Umbreit

A former Northeast High School teacher who was convicted in 1993 of sexually abusing three students and who talked on national television about sleeping with his students is seeking a new trial.Ronald W. Price is claiming he was ill-served by his two attorneys because they exploited his case "for personal financial gain, notoriety, press coverage and political advancement" that led to conflicts of interest, according to the petition filed yesterday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.He argues that they made other errors, such as not demanding a separate trial for each victim.

State School Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick said yesterday that she would release a report on the Anne Arundel County school system's handling of the case surrounding former Northeast High School teacher Ronald W. Price by the end of the week.Dr. Grasmick and Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Frank Weathersbee received draft copies of the report July 19, but have refused to make it public.Yesterday, Dr. Grasmick said the report would be released Thursday or Friday. She said it had been sent to Mr. Weathersbee only to ensure it would not interfere with any investigations.

Every cloud has a silver lining, they say. For bankruptcy lawyers, the lining on the cloud of economic recession fairly glimmers these days.Last year Alexander Gordon IV, a lawyer and bankruptcy trustee in Easton, handled double the number of business and personal bankruptcy cases he had in 1989.This year, "I had three new bankruptcy cases on Jan. 1 alone. It looks like 1991 is going to be a real banner year for bankruptcies," Mr. Gordon said recently.For a long time last year, economists and government prognosticators refused to use the dreaded "R" word -- "recession" -- when talking about the state of the economy.

On December 3, 2004, ELIZABETH A. Mc DONOUGH (nee Artz); beloved wife of the late Terence F. Mc Donough; devoted mother of Elizabeth A. Janairo, Thomas F. Mc Donough, Julia Mc Donough Tirincanti, Nora A. Koontz, and Sheila Mc Donough Lumsden; loving grandmother of Bridget and Kelly Janairo; dear sister of Christina Umbreit. A Christian Wake Service will be held at the family owned Duda-Ruck Funeral Home of Dundalk, Inc., 7922 Wise Avenue, on Sunday at 3:30 P.M. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in St. Rita Church on Monday at 11 A.M. Interment Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery.

Anne Arundel County police say they have received more than a dozen phone calls from potential additional victims of a Northeast High School teacher and softball coach charged last week with sexually abusing one of his students.Capt. Michael Fitzgibbons said the calls came in over the weekend to the answering machine at the Criminal Investigations Division in Crownsville after news of Ronald Walter Price's arrest was publicized Friday.Timothy F. Umbreit, Mr. Price's attorney, said in a statement released yesterday that his client does not "deny the factual basis" of the charges against him, but does "deny criminal responsibility."

The Anne Arundel County state's attorney yesterday challenged the insanity defense filed by former Northeast High teacher Ronald Walter Price, who is charged with sexually abusing three of his students.Mr. Price, who resigned in May, was charged in April with three counts of child sexual abuse, unnatural and perverted sex practices and a fourth-degree sex offense. He is accused of having sex with students, sometimes in the school building.Mr. Price, 49, has admitted on national television that he had sex with as many as seven students -- including his current wife -- over a 20-year period.

From her tidy front yard trimmed with flower beds, Deborah Cunningham can look straight at the gray house that's already become one of the county's most notorious landmarks.She's closed the shades and warned her children to steer clear of the building. Still, every time Cunningham walks outside and glances down the block, she shudders."It's so close, I don't feel safe," she said about the adult bookand video store within a stone's throw of her home in Glen Burnie.Her neighbors on Wilson Boulevard were equally dismayed when the Paradise X-rated video store quietly opened earlier this week.

A month after being sentenced to 26 years for child sex abuse, Ronald Walter Price is asking for limited freedom.Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Eugene M. Lerner said yesterday he will consider a request by Price's attorneys to modify the 26-year sentence he imposed Oct. 14 by reducing the term or letting their client serve under house arrest.Price, 48, was convicted of three counts of child sex abuse. Three victims testified during the two-day jury trial that they had sexual relations with Price while students at Northeast High School and he was a social studies teacher there.

Ronald Price, the Anne Arundel County teacher convicted of sexually abusing three students, does not have to give the state a copy of his contract for a movie or television show about his life, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled yesterday.The state's highest court ruled unanimously that Maryland's "Son of Sam" law, in requiring a criminal defendant to turn over any contract for his story on demand, would force him to admit criminal activity and violate his constitutional rights against self-incrimination.

ANNAPOLIS -- Citing community pressure, two companies have decided to withdraw their request for commercial licenses that would have allowed them to install video peep shows in their Anne Arundel County stores.Timothy F. Umbreit, an attorney for the two companies, said yesterday that he will be sending county councilmen letters of his clients' intentions.The companies, Magura and Tokai enterprises, had initially sought to install the video machines in stores in Glen Burnie and in Odenton.