Ransom

A federal judge has dismissed a $1 million defamation lawsuit brought by a former Baltimore County police officer who said he was wrongly arrested and committed to a psychiatric hospital after his wife told his supervisors he was threatening suicide. County police arrested Officer Kevin M. Ransom outside his home Oct. 4, 1997, charging him with assault and committing him to Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital for six days for psychiatric evaluation. In a lawsuit filed last year, Ransom - who later returned to work with back pay and had the criminal charge against him dropped - claimed his arrest was improper and malicious.

Stevensville -- Maybe gubernatorial candidate Douglas M. Duncan should change his campaign slogan from "Think Bigger" to "Maryland's Main Squeeze." Duncan, the Montgomery County executive, performed the Heimlich maneuver on a supporter who choked on a chicken sandwich during lunch yesterday at the Love Point Cafe in Stevensville. "If this was written down in a script, they'd reject it 'cause you wouldn't believe it," said Queen Anne's County Commissioner Gene M. Ransom III, the grateful recipient of Duncan's efforts.

MARY RANSOM BROWN died on Saturday, May 22, 2004. The funeral will be at Douglass Memorial Church at Lafayette Avenue and Madison Avenue on Friday, May 28, 2004. Family hour 10:30 A.M. to 11 A.M. Funeral service following.

Almanac-- Nov. 24--1859: British naturalist Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, which explained his theory of evolution. 1971: Hijacker "D.B. Cooper" parachuted from a Northwest Airlines 727 over Washington state with $200,000 in ransom -- his fate remains unknown.

An Edgewater woman whose pit bull was shot and killed by an Anne Arundel County police officer last fall has filed a $3 million lawsuit, alleging the officer was reckless and used excessive force. The lawsuit accuses the unnamed police officer of attempting to enter the home of Deborah Ransom, 58, on Nov. 28, when the dog "enthusiastically and gently" pulled at the officer's sleeve, according to court records. With Ransom and her teenage daughter, Tiffany Hancock, standing just a few feet away, the officer shot the dog in the back.

NEW YORK -- Walgreen Co., the largest U.S. drugstore chain, agreed yesterday to buy Happy Harry's Inc. drugstore chain, its biggest purchase ever, to expand into Delaware. Walgreen is acquiring all 76 Happy Harry's stores in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey, and Happy Harry's corporate office and distribution center in Newark, Del., the retailer said. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Walgreen, which operates 5,251 stores in 45 states and Puerto Rico, typically grows by building stores instead of through acquisitions as has rival CVS Corp.

On April 23, 2003, PAULINE MAE (nee Wessel), beloved wife of the late Patrick H. Thompson, Jr., devoted mother of Patricia M. Post, Paul H. Thompson, Rebecca G. Jackson and Stephanie K. Ransom. Grandmother of Isaac, Shawn, Alex, Ben, Angela and Gloria Post, Greg and Jimmy Jackson and Corinne and Patrick Ransom. Sister of the late Helen R. Thompson, Robert N. and Harry A. Wessel. Friends may call at the Slack Funeral Home, P.A., 3871 Old Columbia Pike, Ellicott City, on Friday 2-4 and 7-9 P.M. Funeral Services Saturday 11 A.M. at St. John's Lutheran Church, Rt. 108 and Old Montgomery Road, Columbia, MD. Interment Church Cemetery.

A Harford County man who might have been kidnapped Monday remained missing yesterday, despite his family paying at least $10,000 in ransom for his return, police said. Jeryl Anthony Singleterry, 26, of Edgewood was last seen about 5 p.m. Monday driving a green 1996 minivan with Chesapeake Bay tags 23048CB, moments after leaving his grandmother's house on East Hoffman Street in Baltimore, police said. Several times Monday night, Singleterry and a man who might have been the kidnapper contacted the family about where to drop off ransom money - an undisclosed site in eastern Baltimore County.

Kevin L. Jones, who won the right to a new trial after his conviction in the murder of a Towson minister was overturned by an appeals court last February, pleaded guilty yesterday to the murder in a Baltimore Circuit Court.Jones, who was 15 when he was convicted in 1988 of the robbery and murder of Rev. Lewis F. Ransom, the former pastor of Towson United Methodist Church, was immediately sentenced by Circuit Judge Elsbeth Levy Bothe to a life sentence with all but 15 years suspended.Yesterday's plea had been "negotiated over the course of several months," said Donald Giblin, the prosecutor.

Only 45 percent of the 35,000 vehicles involved in traffic accidents in Baltimore in 1989 were registered in the city, according to a study that will be used to back efforts to limit the impact geography has on automobile insurance rates.And while claims resulting from the accidents are supposed to be listed in the area where a vehicle is registered, the study found no method for verifying that the reassignment actually occurs, said the study's author.Les Ransom, an insurance consultant who wrote the study, also said yesterday that in Maryland, automobile "insurance rates are the highest where the percentage of minority residents is highest."