MARYLAND BRIEFING

Friday, April 25, 2008

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Planning Board Backs Hospital Relocation

Washington Adventist Hospital has received the first of numerous approvals needed for its proposed move from Takoma Park to a site in the White Oak area and near the border of Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

Yesterday, the Montgomery Planning Board unanimously recommended that the hospital be granted a special exception allowing it to relocate to 48 acres near Route 29 and Cherry Hill Road.

A new Washington Adventist would not increase the number of beds, but all of them would be in private rooms. The replacement hospital would have much more space and offer more medical services. Administrators have said the hospital's existing site, in a congested residential area, is too small for additional growth.

If the special exception receives a go-ahead from the county Board of Appeals, the hospital will file for state regulatory approval.

-- Susan Levine

HOWARD COUNTY

Drunken Driving Alleged in Route 32 Fatality

A 46-year-old Taneytown resident was driving under the influence on Wednesday when his pickup truck struck and killed a man standing on the shoulder of Route 32, Howard County police said yesterday.

Aleksandr V. Dyubanov has been charged with manslaughter by automobile and other offenses, said Sherry Llewellyn, a police spokeswoman. He was being held at the county detention center yesterday.

Police said Luther Beamer III, 23, of Odenton ran out of gas shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday and stopped on the shoulder of the northbound lanes of Route 32 near Deer Hill Road. Beamer was putting fuel in his pickup when he was hit, police said. He was pronounced dead at Howard County General Hospital.

-- Raymond McCaffrey

STATE GOVERNMENT

Smith Island's Cake Now State's Dessert

A multilayered cake that hails from a tiny, remote island in the Chesapeake Bay became Maryland's official state dessert yesterday.

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) signed into law the bill honoring the Smith Island cake, which comes in many flavors. The cake was not well known outside the island when Del. D. Page Elmore (R-Wicomico) introduced the bill during the General Assembly session that ended this month.

Smith Island once was a thriving community of watermen, but its fortunes declined with the crab and oyster harvests. Already the cake's designation as state dessert has brought the island new publicity.

-- Lisa Rein

FREDERICK COUNTY

English-Language Measure Is Diluted, Adopted

The Frederick County government has proclaimed English its official language in a resolution so watered down that its original sponsor voted against it.

The document proclaims English the official, primary and common language of Frederick County government.

But the Board of County Commissioners deleted language proposed by Commissioner Charles Jenkins (R) that would have prohibited the translation of government documents into other languages.

Jenkins said the resolution has no force of law and doesn't change the status quo.

-- Associated Press