MARYLAND BRIEFING

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

CHESAPEAKE BAY

Mitten Crab Sparks Worry

A small crab native to Asia has been discovered in the Chesapeake Bay for the third time in two years, raising concern that it might become established in local waters, scientists said.

The Chinese mitten crab, so called because of a clump of bristles that make its claws look like furry mittens, was caught by a waterman Friday morning off Chesapeake Beach. That site, in Calvert County, was about 40 miles to the south of the Patapsco River, where the other two crabs were caught in 2005 and last year.

Scientists worry about the mitten crab because of the damage it caused after becoming established in Europe and on the West Coast. In those places, the crabs multiplied rapidly, damaging embankments with their burrowing and clogging pipes with their sheer numbers.

But scientists said yesterday that there is still no cause for alarm in the Chesapeake: Because all the crabs were male, there was no evidence that they are reproducing in the bay. Instead, authorities said, it is possible that all three were brought there accidentally, perhaps discharged with ballast water by ships heading to Baltimore Harbor.

"There's no alarm bells," said Lynn Fegley of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "Although it means certainly there are some animals here."

-- David A. Fahrenthold

PRINCE GEORGE'S CRIME

Man Charged in Fatal Shooting

Prince George's County police have charged a 31-year-old man in the shooting death last week of a 45-year-old District man.

Police said Eviaya Quarles of the 8800 block of Hawthorne Lane shot Lionel D. Lindsay in the hallway of Quarles's apartment building on Hawthorne Lane about 8:30 p.m. May 16. Investigators say Quarles fired on Lindsay after Lindsay brandished a handgun and made threats against Quarles. Lindsay, of the 200 block of Bates Street NW in the District, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Quarles turned himself in to authorities May 18. He was being held without bond yesterday at the Prince George's jail.

-- Candace Rondeaux

Shooting Near Club Wounds 2

Prince George's County police are investigating a shooting near a Forestville nightclub that wounded two men yesterday.

The incident occurred about 3:15 a.m. at a gas station near Forestville Road and Marlboro Pike.

Multiple shots were fired from a 9mm handgun at several people who stopped at the gas station after leaving the CFE nightclub in the 7700 block of Forestville Road, said Prince George's police spokesman Cpl. Stephen Pacheco.

Bullets struck two men, ages 20 and 23, in their arms and shattered the windows of a nearby vehicle, Pacheco said.

The men, whose names were not released yesterday, were treated at a hospital for injuries not considered to be life-threatening.

-- Candace Rondeaux

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY

Body Found in Chesapeake Bay

Authorities are awaiting identification of a body found floating in the Chesapeake Bay a mile north of the Bay Bridge, Maryland Natural Resources Police said yesterday.

The body, which was recovered about 11:25 a.m. Sunday, will undergo an autopsy by the state medical examiner, said Sgt. Ken Turner, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Police.

"As far as identification and sex of the body, none of that is being released," he said.

The U.S. Coast Guard was radioed Sunday morning by a boater who had discovered the body, Turner said. Police did not disclose any reports of missing boaters Sunday.

Cpl. Jonathan Green, a Maryland Transportation Authority spokesman, said that an abandoned vehicle was found on the bridge. Green would not speculate on whether the driver might have jumped from the bridge.

-- Raymond McCaffrey

ST. MARY'S CRIME

Racist Graffiti Found on School

Police in St. Mary's County are looking into who spray-painted racist graffiti on the exterior walls of Leonardtown Elementary School.

Maryland State Police found about a dozen "swastika-type emblems" and racial slurs yesterday against African Americans and Mexicans on the side of the school, which is under construction, said Lt. Louis F. Burris, commander of the county sheriff's Bureau of Criminal Investigations. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime, he said.

Racist graffiti has been a problem in neighboring Charles County over the past year, but few incidents have been reported in St. Mary's. In March, four Charles County teenagers were arrested for painting "White Power," "KKK" and gang references on an elementary school in Waldorf.

-- Megan Greenwell

STATE GOVERNMENT

Health-Care Funding Sought

Maryland could receive $965 million in federal money for health care for poor children over the next five years if Congress reauthorizes a federal program that expires this spring.

The estimate released yesterday by Families USA comes as the consumer group and other health advocates push for a continuation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Maryland health officials say they will run out of federal money for the program -- which includes matching state funds -- this month.

Although Democrats in Congress are calling for more money to cover more children, the Bush administration is pushing to scale back eligibility for the program.

-- Lisa Rein