ANNAPOLIS - Three people attempted to rob a cab driver at gunpoint last night as he dropped them off at Watergate Village Apartments, city police said.

The driver from Annapolis Bay Area Cab told police he picked up the three people at about 11:30 p.m. and they asked to be taken to Americana Drive.

As he drove to the complex, one of the people held a gun to the driver's head and demanded money, police said.

The driver reached upward, grabbed the man's hand and gun and pushed it away from his head, police said.

Then the passengers left the cab and ran toward the back of an apartment.

Officers were not able to find the men, police said. They didn't get away with any money, but they didn't pay the fare either.

The 51-year-old driver was not injured, police said.

Man charged in West Street fatal

Annapolis - An Annapolis man has been charged with automobile manslaughter in connection with the Nov. 9, 2007 wreck on West Street that killed his roommate.

Prosecutors claim Timothy Lee Jones, 28, of 17C Heritage Court, was drunk and high at the time of the crash that killed Delonte Marvin Brooks, 22.

Kristin Fleckenstein, spokesman for the State's Attorney's Office, said Mr. Jones was driving a 2003 BMW east on West Street at about 1:20 a.m. when he clipped a white Chevrolet Tahoe.

Police said the BMW, which was apparently speeding on the 30 mph road, hit several utility poles before crashing into the sign for the Sun and Earth Health Food store.

The driver of the Tahoe was not injured in the wreck. Mr. Jones was flown to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore where he was eventually treated and released.

The maximum sentence for automobile manslaughter is 10 years in prison.

County overhauling purchasing procedures

Annapolis - Anne Arundel County is in the process of re-writing its procurement law, its first major revision since 1984.

This part of the code dictates how the county does business with the outside world when it buys goods and services.

Two bills - one to update the procurement article of the county code and the other to adopt the new purchasing manual - will update purchasing procedures, including stating the process for Internet transactions.

The bills, 58-08 and 59-08, consist of about 23 pages total, and the manual itself is roughly 100 pages long.

"We know it is very complicated ..., but it is a vast improvement over the document we have been using," Central Services Officer Fred Schram told the council last night.

About 50 amendments to the bills were introduced last night at the council's regular meeting, most of them technical. Even though the public testimony phase is closed, if the council adopts any amendment during its next meeting on Aug. 4, the hearing process will be re-opened under county law.

County Council staff members said this morning they planned to post the draft manual on the council's Web site today. The bills have been posted for several weeks.

To review the bills and purchasing manual, go to www.co.anne-arundel.md.us/County Council.

- From staff reports