Pioneer Drive

It is hard to say which happened first in the condominium neighborhoods off Pioneer Drive -- the plunge in property values or the emergence of drug trafficking and crime that now stigmatizes the community.But there is no question that owners who bought into the Severn community, built in the 1960s and 1970s for affordable homeownership, have watched the value of their investments decline over the past decade.Many have sold out to investors who paid deflated prices, then turned two-story, brick-front townhouses into rental units.

A Baltimore teenager has been arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting and wounding of a man early Sunday morning in Pioneer City, Anne Arundel police said yesterday. Laronte Lee Richardson, 18, of the 900 block of First St. in Baltimore also is charged with assault, reckless endangerment and other offenses. He is accused of firing several shots at a man who was walking near Pioneer Drive and Arwell Court, said police spokesman Sgt. Shawn Urbas. Police say the victim, Derrick D. Poole, 35, of Pioneer Drive was cutting through an open lot near his home about 3 a.m. when a young man wearing a dark coat and knit hat began shooting at him. Police don't believe they knew each other.

Neighbors along Pioneer Drive called for unity and peace with a weekend party to celebrate their communities, take a stand against crime and bring local support for more services for residents."

A Baltimore teenager has been arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting and wounding of a man early Sunday morning in Pioneer City, Anne Arundel police said yesterday. Laronte Lee Richardson, 18, of the 900 block of First St. in Baltimore also is charged with assault, reckless endangerment and other offenses. He is accused of firing several shots at a man who was walking near Pioneer Drive and Arwell Court, said police spokesman Sgt. Shawn Urbas. Police say Derrick D. Poole, 35, of Pioneer Drive was cutting through an open lot near his home about 3 a.m. when a young man wearing a dark coat and knit hat began shooting at him. Police don't think they knew each other.

Neighborhoods along Pioneer Drive will get the substance abuse counseling residents hope will make a difference in their community through a state grant to be awarded to the county Health Department. The Maryland HotSpots Program is expected to announce the $25,000 grant within a week, officials said. It will provide a part-time counselor to the Severn community to help offenders on parole and probation and poor residents with drug and alcohol abuse problems. The money is in addition to the $79,212 received this year for increased police patrols and crime prevention programs in the neighborhood through the same program.

COMMUNITIES ALONG Pioneer Drive in Anne Arundel County's Severn area have suffered for years from the indifference of absentee condominium owners. As rental units deteriorated, neighborhoods became run-down and crime-ridden. An effort is under way to capitalize on the low property values and transform this community of absentee landlords into one of owner-occupants.Two non-profit organizations -- Homes for America and the Arundel Community Development Services -- are working to take advantage of the depressed real estate prices.

It is hard to say which happened first in the condominium neighborhoods off Pioneer Drive -- the plunge in property values or the emergence of drug trafficking and crime that now stigmatizes the community.But there is no question that owners who bought into the Severn community, built in the 1960s and 1970s for affordable homeownership, have watched the value of their investments decline over the past decade.Many have sold out to investors who paid deflated prices, then turned two-story, brick-front townhouses into rental units.

County police arrested a 19-year-old Severn youth as a suspect in the shooting Tuesday morning of a man in the 8400 block of Pioneer Drive, county police said.Torrey Cornell Garnett of the 8300 block of Pioneer Drive was charged with assault with intent to murder and the use of a handgun in a felony, said police spokesman Officer Randy Bell.The victim, Richard Sigley, 31, was in serious but stable condition yesterday afternoon at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center with a gunshot wound to his right thigh, a spokeswoman for the unit said.

A cabdriver was robbed at knifepoint Sunday by two men he picked up on Pioneer Drive, county police said yesterday.The driver, Elmer McNeir, 55, of the 7800 block of Sellmer Road, sustained small cuts on his left wrist.Mr. McNeir went to the 8600 block of Pioneer Drive around 9 p.m. and picked up two men. One sat behind Mr. McNeir, the other in the front seat next to him, police said.The front-seat passenger implied that he had a gun and demanded money as the back-seat passenger put Mr. McNeir in a neck hold and held a knife to his throat, police said.

A Severn teen-ager was arrested yesterday and charged with assault with intent to murder after he fired a gunshot at a man in a car, county police said.Gregory Melbourne Weeks, 39, of the 1800 block of Robin Court in Severn told police he was sitting in his car with a friend in the 8500 block of Pioneer Drive in Severn about 3:15 a.m. when a group of men approached.A teen in the group demanded $20, saying Mr. Weeks owed him the money.Mr. Weeks refused to pay and backed his car out. Police said the teen-ager pulled out a 20-gauge sawed-off shotgun and fired a shot into the front of the car.Officers went to an apartment in the 8500 block of Pioneer Drive and found several members of the group.

A 14-year veteran of the Anne Arundel County Police Department accidentally fired his gun during a weapons search in Pioneer City yesterday morning, striking a pregnant woman's right hand, police said. Michele Andrea Church, 33, was at the Curtis National Hand Center at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore yesterday, police said, and it appears the shooting will cause no complications to her pregnancy. Police would not disclose the name of the officer yesterday because they wanted to give him an additional day to tell his relatives about the incident, said Lt. Joseph Jordan, a police spokesman.

Pioneer City, a townhouse community in Severn that has suffered from crime and blight in recent years, soon will get its first community health center. Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens announced this month that People's Community Health Centers, a local nonprofit organization, received a $714,938 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to build the center within the Pioneer City census tract. County officials said the organization was the only group in the state to have received a grant this year.

A 40-year-old woman was found shot to death in her car in Severn early yesterday, the victim of an apparent robbery, county police reported. The body of Michelle Anita Erdman of the 1500 block of Matthews Town Road in Hanover was found about 12:30 a.m. by police officers investigating a report of gunshots fired near Pioneer Drive and Arwell Court. Erdman's gray, four-door Eagle Premier was found in the 1900 block of Arwell Court, damaged from hitting a tree near the intersection. It was not clear whether the car was damaged before the woman was shot.

This week's drug sweep won't entirely shut down the open-air crack cocaine market in Meade Village and Pioneer City, Anne Arundel County police said. But they believe the eight arrests and six warrants issued should slow drug traffic substantially. "It's not going to stop it all," said Western District Sgt. Rex Snider. "But we've taken a big bite out of it." The local market probably sold several hundred dollars' worth of crack cocaine a night, with rocks of cocaine selling for between $20 and $50 each, Snider said.

Neighborhoods along Pioneer Drive will get the substance abuse counseling residents hope will make a difference in their community through a state grant to be awarded to the county Health Department. The Maryland HotSpots Program is expected to announce the $25,000 grant within a week, officials said. It will provide a part-time counselor to the Severn community to help offenders on parole and probation and poor residents with drug and alcohol abuse problems. The money is in addition to the $79,212 received this year for increased police patrols and crime prevention programs in the neighborhood through the same program.

Neighbors along Pioneer Drive called for unity and peace with a weekend party to celebrate their communities, take a stand against crime and bring local support for more services for residents."

Several men attacked and beat a Severn man who asked them to stop making noise outside his home in the 8400 block of Pioneer Drive Sunday morning, county police said.Brian Heath Bynum, 24, was cut and bruised but refused medical treatment, police said. Mr. Bynum told police he left his house shortly before 5 a.m. to ask the men to be quiet. One of the men punched him in the head and another hit him in the back of the head with a bottle, police said.Mr. Bynum told police the men ran toward the 8300 block of Pioneer Drive after the attack.

A 40-year-old woman was found shot to death in her car in Severn early yesterday, the victim of an apparent robbery, county police reported. The body of Michelle Anita Erdman of the 1500 block of Matthews Town Road in Hanover was found about 12:30 a.m. by police officers investigating a report of gunshots fired near Pioneer Drive and Arwell Court. Erdman's gray, four-door Eagle Premier was found in the 1900 block of Arwell Court, damaged from hitting a tree near the intersection. It was not clear whether the car was damaged before the woman was shot.

Peggy Herbert loves the kitchen in the two-story townhouse she's hoping to buy. It's spacious with clean new cream-colored tile, a wide new hunter green counter top and new wooden cabinets.The bathrooms in the Pioneer Drive home are new, too, along with the kitchen appliances, the windows, doors and siding. And if NationsBank approves her loan, Herbert will be something new in this community struggling to turn its image around: She will be a homeowner."I didn't think they were going to do so much remodeling," Herbert, 30, said during her first tour of the remodeled home.

COMMUNITIES ALONG Pioneer Drive in Anne Arundel County's Severn area have suffered for years from the indifference of absentee condominium owners. As rental units deteriorated, neighborhoods became run-down and crime-ridden. An effort is under way to capitalize on the low property values and transform this community of absentee landlords into one of owner-occupants.Two non-profit organizations -- Homes for America and the Arundel Community Development Services -- are working to take advantage of the depressed real estate prices.