Faces

Former Randallstown High football star Melvin Alaeze was indicted by a Baltimore County grand jury on charges of attempted first-degree murder and related offenses earlier this week, county prosecutor John Magee said yesterday. The attempted murder charge stems from a Dec. 24 shooting and alleged robbery at the Brookhaven apartment complex in Randallstown, where a man was wounded in the head, face and back and said he was robbed of his 1998 Buick, $400, two cell phones, keys and tennis shoes.

EXCITED YOUNG girls caught a glimpse of him in the halls and screamed, "Oh my goodness!" Boys clustered around for autographed pictures. Harper's Choice Middle School pupils were star-struck by two visitors from Hollywood last week.Actors Tico Wells and Trina McGee-Davis came to the school to encourage the pupils to develop a positive attitude toward education and to follow their dreams.The visit was part of a presentation, "A Winning Attitude for Education," arranged by teacher Joseph Fisher.

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Tradition died hard at Dodgertown, where the stability of the staid Los Angeles Dodgers organization used to be reflected in the familiarity of the faces that populated training camp each spring.Turnover was a dirty word in the glory days of one of baseball's most storied franchises. The Dodgers were slow to join in the free-agent frenzy of the 1970s and '80s and stubborn in their emphasis on player development. They clung to the ways of the past until time began to pass them by.Not anymore.

She has been a victim of persecution, a displaced person and a refugee. So it's no wonder that Holocaust survivor Gigi McKendric feels passionately about the plight of women and children caught up in the brutal war in Kosovo.McKendric, a petite, sprightly woman whose studio in a converted Baltimore City firehouse is filed with her signature sculptures of faces and hands modeled in bronze and plaster, is the moving force behind a group of Maryland artists who have organized a benefit for victims of the Kosovo war Sunday at Bohager's tavern in Fells Point from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m."

I'm glad this isn't one of those columns where they have a mug shot of the writer up by the headline. It seems as though the picture rarely matches what the columnist writes about. Sure, there's Dave Barry, whose goofy-looking mug is fairly consistent with his topics. One look at that face and you're not surprised to read about boogers and spontaneous livestock explosions. In fact, over time, you come to expect it.But then there's a newspaper columnist known as "Dr. Laura," whose picture sports a grin that beams from ear to ear. Seeing that domineering smile, you'd expect to read nothing but cheerful, upbeat advice.

Quote: "It's nice to get great wood on the ball and see it go out, but I guarantee you I won't be among the home run hitters all year." -- Troy O'Leary of the Red Sox after hitting his sixth.It's a fact: Yesterday's crowd of 11,264 ended a string of three straight games under 10,000 fans at Comiskey Park.Who's hot: Tim Salmon is 9-for-12 (.750) with four homers, three doubles and 14 RBIs in the Angels' three afternoon games.Who's not: Angels shortstop Andy Sheets is in a 1-for-21 slump and has made six errors.

No man has meant more to a baseball organization than Cal Ripken Sr., a throwback to another era who sacrificed personal opportunities to labor in the vineyards and do more for the Orioles than they could ever do for him.He brought discipline, a no-nonsense instructional ethic and a working wisdom that prepared players for the demanding major-league examinations that awaited. He asked no plaudits; he derived satisfaction from the results of his coaching and personal example.Now Cal Sr. is competing against a foe that deals in hard stuff.

Faces are Chuck Close's thing. He burst on the art world in the late 1960s with his huge black and white paintings of faces -- sometimes 9-by-7 feet -- showing every pore and every strand of hair.In the three decades since, he has changed his manner a lot. He has made faces in color, he has made smaller faces, he has made faces composed of hundreds of fingerprint marks, and collage faces of pulp paper pieces that look like potato chips.In recent years his faces have become more colorful and expressive.

When the sun sets on North Avenue, a golden light rolls from east to west, illuminating the faces of children at play, street vendors, church women and teens resting on stoops.The light reveals their transcendent beauty; it exalts their skin of many colors: brown, black, tan, cocoa, freckly orange and gilds the street's faded facades.This is the time of day when Linda Day Clark grabs her camera and walks up and down North Avenue, searching for faces that tell a truth about her community most people don't see. What they see is a forbidding boulevard of abandoned storefronts, suspicious characters, and neglected rowhouses.

A Towson-based defense firm pleaded guilty to fraud and obstruction charges yesterday, and faces $1.5 million in fines and a possible ban on all future military contracts.Environmental Technologies Group Inc. held two military contracts worth more than $62 million to make nearly 10,000 hand-held chemical agent monitors, devices designed to help soldiers detect nerve agents and mustard gas on the battlefield.Assistant U.S. Attorney James G. Warwick said in U.S. District Court in Baltimore yesterday that Environmental Technologies submitted false claims in connection with the contract three years ago and later obstructed a federal audit by providing the auditor with false information.

NEW YORK -- Facing the prospect of at least 3 1/2 years behind bars, 2008 Super Bowl star Plaxico Burress on Thursday accepted a plea bargain with a two-year prison sentence for accidentally shooting himself in the thigh at a New York nightclub. The former New York Giants wide receiver pleaded guilty to one count of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, a lesser charge than he had faced. He will be sentenced Sept. 22 and is expected to begin serving his sentence immediately. Hours later, the NFL announced that Commissioner Roger Goodell had suspended Burress but that he will be reinstated upon completion of his sentence.

A former Baltimore County teacher sentenced to a year and a half in jail for a sex offense against a 13-year-old student now faces federal child pornography charges, according to U.S. District Court documents. Timothy N. Gounaris, 52, of the first block of Cardor Court in Perry Hall, is scheduled for a detention hearing Monday. Gounaris was arrested Friday after the FBI found evidence that he was sharing image and video files of "minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct" on the Internet, court documents said.

When you look at the audience numbers for TV and then add up the incarcerated felons, Alzheimer's patients and confirmed barflies in America, it dawns on you who is watching TV these days - people unable to lead normal, productive lives - and yet they give out awards for this stuff, and the hosts of shows are driven to and fro in Lincoln Town Cars, and they suffer from toxic self-esteem. TV is wallpaper nowadays, and those talking heads might as well be talking to the smoked trout in Murray's Deli or the "No Parking" signs along Broadway, as people do from time to time, but we allow them their delusions.

The lasting image of 2008 that will stay with me was the hopeful, enthusiastic faces of the Pacas, a lacrosse team of middle school girls in East Baltimore. Coming from their drug-infested neighborhoods, with little encouragement - or even direction - in their homes, these young girls were looking for relief from the daily grind, if not a way out of the chaos of the inner city. They played lacrosse as an outlet, but the older ones, girls like Audrey Lewis, Rockiea Jones and Brenda Santiago, saw the sport as a doorway to a better education and a better life.

R.J. Harris scored a game-high 23 points as No. 15 Arundel beat Dulaney, 82-63, in the opening round of the J.T. Bogle Invitational at Glen Burnie last night. The Wildcats (8-0) built on their 39-35 halftime lead by outscoring the Lions 19-13 in the third quarter and 24-15 in the fourth. Arundel made 17 steals. Jamie Cowherd scored 15 points to lead Dulaney (3-4). Arundel faces host Glen Burnie in the championship tonight at 7. GLEN BURNIE 64, EDGEWOOD 51: : Tyler Rudd scored a game-high 28 points to lead the Gophers (6-2)

Bethesda teen faces charges for explosives An 18-year-old Bethesda man was charged Thursday by federal authorities with illegal possession of an explosive device and production of false identification, including a Central Intelligence Agency badge and a government card typically used by military personnel. Law enforcement officials reportedly found bomb-making materials that included copper wire, timers, electrical switches, sodium nitrate, plastic pipes and batteries, and bomb-making instructions in the bedroom of Collin McKenzie-Gude when they searched his home July 29. Officers also found a homemade grenade, authorities said, Police also say they found a fake CIA access badge and a false Department of Defense "common access card" used for access to military computers and networks.

Best Buy tests recycling Best Buy Co. announced that Maryland is one of eight states where it is testing a pilot program that allows consumers to get rid of old computers, televisions, cell phones and other outdated electronic gadgets for free. Consumers will be able to bring two items per day to a Best Buy store for recycling under the program, which began June 1. Cordish seeks N.J. casino The chairman of Baltimore-based Cordish Co., which is expanding into gaming management, confirmed that it is among a number of bidders vying to acquire Atlantic City's Tropicana Casino and Resort.

Just over a year into his administration, Gov. Martin O'Malley finds himself pinned to a hard reality: cleaning up the financial mess left by his predecessors while trying to cope with a faltering economy. Instead of credit for that dual rescue mission, he faces critics who say he's done too little cost-cutting and too much taxing. "One of the frustrating realities is that a penny tax increase in the sales tax makes a banner headline, and $100 million in cuts gets barely a whisper," he said during at interview in his State House office.

People's faces offer insight into a walled-off world It started when I was in kindergarten in Japan. I saw lots of children wearing uniforms unlike mine going by one day and asked my mother why they were so different. She told me they were Korean and were going to a different school to learn about their culture. She said Japanese people had treated Koreans very badly in the past and because of that I should make an extra effort to be kind to Koreans. So it was my mother who spurred me to respect Koreans.

Baltimore is facing a historic choice on Tuesday: to elect women as the city's top municipal leaders, a trifecta of female power. In Mayor Sheila Dixon and Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake, city voters have assured, knowledgeable leaders who should be elected. Comptroller Joan Pratt is running unopposed. Ms. Dixon and Ms. Rawlings-Blake have spent most of their adult lives in public service, getting involved in politics in their respective West Baltimore neighborhoods as young professionals.