Alyse Renee Goff, 14. The dead painter was identified as Mark Richard Aldridge, 30, of Wheaton.

Gov. Martin O'Malley named an 11-member work group Monday night to study a possible expansion of gambling in Maryland and announced that if the group can reach consensus he would call a special session July 9 to vote on casino legislation. O'Malley selected John Morton III, chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority and prominent business executive, to chair the panel. Representing the administration will be Budget Secretary T. Eloise Foster, chief of staff Matthew Gallagher, appointments secretary Jeanne Hitchcock and chief legislative aide Joseph Bryce.

Quiet, please.Railing against the roar of leaf blowers in California and tinkle of ice cream trucks in New Jersey, suburban America is fed up with noise. And in Maryland, the champion of quiet is Dave Jarinko, state noise cop.Wearing a uniform and badge and armed with a $10,000 sound sensor that can capture the hum of a swimming pool pump -- or the squawk of a peacock -- the Maryland Department of the Environment inspector travels the state investigating noise complaints that stymie local officials.

Dr. George G. Hansen, a retired dentist and master woodworker, died April 11 of pneumonia at Oak Crest Village retirement community. He was 89. The son of educators, Dr. Hansen was born in Baltimore and raised in Towson. He spent his boyhood summers at a camp his parents owned and operated in Oakland, where he learned to ride horses, shoot, canoe, camp and do woodworking. After graduating in 1941 from Polytechnic Institute, where his father taught physical education, he earned his degree in an accelerated class in 1946 from the University of Maryland School of Dentistry.

Twenty years ago, we separately produced publications urging that governments should provide incentives for the creation of accessory apartments (sometimes called "mother-in-law apartments") in owner-occupied housing. Our writings pointed out that there was a shortage of small-unit housing; that household sizes had dropped, rendering many large homes ripe for partial use by renters; that it was irrational to maintain regulations that discouraged extended families from living next to each other; and that Germany, Japan and Finland had provided such incentives as housing policy.

In the movies, Gotham City police required a giant spotlight to find Batman. Montgomery County police didn't have to go quite so far, finding him cruising around in a Lamborghini Wednesday in Silver Spring and pulling the unidentified man over for not having proper tags. The bizarre picture was posted to the department's official Twitter page today, followed by a note clarifying that the "Batmobile" wasn't towed.  Officer Janelle Smith, a police spokeswoman, said the driver is a Good Samaritan who dresses up as Batman and visits sick children at local hospitals.

The Fox News network published an opinion article entitled "An Illegal Alien's Guide to the Top Five Best Places to Live In America". As an introduction, the author (Bob Dane) stated, "When 'relocating' to the United States, it's best to avoid states that have selfishly put the interests of their legal residents ahead of yours with laws that hinder your access to jobs and benefits. But many attractive destinations remain, endorsed by millions of illegal aliens already living in each.

The Maryland swimming community welcomed Montgomery County schools to their first state Class 4A-3A championships on Saturday. The new teams proved to be up to the task, sweeping all 22 of the events. The newcomers also set 4A-3A state championship records in 16 events. The meet's top individual finisher was Walter Johnson's Garrett Powell. The senior won the 500 freestyle (4 minutes, 27.83 seconds), the 100 backstroke (51.79) and the anchor leg of the 400 freestyle relay (3:12.25)

AFTER READING the April 2 editorial, ''Destructive rivalry in Maryland,'' I feel compelled to respond to the charges of parochialism being levied against Montgomery County representatives in Annapolis.For many years, Montgomery County has been the primary source of funds going into the state's budget, yet every year, Montgomery gets the short end of the stick when the budget is finalized.To suggest that Montgomery lawmakers are unwilling to champion projects in other regions is not only untrue, it is completely ridiculous.

FOR YEARS, the politicians of Baltimore City have lived in the faith that any fiscal problems the city confronts can be solved in Annapolis. Their state counterparts, in turn, have not been afraid to be generous, on the assumption that Montgomery County would continue to provide a virtually inexhaustible source of state revenue. It was, after all, one of America's three or four wealthiest counties. The growing centralization of American government would continue to benefit the county, as would its scientific institutions.

A Montgomery County police officer shot himself to death after leading a state trooper on a high-speed chase on the Eastern Shore early Monday, state police said. Jed R. Bylsma, 30, of Gettysburg, Pa., was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Bylsma was observed on radar speeding on westbound U.S. 50 in Talbot County about 1:30 a.m., police said. A state trooper pulled him over near Skipton Creek. Bylsma showed the trooper a Pennsylvania driver's license and said he was an officer with the Montgomery County Police Department, police said.

In the movies, Gotham City police required a giant spotlight to find Batman. Montgomery County police didn't have to go quite so far, finding him cruising around in a Lamborghini Wednesday in Silver Spring and pulling the unidentified man over for not having proper tags. The bizarre picture was posted to the department's official Twitter page today, followed by a note clarifying that the "Batmobile" wasn't towed.  Officer Janelle Smith, a police spokeswoman, said the driver is a Good Samaritan who dresses up as Batman and visits sick children at local hospitals.

The Maryland swimming community welcomed Montgomery County schools to their first state Class 4A-3A championships on Saturday. The new teams proved to be up to the task, sweeping all 22 of the events. The newcomers also set 4A-3A state championship records in 16 events. The meet's top individual finisher was Walter Johnson's Garrett Powell. The senior won the 500 freestyle (4 minutes, 27.83 seconds), the 100 backstroke (51.79) and the anchor leg of the 400 freestyle relay (3:12.25)

Maryland's new Sixth and Eighth Congressional Districts begin in the state's rugged northwest but then dive southeastward into suburban Montgomery County. The city of Baltimore is split between three new districts: the Second, Third, and Seventh. The new Fourth District joins heavily African-American Prince George's County with heavily white Anne Arundel County. Is there anything wrong with these sorts of districts? Democratically, the answer is yes. Representatives cannot serve their constituents' interests effectively when districts fuse or fragment distinct communities.

The Baltimore Police Department has reached outside its ranks to fill a top command position, hiring a former top official from Montgomery County to lead training efforts. John A. King, the former police chief in Gaithersburg and a former assistant chief with the Montgomery County police department, was hired last month to lead the department's education and training division, filling a vacancy when its commander was moved to a patrol position. Police training, a priority of Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, came under scrutiny  by the commission investigating the fatal police shooting outside the Select Lounge in January.

The Traffic Group, a White Marsh-based transportation planning firm, has been chosen by Montgomery County officials to prepare a conceptual blueprint and cost estimate for a bus rapid transit system to serve the state's most populous jurisdiction and the home of Maryland's worst traffic congestion. The system would consist of a 150-mile network of express lanes stretching from Gaithersburg to Silver Spring that would be capable of handling 207,000 passengers daily - which would make it one of the largest bus rapid transit systems in the nation.

A Washington woman and a Silver Spring man were killed in separate Montgomery County traffic accidents yesterday, one an hour after midnight and the other an hour before dawn, police reported.Investigators said the first accident occurred about 1 a.m. in the 13000 block of River Road in Potomac when a man from Hollywood, Cal., crossed the center line in his 1985 Buick Century and hit a Honda CRX head-on.The driver of the Honda, identified by police as Isabel M. Duarte, 21, of the 2300 block of Tracy Place in Northwest Washington, died from head injuries, investigators said.

Two teen-age boys died last night when their car went out of control on a rain-slick road in Montgomery County and collided with a sport utility vehicle. The names, ages and addresses of the teens were not released. According to Montgomery County Police, the accident occurred at 8: 42 p.m. as the teens' Hyundai was southbound on Route 107 near the Poolesville town limits. The SUV was northbound. The cause of the accident remains under investigation. Both boys were pronounced dead at the scene.

The Sun's article lauding the opening of the Intercounty Connector ("Drivers rejoice as ICC debuts," Nov. 23) quotes failed governor wannabe Douglas Duncan, "I think people will find it is worth it. " If anyone really believed it was worth it, they would have charged a toll that would pay for it. The Sun neglected to mention whether its readers felt the ICC was worth paying doubled tolls on the Baltimore harbor tunnels, the Bay Bridge, and the Susquehanna...

A silver maple in Elkton has lost the title of Maryland's Largest Tree after high winds last week left it severely damaged, according to the state's Department of Natural Resources. The Cecil County maple had been designated the state's largest tree since 2006, a statement from the department said. That year it was measured to be 27 feet in circumference, 114 feet tall with an average crown spread of 106 feet. At the time it was the second-largest silver maple in the country, behind a tree in Michigan.