Friends And Neighbors

Joseph Michael Regan, a longtime Highlandtown tavern owner and World War II veteran, died of heart failure Jan. 23 in his home above his Grundy Street establishment. He was 84. Mr. Regan, the son of an Irish-born East Baltimore saloonkeeper, was born in Baltimore and raised in a rowhouse at Grundy Street and Foster Avenue. He attended city public schools and enlisted in the Navy in 1941. He served aboard the USS Pheasant, a minesweeper, as a fireman in the ship's engine room. During 1943, the minesweeper helped protect convoys steaming along the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast before being assigned to Europe, where it swept mines before the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944.

WELL-INTENTIONED guests often survey my quarters and ask if it doesn't cost a fortune to heat my 1871 house. I can't always tell if the question is out of concern for my checkbook or whether my old brick pile is just drafty.Old houses are hard to heat, and expensive too, but that doesn't stop me from owning one with three floors, a cellar, a hidden cistern and old gas pipes hidden in the sandy plaster walls.Despite the costs associated with heating Baltimore's old houses in the winter, this is their best season of the year.

A 13-year-old boy shot and killed his 11-year-old sister yesterday with a loaded gun he found in a dresser drawer of their grandparents' home in the Harundale neighborhood in Glen Burnie, Anne Arundel County police said.Police investigators, who questioned the boy for several hours, said they believe it was an accident, police spokeswoman Lisa Ritter said.The youngsters were visiting their grandparents John and Nancy Bickel in the 1600 block of Saunders Way for Thanksgiving. The children lived nearby and attended Woodside Elementary School Glen Burnie until moving to Grasonville in Queen Anne's County with their parents less than a year ago, friends and neighbors said.

Hate your job? Try finding the one you were made for.That's what county residents Martha Finney and Deborah Dasch did when they interviewed people to learn the mistakes and turns of chance that helped them match their personalities with their career choice. The lessons learned along the way are told in "Find your Calling, Love your Life," a book about how others have made the match.The authors will be at Barnes & Noble bookstore, 2532 Solomon's Island Road in Annapolis, from 7: 30 p.m. to 8: 30 p.m. today to sign copies of their book.

Whenever Sherry Lane had a problem with her family or a typical ninth-grade trauma, she turned to her classmate Karen Lynn Hayes for help.Karen was easy to talk to, Lane said, because she was always willing to listen.A month after Karen's death, Sherry and her classmates at South Baltimore's Benjamin Franklin Middle School are still grappling with the loss of a friend to whom many had turned.Yesterday, about 45 students and faculty planted a dogwood tree in memory of the 16-year-old girl who was killed in a car accident.

Forensic tests confirmed that a Silver Spring man shot and killed a Highland woman and then shot himself in the back of the head, Howard County police said yesterday.Police said the weapon, a 9 mm pistol, was owned by Robert Warren Harris, 44, and gunshot residue was found on his hands. Police suspected a murder-suicide when they found the bodies of Harris and a former girlfriend, Ellie Kasten, 37, in her bedroom July 17.Investigators initially were cautious about drawing conclusions because Harris shot himself in the back of the head, which is unusual, police said.

James Quillen had been working only four months as an assistant MARC passenger conductor when he lost his life in the fatal crash in Silver Spring that killed two other crewmen and eight passengers on Feb. 16.He was remembered yesterday by his widow and a longtime family friend, Jeanie Shugars, of Brooklyn, who was fondly called "Ma" by Mr. Quillen.Mr. Quillen, 53, lived for 25 years in Brooklyn on Inner Circle, a quiet gently winding street at the top of a hill overlooking the lower Patapsco River and the CSX freight yards where trains can heard slowly making their way along the Curtis Bay Branch.

LISTEN, AMERICANS need to be more politically involved, and here's how:Only special Democrats received packets in the mail last week from the team formally known as Clinton (Bill) Gore (Al) '96 (1996). The enclosed bumper sticker and poster are mighty handsome. But the "Ten Things You Can Do To Help Re-Elect Bill Clinton and Al Gore" list is worth your non-tax-deductible campaign contribution - which entitles special Democrats to this campaign kit.Clearly, the path toward political enlightenment and involvement starts here if, and we mean IF, Americans follow the following Clinton/Gore '96 instructions (cut it out and save yourself a non-tax-deductible contribution)

Police, neighbors and businesses really do careI am a retired attorney, a senior citizen living in northern Anne Arundel County. Recently, my home was burglarized. While out, someone or several persons forced open my front door, despite a dead bolt and knob lock. They ransacked the house, taking money and stereo equipment, VCR, etc.I called 911. The first advice given was to leave the house immediately if I heard any noise. Excellent advice. Not hearing noises, I waited for the police. Within 10 minutes, Officer R. A. Schinzel arrived.

Baltimore police are investigating whether the deaths of a city contractor and his wife, whose car abruptly sped into Lake Montebello Friday night, were an accident.A bystander told police he watched the Audi sedan carrying Richard and Concettina Herring accelerate and speed into the lake shortly after 9 p.m. The car immediately sank in 20 feet of frigid water."Right now I think everyone is at a loss to explain why the vehicle went in the water," said Agent Robert W. Weinhold Jr., a police spokesman.

Ask Bonnie Benedetta to describe her style, and she laughingly answers, "Cheap. Cheap, but good." The friends she was meeting at Little Havana the night we "Glimpsed" the Catonsville resident say she's feminine and put-together. The 43-year-old sales representative for George Marshall says she loves dresses and skirts, but she doesn't like spending a lot on her look. She's an expert at finding a deal - and dealing with hand-me-downs. The look: Lilac short-sleeve button-down New York & Company shirt.

Joseph Michael Regan, a longtime Highlandtown tavern owner and World War II veteran, died of heart failure Jan. 23 in his home above his Grundy Street establishment. He was 84. Mr. Regan, the son of an Irish-born East Baltimore saloonkeeper, was born in Baltimore and raised in a rowhouse at Grundy Street and Foster Avenue. He attended city public schools and enlisted in the Navy in 1941. He served aboard the USS Pheasant, a minesweeper, as a fireman in the ship's engine room. During 1943, the minesweeper helped protect convoys steaming along the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast before being assigned to Europe, where it swept mines before the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944.

For parts of three days, friends and neighbors came to court to describe Samuel and Donna Merryman as giving and loving parents. Most said they could hardly believe that the Harford County couple could be responsible for the death of an 8-year-old son. But yesterday, prosecutors said that two of the couple's other children provided a look inside the family home in Whiteford -- where, they said, their brother was bound, strapped to a crib and deprived of...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A day after seven members of a family were shot to death in a hardscrabble section of the city's near East Side, neighbors battled fear and anxiety yesterday even as police were hunting a man suspected of carrying out the rampage. Indianapolis Police Chief Michael Spears said the city had never seen a single case in which so many people were killed. Preliminary evidence suggests that the slayings were carried out during a robbery, he said, and the suspect still at large - identified as Desmond Turner - was believed to have opened fire.

On April 22, 2005, PATRICIA L.W. KITZMILLER, of Towson, MD, daughter of the late Edwin F. Wright and Rose Lee Seims Wright. She is survived by friends and neighbors and "The Alley Kids". Services are private. Contributions to the American Lung Association or Stella Maris Hospice, 2300 Dulaney Valley Rd., Timonium, MD 21093.

On May 22, 2005, EDWARD COULTER LONG, dear companion of Lillian L. Leakins; dear friend of Sally and David Grimes and their children, Dwayne and Scott, Elizabeth B., Michael J., Jennifer K. and Michael A. Sponseller, Margaret A. Fleshman, Karen Shelton and the Gregory Mc Clelland family. Also survived by other friends and neighbors. Friends may call at the family owned Mitchell-Wiedefeld Funeral Home, Inc., 6500 York Rd at Overbrook, on Monday, 4 to 7 P.M. A Funeral Service will be held Tuesday, 11 A.M. at the funeral home.

On Thursday, March 10, 2005, ROSAMOND BURGESS MUNRO, of Fulton, MD., wife of the late G. Colin Munro. Survived by son David F. Munro, grandson Donald J. Munro, granddaughter Christine A. Munro and her many beloved friends and neighbors. Memorial Service from 1 to 3 P.M. on March 26, 2005 at 8601 Reservoir Rd., Fulton, MD.

BIRCHWOOD, Wis. - Hundreds huddled in the dark town square here last night to memorialize six hunters - their friends and neighbors - killed in an attack so savage few could speak of it. It was the community's first chance to gather since a trespasser emptied his semiautomatic rifle Sunday into a group of friends out for a Thanksgiving week deer hunt. "We have come here tonight with many emotions," Paul Oman, pastor of the Trinity Lutheran Church, said. "Shock, certainly. Questions of why. Anger.

In his 58th year, passed away suddenly on November 11, 2004, beloved husband of Mary Jean Stevenson; son of the late Earl and Jane Stevenson; brother of Terry Stevenson. He is also survived by a step-son Lou Raborg and his wife Becky; step-daughters Therese Barnhill and Donna Parr; daughters Stace Stevenson and Kelly Thomas and nine grandchildren. He is also survived by best friends and neighbors Bill and Nancy Hedrick, Relatives and friends may call at Miller-Dippel Funeral Home, Inc., 6415 Belair Road, Saturday 7 to 9 P.M. and Sunday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M., where funeral services will be held on Monday, 11 A.M. Interment at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.

On Wednesday, September 8, 2004, at Anne Arundel Medical Center, HINDA BERSON, of Annapolis, MD; loving mother of David Berson of Overland Park, KS and Steve Berson of Brooklyn, NY; daughter of Molly Levin of Baltimore, MD. She is also survived by two brothers, Mike and Paul Levin of Baltimore, MD and a host of friends and neighbors. A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, September 11, 2004 at 11 A.M. at the Bestgate Chapel, 814 Bestgate Road, Annapolis, MD. Interment private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Scleroderma Foundation, 12 Kentway, Suite 101, Byfield, MA 01922 or at www.scleroderma.