Montgomery County

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.

In his State of the County address last night -- his first since announcing his bid for governor -- Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan proposed a reduction in the county's property tax rate of about 15 percent and suggested the creation of a new position to oversee the troubled Clarksburg Town Center project. "We will cut taxes while maintaining our commitment to education and other services and fully funding our employee wage agreements," Duncan, a Democrat, said, according to a copy of the speech released by his office.

CLARKSBURG - Five bicyclists suffered serious injuries when they crashed into each other during the annual Michael P. Murad Memorial Road Race in Montgomery County yesterday morning, police and race organizers said. Police said one of the cyclists in the men's 50-59 age category lost control and caused four other cyclists to crash near Clarksburg and Burnt Hill roads, about half an hour into a 42-mile race that began at 8:05 a.m. After the race was halted, two of the injured cyclists were taken by helicopter to Suburban Hospital in Bethesda.

During a hearing that raised concerns about the role of judges in state policy-making, Montgomery County urged the state's highest court yesterday to block a settlement that would send millions in new aid to Baltimore schools.Attorney Roger W. Titus argued that the settlement affects schools and taxpayers in the counties, and therefore should not have been decided without Montgomery County's participation.He asked the Maryland Court of Appeals to void the settlement and send the case back to Baltimore Circuit Court to be tried -- or settled again with the county at the negotiating table.

If there had been anyone left in the cold, somber courtroom there would have been a buzz when Gary Williams walked in. After all, it isn't every day that a celebrity, especially the basketball coach at the University of Maryland, comes to court.But by the time Williams, 45, walked into the newly christened Montgomery County District Court in Silver Spring to face drunken driving charges yesterday, the courtroom was empty.In its previous life, the courthouse had been a funeral home, and the aura certainly matched Williams' mood, as he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of driving under the influence of alcohol and failure to drive within a single lane.

A Montgomery County woman and her two children died early yesterday, and her husband was critically injured in a fire that swept through a townhouse in Gaithersburg, fire officials said. Alba Herrera, 34, and her children, Caleb, 5, and Dairicha, 23 months, died at area hospitals, apparently from smoke inhalation. Israel Herrera, 31, was in critical condition with burns and severe respiratory damage last night at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital. Officials said the fire started about 6:30 a.m. yesterday at 7211 Millcrest Terrace, off Muncaster Mill Road.

Carroll County Attorney Charles W. Thompson Jr. said yesterday that he will leave the job he has held for 16 years to become Montgomery County attorney.Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan announced Mr. Thompson's appointment at a news conference in Rockville. The County Council still must approve the appointment."His name is well respected in state and national legal circles, and he has proven himself to be a top-notch public administrator," Mr. Duncan said about Mr. Thompson in a statement released yesterday.

A convicted robber who escaped 17 years ago from a California prison program has been arrested in Montgomery County, where he was living in recent weeks in a community of $500,000 homes, authorities announced yesterday.The fugitive -- Gregory Wayne Clutchette, 46, -- had been arrested in 1988 in neighboring Prince George's County but was released on bond using a phony identification before a fingerprint check with the FBI turned up his true identity, police said.Authorities, who found disguises in the man's Gaithersburg home, were trying to determine yesterday what Clutchette has been doing since his escape from a community work project in California in February 1975 and since his 1988 disappearance in Maryland.

A Montgomery County citizens group recommended yesterday that the County Council regulate unmetered water billing in apartment complexes, making Montgomery the second municipality in the state to suggest curbs to the practice. The group suggested that the county restrict the way residents can be charged for water and sewer use, and limit service fees and charges that landlords can pass to tenants. A Howard County group made similar suggestions in December and also recommended that unmetered billing be outlawed in Howard by 2013.

Services for Aileen S. Klein, 70, an administrative assistant whose artistic endeavors included poetry, painting, sculpture and photography, will be held at 12:30 p.m. today at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis, 333 Dubois Road. Mrs. Klein, a longtime Pasadena resident, was on her way home from a family Thanksgiving celebration Friday evening when she was injured in a collision on Ritchie Highway. She died Saturday morning at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Aileen Sandra LeRoy was born and raised in East Orange, N.J. She attended Upsala College there and worked as a programmer for Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J., before moving to Arnold in 1975.