Former police officer eyes different beat
There are lots of ways one can spend his retirement. Charles “Buzz” Beeler, a former Baltimore County Police officer who retired in 2005, is looking to spend his time as the next county councilman from the 7th District.
Beeler, 60, is planning to run against Democratic incumbent John Olszewski Sr. in the Democratic primary next election.
“I look around and see the changes down here, and I don’t think they are good,” Beeler said.
He said he knows he has an uphill battle.
“When you take on an entrenched incumbent, it’s very difficult,” Beeler said.
Chief among Beeler’s complaints with Olszewski is the sale of a Dundalk apartment complex to a developer who has ties to the councilman. The county spent more than $21 million in 2006 and sold the Yorkway complex to John Vontran for $1.65 million last year. (Olszewski and Vontran have played golf together.)
Beeler estimates he has already spent about $10,000, and that’s before he’s held his first fundraiser. He has a $45-per-person event scheduled for Aug. 1.
“I feel bad about asking people for money during these tough economic times,” Beeler said.
Beeler’s resume, available online at his Web site, includes some interesting items that he’s not to shy to talk about.
Among them, Beeler lists that he was a “special investigator for the county executive,” which he explained was really a tailing operation for then-County Executive Dale Anderson.
Anderson, who resigned as county executive in 1974 and was later convicted of extortion, conspiracy and tax evasion, was apparently concerned that his department heads were using, or possibly misusing, their county cars. Beeler, then a cadet, was tasked with following and reporting back, Beeler said. (Officials in the police department could not immediately confirm the operation because it was more than four decades’ ago.)
Beeler was also an amatuer bodybuilder and weightlifter and competed in a weightlifting event associated with the Mr. Maryland contest. His site includes some oiled-up muscle poses.
He also wrote one screen play, a police comedy titled Misfit Patrol. The movie premiered at the Senator Theater. Beeler laughs and explains that Tom Keifaber “called it the worst movie he’s ever seen.”