Things That Make You Go "Huh"

That's what we thought after reading this week's Flier:

* A county judge dismissed several charges against a 23-year-old man accused to firing 21 shots into a crowded Halloween party in Columbia that killed one and paralyzed another.

On Dec. 1, Howard County District Court Judge Pamila Brown dismissed the counts related to the shooting and paralyzing of Nathaniel Quick, 22, of Columbia.

Brown found during a preliminary hearing that no probable cause existed for police to accuse Devon Dixon, 22, of Elkridge, of shooting the bullets that left Quick paralyzed, though the judge found that probable cause did exist for police to accuse Dixon of shooting and killing another partygoer, Aaron Brice, 19, of Silver Spring, according to prosecutors.

*  The school system is going to provide about 50 Bryant Woods elementary students with bus transportation while CA does repair work on the pedestrian tunnels that go under Twin Rivers Road.

Bryant Woods resident April Wainwright said she thinks the work should have been scheduled for the summer, when schools are not in session.

“To me, that’s much better than risking a child’s life. It’s frightening for me,” said Wainwright, whose daughters, ages 8 and 12, are among the children who use the tunnels to commute to school. “I’m extremely concerned about kids, especially the little ones, crossing Twin Rivers. They’re going to take their chances and just run across.”

* The state is apparently going to mix sugar beet molasses with road salt to treat roads when it snows. The  gooey stuff is supposed to make the salt stick better.

State officials tout Ice Bite as a natural and biodegradable supplement to crews' ice-combating arsenal. Ice Bite is mixed into salt brine tanks so that more of the salt sticks to the road pavement, rather than scattering, when deployed by salt trucks, [State Highway Administration spokesman Charlie] Gischlar said.


The result should make salt application more effective and save money, he said, adding that Ice Bite has been used with positive results in Virginia, Washington, New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio and Iowa.

We'd love to hear HowChow's take on that.