Court Costs

By TERRY TALBERT Staff Writer An inmate at one of the prisons south of Hagerstown once sued the institution because guards opened a humidor sent to him as a gift, and made the cigars inside go stale, Washington County Circuit Court officials said. Under a new law that goes into effect on Oct. 1, prisoners won't find it quite so easy to get their day in court. The law, which was originally proposed by Maryland Attorney General Joseph Curran, is designed to put an end to filing of frivolous lawsuits by inmates.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- A man charged with kidnapping a woman near Martinsburg, W.Va., this week has a criminal record that includes a 2008 domestic violence charge involving a different woman, court records show. Donald Berkley Surber Jr., who was arraigned Monday on the kidnapping charge, allegedly held his ex-girlfriend, Katherine Nicole Sharp, against her will at her home, West Virginia State Police have said. At the end of the 26-hour standoff, Sharp, a 35-year-old mother of two, was found dead in her Raider Lane home, police said.

The sale of a Hagerstown councilwoman's business raised enough money to pay about two-thirds of her back taxes, but left other creditors with nothing, according to Washington County Circuit Court records. Two years ago, Councilwoman Susan K. Saum-Wicklein closed the 100-year-old family business, Saum's Credit Jewelers and reopened the downtown Hagerstown store under the name Jeweler's Daughter. Saum-Wicklein never filed for bankruptcy, but the assets of the original business were sold to pay off its debts.

A Clear Spring man who on Monday entered an Alford plea to a charge that he inappropriately touched his baby sitter in May was sentenced in Washington County Circuit Court to serve 18 months in jail. Robert Lee Shade, 44, of 14415 National Pike in Clear Spring, entered an Alford plea to a third-degree sex offense charge in connection with the May 9 incident. Under an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but agrees the state has sufficient evidence to gain a conviction.

Hagerstown's assistant finance director, who complained about his treatment by police during a March 25 traffic stop, pleaded guilty Thursday to two traffic offenses in Washington County District Court. Ray Foltz Sr. was fined $40 for speeding and $40 for failure to yield for an official vehicle, court records said. Judge Ralph France reduced the speeding violation to a one-point offense, court records said. He will pay $23 in court costs. Foltz, 48, filed a complaint against Hagerstown Police Officer Casey Yonkers, accusing him of improperly drawing his gun during the traffic stop.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Officials of the South Mountain Fire Co. pleaded guilty Wednesday to illegally selling alcohol on its premises this winter, according to Franklin County Court officials. The fire company was ordered to pay a $100 fine and court costs, court officials said. In January, the Pennsylvania State Police Liquor Enforcement Office in Harrisburg, Pa., received an anonymous tip that the fire company at 11207 Loop Road in Guilford Township, would hold an event on Feb. 2, that included the sale of liquor or malt or brewed beverages, according to court records.

By CLYDE FORD Staff Writer, Charles Town CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - A Jefferson County jury found Dr. Ardyce R. Bull guilty Tuesday of obstructing justice last August when police officers searched her office. Jefferson County Magistrate Katherine Santucci sentenced Bull to 90 days in the Eastern Regional Jail and fined her $100. Santucci also ordered Bull to pay $67 in court costs and $200 for jury costs. Bull was a Ranson, W.Va., physician when Ranson police searched her office with a warrant as part of their investigation into whether she was practicing medicine without a license in August 1996.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A Bunker Hill, W.Va., man charged in October 2007 with attempting to flee from police while riding a lawnmower under the influence of alcohol entered a no-contest plea Thursday to a misdemeanor count of DUI first offense, according to Berkeley County Magistrate Court records. Michael E. Ginevan, 40, of Goldmiller Road, was fined $200 and ordered to pay another $95 in fees and $185.50 in court costs as part of a plea agreement presented to Magistrate JoAnn Overington.

A Gaithersburg, Md. man pleaded guilty in Washington County Circuit Court Thursday to driving a car into a police officer in September and then leading police on a chase, according to court documents. Famonte Lamont Green, of 32 Cottonwood Court in Gaithersburg, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and fleeing and eluding in connection with the Sept. 30 incident. Washington County Circuit Judge W. Kennedy Boone III sentenced Green to four years in prison for the combined convictions, but suspended the sentences and ordered Green to serve three years of unsupervised probation, according to court documents.

HAGERSTOWN - A Washington County man who represented himself during a jury trial Thursday morning in Washington County Circuit Court was taken into custody by lunchtime. Norman Taylor, no age available in court documents, was charged with theft in the case of a missing 1996 Volkswagen Passat that a woman took to USA Transmissions on Maugans Avenue for repair. Taylor appeared in court without a lawyer but requested a jury trial. A jury deliberated for less than half an hour before finding Taylor guilty.