Fairmont Heights installed illegal traffic speed cameras, Repeal of Death Penalty in Maryland may not be a done deal, Prince George’s getting good press on it’s improvements to lure FBI and other businesses to the area, Double Murder in Laurel Maryland leaves severely disabled daughter without a mother
In April, MDPetitions.com said it would not petition O’Malley’s gun control plan to the ballot in 2014. But the group will put its resources into an effort to get the death penalty repeal measure on the ballot. Parrott said the death penalty repeal was the only statewide measure his group would seek to overturn from the 2013 General Assembly session. John Erzen, a spokesperson for Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks, did not offer specific comment on the possibility of a referendum, but did say that she would consider seeking the death penalty in future cases if it were available. “What her position has always been is that she will use whatever resources are at her disposal to prosecute crime and to punish those who have been found guilty of crimes,” Erzen was quoted by The Patch as saying.
Since the networks broadcast the murders in Prince George’s County ad nauseum, I don’t post much about them here except to acknowledge their tragic nature and to offer condolences to the family. I am particularly disturbed by the beating/stabbing death of 42-year-old James Vell Ferguson and 45-year-old Tina Towler, both of the 9600 block of Muirkirk Road in Laurel. The daughter of Tina Towler was severely disabled and probably witnessed, in one way or the other, the death of her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. Neighbors said they heard arguing but gave no indication that there was ever any trouble with the couple but the police have been called to the apartment 3 times over the last few months, twice as a result of Tina Towler being missing.
Laurel Couple Murdered
Ferguson and Towler were a couple who lived together in an apartment in the 9600 block of Muikirk Road with Towler’s 25-year-old daughter, who is described as a grown child who is paraplegic and can barely communicate, Segraves reported. She was found unharmed and transported to an area hospital out of an abundance of caution, authorities said. From WJLA.com, “A caregiver for the daughter found the couple’s bodies when she entered the apartment about 8:15 a.m. Neighbors reported hearing loud voices at approximately 5 a.m. A neighbor who asked not to be idenfiied told News4′s Shomari Stone he’d driven Ferguson to a grocery store and an ATM Wednesday night. When asked if Ferguson had said anything was wrong in his life, the neighbor said, “No, no, not at all.” “He was loving, caring, fun to be around,” said one of Ferguson’s sisters.
Police said they have been called to the home three times in the past few months — once when the mother was reported missing, again when she returned the next day, and a third time when the 911 caller hung up in March.
As Prince George’s vies for a relocated FBI headquarters at Greenbelt and numerous other projects on its thousands of developable acres, the county, with the assistance of the Maryland General Assembly, has cut development costs and proposed slashing the red tape associated with transit-oriented development. Toss in County Executive Rushern Baker’s $50 million economic development incentive fund, which specifically promotes projects at Metro sites, and the county is, finally, making itself a place to do business. Developers are noticing. Read the entire article HERE.