Aaron

For months, Aaron Britton hand-picked the men who would be there for his 500th anniversary, fellow risk-addicts who would don parachutes and hurl themselves from an airplane into a stretch of Delaware skies nicknamed the "Drop Zone."Joining him would be his younger brother, other sky-diving junkies and the pro who had taken him on his first free fall more than four years before.Britton choreographed everything: the order in which they jumped, the formation the divers used as they came together in mid-air, the way they joined hands and formed a human circle before unfurling their colored chutes.

The driver of a pickup truck that slammed into a police cruiser and killed a decorated officer east of the Bay Bridge on Tuesday was driving with a suspended license and has a history of traffic and misdemeanor drug violations, court records show. The license of Albert Gene Antonelli, 32, of the 100 block of Greenwood Creek Road in Queenstown in Queen Anne's County, was suspended several times for different reasons since 2001, including Antonelli's failure to appear in District Court in Annapolis in December.

A grand jury returned a 12-count indictment yesterday against a Queenstown man whose pickup truck slammed into a police cruiser and killed Maryland Transportation Authority Police Officer Duke G. Aaron III in July. Albert Gene Antonelli, 32, faces charges of negligent homicide by automobile, negligent manslaughter while impaired by cocaine and diazepam (also known by the brand name Valium), driving while impaired by drugs, possession of cocaine and marijuana, and several traffic violations.

As Barry Bonds closes in on Hank Aaron's career home run record, America is hopelessly conflicted and confused. Is Bonds a blatant drug cheat, a great player, or a combination? Should we applaud historic homer No. 756, hiss at it, or just ignore the moment? Are opinions of Bonds skewed by race? In a recent ABC/ESPN poll, 52 percent of the 799 adult baseball fans surveyed said they don't want Bonds to break the record, and 37 percent said they are pulling for him. Along the racial divide, only 28 percent of whites support Bonds, and nearly 75 percent of blacks are pro-Barry.

Joseph and Tillie Levenson went to court yesterday to hear what would happen to the man who murdered their son.They knew something would happen to him. After all, you can't just shoot a guy once in the stomach and twice in the back and walk away scot-free. Not even in Baltimore.But Joe and Tillie didn't know quite what sentence the killer would get, this being an age in which murder has virtually lost its ability to shock and outrage."I'm scared to death," Tillie said. "My niece called and said in Houston they just let 16 first-degree murderers out of prison because they don't have room for them."

The St. Paul's School varsity football team has a distinct Carroll County flavor.Mitch Tullai, the Crusaders' coach for the past 39 years, earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Western Maryland College.That's a good start. But that's not the whole story.Aaron Bean and his brother, Shawn, Todd Lowe, Brad Read and Ian Seletzky all hail from Carroll County. Their teammates at St. Paul's call them "theCarroll County boys."All have to follow the same ritual of leaving very early each day for the Baltimore County private school and coming home late.

ATLANTA -- For four years, Iowa women's basketball coach Vivian Stringer has worried about Ohio State guard Averrill Roberts coming to "The Show" -- and then putting one on.Roberts, a 5-foot-9 senior, has played dismally for four years against the Hawkeyes, and Stringer knew it was only a matter of time before the All-Big Ten player had a breakout game against Iowa.For Stringer's purposes, Roberts picked the worst possible time -- the national semifinals -- to score a team-high 16 points and make eight steals in leading the third-ranked Buckeyes past No. 4 Iowa, 73-72, in overtime yesterday at the Omni.

EMMITSBURG -- Virtually every time Erica Herbert played in a college basketball game anywhere in Maryland, her younger brother, Aaron, was in the crowd to cheer her on."I came to almost every home game the Mount played or whenever they were at Loyola or UMBC," Aaron said yesterday. "I followed her all the way because my game was molded by her. She really influenced me."So, his sister will have a spiritual role Friday when Herbert starts at point guard for Mount St. Mary's against second-ranked Michigan State in the opening round of the NCAA Midwest Regional in Milwaukee.

A Brilliant Mind Taken Before His Time1/2 Joseph Levenson, 70, wants these words etched on the footstone of his son's grave. "My own words," he says proudly."

College football coaches need a pretty good push to start a freshman, but Towson State's Phil Albert had no reservations about penciling in Aaron Bates as the Tigers' free safety this fall."