Safe House

Maia Woods had long wondered about the strange-looking house on Rolling Road in Rockdale, the one that sits off Liberty Road, boarded up and neglected. On Saturday, she found out about its years as a station on the Underground Railroad, how it's been moved twice in its 200-plus-year history by family members well aware of its historical importance, and how it was bought by a couple 30 years ago determined to see it preserved — even though it's been so contaminated by pesticides that no one will ever be able to live in it again.

SYKESVILLE — The Sykesville Police Department will host its first "Safe House" gun turn-in program in November, where residents can bring any unwanted firearms and ammunition to a drop-off point at the Sykesville Police Department, 7547 Main St., Sykesville. The "drop-off" site will be opened on Saturday, Nov. 19, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. The site will be manned, but no questions will be asked of persons dropping items off. If requested it, a receipt can be provided. Police say residents should not bring loaded weapons to the station.

EVERY YEAR thousands of children are killed or injured in and around the home. In most cases, these accidents could have been avoided if the child had been given basic lessons in household safety.Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company is dedicated to teaching children the importance of fire and home safety.The company is looking for donations to purchase Safe House, a small, realistic house designed to teach children safety lessons that could mean the difference between life and death.Safe House is a vinyl, portable house that can be taken to schools, day-care facilities, carnivals or used at the fire station.

Maia Woods had long wondered about the strange-looking house on Rolling Road in Rockdale, the one that sits off Liberty Road, boarded up and neglected. On Saturday, she found out about its years as a station on the Underground Railroad, how it's been moved twice in its 200-plus-year history by family members well aware of its historical importance, and how it was bought by a couple 30 years ago determined to see it preserved — even though it's been so contaminated by pesticides that no one will ever be able to live in it again.

Carroll County has secured property for its first safe house for victims of domestic violence. A local organization will lease to the county g a 3,100-square- foot house for a $1 per year for three years beginning in May, said Joan McKee, deputy director of Human Services Programs of Carroll County. The location of the safe house was not revealed for security reasons. Yesterday, the county commissioners granted preliminary approval for Human Services Programs and Family and Children's Services of Carroll County to submit a grant application to the state Department of Human Resources.

Any doubt about the need for a domestic violence shelter in Carroll County evaporates in the face of a filled-to-capacity new shelter and a long row of T-shirts, decorated with poignant words and pictures by victims of the escalating problem. The county, the last jurisdiction in the state to open a safe house, celebrated the shelter at the offices of Carroll's Human Services Programs in Westminster on Thursday. The staff showed a video of victims and gave grateful speeches to volunteers who helped renovate the home.

For months, Darlene's husband hit her and threatened to kill their 4-year-old daughter when she tried to leave. Finally, the battered Southern Maryland mother and child escaped -- embarking on a journey that led them to a Baltimore County "safe house.""We're Towson's best-kept secret," said Grace Fendlay, executive director of Active Coalition for Transitional Services Inc. (ACTS), a nonprofit organization that operates three homes for survivors of domestic violence.Clients and their children can stay for up to two years at the shelters, which offer counseling and support for the victims.

After years of work by volunteers and professionals, a safe house in Carroll County will open for the new year to shelter women and children from domestic violence. Sheriff's deputies and other volunteers have been painting and spackling, hanging curtains and finishing electrical work on the house in the final weeks leading up to the opening, said Joan S. McKee, deputy director of the nonprofit Human Services Programs of Carroll County Inc. "We plan to open Jan. 3," said McKee, who has been working to get the house ready.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The United States has conducted at least 56 raids against targets connected with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq organization in the first 48 hours since his death, seeking to capitalize on his killing by disrupting his network of fighters, military officials said. After bombing a dwelling where al-Zarqawi and five others were killed Wednesday, U.S. forces conducted 17 raids across Baghdad and struck 39 additional sites yesterday, said Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.

After two years of discussion and planning, Carroll County's first safe house for victims of domestic violence could open as early as November. County officials, Human Services Programs of Carroll County and the Carroll office of Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland received preliminary approval on an agreement with the state to establish a comprehensive domestic violence program, including opening a shelter for abuse victims. "It is, in many ways, a significant event, and it's been very worthwhile working on this for two years," said Stephen Mood, executive director of Human Services Programs.

A student's request for a holiday charitable donation is what first sparked yoga instructor Tina Lanzoni's interest in the nonprofit group called Giving Back, Linda's Legacy. The nonprofit operates the Holiday Homeless Drive in Baltimore, Anne Arundel County and Washington by collecting basic necessities and delivering them to the homeless and to shelters on Christmas Eve. This past holiday season, the group collected 1,600 donated backpacks filled with hooded sweatshirts, thermal underwear, wool socks, a hat and gloves.

The Carroll County office of Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland has officially teamed up with all the county's law enforcement agencies - the state police, the municipal departments and the sheriff's office - to match crisis workers with police officers to respond to domestic violence incidents through the First Step program. The expanded partnership will help Family and Children's Services bring its programs to more victims and publicize the county's more than two-year-old protective shelter, said Connie Sgarlata, director of the non-profit agency's Westminster office.

Reduced YWCA funding will hurt We were devastated to see that County Executive John R. Leopold's proposed budget includes a $60,000 reduction in FY08 funding for the YWCA. This will inevitably have a severe and immediate impact on our ability to help women and their families in crisis. This county money directly funds Arden House, which is the only safe house in the county for women fleeing from domestic violence. Lack of service for these vulnerable women and children means an increased likelihood of injury and death.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The United States has conducted at least 56 raids against targets connected with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq organization in the first 48 hours since his death, seeking to capitalize on his killing by disrupting his network of fighters, military officials said. After bombing a dwelling where al-Zarqawi and five others were killed Wednesday, U.S. forces conducted 17 raids across Baghdad and struck 39 additional sites yesterday, said Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.

J.T. Bright was a willing, if jittery, recruit when a Maryland State Police officer surveyed a crowd of students for a volunteer to help him demonstrate the swift skills of Yuka, the department's patrol dog. "At first, I couldn't believe they were going to let us do that," said Bright, an 11th-grader at South Carroll High School in Winfield who also attends classes at the Carroll County Career and Technology Center in Westminster. "I was a little nervous. ... Especially when the dog charged at me."

Baltimore police on Tuesday stumbled upon five young children left unattended in a rundown apartment in a dilapidated, crime-ridden building with no heat or hot water. Fortunately, the children, who did not live in the building but had spent the night there, were unharmed and showed no signs of abuse. Child protective service workers will likely monitor them for some time, as they should. But why are people paying rent to live in such appalling conditions? The sad truth the lack of housing that is affordable for poor people in the city gives many of them very little choice.

Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" is a novel in which the two main characters bounce unpredictably through time and space, past and present.Today, exactly four years after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini imposed a death sentence on Mr. Rushdie for blaspheming Islam in his book, the creator of those fantastic travelers remains an earth-bound prisoner of the late Ayatollah's edict, or fatwa, which comes with a bounty of more than $2 million. Guarded by British police, moved from safe house to safe house, Mr. Rushdie is frozen in the present, his future on hold.

SYKESVILLE — The Sykesville Police Department will host its first "Safe House" gun turn-in program in November, where residents can bring any unwanted firearms and ammunition to a drop-off point at the Sykesville Police Department, 7547 Main St., Sykesville. The "drop-off" site will be opened on Saturday, Nov. 19, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. The site will be manned, but no questions will be asked of persons dropping items off. If requested it, a receipt can be provided. Police say residents should not bring loaded weapons to the station.

WASHINGTON -- In confirming the existence of a top-secret domestic spying program, President Bush offered one case as proof that authorities desperately needed the special surveillance tool to plug a gaping hole in the counterterrorism firewall that allowed terrorists to carry out the Sept. 11 attacks. In his radio address Saturday, Bush said two of the hijackers who flew a jet into the Pentagon, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Midhar, had communicated with suspected al-Qaida members overseas while they were in the United States.

A gray whirling tornado inches past a brown rectangular house, surrounded by a white picket fence. Then the house is engulfed in flames while the image of an American flag waves in the corner of the screen. Pictures of Westminster sights come into view on the screen, with the words, "When in need, the community comes together!" Filled with cartoon graphics, photos, and lists of emergency supplies, the Ready React Respond Community Connection Web site was set up to teach residents how to prepare for a natural disaster or a terror threat.