Unsupervised

A suspended Carroll County priest who admitted molesting two boys was released from jail yesterday after serving a little more than nine months of a 15-month sentence. Brian M. Cox left the Carroll County Detention Center yesterday, not long after a judge agreed to his request for an early release. Explaining why he granted the request, Carroll Circuit Judge Michael M. Galloway said that Cox's conduct was "not to be tolerated" but that he had been adequately punished and holds the potential to do more good outside of jail than in it. "In my short time on the bench, this is probably the case that has caused me to do more soul-searching in fashioning a sentence than any other," Galloway said in court.

U.S. DISTRICT Judge Paul L. Friedman has ruled that would-be presidential assassin John Hinckley will have a hearing this fall on his request to secure unsupervised leaves from St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, where he has resided since his acquittal by reason of insanity more than 22 years ago. This is the latest of a number of such attempts since the 1980s to gain more freedom by Mr. Hinckley. His attorneys argue that his mental health has improved over the years he has been incarcerated there and that such leaves would constitute a "critical component" of his treatment.

The Cheltenham Youth Facility violated standards last year by assigning a roommate to a 10-year-old sex offender who should have been housed alone, according to a state monitor's report. The offender and his 11-year-old roommate were later found "engaging in a sexual act while locked in their bedroom" on Thanksgiving Day, the report said. Department of Juvenile Services standards call for admissions workers at juvenile detention centers to identify youths with special problems and house them accordingly.

An Ellicott City dance instructor accused of sexually assaulting three of his students during private, unsupervised dance lessons was indicted yesterday on 15 charges stemming from the girls' allegations. A Howard County grand jury returned three indictments -- one relating to each girl -- against Jose Anibal Macedo, 41, on charges including attempted rape, child abuse and sexual assault. Macedo, of the 1100 block of Taylor Ave. in Halethorpe, has been on home detention since posting $30,000 bond late last month and has returned to teaching.

Despite a national decline in the once-pervasive outdoor movie theater, an Eldersburg man is seeking permission to turn a hilly plot in Carroll County into the nation's first digital drive-in, a proposal that has angered neighboring property owners. The proposed theater, which would be called Bumpers Drive-In Theatre and would have two screens, is believed to be the first effort to construct a drive-in in Maryland in decades, according to the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association.

A Howard County grand jury indicted Hemlatta Patel of the 6300 block of Burnt Mountain Path in Columbia yesterday on charges that she burned her 11-year-old son's thigh with a pair of heated tongs. Patel was charged with child abuse, second-degree assault and violation of a law that prohibits children from being left unsupervised. Deputy State's Attorney I. Matthew Campbell said Patel is accused of leaving her 5-year-old daughter in the care of her son. Charging documents state the woman was trying to break her son's thumb-sucking habit by burning him. The abuse did not seem to be ongoing, Campbell said.

Leaving a 19-year-old in charge after closing proved expensive for the owners of the Johnny Star Rib Company restaurant in Ellicott City, who were fined $800 by Howard County's liquor board after the teen invited some friends over for a few hours of illegal drinking.The board also meted out fines of $700, $500 and $50 to the license holders of three other Howard County liquor outlets in decisions dated Dec. 1, including one at the county-owned Timbers of Troy Golf Course in the 6100 block Marshalee Drive in Elkridge.

PETROVAC, Macedonia -- Staff Sgt. Chris Stone's voice was so flat, so unemotional, that when he radioed for help Wednesday, his superior officer, Sgt. 1st Class Jim LaShelle, didn't think he was serious and began to cut him off. "Grid 675 -- " Stone said, before LaShelle broke in on the radio line to make sure Stone wasn't kidding. But that was only half of a six-digit number needed to locate Stone and two other soldiers whose Humvee had been surrounded by Serbs. When Stone repeated that they were taking direct fire, LaShelle knew it was true and bolted up straight.

A Taneytown church is the first to start an after-school program for middle school and high school students, and another group is planning a similar alternative to "hanging out."Messiah United Methodist Church's After School Club for 10- to 15-year-olds meets from 3: 30 p.m. to 6 p.m. three days a week at the church. The program started the school year with 12 students, now has six and is looking for members.Teen-agers and preteens need afternoon activities while their parents are working, said the Rev. Laura L. Schultz, the pastor.

Howard County high school students will be permitted to jump onto the Internet without supervision beginning this week -- as long as they promise to obey certain rules and avoid inappropriate materials.But county elementary and middle school students will continue to be prohibited from using the World Wide Web -- the information- and graphic-filled heart of the Internet -- except when they are directly supervised by a teacher.The decision to allow only high school students unsupervised access to the Internet marks a retreat for school officials, who last June had suggested that the system take a more liberal approach and allow students at any level to use the Internet unsupervised as long as they had parental permission.