Motor Vehicle

A Sykesville woman wept and apologized yesterday after pleading guilty to two charges in a drunken-driving accident in Woodbine in May that killed her boyfriend.Donna F. Cianci, 36, pleaded guilty to homicide by motor vehicle while intoxicated and driving while intoxicated.She is to receive a sentence in July of no more than 18 months imprisonment under terms of a plea bargain in Carroll County Circuit Court. The more serious charge -- homicide by motor vehicle -- carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Carroll sheriff's deputies will crack down on county motorists who fail to register their vehicles and obtain Maryland license plates, Sheriff Kenneth L. Tregoning said yesterday.After an initial public awareness campaign -- about 30 days -- deputies will concentrate on vehicles with out-of-state plates and check to see where the owners live, the sheriff's office said.State law requires new residents to register vehicles and obtain a Maryland driver's license within 30 days.The county is taking advantage of first-time state grants to pay overtime costs for the crackdown, said Maj. John Stultz, operations commander for Tregoning.

An article in the Carroll County edition of The Sun yesterday about a 22-year-old man seeking to have bail reduced incorrectly stated the charges against Christopher Scott Frazier. The article should have said Frazier, with no fixed address, was held on charges of first-degree assault, carjacking, robbery, second-degree assault, theft over $300, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in connection with an attack on a 17-year-old New Windsor girl in September.

Carroll sheriff's deputies will crack down on county motorists who fail to register their vehicles and obtain Maryland license plates, Sheriff Kenneth L. Tregoning said yesterday.After an initial public awareness campaign -- about 30 days -- deputies will concentrate on vehicles with out-of-state plates and check to see where the owners live, the sheriff's office said.State law requires new residents to register vehicles and obtain a Maryland driver's license within 30 days.The county is taking advantage of first-time state grants to pay overtime costs for the crackdown, said Maj. John Stultz, operations commander for Tregoning.

IN YOUR Feb. 26 editorial "Radio-free Parris," you have some misconceptions concerning the mission of the Maryland Vehicle Theft Prevention Council and our plan to reduce vehicle theft in Maryland, whatever it takes.If this means recruiting the governor to be our lead spokesman, so be it. After all, he is the leader of the state, and we were honored that he would take the time to assist us.An independent evaluation of the council's program was conducted in 1996 by the Schaefer Center for Public Policy at the University of Baltimore.

The son of a state senator from Carroll County was ordered held in lieu of $5,000 bail yesterday after he was accused for the second time in two months of picking up keys from women in bars and driving their vehicle home -- without their knowledge or permission.Matthew Keith Haines, 34, of the 100 block of W. Main St. in Westminster was charged Fridaywith unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and theft under $300.According to charging documents, a New Windsor woman told state police at 8: 30 p.m. that she noticed her keys and pickup truck were missing soon after an acquaintance left Fiestas, a restaurant and bar on Route 140.The woman provided an address, and troopers reported finding her 1995 Toyota truck parked near the apartment.

Nine drunken-driving convictions and a revoked license did not keep Charles H. Sexton from climbing behind the wheel while drunk in March and crashing into a utility pole, killing his mother.Howard County prosecutors are hoping a five-year prison sentence imposed by a circuit judge yesterday will keep the 48-year-old Woodbine man off the road.Sexton pleaded guilty to homicide by motor vehicle while intoxicated and other charges stemming from the accident that killed Leonia Sexton, 75.Sexton told Judge Raymond J. Kane that his punishment would last far longer than any prison term.

A 22-year-old Columbia man -- said to be the fourth and final suspect wanted in connection with the car theft that led to Wednesday's dramatic rescue of a Howard County firefighter from the icy waters of the Patapsco River -- was arrested later that same day.The man, identified as Corey Tyray Treadwell of the 9400 block of Timesweep Lane in Oakland Mills village, was arrested about 1: 45 p.m. in the 5800 block of Stevens Forest Road and charged with motor...

WASHINGTON -- Attorneys for Maryland have asked a federal court to dismiss a civil rights group's suit charging that the state has failed to implement the "motor voter" law.In a motion filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, the state said claims by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. that Maryland is not upholding the National Voter Registration Act -- which requires voter registration at motor vehicle, social service and other...

If you walk into a Motor Vehicle Administration or social service office today, be prepared for a new question: Are you registered to vote?It is the result of the National Voter Registration Act and a companion Maryland bill that went into effect Jan. 3, allowing citizens to apply to register by mail, in motor vehicle offices and many other government agencies.In Maryland, with a population of 5 million, there are 2 1/2 million registered voters, but 3 1/2 million licensed drivers. The statewide goal of the so-called "Motor Voter" law is to register an additional 1 million voters, said Gene Raynor, state administrator of elections.

Attention, Maryland adults who TWD - the solons are sending the cops for us. It's going to be bad out there. If a cop stops you for writing and sending text messages on your wireless while operating a motor vehicle, you could have to pay a $500 fine. For the most degenerate, hard-core addicts of TWD, this could be expensive, if not traumatic. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about here. The Maryland Senate voted a couple of weeks ago to make TWD a misdemeanor for adults. (TWD is already prohibited for drivers under 18 with learner's permits or provisional licenses.

With fuel prices soaring, Mark Nagurney thought he had figured out a clever way to drive free - and save the Earth at the same time. The 49-year-old Laurel physicist is one of thousands nationally who have converted their diesel cars and trucks to run on straight vegetable oil. But in burning a cleaner fuel than diesel, Nagurney never imagined he'd end up on the wrong side of federal environmental laws. Or break Maryland's fuel tax regulations, which require even folks driving on grease thrown away by fast-food restaurants to get a "special fuel" license, obtain a $1,000 bond from an insurance company, file monthly forms and pay the same 24 cents per gallon tax as drivers using diesel.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's decision to cooperate with the Bush administration on Real ID is a mistake. The decision turns clerks at Maryland's Motor Vehicle Administration into immigration officers, forcing them to ask prospective drivers about their immigration status and then assess the validity of documents - a troublesome chore even for well-trained immigration officers. Moreover, Real ID will push illegal immigrants further into the shadows, where they will be deterred from reporting crimes to police or using emergency rooms.

The closest place to hell on earth is your local motor vehicle office - that's one of the funnier running gags in the TV comedy Reaper. But as a recent audit of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration demonstrates, the reality is far worse. Most troubling, it appears the agency has not kept adequate track of drunken drivers ordered to use ignition interlock systems, and that has probably put many such high-risk motorists back on the road. Are we surprised that the MVA is overwhelmed and understaffed?

Ejner James Johnson, who was chief of staff for Gov. Harry R. Hughes and former head of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, died of Parkinson's disease Tuesday at Baltimore Washington Medical Center. He was 74. As Mr. Hughes' chief of staff, he played a pivotal role in helping the governor restore confidence in the state's savings and loans during a crisis in the mid-1980s that threatened to cause the collapse of the state's thrifts. He also is credited with making the Motor Vehicle Administration more accessible by opening branch offices around the state.

William Tecumseh Sherman Bricker, a retired Towson lawyer and former chief of the state Motor Vehicle Administration who played a role in strengthening drunken driving laws, died of congestive heart failure Thursday at Manor Care Ruxton, a day before his 74th birthday. A descendant of the Civil War's Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, Mr. Bricker was born and raised in Highlandtown. He was a 1945 graduate of Polytechnic Institute. His undergraduate studies at the University of Maryland were interrupted by his enlistment in the Army during the Korean War. After earning his bachelor's degree at College Park, Mr. Bricker earned his law degree from the University of Baltimore Law School - and during his last year there worked as assistant director of the state's Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund, predecessor of the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund.

AS A POLITICAL novice, Andrey Bundley has been having a rough time garnering publicity for his uphill challenge to Mayor Martin O'Malley. Thus, the 42-year-old high school principal is making the most of his brief handcuffing over the weekend. He's hoping to extend his 15 minutes of fame all the way to the Sept. 9 primary. Campaign theatrics aside, though, this does seem to be a case of a well-meaning but silly ordinance overzealously enforced. The incident took place Sunday night as Mr. Bundley was leafleting cars parked near a downtown nightclub.

Saying that they are feeling "more comfortable with the situation," Baltimore school officials restored yesterday about half the suspended bus routes to a transportation company whose bus crashed into a house last week and injured several children on board. At the same time, the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration said yesterday that the agency is destroying the license tags of 17 of the company's buses that had been suspended after a recent citywide inspection of school buses. The company, Allender Group, owns 34 buses.

"Go-peds" may be going fewer places in Anne Arundel County - and perhaps elsewhere around Maryland soon - because of an interpretation of the state motor vehicle code by the attorney general's office. Anne Arundel police announced yesterday that officers will begin issuing warnings this week to people found riding the motorized scooters on public streets or sidewalks. The next step will be tickets, carrying fines up to $270 and a point on a driver's license. The interpretation by the Maryland attorney general's office was sought by Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee at the request of the county police - the result of nuisance complaints about scooters.

Maryland officials are coming out with a high-tech, hard-to-duplicate driver's license aimed at thwarting underage drinkers and others with criminal intent. And it comes in colors. Although the state's driver's license was in the news recently because one of the president's daughters got caught with a fake Maryland ID at a Connecticut bar, Motor Vehicle Administration officials say they have been planning a makeover for the past couple of years, bowing to the computer-age technology that has turned document forgery into a cottage industry.