They started out just trying to clean up a community, picking up trash, fixing broken lights and working with police. But along the way, activists in South Baltimore's Pigtown neighborhood managed to anger the area's drug dealers, who've started to threaten them, the residents say. "I've had a gun pulled on me three times," said activist Nathan Flynn, standing in an alley Sunday near his house. "My tires have been slashed. I don't feel safe to walk alone outside. My fiancee doesn't feel safe." [continues 368 words]
Innovative Effort Provides Drug Treatment, Mental Health Care And Transportation Harford County has launched a program for prison inmates with drug problems and mental illness that experts say is the first of its kind in the state and among the first nationwide. The program will provide free drug treatment, counseling, medical and mental health care and transportation to treatment centers, officials said. Counselors also will help former prisoners sign up for related state and federal services. "It's innovative, and it's grounded in common sense," said Dr. Robert P. Schwartz, an expert on drug addiction and treatment. [continues 1133 words]
Do you feel your wallet shrinking as you drive your car? Many people are resorting to carpooling, public transportation, and many other forms of cheaper transportation, but some researchers have found a way for you to keep driving and save money: hemp. Hemp Global Solutions researches the use of hemp as a biofuel. They advocate hemp as a "potential solution to some of the major social and environmental challenges of the 21st century." Industrial hemp has a long history in America already. During World War II, Japan cut off America's supply of hemp. In response, Congress lifted marijuana prohibition and encouraged farmers to grow hemp. The response was a boom in hemp crops in America, reaching 375,000 acres in 1943. In 1941, Henry Ford built a plastic car made from hemp and wheat straw. Hemp is still used today in most printed currency because of its resilient strength and water resistance. [continues 374 words]
Maryland is one out of the 11 states to include provisions for the use of medical marijuana in their drug laws. In 2003, former Governor Robert Ehrlich signed the medical marijuana affirmative defense law which allows defendants to make a case based on their medical need. Although Maryland is one of the more progressive states to pass such a clause, it still has some of the harshest penalties for recreational use and medical marijuana users can only make their defense after an arrest. [continues 892 words]
It was refreshing to read Howard J. Wooldridge's letter in The Gazette on Sept. 16 ("Drug dealers only fear legalization"). The analogy between the huge increase in crime prompted by the prohibition of the consumption of alcoholic beverages with the criminal marketing of illicit drugs never seems to be discussed. Obviously, the consumption of these drugs has negative consequences on the individuals involved as well as to society in general. But just what would be the consequences of legalizing (and taxing) marijuana? [continues 52 words]
Drug dealers, drug cartels and al Qaeda love prosecuting attorneys like Rod J. Rosenstein. They love anyone who supports the policy of drug war/modern prohibition because it puts billions of dollars into their pockets. Rosenstein's statement, "We are keeping our communities safe from this highly addictive illegal drug," is completely false. Maryland is awash in meth, and the bust made in Frederick on Sept. 5 was meaningless. Mexico supplies about 80 percent of America's meth, and we in law enforcement are powerless to stop this Katrina-like ocean of drugs pouring across our border every day. [continues 58 words]
Prince George's County Case Offers a Window into the Brutal Reality of Paramilitary-Style No-Knock Drug Invasions Imagine you're Cheye Calvo, the white mayor of Berwyn Heights, an affluent part of Prince George's County. Coming home one night in late July, you find on your front porch a large package that, unbeknownst to you, happens to contain a lot of marijuana. As it turns out, your spouse is the victim of a drug-smuggling scheme that targets innocent customers in the UPS system. You bring the box inside; moments later, the SWAT officers standing by break in and shoot your two beautiful Labradors. As the dogs lie there bleeding to death, you're held in the same room, handcuffed for hours. Nearly a month later, you have yet to receive an apology. [continues 623 words]
Harford County Deputy Sheriff Sean Marston's claim that the 19 marijuana plants discovered on Bob Chance's property equate to a marijuana cigarette every two hours for four years is dubious at best ("Community in shock over Harford man's drug charges," Aug. 10). But simple common sense should suggest that this 62-year-old former schoolteacher and fixture in the community for 30 years does not deserve to spend 20 years in jail and forfeit all his possessions. Although there appears to be no evidence Mr. Chance ever intended to sell marijuana or any other drug, he faces charges of manufacturing or distributing the drug. Harford County State's Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly's rationalization for this serious charge relies on emphasizing the word "manufacturing." [continues 117 words]
The conduct of the Prince George's County police is beyond appalling and should become the subject of yet another U.S. Justice Department investigation. The decision-makers responsible for the raid and the police involved with the raid must be removed from their jobs. They are sworn to protect the public, but it is from their conduct that citizens apparently need protection. These highly questionable tactics deprived citizens of their constitutional rights, and that is likely to result in money being paid to the victims from public coffers. The fact that no apology has been issued enhances the impression that those in charge of the police think their conduct was permissible. Therefore, such a raid is likely to occur again. Jim Astrachan Baltimore [end]
Maryland - The violent raid on the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo last week prompted an investigation into whether police were justified in breaking down his door and fatally shooting the family's two dogs. But civil liberties advocates in Maryland insist that the raid was merely a high-profile example of a common concern. Police targeted Calvo after he unknowingly received a package of marijuana from a mail-delivery drug operation. They did not have a "no-knock" warrant, but forcefully entered the premises when they heard Calvo's mother-in-law scream - a possible sign that evidence was being destroyed, police officials said. [continues 289 words]
The raid by Prince George's County police on the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo is a sad and unacceptable example of police incompetence and disregard for the rights of the public whom officers should serve ("Prince George's raid prompts call for probe," Aug. 8). It appears that the officers involved decided that in pursuit of alleged criminals, they need not abide by the laws they are supposed to uphold but could make their own rules. The results of this attitude were a home invasion, two murdered dogs, a wrecked house and a traumatized, innocent family. [continues 66 words]
There is a lot of talk today about one's carbon footprint and how we can all be "greener" in our approach to everyday living on the planet. But what impact do we have on crime - and how can we reduce it? Just imagine: It's Friday night in a McMansion in the suburbs of Baltimore. A rich white guy settles in for the evening with a couple of martinis, some weed and a couple of lines of coke. He's not hurting anyone, right? Wrong; he's contributing to the deaths of Baltimore's unfortunate black youths. He's part of the problem. Just as driving his SUV at 85 mph while throwing his Styrofoam cup out of his driver's window isn't going green, his economic support of the drug trade isn't helping Baltimore reduce its murder rate. [continues 481 words]
Ecologist, Decades-Long Teacher Revered By Residents For many, Bob Chance has been the face of ecology in Harford County. He taught earth science during a three-decade run in the public schools - and was named to the school system's Hall of Fame. He promoted recycling long before the government got involved. He wrote a nature column for the local paper, won election to public office, and showed countless youngsters the wonders of the great outdoors as Ranger Bob. And now he is, at 62, a defendant in a drug case. [continues 1312 words]
This Berwyn Heights raid seems very shocking, but perhaps it shouldn't ("Prince George's raid prompts call for probe," Aug. 8). The "war on drugs" has been doing things like this to people for decades. Maybe we'll finally pay attention to how dangerous and counterproductive the "war on drugs" is now that a white middle-class family has suffered the sort of pain and indignity poor and nonwhite people have repeatedly suffered in this war for decades. But putting the racial aspects of the drug war aside for a moment, I would ask everyone to read about this incident and think about whether the drug war is worth all this. [continues 71 words]
Yesterday the Prince George's County police belatedly expressed "regret" for a July 29 raid in which they and a Sheriff's Office SWAT team burst into the home of the mayor of Berwyn Heights and killed his dogs. But they kept defending the actions of the officers involved. Meanwhile the FBI, at the mayor's request, is reviewing the incident. Officers had intercepted a package with 32 pounds of marijuana sent from Los Angeles and addressed to the mayor's wife. An undercover officer deposited it on the doorstep of Mayor Cheye Calvo. After the mayor took it into his house - he put it aside and went off to change clothes for a community meeting - the officers stormed in, breaking down his door and apparently immediately killing his two pet Labrador retrievers with multiple rounds. [continues 216 words]
Dear Friends and Neighbors Yesterday evening, as my mother-in-law prepared dinner and I changed clothes hurrying to head to a community meeting, a heavily-armed county SWAT team burst through our living room door and shot and killed both of our dogs. There were loud voices. In the sights of two high-caliber weapons, I was ushered downstairs in only my boxer shorts before I was bound and forced to kneel on the floor. My mother-in-law was bound face down in the kitchen. The dead body of my bigger and older dog, Payton, laid in a pool of blood on the other side of the living room. [continues 453 words]
A U.S. mayor has demanded a federal probe into a police raid on his house last month by zealous county cops who sought to foil a drug trafficking ring and ended up killing his two dogs. The bizarre turn of events began on July 29 as Cheye Calvo, the mayor of Berwyn Heights, Md., a suburb of Washington, returned home from work at the end of the day. Calvo picked up the day's mail, including a package addressed to his wife, and brought it inside. [continues 151 words]
Prince George's County police Chief Melvin C. High said yesterday that a suburban Washington mayor and his wife were "innocent victims of drug traffickers" and expressed regret for the loss of the couple's dogs during a raid on his home last week. Meanwhile, the FBI has opened an investigation into the actions of the county police officers who burst into the house of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and shot the dogs. Calvo and his mother-in-law were handcuffed after the officers mistakenly suspected he was involved in shipping marijuana to his home. [continues 227 words]
Chief Offers No Apology for Drug Raid Police said yesterday they have cleared Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and his family of any wrongdoing in connection with a package of marijuana that police intercepted en route to his home, leading to a violent raid in which deputy sheriffs killed the family's two dogs. Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin C. High delivered the news in a telephone call Thursday to Calvo, saying police and State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey determined that Calvo and his family were innocent victims caught up in a drug-smuggling ring. [continues 843 words]
Berwyn Heights Mayor Denounces Tactics BERWYN HEIGHTS - When the shooting stopped, two dogs lay dead. A mayor sat in his boxers, hands bound behind his back. His handcuffed mother-in-law was sprawled on the kitchen floor, lying beside the body of one of the family pets that police had killed before her eyes. After the raid, Prince George's County police officials who burst into the home of Berwyn Heights' mayor last week seized the same unopened package of marijuana that an undercover officer had delivered an hour earlier. [continues 1210 words]
Inside Maryland
