Alley

Earth Alley 3602 Elm Ave., Hampden 410-366-2110 Hours: 5 p.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday; 4 p.m.-8 p.m. Thursday; noon-7 p.m. Friday & Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday Just in time for an eco-friendly holiday, Earth Alley has opened in Hampden. The gift and home accessories shop with the grass-green facade is one with the planet, so to speak, and features sustainable design and fair-trade items. Owner Eva Khoury likes to think of many of the things in her store as "upcycling" - things like purses made of old records, tires and magazines; picture frames from parts of old boats; and tree-free greeting cards created with sugar cane fiber.

A group of parents intent on building a high school in Westminster by 2002 gained support last night from Westminster City Council, which learned that the latest enrollment projections justify their cause.Together, they hope to persuade the county commissioners to build the school despite a recommendation from Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission to delay it two years."I think the enrollment projections show there is a need for the new Westminster high school," said Councilman Gregory Pecoraro, who met with the activist parents last week with Mayor Kenneth A. Yowan and Westminster Director of Planning Thomas B. Beyard.

A woman died yesterday after being shot multiple times in a Dundalk alley, according to Baltimore County police.Officials said they have identified the woman, but had not notified her next of kin last night.Police received a call at 1: 15 a.m. yesterday in the 2500 block of Yorkway from residents saying they heard gunshots. When they arrived, officers found a woman face down behind a row of apartments, said Cpl. Vickie Warehime, a county police spokeswoman.The woman was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 1: 48 a.m., Warehime said.

AN OPTIMIST is a guy who believes the potholes in the alley are half full, not half empty.That is what I told myself this week as I made yet another phone call trying to get the potholes fixed in a two-block stretch of the alley running behind my house. It was the third time in four months that I had called "pothole central" (technically, the complaint line run by the Baltimore City Public Works Department).Every time I call I try to be as upbeat as the cheerful fellow who answers that phone.

Walters Omington Lawson, 28, whose last known address was in New York City, was identified by police yesterday as the man who was fatally shot Monday in an alley in West Baltimore.Lawson was found by police about 8: 30 p.m. in an alley behind the 1300 block of Edmondson Ave., bleeding from gunshot wounds.Fire Department medics pronounced Lawson dead at the scene about 8: 50 p.m.Police knew of no motive and had no suspects.Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Chris Bieling at 410-396-2100.

As workers installed the shiny wooden lanes and unloaded crates of pins, Robert E. Thompson stared at his financial ledger in growing horror. He realized he would be broke before his new Glen Burnie bowling alley had even opened for business.Already $600,000 in debt, his applications for further financing rejected by several banks, Thompson turned to Anne Arundel County's Economic Development Corp. But even this county-financed agency -- set up to promote new business in the county -- turned him down, calling his venture too risky.

A police sergeant suffered a graze wound in the neck last night when a man opened fire on him in a West Baltimore alley.Sgt. Michael D. Caperoon, 42, of the Western District, was treated at Maryland Shock Trauma Center and released, police spokesman Robert W. Weinhold Jr. said.Caperoon and other officers were near the 500 block of N. Schroeder St. about 6: 40 p.m. and heard gunshots, Weinhold said. When Caperoon confronted a man in an alley, he fired several shots, wounding Caperoon. The officer fired back as the gunman fled down the alley then exchanged gunfire with other officers.

Something brings her to this stinking alley, some swell of emotion and purpose beneath her. Vonnie Gowe, 37, pierced nose, thick hair, is so shy before humans. But kneeling in this alley, she reaches out to a hairball of a dog. It's OK, it's OK. Come to her, dog.Dog shuffles toward Gowe's can of food, then jerks back when Gowe tries to pet his matted, stringy back. She tries to feel him with the softness of the back of her hand. She wants him home with her. But the dog retreats under a splintered porch and ducks his head, clearly in fear of some other, invisible hand.

FROSTBURG -- This town is so small the alleys have their own street signs ("Alley 2, Alley 3" etc.). This town is so small when you ask for the chamber of commerce, a local nudges you and says, "What commerce?"Frostburg is so small the mayor, being the mayor, was entitled to P.O. Box 1. Even Ralph Race, a 91-year-old native, didn't rate in the top five. He's P.O. Box 6. Race is amused by this fact. He might even tell you about the post office situation over the phone, provided you don't call around dinner.

Smeared with filth and soaked by rain, four college students set out yesterday to clean an alley clogged with soggy trash, dead rats and hundreds of dirty heroin needles near an East Baltimore elementary school. They came well aware there might be trouble.But they didn't expect it to come from the city Public Works Department.In a neighborhood that needs all the help it can get -- where even the heroin addicts pitched in yesterday for the sake of the kids at nearby Dr. Rayner Browne Elementary School -- city officials nearly strangled an all-volunteer clean-up campaign with red tape.

The city trash truck rolled slowly backward down the Wyman Park alley early yesterday morning, its veteran driver responding to calls from the two-man crew tossing cans and bags into the back like a choreographed dance routine. Only there was nothing routine about this day. Yesterday was the start of the city's new trash and recycling program. It was the first big change in four decades, and these workers and residents were facing shifts that sparked both hopes and fears. Hopes were for a city that recycles more, throws away less and keeps its streets and alleys more tidy.

THE PROBLEM: A sewer pipe leaks in a Lauraville alley. THE BACK STORY: Watchdog sniffed out the back story behind a leaky - and stinky - sewer pipe in the alley behind Marty Walunas' house in Northeast Baltimore's Lauraville neighborhood. The leak was inspected several times, but it has not been fixed since the problem was first reported last June. When the weather gets warmer, "it stinks to high heaven," Walunas said. He has reported the leak at least five times. City crews have promptly responded to his 311 calls, but despite several different tests, none seems to have solved the problem, according to Walunas.

When visitors come, you want to show off the good stuff. Crabs on the Fells Point waterfront. Sailing the Inner Harbor. Walks around Fort McHenry. The dolphin show at the aquarium. An afternoon Orioles game. Recently, I had guests who wanted to see the other Baltimore, the one with the bodies and the bloodshed, the one with the boarded rowhouses and empty neighborhoods, the one TV news and TV entertainment have blurred into one macabre pageant of urban ills, dysfunction and misfortune.

On any given Friday or Saturday night for the past few years, one thing was certain: Mother's Federal Hill Grille would be packed with people. The sky is blue, the grass is green and after 10 p.m. on a Friday night, you'd find dozens and dozens of post-college kids squeezed into the South Baltimore bar and restaurant. They'd pound shots and beers, hit on each other and sometimes try to dance to the Top 40 hits a DJ spun. But there was never enough room. Until this spring. In early May, the bar opened Mother's on the Alley, a huge expansion in the back of the old space.

When he heard about the new law, hardware store owner Vincent Ayd wasted no time calling in his order. If the Baltimore County Council wants to require some residents to display their address on the back of their properties, he is happy to sell the metal and plastic house numbers. "I'm putting them right at the front," the store owner said at Ayd Hardware in Towson. "I'm going to call them alley numbers." The legislation passed Tuesday night by the County Council applies to owners of homes and businesses that back up to driveable alleys.

Earth Alley 3602 Elm Ave., Hampden 410-366-2110 Hours: 5 p.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday; 4 p.m.-8 p.m. Thursday; noon-7 p.m. Friday & Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday Just in time for an eco-friendly holiday, Earth Alley has opened in Hampden. The gift and home accessories shop with the grass-green facade is one with the planet, so to speak, and features sustainable design and fair-trade items. Owner Eva Khoury likes to think of many of the things in her store as "upcycling" - things like purses made of old records, tires and magazines; picture frames from parts of old boats; and tree-free greeting cards created with sugar cane fiber.

THE COUNT Homicides since Jan. 1: 251 THE VICTIMS A man found shot in the head Wednesday night in a Northwest Baltimore alley died early yesterday. Police said the man was in an alley between Woodland Avenue and the Thorndale Apartments complex. He has not been identified. LAST YEAR: Baltimore had recorded 231 homicides as of Nov. 1, 2006. ONLINE: Details and locations of this year's city homicides are at baltimoresun.com/homicidemap

On March 9, 2007, of Annapolis, MD. They are survived by a son, Robert W. Alley, daughter-in-law, Zoe B. Alley and grandchildren, Cassandra and Max Alley, all of Barrington, RI. Mr. Alley is also survived by his sister-in-law, Norma Alley, wife of his late brother, Robert S. Alley and her children, Robert (Pamela) and John (Victoria) Alley all of Richmond, VA. Graveside services will be held on Monday, August 27 at 11 A.M., at the US Naval Academy Columbarium. Arrangements by John M. Taylor Funeral Home, Annapolis.

Bel Air officials will vote tomorrow night on whether to move forward with a $5 million renovation of the town administration building and police station, a proposal the mayor said will halt all other construction projects for the next five years. There are no new taxes in the $13 million proposed budget, but three capital projects -- improvements to Rockfield Manor, Armory Park and Western Alley -- are on the chopping block because of fears that they could prompt a property tax increase.

THE PROBLEM -- Water is flowing continuously from a pipe in back of homes in North Baltimore's Homeland neighborhood. THE BACKSTORY -- Jay Rubin of Homeland complained that he has twice called the city's 311 number and his homeowner's association to report the leak, which he said began flowing last fall. Watchdog visited the wide alley between Taplow and Broxton roads used as an access way to parking spaces and found water spilling from a small pipe. A steady stream ran down the alley and filled two potholes.