Neighborhood Watch

One of Arlene Hodges' mottos is that safety begins at home.Sinceshe considers her entire neighborhood an extended home, the president of the Brooklyn Park Improvement Association has decided to spread the word. She's encouraging her neighbors to start a crime watch unit.Residents will meet Feb. 19 to discuss launching a Neighborhood Watch group in Brooklyn Park. The idea faltered in previous years whenfew neighbors expressed enough interest, Hodges acknowledged. But she hopes to drum up enough support this time.

TURTLE LAKE, Wis. -- What was he supposed to do?It's not a question so much as a challenge. A challenge to anyone who thinks Lenny Miller was wrong to booby-trap his cabin with a shotgun.Three times in eight months, the cabin had been burglarized.His hunting rifles were stolen. His fishing gear, too. And his tackle box. His new chain saw and his leaf blower and his Christmas present, a fillet knife still in its box. His boat had been vandalized. His outhouse trashed. His all-terrain vehicle had been torn apart.

Five Carroll County groups have received $13,000 in state grants to help them fight substance abuse, alcohol abuse and crime. The money, from Gov. Parris N. Glendening's Neighborhood Crime and Substance Abuse Prevention grant program, will enable the groups to communicate their messages more effectively, state officials said. The projects include purchasing goggles that simulate the effects of alcohol, promoting an anti-drug CD and launching a neighborhood watch program. The Carroll County Sheriff's Office's Substance Abuse and Violence Education Program will buy equipment, such as the goggles, with a $2,150 grant to help teach students about the dangers of drunken driving.

Drug dealing and the resulting gunfire around the playground of the Latrobe Homes development made residents angry two years ago, angry enough to push the city to declare the area a Drug-Free Zone."

Crofton's police budget and neighborhood watch program will be two of the main topics on the agenda tonight for the Crofton Civic Association's Board of Directors.Police Chief Deborah Bogush, who heads a four-member force for the special tax district, is expected to present a list of items that she may request in her budget for the next fiscal year.The community, with a population of about 10,000, has a $580,000 annual budget. About half is spent on the police force, which supplements county police protection.

A crowd of more than 80 people -- most of them black -- showed up at Annapolis City Hall last night to comment on an anti-loitering bill. The proposal has so angered leaders in the black community that some have called for the ouster of the alderman who wrote it. Designed as a tool against drug dealers, the bill would rewrite the definition of "public space" to give police officers the power to disperse anyone loitering on public housing sidewalks....

Eliyahu Werdesheim, one of two brothers accused of assaulting a teenager in Northwest Baltimore, was convicted Thursday of false imprisonment and second-degree assault, in a case that has sparked neighborhood tensions and raised questions about a community patrol group. The second brother, Avi Werdesheim, was cleared of all charges. Eliyahu, 24, and Avi, 22, each had been charged with second-degree assault, false imprisonment and carrying a deadly weapon — a walkie-talkie issued by the neighborhood watch group Shomrim — with the intent to injure Corey Ausby, who was 15 at the time.

State police are seeking help from residents of the Marriottsville area in solving five burglaries since last October.Officers said that while investigating a breaking and entering incident, they learned of several additional unreported burglaries.State police statistics indicate that burglars sometimes do more than take property. They said three of five rapes in homes are committed by burglarsand one of three assaults in homes.Investigators are asking anyone with information about suspicious vehicles or people around homes when the occupants are away to call the state police criminal investigation division at 876-8989 or 876-2101.

The death of 15-year-old Tara Gladden and the discovery of her body a short distance from her Vantage Point home has heightened fears of crime among some Town Center residents and Columbia officials.Village officials are attempting to form a Neighborhood Watch Program to deter crime, and the Columbia Council is considering taking a more active role in public safety issues in light of the Atholton High School student's death and other recent crimes."There certainly is more concern about security measures.

Neighborhoods throughout Westminster will throw block parties from 6 to 9 tomorrow as part of the 19th annual National Night Out, an event that promotes drug and crime prevention. Residents will be outside to get to know their neighbors and local and state police officers. The night is designed to generate support for local anticrime efforts, including creating neighborhood watch groups. City groups involved include the George Street Community Association, Carroll Lutheran Village, Pennsylvania Avenue and the Greens.