Eastern Technical

Two students from Eastern Technical High School will represent Maryland in the 2005 Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Competition today in Washington. Eastern Tech students Lenny W. Buchanan and Brian M. Schmuff were the Maryland winners in the contest. At the national championships, they and other state winners will be asked to diagnose and repair identically "bugged" vehicles. About 6,000 high school juniors and seniors participated in this year's contest for more than $5 million in prizes and scholarships.

Of the 11 Baltimore County public high schools rated among the nation's 2,000 top schools, according to the third annual Newsweek/Daily Beast survey of "America's Best High Schools," Hereford High School ranks No. 1 in the county. The list, published online May 6 by Newsweek and its corporate owner, The Daily Beast, ranks schools based on six weighted criteria. "For the third time this spring, BCPS high schools have shown they are among the nation's top tier," said schools superintendent Dallas Dance.

In Baltimore City Police investigate fatal shootings of two men Police yesterday were investigating two homicides that occurred over the past two days. A man was fatally shot yesterday morning in the 1000 block of Bonaparte Ave. and another man was shot at about 8:30 p.m. Friday in the 3700 block of Eldorado Ave., police said. The victim shot Friday was pronounced dead at Sinai Hospital. Police said robbery appears to be the motive in that killing and are seeking two suspects who were seen running from the area.

A sixteen-year-old resident is expressing her support for a revitalization plan in eastern Baltimore County. Rachel Wright is one of a few people who have written to the county government about the facelift planned for her hometown. The ambitious proposal could transform a major portion of the area with new housing, parks and a tourist destination at the headwaters of the Middle River. A significant part of the proposed east-side project is the demolition of hundreds of dilapidated, low-income housing apartments that were havens for drug dealing and other crimes.

James T. Smith Jr. will report to work tomorrow in the county executive's office, but it won't be the one in Towson. As the result of being on the losing end of a high school football wager, the Baltimore County executive will start his morning working as an assistant in Howard County Executive Ken Ulman's office in Ellicott City. Smith then will go to River Hill High School in Clarksville to speak to a government class, and the two executives will serve lunch to the River Hill football team's players and coaches, according to Smith's office.

In Baltimore CountyCommunity meetings to gather input on county master planTOWSON -- Open houses to gather community input for the county's master plan will be held tonight at three schools and Wednesday night at two others.Meetings will be held at Western School of Technology and Environmental Science, 100 Kenwood Ave., for District 1; at Owings Mills High School, 124 Tollgate Road, for District 3; and at Golden Ring Middle School, in the 6700 block of Kenwood Ave., for District 5.The meetings Wednesday will be at Carver Center for Arts and Technology, 938 North York Road, for District 4; and Hereford High School, 17301 York Road, for the rural areas.

Francis W. Hoffman Sr., a bricklayer and mason who was a recovering alcoholic, died of undetermined causes Oct. 1 at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium on his 60th birthday. He was a resident of Butler. Mr. Hoffman was born in Baltimore and raised in Gardenville. He studied bricklaying and masonry at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School, graduating in 1965. Mr. Hoffman had taught adult-education bricklaying and masonry courses during the 1980s at Eastern Technical High School in Baltimore County.

Also in yesterday's Maryland section, an article incorrectly named one of the technology partners with the Maryland State Department of Education. AT&T Corp. is participating in the effort to provide a Web site for each school system.The Sun regrets the errors.Maryland became the first state yesterday to answer President Clinton's "Call to Action" for education when U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, Gov. Parris N. Glendening and state school Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick signed the state's nine-point program for continuing education reform.

Eleven Maryland public schools -- six in the Baltimore metropolitan area -- have been named 1997 Maryland Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence by the State Department of Education.A panel of education and community leaders judged schools on the quality of instruction and curriculum, leadership, tests scores, staff training, learning climate and parental and community involvement.In the metropolitan area, the schools are:Baltimore City: Roland Park Elementary/Middle.Baltimore County: Dumbarton Middle and Eastern Technical High.

As punishment for using an ineligible player, Dulaney's boys lacrosse team was forced to forfeit its two biggest games of the year.County athletic coordinator Ron Belinko said the previously 13-3 Lions (now 11-5) used the ineligible player against rival Towson and again in the Baltimore County championship game against Eastern Technical.Belinko, who is also the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association president, said Dulaney athletic director Bob Dean reported the violation, which reverses both of Dulaney's victories and awards the county title to Eastern Tech.