Arundel Digest | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

PASADENA - Michael A. Welch Jr., 13, whose family lost their home and possessions in Hurricane Katrina nearly three years ago, then relocated to Anne Arundel County for about a year, will deliver a special sermon at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the church his aunt founded.

"Little" Michael Welch, as he is known to his family and friends, will be the guest speaker during an anniversary celebration service at Come As You Are Bible Fellowship Crusade Ministry, "A Living Church," 306 Caldwell Road. His aunt, Gertrude Stevens, is pastor and founder of the church, which tomorrow celebrates its seventh year.

The topic of Michael's sermon will be "Reaching forth and pressing forward," Pastor Stevens said yesterday.

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Michael and his family left New Orleans and began a new life in Ferndale. He attended Hilltop Elementary School.

Michael and his family returned to Louisiana a year later and now live in Gretna, a community near New Orleans.

For details about tomorrow's service, call 410-859-1034 or 443-995-8886 or visit www.cjaya.org.

School to end four days early

ANNAPOLIS - County school students will get out of school four days early on June 6 thanks to snow days built into the calendar that were not used.

Bob Mosier, county schools spokesman, said they only used one snow day.

The original calendar called for classes to end on June 12, which included emergency days and the state-mandated 180-day school year. Graduating seniors' last day will be May 30.

After school officials subtracted the three unused emergency days, the last day would have been June 9. Instead of bringing students and staff back for that one week day, they asked the Maryland State Board of Education for a one-day waiver of the 180-day school requirement. The state granted the waiver Tuesday.

The last day for half-day pre-kindergarten and ECI classes will be June 2.

Five schools - Hillsmere, Hilltop, Oak Hill, and Tyler Heights elementary schools and Severna Park Middle School - will close one day early, June 5, so that summer construction and maintenance projects can get under way. Other important end-of-year dates include: May 22-23 - Centers of Applied Technology exams for seniors; May 27-30 - final exams for seniors; June 2 - Centers of Applied Technology exams for underclassmen; June 3-6 - final exams for underclassmen; June 11 - last day for teachers.

Felon sentenced for carrying a gun

BALTIMORE - A Glen Burnie man who pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.

According to court records, police stopped Gregory Siscoe, 54, on March 8, 2007, for speeding in Baltimore city. A detective called a drug-sniffing dog to the scene, which alerted the police to narcotics in the car.

Police searched the vehicle and found a small amount of cocaine on the driver's seat and a .45-caliber handgun in the center console.

When Siscoe was arrested, police found 40 grams of crack cocaine and 14.8 grams of cocaine powder on him, as well as some bullets, according to court records.

Worker dies in crane accident

Parole - A fatal accident on a tower crane came just as occupational safety regulators have started studying the need for new rules to regulate cranes and license operators.

Wednesday's accident at Annapolis Towne Centre at Parole killed Denis Umanzor, 44, of Silver Spring, an employee of Miller, Long and Arnold, a leading concrete construction firm. Mr. Umanzor was working on the long boom of the 200-foot crane as it was being dismantled around 9 a.m. when he was killed.

No one else was hurt and nothing was believed to have been wrong with the crane at the construction site, county Fire Department Division Chief Michael Cox said.

"We, and everyone involved, believe this incident to be purely accidental," said Toby Bozzuto, executive vice president, Bozzuto Development Co., the developer of the building. "However, the appropriate safety officials are investigating the cause."

Maryland Occupational Safety and Health inspectors were immediately on the scene, but it could be a month before their investigation of the accident is done.

Roger Campbell, assistant commissioner of Labor and Industry and head of MOSH, said the safety agency convened a committee last month to look at more regulation of cranes and certification of crane operators.

Two busts seize pounds of drugs

BROOKLYN PARK - Two police drug busts since Tuesday have removed more than $30,000 worth of crack cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy from the streets and led to the arrest of three suspected drug dealers.

The county Police Department's Special Enforcement Section searched a home at 5205 6th St. in Brooklyn Park and said they found 37 grams, or about 1 1/3 ounces, of crack; 2 grams of marijuana; and drug paraphernalia. Police also said they found $1,840. The drugs have a street value of $3,720, police said.

Police charged Nicholas Albright, 28, with possession of crack, marijuana and drug paraphernalia and intent to sell crack, court records show.

On Wednesday, police received a tip that people in a green Chevy Cavalier would be involved in a large drug deal at the Arundel Mills mall in Hanover. Detectives found the car and said they could smell marijuana. They charged the driver, Kean Mallet, 23, with possession of marijuana and intent to sell drugs, and the passenger, Dontaine Thompson, 26, with possession of marijuana and ecstasy, possession with intent to sell marijuana and four gun-related crimes, including possession of a handgun by a felon.

Police said they found a loaded 9 mm semi-automatic handgun in Mr. Thompson's pants pocket, along with five ecstasy pills. They said they also found two 1-gallon-sized bags filled with 932 grams, just more than 2 pounds, of high-grade "kind bud" marijuana in the car.

Combined with the ecstasy the drugs were worth more than $27,000.

Correction

A story about the Anne Arundel County 100 Club in the Maryland Gazette on Wednesday incorrectly reported that Maryland Transportation Authority Police Cpl. Duke Aaron was the only public safety officer to die in the line of duty in the county during the club's history.

In July 2005, Maryland Transportation Authority Police Recruit Grant Francis Turner died while running in a mandatory 5K race to honor Cpl. Aaron. His death was ruled a line-of-duty death by the state and the federal Public Safety Officers Board.

We regret the error.