Belair

Suddenly on February 22, 2009, MARIE O. (nee Amos), beloved wife of the late Robert T. Shaffer Jr., devoted mother of Theresa Shaffer, Carol L. Shaffer, Barbara S. Schnock, Karen R. Shaffer, Robert T. Shaffer III and John W. Shaffer. Also survived by nine grandchildren, Andrew, Owen, Alexandra, Eric, Justin, Lukas, Clare, Lily and Anna. A Christian Wake Service will be held at the E.F. Lassahn Funeral Home (Kingsville), 11750 Belair Road, on Thursday at 4pm. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Saint John's Catholic Church, Long Green, Friday 10 A.M. Interment Belair Memorial Gardens.

On January 9, 2009 Angela M. A funeral service will be held at the Lassahn Funeral Home, Inc., 7401 Belair Road on Wednesday at 11:00 AM. The family will receive friends on Tuesday 2-4 & 7-9 PM. Interment Parkwood Cemetery.

On Nov. 19, 1884, a large crowd of Democrats gathered for the "Barbecue at Belair," celebrating the presidential election of Grover Cleveland. The barbecue was threatened by persistent rains, but 400 to 500 people came to the fairgrounds. Everyone was well fed, and "many of them after polishing the bones carried them home as souvenirs of the first democratic barbecue. ... After the feasting was over the crowd was called to order in the main exhibition hall and addressed by Misters Thomas C. Weeks, Herman Stump and J.T.C.

On November 18, 2008, Raymond Joseph Ratajczak, Jr. A Memorial service will be held on Saturday at 1 P.M. at Miller-Dippel Funeral Home, Inc., 6415 Belair Road, Baltimore, MD 21206. Interment private.

A 24-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in prison for shooting and killing an innocent bystander, a Patterson High School senior and lacrosse team captain, during a gunfight. Jerome Whitaker was sentenced along with Brandon Green, 23, who was given a five-year term as an accessory after the fact in the murder of Christopher Clarke in March, 2007. The hearing yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court lasted only a few minutes, as the judge had agreed to the sentences in October in exchange for guilty pleas.

A community leader and a church pastor in a tiny section of Northeast Baltimore's Belair-Edison known as the "Four by Four" are convinced they know who is responsible for crime on their streets. John T. Shannon Jr. wants to make it clear: The East Baltimore residents displaced by the sweeping redevelopment around Johns Hopkins Hospital are, by and large, good, hardworking people and fine neighbors. He's the president of East Baltimore Development Inc., the nonprofit organization in charge of transforming acre upon acre of crumbling rowhouses north of Hopkins into a biotech park, and he took exception to my recent column about complaints from residents of Belair-Edison about the number of east-siders who moved there.

On October 19, 2008, Dorothy Valeria Jones. Friends may call at THE CHATMAN- HARRIS FUNERAL HOME EAST, 4210 Belair Road, Thursday, 1-8 p.m. a.m. a.m 410-488-5947.

On October 17, 2008, Sanjaya Will Alston. Friends may call at The CHATMAN- HARRIS FUNERAL HOME EAST, 4210 Belair Road, Friday 1-8 p.m. a.m. a.m.

Anthony Dawson has a list. It is handwritten and scrawled on a notebook-size piece of paper, and it records his efforts to eradicate drug-dealing and crime from a small part of lower Belair-Edison in Northeast Baltimore. In February, he wrote, "Created good neighbor walks." On July 11, Dawson noted a community cookout at which he talked to city police about drug dealing at St. Cloud and Lyndale avenues, in an area known as the "4X4" off Belair Road across from the Lake Clifton school complex.

On July 27, 2008, CLARENCE W. VINCENT, SR., of E. 31st Street. On Wednesday, friends may call at HARI P. CLOSE FUNERAL SERVICE, P.A., 5126 Belair Road from 4 to 7 P.M.