Occupants

Two people and a pet dog escaped their two-story Taneytown townhouse in the first block of Fairview Ave. when fire was discovered in the basement of the building early yesterday morning.Fire officials said the blaze, declared to be arson, originated in the basement. Juanita Reed, 45, told investigators she woke William Speilman, 61, the only other occupant, after hearing the dog barking. Both escaped without injuries.Mr. Speilman discovered smoke pouring from the basement in an area of a picnic table where papers were stacked.

Editor: As summer approaches, many high school students are getting ready to graduate and head off to colleges across the nation. As a soon to graduate college student, who attended our own Fallston High School, I would like to suggest a major that is little known but highly rewarding: occupational therapy.  Occupational therapy was established as a profession in 1917 and has continued to grow to this day. Occupational therapists work with...

About 15 occupants -- some in night clothes -- escaped without injury last night as a three-alarm fire engulfed the upper floors and largely destroyed an old frame-and-shingle home in Northwest Baltimore.Investigators said a burning cigarette sparked the blaze in the 4000 block of Fernhill Ave., off Garrison Boulevard. The building had been converted into several apartments.The blaze was reported about 10:45 p.m., and fire officials sounded additional alarms at 11:14 and 11:22 p.m. to bring additional equipment and manpower.

My business is located at 309 Main St., in Laurel. Outback Leather is a one-stop leather shop. We do everything from custom fitting boots and saddles, to the horse and rider, to while-you-wait shoe repair. Outback Leather has been on Main St. for over 20 years, 15 years in the formally Gayer's Saddlery Building. I just wanted to thank the Laurel Leader for its article, "20th century marathons found a starting line in Laurel" (April 4). It was very generous of the Leader to put a big picture of my building that covers almost half the page, and then give credit to another business, instead of a business that has been running for 20 years, as the building in the background.

One of two men who broke into a Southwest Baltimore house yesterday evening during an attempted home-invasion robbery died later at an area hospital, possibly from injuries sustained while being restrained by occupants there, police said. The incident began shortly before 5:30 p.m. when the intruders, one carrying a baseball bat, knocked on the front door of a house in the 1800 block of Sexton St. in Morrell Park, police said. When a male occupant answered, the pair attempted to force their way in, police said.

Eight young men carrying baseball bats, lengths of wood and metal cables, attacked a teen-age boy near Patterson Park last night. City police described the assault as a "gay bashing."Shortly after the attack and a chase, police arrested three men and a teen-ager, all from eastern Baltimore County. Each of them was charged with assaulting a 17-year-old East Baltimore boy who is homosexual, police said.Police said the victim sustained multiple facial injuries but refused medical treatment.Officer Robin Reiland said the teen-ager, a resident of East Pratt Street, was standing at Bank Street and Patterson Park Avenue around 10 p.m. when a 1991 Toyota pickup truck containing eight males stopped.

Nine occupants of a Dundalk apartment house were displaced by a Saturday morning fire in the building's basement. Crews responded to the fire at 10:16 a.m. in the 500 block of Trappe Road in the Grey Manor neighborhood, Baltimore County Fire Department spokesman Jay Ringgold said As crews worked to extinguish the blaze, a fire fighter from Engine 57 in Sparrows Point became disoriented and called for help. The county's rapid intervention team then entered the structure and safely removed the him. The fire was declared under control at 10:47 a.m. The Red Cross is assisting the occupants.

Howard County police were searching yesterday for three armed men who forced their way into a Columbia home Saturday night and robbed two men and two women.Police said one of the victims answered the door at a house in the 8700 block of Airybrink Lane about 8: 30 p.m., and the men, each with a handgun and wearing dark clothes and a ski mask, rushed in.Officer Keith Berry said that after the robbers forced the occupants to lie on the floor, they searched the house, took an unknown sum of cash and jewelry, and fled.

County narcotics detectives from the Eastern District tailed a car to Washington and back before arresting the driver and three occupants yesterday morning for drug violations, officials said.Surveillance of the car began late Tuesday night. Detectives followed it to a Kentucky Fried Chicken parking lot on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, a police report said.The occupants later returned to Anne Arundel County, where they switched cars.Detectives stopped that vehicle at the corner of Southview Drive and Chestnut Tree Drive shortly before 1 a.m. yesterday, police said.

Across the street from Baltimore's school headquarters, 50 law-enforcement officers waged a carefully orchestrated raid on an apartment building that police say had become a den of illegal drug use and trafficking. Officials from the Baltimore police, the sheriff's office and the municipal housing and education departments flooded the Boundary Square Apartments in the 300 block of E. North Ave. yesterday morning in what authorities said was an effort to "restore order" to the 67-unit property.

One Harford County firefighter suffered burns and another became ill while combating a house fire Saturday night in the 1700 block of Harbinger Trail, Edgewood. The incident was reported at about 8 p.m. at a two-story, single family home, according to fire officials. Initial response came from the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company, along with the Abingdon Fire Company, Kingsville Volunteer Fire Company and the Aberdeen Proving Ground Fire Department. Fire officials thought there may have have been one person inside, so firefighters entered the house with hoses and began extinguishing fire on both floors.

I am an occupational therapy student at Towson University, and I wanted to express my opinion concerning Kevin Rector's article, "Hospitals join to find beds for mental patients" (Feb. 19). Throughout the article, I saw reference to health professionals including nurses, social workers, and psychiatrists. However, I didn't see mention of occupational therapists. I don't know if you are aware that occupational therapists play a significant role in the treatment of patients admitted to psychiatric facilities.

Update: The American Chemistry Council disputes the study. Here is a statement: “It is concerning that the authors could be over-interpreting their results and unnecessarily alarm workers. This study included no data showing if there was actual chemical exposure, from what chemicals, at what levels, and over what period of time in any particular workplace. Although this is an important area of research, these findings are inconsistent with other research. This study should not be used to draw any conclusions about the cause of cancer patterns in workers.”  The original blog post is below: Women who worked ten years or more in jobs that exosed them to cancer-causing substances and endocrine chemicals increased their odds of getting breast cancer, a new study has found.

A 45-year-old man doing contract work clearing trees after superstorm Sandy in a residential community in Annapolis was killed by a falling tree on Wednesday afternoon, according to the Anne Arundel County Fire Department. The death is the second caused by a falling tree in Anne Arundel since Sandy entered the region. On Monday night, 74-year-old Donald C. Cannata, Sr. was killed in the kitchen of his Pasadena home after a tree smashed through the roof. In Annapolis, emergency crews first responded shortly before 1 p.m. to the 1600 block of Homewood Road for a report of an injured contractor, said Chief Michael Cox, a fire spokesman.

A two-alarm fire burned through a home in Edgewater on Monday night, with high winds from the massive storm Sandy making the response by firefighters more difficult, according to an Anne Arundel Fire Department spokesman. A single occupant in the two-story single-family home managed to escape, said Chief Michael Cox, the spokesman. Units arrived at the home in the 1100 block of Hull Drive in the Turkey Point community about 10:30 p.m. to find flames visible on the second floor and through the roof, Cox said.

Even after Jean Thomas lost her job and her husband, Sherman, became ill, she said she never missed paying the rent on the West Baltimore house the couple shares with their daughter and four young grandchildren. Yet after seven years in the rent-subsidized, four-bedroom rowhouse on North Fremont Avenue, the family is bracing to be evicted Tuesday morning. "I won't have a choice but to leave," said Jean Thomas, adding that her family has nowhere to go. "It's hard to find a place if you don't have a job. " Thomas blames the situation on the actions of her two adult sons.

Some neighbors of Locust Lodge, an assisted-living facility in Riviera Beach, fear that a proposed expansion of its operation to allow five more occupants could create problems in their neighborhood."

An accidental kitchen fire extensively damaged a two-story wood frame house in New Windsor Wednesday night and forced the two occupants to move out, fire officials said yesterday.One of the occupants, Lisa Doan, 29, returned to the dwelling in the 300 block of Maple Ave. about 9 p.m. and saw flames shooting from a kitchen window. The fire apparently started from a container of grease left on the stove while the oven was on.Fire officials said the blaze spread to cabinets above the stove and throughout the kitchen.

I am writing in response to your article "Too many occupational licenses?" (Commentary, May 31). Specifically, I am writing about the licensing of tree experts. The work of a tree expert is very dangerous; rates of fatality and injury are among the highest for any profession. It is dangerous work. When someone has to remove a defective tree with a crane without destroying surrounding homes or killing pedestrians or motorists, it takes some knowledge and skill; it should also require a significant amount of insurance.

Not all occupation licensing laws on the books in Annapolis actually protect Maryland consumers from harm. It's pretty clear that many of these laws misuse state sanctions to protect existing businesses from unwanted competition. Now a new study by the Washington-based Institute for Justice can help Maryland lawmakers decide which of these laws serve the public and should stay - and which should go. The report, "License to Work: A National Study of Burdens from Occupational Licensing," examines licensing practices for 102 lower-wage occupations in all 50 states.