Vehicle Administration

William Tecumseh Sherman Bricker, a retired Towson lawyer and former chief of the state Motor Vehicle Administration who played a role in strengthening drunken driving laws, died of congestive heart failure Thursday at Manor Care Ruxton, a day before his 74th birthday. A descendant of the Civil War's Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, Mr. Bricker was born and raised in Highlandtown. He was a 1945 graduate of Polytechnic Institute. His undergraduate studies at the University of Maryland were interrupted by his enlistment in the Army during the Korean War. After earning his bachelor's degree at College Park, Mr. Bricker earned his law degree from the University of Baltimore Law School - and during his last year there worked as assistant director of the state's Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund, predecessor of the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund.

Officials at the Maryland State Board of Elections estimate that about 622,165 Maryland residents who are qualified to vote are not registered to do so. In Baltimore alone, that's about 97,000 people. Statewide elections have been decided by much less. Ensuring that the eligible are registered to vote ought to be a top priority of government at every level. Since Congress approved the Motor Voter Act in 1993, it has been the obligation of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (and its counterparts in other states)

LISTEN TO the comments of those leaving some branches of the state's Motor Vehicle Administration this year, from customer service cards from MVA centers throughout the state:"I feel as if I have entered the circus," one customer wrote."

Ejner James Johnson, who was chief of staff for Gov. Harry R. Hughes and former head of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, died of Parkinson's disease Tuesday at Baltimore Washington Medical Center. He was 74. As Mr. Hughes' chief of staff, he played a pivotal role in helping the governor restore confidence in the state's savings and loans during a crisis in the mid-1980s that threatened to cause the collapse of the state's thrifts. He also is credited with making the Motor Vehicle Administration more accessible by opening branch offices around the state.

ADD ONE MORE thing to that short list of certainties in this life, next to death and taxes: some sort of wacky experience while attempting to register a car, get a driver's license or obtain plates at the Motor Vehicle Administration.With this in mind, your Intrepid One recently embarked on a mystery tour of some of the state's MVA locations, staking out the public offices where such driver-related business is conducted in search of a flavor of the process. Then, an internal (and very informal)

CONFESSION: I was four months late for my vehicle emissions test. I was bad. I had no excuse, other than the rush of life, the leak in my roof and the holidays, but, hey, we're all busy, right? I have no defense. I procrastinated. I was derelict in my duties as a citizen of the Patapsco Drainage Basin. The air in Baltimore and Central Maryland is unhealthy, and it will only get healthier if we, the motorized public, all do our part - and do it on time. But I blew it, OK? I was a loathsome sluggard.

Ask a third-grader where milk comes from and you will likely get the same answer over and over again: "From the grocery store. It comes in plastic bottles." "I've heard it many, many times," said George Mayo. "Kids across the state don't relate milk to cows or farms. They don't make the connection between agriculture and the clothes they wear, their shoes and the food they eat." Mayo is out to change that. And that's the thinking behind the colorful license plates, or "ag tags," bearing a farm scene and the slogan, "Our Farms, Our Future."

Maryland's long-running new-car sales boom continued last month, but at a considerably slower pace than it started the year.According to figures compiled by the Motor Vehicle Administration, new-car and truck sales rose 8.6 percent last month, compared with the same period a year ago.While last month's increase kept intact a 21-month string of higher sales, it was far off the almost 30 percent jump recorded in January.For the country as a whole, sales of new cars and light trucks were off 4.2 percent last month.

Ejner James Johnson, who was chief of staff for Gov. Harry R. Hughes and former head of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, died of Parkinson's disease Tuesday at Baltimore Washington Medical Center. He was 74. As Mr. Hughes' chief of staff, he played a pivotal role in helping the governor restore confidence in the state's savings and loans during a crisis in the mid-1980s that threatened to cause the collapse of the state's thrifts. He also is credited with making the Motor Vehicle Administration more accessible by opening branch offices around the state.

Carroll sheriff's deputies will crack down on county motorists who fail to register their vehicles and obtain Maryland license plates, Sheriff Kenneth L. Tregoning said yesterday.After an initial public awareness campaign -- about 30 days -- deputies will concentrate on vehicles with out-of-state plates and check to see where the owners live, the sheriff's office said.State law requires new residents to register vehicles and obtain a Maryland driver's license within 30 days.The county is taking advantage of first-time state grants to pay overtime costs for the crackdown, said Maj. John Stultz, operations commander for Tregoning.

Dr. Robert L. Raleigh, an environmental health physician who believed the elderly should be allowed to continue to drive provided they did so safely, died of cancer Sunday at his Stevensville home. He was 80. As the chief of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration's Medical Advisory Board and the director of the Office of Driver Safety Research, he conducted a 1998 study that identified and helped elderly drivers who might pose a danger on the highway because of failing physical or mental capabilities.

Ask a third-grader where milk comes from and you will likely get the same answer over and over again: "From the grocery store. It comes in plastic bottles." "I've heard it many, many times," said George Mayo. "Kids across the state don't relate milk to cows or farms. They don't make the connection between agriculture and the clothes they wear, their shoes and the food they eat." Mayo is out to change that. And that's the thinking behind the colorful license plates, or "ag tags," bearing a farm scene and the slogan, "Our Farms, Our Future."

Parents of four teenage drivers have received letters from the Carroll County sheriff this month with details of their children's motor vehicle violations. Not one parent has inquired about the citations, most of which were for dangerous driving, officials said. The letter, which begins: "In the interest of public safety and that of your child," names the driver and gives the time, location and any pertinent details of the violation. "I was prepared for parents to call to ask for circumstances of the stop," said Maj. Thomas H. Long, a Sheriff's Department spokesman and chief of the field services bureau.

CONFESSION: I was four months late for my vehicle emissions test. I was bad. I had no excuse, other than the rush of life, the leak in my roof and the holidays, but, hey, we're all busy, right? I have no defense. I procrastinated. I was derelict in my duties as a citizen of the Patapsco Drainage Basin. The air in Baltimore and Central Maryland is unhealthy, and it will only get healthier if we, the motorized public, all do our part - and do it on time. But I blew it, OK? I was a loathsome sluggard.

He was once the odometer rollback king of Baltimore, prosecutors say, a full-time scam artist who raked in millions with his doctored cars, phony auto titles and network of unscrupulous car dealers. He was also one of the FBI's wanted fugitives. But yesterday, Theodore Schecter of Towson was back in Baltimore's federal courthouse - seven years after he skipped out on his sentencing hearing and began a life on the run. He was back because he had finally been caught - his fugitive life unraveled by a bitter co-defendant and a chance meeting at an out-of-state Wawa convenience store.

William John Long Sr., the retired chief deputy administrator of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, died Monday of complications from multiple sclerosis, diabetes and cancer at his Perry Hall home. He was 55. Born in Baltimore and raised in Northwood, he was a 1966 City College graduate and earned a business administration degree at the University of Baltimore. Mr. Long started his career with the Motor Vehicle Administration in 1971 at Glen Burnie. He worked in its vehicle registration division and sold license plates, and headed a data communications system and a vehicle emissions inspection program.

As the story of the kidnapping and bludgeon slaying of Vitalis V. Pilius continues to unfold, it is vital that investigators get to the bottom of the repeated foul-ups by the State Police and the Motor Vehicle Administration.The Pilius case has revealed troubling weaknesses in State Police and Motor Vehicle Administration procedures. So far, MVA officials have suspended one Mondawmin branch employee on suspicion that she sold fraudulent driver's licenses to a suspect in the case.But if reports are true that criminals widely know how to get stolen licenses remade at the MVA with their own pictures, then a bigger ring may have been in operation.

Strange goings-on continue at the state Motor Vehicle Administration.On the one hand, published reports suggest that only a single employee has been suspended for issuing fraudulent licenses (and even she has been granted immunity for cooperation in the probe). On the other hand, fake drivers'licenses are such a problem that the MVA was forced to halt for up to 90 days the issuance of photo IDs in lieu of driver's licenses altogether until a better system can be developed.The MVA has been a contradictory operation for the past five years.

William Tecumseh Sherman Bricker, a retired Towson lawyer and former chief of the state Motor Vehicle Administration who played a role in strengthening drunken driving laws, died of congestive heart failure Thursday at Manor Care Ruxton, a day before his 74th birthday. A descendant of the Civil War's Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, Mr. Bricker was born and raised in Highlandtown. He was a 1945 graduate of Polytechnic Institute. His undergraduate studies at the University of Maryland were interrupted by his enlistment in the Army during the Korean War. After earning his bachelor's degree at College Park, Mr. Bricker earned his law degree from the University of Baltimore Law School - and during his last year there worked as assistant director of the state's Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund, predecessor of the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund.

IN THE PAST, I have written of my trepidation at the thought of my son driving a car, and I have praised Maryland's new graduated licensing program for all the speed bumps it put in his path toward a license. That was then. This is now. After two years riding around in the passenger's seat of my own vehicle -- going places I did not need to go -- I grabbed my student driver by the lapels and said, in the same patient and instructive tone of voice I always use with him: "Look! Let's just get this driver's license thing done!