Robinwood

It's a worn brick building surrounded by a well-used playground and basketball courts where most of the hoops are missing nets. But inside the Robinwood Community Center, youths and other residents can find a top-of-the-line computer laboratory with 10 19-inch flat screens, wireless Internet, printers and a projector. Northrop Grumman, the defense contractor based in Linthicum, installed the new computer lab Friday as part of its renovation of the center in the Annapolis public housing neighborhood.

For 10-year-old Paris Lyles, the gathering in his Annapolis neighborhood was about balloons, burgers and bubble gum. But for his mother, Quintina Curtis, it was a chance to plant flowers and commune with neighbors about building relationships in a sometimes-troubled community. "We need this. It helps kids understand how to keep the community clean, and they will appreciate it," Curtis said. "And we need something positive in this community to bring everyone together to form a support group to make things happen."

Anne Arundel County, Annapolis and local housing authority officials yesterday proposed flooding the troubled Robinwood community in Annapolis with more police patrols, activities for teens and social services for parents to reduce violence, but have yet to determine how to pay for the initiatives. The panel's recommendations were its first step since announcing a collaborative "full-court press" in the neighborhood. The panel of law enforcement, government, public housing and school leaders also recommended opening a police substation and installing a license plate reader at the entrance of the apartment complex to deter drug dealers and buyers.

An Anne Arundel County Circuit Court jury is expected to revisit this week the 1996 fight and shooting that stirred up racial tensions and anti-police sentiment in Annapolis' Robinwood public housing community.On Wednesday, the court is scheduled to take up the case of Vernon E. Estep Jr., 22, charged with assault with intent to murder, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.The beating, never fully explained, of 40-year-old Carlester Jackson on Labor Day 1996 lies at the heart of the case against Estep.

HERE'S A challenge: Drive through the Annapolis' Robinwood housing development in the midafternoon or early evening on a pleasant day and take a good look at the teen-agers and young men who will undoubtedly be standing or milling about.Now, try telling the difference between those who are dealing drugs or otherwise making trouble and those who are not.But wait. Before you take up that challenge, try this one: Look at those loiterers without presuming that all of them are up to no good.I took the same test myself.

By police accounts that have been made public, the events leading to Cochise O. Daughtry's 1996 death in an Annapolis public housing complex were clear: An officer came upon two men viciously beating someone and shot them. Daughtry, 18, died that night.But documents The Sun obtained recently, including a statement from a key witness, raise a number of questions, including whether the dead man was participating in a mugging or coming to the victim's aid.New doubts have been raised about the Labor Day 1996 shooting in Robinwood -- which polarized the city's black and white communities -- by a statement beating victim Carlester Jackson provided to police within hours of the bloodshed.

Elizabeth Brown is 71, diabetic and uses a wheelchair after a stroke in 1977 and three bypass operations. Because "Ma," as she is widely known, has trouble leaving her home in Annapolis' Robinwood project, she can't see her son.Curtis Allan Spencer has been banned from the public housing property where Brown has lived for 29 years because of his recent conviction for selling crack. Police say Spencer is the leader of a drug ring that controlled Annapolis housing projects for most of those years.

The indictment of Vernon Eugene Estep Jr. -- who was critically wounded by an Annapolis police officer in a Sept. 2 shooting in the Robinwood community that left a man dead -- ends a four-month police investigation, but the controversy is far from over.Estep, 19, who was indicted Monday on attempted-murder charges, will make his initial appearance in court on that case in the next few weeks. His lawyer, William H. Murphy Jr., has filed a notice of intent to sue the city for $2 million on Estep's behalf.

Vernon Eugene Estep Jr., who was critically wounded by an Annapolis police officer Sept. 2 in a shooting in the Robinwood community in which another man died, was indicted yesterday on attempted murder charges.The jury declined to indict Officer David W. Garcia, a seven-year veteran who was accused of reacting violently when he shot Estep, 19, of the 1100 block of Madison St. and Cochise Ornandez Daughtry, 18, of the 1300 block of Tyler Ave. while trying to stop a beating in Robinwood. Daughtry died in the shooting.

More than 100 people packed City Hall last night in a show of lingering anger and mistrust after a police-involved shooting in the Robinwood community that has divided the city along racial lines.The protest, organized yesterday by the Black Political Forum and Friends of Black Annapolitans, is evidence that Robinwood remains shorthand to many black city residents for an unfair criminal justice system four months after a police officer fatally shot an 18-year-old black man and critically wounded another.

Annapolis High School held a graduation ceremony last night for one student - a victim of a mall shooting 19 months ago who was held out of commencement because of threats against him. From his seat inside the auditorium, Tahzay Lamont Brown listened to congratulations from his principal, the vice president of the Anne Arundel County school board and the deputy superintendent. His mother wiped tears from her cheeks and yelled, "Tahzay! You go!" as he walked across the stage, a newly minted graduate clutching his diploma.

On this block of Tyler Avenue in Annapolis, 17-year-old Kwame Travon Johnson was fatally shot Sunday night. A day later, a bloodstain and a flower marked the spot where his body was found. On this block, Timothy Hayes Marsh, 48, was fatally shot a month earlier. The family of the Severna Park resident, who was found slumped over the wheel of his 2001 Acura Integra, speculates that he was in the area to purchase drugs. And on this block is where Frank R. Jones, a 38-year-old electrical contractor, lived before turning up dead last month on a Davidsonville roadside.

It's a worn brick building surrounded by a well-used playground and basketball courts where most of the hoops are missing nets. But inside the Robinwood Community Center, youths and other residents can find a top-of-the-line computer laboratory with 10 19-inch flat screens, wireless Internet, printers and a projector. Northrop Grumman, the defense contractor based in Linthicum, installed the new computer lab Friday as part of its renovation of the center in the Annapolis public housing neighborhood.

Residents and volunteers sowed seeds of hope last weekend in the Robinwood community in Annapolis. In an effort to help stem violence and build community in the troubled public housing complex, the initiative started with the "Planting New Relationships" block party. As participants set flower roots in the ground, they hoped to reinvigorate the roots of the community.

For 10-year-old Paris Lyles, the gathering in his Annapolis neighborhood was about balloons, burgers and bubble gum. But for his mother, Quintina Curtis, it was a chance to plant flowers and commune with neighbors about building relationships in a sometimes-troubled community. "We need this. It helps kids understand how to keep the community clean, and they will appreciate it," Curtis said. "And we need something positive in this community to bring everyone together to form a support group to make things happen."

The city of Annapolis unveiled yesterday a comprehensive and program-heavy plan to clean up the troubled Robinwood neighborhood, emphasizing a community buy-in for new anti-crime and social service initiatives. This is the second list of recommendations offered this month to turn around the community. The 30-page proposal calls for a speakers series, a citywide baseball league, community garden and mural projects, alcohol and drug treatment, and more communication between residents, city officials and community organizations.

Anne Arundel County, Annapolis and local housing authority officials yesterday proposed flooding the troubled Robinwood community in Annapolis with more police patrols, activities for teens and social services for parents to reduce violence, but have yet to determine how to pay for the initiatives. The panel's recommendations were its first step since announcing a collaborative "full-court press" in the neighborhood. The panel of law enforcement, government, public housing and school leaders also recommended opening a police substation and installing a license plate reader at the entrance of the apartment complex to deter drug dealers and buyers.

LAST WEEK'S ISSUE: -- Hoping to quell a spate of shootings that wounded four teenagers in less than a week, Anne Arundel and Annapolis officials vowed to use a full-court press in one of the city's 10 public housing neighborhoods. County Executive John R. Leopold said the plan to improve the Robinwood complex was the first step toward a long-term goal of stopping rivalries in the city's public housing communities. Leopold spoke of educating adults about family life. County schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell spoke of enlisting volunteers to check on students who are missing from school.

ISSUE: Hoping to quell a spate of shootings that wounded four teenagers in less than a week, Anne Arundel and Annapolis officials vowed to employ a "full-court press" in one of the city's 10 public housing neighborhoods. County Executive John R. Leopold said the plan to improve the Robinwood complex was the first step toward a long-term goal of stopping rivalries in the city's public housing communities. Authorities say violence at Annapolis High and a fight and shooting in November at Westfield Annapolis mall stemmed from rivalries in the Robinwood and Annapolis Gardens public housing complexes.

ISSUE: Hoping to quell a spate of shootings that wounded four teenagers in less than a week, Anne Arundel County and Annapolis officials vowed to employ a "full-court press" in one of the city's 10 public housing neighborhoods. County Executive John R. Leopold, who organized the meeting with county school leaders, said the plan to improve Robinwood was the first step in a long-term goal of putting a stop to bloody neighborhood rivalries among youths living at some of the city's public housing communities.