Four Men

Police reports in baltimore city and county: Northern Baltimore Robbery A man, 27, was walking in the 400 block of E. Lake Ave. about 9 p.m. Tuesday when he was attacked by four men, one armed with an unknown weapon, who attempted to rob him of his money and property. When the victim attempted to flee, one of the men knocked him to the ground. While he was on the ground, a second man threatened the victim with a knife while robbing him of his wallet containing $11 and credit cards. No arrests had been made.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes in Baltimore City and Baltimore County.Baltimore CityWestern DistrictShooting: A gunman shot at a man with whom he was arguing, but missed him and hit another man, 57, in both legs about 4: 30 p.m. yesterday inside Lafayette Market in the 1700 block of Pennsylvania Ave. Detective Dennis Raftery said the gunman's intended target had run inside the market. Carmen Raheem of the 1700 block of McCulloh St. was treated at Maryland Shock Trauma Center and was expected to be released.

Four men were charged in two unrelated killings this week in Baltimore County, police said yesterday.In the first homicide, two Baltimore men were charged in the fatal shooting of Vernon Cornell Ferguson, a Belair-Edison man whose body was discovered Tuesday morning in a car parked in front of a Pikesville automotive shop.Adrian Marcellus Muldrow, 28, of the 2500 block of W. Franklin St., and Antwan Maurice Travers, 29, of the 700 block of Benn- inghaus Road were arrested Thursday morning and charged with first-degree murder and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, police said.

Four men who peddled "inside secrets," produced "home business infomercials" and arranged "elite performer" seminars through a Hagerstown-based company have been indicted on federal charges that they defrauded 17,000 consumers of $20 million.A federal grand jury in Baltimore indicted the four men last week for mail fraud and wire fraud arising from the operation of Peak Performance Institute and its successor company, Success Achievement Systems, Lynn A. Battaglia, U.S. attorney for Maryland, said in a statement.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes in Baltimore and Baltimore County.Southeastern DistrictShooting: A male, 17, was riding a bicycle in the 200 block of Mason Court about 7: 45 p.m. Monday when someone shot him in the left arm. He was treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital and released.Southwestern DistrictShooting: A man, 21, was in the 2800 block of W. Franklin St. about 9: 15 p.m. Monday when someone shot him in the back and buttocks. He was in critical condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center yesterday.

Anne Arundel County police and federal agents have arrested four men on charges of running an opium ring out of the backs of carpet stores in Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties, apparently the first opium arrests in the Baltimore-Washington corridor in at least two decades.Police arrested Hajirahman Alejalil, 47, of the 15000 block of Indianola Drive in Derwood, Prince George's County; Majid Mostafa, 41, of the 10000 block of Prince Place in Largo; and Mehdi Livani, 46, and Touraj Zoulfaghary, 40, both of the first block of Pinkney St. in Annapolis at the stores late Tuesday.

County police arrested two Washington men on auto-theft charges early Monday after a high-speed chase along Route 10 through Pasadena and the Marley section of Glen Burnie.Steven Banks, 40, of the 400 block of Mount Olivet Road in Northeast Washington and Tiny Butler Medlock, 43, of the first block of Jefferson St. in Northeast Washington were charged with felony theft and resisting arrest.Banks also was charged with driving while intoxicated and related traffic violations.Officer Marc Gelven was driving north on Ritchie Highway near Route 10 about 7: 30 a.m. when he saw a Buick Electra weaving in traffic.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes in Howard County.Elkridge: 6700 block of Montgomery Road: Police reported that four men tried to break into Grace Episcopal Church on Sunday by climbing through a window. No entry was gained.Pub Date: 8/14/97

One of four men accused of burning a barn on Old Washington Road in Westminster on April 27 pleaded guilty yesterday to arson, conspiracy to commit arson and animal mutilation.Prosecutors said that the motive was revenge and that Donald E. Freeman III, 24, joined in the ar- son after the owners of the barn complained to police about drug activities conducted by one of the four.Freeman will be sentenced April 15.By plea agreement, Freeman must pay nearly $7,000 as his share of the restitution for the loss of the barn and animals killed before or during the fire, court records show.

Casey Miller,77, a feminist author who believed that words such as "mankind" and "congressmen" are sexist, died of lung disease Sunday in East Haddam, Conn. Ms. Miller, and companion Kate Swift, wrote many articles and two books on "male-biased" language.Their "Handbook of Nonsexist Writing," published in 1980, is an influential reference on how to avoid degrading women with words. They inspired changes to the language including the adoption of "artisan" instead of "craftsman" and elimination of the word "authoress."

Police reports in baltimore city and county: Northern Baltimore Robbery A man, 27, was walking in the 400 block of E. Lake Ave. about 9 p.m. Tuesday when he was attacked by four men, one armed with an unknown weapon, who attempted to rob him of his money and property. When the victim attempted to flee, one of the men knocked him to the ground. While he was on the ground, a second man threatened the victim with a knife while robbing him of his wallet containing $11 and credit cards. No arrests had been made.

The city's Board of Estimates approved payouts in two lawsuits against city police officers this week, including a $320,000 settlement for four men a jury found had been improperly arrested in Patterson Park two years ago. In May, a jury awarded Jacob Adams, Charles Bowman, Shawn Clowney and Kerney Toomer, as well as a fifth man, Rudolph Hill, a total of $1.85 million based on their accusation that Officer Robert G. Cirello arrested them in a show of...

Baltimore police have arrested one person and are looking for three others suspected of kidnapping two teenagers from a bus stop, holding them captive for hours and beating them in an attempt to elicit information about a stolen PlayStation, a department spokesman said yesterday. The suspect in custody - identified as Christopher Johnson, 21, of the 5600 block of McClean Blvd. - is being held without bail at the Baltimore City Detention Center pending his June 3 court date. The 31 charges filed against him include multiple counts of first-degree assault, kidnapping, sodomy, false imprisonment and using a dangerous weapon.

BOSTON -- In what appears to be the largest sum ever awarded to people who were wrongfully convicted, a judge ordered the federal government yesterday to pay $101.8 million to make amends for framing four men for a murder they did not commit. Two of the men died in prison after being falsely convicted in the 1965 gangland murder. Another, Peter Limone, spent 33 years in prison before he was exonerated in 2001. The fourth, Joseph Salvati, spent 29 years behind bars. "It took 30 years to uncover this injustice," U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner said in announcing her decision.

A teenage boy was fatally shot and two men were seriously wounded last night as they sat in a "hack" cab in Southwest Baltimore, city police said. The driver, an unidentified woman, was not injured by the gunfire reported about 9:30 p.m. in the 2300 block of Frederick Ave. They were all seated in the car, parked at a Citgo gas station, when at least one gunman approached and fired into the vehicle, hitting the youth in the head and the men each in...

Executive seeks more for school construction County Executive James T. Smith Jr. appeared yesterday before the state Board of Public Works to ask for additional state money to build and renovate schools in the county. Smith told the board -- Gov. Martin O'Malley, Comptroller Peter Franchot and state Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp -- that the $27.9 million in state money already committed to the county is being used to start construction of Vincent Farms Elementary, for renovations of Perry Hall and General John Stricker middle schools, and for roof replacement projects at three schools.

Four women, all so different, but all of them with one thing in common - their sons are dead. The four men were killed while on duty in Iraq within four days of each other one year ago. This commonality created the foundation for a story by reporter Greg Barrett. I had one day, the Thursday before Veterans Day, to photograph them for a Sunday, Nov. 13 story. For the four portraits I wanted to create a common visual theme, so I decided to light each of them with a single flash unit in a soft box. This would create a distinct look, yet allow me the flexibility needed to photograph in four different locations without knowing ahead of time the conditions for each.

NEW ORLEANS -- The four men sitting on creaky chairs out front amounted to a crowd in the empty city. They hardly moved during the day because of the heat and the thick air, but nighttime was so gloriously quiet it reminded them all why they'd chosen to stay, even when the place was swallowed by water and smell. It was in those darkening moments of fly-swatting and tale-telling, when the haze lifted and the men started drinking beneath stars they'd scarcely seen in years, that the life of today's New Orleans emerged.

BALTIMORE Police release names of victims of shootings Baltimore police released the names of four men yesterday who died in apparently unrelated shootings Saturday, one of the deadliest days this year in the city. A police spokesman said there have been 191 homicides this year, compared with 203 for the same period last year. Five people were killed in four incidents Jan. 20. In the first slaying Saturday, police were called to the 3200 block of Sequoia Ave. in Northwest Baltimore for a report of gunfire about 2:30 a.m. Officers found William Craig, 58, inside a Ford Explorer suffering from gunshot wounds, police said.

LONDON -- In an aggressive effort to capture four men who tried to bomb London's transit system, heavily armed police swarmed through London's subway tunnels yesterday, blasted their way into a suspect house and then chased a man across a subway platform and into a train, knocked him down and shot him to death as passengers ducked for cover. Police said the man was directly connected to an attack on the transit system Thursday, and later they announced the arrest of two others. The four bombers, though, were apparently still at large.