Five Women

WASHINGTON -- While most U.S. women like their jobs, they're stretched to the breaking point trying to juggle family, work, child care and other pressing concerns.That's the consensus from a first-of-its-kind survey of America's working women, distributed by the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton joined Vice President Al Gore and Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich in a news conference yesterday to discuss survey results.More than 250,000 women responded to the "Working Women Count" survey, which polled women on issues such as equal pay, job advancement, and child and health care.

The father of a young Marine killed in Iraq wept repeatedly in federal court in Baltimore yesterday as a jury watched video images of members of a Kansas church protesting the military's inclusion of homosexuals by picketing his son's Westminster funeral. The videos provided an emotional ending to the evidence portion of the weeklong trial in U.S. District Court. Albert Snyder of York, Pa., the Marine's father, is attempting to be the first in the nation to hold members of Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church legally liable for their shock protests at military funerals.

An extensive manhunt for a suspect wanted in one of Baltimore's worst mass killings ended early yesterday at a Jessup motel on U.S. 1 when heavily armed police acting on a tip found him in the parking lot at the roadside lodging.Tavon McCoy, 21, is the third person to be arrested in Sunday's killings of five women in a Northeast Baltimore rowhouse. He is charged with five counts of first-degree murder and was being held without bail last night at the Central Booking and Intake Center.Police and federal marshals were searching for a fourth man, Robert Bryant, 23, of the 1200 block of Cavendish Way in O'Donnell Heights, a public housing community in Southeast Baltimore.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Gladys Karhu used to put her soft-drink cans aside so the woman who collected them in her St. Paul neighborhood wouldn't have to pick them out of her garbage. Say the term "bag lady," and an image of that woman comes to Karhu's mind. A 76-year-old retired hospice nurse, Karhu and her husband have a small pension, Social Security and retirement funds. Nevertheless, Karhu wonders whether one day she'll need to pick up cans for cash. "Will the money we have put away last until we no longer need to worry about it?"

Northeast killings merited a stronger response from cityAs a resident of Northeast Baltimore, I am outraged and saddened by the massacre of five women by handgun- and shotgun-wielding thugs ("Five women found killed in city home," Dec. 6).These killings compound the grief and fear that linger after the recent murder of Tacy Ranta on Parkside Drive.The lack of concern from Baltimore's elected officials for its citizens disappoints and bewilders me.Their scant concern expressed was about the impact of the deaths on the city's reputation, rather than on the victims of the crime.

A man who survived the killings in December of five women in Northeast Baltimore -- and was later arrested for allegedly kidnapping a woman and threatening to kill one of his relatives -- is wanted in a revenge slaying, police said yesterday. A first-degree murder warrant has been issued for Ronald P. McNeil, 37, of the 3500 block of Elmley Ave. in Belair-Edison, where the five drug-related killings occurred Dec. 5. The warrant contends he shot and killed Chris Manning, 22, about noon Jan. 25 at O'Donnell Street and Demarcay Way. "The motive was revenge for the killing of the five women," said police spokeswoman Angelique Cook-Hayes.

A trial began yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court for three of the men accused of killing five women in a Northeast Baltimore rowhouse in 1999, but the sole person who says he witnessed the killings probably won't testify. Prosecutors and defense lawyers for Ismael Malik Wilson, 28, Travon McCoy, 22, and Robert Bryant, 24, said yesterday that they did not plan to call Ronald McNeil to the stand. A fourth defendant, Tariq A. Malik, 21, who is Wilson's brother, is to stand trial in September because his lawyer had a scheduling conflict.

Federal authorities are helping Baltimore police unravel a brutal drug dispute that triggered the killings of six people Sunday and raised fears that a climate of revenge could prompt even more violence in the city.U.S. marshals are joining scores of city police searching for two of four suspects who remain at large in what is described as a race to take them into custody before they become victims of the turf war.Already, one man charged in the shootings of five women at a Belair-Edison rowhouse in Northeast Baltimore has been found with his throat slashed and remains in critical condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital -- registered under an alias and with an armed guard.

The Maryland Commission for Women and Women Legislators of Maryland are seeking recommendations of outstanding Maryland women for induction into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame.The Hall of Fame honors women who have made unique and lasting contributions to the economic, political, cultural and social life of the state, and can serve as role models for young women.Nominations will be accepted from organizations and individuals. An independent committee of citizens will review the nominations and make recommendations to the governor.

25 Years Ago (week of Nov. 19-25, 1967):* Police raided a house in the Lawyer's Hill area of Elkridge, arresting a man who listed his occupation as "auto mechanic" for performing illegal abortions. Also arrested, but not charged, were five women from out of state who had come to the house seeking abortions. The auto mechanic's work was described as "very sloppy" by doctors at University of Maryland Hospital who later examined two of the women.50 Years Ago (week of Nov. 22-28, 1942):* Glenelg Manor, home of Mr. and Mrs. W. Bladen Lowndes Sr., was purchased by Roland D. and George R. Zaiser.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- At least five people, including two women and a child, were killed early yesterday morning in a raid by American special operations forces in Baqouba targeting suspected insurgents. U.S. military officials said two of the men killed in the city northeast of Baghdad were believed to be associates of a senior leader of the al-Qaida in Iraq group previously led by the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Along with the women and child who were killed yesterday, at least 25 other people were wounded.

ATLANTA -- A man suspected in the serial slayings of at least five Louisiana women was arrested outside a Georgia tire shop last night, two days after authorities matched his DNA to the cases through a combination of shoe-leather detective work and pure luck. Derrick Todd Lee, 34, a truck driver from St. Francisville, La., was arrested by two police officers after the FBI received a tip that he was "wandering" outside the tire shop at about 8:30 p.m., said Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington.

A woman pleaded guilty in Baltimore Circuit Court yesterday to stealing nearly $34,000 from five elderly women by scaring them into thinking they had to give her money or face losing their health care or electricity. Dundalk resident Vaneka Powers, 22, pleaded guilty yesterday to five counts of continuing theft scheme, which included bilking almost $25,000 from a 75-year-old woman shortly before her death, according to prosecutors. "These were sweet, salt-of-the-earth people," said Assistant State's Attorney Isabel Mercedes Cumming, who prosecuted the case.

PHILADELPHIA - It's five minutes before the start of the biggest showcase of the year, and Candy Hiler is still trying to get her wits about her. She's a little hung over, her back hurts, and aside from shaking out the cobwebs, she can't seem to keep her shoulder-length dark hair out of her eyes. Sitting next to Hiler is Heidi Fitzgerald, who has a demon tattooed on one arm, a pair of dice on the other. "Damn," Hiler says. "Does anybody have a rubber band I can use for a ponytail? I forgot mine."

But for her sweater and a morning meeting that took her from her Pentagon office to another room in the sprawling building Sept. 11, Lt. Col. Marilyn Wills wouldn't be here today. The meeting started minutes before her desk was engulfed in flames. The sweater, soaked from the sprinklers, provided water as Wills and her co-workers sucked on its fibers as they groped for an exit through the smoke. Wills led the procession to a window on the second floor, where they jumped to safety. Wills, the Army personnel chief's liaison to Congress, won the Soldier's Medal for her valor that day. But the mother of two from Prince George's County insists the real heroes are those fighting in Afghanistan.

But for her sweater and a morning meeting that took her from her Pentagon office to another room in the sprawling building Sept. 11, Lt. Col. Marilyn Wills wouldn't be here today. The meeting started minutes before her desk was engulfed in flames. The sweater, soaked from the sprinklers, provided water as Wills and her co-workers sucked on its fibers as they groped for an exit through the smoke. Wills led the procession to a window on the second floor, where they jumped to safety. Wills, the Army personnel chief's liaison to Congress, won the Soldier's Medal for her valor that day. But the mother of two from Prince George's County insists the real heroes are those fighting in Afghanistan.

THE OTHER DAY, I'm sitting with five women who got squeezed out of their retirement benefits and were wondering how to fully express their anger and despair in the newspaper. Then Dick Cheney comes along. The five women thought they each had up to $5,000 in retirement benefits coming after a combined 82 years of toil for Jos. A. Bank Clothiers. Instead, they get nothing. Dick Cheney, the Republican vice presidential candidate, retires after five years as head of a Texas energy-services company.

The Rule of Three.HTC That's a term recently coined to describe a theory of the balance of power in the workplace.It suggests that when a company has three women in top-level management positions, changes that are helpful to female employees are more likely to take place.The Rule of Three, according to the New York Times, was born at a brainstorming session of 18 high-ranking female executives sponsored by the Center for the New American Workforce of Queens College in New York.The Rule of Three simply is about power, and, similar to how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, it's about balance: How many women executives does it take to make changes in the company's work/family policies that might keep women from dropping out, help them crash the glass ceiling and bring equity to the workplace?

A MEMORABLE PLACE An unexpected common language By Dee Lyon SPECIAL TO THE SUN I'm shy. I'm not comfortable meeting new people. When travel writers talk of becoming immersed in the culture of a new country or getting to know the people, I politely ignore the advice. So an amazing thing happened to my husband and me in Russia. On our free day of an eight-day tour, we sampled the remarkable Moscow metro system. Not only is it stunningly beautiful with sculptures, lavish marble, mosaic works and architectural design, but it's also efficient and dirt-cheap.

A Circuit Court jury convicted three men yesterday in the 1999 shooting deaths of five women in a Northeast Baltimore rowhouse, a mass murder that received national attention. In the courtroom, relatives of the victims responded with tears and quiet applause. Some clasped their hands as if in prayer. The men talked to each other, smiled and laughed occasionally as the verdicts were read. One drove several relatives of the victims to tears with a comment as he was led from the courtroom.