Odenton

Always, there were those lovely old country estates and gracious manor taverns with roaring fireplaces, but in the old days fine dining was associated with the city. Not so anymore. Now, there are more compelling reasons than ever for diners to cross county lines for a good meal. The 50 best county restaurants in Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County is a mix of the old and the new, destinations for special occasions and joints for Monday night suppers, the chef-driven and crowd-pleasing.

Arundel High School junior Christian Hodges was recently selected to serve on the Maryland State Board of Education as its student member, a position that places another item on his already loaded agenda. The 17-year-old from Odenton will serve during the 2013-2014 school year, with his appointment formally taking effect July 1. Hodges is already known in five states for his penchant for multitasking. He currently serves on the Region 2 advisory council of the National Association of Student Councils, representing students from Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

Three people died early Sunday in an Odenton car crash. According to Anne Arundel County Police, officers were called to Piney Orchard Parkway and Riverscape Road at about 12:30 a.m. where a 2005 Subaru had crashed into a tree. The driver, David Michael D'Augustine of Odenton, 22, was dead at the scene, police said, as well as two passengers in the car, Samuel Carl Schindler of Odenton, 22, and Katherine Marie Warrington of Odenton, also 22. A third passenger, identified by police as Michael Lee Phillips of Gambrills, 23, was taken by Medevac to Maryland Shock Trauma in critical condition.

The Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber is offering its annual Regional Business Showcase and Tasting on Wednesday, April 10 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Suddath Relocation Systems, 1710 Crossroads Drive, Odenton. Vendor Happy Hour is from 4 to 5 p.m. The networking event, which reaches 500 local business professionals, has more than 65 exhibitors, networking, food and beverage samplings and special guests. Cost is $25 each or $20 each for five or more people. Tickets include two drink coupons.

The violent side to Baltimore's drug culture landed practically in Bill Johnson's back yard last weekend.Now the Odenton resident is concerned that the crime he hoped to escape when he moved to Anne Arundel from Curtis Bay two months ago is following him."I was watching the police from a hill," he said. "I said, 'Man, they've got a body in there.' Then they had another body. Next thing I knew, they pulled a third out. I said, 'OK, time to sell the house.' We wanted to get out of the city because of that."

A lawsuit alleging that the ex-president of the Odenton Volunteer Fire Company sexually abused two former volunteers when they were teenage recruits and that their complaints went unheeded has ended in a six-figure settlement. "In the world of public entities, it is particularly significant settlement," said Joyce E. Smithey, attorney for the men, who were unnamed in the lawsuit against the fire company and Anne Arundel County. The settlement, reached in the spring, plus a recent end to a dispute over legal fees, wraps up a lawsuit filed in January 2008 based on allegations of sexual wrongdoing that one accuser said began in 2003, when he was 19, and the other said started in 2004, when he was 16. The lawsuit was a significant factor in the county's decision not to insure volunteer companies for anything beyond fire and rescue operation as of last July 1. "The whole thing about being an insurer is to have some say over how to limit the risk," said Anne Arundel County Attorney Jonathan Hodgson.

When developers promised to build a $38 million, 700-seat elementary school in Odenton, Anne Arundel County officials embraced the proposal as a way to ease overcrowding in other area schools. They even tentatively gave the school a name: Evergreen Elementary. But plans for the school have met an obstacle. The Forks of the Patuxent, the community in which the proposed development is located, refuses to lift a covenant that the land be reserved for adult communities. Forks resident Patrick Padilla, 42, said residents who declined to lift the covenant requiring 55-and-older properties were concerned that a new housing development around the school would generate more traffic and crime without the age restriction.

A 6-year-old boy was flown to a nearby hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries Wednesday morning after being hit by an SUV in Odenton. Justin Mulcahy, public information officer for the Anne Arundel County Police Department, said police responded to a call at 7:43 at the intersection of Blue Water Boulevard and Roff Point Drive, according to preliminary information. The child had been hit by a Chevrolet Avalanche, Mulcahy said. ywenger@baltsun.com Twitter.com/yvonnewenger

Anne Arundel homicide detectives are investigating a suspicious death at an Odenton hotel Friday morning. Officers responded at 5:40 a.m. to the Royal Inn in the 1600 block of Annapolis Road. They found a 62-year-old man lying on the ground outside the office and lobby area. He was suffering from trauma to his upper body, police said. The victim was taken to Baltimore Washington Medical Center, where he died a short time after arrival. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Jason McNemar at 410-222-3463 or the Major Crimes Section at 410-222-3450.

One person was killed and four others were displaced from their homes when a fire tore through a two-story duplex in Odenton on Wednesday, according to the Anne Arundel County Fire Department. Firefighters responded to the 1300 block of Tenbrook Road about 5:30 p.m. for reports of a dwelling fire with a person possibly trapped inside, said Captain Michael Pfaltzgraff, a department spokesman. At the scene, they found heavy smoke and fire coming from the left side of the duplex, and began exterior and interior attacks on the flames, Pfaltzgraff said.

Three people died early Sunday in an Odenton car crash. According to Anne Arundel County Police, officers were called to Piney Orchard Parkway and Riverscape Road at about 12:30 a.m. where a 2005 Subaru had crashed into a tree. The driver, David Michael D'Augustine of Odenton, 22, was dead at the scene, police said, as well as two passengers in the car, Samuel Carl Schindler of Odenton, 22, and Katherine Marie Warrington of Odenton, also 22. A third passenger, identified by police as Michael Lee Phillips of Gambrills, 23, was taken by Medevac to Maryland Shock Trauma in critical condition.

UMBC has split its last two contests, and the starting goalkeeper for both games has been sophomore Wes DiRito. DiRito was on the losing end of a 13-7 setback to Johns Hopkins on March 8, but the Odenton native who graduated from DeMatha earned his first career victory as the Retrievers battered High Point, 16-11, last Saturday. DiRito succeeded senior Adam Cohen, who started the first four contests of the season en route to a 13.33 goals-against average and a .412 save percentage.

The wife of a man found stabbed in an Odenton home last year has been arrested in his murder, police said. Donna Mills Wood, 38, turned herself in at the Western District police station at approximately 4 p.m. Thursday. She was charged with the fatal stabbing of Jerome Vorden Wood, 45, inside a residence on the 100 block of Pine Cove Avenue Nov. 6, 2012. Police were called to the scene for a reported suicide and found Jerome Wood with injuries to his upper body. He died that day, and investigators later determined that he had been stabbed and ruled his death a homicide.

A 25-year-old man wanted by police for more than a week in the shooting of two other men at a bar near Fort Meade has been arrested, Anne Arundel County Police said Friday. Raynard Leo Boston, of no fixed address, was arrested without incident on Wednesday - after being called potentially armed and dangerous by police - after county investigators located him in the area of Cross and 6th streets in Brooklyn Park, which is on the city line, police said. Police first announced they were searching for Boston on Jan. 22, three days after he allegedly got into an early morning argument with a bouncer at My Place Bar and Lounge in the 1600 block of Annapolis Road in Odenton and opened fire, striking the 45-year-old bouncer in the lower body and a 34-year-old male bar patron in the hand, police said.

One person was killed and four others were displaced from their homes when a fire tore through a two-story duplex in Odenton on Wednesday, according to the Anne Arundel County Fire Department. Firefighters responded to the 1300 block of Tenbrook Road about 5:30 p.m. for reports of a dwelling fire with a person possibly trapped inside, said Captain Michael Pfaltzgraff, a department spokesman. At the scene, they found heavy smoke and fire coming from the left side of the duplex, and began exterior and interior attacks on the flames, Pfaltzgraff said.

The Anne Arundel school board received Superintendent Kevin Maxwell's redistricting recommendation Wednesday for Crofton-area schools, which delays plans to draw boundaries for a $38 million elementary school in Odenton that a developer has promised but some area residents have opposed. The proposed school, still included in the redistricting plan, would be along Evergreen Road and is part of the school system's efforts to ease crowding at Nantucket Elementary. Those plans also include redistricting Crofton Meadows Elementary, Arundel Middle and Crofton Middle.

Anne Arundel County police are looking for a driver who ran away from a crash that killed another motorist Sunday evening in Odenton. Killed in the crash was Tori Danielle Stitely, 27, of the first block of Cornhill Street in Annapolis, who was driving a Lexus, police said. Police said she was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where she died. Witnesses described the driver of the Chevrolet Silverado truck as a white woman with brown hair wearing a pink tank top and jeans, and said she ran from the scene, police said.

One suspect has been arrested in connection with an Odenton carjacking early Friday morning, but another is still at large, according to an Anne Arundel County Police spokesman. Two men reported they were leaving their vehicle in the 2100 block of Peaceful Way at 2:06 a.m. when they were approached by two people, said Justin Mulcahy, the spokesman. One showed the victims a handgun and demanded the keys to his car and property, Mulcahy said. The pair took the car and drove south on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.

Anne Arundel County police are looking for a driver who ran away from a crash that killed another motorist Sunday evening in Odenton. Killed in the crash was Tori Danielle Stitely, 27, of the first block of Cornhill Street in Annapolis, who was driving a Lexus, police said. Police said she was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where she died. Witnesses described the driver of the Chevrolet Silverado truck as a white woman with brown hair wearing a pink tank top and jeans, and said she ran from the scene, police said.

A jury on Monday evening said that a national homebuilder owes $5.6 million to an Anne Arundel County condo association because their condominium complex was poorly constructed, according to the association's attorney. Following a five week trial and testimony from more than two dozen residents of the Eden Brook Condominiums in Odenton, a jury determined that Virginia-based NVR Inc., which does business as Ryan Homes, NVHomes and Fox Ridge Homes, should pay homeowners for defective construction and misrepresentations about the quality of the complex's construction, said attorney T. Allen Mott, of the Baltimore law firm Cowie & Mott.