Towed

Ryan Boddy was following instructions. After back-to-back snowstorms, Boddy dug out his wife's car on Calvert Street in Mount Vernon, a snow emergency route. Posted signs state cars would be towed from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. on the east side of the street, and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the west side, so he parked it on the east side the morning of Feb. 11. Still, he walked out a few hours later and found the vehicle had been towed. Boddy said he understood that this was an unprecedented storm and "it makes sense that they wouldn't have this down to a science."

A 100-foot tugboat sank off Pier 3 in Locust Point on Saturday night. The tugboat Kaleen McAllister sank before 10 p.m., Mike Reagoso, the vice president of Mid-Atlantic operations for McAllister Towing, said Sunday. No one was injured in the incident, Reagoso said. Everyone had left the boat by the time it sank, said Petty Officer David Marin, a Coast Guard spokesman operating out of Baltimore's Curtis Bay yards. "It is too early to determine what the extent of the damage may be, but the submersion of the tug is not expected to interfere with any harbor operations or any port operations," Reagoso said in a statement.

THE WOMAN on the telephone at Greenwood Towing Inc. had a voice full of early-morning weariness. It was only Monday, and she sounded as if she wanted to go home and hide under the covers for the rest of the decade. "Let me assume," she said, "that you're calling about the cars that were towed over Artscape weekend." Bingo! The city opens its arms in all the most beautiful ways with Artscape, its annual love song to itself, but turns this delightful hour into a punch in the mouth every time the cops, or the tow trucks, decide to get picky.

The city's Board of Estimates on Wednesday formally approved an overhaul of the city's speed cameras and the replacement of a police-towing company accused of overcharging customers. The panel voted 4-1 to approve a $2.2 million payment to Brekford Corp., the city's new speed camera vendor, for a purchase of 72 speed cameras. In January, the city's speed and red light camera system experienced a near-complete shutdown during what city officials called a problematic transition from previous contractor, Xerox State & Local Solutions.

Richard Smith read carefully the Taneytown community newsletter which explained that the street sweepers would come through July 18. He moved his car.It was towed anyway, costing him $52.The problem wasn't with Mr. Smith, but the street sweepers who didn't get the job done July 18. By the time police posted "No Parking" signs for July 19 about 9 p.m. the night before, Mr. Smith already had parked his car for the evening.The next morning his car was gone."That was wrong," Mayor W. Robert Flickinger said.

An Ellicott City woman whose pickup truck was mistakenly towed during the repossession of another vehicle is suing General Motors Acceptance Corp. for $100,000 to pay for her losses and humiliation, according to a lawsuit she filed.Suzanne Ferrone of the 8600 block of Town and Country Blvd. alleges she had to cancel her plans for Memorial Day weekend and suffered humiliation in knowing her boss and co-workers thought she couldn't keep up with her vehicle payments.She also had to cancel her bank accounts because her purse was in the 1987 Nissan truck when it was towed from a Catonsville parking lot outside Home Depot USA Inc., where she works, the suit alleges.

Across the city last week, hundreds of residents whose cars were parked on snow emergency routes failed to heed warnings to dig out their vehicles and move them elsewhere. So now those car owners are digging into their pockets to pay hefty fines and towing fees. More than 2,000 citations were issued and more than 800 cars were towed during Baltimore's history-making snowstorm that dumped more than two feet of snow here, said Adrienne Barnes, spokeswoman for the Office of Transportation.

The 30-foot carcass of a whale that was found drifting at the mouth of Curtis Bay early yesterday took up a berth at the Dundalk Marine Terminal while officials and scientists decide what to do with it.The dead whale was spotted drifting in open water in the main channel of the Patapsco River, said Cpl. Ralph L. Parker of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police.Corporal Parker said the DNR assisted in handling the case but didn't have a boat large enough to pull the whale to shore.

An elderly, disabled woman wrapped in a blanket was found safe yesterday afternoon in the back seat of a Jeep Cherokee after it was towed about half a mile from a downtown curb to a city impound lot because of a parking violation, police said. The driver of the Jeep - identified by police as Diahann Russell of Columbia - told an officer she had parked about 3 p.m. in the first block of S. Calvert St. to visit a lawyer's office, leaving her passenger in the vehicle. The downtown section of Calvert Street is part of a tow-away zone after 3 p.m. Police did not know the name of the passenger - described as 75 to 80 years old - or her relation to the driver, who could not be reached for comment last night.

Parking near the Timonium fairgrounds proved costly for several people who attended the State Fair on Sunday night, when their cars were towed from a shopping center lot across the street.The towing fee was $120.Baltimore County police said they received several calls from irate people about their cars being towed from the Timonium Shopping Center parking lot.One of them, Richard N. Smith of Cockeysville, said he had paid to park there -- giving an attendant $4 when he arrived about 9: 40 p.m. to take his 10-year-old godson for a brief visit to the fair's midway.

There are myriad reasons for Loyola's five-game winning streak. The defense is surrendering an average of 5.8 goals, the offense unearthed an explosive attackman in freshman Zach Herreweyers while senior attackman and 2012 Tewaaraton Award finalist Mike Sawyer sat out two games, and the transition game was bolstered by the return of senior short-stick defensive midfielder Josh Hawkins. Junior attackman Justin Ward pointed to another factor: practice. “After that Duke game [a 9-8 loss on March 8]

Baltimore officials are threatening to cancel the city's contract with Berman's Towing over allegations that the company is adding "excessive charges" to its bills. "Please be advised that these unauthorized actions must immediately cease," Timothy Krus, the city's purchasing agent, wrote in a letter received Friday by Berman's Towing. The company is one of the city's "medallion" towing firms that respond to police calls for service. Krus wrote that the company and its two subsidiaries, Berman's Towing 2 and Berman's Towing 4, have been "found to be in default of the terms" of its contract with the city that allows it to tow vehicles when called by the police.

The following is compiled from police reports from the Towson and Cockeysville precincts. Our policy is to include descriptions when there is enough information to make identification possible. A man climbed a locked fence early on Saturday to retrieve his towed car but was discovered before he could drive away, Baltimore County Police report. On March 3, at about 2:30 a.m., a man climbed the fence surrounding the car lot at Pollard's Towing in the unit block of Ensor Avenue in Towson and was found at the lot. Perry Christopher Halley, 22 of the 1500 block of Oakland Road in Randallstown, was arrested, police report.

An Essex towing company caught fire Saturday morning, Baltimore County fire officials said. The fire in the 400 block of Back River Neck Road happened at FMR Towing, the fire department said, and was under control by 9 a.m, but fire fighters were still on the scene. iduncan@baltsun.com twitter.com/iduncan

A 7-year-old boy remains in critical condition with a severe head injury after a traffic accident on Christmas night. At about 10 p.m., Anne Arundel police responded to Casuarina Way near Spring Meadow Way in Odenton where a 1997 Acura sedan had struck a parked tow truck. The boy, who had been sitting in the front seat of the Acura, was taken to John Hopkins Children's Center. Police are not releasing his name. The car's driver, Lisa Marie Middledorf, 30, was not injured. Police said preliminary evidence indicates alcohol and driver fatigue contributed to the crash.

Nearly two years after a towing kickback scandal rocked the Baltimore Police Department, 14 officers who were not criminally charged remain suspended with pay and unavailable to perform police functions, officials said. Police say they must wait for final word from prosecutors on whether the officers will face criminal charges before the agency can determine whether to punish them or clear them of wrongdoing. But the case is emblematic of a slow-moving disciplinary system that robs resources from a department that has the second-highest staffing per capita in the nation.

Baltimore transportation officials towed a Secret Service van connected with former first daughter Jenna Bush's security detail yesterday, according to city and federal officials. Adrienne Barnes, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Transportation, said that the van was towed from a South Baltimore neighborhood for a "nonmoving violation." The vehicle had accumulated six tickets, officials said, but the total fines and specific violations were not immediately available. A second Secret Service vehicle was also ticketed, Barnes said.

As anyone who had to drive during this week's snowstorm knows, Maryland motorists do odd things when snow hits the road.But the automotive stunt that most puzzles transportation officials and tow operators is the decision to abandon vehicles just about anywhere, as hundreds of drivers did when 4 to 6 inches of snow began blanketing most of Maryland during evening rush hour Thursday."

What happens when a city vehicle is left illegally parked? It might just get towed — possibly by a city tow truck — to a city impound lot, where the city will tack on additional charges. Over the past two years, more than 30 cars and trucks owned by the City of Baltimore have been hauled to the city's Fallsway or Pulaski Highway impound lots for parking violations. There most sat until somebody forked over the money, usually $272, to cover the tow charge, storage and administrative fees and the parking citation itself.

Steve LaPlanche - "Sports Steve" to his friends - says he hasn't missed a professional football game played in Baltimore since 1956. His streak, he says proudly, is 358 games and counting. "I started going when I was 3, and I haven't missed a Baltimore home game since then," said LaPlanche, 59. "Ever since I was born, sports was like a magnet to me. I've lived and slept sports. " But LaPlanche, whose loyalty has lasted through Baltimore's NFL Colts, USFL Stars and CFL Stallions before settling on the Ravens, isn't simply a dedicated fan. He also makes a proud spectacle of himself at every home game with an intricate homemade getup.