Culpeper

CULPEPER, Va. --George Allen makes little secret that he is bored with life in the U.S. Senate. "I made more decisions in half a day as governor than you can make in a whole week in the Senate," Allen said this month as he dashed into a Republican fundraiser in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Before a crowd in Davenport, he lamented being in the Senate: "It's too slow for me." Allen, a Virginia Republican, had traveled to Iowa with designs on the White House in 2008, so his musings on his job's duties might not sound surprising.

LIGNUM, Va. -- A dozen state troopers with police dogs returned to Alicia Showalter Reynolds' muddy gravesite yesterday, hoping to find clues her elusive killer may have left behind in a stark and forlorn landscape of logging trails and toppled pine trees near here.Investigators said the identity of the killer -- believed to have abducted the Baltimore graduate student March 2 by posing as a motorist coming to her aid -- is still unknown.They would not say whether the discovery of Reynolds' body Tuesday has brought them closer to an arrest.

James E. Smith, 71, firefighter for city James Edward Smith, a retired Baltimore firefighter and model railroader, died of cancer Oct. 12 at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. He was 71. Mr. Smith was born in Strasburg, Va., raised in Hampden and graduated from Thomas Edison Vocational Senior High School on Howard Street. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1949 and was assigned as a driver in the motor pool at Camp Pendleton in California. He was discharged as a sergeant in 1952. Mr. Smith joined the Baltimore City Fire Department in 1957 and was assigned to Truck Co. 5 at Central and North avenues.

CULPEPER, Va. -- On the roadside spot where a mystery began is a vase of withered roses and a rain-spattered note, the faded ink bearing the words of a friend: "Alicia, I wish for you peace where ever you may be."Alicia Showalter Reynolds' car was found here March 2, along a rural stretch of U.S. 29 that meanders through the green hills of northern Virginia. But Mrs. Reynolds, 25, a Baltimore resident and a gifted Johns Hopkins University doctoral student, has seemingly vanished."Is it ever going to end?

Virginia authorities are seeking clues that could link the man accused this week of killing two female hikers to the 1996 slaying of a Baltimore woman, Alicia Showalter Reynolds, in that state. Asked if Darrell David Rice was considered a suspect in the Reynolds slaying, spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell said the Virginia State Police "does not publicly release lists of suspects. However, we do look at each individual realistically. I guess you can say this individual has not been ruled out." She added, "I can't say that we have officially linked these cases at this point.

When John Thompson was growing up in a blue-collar area of Pittsburgh, he knew he likely wouldn't become a third-generation steelworker. Buoyed by his father's belief that teaching was an important profession, he took a circuitous route toward education - and he discovered a drive and desire to help the underprivileged and underserved. Currently, Thompson is assistant principal at Phoenix Center Annapolis, the state's only school that serves students with disabilities from kindergarten through the 12th grade.

COLLEGE PARK - A tornado blazed a 10-mile-long path of destruction through Central Maryland at rush hour yesterday afternoon, killing two Howard County sisters and injuring dozens of people while ripping the roofs off buildings and flinging cars through the air. The storm - whose winds were clocked as high as 206 mph - touched down in College Park at about 5:20 p.m. and tore north into Beltsville, Laurel and Savage, flipping trucks off of roads, shredding...

On January 28, 2004 DORIS WINONA HUFFMAN of New Windsor, wife of the late William K. Huffman; devoted mother of W. Lee Moquin, Gaithersburg, Adreion L. Packer, New Windsor, William K. Huffman, Jr. (Lillie), Culpeper, VA and Charles D. Huffman (Nancy), Westminster; sister of Patricia Marr, Avis, PA. Also survived by 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be 3:00 p.m. Saturday, February 7 at Hartzler Funeral Home, 310 Church Street, New Windsor. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Deerfield Senior Daycare, 11350 S. Business Parkway, Westminster, MD 21157.

On August 25, 2007 in Warrenton, VA. Former longtime Baltimore resident, widow of Earl C. McMinn and beloved mother of Rosemary M. Lambert. Also survived by two granddaughters and two great grandsons. The family will receive friends on Saturday, September 1, 2007 from 11 am until service time at 12 :00 pm at Moser Funeral Home Chapel, 233 Broadview Ave, Warrenton, VA. 20186. Interment at a later date in Baltimore. Memorial contributions may be made to the Hospice of the Rapidan, P.O. Box 1715, Culpeper, VA 22701.