Characters

Three gymnasts from the Harford Gymnastics Training Center were honored with the Strength of Character Award at the 2012 Pink Invitational at the Philadelphia Convention Center Feb. 25 through Feb. 27. The Pink Invitational is a nationally renowned gymnastics competition benefiting Unite for Her, an organization committed to providing programs that educate women on and raise funds for breast cancer. At the conclusion of each session, judges selected one gymnast worthy of a Strength of Character Award.

Even Revolutionary War action figures need spring training to get their spit-and-polish act together. The men of the Fourth Legionary Corps got back into character for the long re-enacting season with a weekend at Fort Frederick just south of Hagerstown. They didn't shave, fended off the evening chill by gathering around the barracks fireplace and practiced the tactics of 18th century warfare. "It's clearing away the cobwebs and seeing that we have everything we need before we go out," said Mike Nigh of Annapolis, who has been a corps member since 2007.

What if Downton Abbey was set in a fast-food restaurant, but kind of like with the same characters. And what if that guy from "Mad About You" and "Spin City" was in it? But there's no Dowager Countess character -- I don't think - that wanders pointlessly into a scene, makes a lemon-sucking face and says something like, "Toasted buns, indeed. " Seen on Eater

Y ou may love reading "The Hunger Games" book trilogy, but do you have plans to camp out for the premiere? Would you try out a recipe for Katniss' favorite lamb stew with dry plums? "The Hunger Games" has morphed into a pop-culture phenomenon, with rabid fans who express their obsessions in a litany of ways. Here's a quick rundown. It's an event In Los Angeles a veritable tent city sprouted up before the premiere, bustling with fans waving signs anticipating cast-member visits.

March 11, 2012 Seven-baker-twenty-four unit turns at Mosher and rumbles past that stretch of Appleton Street where Gene Cassidy took two in the head for the company, the first one stealing his eyesight, the second lodging in his brain beyond the skill of a surgeon's knife. Cassidy was 27 then, not even four years on the job, strong and lucky and hard-headed Irish enough that he refused to do the obvious and inevitable thing. He did not die. At University Hospital that night, the other patrol officers and detectives were told it was certain, that their friend would not make it. But Cassidy breathes still, and Appleton and Mosher looks much as it did in October 1987, when Cassidy tumbled out of his radio car to jack up a man wanted on an assault warrant.

There are characters, and there are characters, and one of the area's true unique ones, Leonard "call me Len" H. Lockhart Sr., died Feb. 27, the day following his 85th birthday. Plenty of folks around Havre de Grace knew Mr. Lockhart and some had business dealings with him, among them Cecil Hill, Bob Wood and the rest of group that developed Bayview Estates, where the eponymous Lockhart Court is named for him. Mr. Lockhart was a lawyer and a banker, a mixture of Harold Hill, Seabright Cooley and Elmer Gantry to name a few literary characters that come to mind.

Letter writer Kyle Lagratta's response ("Lacrosse a victim of stereotyping," Feb. 29) to Susan Reimer 's column regarding the "unfounded argument" against the sport of lacrosse prompts me to respond. Our youngest son played organized lacrosse for several years before entering college. He was extremely fortunate to benefit from the guidance by an outstanding coach at a Division III school in the Northeast. We witnessed our son mature into a well-rounded adult by the time of his graduation due to the influence of a coach who emphasized leadership and teamwork.

Sunday night's installment of "The Walking Dead"  on AMC had it all: zombie deaths, human deaths, a car wreck, new characters, a working bar, heated arguments and - to cap it all off - a song by Maryland-based blues -metal band Clutch . The pace has slowed down a little bit compared to the last ten minutes of the midseason finale on Nov. 27, when a bunch of zombies spilled out of the barn and got blasted away in a maelstrom of...