Metro

In Brief

THE DISTRICT

Zoning Board Says Vote Wasn't Tainted

The Board of Zoning Adjustment yesterday rebuffed allegations that an "undisclosed personal relationship" between the board's chairman and a supporter of a nursery school expansion in Cleveland Park had tainted the board's approval of the expansion.

The board voted 3 to 0 to deny a motion by neighborhood opponents of the National Child Research Center's $3.5 million plan to double the size of its facilities on Highland Place NW. The opponents argued that because of an alleged relationship between Chairman Geoffrey Griffis and Claire Bloch -- who until late April was on the nursery school's board of trustees -- the board's April 13 approval of the expansion should be vacated and Griffis should be disqualified from a new vote on the question. Griffis had been part of the 3 to 1 majority supporting the expansion.

The opponents, who say the project is too large for the site and will increase congestion, produced photos and an affidavit from a private detective who said Bloch and Griffis entered Griffis's residence on a Friday evening in June and departed the next morning.

Members of the board objected to the opponents' tactics and said there was insufficient evidence of any relationship at the time of the vote. Griffis, who recused himself from yesterday's vote, said he would recuse himself from future deliberations involving the nursery school.

MARYLAND

Court Clerk Opposes Same-Sex Suit

Anne Arundel County's clerk of the court asked a Baltimore judge yesterday to throw out an American Civil Liberties Union suit contending that same-sex couples should have the right to marry.

County Clerk Robert Duckworth said a courtroom victory for the ACLU would put him in an untenable position.

Duckworth, a GOP candidate for Congress who opposes gay marriage, argued in a motion that he would find it difficult to uphold state law if the courts sided with the ACLU.

This month, the group filed suit contending that Maryland's law holding that marriage must be between a man and a woman is unconstitutional.

Duckworth says any change to the existing law would "have a profound impact on society."

Boy, 13, Killed in Crash Is Identified

Prince George's County police yesterday identified a 13-year-old boy killed Monday night in a two-car collision as Joel Gildersleve of Upper Marlboro.

Cpl. Diane Richardson, a police spokeswoman, said Joel was pronounced dead at the scene, on Church Road near Mount Oak Road in the Mitchellville area. She said two of the boy's relatives, ages 11 and 20, were taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

Richardson said investigators were looking into the possibility that the car in which Joel was a passenger, a Toyota Corolla, crossed the center line and collided with an oncoming Isuzu Axiom. The Isuzu's driver and a passenger, an elementary school-age child, were treated at a hospital for injuries deemed not life-threatening, she said.