PCP

Annapolis Housing Authority employees will spend two hours immersed in the drug culture this morning, learning how a crack cocaine pipe can be crafted from a soda can and what a "Loveboat" is (marijuana sprinkled with PCP).Far from being illegal, the drug and paraphernalia class has been ordered by their boss, Patricia Croslan. And their instructor -- Annapolis City Police Lt. Robert E. Beans -- is on the right side of the law."It's of great importance for people to be able to identify drug paraphernalia, particularly when they work in an environment where they might come across it," said Croslan, the Housing Authority director.

Annapolis Housing Authority employees will spend two hours immersed in the drug culture this morning, learning how a crack cocaine pipe can be crafted from a soda can and what a "Loveboat" is (marijuana sprinkled with PCP).Far from being illegal, the drug and paraphernalia class has been ordered by their boss, Patricia Croslan. And their instructor -- Annapolis City Police Lt. Robert E. Beans -- is on the right side of the law."It's of great importance for people to be able to identify drug paraphernalia, particularly when they work in an environment where they might come across it," said Croslan, the Housing Authority director.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals has denied a new trial for a man who claimed that his lawyer should have done a better job of arguing that he was too addled by the drug PCP to have purposely killed a Baltimore police officer.Leonard P. Cirincione, 40, was convicted in 1987 of first-degree murder and related charges in the 1986 slaying of Officer Richard Miller, who was run down while directing traffic outside Memorial Stadium before an Orioles game. Cirincione is serving a sentence of life plus 20 years.

I WAS TOO HIGH on PCP to remember," Tyrone Gilliam said in response to the question of who, indeed, had shot Christine Doerfler in the back of the head with a sawed-off shotgun the night of Dec. 2, 1988.Gilliam is to be executed this week for that murder. His cohorts that night, brothers Kelvin and Delano Drummond, are serving life sentences for the murder. Kelvin Drummond testified that Gilliam was the shooter. Gilliam confessed twice but now says his PCP-induced state impaired his memory."

State police have arrested seven teens they say broke into more than 200 cars in Carroll County since New Year's Day to steal money and property to buy heroin.Troopers rounded up six male suspects yesterday after arresting a Westminster man believed to be the ringleader on Sunday.Mork Keith Fields, 18, was arrested Sunday and is being held on $25,000 bail at the Carroll County Detention Center.Police recovered items allegedly stolen from cars in the Westminster area and seized suspected PCP, marijuana and paraphernalia.

Some police officers gain a reputation for ferreting out crime.Then there's county Sgt. Jeff Noseworthy, who sniffed it out Monday night.The Western District sergeant was off duty visiting a friend in the Brooklyn Park area when he smelled the odor of PCP coming from the rear of an apartment building in the 200 block of Fourth Ave. about 9 p.m., county police said.Noseworthy reported his discovery and directed other officers to the building, where they found two men standing near a stairwell.

A North Laurel man was arrested early Saturday after Howard County police found him in possession of what they described as burglary tools and a small amount of PCP, a police report said.Just after 2 a.m., police said, officers approached a man sitting in a gray Nissan 300 ZX stopped in the parking lot of the Hubcap Island shop in the 10000 block of U.S. 1. As they neared the car, it sped away and police said the officers gave chase.The car came to a halt at the Crescent Mobile Home Park in the same block and the driver fled.

County police arrested a Baltimore woman Sunday on charges of stealing $362 worth of women's and children's clothing from the Hecht Co. store at Annapolis Mall.Tiffany Shannell Claggett, 21, of the 700 block of E. 20th St., was charged with felony theft.Zachary Gibbs, a store security guard, told police he saw a woman pick up 16 items of clothing shortly before 5 p.m. and walk out without paying. He stopped her and detained her until police arrived.Three arrested in drug raid on Woodland Beach homeCounty police arrested three people on drug charges, recovered 7.5 grams of PCP, and seized $152 in a Friday night drug raid on a Woodland Beach home.

A former Union Bridge woman who has twice been charged with violating probation on a 15-year suspended sentence for drug distribution was ordered to prison yesterday.Carroll Circuit Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr. revoked the probation of Kimberly Ann Godfrey, 31, of Jefferson in Frederick County, ordering her to serve the original sentence.Judge Beck found her guilty of failing to notify the court of twice changing her address, of failing to report to probation officials July 18 and July 25 and of failing to complete a court-ordered drug and alcohol counseling program in Frederick County.

An Anne Arundel Circuit Court judge has come under fire for releasing a drug dealer from a 12-year sentence to allow him to enter a drug treatment program after one of the judge's longtime acquaintances testified on his behalf.Judge Martin A. Wolff released Kirk R. DeCosmo in November, just six weeks after he sentenced him to a 12-year term for distribution of PCP. Relatives of a Glen Burnie mother of two killed in 1987 when her car was rammed by one Mr. DeCosmo was driving are incensed."Kirk DeCosmo should not have had his hand slapped.

Hearing delayed in hit-and-run HEMPSTEAD, N.Y.: An extradition hearing in New York for a man accused in a hit-and-run that killed a McDaniel College student has been delayed until Wednesday. Police in Hempstead, N.Y., said the hearing for Shawron Bibbs, 29, was postponed after a local warrant for him was found. Westminster police say Bibbs was driving a pickup truck that hit a car carrying five McDaniel College students Feb. 6. Thomas Rouleau, 19, of Gilboa, N.Y., died at the scene. Charges against Bibbs include felony negligent manslaughter by auto, felony theft and felony unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.

A 17-year-old Annapolis resident was given a 35-year sentence yesterday for the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old friend Halloween night. Dupree Rashard Williams, who confessed to shooting Jerome D. Hughes with an automatic handgun outside a public housing community, was sentenced to 25 years for second-degree murder and 10 years, to be served consecutively, for use of a handgun in committing a felony. Circuit Judge Philip T. Caroom suspended half of the sentence and said Williams could be eligible for placement at the Patuxent Institution, a state treatment facility for mentally ill prisoners.

Man pleads guilty in fatal crash A 20-year-old Anne Arundel County man who prosecutors said was drunk, high on drugs and speeding when the stolen car he was driving crashed, killing a passenger, pleaded guilty yesterday to a manslaughter charge. Michael Arnell Davis of the 400 block of Monterey Ave. in Annapolis, who is on probation for armed robbery, was driving at speeds up to 100 miles an hour before the Jan. 20, 2007, crash, prosecutors said. Davis pleaded guilty to charges of negligent manslaughter and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

I was in my dorm room at San Diego State University, listening to the Led Zeppelin cover of "When the Levee Breaks," when I first saw George Holliday's amateur video of the Rodney King incident on CNN. It looked like those grainy films of Selma, Ala., in 1965, and the brutality turned my stomach. They didn't really talk about Rodney King when I went through the Los Angeles Police Academy a few years later. The department just tore its clothes and sat shiva for those officers, and we didn't speak of them or the deadly riots that followed their acquittals 15 years ago this week.

The panel that sets minimum standards for police recruits across the state is considering a proposal to further ease the rules on prior drug use in order to attract more applicants to short-staffed departments. Supporters of the policy change say it would widen the pool of potential recruits and allow police agencies to consider applicants who might have experimented with drugs earlier in their lives but are now clean. But some law enforcement officials contend that any loosening of the guidelines would send the wrong message about the acceptability of drug use. They say that previous drug use would hurt an officer's credibility in court and raise doubts about a recruit's judgment.

Saying drug use, a chaotic upbringing and a severe beating left a convicted murderer mentally impaired, an Anne Arundel County judge yesterday spared him the death penalty and sentenced the Glen Burnie man to two terms of life without parole for killing his landlady and her daughter-in-law. Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Pamela L. North said "overwhelming evidence from expert after expert" led her to conclude that Kenneth Ernest Abend, 42, either was unable to control himself or did not fully appreciate what he was doing when he killed Laverne M. Browning, 70, and Tamie C. Browning, 36, nearly three years ago. But Abend's longtime PCP dependence and violence made him far too dangerous for anything but life in prison without parole, North told the packed Annapolis courtroom.

A teenager was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison for killing the driver of the moving car in which he was a passenger - a man he said was as close to him as a "big brother or an uncle" - in a fatal shooting that his lawyer blamed on a mind-bending mix of drugs and cog- nac. Ervin Demontray Montague, 18, tearfully apologized to the family of Aaron Kirk Howard, 33, saying, "I pray my words rest on your heart." Then Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Michael E. Loney sentenced Montague to 25 years for second-degree murder and the minimum five years for use of a handgun in the killing, which occurred April 20 last year on Admiral Drive outside an Annapolis-area condominium complex.

A teenager was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison for killing the driver of the moving car in which he was a passenger - a man he said was as close to him as a "big brother or an uncle" - in a fatal shooting that his lawyer blamed on a mind-bending mix of drugs and cognac. Ervin Demontray Montague, 18, tearfully apologized to the family of Aaron Kirk Howard, 33, saying, "I pray my words rest on your heart." Then Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Michael E. Loney sentenced Montague to 25 years for second-degree murder and the minimum five years for use of a handgun in the killing, which occurred April 20 last year on Admiral Drive outside an Annapolis-area condominium complex.

A state panel that sets standards for police hiring and training throughout Maryland is considering a proposal that would allow recruits to become police officers even if they had experimented with heroin, LSD and PCP - a move aimed at increasing the pool of applicants for short-staffed departments. The plan, however, is drawing stiff opposition from a broad range of police commanders and union leaders who contend that hiring officers who have used those substances sends the wrong message about the acceptability of criminal behavior.

One kid asked why teen-agers can't hang out together without getting "harassed" by police. Another asked about the constitutionally protected right to free speech through blasting music from a car stereo. Trevor Groomes, an 18-year-old who said he has spent the past four years in and out of juvenile lockups, had a somewhat more specific question. "If you do smoke and you're underage or whatever, and you got two different packs of cigarettes but one pack has PCP and embalming fluid on it, can you even tell the difference?"