Around Maryland

Raynold Smith beefed with another man for months and when they crossed paths in March 2021, both were armed. The reason Smith didn’t pull the trigger? In a split-second moment, when life and death hung in the balance, he glimpsed a child’s car seat and suddenly realized everything his enemy stood to lose. Almost immediately, Smith felt a bullet rip through his leg, narrowly missing a major artery and immobilizing him for weeks.

Plans for a 53-unit multifamily project in Park Heights are moving forward this year as a major overhaul of the disinvested Baltimore neighborhood continues. The project at Park Heights and Virginia avenues in Northwest Baltimore is a companion to a senior apartment complex expected to break ground in the fall by Henson Development Co. and NHP Foundation. The latest project will be called Woodland Gardens. The site today at 4701 Park Heights Ave. is a vacant lot.

Ocean City police had a less busy start to the summer, Police Chief Ross Buzzuro told the Town Council, noting a dip in patrol officers. During the July 18 council meeting, Buzzuro reported there were 5,182 officer calls for service in June 2022 as compared to the 6,144 during the same month last year. Citizens calls for service in 2022 were 2,739, lower than the 2021 total of 3,141.

Debbie Geneau was on her way to the bank in Bakersfield, California, one afternoon in July 2020, when three cars headed in the opposite direction crashed. One hit the divider and went airborne, landing on top of Geneau’s Dodge Charger, killing the 65-year-old office manager. The driver responsible for the chain-reaction crash fled the scene. It took nine months for police to figure out who she was and arrest her. She was charged with a hit-and-run resulting in death or permanent serious injury and with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. “The biggest thing for me was that I wanted justice for my mom and some type of closure for my family,” said Geneau’s daughter, Dawn Elliott, of Edmond, Oklahoma.

Serving others has always been James Bors’ mission in life. Bors attended the Naval Academy in the 1980s, served in the Navy for seven years after that and eventually became a father, husband, teacher and parishioner in Annapolis. When asked what motivates him to give so much of himself, Bors paraphrases Scripture: “And he who receives a lot, is able to give a lot.” On June 18, Bors took the latest step in his lifetime of service. He was ordained by Archbishop William E. Lori at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore and assigned to St. Jane Frances De Chantal Church in Riviera Beach, a stone and brick Catholic parish a short walk from the Patapsco River.

Before beginning his latest research project, Nicolas Delsol had never even heard of Misty of Chincoteague, one of the fabled feral ponies from the barrier island of Assateague, along the Maryland and Virginia coast. Local legend has it that the horses descended from survivors of a Spanish shipwreck 500 years ago, though that has never been proven. But now Delsol, a French-born archaeologist, has evidence that the story may be more than just a myth. Delsol unearthed a genetic connection between the wild breed and horses from 16th-century Spain.

After years of discussion and planning, the University of Baltimore has issued a request for proposals to develop a prime lot and expand its campus in Midtown. UB leaders are seeking ideas and bids for the redevelopment of a former U.S. Postal Service vehicle maintenance garage at 60 W. Oliver St. The site spans a city block and is bordered by Maryland Avenue and the Jones Fall Expressway, next to the public university’s library.