Franklintown Road

In a couple more months, this flat part of the park will be transformed into a baseball-basketball -picnic area.The Yellow Cab that carried me across Gwynns Falls Parkway encountered an ominous orange detour sign at the entrance to the Windsor Hills neighborhood on the city's western edge. For the next 10 minutes we twisted and turned along gloriously leafy streets.As the meter ominously clicked into the double-dollar digits, we emerged on West Forest Park Avenue and shot down the hill to Franklintown Road, past local landmarks such the Mill Race Tavern.

Residents of West Baltimore's Rosemont community, where a 14-year-old boy was shot several times Saturday evening, say such horrors have become commonplace."

Baltimore schoolchildren and educators will stand by Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke tomorrow morning as he breaks ground for the Gwynns Falls Trail.The ceremony for the first phase of construction on the proposed 14-mile trail is slated to begin at 10: 30 a.m. on Franklintown Road between Winans Way and Wetheredsville Road at the original entrance to the old Crimea Estate. The celebration will cap years of planning by the city, community groups, the nonprofit Parks and People Foundation and the Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit conservation group.

A 31-year-old man was found dead behind the wheel of a car about 4: 30 a.m. yesterday in Leakin Park in West Baltimore. He had been shot, police said.Homicide Detective Joseph Dugan said the slain man was discovered when a municipal employee driving to work stopped to investigate the car, which was stopped in the roadway in the 5100 block of Franklintown Road.Dugan said the victim's name was being withheld until relatives in Virginia were notified. He said police knew of no motive and had no suspect in the slaying.

WHEN TALK BEGAN four years ago about creating a recreational greenway along the wasteland of the Gwynns Falls Valley, many dismissed the idea as stillborn. But there were also plenty of believers, who have been able to sell their vision about a 14-mile system of trails stretching from Leakin Park's Franklintown to the Inner Harbor.If all goes as planned, the construction of the first section -- a 4.5-mile stretch -- will begin next winter. Meanwhile, design work for the second phase is beginning.

City police arrested a Northeast Baltimore man yesterday and charged him in the death of a 25-year-old man whose dismembered body was found in Leakin Park on May 4.Robert McLain, 27, of the 2400 block of Bridgehampton Drive was charged with first-degree murder and a weapons violation, said Officer Sabrina Tapp-Harper, a police spokeswoman.Mr. McLain was a friend of the victim, Gregory Melvin Smith, whose last known address was the same as Mr. McLain's, Officer Tapp-Harper said.The two had lived together for a month but had been friends for nine years, she said.

A 40-year-old man was shot to death yesterday evening in the 200 block of N. Franklintown Road while apparently walking home from work, police said.Witnesses told police they saw the victim, Spencer Thomas of the 2600 block of W. Franklin St., being robbed by a gunman around 6:30 p.m. near the intersection of North Franklintown Road and West Fairmount Avenue.After the gunman removed unknown property from Mr. Thomas' pocket, he fired at least three shots, hitting the man once in the chest and twice in the head, witnesses reported to police.

A Baltimore County man was found fatally shot in a West Baltimore park yesterday, just hours after he withdrew $1,500 in cash from the bank -- money that the killer apparently stole, homicide detectives said.Douglas Wayne Blowers, 42, a foreman for the county Bureau of Highways, had been repeatedly shot, police said. A motorist passing through Leakin Park in West Baltimore discovered his body about 2:30 p.m. in the 4800 block of Franklintown Road.Police believe that whoever killed Mr. Blowers, who lived in the 3200 block of Southgreen Road in Gwynn Oak, took his money and his gray 1989 Plymouth Voyager van.Homicide Detective Marvin Sydnor said last night that the van was still missing.

The Maryland Food Bank is now accepting something other than the traditional donations of money and food: baseball tickets.The group, which supplies area soup kitchens and other feeding programs for the poor, lost a source of food when the baseball season was canceled by the players' strike. The group received surplus food from home games.But a new program, organized by retired Anne Arundel County schoolteacher Gus Lundquist, enables baseball fans to send their unused season tickets to the food bank, which will obtain a refund from the team and use the money to feed the hungry.

Baltimore CitySHOOTINGS: Eastern District -- Two men were shot about 5:30 a.m. yesterday at a playground in the 2000 block of E. Biddle St. near North Washington Street and were taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital for treatment. One of the men was reported in critical condition. At least one witness was taken to police headquarters. Details of the shootings were not immediately available.CHURCH BURGLARY: Northern District -- Someone entered the New Antioch Baptist Church in the 2400 block of St. Paul St. through a second-floor window Sunday and stole a microwave oven valued at $150.

On April 16, 2008, NATHANIEL C. PENDERGRASS. Viewing at THE JOSEPH L. RUSS FUNERAL HOME, P.A., 2222-26 W. North Avenue, from 4 to 6 P.M. on Monday, Wake on Tuesday, at Mt. Nebo Holiness Church, 240 N. Franklintown Road, from 6:30 to 7 P.M., when funeral service will begin. Interment in Kingstree, SC.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from police reports in Baltimore and Baltimore County. Baltimore Southwestern Shootings -- Police investigating the shootings of a woman and three teenage males outside a carryout in the 400 block of S. Smallwood St. about 8:20 p.m. Monday said the victims were shot by the occupant of a passing car. No arrest had been made. Officer Troy Harris, a police spokesman, said it remains unknown whether any of the victims were targeted or whether the shootings were a random act. He said all four victims are expected to survive their injuries.

On December 11, 2007, WILLIAM M. JOHNSON, SR. On Wednesday, friends may call at the VAUGHN C. GREENE FUNERAL SERVICES, 5151 Baltimore Nat'l Pike, from 3 to 8 P.M. On Thursday, Mr. Johnson will lie instate at Nebo Christian Ministry, 240 N. Franklintown Road, where the family will receive friends from 10 to 10:30 A.M. with services to follow. Inquiries to (410) 233-2400.

There's more to do this Halloween than just don a sheet or a witch's hat and call yourself costumed. Take a haunted hike, check out an exhibit on Frankenstein in pop culture or see a play or magic show. And, of course, there are plenty of costume contests to enter. But being a ghost or a witch probably isn't going to win you any prizes. Here's a sampling of some of the Halloween events going on this week: Events Outside Black Beard's Revenge ... Curse of the Severed Head -- 4101 N.E. Crain Highway, Bowie / 301-464-4880 or baysox.

On December 13, 2006, HILLEN JENKINS SMITH'; beloved father of Hillen Jenkins Smith, Jr., Francis Hopkinson Smith and Sarah Jenkins Smith; dear brother of Mary J. Cobb and Frances Chittenden; loving grandfather of Hillen J., III, Cotter S. and Wyatt Smith. Friends may call at the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc., 1050 York Road (beltway exit 26a) Sunday, 2 to 4 and 6 to 8pm. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated Monday, 11 am at The Cathedral Mary Our Queen, Lady Chapel. Interment private.

On July 30, 2006 MRS. PINKNEY, beloved wife of Odell Pinkney. Visitation at 2140 N. Fulton Avenue on Friday, 2-8pm. The family will receive friends at Nebo Christian Ministries, 240 N. Franklintown Road on Saturday at 10am. Funeral at 11am.

ESSEX Death of man found behind stores is ruled a homicide The Baltimore County medical examiner has ruled that a 44-year-old man found dead Thursday in Essex was the victim of homicide. James Richard Myers of the 7300 block of Greenbank Road had last been seen Monday. His body was found Thursday afternoon in a marshy area behind the Carroll Island Shopping Center. Police are seeking information on his activities in the hours before he was killed. Anyone with information should call police at 410-307-2020.

City police are investigating the killings of two men in apparently unrelated incidents - one of them fatally shot early yesterday after leaving a bar in Southwest Baltimore, the other found dead of a gunshot wound Saturday night at the edge of Leakin Park. The latest reported homicide occurred shortly after 2 a.m. yesterday in the 3300 block of Old Frederick Road, where Jason Lamont Oden, 23, of the 500 block of S. Beechfield Ave. was shot at least once moments after he left a nearby bar, said Detective Dave Peckoo.

On October 30, 2003, ANTOINE DOMINIQUE; devoted son of Wanda Carter. Freinds may call at the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST, INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue, on Thursday after 11 A.M. Family will receive friends on Friday at the St. Luke Apostolic Temple Church, 1215 N. Franklintown Road at 11 A.M., followed by funeral service at 11:30 A.M. See www.marchfh.com

A 16-year-old boy died last night and a man was critically wounded in unrelated shootings minutes apart in West Baltimore, city police reported. The youth M-y whose identify was withheld pending notification of relatives M-y was shot while standing on a street on the city's west side. Shortly before 8:30 p.m., police officers responding to a 911 call for a shooting in the 1600 block of Appleton St. found the teen lying on the pavement, bleeding from wounds to the upper body and head, said homicide Detective Roscoe Lewis.