Arundel Digest

Multi-vehicle crash blocks BW Parkway

FORT MEADE - Traffic was backed up this morning after a multiple-vehicle accident stopped traffic on Baltimore-Washington Parkway near Route 32.

Officials from the U.S. Park Police said three or four vehicles were involved in the accident, which happened at 6:36 a.m. Police are investigating the possibility that it was a hit-and-run, they said. More details about the crash were not available.

One patient, a 30-year-old woman, was taken by ambulance to Prince George's County Trauma Center with serious injuries, said Lt. Stuart Peters, a county Fire Department spokesman.

School funding request forwarded

ANNAPOLIS - The County Council this week gave its OK to forward construction plans for next fiscal year to state officials.

The Interagency Committee on School Construction doles out state funding for school construction. The county's education leaders hope to spend $218 million in fiscal 2010 to replace or rebuild some of Anne Arundel's deteriorating schools - $79 million more than the county spent this year.

County budget officials said they planned on spending $100 million.

The state will decide how much state money to give Anne Arundel in January.

Locally, school funding has been a perennial tug-of-war between the school system that spends the money and the county, which writes the check. The school system has as much as a $1.5 billion backlog in school construction needs.

Next spring, County Executive John R. Leopold will recommend how much county money should go toward school construction. The County Council will make the final decision by May 30.

Public hearing set on bus changes

Annapolis - Commuters can tell the Maryland Transit Administration what they think about a proposal to eliminate some bus routes at a meeting in Annapolis tomorrow.

Officials have suggested the cancellation of some MARC Train and commuter bus routes as a way to save $25 million. The plan includes eliminating the 921 bus route, which travels between Annapolis and New Carrollton Metro Station.

The public hearing is set from noon to 2 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. at the Stanton Center gymnasium, 92 W. Washington St., Annapolis.

Written comments are being solicited at commuterbus @mtamaryland.com or, regarding MARC train service, marc@mtamaryland.com. Any correspondence regarding this issue must be received by 5 p.m. Dec. 26. Letters can be sent to Glenn Litsinger, MTA Office of Customer Information, 6 St. Paul St., Baltimore, 21202.

Police looking for serial prank caller

Annapolis - A 20-year-old man convicted in January of repeatedly prank calling 911 - claiming at one point to be a heavily armed Iraq War veteran with a hostage - violated his probation by pranking his ex-girlfriend over the summer, police said.

Christopher Allen Scheibe formerly of Severna Park is now a wanted man after failing to appear in county Circuit Court in Annapolis Monday on charges he violated the conditions of his probation.

According to court documents, he called the family of his ex-girlfriend June 24 and pretended to be an Annapolis Police detective investigating Scheibe's apparent suicide in North Carolina.

During the Sept. 8, 2007, county police closed several roads, called in a hostage negotiator and SWAT teams and even raided an innocent bystander's home.

Scheibe was convicted of making a false statement regarding a destructive device. A judge sentenced him to five years in prison, but suspended all but the 123 days he had already served in jail.

- From staff reports