Ramada Inn

The Anne Arundel County Human Relations Commission is accepting nominations for the Dallas G. Pace Sr. Human Relations Award. The award will be presented at the Martin Luther King Memorial Breakfast on Jan.20 at the Ramada Inn in Annapolis. The nominations deadline is Dec. 31.The award recognizes the achievements and contributions made by a person who has significantly enhanced the realization of human relations goals and objectives for the betterment of people in Anne Arundel County. It isnamed after the late Dallas G. Pace Sr., a former chairman of the Human Relations Commission.

A man who claimed to have a knife robbed a cabdriver outside a North Laurel hotel Monday after the driver had finished giving him a round trip to Anne Arundel County, Howard County police said.No one was injured, police said.According to police, the driver picked up the suspect at the Ramada Inn in the 9900 block of U.S. 1 late Monday night.The suspect was driven to Anne Arundel County, then driven back to the hotel. There, police said, the suspect told the cabdriver he was armed with a knife and ordered him to turn over money.

The crime report is a sampling of crimes in Howard County compiled from police. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 410-313-3700. East Columbia Summer Cloud Way: 6400 block, Long Reach. Someone removed three bicycles from a garage July 16. Clock Tower Lane: 9700 block, Kings Contrivance. Someone stole a television from an apartment July 15. West Columbia Wood Elves Way: 11000 block, Harper's Choice. Someone entered a garage July 13 and stole a bicycle valued at $400.

Tenants' group to honor AACC's BlackstoneThe Anne Arundel Coalition of Tenants will honor Anne Arundel Community College administrator Alfred Blackstone at a Martin Luther King Jr. memorial breakfast on Jan. 18 at the Annapolis Ramada Inn.Mr. Blackstone will receive the "I've Been to the Mountaintop" award for his contributions to education. Coordinator of minority recruitment and retention since 1983, Mr. Blackstone joined the college staff in 1972 as job placement coordinator.His community affiliations have included the Anne Arundel County School Board Task Force for At-Risk Students; the People Helping People Inc. advisory board; and the Crownsville State Hospital Center advisory council.

A seminar focusing on current income and tax topics and specificallyintended for owners and investors in real estate and small businesses will be given beginning at 4 p.m. Jan. 21 at the Annapolis Ramada Inn. A reception will follow at 5:30.The Annapolis office of C.W. Amos & Co. and Blumenthal & Wayson, P.A. will jointly host the seminar. Topics include a review of the tax reform legislation, "Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990," the new regulations on tax-free like-kind exchanges and techniques used in trust and estate tax planning.

Fantasy rooms: Travel Weekly, an industry newspaper, offers some alternatives to the standard motel room. In Strasburg, Pa., guests at the Red Caboose Motel sleep in rail cars, most from the old Pennsylvania Railroad. At the Heritage Inn in Evans, Colo., the Wild West Suite includes a tent and a covered wagon for sleeping. And in the Cinderella Palace Suite at the Ramada Inn Grand Court in Mundelein, Ill., guests can sleep in Cinderella's coach, with a life-size Plexiglass horse standing guard nearby.

A man was fatally shot in the parking lot of the Ramada Inn in Pikesville late Friday night, a Baltimore County police spokesman said. Officers responding to a report of gunshots at 11:17 p.m. found a man shot multiple times in the parking lot of the hotel in the 1700 block of Reistertown Road, Baltimore County Police Cpl. John Wachter said. The man, who appeared to be in his 20s, was taken to Sinai Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, Wachter said. His name was not immediately released pending notification of his family.

WEATHER The National Weather Service is calling for Thursday to start cloudy and then gradually become mostly sunny, with a high near 95 and south winds around 6 miles per hour in the afternoon. Thursday night is expected to be partly cloudy, with a low around 76. TRAFFIC Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues as you plan your commute. BREAKING Former Ravens owner Art Modell dies at 87 : Art Modell, an entrepreneurial owner who restored an NFL franchise to Baltimore in 1996 and delivered a Super Bowl championship four years later, died Thursday of natural causes at the age of 87. FROM LAST NIGHT Arundel police officer injured when cruiser overturns : An Anne Arundel County police officer was injured when his cruiser overturned on Route 100 in Pasadena amid intermittent rain showers Wednesday night, according to a county Fire Department spokesman.

Here is a sampling of Baltimore-area activities being planned in commemoration of the late Rev. Martin Luther King's birthday. The legal holiday is today.ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY: The Rev. Benjamin Chavis, executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, will speak at a rally at noon today, Baptist Church, 31 W. Washington St., Annapolis.Story-telling by volunteers from the Banneker-Douglas Museum between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. today at the William Paca House and Gardens at 186 Prince George St.The YMCA of Anne Arundel County presenting its 13th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial Breakfast today at the Ramada Inn, off Jennifer Road in Annapolis.

A Washington woman and a New York man were arrested on theft charges Saturday night after a county police officer stopped their car because it displayed a stolen truck tag, officials said.Western District Officer Thomas Newman was in the Ramada Inn parking lot in the 7200 block of Parkway Drive when a 1973 Buick pulled in about 11:45 p.m. Officer Newman noticed that the sequence of numbers and letters on the tag were reserved for trucks. He stopped the car, and the woman driver told him that tTC she had borrowed the Buick from her cousin in Washington and knew nothing about the tags, the police report said.