Counselor

DEAR HARRIETTE -- I met a wonderful man whom I've been dating for quite some time, and he just proposed! I've been floating on air ever since, but now that the planning phase has begun, I am filled with angst. I was engaged before and went through the whole bridal-shower thing, but ended up breaking off the wedding. With this new engagement, I'm not sure how I am supposed to do things. Is it appropriate to put my family and friends through another bridal shower? I don't want to forget about the whole thing because this will be my fiance's first wedding.

Michael J. Dombrosky, a retired Baltimore City recreation counselor and former Remington resident, died of kidney and liver failure Thursday at Cumberland Memorial Hospital. He was 56. Mr. Dombrosky was born and raised in Baltimore. He was a 1967 graduate of Mount St. Joseph High School in Irvington and attended what is now Baltimore City Community College. He was a recreation counselor for 25 years at the city Bureau of Recreation and Parks. He worked at the Woodholme and Lakeland recreation centers before retiring in 1997.

The superintendent of a state-run juvenile jail in Prince George's County lost his job yesterday, three weeks after the discovery that a teen-ager at the facility became pregnant by a counselor assigned to guard her, officials said.Carlton Richardson, who had run the Cheltenham Youth Center for three years, was demoted and transferred to headquarters of the state Department of Juvenile Justice, said Bob Kannenberg, spokesman for the agency."The young lady and the staff member had been having relations while she was involved in a work detail at the school on the grounds," Kannenberg said.

Howard County prosecutors dropped child abuse and sexual assault charges this week against a psychiatric nursing counselor formerly employed at Taylor Manor hospital.A Howard County grand jury indicted Lance E. Griffin, 42, in January on charges of sexually abusing a female patient."Well, I believe [the events] didn't occur as she said they did," said John Denholm, Griffin's attorney. "Her credibility would have been zero. That's why they didn't go forward with" the case.But Assistant State's Attorney Keith Cave said he dropped the charges Tuesday because the witness did not want to continue.

Harrison Anderson Fuller, an educator and counselor who taught in Baltimore public schools for 28 years, died Friday after surgery at St. Agnes HealthCare. He was 91.The 40-year Northwest Baltimore resident began teaching science in 1949 at the old General Vocational School No. 452, then an all-black vocational school at Biddle and McCulloh streets.The school later merged with the Granville T. Woods Junior and Senior High School."He was an excellent teacher and had a wonderful rapport with the children," said William E. Griggs, who taught mathematics at the school and had been a friend for nearly 50 years.

ROCKVILLE -- When Montgomery County rape counselors wanted to buy a Spanish-language videotape to educate women, they searched in vain.But with a $30,000 state grant, they made one -- the first in the state and believed to be the first of its kind in the country.Yesterday, the 12-minute video received its first public viewing, and was hailed by Hispanic leaders and victim assistance advocates."Thank you, Montgomery County, for listening to the voice of the Hispanic community," said Karen Hartz, executive director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

WASHINGTON -- This town spawns erratic career jumps, as any actor-turned-congressman or tycoon-become-ambassador could tell you, but Wendy Sherman's resume is diverse even by D.C. standards.Trained in social work, devoted early in life to helping battered women and the urban poor, the 50-year-old Baltimore native finds herself talking with North Korean Communists and Middle Eastern diplomats these days as a top U.S. State Department official.Sherman became counselor to Madeleine K. Albright two years ago after Albright succeeded Warren Christopher as secretary of state.

Greg Hladky is fighting a devastating illness, knowing that his school, church and the South Carroll community are battling right along with him.The 16-year-old South Carroll High School junior was diagnosed with acute myelogenic leukemia in December 1997. Aggressive chemotherapy did not stop the disease and he soon needed a transplant to survive. His school organized a bone marrow drive and several fund-raisers."Greg had to have a transplant to live, and we wanted to help," said senior Vicky Albright.

THE DEVASTATING suburban high school shooting in Colorado the other day shows once again that the potential for violence in today's schools is all too real. Though few such incidents are dramatic enough to dominate the headlines, we know for a fact that schools cope daily with an increasingly violent and aggressive student population.In the federal government's recently released national study on school violence, one in 10 principals who participated in the study reported that at least one serious violent crime had occurred in his or her school the previous year.

A psychiatric nursing counselor at Taylor Manor Hospital in Ellicott City accused of sexually abusing a patient several times last fall has been indicted by a Howard County grand jury.Lance Elnesto Griffin, 41, of Randallstown, faces charges of child abuse, second-degree assault and a fourth-degree sex offense.Police said Griffin forced a 17-year-old patient to have sex with him and perform other sexual acts. The alleged offenses occurred in early September, police said, a month after Griffin was hired as a temporary, part-time counselor.

Homeowners desperate to save their houses from foreclosure are searching for hope, and that can land them in worse trouble. Regulators say mortgage modification schemes found on the Internet or advertised elsewhere often contain "hope" in their name, in an apparent attempt to link themselves to legitimate programs, such as the nonprofit Hope Now that has partnered with the government to help distressed homeowners. Maryland's program to help troubled homeowners is called Maryland Hope. "People think they are talking to a state or think they are talking to the federal government and they are really talking to a for-profit," says Joe Cox, program director of Maryland ACORN.

Stanley "Zip" Wagner, a retired educator who as head counselor at City College influenced thousands of students during his nearly three-decade tenure, died of pulmonary fibrosis July 31 at Brighton Gardens, a Bethesda assisted-living facility, where he had moved this year. The former longtime Pikesville resident was 95. Mr. Wagner, the son of parents from Austria, was born on New York's Lower East Side and raised in the Bronx. "His brother said he got the nickname 'Zip' because he zipped up in height about 6 inches during the summer of 1928," said his son, Ira J. Wagner of Bethesda.

Salary: $50,000 Age: 57 Years on the job: 1 How she got started: : Patricia Hull began as a housing counselor more than 20 years ago while working as a real estate agent. She found herself helping primarily low- and middle-income clients find homes. This included researching programs that helped qualify them for mortgage loans, which piqued her interest in housing counseling. In 1987 she decided to take a job with a nonprofit agency that offered housing assistance to low-income buyers.

Sherry L. Schott, who had worked in sales and later was a hot line counselor, died of congestive heart failure Wednesday at Carroll Hospice's Dove House in Westminster. She was 51. Sherry Lee Swanson was born at Fort Meade and moved with her family to South Bend, Ind., in 1960. In 1970, she moved with her family to Woodlawn, where she graduated from Woodlawn High School in 1976. After high school, she began working in sales and became manager of Jack's Clothing store in Westview Mall.

Elaine D. Coniff, a former hospital financial counselor and active volunteer, died of stroke complications March 2 at Oak Crest Village. The former longtime Cockeysville resident was 89. The daughter of a pharmacist, Elaine Dolores McGinn was born in Baltimore and raised on Arizona Avenue in Hamilton. She was a graduate of the Institute of Notre Dame. During the 1960s and 1970s, Mrs. Coniff worked as an outpatient financial counselor at Johns Hopkins Hospital and what is now the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Lois Theresa Scherer, a lifelong educator who was head of the guidance department at Baltimore's Walbrook High School for 30 years, died of a stroke Dec. 29 at Bon Secours Hospital. She was 85. Ms. Scherer devoted her life to education and was beloved by her students, who called her "Grandmom," according to a former colleague. When she retired in 2003, at the age of 80, Walbrook named its guidance center in her honor. "She was the essence of that school," said Marilyn E. Rondeau, who joined the Walbrook faculty in 1982 and later became the school's principal.

Small-business owners face a daunting task of breaking through today's nonstop advertising clutter to reach buyers. Don't give up. There are ways to win the small-business advertising game. "For the average business owner, creating and placing an ad is like learning a foreign language," says marketing consultant Andrew Griffiths. "Advertising does work, and the more time and energy you put into your advertising, the greater your results will be." Time, energy and creative thinking are key. You can find low-cost options in almost every advertising category.

Deon Oneil Henry Jr. had the summer off as a health education teacher, so he decided to take a job working with 38 low-income high school students in an Upward Bound program. One of nine counselors in the program, Henry, 25, helped expose students to what life could be like for them in college. His days were filled with teaching and recreation sessions, including swims at the indoor pool at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where the program was based for the summer. But during one of those recreation sessions Wednesday night, Henry died in what authorities preliminarily believe was an accidental drowning.

If you watched even one movie on Lifetime, you know the cliched signs of infidelity: suspicious hotel receipts, mysterious phone calls to the house, late-night stay-overs for "business." But in the real world, how can you tell if your significant other is cheating? Brad Holmes of Seattle says that his product, CheckMate, can help. For $49.99, you can receive two kits to test the underwear of your significant other for evidence of cheating. Holmes, who says he got the idea while watching a similar process on Court TV nine years ago, says his business and similar ones have grown drastically in the years since he started.

More than 50,000 Marylanders were behind on their mortgage payments at last count in September. Homeownership advocates fear that even more will be this year, with thousands of adjustable-rate mortgages scheduled for their first resets to higher payments. Worried that foreclosure could be in your future? You have places to turn for help. Contact your lender. Lenders are more open to working something out than they were even several months ago, whether that's freezing your interest rate or temporarily forgiving payments you missed.