Grandchildren

Two young children watched helplessly last night as their grandmother was shot to death and robbed of her purse on the Westview Mall parking lot, Baltimore County police said.The victim, Jane F. Tyson, 49, of the 6500 block of Redgate Circle in Westview Park, had returned about 8:30 p.m. to her car parked on a remote rear lot after shopping with the children at the mall near the Beltway on Baltimore National Pike.A witness told police he heard the children -- a 6-year-old boy pTC and his 4-year-old sister -- crying out that their grandmother had been shot.

"What did you do over the summer vacation?" is a question that more and more Carroll County children can't wait to answer. They have sailed from Baltimore to New York, fed dolphins in Bermuda and hiked in the Maryland mountains.They have traveled with tour guides who knew all the best places to go and who, like parents, knew just when to pamper and prod.They have traveled with their grandparents. And like many children, they have experienced the advantages of a growing trend in the travel business.

Bonita Durst, a 42-year-old grandmother, spent her last dollar two years ago to win custody of her allegedly abused grandson. Now, she has created a grandparents' support group to help others in similar situations.Help All Little Ones (HALO) is designed to promote greater understanding of the relationships among children and grandparents and the visitation rights of grandparents."I want grandparents to know that they have rights to their grandchildren," Mrs. Durst said during a visit last week to the O'Malley Senior Center in Odenton.

The state's highest court ruled yesterday that judges may block grandparents from seeing their grandchildren if it is in the best interests of the children -- no matter what the children's family background.In the first case of its kind involving a two-parent family, the Court of Appeals ruled that a 1993 statute did not give a Salisbury couple an automatic right to see their grandchildren, ages 10 and 7. The court held that the law gives trial judges wide discretion in such matters and that Wicomico County Circuit Judge Alfred T. Truitt Jr. did not place an undue burden on Arnold and Barbara Maner when he denied them visitation.

William E. Zentgraf, a retired business executive and Navy veteran, died of complications from pancreatitis Tuesday at Howard County General Hospital in Columbia. He was 73 and lived in Ellicott City. Mr. Zentgraf worked for nearly 20 years for Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., and was director of human resources for the company's Mid-Atlantic region when he retired in 1997. Before that, he had worked in sales and other positions at Lever Brothers in Baltimore and New York, at the Noxell Corp.

A Baltimore County Circuit Court jury last night found Gregory Lawrence guilty of murder in the fatal shooting and robbery June 6 of Jane Tyson, 49, in a Westview Mall parking lot in front of two of her grandchildren.The jury deliberated for 6 1/2 hours.Lawrence, 34, of Cheviot Court in Woodlawn, the driver of the getaway car in the robbery that netted $10, was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery and a handgun violation.Judge James Smith, who agreed to a defense request for a presentence report, set sentencing for Jan. 12.Lawrence testified yesterday that he did not know a robbery was planned and thought he was merely giving a friend a ride to the mall to buy blank video tapes.

WASHINGTON -- The spreading campaign to gain new legal rights for grandparents -- especially, guaranteed access to their grandchildren -- appeared yesterday to be on the verge of a major setback in the Supreme Court. The justices, hearing their first case concerning the creation of visitation rights for grandparents, reacted with skepticism -- and sometimes disdain -- to the idea that courts could compel parents to share their children with others. Strong curbs signaled The court did not appear poised to bar states from giving grandparents any right to visit with their grandchildren, as 48 states have done, but it gave strong hints that it would curb significantly any guarantee of such visits, especially when parents object.

The images appeared one after another on several large screens - smiling children playing with toys or mugging for the camera, along with older snapshots of their grandparents presiding over holiday family meals. There were photos of preschoolers Donald White and his brother Derrick lifting weights, and infant Jhaniya Davis being cradled by her older sister. There was a photo of the grandparents sharing cake on their wedding day. The slideshow presentation played yesterday as mourners filed into Mountain Christian Church in Joppa for the funeral service for the five family members who died in a Jan. 18 house fire in Abingdon.

The Dream Home feature will periodically visit the homes ofsome of the Baltimore area's notable citizens.Nicholas Mangione, a multimillionaire developer and owner of Turf Valley Golf and Country Club, thought of one thing when he designed his dream home 17 years ago -- his family.With 10 children and 25 grandchildren, he and his wife wanted a home that would be "the focal point of their lives -- of them growing up and their kids growing up," Mr. Mangione said.Nestled off a long driveway in a middle-income development near Perring Parkway in Baltimore County, the Mangiones' three-story brick home was built to accommodate the large, close-knit family.

SALISBURY -- Barbara Maner and Kita Stephenson live only a few miles from each other in shady, middle-class suburbs outside this Eastern Shore city. But they might as well be on separate planets; the void between them is Arnold Maner, are suing their daughter and her husband, Jim, for the right to spend time with their two grandchildren. Except for a brief holiday visit in 1994, they have not been allowed to see Katie, 9, and Trey, 6, for two years."The last time we saw them was [on] Christmas Eve," says Mr. Maner.