Yocum

ANNAPOLIS -- An Anne Arundel Circuit Court jury considering the fate of a Northeast High School teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with a special education student could not reach a verdict yesterday after six hours of deliberation.Judge Eugene M. Lerner sent the jurors home after they sent him a note saying they were not close to reaching a verdict.Judge Lerner told the nine women and three men not to discuss the case with anyone. The jury is to continue its work today.Charles Allen Yocum, a 30-year-old special education teacher at Northeast, could face 15 years in prison if convicted on charges of child abuse and unnatural and perverted sex practices.

Orioles left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada will decide this week whether to have surgery to repair a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow or attempt to rest and rehab it. On Monday and Tuesday, Wada was examined in California by Dr. Lewis Yocum, who removed bone chips from Wada's elbow after the 2007 season. Yocum, the Los Angeles Angels' team doctor, confirmed the tear and has recommended surgery, according to Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette.

Anne Arundel parents, teachers and administrators filled Central Elementary School's gym this week to hear county schools specialist Chuck Yocum speak about the system's plans to redistrict Central, Davidsonville and Mayo elementary schools. After a lengthy and engaging question-and-answer session, Yocum said he was surprised to see that parents didn't respond with raised eyebrows and voices. "This has been one of the funnest [redistricting] meetings I've had," said Yocum, who oversees student demographic planning.

Veteran left-hander Randy Wolf, who appeared in five games with the Orioles at the end of this season, will have Tommy John surgery on his left elbow next week and will miss all of 2013. The 36-year-old said in an email Tuesday that this does not mean his career is over. “I won't be able to pitch until 2014, and yes, I will pitch in 2014,” Wolf wrote. Dr. Lewis Yocum, the Los Angeles Angels team doctor who performed the same procedure on Wolf in 2005, will operate on him Oct. 30 in Los Angeles, Wolf said.

California Angels right-hander Bert Blyleven underwent his second shoulder operation in less than a year yesterday and will require at least nine months of rehabilitation, the team said. The surgery began as an arthroscopic procedure, but orthopedists Lewis Yocum and Frank Jobe discovered that Blyleven, 40, had suffered further tearing in his right rotator cuff since an operation last fall.* CUBS: Rick Sutcliffe is back, and manager Don Zimmer said he will be reactivated tomorrow and will start at Pittsburgh that night.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- An MRI exam on California Angels pitcher Mark Langston's right knee yesterday showed a slight cartilage tear, but doctors won't determine until today whether the left-hander will need arthroscopic surgery.Surgery probably would result in at least a three-week stint on the disabled list for Langston, who will be examined by team physician Lewis Yocum. The other treatment option: Rest and hope the knee heals.Manager Marcel Lachemann said there's an "outside chance" Langston, scratched from Sunday's game against Minnesota, will make his next scheduled start Friday against Cleveland.

A favorable medical report has increased the list of suitors for Ben McDonald, with the New York Yankees joining the Milwaukee Brewers in pursuit of the Orioles' former No. 1 pick."

Orioles have made official what we all expected for more than a week now. Lefty Tsuyoshi Wada will have season-ending, Tommy John surgery on May 11 in Los Angeles. “I am very disappointed," Wada said. "I will work hard for the rehab and try to recover to be as strong as I can to help the team win. I appreciate the support from the  Orioles through this process.”  Dr. Lewis Yocum, who took bone spurs out of the Japanese lefty's elbow in 2007, will perform the surgery.

Jurors in the trial of a 30-year-old Northeast High School teacher will be asked to answer the same comprehensive list of questions on sexual child abuse and the schools that jurors in the Laurie S. Cook case were asked, an Anne Arundel Circuit HTC Court judge ruled yesterday.Judge Eugene M. Lerner agreed to the request by the lawyer for Charles A. Yocum that prospective jurors be required to complete the survey, with roughly 70 questions, just before trial next month.Mr. Yocum is charged with sexually abusing a 16-year-old student during the 1988-89 school year.

The Anne Arundel County Board of Education named Washington, D.C., lawyer Alan I. Baron as the investigator who will determine whether Superintendent C. Berry Carter II failed to TTC report suspected child abuse, in violation of state law.Mr. Baron, a Baltimore resident who is a partner in the firm of Howrey & Simon, also has been asked to look closely at recent events at Northeast High School. Since April, three teachers have been indicted on charges of child sex abuse involving students at the Pasadena school.