Thursday, September 10, 2009

Escape to China

In the strange but funny news category there is this report by Erin Julius in The Herald-Mail from Hagerstown. It seems that two inmates from the Maryland Correctional Training Center in that town walked away from a work detail last Friday and ended up at Browns Motel in Ellicott City where they surrendered without incident on Tuesday.

The escapees were staying in the China room. The motel website describes it thusly:

“Travel to the Orient by staying in this majestic red room decorated with authentic Chinese furnishings that reflect the East.”

I wonder if they specifically requested this particular room. The motel offers nine different themed rooms that “offer the ambiance and décor of far away lands: Paris, China, Tropical Tahiti, Africa, India, Las Vegas, Hollywood, Cape Cod and Mexico.”

My buddy Jim Binckley points out that Howard County had a positive effect on the escapees. They choose civility by surrendering peacefully when the knock came to their China room door.

Browns Motel has been hosting county visitors since 1946. Maryland Correctional Training Center has been hosting detainees since 1966.

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