Gardenville

A 26-year-old man was shot and killed outside his Gardenville home late Sunday night, city police said. Adam Robinson of the 4100 block of Idaho Avenue, near Belair Road, answered his door bell about 11 p.m., police said. He walked outside and was shot multiple times. He was pronounced dead at Johns Hopkins Hospital about 11:30 p.m., police said. Police have no suspects at this time and are continuing to investigate. Mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

A 26-year-old man was shot and killed outside his Gardenville home late Sunday night, city police said. Adam Robinson of the 4100 block of Idaho Avenue, near Belair Road, answered his door bell about 11 p.m., police said. He walked outside and was shot multiple times. He was pronounced dead at Johns Hopkins Hospital about 11:30 p.m., police said. Police have no suspects at this time and are continuing to investigate. Mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Vandals broke into a portable classroom at Gardenville Elementary School before the start of the school day yesterday, leaving a mess of ruined schoolbooks and furniture and urine on the floor. Fourth-grade teacher Valerie Belton said she was devastated to discover the havoc in her classroom, which she had renovated over the summer with furniture donated by IKEA in White Marsh. "I just stood in the middle of the floor and started crying," said Belton, who had relished surprising her pupils with the new bookshelves, carpets and colorful bear-shaped armchairs.

Three men were shot early Thursday inside a bar in the Gardenville neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore, according to city police. An officer on patrol heard the gunshots about 12:30 a.m. from Club Uzo in the 4800 block of Belair Road. He and other officers went inside and found a 20-year-old man who had been shot once in the leg. He was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital in serious condition. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said officers found a second victim on Belair Road, just outside the bar's front entrance, also suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg. The 30-year-old was also taken to Hopkins in serious condition.

Helen M. Phillips, a homemaker and longtime Gardenville resident, died Wednesdayof a brain hemorrhage at Gilchrist Hospice Care. She was 95. Born Helen Mary Brocki at home on South Dallas Street, Mrs. Phillips was the eldest of eight children and raised in East Baltimore. She attended St. Patrick's parochial school until the eighth grade and then went to work picking produce at farms in Anne Arundel and Harford counties. "She recalled when labor inspectors arrived at the farm, the foreman would blow a whistle, and all the young children would hide in the canneries," said a daughter, Elaine Lutche of Bel Air. During the 1920s, she worked in Baltimore's garment district at Thanhouser & Weiller - a manufacturer of shirts, overalls and children's playsuits - packing clothes for shipment.

IF YOU hold it, they will come. From blocks away and states away, they came to salute Bill Grace, who for the past 50 years has been coaching the youths of Northeast Baltimore. The domain of "Mr. Bill" isn't a field of dreams, however. It's a court of dreams. Though admittedly never a basketball "player," Grace could always coach the sport with the best and nearly 150 of his former players, friends and family members gathered Sunday to salute the man who made quality basketball and Gardenville Recreation Center synonymous.

Last summer, when Tim Bayer's neighborhood library in Gardenville was only open three days a week because of money problems, the fifth-grader put on a backyard carnival that raised $42.Afterward, Tim wondered what to do with the cash.He decided to give it to branch No. 26 of the Enoch Pratt Free Library at 5427 Belair Road, a few blocks from his Antanna Avenue home.Last week, with his bike chained to the railing outside the Northeast Baltimore library, Tim sat in the children's department and explained his decision.

Gardenville is so named because it actually was once Baltimore's garden. It was the premier truck farming region where the city got most of its fruits and vegetables.Houses now stand where tomatoes and beans once grew at Belair and Moravia roads. But this coming spring the community will be getting a new and very unique kind of garden. A labyrinth walk and meditation garden will be built in front of St. Anthony of Padua's Roman Catholic Convent on Frankford Avenue."It's part of a program called `Sacred Places -- Open Spaces' which attempts to put places of peace and beauty in urban areas," said Gloria Carpeneto, a pastoral associate.

The director of the Ashland Head Start program in Gardenville was indicted this month on charges that she stole $335,777 from the organization over a four-year period. A Baltimore grand jury indicted Audrey Marie James, 49, on Dec. 15, charging that she had diverted money into an unauthorized bank account from June 30, 2000, to July 21 of this year. During that time, she ran the Head Start program in the 5400 block of Belair Road. Head Start is a federally funded program for preschool children from low-income families.

Baltimore will be a great town if they ever reopen it. How can an agency that cannot protect its own weapons and computers safeguard the nation's security. Library policy is not about saving Gardenville or Park Heights ot Baltimore City. Its mission is to save the Enoch Pratt Free Library, unless someone provides wherewithal to fulfill another mission. What Greenspan really says is that he doesn't know, either.

Margaret M. "Marge" Cannington, a retired secretary and avid boater and dancer, died of Alzheimer's disease May 15 at an assisted-living facility in Jennersville, Pa. The former longtime Gardenville resident was 88. Margaret Mary Tenley was born in Baltimore and raised on Washington Street. After graduating from Eastern High School in 1939, she went to work as a secretary at the old Glenn L. Martin Co. plant in Middle River. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, she was married to Gordon Eugene "Ken" Cannington, a Marine.

Helen M. Phillips, a homemaker and longtime Gardenville resident, died Wednesdayof a brain hemorrhage at Gilchrist Hospice Care. She was 95. Born Helen Mary Brocki at home on South Dallas Street, Mrs. Phillips was the eldest of eight children and raised in East Baltimore. She attended St. Patrick's parochial school until the eighth grade and then went to work picking produce at farms in Anne Arundel and Harford counties. "She recalled when labor inspectors arrived at the farm, the foreman would blow a whistle, and all the young children would hide in the canneries," said a daughter, Elaine Lutche of Bel Air. During the 1920s, she worked in Baltimore's garment district at Thanhouser & Weiller - a manufacturer of shirts, overalls and children's playsuits - packing clothes for shipment.

Sister Margaret Crucifixa McDonald, a retired parochial school teacher, died of cardiovascular disease March 29 at her order's motherhouse in Aston, Pa. She was 93. Born in Philadelphia, she received the name Sister Margaret Crucifixa after joining the Sisters of St. Francis in 1933. She earned a bachelor's degree from what is now Marywood University in Scranton, Pa., and a master's degree in business education from Catholic University of America. After teaching in Wilmington, Del., she moved to Towson in 1943 and joined the faculty of the Immaculate Conception parochial school.

On November 9, 2006, CHARLES A. (Chuck) BETKEY, husband of Theodora Oechsler Betkey, departed this life. He was the loving father of Donna Valenta and grandfather of Katie and Stephanie Valenta. He is also survived by his blended family for whom he cared deeply; Donald M. Schell and daughter Hayley, Deborah A. Tipton, and daughters Jaime Gettings and Raven Radel and her daughters Michelle and Valerie. Friends may call at CAFA (Cremations and Funeral Alternatives) 8717 Green Pastures Drive (off Joppa Road)

Bay Blues Festival A long list of musicians play this weekend at the Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival at Sandy Point State Park near Annapolis. Highlights include Isaac Hayes on Saturday night and Booker T and the MG's with Steve Cropper and Donald "Duck" Dunn on Sunday night. There will also be food and an arts and crafts village. Take beach chairs, towels and a tube of sunblock. The festival is 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $50 for one day or $75 for both days in advance, and $60 for one day or $85 for both days if purchased at the gate.

IF YOU hold it, they will come. From blocks away and states away, they came to salute Bill Grace, who for the past 50 years has been coaching the youths of Northeast Baltimore. The domain of "Mr. Bill" isn't a field of dreams, however. It's a court of dreams. Though admittedly never a basketball "player," Grace could always coach the sport with the best and nearly 150 of his former players, friends and family members gathered Sunday to salute the man who made quality basketball and Gardenville Recreation Center synonymous.

Bay Blues Festival A long list of musicians play this weekend at the Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival at Sandy Point State Park near Annapolis. Highlights include Isaac Hayes on Saturday night and Booker T and the MG's with Steve Cropper and Donald "Duck" Dunn on Sunday night. There will also be food and an arts and crafts village. Take beach chairs, towels and a tube of sunblock. The festival is 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $50 for one day or $75 for both days in advance, and $60 for one day or $85 for both days if purchased at the gate.

Sophie M. Young Appler, a retired bakery official who was active in church affairs, died Saturday of cancer at the home of her daughter in Pikesville. She was 88.The longtime Gardenville resident retired in 1971 after 44 years as accounts receivable manager for Schmidt Baking Co.After her retirement, she volunteered for several years at a day care center near Patterson Park.She was born and reared on Curley Street in East Baltimore. The family lived above the bakery that her German immigrant parents had established.

The director of the Ashland Head Start program in Gardenville was indicted this month on charges that she stole $335,777 from the organization over a four-year period. A Baltimore grand jury indicted Audrey Marie James, 49, on Dec. 15, charging that she had diverted money into an unauthorized bank account from June 30, 2000, to July 21 of this year. During that time, she ran the Head Start program in the 5400 block of Belair Road. Head Start is a federally funded program for preschool children from low-income families.

Vandals broke into a portable classroom at Gardenville Elementary School before the start of the school day yesterday, leaving a mess of ruined schoolbooks and furniture and urine on the floor. Fourth-grade teacher Valerie Belton said she was devastated to discover the havoc in her classroom, which she had renovated over the summer with furniture donated by IKEA in White Marsh. "I just stood in the middle of the floor and started crying," said Belton, who had relished surprising her pupils with the new bookshelves, carpets and colorful bear-shaped armchairs.