Repair Shop

For years, South Baltimore residents have thought a key piece of city property on the Inner Harbor was destined to become yet another high-rise, blocking even more of their shrinking view of the water. But Mayor Sheila Dixon is changing course, saying that the site will become much-needed waterfront parkland. The decision ends a plan announced by city officials more than two years ago to offer developers the city Fire Department's repair facility on Key Highway - a plan that set off alarm bells in a community increasingly separated from the harbor by squat townhouses and condominiums.

The Baltimore cops called themselves the "untouchables group" and talked in thinly veiled code, referring to alleged payoffs as "coffee," according to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI. They complained about being broke and demanded expedited payments. They made disparaging remarks about the people they were supposed to protect. Phone conversations and streams of text messages intercepted during a corruption investigation caught police officers in unguarded moments — raw chats laced with profanities and describing meetings in convenience store parking lots to collect money, sometimes with officers pulling up in marked squad cars.

Landlords can be held responsible for injuries caused by their tenants' dogs when the dogs attack people in the common areas of a property, Maryland's highest court ruled yesterday.The ruling, reversing a Court of Special Appeals opinion in favor of landlords, appears to significantly broaden the liability of landlords for hazards on their property, according to one Baltimore lawyer who represents commercial and residential landlords.It may put an end to business owners using dogs as security at repair shops, junkyards and other such businesses, according to Aaron M. Levine, lawyer for the victims of the dog attacks in the court's decision.

Long & Foster offices accept Toys for Tots donationsTwo Long & Foster Real Estate offices are drop-off sites for the Marine Corps Reserves' annual Toys for Tots campaign.The Westminster office in Crossroads Square Shopping Center and the Taneytown office at 443 E. Baltimore St. will accept donations until Friday.Each office will hold an open house from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and offer light snacks and complimentary pictures with Santa from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. for donors.Toys should be new and unwrapped.

Two women arrested after shop is damagedEDGEWOOD -- Sheriff's deputies arrested two women on burglary, theft and malicious destruction charges Tuesday night after several witnesses said a woman drove a brown pickup truck through a chain gate at Nelson & Wrenn Inc., an auto repair center near Routes 7 and 755, a sheriff's spokesman said yesterday.Howard Nelson, the repair shop's owner, recognized the description of the truck and driver that witnesses had given deputies, said Sgt. Edward Hopkins.

Repair shop owner Alex Moreno said he was approached in 2008 by a Baltimore police officer with an idea to help boost sales at his fledgling Rosedale business: In exchange for a cut, officers would funnel cars to the shop. Soon, Majestic Auto Repair was getting customers almost exclusively from city police - he testified Tuesday in federal court that more than 60 officers would ultimately get in on the scheme , receiving $300 for each referral. Business grew so fast that he had to expand to new lots to store all the cars; the backlog was so deep that they paid for rental cars to keep customers from becoming frustrated by the wait.

A Bel Air man ordered to pay $198,626 in damages last month for allegedly causing an explosion at an Aberdeen auto repair garage will have a chance to contest the ruling in court.Harford Circuit Judge Cypert O. Whitfill, who had ruled Theodore Nicolaides was responsible for the damage, set aside that finding Wednesday.The judge's move came after the defendant notified the court that he had been out of the country caring for a sick father during the trial and had never received any documents on the case.

Police today identified a man who was killed last night during a shootout with an off-duty state trooper in northwest Baltimore.Michael Steven Maxfield, 19, of the 3700 block of Milford Ave. in northwest Baltimore, was identified as the dead man by his mother, police said.During the incident, Cpl. Eric R. Claxton, 29, suffered a minor wound when a bullet grazed his upper left leg, police said. He was treated at Sinai Hospital and released around 1:30 a.m. today.Claxton, a nine-year veteran, is assigned to the warrant fugitive section at the Waterloo Barracks in Howard County.

The Q: Auto repair complaints were No. 2 behind landlord and property management problems on the Maryland attorney general's top five consumer complaints list last year. When your car won't start, leaks or is making funny noises, it can cause consumers to panic and forget what their rights are under Maryland law. Reader Rodney Kerr was in a miserable situation recently when he sent a frantic e-mail to us. "Hello, I'm in an auto repair shop, and I'm very, very concerned," Kerr said. "The owner started a lot of repairs on his own without any authorization at all. The vehicle is there because it wouldn't start.

Car repair and detailing business owners in Park Heights are refusing to pay fines they have received for illegally parked and stored vehicles until they can meet with city officials to discuss them, they said. "We don't want to fight, we just want to meet and talk so we can coexist," said Tyrone Grooms, owner of Pop's Auto Repair & Towing. City zoning and parking officials inspected several shops, including Grooms', in the 5200 block of Fairlawn Ave. last week, handing out 46 citations for unlicensed vehicles.