Blade

Oli, one of three police dogs working for the Carroll County Sheriff's Office, was seriously cut Wednesday in a suspicious incident and will be off duty for two weeks, jail officials said.The American-bred German shepherd needed 32 stitches to close two lacerations caused by a razor blade from a utility knife that had been lodged in a wire fence outside the detention center, where the animal is exercised daily, said Lt. Col. George R. Hardinger, the warden.The 2-year-old female dog is assigned to jail security.

Dr. Aubre de Lambert Maynard,97, credited with saving the life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. after he was stabbed in the chest in 1958, died Saturday in New York. On Sept. 20, 1958, during Dr. Maynard's tenure as chief of surgery at Harlem Hospital Medical Center, a woman plunged a steel blade into Reverend King's chest at a book-signing. The blade lodged in Reverend King's sternum. Dr. Maynard operated on Reverend King, saving his life in front of many public figures, including then-New York Gov. W. Averell Harriman.

A Westminster man pleaded guilty yesterday to reckless endangerment stemming from a incident in November in which he cut off the ponytail of another man after they had argued over money.Carroll Circuit Judge Francis M. Arnold sentenced Paul T. Mayfield Jr., 26, of the first block of Charles St., to five years in prison and suspended the term. He imposed a concurrent three-year term on Mayfield for carrying a deadly weapon, a penknife with a 3 1/2 -inch blade.Other charges, including attempted murder and assault, were dropped in exchange for the plea.

Blood doesn't just run fast and furiously in "Blade." It drips, sprays and oozes. It flows in rivulets, trickles in thin streams, smears like sweet jam across delirious faces. It bursts in great globs from horribly deformed villains. In Stephen Norrington's overlong but extremely stylish adaptation of the cult comic book, blood is nothing less than sex, drugs and death themselves.In "Blade," which should wind up as a finalist in the "Crow" looka-like contest, blood is a fashion statement, the recreational substance of choice for the ultimate in-crowd of night people.

The DeWALT Industrial Tool Co. of Hampstead, a subsidiary of Black & Decker Corp., is recalling about 25,000 framing saws because of a faulty cutting-blade guard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said this week.The problem is that the lower blade guard on the saw can fail to fully close during use, leaving the blade exposed and presenting a risk of serious cuts to the user, the commission said.DeWALT has said that it is aware of 15 incidents in which the guard failed to close, with eight reports of lacerations and three cases in which stitches were required, according to the Washington-based safety commission.

The Ravens received some good news yesterday when team doctors announced that safety Brock Marion's shoulder injury does not presently require surgery, and the early prognosis is that he will be able to play the entire 1997 season.Marion, a free safety who injured his left shoulder blade with the Dallas Cowboys last season, was examined by Dr. John Bergfeld on Friday in Cleveland, where Bergfeld also compared CT scans of the injury taken by the Cowboys and by Ravens team physician Dr. Claude Moorman.

A prosecutor in the trial of a Timonium teen-ager accused of involvement in the slaying of a Towson mental hospital counselor told a jury yesterday that when Jane Frances DeCosta learned from Benjamin Scott Garris that he was going to kill someone, she replied, "OK. Cool."But DeCosta's lawyer told the Baltimore County Circuit Court jury that "what this sick and evil boy was up to" was beyond the grasp of DeCosta, a mentally ill 16-year-old -- especially because none of the experts at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, where he was staying, knew anything of his homicidal plots.

My purple-leaf plum tree is swarming with Japanese beetles. My neighbors have a beetle trap, but I have the beetles. Should I get one, too?No! The attractant in the traps is a powerful sex hormone, luring adult beetles from miles around to your area. On the way to the traps, the beetles are eating the leaves on your tree.Suggest to your neighbors that they might remove their traps or, at the least, place them a distance from valuable landscape plants.Try to resist the temptation to use a broad-spectrum residual insecticide, which will kill beneficial insects along with the Japanese beetles.

A Hampstead man suffered serious internal injuries Wednesday after an accident with a circular saw, state police said yesterday.Donald R. Yelton, 55, of the 2200 block of Snydersburg Road was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore with a severe stomach laceration about 5: 45 p.m.He was in fair condition yesterday, a hospital spokeswoman said.Police said it was unclear whether Yelton fell on the moving saw blade, or the saw kicked back while he was cutting material in his garage.

It was billed as a general talk on a subject that should be familiar to any parent of a high school student: teen-age drug and alcohol abuse.But organizers of a town meeting Monday at Glenelg High School found that they have a long way to go in educating parents about the county's growing substance abuse problem.Many parents at the meeting -- sponsored by the 3-year-old Western Howard County Coalition -- showed naivete about the drug culture and heavy drinking increasingly present in county schools.

For most guys, Thanksgiving is the day we have a tango with a turkey, an exercise known as carving the bird. Every year as the big meal approaches, I get the urge to buy an electric knife. This would be a purchase fueled by nostalgia, not culinary motives. Nowadays I cut with a sharp, thin-bladed carving knife, but part of me wants to attack the bird with a noisy, vibrating blade, the way my dad used to do it. I have vivid memories of my father, who died in 1998, quivering Hamilton Beach in hand, laying siege to the turkey with all the fervor, and much of the same technique, he used to trim a hedge.

What to get for the multisport outdoors person on your list who has one of everything? How about Wenger's Ranger 73 Swiss Army knife ($85; wengerna .com), a multiple-use tool that looks the part and plays it, too. The Model 73 has a tough, 4-inch locking blade, a tough pair of needle-nose pliers with wire cutter, two screwdrivers, a wire stripper, an awl, a cap opener and a corkscrew. (Nine other models have different blade and tool configurations, so check the inventory online.) The package is wrapped in a tough, black housing that protects the tools and is easy to grip.

OK, so you've got a food processor, blender, hand mixer and / or stand mixer -- and knives -- in your kitchen. Why add an electric mini chopper? Sometimes all you need is a little power -- to finely chop a cup of nuts, puree a small amount of homemade mayonnaise or baby food, mix up a bit of pesto. Mini choppers are not for everyone. But if you're constantly processing just a little of this or that, these mighty mites can come in handy. Note, though, that larger foods still may have to be chopped into 1-inch pieces for best results.

What it is -- A paring knife with a nonstick-coated carbon steel blade and safety sheath. What we like about it --This nonstick knife, available in six bright colors, makes an inexpensive tool to hand guests who want to help with the Thanksgiving chopfest. Onions and garlic slide neatly off the surface, and the blade cover keeps the knife sharp and safe in a drawer. What it costs --$8 Where to buy --kitchen kapers.com or factorydirect 2you.com

When Wesley Snipes declined the television reprise of the half-vampire superhero he played in three respectable B-movies, fan message boards predicted Blade: The Series would be the worst sci-fi show in action-adventure history. Which would, of course, be impossible, considering that history includes such cable and syndicated monsterpieces as Earth: Final Conflict, TekWar, Andromeda and Total Recall 2070. Lost in the uproar over the loss of Snipes was the good news: David S. Goyer, who wrote all three Blade theatricals, and directed the last one, signed on to shepherd the franchise's transition to Spike, where it will be the man-boy netlet's first scripted drama.

The produce stands hold great appeal this time of year. Also a great amount of peel and skin. Vegetable peelers typically don't cost much, but they can make a big difference in how hard you have to work to get to that fresh asparagus, juicy peach or crisp apple. Which peeler is best? That question was harder to answer than we thought. With so many on the market - stationary blades versus swiveling ones, serrated edges and straight, Y-shaped versus vertical designs - each of the nine we tested had its pluses and minuses, depending on what it was being used for. Two of our purchases were "julienne" peelers only, meant not for removing skin but for creating matchstick cuts of fruit and vegetables.

Part vampire, a hero fights creatures of the night with the help of an inventor (Kris Kristofferson, above) in Blade (9 p.m.-11:10 p.m., Starz).

Confession: The first week with a new knife or multi-tool leaves me lacerated. Others may be able to open and close the blades with their index finger and thumb as deftly as a surgeon, but I am more likely to need one as I try to cleanly unfurl my weapon of choice. Wenger NA, maker of the Swiss Army Knife, has felt my pain and answered my pitiful and painful moans with the EVOlution "S" series that comes with a locking blade. The S52, perfect for a glove box, tackle box or backpack, has a 2.5-inch blade, a wood saw, adjustable pliers and all the other tools for fixing stuff and being a genial picnic host.

JOAN BALCERZAK (nee Keeee) 71, of Northbrook, IL., passed away March 15, 2006 after a hard faught 22 year battle with breast cancer. Beloved wife of Marion. Loving mother of Stephanie (Robert) Graves, Susan (Jeffrey) Blade, Jennifer (Robert) Klaas and Jeffrey (Kathleen) Balcerzak. Proud and loving grandmother of Joe, Maggie, and Ian Graves, Sarah and Elizabeth Blade, Matt and Melody Klaas. Dear sister of Lucille "sis" (Clifford) Peart and Therese Keats. Aunt of many nieces and nephews. Fond sister-in-law of Jean Balcerzak and A. Ed (Patricia)

First things first. Sanaa Lathan wants it known that she's nothing like Kenya McQueen, the obsessive-compulsive, self-doubting, canine-phobic, hopelessly analytical, play-it-safe career woman she brings to the screen in Something New, a love story about stepping over boundaries - especially those imposed by race - opening in theaters today. "I'm kind of the opposite of her," Lathan says over the phone from Atlanta, in the midst of a nationwide tour promoting the film. "I'm a real nature girl, I have a dog I'm in love with.