Parking Lot

Maryland State Police have charged a 24-year-old Westminster man in a double shooting Friday that left one man dead and another injured. Jacob B. Bircher, of the unit block of Wimert Ave., surrendered to police at 7 a.m. Friday on a church parking lot on Route 140 in Westminster. He faces first-degree murder and other charges that are pending, police said. Police, responding to shots fired shortly after midnight, arrived at the Harvest Inn Restaurant in the 2000 block of Liberty Road in Eldersburg.

In the annals of civic improvements, none in Harford County has been watched as closely in recent years as the development of the new Main Street parking lot in downtown Bel Air. As chronicled in our pages, lo these many months over the past year and a half, the town finally bought the vacant BB&T building, the former home of the old Commercial & Savings Bank from back in the days when there really were local banks. With the BB&T building came an adjoining parking lot, once the site of the old Vaughn Hotel building that was demolished after the Great Bel Air Fire of 1972.

Start your Independence Day off on the right foot by running the Harford Hounds 4-Miler on the scenic Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway Trail. Hosted by the Harford County RASAC Run Club, registration for this run/walk begins at 7:15 a.m. in the Conowingo Dam parking lot and the run starts at 8:30 a.m. on July 4. Pre-registration is not required; however, there is a $4 entry fee for non-RASAC members to support the mission of this local running club; RASAC members are free. The run/walk is 2 miles out and 2 miles back to the start, for a total of 4 miles.

The schedule of events on July 4 in Bel Air is as follows: 6:45 a.m. - Flag-raising ceremony, in front of Bel Air High School 7 to 11:30 a.m. - Blueberry pancake and sausage breakfast, Bel Air High School 9 a.m. - Horseshoe pitching, Rockfield Park (registration at 8 a.m.) 9 a.m. - Hamster races, Shamrock Park (registration at 8:45 a.m.) 9:30 a.m. - Turtle Derby, Shamrock Park (registration at 9 a.m.) 10:30 a.m. - The Great Bel Air Frog Jumping Contest, Shamrock Park (registration at 10:30 a.m.)

A 78-year-old man thwarted an armed robbery in a Glen Burnie parking lot early Friday. Anne Arundel County police responded to a report of shots fired shortly before 5 a.m. in the Lowe's lot in the 6600 block of Ritchie Highway, near Shelly Road. The victim told officers that, while he was sitting in his car, a man approached him and demanded money. The victim said he had no money, exited the car and struck the suspect with the car door. The suspect fired from a handgun and shots struck the victim's vehicle.

Although the Kimco plan for the Wilde Lake Village Center has faults, we want to see the project move forward for the future of Wilde Lake Village. However, we strongly oppose demolition of the Central Building part of the horseshoe shaped building enclosing the Village Green Courtyard. Kimco proposes demolition to open up the courtyard, exposing the stores to the parking lot to make store leasing easier. Yet in fully leased stores in Kimco's three Village Centers, Hickory Ridge, Kings Contrivance and Dorsey's Search over one half of the stores cannot be seen from parking.

Anne Arundel police have charged a 34-year-old Glen Burnie man with assault and reckless driving and are seeking a 41-year-old woman in connection with the incident that occurred Wednesday evening in Severn. David Charles Lane of the 200 block Woodhill Drive was arrested at his residence and remains in custody. Officers were called to the Walmart in the 400 block of George Clauss Blvd. at 11:21 p.m. for a report of an intoxicated driver in the parking lot. They were met by three female victims, one 30 years old and the other two both 19. The victims told police that the suspect sped toward them and tried to strike them with his car, as they stood on the lot. Police said the suspect got out of the car and shouted obscenities and racial slurs at the women.

On a sunny spring afternoon, children continue a tradition in the downtown playground next to Annapolis Elementary School: shooting hoops, kicking a ball around, riding the swings. Adults, meanwhile, pursue another generations-old practice: arguing the future of the little park, long considered the keystone to waterfront revitalization. "This is as big for Annapolis as Harborplace was for Baltimore," said Alderman Ross H. Arnett III, who days ago joined a 6-3 majority voting to let the city pursue plans to wipe most parking spaces off City Dock and move them to the playground site, enabling the city to make better use of what some say is the most valuable piece of real estate in town, if not in Maryland.

Wedding Day: June 24, 2012 Her story: Sarah Friedman, 31, grew up in Baltimore. Her father, Lou Friedman, heads up Lou Friedman & Co., an Owings Mills accounting and financial services firm. Her mother, Paula Friedman, is a cardiac nurse at Sinai Hospital. Sarah went to college at the University of Pittsburgh, where - in her junior year - she had to watch the Super Bowl alone in her dorm room, because all her friends were Steelers fans. Friedman returned to Baltimore, where she is now a pediatric nurse at Sinai Hospital.

It never ceases to amaze me how when certain people are put in positions of power they shred, flaunt and abuse the privileges of their office. Take the gnarled mess that is going on in Anne Arundel County, where Police Chief Col. James E. Teare Sr. is facing a "no confidence" vote from the very people he supervises ("Teare appears before council, won't answer," March 27). How can he possibly stay in his position while those he commands are reluctant to carry out their duties while he remains the chief?